New York Mets Acquire 1B/DH Daniel Vogelbach From Pirates
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NEW YORK - We have our first trade.
The Mets have acquired first baseman/DH Daniel Vogelbach from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for promising rookie reliever Colin Holderman, as a source confirmed to Inside the Mets.
Jon Heyman of The New York Post and Robert Murray of FanSided were first to report on this news. The Mets confirmed the news shortly afterward.
Earlier in the week, rumors had emerged regarding the Mets and Pirates being engaged in trade talks about Vogelbach. On Friday, a deal came to a head.
Vogelbach is looked at as a platoon option at DH, given his career .817 OPS against righties, as opposed to .489 OPS versus left-handers.
This year, Vogelbach has an .896 OPS when facing right-handers and his 149 wRC+ against righties is 15th best in baseball. Overall, the left-handed batter has 12 home runs, 34 RBIs and a .769 OPS in 75 games. He also comes along with a club option for 2023.
"We wanted to get an offensive player in here, and we think we did that in landing Vogey," general manager Billy Eppler said of the trade for Vogelbach. "Somebody that has really excelled against right-handed pitching.....He can be a presence in the order."
"In grabbing Daniel, we're able to get a power bat in here, with plate discipline, who really fits in an offensive philosophy, which is making good decisions in the batter's box, swinging at strikes, not swinging at balls, great on-base percentage, great power."
The Mets have gotten poor production out of Dominic Smith, who is on the IL with ankle sprain but also on the trading block, and J.D. Davis (also available), as a DH platoon this season. The acquisition of Vogelbach likely will displace at least one member of this pair.
As for the decision to trade Holderman, a young relief pitcher, with a live arm, who is under team control, Eppler says he tried to avoid trading him, but they ultimately had to give Pittsburgh "the player they dug their heels in on."
Dealing Holderman also frees up a spot in the bullpen, where the Mets are looking to acquire external help ahead of the August 2 trade deadline. Eppler said it was tough to trade Holderman, but indicated that the relief market is expected to be robust in the next 11 days. It also clears a spot for Trevor May, who is getting closer to a return from the IL.
"Some of the conversations I've had with other clubs has given me the feeling there might be a little bit more robust of a relief market than the bats," Eppler said. "We had to use this opportunity to do that."
The Mets are not expected to be finished adding players. They could still trade for a big bat, as well as 1-2 high leverage relief arms. They have interest in Josh Bell, Trey Mancini, David Robertson, Jorge Lopez, Andrew Chafin, among others.
"We're going to be open minded on everything," Eppler said of how the Mets will proceed in surveying the trade market. "When we can run into some other opportunity that could maybe help us score more runs, maybe the next opportunities only help us prevent (runs), that's helpful, too. I want to grow that (run) differential, which are signals of strong teams."
"I just generally don't walk into things with a shopping list. When I talk to another GM, I frame it as we want to get better in run scoring and run prevention," Eppler added.
As far as additional offensive upgrades are concerned, Eppler indicated that the Mets will be prioritizing positional versatility.
"In general, I'm going to value positional versatility - unless we're talking about complete impact level players," Eppler said. "Otherwise, the more you can move around the diamond, the easier it is for Buck (Showalter) to have a lineup, the easier it is for me to fill out a roster."
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