According to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, who is currently at the Rogers Centre covering the final game of the series against the Blue Jays, Marcus Stroman has been traded to the New York Mets.
Some chatter going around Rogers Centre – UNCONFIRMED – that #BlueJays have traded Stroman to #Mets. That’s all I’ve got.
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) July 28, 2019
Stroman, 28, was linked to the Mets when Ken Rosenthal put out a weird tweet and scenario that would see other starter trade chip Noah Syndergaard going to the San Diego Padres. Then would see the Mets using some of those assets acquired from the Padres for Stroman from Toronto.
Topkin got the first hit, but later Jon Morosi and Jeff Passan has confirmed the trade. Marcus Stroman is officially part of the New York Mets.
What was reported as just a few pitching prospect before, has been finalized.
#BlueJays getting Anthony Kay and Simeon Woods Richardson for Stroman, sources tell The Athletic.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 28, 2019
Kay, 24, and Woods-Richardson, 18, are probably two of the best pitching prospects in the Mets system, but that’s still a fairly poor system.
Kay is currently in Triple-A and through 31 and 1/3 innings has a 6.61 ERA and is strking-out batters at a 7.41 K/9 rate — not the best, but he was ranked as the Mets’ ninth-best prospect according to Fangraphs.
With more potential, Woods-Richardson has the youth to hope for what’s to come in this righty starter. He has a dominant 2.55 FIP and 11.14 K/9 in 78 and 1/3 innings at Single-A — fantastic stats to look at.
This return overall isn’t terrible, but considering what type of prospects the Jays were asking for — Clint Frazier or Deivi Garcia from the Yankees — this is slightly underwhelming.
That’s hysterical.
I’m guessing the conversation went something like…
“Marcus, we’re sending you to the New York…”
Marcus: woohooo!!
“…Mets.”
Marcus: …
So… the front office was aware they didn’t HAVE to trade him, right? I like how you give FIP on Woods-Richardson, as his ERA is a much less flattering 4.25 in High A ball.
Anthony Kay looks like he could have potential, though how much, hard to say. Starts have fluctuated between good and bad.
I think my favourite part of this is how it doesn’t line up with the Guerrero/Bichette/Biggio timeline nearly as well as JUST KEEPING MARCUS STROMAN would have.
Dude is 18, in the Sally League (A, not High A; Lansing is equivalent), and has a 97/17 K/BB in 78.1 IP over 20 starts.
His ERA is straight up inconsequential.
So, that’s what I thought about the Sally league too, but according to Wikipedia… which, yeah, could be wrong, it’s high A, and Columbia is their low A team.
I fail to see the ERA as inconsequential. We’ve seen plenty of pitchers who’s FIP outperforms their ERA consistently. Giving one without the other doesn’t give a full picture.
and my bad… so, when I looked up his MILB page he was listed as a member of the St Lucie Mets. What I didn’t realize is all his stats were from Columbia, and he was just promoted a few days ago, yet to pitch at High A.
Right. So, how many 18 year olds play in the Florida State League? And he was promoted there.
That’s some serious prospect helium right there. Like, people lost their minds when Vlad was in Dunedin at basically the exact same point (6 months younger, but in his age 18 season late-July). This kid, ERA aside, has numbers similar to Chris Paddack when he was traded to the Padres.
There are a number of reports out there about some kind of loud argument – brouhaha -whatever – in the Jay’s clubhouse after today’s game. Anyone know anything?
I’m a little underwhelmed by the names here…. but maybe the Jays scouts like these guys better than most in the industry?
Either way it’s the same strategy they followed in the draft. Lower risk, closer to MLB ready pitcher paired with a higher risk higher reward arm in the lower minors.
Pardinho, Woods-Richardson, Kloffenstein, Kendall Williams all could be top 100 prospects by 2021 if they develop as expected. Shades of Sanchez, Syndergaard and Nicolino a decade ago.
Woods-Richardson is an 18 year old who was promoted to the FSL late last week. He was just drafted last year.
The best recent comp for him at this point based on age, advancement and numbers is Chris Paddack. Paddack was underrated everywhere but Fangraphs (not even in the MLB Pipeline top 30 for the Marlins) when he was traded in 2016.
You can be underwhelmed, but I trust this move if we’re talking about ceilings and when he’ll be MLB ready. If they assign him to Dunedin, he could be in the bigs in 2022 years.
The more I read about them the more I like it. It looks like Fangraphs and MLB Pipeline had them lower than baseball America and Keith Law… so the consensus is better than I originally thought.
Time will tell of course but the pitching pipe is certainly getting stronger. Fangraphs has Bichette… then 7 pitchers in a row for the Jays on their big board. And MLB has the Jays with more 50FV or higher prospects than any other team… except the Rangers.