22
2012
Amazin’ Hypotheticals: Trading Spaces, Duda for Joyce?
An article by 
Last night, I was pondering more possible deals the Mets could explore this offseason. One that I considered a strong match was Lucas Duda for Matt Joyce.
I’ve been a big admirer of Joyce for a while now. I feel that his left-handed power potential is something the Mets could sorely use. He also plays the outfield and would fill a void they covet. The Rays could be open to moving him due to this winter being his first arbitration eligible offseason. If they are reluctant to pay the raise, Duda could be a fine return in trade.
The Rays’ current first baseman, Carlos Pena, will be become a free agent at seasons end and Duda could fill the void at 1B for them, while also getting time in at DH. Duda is not eligible for arbitration until after the 2013 season.
Their 2012 numbers are not that dissimilar:
» Lucas Duda (26) - .243 BA, .331 OBP, .728 OPS, 14 HR, 15 2B, 47 BB, 111 K, 423 PA.
» Matt Joyce (28) - .249 BA, .350 OBP, .784 OPS, 15 HR, 17 2B, 52 BB, 95 K, 429 PA.
I’m not necessarily saying this will be a straight up deal. The Mets could end up having to throw in an extra piece Tampa Bay’s way.
The Rays continuously search for spare bullpen pieces to help them compete in the tough AL East. I’m sure names like Parnell, Carson, E. Ramirez could entice them. The Rays do have a deep farm system and will probably prefer a major league ready talent. I do wonder however, if Sandy Alderson could be savvy enough to get them to accept a lower-tier RP prospect instead.
This hypothetical trade could end up looking like this:
Mets get Matt Joyce
Rays get Lucas Duda & Robert Carson
About the Author: Benjamin Yoel
Graduate of St. John's University. Majored in Sports Management. Torn on where career will take me next. Considering Baseball Operations, Scouting, and Journalism. Writer for Metsmerized Online & StLucieToFlushing.com. Devout #Mets fan.
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Duda is neither an outfielder or a first baseman, he’s a DH. Swapping him for a similar offensive player who plays outfield is an upgrade. I’d do this in a heartbeat even if you have to kick a reliever back. It’s not like we have a hoard of great relievers anyway. Take your pick they all suck.
Couldn’t agree with you more Hodges about Duda. So why is there so many rumors to trade Ike? Joyce would be an upgrade and Duda could take over 1st base for the Rays at a cheaper cost.
Once again I am right and yes I do bask in the glory of my genius even as I wallow in the misery of “rebuilding” what did I write in March Lucas Duda is not ready….. I saw Duda 15-18 home runs, 60-70 rbis- 60 runs scored .245 avg.
Of course you all mocked me, “Lifelong Duda will hit at least 25 home runs! Man your stupid!”
What did I say about Johan Santana? 6-8 wins 5.00 era 135 innings piched. Once again I was met with a chorus of who did I think I was?!
Oh I can go on and on and on…….
All the ninnies who blasted me when I wrote 2 years ago that the Met owership was going to allow the team to wither on the vind under the guise of “rebuilding.” Yes, yes. you all said I was crazy….. and here we are.
I hope you all have learned something from these past few years. We are Met fans, we are born to suffer. Our suffering makes us stronger, better able to cope with the rigors of our daily life, “what’s that you say? They didn’t accept our bid?!” sighhhhhhhhhh…..”Ok, ok we’ll just have to work harder!”
We are Met fans! Be proud! Wear your Met caps! Break out your fall Met jackets!
This is our life. Perphaps in another 3-5years we’ll contend. But for now…….. Every day is Good Friday.
Joyce and Hairston would make a great platoon – Joyce crushes righties and Hairston crushes lefties.
Agreed, those two would be a perfect outfield platoon. With the possibility of getting a combined 25-30 homers ou of both of them.
