Miguel Andujar Is Available
A rumor surfaced last night that a three-team trade might be brewing between the Mets, Yankees, and Marlins. According to Ken Rosenthal, J.T. Realmuto would head to the Mets with Noah Syndergaard going to the Yankees. While Realmuto might not fill the Mets’ biggest need, the Marlins catcher is a really good player who would provide a sizable upgrade over the options they have on the roster. For the Yankees, getting another ace-level pitcher in Syndergaard would help them to continue building their rotation after missing out on Patrick Corbin. As for the Marlins, they are obviously looking to get younger as they try to rebuild for the future. The player who might be headed to Miami? That would be Miguel Andujar.
Name to watch with #Yankees: Miguel Andújar. Rival execs tell me and @ByRobertMurray NYY open to moving him. Would make sense as #Marlins’ ask for Realmuto; MIA wants established young MLB player as headliner. Also would line up with NYY pursuit of Machado. Torres could play SS.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 11, 2018
Andujar has tantalized scouts since early in his pro career with a strong, athletic frame and flashy tools that are above average to plus across the board. He was largely seen as potential, even passed over by all 30 teams in the Rule 5 Draft following the 2015 season. He broke out in a huge way in 2017, reaching a critical mass of adjustments and maturity that showed up in the counting stats.
Andujar has cut down on his swing-and-miss while also lifting the ball more and hitting it with more authority, an obviously rare and desirable combination when you’re already working with a toolsy prospect who was always young for his level.
Andujar lived up to that report last season, and as a batter, he was a top ten third basemen in baseball. With five seasons left of team control, Andujar is a young, cheap potential star. As to why the Yankees might move him, Andujar was very bad on defense last year, 16 runs below average on defense by UZR and -25 by DRS. He should probably not be playing third base. I asked Longenhagen what position Andujar should be playing, and he said he would move him to right field. Andujar has a great arm and above-average sprint speed, so a move to the outfield might showcase his skills better than the hot corner does, but the Yankees already have a full outfield. First base might waste Andujar’s arm and some of his issues in the field might not be alleviated by moving across the diamond. Trading Andujar to help the rotation would also free up a spot to potentially sign Manny Machado.
Putting Andujar in right field limits his ceiling, as an average third baseman with his batting line last season would have been a 4-plus win player. Even slightly below average defense in right field would put Andujar in the three-win range, meaning the bat would need to take another step forward to compensate. That step forward is a possibility for a player who is just 23 years old, especially if he improves his walk rate a little and his strikeouts come down closer to his minor league numbers. That’s still an All-Star level player in right field. Even if the Yankees are making Andujar available, it shouldn’t be seen a huge slight to Andujar. He’s a good player now, and has the potential to be better.
Craig Edwards can be found on twitter @craigjedwards.
“Putting Andujar in right field limits his ceiling, as an average first baseman with his batting line last season would have been a 4-plus win player. Even slightly below average defense in right field would put Andujar in the three-win range, meaning the bat would need to take another step forward to compensate.”
Did you mean average third baseman here? RF is more valuable than 1B. Even so, moving to RF only limits his ceiling if he’s realistically capable of becoming a league-average third baseman. If he’s a -15 3B, there’s no reason not to see if he can’t be better than a -5 RF.
Yeah I think that’s a typo.
You have a sibling named G major?
I’m sorry, what’s the sentence supposed to look like? Are there more than one typos?
Yep. Fixed. Thanks.
And, of course, if he’s got above-average speed to go with his 70 arm…he may well be an above average RF.
a +5 RF comes to the same value as a -5 3B…and I’m not sure if anyone thinks Andujar’s a future -5 3B.
Really curious of the structure of this trade. Thor has the most value of the mlb players. I’m wondering if it’s something like this.
Marlins get- Andujar, Frazier, 1 or 2 of 11-20 from Mets system.
Yankees get- Thor and Miguel Rojas.
Mets get- Realmuto,Sonny Gray, and Jonathan Holder.
As a Mets fan I really hope a trade would only be Syndergaard for Realmuto and Andujar since the Mets don’t need to move Syndergaard unless they want to.
That said, if Realmuto is worth Andujar, Frazier & a 40fv prospect as you’re suggesting, why wouldn’t the Mets insist on the same level of return for an additional year of Syndergaard instead of just two arbitration years of Realmuto and eating Sonny Grey’s money?
