5
2012
Mets Trade Target: J.P. Arencibia
An article by 
Sandy Alderson was on WFAN a short time ago. He addressed MANY different aspects of the season and what will happen in the offseason. One quote stood out to me more than any other. Mike Francesa asked “Do you expect to make small upgrades in the OF and C or do you plan on making significant changes at those positions?”. Alderson replied “I expect to make SIGNIFICANT changes to both these areas.”
Most fans have been clamoring for the Mets to redo the catching situation for 2013. Shoppach was given a tryout, which didn’t exactly turn out so well. Thole drew rave reviews from Dickey for his work behind the plate, but his offense took a major step backwards.
If the Mets do in fact turn to the trade market to address the catcher position, who could be some names on the market? One name that stands out to me the most is J.P. Arencibia. Arencibia was the starting catcher for the Blue Jays this past season.
Arencibia would be a perfect fit for the Mets. He is right-handed, plays C, has power and is young (27 years old on Opening Day 2013). He is also under team control through 2016.
Why would the Blue Jays want to move Arencibia? They have the top catching prospect in Major League Baseball in Travis D’Arnaud.
D’Arnaud is considered major league ready, despite his injury woes in 2012. The Jays recently added D’Arnaud to the 40-man roster as well.
What would they be looking for in return?
That’s a really good question. I’m sure they would be interested in young pitching like every other MLB team. Dillon Gee could be a possible piece. Another name that could interest the Jays is Lucas Duda. Adam Lind didn’t exactly light the world on fire for them at first base in 2012. Duda could step in a become their 1B in 2013 in a possible Arencibia deal.
Please share your thoughts in the comments section. Always like to hear from fellow fans on these possible scenarios.
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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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 42 | 28 | .600 | - |
| Nationals | 34 | 35 | .493 | 7.5 |
| Phillies | 34 | 37 | .479 | 8.5 |
| Mets | 25 | 40 | .385 | 14.5 |
| Marlins | 22 | 47 | .319 | 19.5 |
Last updated: 06/18/2013
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Gee and Duda? From your lips to God’s ears Ben. Maybe Mejia and Duda and Robles could work. Thats pure conjecture on my part…maybe..probably more than that though. Young controllable catchers like Arenciba are very expensive. Anthopoulos isin’t dumb…
Toronto is a natural trade partner for the Mets. Each team carries a surplus in the other’s areas of needs. Sandy needs to determine Toronto’s trade preferences and tolerances.
In my view, we want the best player available, Travis d’Arnaud? Is he available? What is their asking price? Toronto’s minor league stats are kind of tricky, as we’re about to find out. The offensive stats are somewhat skewed in Las Vegas. But d’Arnaud appears to be the real deal and I’d prefer him over any other catcher available.
I’d trade Dickey, Duda & Thole for d’Arnaud, just to eliminate some confusion about the direction of the franchise and the type of ball players we’re going to put out on a day-to-day basis.
BTW, R.A, is a great Met and a greater person; however, from a business standpoint, he’s our most valuable and trade-able chip, and his contributions, as great as they have been, are more easily to duplicate than the daily contributions from a top-flight catcher.
This trade would be awesome! I already thought about a trade which includes arencibia and rasmus.
Arenciba led the league in passed balls last at 11
Arenciba had a .233 batting average this year
Arenciba will be arb elig after next season…
Yeah I’d rather take my chances with Travis
His batting average has improved and his BABIP was in the tank.
Plus, even with the low BA, he still hit 18 HR in 372 PAs. He batted .219 in 2011with 23 HR.
The only issue I have is trading Duda. We’d end up with less power when we need more.
Had Gee not gotten hurt, maybe, but now his value is low. Duda and Mejia are basically trade fillers.
JP is not great, but he’s a power hitting C, that’s a lot of value right there for a premium position.
I’m not sure Toronto would prefer a Niese or Wheeler type.
I’d think it’ll take a little bit more than Gee and Duda to get it done, but it’s a start.
But I’d be careful when it comes to trading Gee. Sure he’s not great, but he’s a very solid middle of the rotation pitcher who is very cheep.
I know everyone thinks that our young pitching is a strength right now and the Mets have ton of depth, but that can get thinned out very quickly. We got one more year of Santana, one more year of RAD. Then we got Neise and Harvey. Maybe Wheeler will be ready to start the season in 2014.
Pelf should be gone…Hefner is too inconsistent… McHugh had lots of work to do… Familia and J. Mejia and wild and are probably better suited for the pen.
Guys like Fulmer, Montero, Tapia, Mazzoni and Urbina are too young and too far off to ever be considered to be part of the future right now.
