17
2012
The Skinny: Travis d’Arnaud and Noah Syndergaard
An article by 
With the last hurdle of the R.A. Dickey to Toronto deal approaching, the trade is as good as done. In this deal, the Mets will be giving up Dickey, Josh Thole and an unannounced prospect who isn’t believed to be a top-ranked player. The Mets will be receiving MLB catcher John Buck, catching prospect Travis d’Arnaud, RHP prospect Noah Syndergaard and a player to be named later, also of the same level as the other unannounced prospect. While attaining Buck would have been viewed as an improvement over last season’s catching tandem of Thole and insert right handed catcher here. The real prize of the haul is d’Arnaud and Syndergaard. Here is a look at the players:
Travis d’Arnaud
Position: Catcher
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 195 LBS
Bats/Throws: R/R
Travis d’Arnaud was originally drafted by the Phillies in the 2007 amateur draft with the 37th pick, and was included in the trade for Roy Halladay that sent him to Toronto. d’Arnaud shows a solid approach at the play, making solid contact and turning it into good power from the right side of the plate with a level-swing that generates good natural power without an uppercut. d’Arnaud is not without his offensive flaws, as he will strikeout at a decent amount, and is selective at the plate without drawing walks. In terms of baserunning acumen, he runs without much effort and gets around the bases well, but will never be someone you look to steal bases consistently at the MLB level (21 SB’s in 2000 MiLB AB’s)
Defensively, d’Arnaud has improved every year he has been at catcher, never recording more than six errors at the position. Over his career, he has thrown out 25% of runners, but small sample sizes at each level vary from 30% to 11%. His motion is solid, he has good arm power and it should translate well at the MLB level with some coaching as well as improved pitchers with better pick-off moves/understanding of situations.
d’Arnaud was ranked as the 17th best prospect by Baseball America for the 2012 season and based on talent and potential, could be up playing for the Mets by mid-May.
Possibly 2013 outlook: 303 AB, .246 avg, 11 home runs, 36 RBI, 31 runs, .422 slugging pct (done using MLE equivalency of 2012 season, 303 AB’s)
Noah Syndergaard
Position: RHP
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 200 LBS
Bats/Throws: L/R
Noah Syndergaard was a first round draft pick (38th) of the Toronto Blue Jays in 2010. Syndergaard has what will always be defined as the perfect pitchers body, which does leave some room for growth and his height allows him to get solid velocity on the ball (92-97) with compromising his control too much (31 walks in 103 innings at A (Lansing). Syndergaard also features an advanced changeup and a good feel for a curve-ball that leads scouts to believe he will have three plus pitches at the MLB level. Noah pitched in A, and the possibility of seeing him for the St. Lucie Mets seems more than likely, with a long shot the Mets would push him to Binghamton to enable the management to keep a close eye on the second best pitching prospect in the system.
Possible 2013 Outlook: Difficult to determine since assignment isn’t known, but an increase in innings would be expected (140-150 total innings) at either High-A or AA
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By trading Dickey, the Mets have gained two prospects who immediately slot into the top-three in the entire system. d’Arnaud is virtually MLB ready, and Syndergaard has put up better numbers than Zack Wheeler at the same point in his career and will be looking at a late-2014 possible ETA.
About the Author: Sean Kenny
Sean Kenny is a student/writer currently attending school at the City College of New York. For more Mets news, notes and thoughts follow him on twitter @TheSeanKenny
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How good of a defensive catcher is Buck?
Throws out about 25% of runners over career, 27% last season. 7 errors last season, 7 PB. Mind you, a poor Florida pitching staff and Heath Bell’s vanishing curveball. He is here for the pop and the fact he isn’t a slouch defensively.
Remember the last catcher we got from a Canadian team???
Can Travis d’Arnaud be our Gary Carter 2.0??? Wishful thinking…According to his wiki page Mike Piazza was his favorite player……
Syndegaard is said to be similar to 2 other former Blue Jay farmhands….Roy Halladay and Chris Carpenter…..
I like the trade but gonna miss Dickey he’s one of those guys you want on your team as a staple.
TDA sounds like a righty version of Brian Mccann
Syndergaard should start the year in Binghamton. He’s practically dominated A ball. What is there left to prove in Advanced A ball? More of the same? Give the kid a real challenge.
