Featured Post: August Waiver Trade Candidates

During his press conference yesterday Sandy Alderson indicated the Mets could make a trade in August mostly for a reliever. With the second wild card creating more teams thinking they are contenders I think we will see a fair share of waiver trades this season.

When a player is placed on revocable waivers in August (or September) there is three possible outcomes:

Unclaimed players can be traded to any team (must be traded before 8/31 to be eligible for playoffs)
When player is claimed his original team can decide to let him go to claiming team to shed his the remainder of his salary or pull him back.
When a team claims a player the two sides have two days (48.5 hours) to work out a trade.

Players on the disabled list cannot be placed on waivers and if two teams claim the same player the claim will be awarded to the team with the worse record.

As you might remember one of the best trades Alderson has made during his Mets tenure was a waiver deal on August 27th in 2013 when he shipped Marlon Byrd and John Buck to the Pirates for Dilson Herrera and Vic Black.

The only other waiver deal he has made was on August 14th, 2012 when he got veteran catcher Kelly Shoppach from the Red Sox for reliever Pedro Beato.

Since 2000 the Mets have made 15 August trades including some that have helped the team during stretch runs and a few I’m sure they would later regret. Lets take a look at some of the other notable waiver trades the Mets have made:

August 25th, 2009 the Mets sent Billy Wagner to the Red Sox for Chris Carter and Eddie Lora. I would say this is a loss since the Mets lost out on a chance to get a compensation pick while Carter had a limited impact in 100 games for New York. Lora played in only 12 games for the Kingsport Mets before washing out of baseball.
August 17th, 2008 when the Mets in the playoff race and the bullpen crumbling they made a trade to get Luis Ayala from the Nationals for Anderson Hernandez. Ayala somehow managed to collect 9 saves but blew two saves and picked up the loss in game 158 in excruciating fashion. Hernandez would actually return the Mets in August the next year in a trade that sent Greg Veloz to the Nationals.
August 22nd, 2006 the Mets swung a deal for veteran Shawn Green from the Diamondbacks for Evan MacLane. Definite win here for Mets with Green hitting over .300 in both playoff series and being a solid contributor in the 07′ season. MacLane would end up pitching one inning in the Majors with the Cardinals in 2010.
August 15th, 2002 made a trade that netted them Raul Gonzalez, Brady Clark, and Pedro Feliciano from the Reds for Shawn Estes. Perpetual Pedro was the big piece of this trade that ended up pitching in 484 games for the Mets although most of the success was after a season hiatus in Japan in 2005.
August 30th, 2000 with the Mets needing an infielder they gave up outfield prospect Nelson Cruz to get Jorge Velandia from the Oakland A’s. Cruz would be traded two more times before reaching the big leagues and you don’t need me to tell you how he turned out.

The Mets roster could still use a veteran bullpen piece, maybe a right-handed outfielder/corner infielder to replace Eric Campbell, and possibly someone who can play in center field to rest Juan Lagares. I know Michael Cuddyer is supposedly on the comeback trail, but he obviously cannot be relied on, and I would rather not see Curtis Granderson that often in center field. Here are a few players that could seemingly become available and could pique the Mets interest:

Joaquin Benoit, Padres- Walk rate is higher this season (3.2 BB/) while his strikeout rate has lowered (7.6 SO/9) but he has given up only 21 hits in 44.2 innings. He also has experience closing (11 saves last season) and has a 2.82 ERA in 22.1 career postseason innings. He has a team option for $8 million with $1.5 M buyout for 2016
Shawn Kelley, Padres- Has an awesome 4.88 SO/W rate to go along with a 1.118 WHIP and a 3.19 in 36.2 innings this year. Pitched well for the Yankees last year even getting four saves and is a free agent after the season.
Edward Mujica, A’s- Has struggled this season to a 4.79 FIP but still has a 4.60 SO/W rate and has been better since being traded from Boston. Also has experience closing (37 saves in 2013), pitched in 11 postseason games for St. Louis (2.79 ERA), and will be free agent after the year.
Joe Beimel, Mariners- The pending free agent doesn’t strike out many hitters (just 18 in 33 innings) but has held lefties to a .229/.283/.313 slash line this season.
Neal Cotts, Brewers- The 36-year old veteran has struck out 43 batters in 41 innings this year but has had trouble with the long ball allowing seven. He has shutdown lefties this season holding them to a .197/.229/.333 slash line in 72 plates appearances. He is a free agent after year but might be tough to swing a deal given relationship between Mets and Brewers right now.
Will Venable, San Diego- Here is a name we heard multiple teams were interested including the Mets in the past few days and I have to think he gets traded. He is capable of playing all three outfield positions, can run a little (8 SB), and is hitting .262/.332/.407 vs. right-handed pitching this season. Juan Lagares is hitting only .246/.264/.312 against righties this year.
Rajai Davis, Tigers- Another name the Mets were tied to as the trade deadline winded down yesterday and is a free agent after the season. He can also play all three outfield position and would add some speed to the Mets having stole 266 bases over the last 7 seasons. Davis is hitting .261/.316/.413 for the season including .273/.333/.443 against lefties which Grandy has struggled against all year.
Austin Jackson, Mariners- Has seen his star fall quite a bit after starting off his career with a couple of strong years offensively and defensively with the Tigers. He is hitting only .258/.304/..369 this season but could be a nice buy low option who has hit .272/.333/.398 overall for his career.
Ryan Raburn, Indians- He is enjoying a bounce back season that has seen him mash lefty pitching to a .287/.366/.504 clip. He has eight RBI and five walks this year as a pinch hitter and has played right field, left field, and first base.

There are some other guys who could be on the move in August including Chase Utley, Marlon Byrd, Francisco Rodriguez, Ian Kennedy, Cliff Pennington,Mike Napoli and Aaron Harang but I see them as unlikely to come to the Mets.

Also worth mentioning that the Blue Jays designated Danny Valencia for assignment today who is batting .296/.331/.506 with 13 doubles and 7 homeruns this year. Valencia has logged innings at every position but shortstop and catcher this year.

Sandy has already done a great job at improving the depth and offense of the current Mets team, but why stop there when he can still improve the roster in the middle of a pennant race. Lets Go Mets!