Hey everybody, the Mets just traded for Keon Broxton

[A Boy Named Seo]

I think in a vacuum, I like this trade. But it also means that this team is probably a lefty reliever away from mostly being assembled.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Speed, power and whiffs. I think he's a good defensive guy, though. Certainly not good for all you Lagares fans

[smg58]

He's comparable OPS-wise to Lagares. He's healthier, his glove is legit, and he does have some pop. He also strikes out way too much and has a career batting average of .221. And he looks to be out of options if his bat gets in the way. It's an upgrade if you assume (and it's a reasonable assumption) that Lagares won't give you a full season, but it's not a huge upgrade.



I'm kind of sorry Bobby Wahl is heading to Milwaukee. Not that he showed much here (it didn't help that he got hurt almost immediately), but I think he has more upside than the other righty AAAA relievers the Mets toyed with last year (except maybe Bautista, but he's gone too). And we're at most one injury away from needing one of those guys to step up their game in a way that none of them did last year.

[A Boy Named Seo]

It should be noted that Keon is not eligible for arbitration until next year, and won't be a free agent until 2023. He makes the MLB-equivalent of peanuts.

[Edgy MD]

The Mets have apparently acquired light-hitting speedster/ballhawk Keon Broxton from the Brewers for three minor leaguers RHP Adam Hill, RHP Bobby Wahl and 2B Felix Valerio.



You many remember Wahl from his double-digit ERA with the 2018 Mets.



https://cdn.mlbtraderumors.com/files/2016/11/USATSI_9526863-900x657.jpg>

[LWFS]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Speed, power and whiffs. I think he's a good defensive guy, though. Certainly not good for all you Lagares fans

Maybe they just like Johnny Lags SO much, they just wanted an exact replica.

[Edgy MD]

A replica might not be such a bad idea. Health in$urance for Laggy!

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

BROXBUSTER TRADE

[Frayed Knot]

Not exactly a guy who screams out 'three for one' deal material, eh?

[MFS62]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: BROXBUSTER TRADE

NEON KEON.

Later

[Mex17]

They are buying four years of team control for a guy who did hit 20 HR's in a season.



Do you think that they are gambling on him improving to perhaps a more respectable approach at the plate to go with the raw power?



As it stands, I do not think that the aquisition preculdes them from going after Pollock if the market for him comes back to the Mets. I don't see a reason for Pollock, Lagares, and Broxton to be on the same team though. My guess is that they DFA Lagares and eat the $9 million if they can find a way to get Pollock and don;t find a deal for Lagares.

[Frayed Knot]

Broxton's walk rate -- limited sample as it is (700 ML ABs) -- is already quite good [.092 in the majors and a still above avg .079 in 10 yrs/4,000 ABs in the minors] so I'm not sure his 'approach' is the problem.

At age 29 (in May) he's likely pretty much what he's going to be: low BA w/a walk rate which partially makes up for it, decent power, good glove, good speed.

[nymr83]

I like the deal in a vacuum, but not the implication that we are "set" in the outfield now.

[MFS62]

Good speed, good glove in center, decent power, low BA.

I know its a stretch (OK, a BIIIIGGGG stretch) but wasn't that the profile of Tommie Agee when the Mets got him?

We can dream, can't we?





Later

[MFS62]

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/ageeto01.shtmlhttps://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/ageeto01.shtml

[Fman99]

Bye bye, Juan Lagares. Hard to see what his role is if they bring in a new defensive CF.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I've had it up to here already with Lagares this and Lagares that. The guy was made irrelevant as soon as Cespedes was acquired and went Babe Ruth nuts four seasons ago. Four seasons ago, ferchrissakes! On hitting alone, Lagares doesn't even deserve to be in the major leagues, let alone playing for the team in the world's biggest market. But let's write another million posts about this guy so we can reminisce about the great catches he used to make back in the Hoover administration. You think the Dodgers or the Yankees would've kept this guy around for the last four seasons?

[kcmets]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=657 time=1546741284 user_id=68]But let's write another million posts about this guy so we can reminisce about the great catches he used to make

[smg58]

The Yankees have kept Ellsbury, and re-signed Brett Gardner.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Who asked about Ellsbury or Gardner?

