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December 31, 2014 14-15 Offseason Joe Janish

Marlon Byrd Flies Phillies Coop

The Phillies have traded Marlon Byrd to the Cincinnati Reds for RHP Ben Lively.

Philadelphia continues their dismantling / rebuilding process by sending Byrd and $4M to Cincinnati; in return they get a pitcher with a live (pardon the pun) arm.

The 6’4″ Lively went 10-1 with a 2.28 ERA in 13 starts in the California League — which tends to favor hitters — prior to being promoted to AA, where he went 3-6 with a 3.88 ERA. He doesn’t profile as a high-upside guy, but rather a back-of-the-rotation starter. His fastball sits in the low 90s and he complements it with an average curveball, average change-up, and average slider. According to Baseball America, Lively “… doesn’t have a true plus pitch, as he succeeds with an 89-92 mph fastball, and a curveball, slider and changeup that all grade as average at best. Lively pitches to all four quadrants of the strike zone, locates well and generates excellent deception as his fastball seems to be arrive quicker than it should because hitters don’t pick it up until late.” Hmm … sounds like Kyle Kendrick, or maybe Dillon Gee. Lively turns 23 years old during spring training, and I presume he’d start the year in AA. Meanwhile, Byrd slots in to left field for the Redlegs, providing righthanded punch most likely in the fifth or sixth spot in the lineup.

In other news, the Rockies have agreed to terms with free-agent catcher Nick Hundley — 2 years and about $6M according to reports.

Additionally, the Cubs have signed Chris Denorfia for one year, $2.5M.

Finally (for now), the Dodgers have DFA’d shortstop Erisbel Arruebarrena to make room on the roster for recently signed pitcher Brett Anderson. Arruebarrena was a Cuban import who was originally considered as a possible middle infielder of the future for LA, but did not impress in his first season of pro ball in the US; he’s expected to clear waivers and return to the Dodgers’ farm system.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
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  1. Bat January 7, 2015 at 5:48 pm
    Argonbunnies, you said in another post that trading Matz was comparable to trading Ben Lively and cited a MLB.com website list.

    I thought we should look at a few more sources:

    (1) Baseball Prospectus – has Matz the #2 prospect in the Mets organization
    (2) Baseball America – has Matz #2
    (3) John Sickels – has Matz #2
    (4) Fangraphs – has Matz #7

    (1) Baseball Prospectus – has Lively #7 in the Reds organization
    (2) Baseball America – Reds list came out Jan 7 and Byrd traded Dec 31 – not mentioned in the write-up of the Reds system though as a loss via trade even though the addition of Byrd is mentioned so perhaps not considered a material loss? Admittedly total speculation on my part though. Phillies list published Dec 15 (pre-trade) so Lively won’t be there either
    (3) John Sickels – ranked #6 in the Phillies system post-trade
    (4) Fangraphs – had Lively ranked #13 in the Reds system

    You indicated Lively and Matz were comparable prospects based on that MLB.com ranking but I don’t think that is the case if you look at a more representative sample of a number of leading publications.