So maybe we extend RAD, but that’s a big MAYBE…
if I were running the Mets, I’d try to work out and extension on Santana now too…maybe offer him a 3year 41mil deal plus performance incentives and an option…it sounds like a lot, but it’s better than 1 year 31mil and it’ll free up some money for next year. I know it sounds risky, but you’re gonna have to pay him anyways, but now you can defer the money…if he’s healthy, then he’s a solid pitcher and a great leader on the team and a roll model for the young pitchers…if he’s hurt, then all you’d lose is a roster spot which you’d have to fill anyways after next year.
extend santana? NOOOOO!!!!!
there is absolutely no way they should be extending Johan sorry. I love the guy, I love the memory he gave me this year but he’s approaching the end of his career and 3 years 41m is nothing I wanna see the Mets give him
I understand the sentiment. I think he is basically saying you would get 2 more years at 5M each. Even that is too much for Johan though.
Exactly, plus you’d be cutting about 13-15mil from next years payroll.
Knowing that we don’t have enough arms to fill the rotation in the near future and Sandy won’t (and shouldn’t) sign any big name FA starter to a huge contract, that leaves us with AAAA starters or old pitchers on the down side of their careers…sorry, I’d take Santana on the way down over 90% of the guys out there.
He’s a winner and when healthy he can be great…even if he falls into the 3rd or 4th spot in the rotation, he’ll still be better than the majority of options out there. He’s had injuries, but he’s still only 31…so after full year of recovery, his shoulder seems OK so he could be OK.
I’m trying to think of how else you’d get some pay roll flexibility for 2013 and keep RAD and Wright. And because Santana is now a Mets icon, the fans will always love him and he’ll be better for the Mets brand the some Randy Wolf type.
Unless we trade Dickey
Dickey, Niese, Harvey, Wheeler and Gee seem to be the locks for the rotation? Correct?
For next year, the only locks we have are Neise and Harvey.
RAD is having surgery and who knows about what will happen with his contract. but he’s almost a lock.
Santana and Gee and pretty close to being locks…but both are coming back from surgery too so you never know.
Wheeler should not be in the rotation to start the year unless something goes wrong…and as promising as he is, until I see success at the MLB level, you can’t count on him.
Now part of the talk in this topic is about trading Gee…you trade his and that leaves a big hole in the rotation and would mean that you only have Neise and Harvey locked in on 2014. Wheeler is an unknown, RAD maybe gone and the Mets won’t execute Santana’s option.
As much as I like Gee, he’s not a 20 game winner, he’s more like Rick Reed that anything else.
If Sandy can’t get creative with payroll, then it will be very hard to add anyone productive this year and/or extending RAD and Wright, especially when SA has said he doesn’t like to back load contracts. Plus adding productive players is part of the key into being able to extend both these guys anyways.
If his name is brought up at the winter meetings I wonder what other teams would want a bite of that apple. If you say Duda could be included are you then saying the Mets will n ot trade Davis (which I am opposed too as he could be if healthy a 30 home run hitter for many years). I like Shoppach as our backup and Thole to catch Dickey and that leaves Nickeas as the odd man out. Something crazy here, if the trade is made and Duda goes can Thole possible fill in as a first baseman if needed. In closing I think the Jays would also want Murphy or Turner to and Valdespin could be in the mix too. Something REALLY.
“I like Shoppach as our backup and Thole to catch Dickey and that leaves Nickeas as the odd man out.”
I don’t think we’ll be seeing 3 catchers on a team anymore. Bullpen specialization put an end to that.
forgive me I want to add Something really crazy is if the Rangers get eliminated and they disband the team what do you think it would take in trade to get Josh Hamilton?
Texas is young and insanely talented. They aren’t disbanding.
Also, Hamilton is a free agent this winter, if the Rangers don’t lock him up.
He would be nice depending on the price. His average should improve in the NL.
Why might his average improve in the NL? Especially with the extreme use of specialty pitchers. Isn’t like he plays in a pitcher friendly park either.
Toronto isnt rebuilding. They are looking for starting pitchers. They would be more willing to trade D’Arnaud then Arencibia. if the Mets would be willing to trade Niese. They could get D’Arnaud and Gose who has a ton of speed who can play centerfield. That keeps Duda to play left.
No way am I trading Niese for a catcher. Makes no sense.
Niese is the ONLY young, starting lefty the Mets have. There is no lefty prospect in the Mets system that is anywhere close to being MLB ready.
I would be interested in Arecibia. What we would give up is the question. Maybe Murphy and Mejia.
Toronto has power and an extra catcher, needs OBP and pitching…hmmmm
We may have a match.
My question is really what is the point of trading talent for: .233 .275 .435 .710 in a hitters park?
We basically already had the older version of this guy in Barajas.
He actually hits a little better on the road than at home. Granted, a lot of that may have to do with frequent trips to Fenway and the Bronx Bandbox.
Yeah, I saw that but not enough to make a difference.
Actually Gerald Laird is a FA and makes around 1M a year. You get about the same overall numbers from him, just less power which most likely you would from JP as well.