Rojas, holder and the 40 fv are essentially a wash(with holder being the best of the group). Gray has value, lot of teams buy the 2.65 road fip more than how he looked at Yankee stadium.
The real answer is that teams around the league don’t view acquiring Sonny Gray as “eating his money,” due to his putting up a 2.84 ERA and 3.05 FIP outside of YSIII in the last 1.5 years.
I don’t know how the Mets could possibly justify trading Thor away to get Realmuto without something else in return–something meaningful. Chad Green instead of Holder, perhaps. Or they throw in Montgomery in addition. Because Thor for Realmuto is probably a lateral move in terms of value for next year, and Thor has way more team control.
The answer is that Sonny Gray only sucks in the Bronx – he’s got a 2.84 ERA and 3.05 FIP in his 108 “Away” innings as a Yankee.
I don’t understand how Thor is worth more than Realmuto straight up. Is it the extra year of control?
Because in terms of actual value on the field, Realmuto has been worth more last 3 years (not a huge gap but it could be bigger since WAR is far from perfect for catchers) and when close I’d lean towards the position players, specially one that plays a premium position.
Sorry to be that guy but is it Todd or Clint Frazier in this hypothetical?
Joe?
If so, that would explain why the trade seems to have stalled out. Making a trade that makes sense for the Mets and Marlins results in a trade that doesn’t make sense for the Yankees. Thor is an upgrade in value per year over Andujar, but an equivalent downgrade in number of years. Rojas has similar value to Gray. Frazier is a former top prospect and key OF depth, and Holder has been a good supporting piece in the bullpen the last two seasons. Too much extra value to give up.
Agreed. Andujar straight up for Thor is an overpay but defensible. Adding extra is laughable.
The Yankees may do it simply because they can leverage their financial power in the free agent market to replace Andujar’s production at 3B (Machado?), but there is no SP available to buy who is as good or as cheap as Thor.
I think the Yankees would be getting extra stuff and not giving it up.
Andujar has more value than Thor right now. Andujar Frazier, Gray and Holder have far more value than Thor.
In 1996 the Yankees had a rookie SS who made 22 errors. Andujar made 15 at 3B and he wasn’t throwing to anybody equal to Tino Martinez at 1B. Leave the kid alone. He’ll be just fine.
So you’re saying that Andujar has a future in questionable Major League executive management?
Well, DJ should have probably not stayed at SS either, tbh, so I wouldn’t use that as your starting point lol
I mean, it worked out okay.
I like Andujar, but it’s his lack of range that is the real issue. He also double clutches and has an odd, 3/4 throwing motion.
Great bat, but he’s a mess defensively right now
Did you know that disco record sales were up 400% for the year ending 1976? If these trends continue… AY!
He is certainly athletic enough to be a quality 3B. And he has the fallback of the outfield.
As a Yankee fan I’m conflicted on this. I REALLY like Andujar, but right field is really where he belongs. The Yankees’ spot for him would be at first, but he’s got an 80 arm and it seems like such a waste to have that at first base. He just cannot play third. He fails the eye test and the stats test. Having Gregorious at short, Torres at second, and Machado at third is really the way the Yankees should be geared toward going forward. Gregorious won’t have nearly as much value to any other team as he does to the Yankees, due to all the Yankee stadium home runs he hits.
But Syndergaard… he’s an extremely talented pitcher, no doubt about it. But he’s cocky, and he’s injury prone. He seems like Carl Pavano 2.0. I just… feel like the Yankees should steer clear of him.
What’s wrong with being cocky? He’s an elite player in an elite league, cocky is far more common than you probably think.
You may as well deduct points for his hair – that’s about as inconsequential.
His 2017 injury, which cost him the entire season, came from him being cocky about thinking he could pitch through it. It’s the type of cockiness that can be career ending.
Yet, many would consider that gutsy, not cocky. An admirable quality. Everyone plays hurt.
But it all comes down to whatever narrative you’re pushing, right?
And those “many” would be idiots, because playing injured (not hurt) is dumb.
I wouldn’t say it’s gutsy to turn down an MRI, tear your lat muscle a few days later, then miss the next 5 months rehabbing.
Gutsy, to me, is when you’re healthy enough to contribute if you can tolerate the pain you’re feeling.
As a Yankees fan I remember the acquisition of Carl Pavano. However, I don’t see how he and Noah Syndergaard are at all similar other than they pitch on an NL East team.
