Deadliney Dealin'

[Edgy MD]

Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel go from the Cubs to the A's.

BOOM! A's send big shot shorstoppin' prospect Addison Russell.

[Frayed Knot]

That deal's a Wow and a half!!


The pre-season polls ranked Russell, a SS, as the 12th (Mayo @ MLB), 3rd (Keith Law), 14th (BA), 7th (BP) & 5th (John Sickels) best prospect in all of baseball
IOW, he's considered to be pretty good. Had recently been moved up to AA Midland in the Texas Lg.

Edited July 4, 2014 by Guest

[Edgy MD]

Details are still spilling out. Don't know the whole package. But Oakland really jacks up there, don't they?

[bmfc1]

Not that I expect Sandy to do anything but theoretically, what would it take to get Starlin Castro?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Do we even want Starling Castro? Some dope on wfan said we should trade Muffy Niese and Montero to get him, Joe and Evan were like, good deal.

[Frayed Knot]

bmfc1 wrote: Not that I expect Sandy to do anything but theoretically, what would it take to get Starlin Castro?

Young pitching most likely. Theo's going to want some arms to replace the two he just lost and the Chicago system is just the opposite of ours: not many arms, lotsa bats.

As Gary mentioned, the Cubs now have three potentially good young SS: their incumbent Castro, the more power hitting (though having a tough year to date) Javier Baez in their own system at AAA Iowa, and now Russell from Oakland.

Edited July 4, 2014 by Guest

[Frayed Knot]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Do we even want Starling Castro? Some dope on wfan said we should trade Muffy Niese and Montero to get him, Joe and Evan were like, good deal.

Certainly not an 'At any price' kind of guy.
As Keith mentioned, occasionally and lackadaisical and erratic defensively.
Only 24, but a Sub-.300 OBA last year, and is signed thru 2020 (which could be a good or bad thing depending on how he plays).



Joe & Evan are idiots. Benigno in particular thinks whoever ISN'T here now is the shit - and he spent years trying to get rid of Reyes & Beltran when they were here.

Edited July 4, 2014 by Guest

[bmfc1]

Castro is far from perfect but the Mets don't have a major league SS so I say Viva Castro!

[Edgy MD]

I certainly disagree that the Mets don't have a Major League shortstop. He may not be the best and you can always improve, but he's been every bit a major league shortstop.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Of course. Anyone who plays for the Mets is good. If it's us, it's always good. If it's them, then it's bad.

[Frayed Knot]

Full details of the A's/Cubs blockbuster seem to be Samardzija & Hammel for
* Addison Russell -- SS, 1st round draft pick 2012 (11th overall) out of Fla HS, 20 y/o, Top-10 in all of baseball prospect, currently in AA
* Billy McKinney -- OF, 1st round draft pick 2013 (24th overall) out of a Texas HS, 20 y/o next month, currently at A+
* Dan Straily -- RHP, 25 y/o, pitched in parts of the last three seasons w/Oakland, currently at AAA
* PtbNL or cash

Samardzija is 29 y/o and under club control thru 2015
Hammel will turn 32 in September and can be FA at the end of this season


Pretty clear that this is a classic 'Go For it NOW!!!! cuz who know when things will ever look this good again' move by Beane

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Of course. Anyone who plays for the Mets is good. If it's us, it's always good. If it's them, then it's bad.

That was kind of obnoxious.

[bmfc1]

Let me rephrase so as not to slight the abilities of Ruben Tejada... if you want Mets to pursue Starlin Castro, what do you think it would take to obtain him in a trade?

Noah S. too much?

[Benjamin Grimm]

I don't think now is a good time to trade Syndergaard. He's been struggling and his value at the moment probably isn't what it was in March and (hopefully) what it will be in the future. Unless the Mets feel that he's in decline and won't bounce back, they shouldn't sell low on him.

[ashie62]

bmfc1 wrote: Not that I expect Sandy to do anything but theoretically, what would it take to get Starlin Castro?