We had 5-6 pitchers of our own who dominated at Single A too. Some were honored in their respective leagues by BA in October. They cant all go to Bingo.
It’s a really great problem to have. And as usual, these things work themselves out.
Of those 5-6 guys, are they of the caliber of Syn, putting up the kind of numbers he has? He should be the first choice to get that nod to jump to AA.
he was in Low-A he has to start in Florida in High-A.
High-A is a big jump
Adam Rubin @AdamRubinESPN
“If you polled the 30 current GMs and asked them if they would trade Carlos Beltran and R.A. Dickey for the three …
Adam Rubin @AdamRubinESPN
“… players the Mets received, it’s safe to say all 30 would agree with the Mets’ strategy,” an NL executive said.
Seems the guys who do this for a living are pretty impressed with what the Mets have been able to pull off with this trade.
I read Bill Madden’s article in the Daily Snews just now:
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/madden-dickey-trade-carter-like-article-1.1221782
Now Bill is the type of sports journalist who checks out the buffet spread first at press conferences. He can be a real shill for ownership. But this latest article really takes the case.
He is comparing Sandy to Cashen and the Dickey trade to getting Gary Carter.
Firstly, the Mets team was worse (if you can believe it) when Cashen took over – Frank immediately made it better. Sandy’s team was better and he immediately made it worse. Cashen drafted Gooden and Strawberry. Does anyone see a Gooden or Strawberry type player drafted by Sandy’s people?
Cashen grabbed Keith Hernandez from the Cardinals – Sandy do anything like that?
As the final piece to the championship puzzle he traded for Carter – already an established superstar. The Mets became the team to beat when they got Carter. This catching prospect may someday be good but we won’t know for about three years. And it would be ridiculous to compare him right now with a Hall Of Fame catcher which Madden is doing.
In the last two years Sandy has allowed the player wearing the batting crown to leave and he has traded away the Cy Young award winner for two players who have never seen a Major League pitch. Both these guys wanted to remain in New York.
For the last two years Sandy has been putting players out there that belong in AAA – all to save money. Is the team better now – after two years – then it was when he got here? Obviously not. Will it be better in the future? Now here’s where it gets tricky. It won’t be better next year but after that it can only get better because Sandy has made it so bad.
Keep in mind when you read some of these sports writers – they are sycophants for the Wilpons. Bill Madden is writing for his next buffet spread!
teams were in vastly different places when the 2 guys arrive (in terms or roster structure, payroll, etc.) so you can’t directly compare them year to year.
plus, with the draft picks, it helps to suck royally and draft real early on (which is how the Nats ended up with harper and strasburg, drafting #1 the years there was a generational type prospect sitting there waiting).
Strawberry was #1. Gooden was way down there at #5 2 years later.
Of course, proving that it is not an exact science, even for Frank and his guys, they actually picked 4th the year before and after the Gooden pick, and took the imortal duo of Terry Blocker and Eddie Williams.
“Does anyone see a Gooden or Strawberry type player drafted by Sandy’s people?”
No, but Cocaine isn’t as popular as it used to be.
Cashen immediately made the team better? LMAO! 5th season of his tenure it took to put a winning team on the field. You can’t be serious. Cashen rebuilt the team slowly and methodically and did it the right way. Alderson’s situation was entirely different and he’s doing it the right way.
Ok Fonzie – I misspoke about how long it took for Cashen to put a championship team together but the point I was making is Madden’s attempt to portray Sandy’s trade for a minor leaguer with Cashen’s trade for a future hall of famer. And to compare Sandy with Cashen.
Cashen had a horrible team when he took over. Sandy had a flawed but far more competitive team when he took over.
Cashen’s edict was to make the team better and he had more resources – i.e. money to put the team together on top of good trades and incredible draft picks.
Sandy’s edict was always to make the team cheaper, not to make the team better and he has done a wonderful job of that. He doesn’t resign a home grown player who just happened to be the batting champion over money – which would have been a lot less if he had signed him up prior to Reyes last season. He trades Cy Young Dickey because of money – in return he gets two potential players who won’t cost the team anything for five years. He trades Beltran because of money. He gutted the team because of money.