I don’t think these downvotes are warranted. While I personally resist making those kinds of character judgments about players, I think there’s an argument to be made that if they potentially have an impact on on-field performance it’s fair game.
I personally think Syndergaard’s injury was more about Mets incompetence than him being “cocky,” but it’s certainly not out of bounds to speculate.
It’s about time we got Andujar into right field. This is where he belongs.
That said, five years of Andujar would be an enormous return for 2 years of Realmuto. If the Yankees really are willing to trade Andujar, I would think that their first and last stop would be to Cleveland. If Cleveland was willing to trade Carrasco for Sheffield/Florial, it would seem pretty likely that they’d be willing to trade one of their pitchers for a package starting with Andujar.
Edit: FIVE years of Andujar, not four as I said earlier. Thanks JediHoyer/Roland.
5 years of Andujar.
5 years of Du.
Yeah, Andujar offers a pretty perfect base for a Kluber trade.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooo.
Andujar too good a hitter, too young, too cheap to be traded for a pitcher that is nominally better than available free agents. And why burn your powder on a third baseman who doesn’t want to play third? Keep some dry for future needs.
Manny Machado might not WANT to play third. But unlike Andujar, he actually can.
Machado only didn’t want to play third as an impending free agent. He’ll happily play wherever the high bidding team wants him to.
How do we know this?
How can a player with a career .329 wOBA for 2 years be a fair trade for a pitcher with a career 2.91 xFIP for 3 years. Last year wOBA Yasmani Grandal .352, J.T. Realmuto .353
Go sign Grandal and stop the shenanigans Brodie!
Exactly – this is why this trade is basically a fever dream of Yankees supporters and will never happen.
Mets should get Gray out of this and probably more (Frazier? Bird?). Marlins should definitely get another legit piece beyond Andujar.
Actually,
Mets: Gray, Realmuto either Frazier or Bird
Yankees: Syndergaard
Marlins: Andujar, either Nimmo or Alonso
There’s a deal I wouldn’t turn down if I were in any of those three front offices.
No way are the Mets giving up both Syndergaard and Nimmo/Alonso to get an average pitcher and a broken prospect (in addition to Realmuto).
Frazier and Sonny Gray are both such obvious buy lows. I love the idea of some team that could use a first baseman putting the former there, where hopefully he’ll run into fewer walls. If you can keep him healthy he was a better prospect than Andujar and he could end up with a higher ceiling offensively
The primary reason Frazier “was a better prospect than Andujar” because he’s a good defensive OF rather than a bad defensive 3B.
Andujar was better in AAA at 22 by a fair bit, and that has nothing to do with the concussion.
No way the Yankees are giving up Fraizer, Gray and Andujar for Syndergaard.
I strongly believe they would
i wouldn’t do that if i was the mets
One player has five years of control left, the other has three.
This makes so little sense for everyone but the Yankees. Syndergaard for Realmuto is at best a wash for the Mets in terms of their competitiveness, and if I’m the Marlins why the hell would I trade one of the premier players on the market for Andujar as a centerpiece? The guy’s overmatched at third, you don’t have a DH spot for him, and he probably doesn’t hit enough to be an above average 1B option…
National media is once again talking up the Yankees asset like he’s something much more special than he is.
Add Sonny Gray going to the Mets and Nimmo to the Marlins and this starts making sense, otherwise I have to think that the Mets could work out a better deal for themselves and Miami w/o losing Syndergaard.
Only four first baseman (450 ab minimum) had a higher ops than Miguel Andujar last year.
The list:
Goldy .922
Carpenter .897
Freeman .892
Aguilar .890
Andujar .855
Rizzo .846
Votto .837
Firstbase is not currently the offensive juggernaut we grew up with.
The above is true, I’ve been reassessing the comment about not hitting enough for 1B since I posted this, but still, we’re talking about a guy who’s at the bottom of the defensive spectrum for someone who’s at the top of it.
I think there is a legit chance that 2017 is close to Andujar’s ceiling, and with that BB rate in the Schoopian range, plus his defense, the floor isn’t good, especially if we’re starting to subtract homers with the move from Yankee Stadium to whatever the Marlins play in
OddBall. I actually agree with the defensive concerns putting him at first.
As for the bat, you could be right, but I think if you saw Katie Sharp’s September article in the Athletic, you would see Andujar, as a hitter, had no real weakness for pitchers to exploit, either in the zone or by pitch type.