I mentioned around two months ago a story that Tampa loved Duda and that it wouldn’t be a bad option to trade Duda. I’d package a bigger deal than that as Tampa is looking to deal Jeremy Hellickson, so with that said, try to make another hypothetical trade that brings Hellickson & Joyce (or Desmond Jennings. I have a good feeling about this kid turning it around offensively next season) to the Mets.
I love Hellickson, but wouldn’t he cost us Wheeler, Flores and Duda?
Hellickson is a proven MLB stud and Wheeler is still just a prospect.
Hellickson is under team control until 2017, has a ROY under his belt and a career 3.15 ERA and 1.18 WHIP in the toughest division in baseball and where they have a DH.
Why does it just have to be Wheeler? Why couldn’t it be Tyler Pill or Rafael Montero, both of whom are potential studs that had had strong seasons and won’t be far behind Wheeler in making the big league club?
For Hellickson?
They aren’t even BA Top 100 prospects.
Hellickson was ranked #2 prospect in America before the 2011 season.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110124&content_id=16493480
And more than that, he came to the Majors and exceeded expectations to win the ROY, Wheeler or Harvey must be included in any deal.
Hellickson would be the ace of the Mets right now.
Joe is right. Hellickson would probably cost us Wheeler. And that would be a dumb trade to make since Wheeler is younger and also a top 10 prospect in all of baseball.
I don’t see TB rushing to deal Hellickson either. I’d rather keep the deal to what I proposed honestly.
You left out the most important stat that we would need from either of these hitters – RBIs
You want these guys driving in runs – their OBP is much less important than their RBI total.
You want to win? You want the Mets to win? Then include RBI because right now OBP is not cutting it – you need to drive them in in order to win.
Matt Joyce drove in 55 RBI in only 372 AB so NOW we’re talking and NOW we can start talking deal. I want to win game so i want to know how hitters like this are driving in runs and hitting with power. The absolute LEAST thing anybody should care about with this type of hitter is his OBP.
Same with Duda, despite the year he’s having 54 RBIs in under 400 AB for Duda is not bad. His OBP? Not important because he hits lower in the order and his job is to drive in runs.
He gets no awards for walking to clear the pitcher’s spot
You’re right it must have slipped my mind. I wrote the article at like 12:30 am last night.
Actually, his slugging percentage would be more interesting than his RBI total. He can have a huge RBI total because he gets a ton of chances and gets enough chip shots to pad his stats.
On the other hand, he can have a lot of power, which the Mets need, but low RBI totals because he has no one on base for him. Guys like Tejada, Murphy and Wright can not only get on, but be RISP for him.
Duda is slugging .397
Joyce is slugging .434
Given their similar BAs I think Joyce has the clear advantage.
Plus, he can actually play the outfield.
I like this trade a lot. It benefits both sides. The mets get a solid OFer who can get on base and hit for power. Hes not gonna be a 20 HR guy in Citi Field, but he will have enough power, especially in a platoon with Hairston. For the Rays, I think they might actually benefit more in the long run just because I think Duda can thrive in a park more friendly than our own. Hes might a 25 HR guy who can play multiple positions (which Joe Maddon loves).
I like Duda a lot, but we dont need him on this team. He’s not a good enough fielder and with a team with Bay, Torres, Thole, Nickeas, and Valdespin, we cannot continue to be so patient with so many hitters, especially when theyre blocking other guys from playing more. We need to trade for a future and I think Duda can do that for us…though id prefer he was in a deal to Arizona for Upton where I think Duda could thrive more.
Seems like a pretty even swap with the advantage to us for getting a slightly better glove.
But I do take issue with saying we need LH Power as we have plenty of that WITH Duda and Davis.
What we really need to look for is a RH Power bat who doesn’t need platooning to be good.
We get that (and I’m fine with trading Duda for a guy like that as part of a package) and a lot of our offensive issues go away!
While Hairston has had a good year he is really only good vs Lefties and we need a RH power bat who can hit righties as well.
Really what we need is someone that at least gives us what we thought Bay was going to bring here. I wouldn’t shoot that low but if we just got the “REAL” Jason Bay we wouldn’t be as bad in the run scoring department as we have been.
