While they nonetheless have a number of extra days till the Aug. 2 commerce deadline, up to now the Mets have made strikes to offer themselves little micro-advantages fairly than springing for any of the perfect out there choices.
Last week, there was the acquisition of Daniel Vogelbach, a man who’s excessive splits imply he’ll solely be seen towards right-handed pitching. The transfer they made late on Thursday night time is equally geared toward eliminating weaknesses fairly than making a power.
The Mets traded two minor leaguers to Cincinnati for outfielder Tyler Naquin and left-handed reliever Phillip Diehl. The deal is de facto about Naquin, although, who hit .246/.305/.444 in 56 video games for the Reds this 12 months. More importantly, because the Mets look to create platoon edges wherever they’ll, the left-handed Naquin is hitting .264/.333/.472 off righties.
What this transfer primarily does is shield Eduardo Escobar from having to hit these scary right-handers. Escobar has been dreadful towards that group, who flip him round to his much less potent left-handed batting stance. With Naquin round, he prevents Jeff McNeil from having to play the outfield as usually, as an alternative holding down second base towards righties whereas Luis Guillorme handles third base. In 259 plate appearances towards righties this 12 months, Escobar has solely managed a .200 batting common and .590 OPS, which is an issue contemplating a lot of the pitchers within the league use their proper hand.
Now, the Mets can swap out Escobar — who, towards righties, is 28% worse than the common hitter by wRC+ — for Naquin, who’s 17% higher than league common in that state of affairs. With their sights set on one thing a lot larger than common season wins, the Mets now even have the posh of offering their outfielders with some extra common relaxation. Brandon Nimmo, Starling Marte, McNeil and Mark Canha are all within the high 25 of plate appearances by National League outfielders. The climate definitely isn’t going to get any cooler in August, and one or two days a month within the shady dugout fairly than the sweltering outfield grass isn’t the worst concept on the earth.
As for the specifics, Naquin was taking part in on a one-year cope with Cincinnati and can hit unrestricted free company on the finish of the 12 months, therefore his availability. This is his seventh 12 months within the league after being chosen with the fifteenth total choose within the 2012 draft, one choose forward of Lucas Giolito and two earlier than Corey Seager.
Naquin spent the primary 5 years of his profession in Cleveland and completed third in Rookie of the Year voting in 2016, the identical 12 months he performed in 5 of the crew’s seven World Series video games. For his profession, he’s performed virtually precisely the identical quantity of heart area (1,633 innings) as proper area (1,611), which was his main publish for the Reds.
He additionally missed all of June with a quad pressure and has struggled since coming again. In July, he’s hitting .220/.278/.400 with 16 strikeouts to only three walks. That final bit is totally indicative of Naquin’s hitting method. He’s struck out in simply over 25% of his profession plate appearances whereas strolling in simply 6.4% of them. The Mets bought Vogelbach to observe plate self-discipline towards righties and Naquin to mild them up. His profession .472 slugging proportion with righties on the mound is over 125 factors larger than it’s towards same-handed pitchers, and 50 of his 57 lifetime residence runs have come on the expense of righties.
Blessed with fairly good velocity, Naquin was largely hitting first and second for the Reds this 12 months earlier than the damage. Post-IL, he’s been entrenched within the sixth and seventh spot, which might be round the place he’ll bat for the Mets. On a rudderless Reds crew, Naquin needed to carry extra of the load, however getting traded to the Mets permits him to be the position participant he’s extra suited to be.
Diehl, in the meantime, put up nice strikeout numbers for the Reds’ Triple-A crew however has bricked every of his restricted massive league probabilities. In 23.1 innings for the Louisville Bats this season, the 28-year-old Diehl posted a 30.6% strikeout price. The Reds referred to as him up early within the season to fill a spot of their bullpen and he solely struck out three of the 28 hitters he confronted whereas 11 earned their method on with a success or unintentional stroll. Diehl bought MLB innings for the Rockies in 2019 and 2022 as effectively, which additionally didn’t go very effectively. All instructed, he’s run a 9.47 ERA in 21 MLB appearances. Barring some really magical tweaks from pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, it doesn’t appear to be Diehl is the left-handed reliever these Mets have been pining for.
The minor leaguers who went to the Reds — 18-year-old outfielder Hector Rodriguez and 19-year-old pitcher Jose Acuna — weren’t thought to be high 20 prospects within the Mets’ system. Both are a good distance from the majors and no assure to even get there in any respect.
This transfer makes the Mets higher, or no less than deeper, than they have been earlier than. But until basic supervisor Billy Eppler is envisioning a deadline that improves the muse fairly than making an enormous renovation to the home, it additionally isn’t the top of his wheeling and dealing. Catcher and designated hitter nonetheless must be addressed, as does the bullpen, which took one other hit on Thursday when Drew Smith landed on the IL.
If the 2015 National League champion crew is any comparability — which it needs to be given how effectively the Mets have performed and the way cheap their World Series expectations are — the 2022 crew has made its Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson strikes. A Yoenis Cespedes-sized splash nonetheless awaits.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com