The guy basically hit everything. He also hit .319/.345/.575 in the second half.
Whether he can sustain and possibly improve I don’t know, but as a hitter, he seems for real.
Read Katie’s article if you can. I believe in the bat. I was expecting Starlin Castro, he performed like a rh Cano – as a hitter.
We just saw what his floor is in terms of his BB rate and defense. He can’t go anywhere but up from there, and he was already a ROY candidate.
Straight OPS does not control for stadium factors. Let’s not gloss over the fact that Yankee stadium is a launching pad. In Miami I doubt Andujar hits even half as many bombs as he did in the Bronx.
I actually think that Andujar would be an impressive haul for Realmuto. He’s 23 and can hit, with tons of team control. He’s a 2.5 win player today with his defensive problems, with the possibility of being a 4-win player tomorrow based on either hitting growth or okay in the OF. How many prospects can you say that about? There are like 5 hitting prospects on the planet you’d take over him–a clear FV60, maybe a 65 depending on who you talk to. They can install Andujar in RF and I think with the arm he’d be a lot of fun back there. Andujar for Realmuto is about a 90th-percentile outcome for them.
But I have no idea why the Mets would do this. I know Realmuto is good, but it’s basically a lateral move in terms of next year competitiveness, and you’re giving up a lot of team control.
“But I have no idea why the Mets would do this. I know Realmuto is good, but it’s basically a lateral move in terms of next year competitiveness”
Yeah, that’s the primary gripe. If you look at previous deals involving top 10 pitchers with multiple years of control, 2 years of a catcher is a joke.
Maybe I’m the low guy on Andujar, but I just think that if I’m the Marlins and I have one legit trade piece, Andujar, to me, seems more like a nice piece than someone who really moves the needle on your rebuild.
Right. If the Mets can give up Rosario and Nimmo to get Realmuto+ and then sign Machado and/or Pollock, it makes sense. Otherwise, they aren’t any better.
If I’m the Mets, I am willing to trade Rosario for Realmuto. I would consider trading Nimmo for Realmuto, but probably not. I would not trade both. No way.
I know Realmuto is good, but unlike most catchers (who are pretty underrated as a group), WAR probably accurately captures Realmuto’s value because of his lousy framing. He’s not a superstar. He’s just good. And he’s only there for two years.
Guess who had the 6th highest WRC+ in baseball last year or was number 9 in baseball in wOBA or who was 4.5 war even after being held in the minors for the first month of the season… Brandon Nimmo! So “OddBall Herrera” if u think adding in Nimmo to get back Sonny Grey “starts making sense” I am glad your not my GM.
No idea what the Mets are doing trying to insert themselves into this deal (quit while you’re ahead, Brodie, for God’s sake) but the Yankees-Marlins piece makes sense to me on its own.
What I envision this going down like would be like a fake three team deal.
Yankees trade Andujar and a couple of middle tier prospects for Realmuto and maybe one other piece (Starlin Castro has been suggested but meh) and then the Yankees flip Realmuto along with maybe a fringey SP prospect like Loasigia or even sonny gray to the Mets for Noah.
Yankees essentially act as a “broker” in this. But I don’t know if I’m way too unrealistic with this. I don’t think this happens anyway but this would be the way I would try to do this
the bat’s so good that they’ll try like hell to find a spot in the field for him, just as they tried with Miggy Cabrera
Here is what I think the deal would have to look like
Marlins: Andujar
Yankees: Syndergaard
Mets: Realmuto + Nick Neidert + Jose Devers
An Andujar/Thor swap seems in the ballpark of fair. To the point where i don’t think either team would be willing to give up more. Realmuto doesn’t have the trade value of either though so the fish would have to kick in something extra.
Logically if you look at it like Reamulto for Andujar, which is what this essentially is for Florida, that clearly is an unbalanced trade.
The problem is their farm system sucks.
All you people who think “they can just move Andujar to RF” must not follow baseball too closely. The Yanks already have a RF and it seems unlikely they’re going to move him for a converted INF, they didn’t move him for Stanton, and Stanton can play RF.
it’s not as if the Yankees were dying to get rid of an All-Star-level hitter and, now, with the signing of Happ, it seems that Andujar is longer available as the Yankees don’t have any urgent impetus to acquire another starter.
the Yanks can go right ahead and sign Machado and still keep Andy at 3B …..at least until Gregorius gets back