7
2011
Giants Trade Sanchez To Royals For Melky – Missed Opportunity For Mets?
According to the the Kansas City Royals, the team has acquired LHP Jonathan Sanchez and Ryan Verdugo from the San Francisco Giants for centerfielder Melky Cabrera.
Sanchez, 28, is up for his third year of arbitration elibility (and final year of team control), and would have made something like $5-6MM through the process.
Cabrera, 27, is up for his fourth year of arbitration elibility (he’s a Super Two), and could earn as much as $4MM this offseason.
Sounds like a pretty even deal to me.
I wonder if the Giants would have been interested in Angel Pagan?
Pagan is easily a better defensive centerfielder than Melky, and offensively they are statistical clones:
- Cabrera career slash: .275/.331/.398
- Pagan career slash: .279/.331/.418
Pagan also would have given the Giants an extra year of team control.
I know this would have left the Mets in a precarious position in center field with few in-house options, but it may have been a good precursor to other similar type moves or even open them up for a run at Grady Sizemore – who shouldn’t be too costly and has infinitely more upside than Pagan if he’s healthy.
Thoughts?
About the Author: Craig Lerner
I'm a data analyst and researcher for a leading news agency who loves life and is hooked on the Mets. I love following the Amateur Draft and have a particular fondness for the Mets Minor Leagues who I follow each day. Give me a cold beer, a summer day, and a Mets game, and I'm good to go.
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An article by Craig Lerner




well, sanchez would’ve made the mets better, sandy is not interested on that.. plus, why pay $5 million for a pitcher when we can get 7 or 8 pitchers who are crap and maybe hope one of them pan out right? moneyball mentality man, talk to me in 2014 after sandy leaves the mets in shambles
SAnchez stinks Look at his numbers.What has he had 10 good games in his career. Every time someone makes a deal the response is the Mets should have done that.
In 2010 it looked like Sanchez had a breakthrough season and was going to have a solid run as a top pitcher. I dont know what happened last season, but a change of scenerey for a pitcher with his potential was a good idea. I would have definitely swapped Pagan for him. I think Pagan is an overpaid 4th outfielder, but I agree he’s better than Melky.
There was some time recently where I said I wouldn’t mind Melky in CF for the Mets. Because I feel CF is a spot where you can give up offense for defense, especially in Citi Field.
Two things I am curious about
“I wonder if the Giants would have been interested in Angel Pagan?” — Why would a 30 year old CF be as enticing to them as a 27 year old CF?
“Pagan is easily a better defensive centerfielder than Melky, and offensively they are statistical clones”
Pagan is “easily” a better defensive CF than Melky? Based on what? Melky is faster than Pagan, so he takes up more room in CF, he’s younger, and he made less errors than Pagan… so I’m wondering where “easily a better defensive CF” came from?
Comparing their offensive career #s is a little unfair too. Melky began his big league career at the age of 21. Pagan didn’t start his until he was 24. That’s a big difference. Pagan’s coming off his worst season as a starting player, Melky is coming off his best
You like SLG did you look at the dif between Cabrera and Pagan in that metric?
Again I don’t think I can say this any more clearly
“Because I feel CF is a spot where you can give up offense for defense, especially in Citi Field. ”
I am just wondering on what basis is Pagan “easily” better defensively than Melky?
Also I don’t think suggesting the Giants would want a 30 year old CF over a 27 year old CF when their talents are very comparable makes a lot of sense.
Just two years ago, Melky was one of the worst offensive players in baseball. I don’t like this deal for SF, because they’re really putting a lot of hope and faith on one career year. Kind of like what the Mets did with Pagan after his fluke year in 2010.
I guess it depeds on their intentions. I don’t think they trade Sanchez so easily if they didn’t forsee a continued decline. A lot of people seem to forget Sanchez is not that young.
I think they did this for defense, not for his flukey 2011 offensive campaign. I still don’t really get the “easily better” statement.
Melky is better than Andres Torres, and this gives them the chance to not have Cody Ross playing CF.
It’s very possible they think Sanchez is done as even a medicore starter. That’s a good point. But he still had value. I think Melky is really a low ball offer from KC and the Giants were either A) too hasty, or B) no market at all for Sanchez. We don’t know how many teams were offered Sanchez and what kind of return was offered for him. But if Melky was the best they could get, they might have been better off hanging on to Sanchez.
Outside of his career year last year, Melky’s career line is .267/.328/.379. Yeech.
With the uncertainty of Reyes, Pagan is the only reasonable lead-off heir apparent. That’s the only reason I can say they kept him—assuming there was even any interest in Pagan from San Francisco.
If (if!) the Mets do not bring Pagan back, and have issues with Reyes I am thinking a guy like Coco Crisp may be patrolling CF for the Mets.
I think the Giants got toasted. Cabrera sucks, plain and simple. His season last year was just as fluky as Jeff Francoeur’s was. What are they infusing in the water supply in Kansas City these days? We need the Mets to look into that. Apparently it makes shitty players very mediocre.
This.
Ya, this deal confuses me. If Sanchez is hurt and the Giants didn’t tell the Royals, Sabean will never complete a trade again and could end up blacklisted from FO work.
The Royals have Lorenzo Cain coming up to play CF, so I guess they aren’t that worried there. Sanchez is at least going to be a Type B next year, so the Royals can get something for letting him walk if he doesn’t pan out.
LMAO Too bad the Mets couldn’t have traded Pagan for Sanchez and then turned around and traded Pelfrey for Melky. I thought this Alderson was a top GM. Thats what he should have done.
There’s an old saying, you gotta be in it, to win it. Here you have the Mets, a team with more leaks than a colander. Beat writers and journalists have virtually the entire from office in their pockets and everyday brings new rumors and/or news. But how many trade rumors do you hear? None. The Mets aren’t going to make any deals if they dont pick up the phone and talk to other teams. The Mets are not going to sign free agents unless they pick up the phone and call their agents. The Mets aren’t going to re-sign Reyes until the pick up the phone and call him. Obviously the Marlins had no problem getting in touch. Remember they never spoke to Scott Boras either about K-Rod clause which he dropped right after the trade. Communication is not this front office’s strong suit. They are cloaked in secrecy like the owners.
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/fish_bytes/2011/11/marlins-talking-to-jose-reyes.html
They were so interested they waited until 12:01 to call Reyes one minute after FA period opened!
I think Sabean thinks Melky is better than Pagan.
If anyone thinks otherwise, and that Sabean really wanted Pagan instead of Melky, and that Alderson was offered Pagan for Sanchez and turned him down, I can’t help you.
Not a missed opportunity for the Mets. SF was not trading for Cabrera’s “career” slash line, but rather for what he did in 2011: .305/.339/.470. Compare that to Angel Pagan’s 2011: .262/.322/.372. Given a choice of dealing Sanchez for Cabrera or Pagan, which one would you chose? Plus, Cabrera is 3 years younger than Pagan (27 vs. 30).
And besides that, even if the Mets had been able to swing a Pagan for Sanchez trade it still might have been a disaster for the Mets. Sanchez, a fairly young, live armed left hander who can strike people out in bunches, but also walks them in bunches too. Remind you of anyone in recent Mets history? Yes, I am suggesting that Jonathan Sanchez could be the 2nd coming of Oliver Perez. If the Giants with a very accomplished pitching coach such as Dave Righetti cannot harness Sanchez’s stuff, what makes anyone think that Dan Warthen would have any better luck? After all, look how much success he’s had with the aforementioned Perez and Bobby Parnell (to name but a few).