Some believe that Sandy is doing this for the good of the team. I don’t buy that.
I read today that the Mets are raising their single game ticket price. The ridiculous reason the Mets executives gave is to encourage fans to buy season-ticket packages. Now if you buy into that mentality then I guess you can buy into the Mets claiming they are trying to make a better team for the future by making them uncompetitive now.
Hell, dump Beltran, a batting champ and a Cy Young award winner, save millions of dollars and point to the future.
He is comparing Sandy to Cashen and the Dickey trade to getting Gary Carter.
OMG what a hack!!!! So D’Arnoud is now Gary Carter????
And Alderson is Cashen??
Unbelievable!!!!.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WE LOST NICKEAS IN THE DEAL AS WELL……SMH!!!!! Thats David Wrights Golf partner…..
OMG….Thank God both Thole and Nickeas are gone lol…they were terrible to watch
He was?!?! Don’t toy with my emotions, Leroy. Link?
Adam Rubin @AdamRubinESPN
Jon Heyman has Mike Nickeas as the other Mets piece heading to Toronto.
Adam Rubin @AdamRubinESPN
And 18-year-old OF Wuilmer Becerra as other prospect coming to Mets.
Can someone explain to me why if Darnaud is SO good and the 2nd coming of Mickey Cochrane, why did we also need Buck?
This team is a fng laughing stock
Buck was a salary balancing issue.
Buck is gonna be the temporary starter until d’Arnaud comes up in May, due to service rules. Then, d’Arnaud becomes the starter and we’ll still have a defensive backup. Understand?
a backup catcher is a hard concept to get. Don’t worry about it.
Like I said earlier, this trade was a great step forward.
But…how do you explain the Wright contract if we’re obviously rebuilding. If we got this for Dickey, a similar return could be expected with Wright with his track record, the dearth that is 3B at the MLB level, and the fact that teams reward players based on what they have done.
I celebrate what Dickey has meant to us the last few years, and am excited for the bounty he yielded. But we need to stop rebuilding halfway. It is just stupid.
look at it as more of a major remodel, not a gut the place to the studs and start from scratch rebuild.
they already have a core in place to build around, and obviously wanted (for many reasons) to have the veteran presence to go along with it.
That is fair.
But…with the dearth that is 3B in the MLB and baseball’s love for rewarding guys with what they have done, the Mets could’ve targeted a package built around Myers, Sano, Middlebrooks, or even Castellanos. Anyone of these young players, plus the Dickey haul, plus actually using money off the books (expiring contracts, Bay’s deferred money, and the $20MM that had been owed to Wright and Dickey), the Mets could’ve conceivably signed two starting caliber MLB OFers and be set for the future with more talent on the farm and more financial flexibility going forward.
Hank, I emailed you… did u get it
I did. But I didn’t get a chance to check out the league yet. Last week was literally the busiest week I have ever had in my life; I just got a chance to come up for air this afternoon. I’ll check things out and get back to you by tomorrow.
Hank….
“If we got this for Dickey, a similar return could be expected with Wright with his track record, the dearth that is 3B at the MLB level, and the fact that teams reward players based on what they have done.”
You’ve completely left out of this equation the difference in contractual obligations regarding the two players. Dickey, $5mil next year, and at 38 y/o being amicable to only a 2 year extension.
Wright on the other hand being owed $16mil next year and looking for a 6 – 8 year extension. Huge difference there in what a team will be willing to commit to both in years and salary. Dickey was the more attractive and was able to yield a bigger return.
just gonna throw this out there, found it on another site…
“TDA was ranked 17th on Baseball America’s 2012 prospects list. From 2000-2010, only 6 Cs have been ranked 17th or better. Here is the list:
Joe Mauer
Victor Martinez
Matt Wieters
Buster Posey
Jesus Montero
Carlos Santana”
Maddens piece is wrong to compare carter to darnaud. His point about SA building the team like cashen did is spot on though. Sherman had a better take in yesterdays post. The Jays are in the position of the winter of 84 mets. I player away. The current mets are like expos team that traded carter with a lot of holes to fill. This trade benefits both teams current needs and it benefits Dickey who gets to go to a contender.