In what has been a comparatively quiet July to this point on the commerce entrance, the Mets made two minor trades over the weekend, each with the Pirates. First, they picked up designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach in return for reliever Colin Holderman. In a separate transaction, Pittsburgh additionally despatched catcher Michael Perez to Queens in return for the crew’s favourite form of participant: money.
As a power-and-walks hitter with out a lot defensive worth, Vogelbach was not a favourite of prospect-watchers, however the web at the very least partially fell in love with him resulting from his Rubens-esque proportions. Whereas his main league profession hasn’t precisely resulted in any Massive Grownup MVP memes, he’s established himself within the large leagues as a power-hitting DH, albeit one with a reasonably restricted function. You don’t need him in a sport in opposition to a left-handed pitcher, and ideally, you don’t need him standing within the area with a glove, both. In the event you want a part-time DH who may come off the bench and damage a right-handed reliever’s night, although, then Vogelbach is your man. His .228/.338/.430 triple-slash in Pittsburgh is hardly eye-popping, however in 2022, that’s sufficient to get you a superbly serviceable wRC+ of 118.
As a Met, Vogelbach’s line ought to look even higher than that, as he’s joined a crew that has much less of a purpose to let him face lefties. With a particularly skinny roster, the Pirates began him 14 instances in opposition to left-handed starters, about 40% of the time. That they had no lefty-masher available to function a complement to Vogelbach, and when he wasn’t beginning, they usually turned to Yoshi Tsutsugo, one other left-handed hitter, or used the place to relaxation different gamers. The Mets, however, are fairly content material to make use of J.D. Davis in opposition to lefties — he’s began all 35 video games in opposition to them — and seem to have lastly determined that his finest place is DH. If Dominic Smith had been hitting in any respect, a commerce like this could not have been needed, however with a .560 OPS this yr after final yr’s .667, the crew is mainly at wits’ finish on the subject of getting constant manufacturing out of him. I’d truly be shocked if Smith is on the roster after the deadline, and at this level, a divorce could also be finest for each events.
In return, the Mets hand over Holderman — truly a surprisingly steep value for a part-time DH. Normally, contending groups hand over lower-level prospects for function gamers moderately than somebody contemporaneously contributing to the crew. For instance: Coming off a stint in Seattle throughout which Vogelbach was mainly the identical participant he’s in the present day, the Blue Jays picked him up from the Mariners for money in 2020, and the Brewers received him on waivers every week later. The fastball-slider Holderman shot by way of the minors shortly after being moved to the bullpen just a few years in the past and had been efficient in that function for New York, hitting the upper-mid 90s along with his fastball and with a 2.27 FIP in 15 appearances. For our Mets prospect checklist, my colleague Eric Longenhagen described him as a participant who “tasks because the third banana in a contending crew’s bullpen.” On condition that Holderman was third in WAR amongst full-time relievers in a contending Mets bullpen, one might say the foretold prophecy has already come to cross. Supervisor Buck Showalter hadn’t been utilizing Holderman in high-leverage conditions, so one might argue that it doesn’t matter too a lot, however my intestine tells me that there’s going to be a time when the Mets will want that they had him on the roster.
The Pirates celebrated Jacob Stallings profitable his first Gold Glove award by buying and selling him just a few weeks later to the Marlins due to, nicely, let’s simply say, the “standard Pirates causes.” Perez was claimed on waivers after the 2021 season and stepped in because the crew’s low cost model of Stallings — higher, even, as Stallings hasn’t hit in any respect in Miami; Perez truly has the upper wRC+, 47–40. For the Mets, Perez is mainly a fast emergency depth possibility, as James McCann continues to be out with an indirect harm, and Tomás Nido continues to be Tomás Nido.
Neither Vogelbach nor Perez drastically alters the state of the NL East race; the Mets might want to make weightier strikes to shake up these projections. However these acquisitions are an indication that they’re attempting to buff the sides of the roster as they put together for the homestretch.
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