Marcus Stroman is Now a Met, for Some Reason

Posted On Jul 29, 2019 By admin With Comments Off

While it might not be a surprise that the Blue Jays’ Marcus Stroman is the first big-name musician to be transactions in advance of the coming July 31 deadline, the team on the other end of the transaction has raised some eyebrows. At 50 -5 5, the Mets are running fourth in the National League East( 11 1/2 sports out of first place ), and seventh in the NL Wild Card race( six plays out ). Acquiring the 28 -year-old righty, who has one more year of fraternity limit remaining, in exchange for a pair of sloping promises seems to have been both a preface to another deal involving a Mets starting pitcher and a signal that the team intends to contend next season rather than plunge itself into a more substantial rehabilitate. The alternative — that first-year general manager Brodie Van Wagenen is double-faced down on a disappointing crew whose playoff odds are just 11.2%( 10.5% for the Wild Card) — well, that would be quite the four-dimensional chess move.

Brand-new York get:

RHP Marcus Stroman Cash considerations

Toronto get:

LHP Anthony Kay RHP Simeon Woods-Richardson

Stroman has pitched considerably better than his 6-11 won-loss record reveals. Entering Sunday, his 2.96 ERA grades fifth in the AL, his 3.52 FIP sixth, his 2.9 WAR 10 th. In a season where home runs are more common than ever before( 1.38 per squad per recreation ), he owns the league’s third-lowest rate per nine innings( 0.72 ), in part because he’s exceeded at put the chunk on the floor; his 56.3% groundball rate is the Junior Circuit’s highest.

The same characters that stir Stroman a beneficial pitcher, however, too restraint his upside. At a meter when sinkerball habit is at its lowest in the pitch-tracking era( since 2008) — merely 14.7% of all lurches hurl, according to Pitch Info — Stroman’s 34.6% sinker rate is 12th among characterized starters in both organizations. When smashes kept his sinkers in play, they become groundballs 67.1% of the time, though they only generate a 5.5% shaking disturb frequency. Stroman’s overall swinging strike proportion of 9.8% is 20th out of 34 AL qualifiers, while his 19.3% strikeout charge is 22nd, and his 12.5% strikeout-to-walk differential is 23rd.

The fact that Stroman doesn’t miss numerous at-bats is one reason why challengers in pursuit of name-brand rotation help might favor the Indians’ Trevor Bauer( 28.1% K proportion, 3.49 ERA, 4.19 FIP ), the Diamondbacks’ Robbie Ray( 31.0% K charge, 3.95 ERA, 4.27 FIP ), the Tigers’ Matthew Boyd( 32.1% K pace, 4.07 ERA, 3.57 FIP ), or the Mets’ own Noah Syndergaard( 23.8%, 4.33 ERA, 3.64 FIP) or Zack Wheeler( 25.9% K frequency, 4.71 ERA, 3.64 FIP ). Of direction, some or even most of those pitchers may not wind up going anywhere before July 31 because their current crews aren’t causing them go for cheap and in a number of cases, still harbour declaration hopes of their own. Of that group, exclusively Wheeler — who incidentally made an acceptable but unspectacular return from a bout of shoulder impingement with a 5.1 -inning, three-run start against the Pirates on Friday — is a pending free agent. The respite, like Stroman, have some years of club control remaining.

What’s more, Stroman’s contact-driven penchants meet him a particularly odd are suitable for the Mets, whose crew defense has been, to articulate it politely, totally shocking. They’re second-to-last in the NL in defensive economy (. 674) and dead last-place in the organization in both UZR( -2 3.5) and DRS( -5 9 ). Via Craig Edwards’ forthcoming section about Syndergaard, here’s a disturbance of the team’s infield security comprising this year and the past four seasons:

Matches’ Infield Defense Ranks

SS/ 2B/ 3B UZR Rank SS/ 2B/ 3B DRS Rank 2016 -2 019 -36.2 28 -93 30

2019 -13.6 30 -24 27

Yikes.

One other concern seeing Stroman is soundnes. While the 5-foot-8, 180 -pound righty reached the 200 -inning plateau in both 2016 and’ 17, this might be merely the third year out of six in which he hurls at least 150 innings, and the fourth out of six in which he contacts 3.0 Crusade( he’s never topped 3.4 ). He restricted to four regular season beginning in 2015 by a charge ACL, though he rehabbed in time to make three postseason starts. He expended 45 dates on the disabled roster last year with shoulder fatigue, a number of problems that no doubt contributed to his disappointing 5.54 ERA( but 3.91 FIP) in 102. 1 innings.

Leaving aside the possibility that the Mets still think they have a shot at a playoff smudge this year, their next move( s) with regards to the rotation should be of great interest. Via ESPN’s Jeff Passan,” The likelihood is strong they cope at least one of Wheeler and Noah Syndergaard. They’ve hijacked the market .”

The Mets are known to be shopping Syndergaard, who has two more years of club control remaining, and if they do deal him, they should receive a more substantial package than they surrendered to get Stroman. The New York Post’s Joel Sherman reported on Saturday that the team has given suitors know they’re aiming” a starter who can go into their rotation now — even if he is a No. 3-4 kind — and a few cases top promises .”

