Previewing The Mets New Minor League Relievers

The Mets traded Lucas Duda, Addison Reed, Jay Bruce, and Curtis Granderson for a quintet of hard throwing minor league relievers, so let’s check them out!

            The Mets have made five trades of note so far during the July/August hot stove season of 2017, trading Lucas Duda, Addison Reed, Jay Bruce, Neil Walker, and Curtis Granderson in exchange for six right-handed minor league pen arms and a PTBNL. The trade market for Duda, Bruce, Walker, and Granderson was basically non-existent this season, and (depending on who you ask) the Mets may not have been willing to eat salary for a better prospect return in some of those deals, so the Mets chose to target minor league power arms that project to help in the bullpen over the next few seasons.

            The initial returns from the baseball community were mixed. On the one hand, Jon Heyman and some other “insiders” suggested scouts liked the returns:

according to scouts, mets got great return for reed. gershon bautista throws 98-101.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 31, 2017

            On the other, some prospect sources, like BP, were not as ecstatic about the returns:

Let's make something clear here: I have no problem trading for good prospects that project as late-game RPs. The Mets have yet to get one.

— Jarrett Seidler (@jaseidler) July 31, 2017

            This was before the Bruce trade, but Seidler didn’t exactly sound thrilled about the Mets trading him for a 30^th round pitching convert either. I am a little surprised they didn’t get more for Bruce, but Sandy did say he wanted to clear room for Dom Smith, so maybe he just wasn’t willing to play the waiting game like he’s done in the past.

The Mets completed the Granderson deal just before this post was initially ready to go out, and that deal has received considerably better reviews.

            Ultimately, I think the returns were somewhere in between those two tweets. It was good that the Mets added some solid power arms to the system in exchange for four rentals and the hopes that one or two work out. It’s just that the pieces the Mets acquired are mostly guys you’d think of as add-ins, not primary or sole pieces for Major League regulars, and so this doesn’t feel like a good return: five major league regulars for six minor league relievers and a PTBNL. Of course, had those five major league regulars been performing well enough to command bigger trades, the Mets might not have been looking to sell them off in the first place.

            To save your computer from overloading, below you’ll find links to some background info on all six guys and, of course, plenty of 2017 MiLB.tv coverage. Unless otherwise noted, the “stuff” information gathered comes from listening to the MiLB.tv broadcasters as I dug up old highlights. Smith hasn’t made too many appearances on MiLB.tv yet this season, so he has considerably less coverage than the others. I included full sequences for many of the PA’s in the links below – and it’s not just the good stuff – but a few have just 2-3 pitches of a longer AB, and a few have just one pitch.

From the Lucas Duda trade

Drew Smith - here

From the Addison Reed trade

Gerson Bautista - here

Stephen Nogosek - here

Jamie Callahan - here

From the Jay Bruce trade

Ryder Ryan - here

From the Curtis Granderson trade
Jacob Rhame - here

UPDATE
From the Neil walk trade
Eric Hanhold - here

For comparison

One of the reasons cited for the Mets targeting power relievers with these trades is to replenish that area of the system. With that in mind, below I’ve included some recent notes on a number of relief-only prospects that were already in the system before these trades. Again, unless otherwise indicated, the notes come from watching/listening to the games on MiLB.tv/TuneIn throughout the season. I’ll have more in-depth reports, with 2016-17 highlights, on many of these relievers during the offseason.

(Note: This list is only current relievers, outside of a few spot starts as needed, no pitchers here were part of a Mets affiliates rotation in 2017. It does not include a few veterans with former MLB experience. Also, I will update if I get new information.)

Las Vegas

RHP

Logan Taylor (92-95 (t-97) MPH fastball, low-80’s power curve, splitter)

Kevin McGowan (91-94, mid-80’s slider, low-80’s changeup)

Luis Mateo (91-94, slider, rarely thrown low-80’s changeup)

Beck Wheeler (89-90, splitter, curve)

LHP

Alberto Baldonado (92-95, mid-80’s change, mid-70’s curve)

David Roseboom (DL, low-90’s, changeup, slider)

Kyle Regnault (91-93, curve, changeup)
Kelly Secrest (“low-90’s heat, slow breaker” per MetsMinors.) - Just promoted, Langer was calling his heater in the upper-80's

Binghamton

RHP

Tyler Bashlor (94-97 (top-98), power curve)

Corey Taylor (92-95, hard slider, changeup)

Tim Peterson (89-90 MPH, good changeup, slider)
Adonis Uceta (93-99, hard slider, good changeup) - Just promoted

LHP

Ben Griset (89-90, curve, slider, changeup)

St. Lucie

RHP

Austin McGeorge (88-92, slider)

Alex Palsha (93-95, curve, mid-80’s changeup)

Johnny Magliozzi (88-91, low-80’s slider)

Craig Missigman (low-90’s, change, curve per MetsMinors)

Joshua Torres

LHP

Kevin Canelon (85-88, changeup, slider)

Columbia

RHP

Matt Blackham (93+, knuckle-curve, changeup)

Matt Pobereyko (91-94, slider, split)

Adam Atkins (Sidearmer with lots of movement on fastball/slider combo)

Joe Zanghi (low-90’s, slider)

Max Kuhns (Fastball, change, breaking ball)

Keaton Aldridge (mid-90’s pre-TJS)

Cameron Griffin (around 90, curve)

LHP

Taylor Henry (Fastball, curve, change)

  

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