I meant it along the lines as if we move Duda we will need to replace his power. If we can do that with another LH power bat good. If we can get a RH power bat, even better.
No big issue here Ben….I just think we have enough LH hitters to replace most of the power in guys like Kirk who are better OFers than Duda and could be quite capable of giving us 15-20 HRs if they just reduced their K totals.
So I would much prefer to get the RH Power bat for Duda since you have a better shot with trading power for power than you will trying to trade something else to get that RH power bat.
We would be just fine then because Davis would be the LH HR hitter leaving us with the following heart of the order:
Wright
Davis
RH Power Bat
Kirk (and who knows maybe eventually Den Dekker or Nimmo)
I also feel Murphy’s drop in power this year was due to the knee operations and now that he has made it through a whole season and built up his leg strength playing 2B most of it his Power will start to come back next year.
Duda is at best a 20 HR guy and if you can get 10-15 from Duda and Kirk you have more than made up for it and gain glove and perhaps even Average as well.
SO I would much rather trade Duda for that RH Power bat that doesn’t need platooning than go get another LH bat for the OF that will take one more platoon spot away from the few kids we have that might be good
Our RH lineup consists of just Tejada and Wright at this point with Hairston (likely gone anyway) playing vs lefties.
Thats not a lineup that can succeed!
Sorry I said Duda and Kirk and I meant Murphy and Kirk
This trade makes absolutely no sense for Mets.
Trading for a Left handed bat that cant hit left handed pitching???
Career .200AVG for his career vs. LHP
The last thing the mets need is platoon players….THEY NEED FULL TIME STARTERS!!!
I’m surprised everyone is going googoo gaga over this trade proposal…smh…Sandy has achieved his goal of lowering Mets fans expectations.
duda,spin,montero,pill to arizona for upton
.410 slugging outside of Arizona. I’ll pass.
All that garbage is not getting u Upton
I hear these trades you guys are talking about but how about the mets sign B.J. Upton I say 4 years at 36 million will get it done then make a real trade and go after his brother Justin he is having a off year in Arizona and I think the dbacks can be enticed into doing a deal centered around Nimmo and Matt Harvey who looked impressive in his callup not only would the mets be getting 2 guys who are going to hit for power in citi field but both are gold glove caliber outfielders and I think Justin is a perennial MVP caliber player who would push his older brother to great heights if they where on the same team in right J.Upton CF BJ and platoon Hairston and Duda in left speed power and production and the rotation has Dickey Santana Niese Gee and throw wheeler out there as your 5th starter I’d think that team could compete for a wild card
So not only do you want to over pay for an over-hyped strikeout prone player that has never come close to reaching his potential you want to double down and trade our best young pitcher and best outfield prospect for his brother?? Harvey and Nimmo, seriously? Just with the hopes of building a wild card team. I know Nimmo is just a prospect and receiving just as much hype from the Mets as these two were before they were called up but to include Harvey who has shown an ace like presence is ridiculous. Matt Harvey will be a dominant pitcher in this year for years to come and he should remain untouchable.
Mets fans just need to be patient. There is no need to trade prospects ,especially pitching prospects for anyone .Wheeler will join Harvey and Niese sometime next season and Mazzoni Familia and Meijia will help out Edgin and Parnell soon enough. Jack Leathersich ,Adam Kolarek and/or Hamilton Bennett will replace Rob Carson as the 2nd lefty if he doesn’t continue to perform . I personally would love to have 3 power lefties in the pen. That would be one awesome bullpen.
Dillion Gee is going to have prove he deserves to be here beyond 2013 because Fulmer, Montero , Tapia Matz Mateo or Pill could be ready by 2015 or late 2014. One helluva rotation could be formed out of these guys. Why can’t we just wait for these prospects to develop.
I’d love to trade Dickey this off season along with Duda and Flores for Nelson Cruz and Elvis Andrus. How does that sound? Think Texas would bite?