Such volume may be unattainable, particularly given that the 26 -year-old righty hasn’t sloped anywhere close to his full capability; it’s worth noting that after arranging 29 th in our Trade Value series last year, Syndergaard slipped off of the inventory this year. Meanwhile, per the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, the Mets have explored signing Wheeler to an extension rather than trading him, though a unit informant told Passan that an extension is increasingly unlikely. A gyration with Jacob deGrom, Stroman, Steven Matz, and a starter delivered in the Syndergaard trade would still rate as a competitive one, especially if they situated the money they’re currently spending on Wheeler and Jason Vargas( who has an$ 8 million fraternity alternative and$ 2 million buyout for 2020) into paying another starter.

On the Blue Jays’ slope, distributing the popular Stroman has to be a blow to a love basi that had hopes of him frisking the elder statesman into the Vladimir Guerrero Jr ./ Bo Bichette period. Despite the pitcher’s stated willingness to sign a long-term extension, Toronto doesn’t appear to have made a substantial effort to retain him, either this past winter or more recently. Via SNY’s Andy Martino, when the Jays were said to have told squads they were considering widening Stroman, the pitcher responded on Twitter,” That’s news to me. Lol .” The Toronto Star’s Gregor Chisholm chronicled the corrosion of the team’s rapport with the pitcher.

As for the future prospects heading to Toronto, the 24 -year-old Kay and the 18 -year-old Woods-Richardson graded ninth and seventh respectively on the Mets’ potential schedule in January, and were ninth and eighth in the system at the time they were dealt.

Kay, a 6-foot, 218 -pound southpaw, is a potential No. 4 starter who will likely describe its further consideration of a distinguish in our Top 100 Potentials register this winter. A supplementary first-round select in the 2016 drawing — numeral 31 overall, 12 picks after Justin Dunn, who was traded to the Mariners in the Robinson Cano lot — Kay was so overworked at the University of Connecticut that he experienced Tommy John surgery in October of that year, and didn’t represent his professional debut until 2018. Eric Longenhagen described the post-TJ version of Kay as” a lefty changeup demon with mediocre velocity .” His fastball has since clicked up, and now sits 90 -9 4 mph while stroking 96( he sat 95 -9 6 in his inning during the Futures Game ). His once-dominant changeup has regressed rather, but still rates as a potentially above-average pitch( points of 50/ 55 ), as does his two-plane breaking ball.

Kay began its first year at Double-A Binghamtom, where he sloped to a 1.49 ERA and 2.72 FIP in 66.1 innings before moving up to Triple-A Syracuse, where he’s been cuffed for a 6.61 ERA and 6.23 FIP in 31.1 innings. The help of the major league ball in Triple-A this year, which has sent home run rates skyrocketing, appears to be a factor; he yielded 0.27 homers per nine at Binghamton but 2.01 per nine at Syracuse. More unsettlingly, his strikeout frequency has thrown from 26.7% to 18.6% with the change in grades.

Woods-Richardson, who rolls at 6-foot-3, 210 pounds, was the Mets’ second-round pick in the 2018 drawing( 48 th overall) out of a Sugar Land, Texas high school. He’s athletic, with a fiery hammock vicinity and a fondnes for running so quickly that it compiles smashes uncomfortable, though scouts affection it. His floor is as a high-leverage reliever, though he has the potential to be a mid-rotation starter. He’s spent this year pitching at -Alevel Columbia, where he’s struck out 29.9% of hitters while posting a 4.25 ERA and 2.55 FIP.

Prior to the draft, Woods-Richardson selected consideration as a power-hitting third-base prospect as well. Per Longenhagen, his make has already grew, so he’s not as physically projectable as most other teenages, which may cause him to be overrated by some teams. His vertically familiarized freeing station meets it hard for him to work his fastball( which sits 91 -9 4 and handles 96, with above-average life) east and west, although it was enables him to change hitters’ attention elevations with low-toned breaking ball; he’s got a potential plus curveball, and above-average changeup. Concerns about word passed various squads to consider him a future reliever, and his flooring is that of a high-leverage one. A third wallop degree could help him contact that mid-rotation ceiling.

In all, this watches to be a solid but unspectacular haul for the Blue Jays, who have gotten a duo of 45 Future Value potentials for an All-Star with one-plus year of association regulate remaining. There are no sure things with pitching promises, and the Mets, whose raise system currently ranks 24 th on THE BOARD,( which reflects the loss of Kay and Woods-Richardson) weren’t accurately waist-deep in them. Both rate as increased risk, though with higher peril comes the feasibility of establishing higher reward.

As for the Mets, it’s difficult to evaluate this move in a vacuum, since we don’t know which practice they’ll go with Syndergaard, Wheeler, and the rest of their deadline proposals. That Stroman’s strengths don’t align with those of the Mets — as currently constituted, at least — in terms of the quality of their justification does proportion as a concern, as does the possibility that they’re in the midst of misreading the current landscape. Having said that, it’s selling Stroman short-lived( no pun aimed) to say that he won’t help the team. He’s a damn good pitcher who was quite popular in Toronto, one whose Long Island beginnings should induce him a follower favorite in Queens.

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