The Mets Are Getting Ruf

[bmfc1]

Darren Ruf, from SF for JD Davis and prospects.

Ruf has an .886 OPS vs lefties this season.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darin_Rufhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darin_Ruf

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/darin-ruf/9929/stats?position=1B/OFhttps://www.fangraphs.com/players/darin-ruf/9929/stats?position=1B/OF

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rufda01.shtmlhttps://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rufda01.shtml

Negative defensive WAR. It looks like Vogelbach and Ruf will platoon at DH.

I have faith in Billy and Buck but is Ruf worth JD + 3 prospects?

[bLOCKQUOTE]Joel Sherman @Joelsherman1

In 268 PAs since May 1, Darin Ruf: has slashline of: .286/.396/.529-.924OPS. 27 extra-base hits, including 13 HRs. #Mets[/bLOCKQUOTE]

Edited August 2, 2022 by Guest

[Willets Point]

I feel like we have a lot of First Basemen.

[Ceetar]

J.D. Davis is better than Darren Ruf.

[kcmets]

My initial gut reaction is --- booo!

[Benjamin Grimm]

The nice thing about Darin Ruf is that he's seven years older than J.D. Davis.



I haven't been this excited since the Mets got Michael Cuddyer.

[Lefty Specialist]

Um, this is a stupid trade. Ruf is just JD Davis, basically. And they throw in everything else too?

[Gwreck]

Ruf is signed through 2023 with a club option for 2024.



This trade seems…odd.

[seawolf17]

The fuck?

[Willets Point]

I see people on Twitter saying this makes a good DH platoon of Ruf & Vogelbach, but nevertheless it still feels like another transaction has to happen to make this make sense.

[Ceetar]

sure, he can murder lefties/sinkers pretty well, and that's a good skillset to have. But that's only marginally better than what you had in Davis AND you gave up prospects for him and tepidly committed to him for next year too.

[bmfc1]

Tim Britton in The Athletic:

[bLOCKQUOTE]Why Darin Ruf makes sense for Mets

Since their acquisition of Daniel Vogelbach 10 days ago, the Mets have been looking for a right-handed hitter to platoon with him at DH. Darin Ruf fits the bill, having made a career out of mashing left-handed pitchers.

Ruf's career OPS versus southpaws is .929; it's .886 this season.

J.D. Davis was supposed to fill that role himself, but he's shown reverse splits ever since 2019 and has struggled regardless of pitcher handedness this year.

The Mets are taking a quantity approach with their prospect package, including pitchers Thomas Szapucki, Nick Zwack and Carson Seymour. Szapucki will be out of options next spring and New York recently moved him to the bullpen.

Zwack and Seymour were draft picks last summer.[/bLOCKQUOTE]

[Centerfield]

Darin fucking Ruf? WTF.

[MFS62]

Willets Point wrote: I see people on Twitter saying this makes a good DH platoon of Ruf & Vogelbach, but nevertheless it still feels like another transaction has to happen to make this make sense.

This.

I had a flashback to when they added players to the Nolan Ryan trade. JD for this guy should have been enough.



The title of the thread should have been the Mets Got Run Ruf-shod Over.

Later

Edited August 2, 2022 by Guest

[Gwreck]

=Ceetar post_id=101906 time=1659470310 user_id=102]
sure, he can murder lefties/sinkers pretty well, and that's a good skillset to have. But that's only marginally better than what you had in Davis AND you gave up prospects for him and tepidly committed to him for next year too.

[metsmarathon]

i'm not loving this. not hating it exactly, because i think the only people in baseball who still loved jd davis were mets fans dreaming about trading him for other teams' stars. but still...



otoh, i do like the potential platoon dh we've built here in rufelbach.



now go turn dom smith into willson contreras, damnit.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Sure does seem like we overpaid.

[Willets Point]

Willets Point wrote: I see people on Twitter saying this makes a good DH platoon of Ruf & Vogelbach, but nevertheless it still feels like another transaction has to happen to make this make sense. This. I had a flashback to when they added players to the Nolan Ryan trade. JD for this guy should have been enough. The title of the thread should have been the Mets Got Run Ruf-shod Over. Later

I didn't know there were high-rated prospects in the trade when I wrote this so I don't know if it will ever make sense.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Sorry to see that Nick Zwack was included.