Less than Addison Russell...

[ashie62]

I found it odd the Mets talked about Murphy and Astros SS Jonathan Villar... That would likely be an underselling of Murphy...

[Frayed Knot]

Ashie62 wrote: I found it odd the Mets talked about Murphy and Astros SS Jonathan Villar... That would likely be an underselling of Murphy...

The Mets talked about Murphy & Villar, or leaked notes suggested the Astros speculated about Murphy & Villar?

[Edgy MD]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Of course. Anyone who plays for the Mets is good. If it's us, it's always good. If it's them, then it's bad.

According to whom?

[Frayed Knot]

bmfc1 wrote: Let me rephrase so as not to slight the abilities of Ruben Tejada... if you want Mets to pursue Starlin Castro, what do you think it would take to obtain him in a trade? Noah S. too much?

Yes. NS > SC, IMO

[ashie62]

Starlin is firmly on Chicago's s--t list.. I'll take Tejada....

[Frayed Knot]

I don't know about any shitlist (he may have been last year but his bounce back this season tends to make 2013 look like the outlier rather than the start of a downward spiral), but this deal just gives the Cubs another potential replacement for him -- Russell, Javier Baez (probably not a SS in the long run), Arismendy Alcantara (at AAA Iowa) -- which means the Cubs are likely to be open to dealing him.
So for those reasons, plus the shaky defense, plus the lengthy contract (which the current mgmt didn't negotiate but inherited), I don't think it would take a top prospect like Syndergaard to pry him loose. A lesser pitcher maybe as the Cubs system is very light on arms, but not our top guy.

[Edgy MD]

And the Mets might well find some of those other options more appealing.

[smg58]

I think you have to be careful about overpaying for a career year in Castro's case, especially since he was awful last year. The Cubs just got a prospect of comparable value to Syndegaard for two starting pitchers, one of whom (Samardzija) is more valuable than Castro right now.

Having said that, Castro is 24, his career norm is an improvement over what we've got, his contract is lengthy but not burdensome, and he could probably switch to second and do just fine if you don't like his glove at short (which has been consistently below average but not brutally so). I wouldn't go all in for him, but I'd talk to the Cubs for sure.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

His career norm is something like 3 wins per season, even with the iffy defense... and he's done at least that level of production for four of the past five seasons, including this one. Pitching something serious for him-- like Montero and some low-level stuff-- in the last offseason would have been incredibly ballsy... and smart.

If you're dealing Syndergaard (close AND good-to-great AND with strong command), though... you want something like Russell or Baez (or Stanton, or Trout) in return.

OE: On further review, if you consider last year as an aberration, that power-- as measured by ISO-- has been climbing pretty steadily (.108, .125, .147, .102, .180) over the last five years. The walk rate's gone roughly the same direction. And he's 24; if the Cubs didn't have a backup of prospects behind him, there wouldn't have been nearly as big a kerfuffle over last year's perceived regression. Maybe he IS worth a Syndergaard.

[bmfc1]

I agree with smg58 and would go "all in" on Castro. And the sooner the better so we can have something to watch as the Mets plod through the summer.

John Harper agrees but he and his anonymous sources think that it will take two young pitchers:
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/harper-mets-run-cubs-castro-article-1.1856497

[bmfc1]

The MFYs obtain Brandon McCarthy from Arizona for Nuno.

[Frayed Knot]

bmfc1 wrote: The MFYs obtain Brandon McCarthy from Arizona for Nuno.

Rearranging deck chairs.

[Edgy MD]

The Yanks have also DFA'd Alfonso Soriano, who has had the good grace to be outhit this year by Chris Young. And Eric Young. And Ruben Tejada. And Jacob deGrom.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Keith Hernandez says he wants nothing to do with Castro. He wants the Mets to get players who aren't "lackadaisical."

[Edgy MD]

Go, Keith.

If I'm trading Syndergaard for a shortstop, his name better rhyme with "You-no-quit-ski."