The New York Mets acquired first baseman Daniel Vogelbach from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for reliever Colin Holderman, which some could view as a dubious deal.
The Mets cover maybe their largest gap with Vogelbach. They urgently needed to add a bat to their lineup because their designated hitter role was providing absolutely no productivity. Robinson Cano, Dom Smith, and J.D. Davis were all given chances to keep the DH position, but they all utterly failed.
Given that Vogelbach has been slashed, his overall slash line doesn’t seem ideal.
He has a slash line of.260/.365/.532, with all 12 of his home runs and 27 of his 34 RBI coming versus righties. He is ahead of Pete Alonso for the top slot on the Mets roster and has a 149 WRC+ versus right-handed pitchers, which ranks 15th in all of baseball.
Even though the cost was high, the Mets made the right choice by trading Holderman for Vogelbach.
To fill out the middle of their order, the Mets urgently needed a big hitter, and they acquired one. Despite his lack of fame, he will be a major asset while playing righties. J.D. Davis will bat there for the Mets against lefties, or they might (hopefully) add another bat.
Vogelbach offers a ton of power; with the Mariners in 2019, he hit 30 home runs. Baseball Savant places him in the 97th percentile for walk rate and the 95th percentile for chase rate, indicating that he is a patient hitter as well. In terms of whiff rate, Vogelbach is in the 75th percentile.
Colin Holderman, a talented right-hander, was traded by the Mets. Although it’s sad to see Holderman go, I don’t think it’s as big of a loss as some people claim.
The 26-year-old made an unexpected entrance this season and immediately displayed a lot of promise as a rookie. He has played in 15 games and has 17.2 innings pitched with a 2.04 ERA.
It would have been wonderful to keep him, but it’s not a big problem given that a large portion of the Mets bullpen is leaving for free agency this offseason.
The Mets have demonstrated the ability to acquire arms who can succeed in the major leagues. In their little activity, men like Yoan Lopez and Adonis Medina have shown a lot of promise. I have faith in Jeremy Hefner to aid in the development of the Mets’ pitchers.
The Mets aren’t done, either. There will be trades made to strengthen the bullpen. I doubt that Holderman would have been on the roster on August 3rd given the impending transactions and the return of Trevor May.
Holderman’s journey to where he is now is an amazing one, but for the Mets to acquire a powerful bat with another year of control for under $1.5 million is really not terrible. They traded a reliever who probably wouldn’t make the postseason roster for a player who will get big at-bats in the closing stages because they are a team trying to win right now.