[roger_that]

Y' know, every now and then

I think you might like to hear something from us

Nice and easy

But there's just one thing

You see we never ever do nothing

Nice and easy

We always do it nice and Ruf!

[smg58]

Ruf has been a better hitter than Davis the last three seasons, especially against lefties, so there's some logic to it. But throwing in prospects for a platoon DH who's a bit better than Davis? I don't get that at all.

[roger_that]

It's that tasty .929 career OPS vs. lefties that did it. The Mets were getting tired of waiting for J.D. Davis to get hot. Time's a-wasting.

[MFS62]

=roger_that post_id=101916 time=1659472004 user_id=128]
Y' know, every now and then

I think you might like to hear something from us

Nice and easy

But there's just one thing

You see we never ever do nothing

Nice and easy

We always do it nice and Ruf!

[Frayed Knot]

This is always the conundrum of trading deadline day.

Fans scream 'DO SOMETHING ... DO SOMETHING' and then the team does something and we change to 'NOT THAT!!!!'

[kcmets]

Right, and they're* the same people who yell for trading prospects for proven

upgrades and then complain we have no farm system come winter.



*(we're)

[Gwreck]

Frayed Knot wrote: This is always the conundrum of trading deadline day. Fans scream 'DO SOMETHING ... DO SOMETHING' and then the team does something and we change to 'NOT THAT!!!!'

I don't see a conundrum, especially because nobody is blindly screaming “do something.” (Or if they are, no one should listen to them).



The point is to make good moves and this…doesn't look like a great one: an uncertain upgrade at a high price.

[Frayed Knot]

Oh I think, DO SOMETHING! is the prevailing attitude at just about every trade deadline. And, while I don't necessarily think that the F.O. is listening to impatient fans, I believe the sense that some deal being preferable to no deal is a common one because to do otherwise is to invite the criticism that you didn't care or didn't try.



And thus we wind up with Pete Crow-Armstrong for two months of Javy Baez, or a slew of bodies for a marginal upgrade in the RH DH spot, and fewer bullets in the gun going forward for when a real upgrade comes along.

[Edgy MD]

I certainly agree with that. Trade envy is an unhealthy condition.



One problem with assessing deadline deals is that prospect rankings at this time of the year are based on incomplete data. The two prospects the Mets gave up for Naquin (José Acuña and Hector Rodriguez) are mostly unknown, but they were crushing it in the lower minors. That could be the last we ever hear of them, or prospect watchers may finish comparing notes and chatting up scouts this offseason, and they're going to shoot into the team's top ten.



Same with ZWACK! He's a 2021 draft pick who had been lighting up Brooklyn (which ain't the low minors no more) and surely would have seen some ranking upgrades this offseason.

[roger_that]

an uncertain upgrade at a high price.

It's obviously a RIGHT NOW!!! move. If it doesn't get the Mets deep into the post-season, it's a bad move, but if Ruf gets hot and wins us a few games we otherwise would have lost and we end up playing in early November, no one remembers or cares.



And the difference between Ruf's OPS vs lefties and Davis's this season is on the positive side of "uncertain." No guarantees, but it looks to be as certain as things get in baseball.



The age-difference doesn't mean so much these days. Being younger doesn't matter if you have the older one under contract for longer than you have the younger one. Davis is signed through 2025, Ruf through 2024.

Edited August 2, 2022 by Guest

[Bunt the First Two]

　I'll always remember and care

　I promise I'll stay quite aware

　Ruf may rear back and hack

　But forget Davis and Zwack?

　T'would be heartless and cold and unfair



　A betrayal unthinkable

　Of faith thought unsinkable

　A quaff most undrinkable

　I promise I'll never go there

[batmagadanleadoff]

On BBref's similarity scores, Ruf's second closest similar comp is...

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Dom Smith.