.282 .337 .374 .710 with him being RH as well you could have Thole as the backup.
Also, Toronto is about middle of the road with park factors. I wouldn’t call it a hitter’s park.
So you don’t find it strange that all these guys that go to Toronto put up great HR numbers?
But as I said besides the point there is no difference in Laird and JP’s numbers, only age.
fair ’nuff. Can sign him to a year with an option and not worry about arb. By then, either Cameron or Cordero will be ready to break in.
Well, you are referring to 2 guys. Wells can still hit the long ball on the rare occasion he makes contact.
And Encarnacion has been in Toronto 4 years. the previous 3, his numbers were about what he had done before. I have no idea where 42 HR came from, but 19 were on the road.
Yes lets get rid of Duda’s poor fielding skills, we have Ike and Kirk. We need catching, I say get rid of Thole and keep shoppach as backup.
We need to get off the notion that we are going to fix the Catching position…
There isn’t a Piazza out there which is really what I think most people seem to be basing our current catcher against.
Yes Thole is not a great catcher…
And the best guy in the league that might be available is not any better!
The guy who #10 on the C top 10 list hits .249!
The top 10 Fielder at C has a .994 FP and no Knuckleballer to deal with.
Thole’s FP is at .992!
That doesn’t mean that Thole is good…
Just means no one else in the league other than the Poseys and Mauers are any good either!
And the few who are are no where near available!
SO Catcher is not something your going to fix anytime soon unless SF or Minny decides to rebuild and have a firesale.
Best bet right now is to target one in the draft from college!
That is something a lot of people don’t get. Look around the league and see the turnover at the position. Look at what production you get from there.
There might be 10 guys who are legit everyday starting catchers. Everyone else is holding on for dear life.
And even Mauer is not going to be a catcher for long.
“Best bet right now is to target one in the draft from college!”
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Never draft for need. Most guys drafted as catchers change position anyway. I’d rather convert one of our middle infielders.
Besides, we have 2 guys in A Ball working their way up.
I still wouldn’t sleep on Kevin Plawecki. That is a college kid that could be a fast riser.
How far do we realistically think he is from the show? 2014 call up mid/end year? Maybe?
I think that is reasonable.
LOL
Kevin Plaweki at age 21 hit .250 in Brooklyn…(rookie)
Juan Centeno at age 20 hit .371 in Brooklyn…(rookie)
Kevin Plaweki at age 21 hit .250 in Brooklyn…(rookie)
Juan Centeno at age 20 hit .371 in Brooklyn…(rookie)
In 2011 at age 21…
Juan Centeno hit .318 in A+ ball
In 2012 at age 22
Juan Centeno hit .285 in AA ball…
Defensively, Juan threw out 41% of basestealers
last year he threw out 39% of basestealers
in 2009, he threw out 45% of base stealers
but yeah…lets not sleep on Kevin Plawelecki
LMAO @ Met fans
If you can turn Duda & Mejia (+ maybe another so-so minor leaguer) into JP, I’ll be all for that. While I’d prefer to shoot for D’agastino, I’m not sure we would have the chips for that.
Certainly is easier to find a corner OF than a C.
In some ways it is and some ways it isn’t.
If you look at Laird’s stats as I said above, how are they that much different than JP?
Catchers stink all around the place. Improve the Outfield offense and you won’t have to worry about how bad your catcher hits.
But are we really losing a ton with Duda? I’d trade for JP and sign Laird. Shop Vac hasn’t really showed me he’s worth the money or that he’s a “team player”. I don’t put too much stock in the whole throwing Valentine under the bus thing, but it does need to be considered.
Unless you have a need for Duda at 1B (IE Ike is traded to the BSox), then how important is Duda to the team? If he’s just filling a platoon role, let Baxter have that.
I guess. To me Thole is fine as a back up so bringing in Laird as a RH catcher solves catching and allows you to trade Duda if needed to fill another hole. Maybe you get a RH OF in return.
R.A Dickey Murphy And Flores for Arencibia and Brett Lawrie??? Anyone ?
Lawrie is Canadian and sells tickets they wont trade him. better asking for syndergaard,gose or siera
Not a good fit. He doesn’t fit their “Hitting Philosophy” We all know how this organization feels about its “Hitting Philosophy” His OBP was an insanely weak .275! Even the terrible we must rade him Ike Davis OBP was .308 in his return from a year off due to injury season. If we can’t keep Ike for not following the sacred “hitting Philosophy” no way in hell should we be tradng for this guy.
Duda, Thole and Familia for JP, a good bullpen arm and an OF like Sierra or Gose .I think Duda commands something in return and catching is tuff to find and we’ll need some powere to replace Duda’s potential power along with an OF to contribute. I’ll give up potential of Familia for reliable bullpen arm and Thole is barely major league worthy IMO ..just a food for thought trade idea maybe Sandy has other ideas which is fine too..