[The Hot Corner]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=660 time=1546747643 user_id=68]
Who asked about Ellsbury or Gardner?

[G-Fafif]

Back when Jacob deGrom was occasionally mortal, in 2017, he gave up two home runs to Broxton, one in advance of the bullpen's Mother's Day meltdown in Milwaukee, one the night Mr. Met was captured giving a fan the finger. With this obstacle to flawlessness removed, Jake's ERA should sink further, one would hopefully extrapolate.

[MFS62]

Every generation of Mets fans needs someone with speed and power, waiting to put it all together.

This fixation on potential is called the Shawn Abner Syndrome. (I looked it up)



Later

[Benjamin Grimm]

Back when Jacob deGrom was occasionally mortal, in 2017, he gave up two home runs to Broxton, one in advance of the bullpen's Mother's Day meltdown in Milwaukee, one the night Mr. Met was captured giving a fan the finger.

The Mother's Day meltdown didn't make the back pages, but the game that inspired Mr. Met's finger did!



http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/2017/20170601_NYP_02.jpg> http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/2017/20170601_NYDN_02.jpg>http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/2017/20170601_NSD_02.jpg>

[MFS62]

When I read about him (righty hitting centerfielder with occasional power) and looked at his numbers, I broke out my A-to-A grading scale.

I think he'll be somewhere between Shawn Abner and Tommie Agee.

Now we just have to wait and see where in that spectrum he performs.



Later

[Lefty Specialist]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=657 time=1546741284 user_id=68]
I've had it up to here already with Lagares this and Lagares that. The guy was made irrelevant as soon as Cespedes was acquired and went Babe Ruth nuts four seasons ago. Four seasons ago, ferchrissakes! On hitting alone, Lagares doesn't even deserve to be in the major leagues, let alone playing for the team in the world's biggest market. But let's write another million posts about this guy so we can reminisce about the great catches he used to make back in the Hoover administration. You think the Dodgers or the Yankees would've kept this guy around for the last four seasons?

[RealityChuck]

Broxton is a gamble, but a reasonable one. He's a good fielder and with Lagares's injury history, you can't bank on him being around the entire season. They are similar, but Broxton has a little bit of power.



It's a defensive move. If they can sign a better center fielder, Broxton platoons and you trade Lagares for a couple of fungo bats (you're not going to get much else for him) to clear up the lineup. But if you can't sign a better center fielder, you have an outfielder, and the team has a critical shortage of them.

[smg58]

The Hot Corner wrote: =batmagadanleadoff post_id=660 time=1546747643 user_id=68] Who asked about Ellsbury or Gardner?

You asked whether the Yankees or Dodgers would have carried someone like Lagares the past 4 years. SMG58 simply pointed out 2 comparable ( though better) players to Lagares that the Yankees have continued to carry on their roster. Granted, with the Yankees offense, they can afford to carry a defense first centerfielder much better than the Mets.

[Frayed Knot]

=smg58 post_id=686 time=1546797371 user_id=62]
Right. In his tenure with the Yankees, Ellsbury has become a glove-first centerfielder who is not a good bet to spend half the season on the active roster. But the Yankees haven't ditched him yet. Gardner is a glove-first corner outfielder who gave the Yankees a sub-.700 OPS last year, despite playing his home games in a stadium that plays like a Little League field to lefthanded batters. The Yankees brought him back when much better left-handed hitting outfielders were available.

[Frayed Knot]

For all the talk about the Yanx ability to eat salaries, they virtually never do so.



Ellsbury, who didn't play at all in 2018, is still on the hook for '19 and '20 (plus a buyout for '21) and he wasn't even a particularly good glove man by the time '16 & '17 rolled around.

So, even though they've added the likes of Stanton, Judge & Hicks since the last time Ellsbury played, he'll be in ST and is unlikely to be dealt or released.



And, shyeeet, they kept (off)Kei Igawa around in their minor league system for the entire length of his five year deal even though they knew by year one that he wasn't any good and

that a big chunk of his money was paid up front. It would have been (relative) chicken feed to make him go away but it's as if they want to pretend that they never make contractual

mistakes so they'll see them through to the end rather rather admit that they misjudged. It's like Vasilly in DEATH OF STALIN claiming 'there was no plane crash!!'