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June 18, 2013 Mets 2013 Games Joe Janish

Mets Acquire Eric Young, Jr.

The Mets have traded Collin McHugh to the Rockies for Eric Young, Jr.

See? Sandy Alderson TOLD YOU he was going to remake the roster.

Scary for me, considering that I played against Eric Young, Sr., in college. Geez I’m old.

Young is actually, um, old — he’s 28. I thought for sure he was closer to his mid-20s.

In any case, I see this as a decent move for the Mets. McHugh wasn’t going to help the big club, especially now with Zack Wheeler on the 25-man roster. We briefly mentioned Young in passing at the end of March when Matt Den Dekker broke his wrist. Young has speed, can play both center field and second base decently, and, well, that’s about it. Another can of paint to throw at the wall.

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. Mic June 19, 2013 at 1:29 am
    Joe: this just means we have a new PH. Nice to see Andrew brown. He earned this opportunity. As opposed to the media reports…I think cowgirl had an oppurtunity and did not do enough. Hopefully valdespin takes heed or he himself is cut.
    duda at 1st base is huge: if he can hold his ground there the mets will have some trade worthy pieces soon. Ike will be fine but it sounds like he could get well then moved. Or duda gets moved as a first baseman.
    • Izzy June 19, 2013 at 6:16 am
      Any guy Alderson brings in, Collins will give a fair shot to……. Poor young guys, another guy to keep them from developing.
  2. TexasGusCC June 19, 2013 at 2:02 am
    Nice little pickup, as he should now go to the open LF spot and lead off. Finally, a speedster. Now if Hudgens can teach him to take pitches…;-)
  3. Dan B June 19, 2013 at 8:51 am
    I guess the Mets don’t need more Cowgill after all.
  4. DaveSchneck June 19, 2013 at 9:39 am
    Can’t knock the move but can’t get excited about it either…not sure what they will do with Lagares. Den Dekker is close to returning to Vegas, and both he and Lagares need to play every day in CF to determine if either can fill the role for 2014. However, neither should be considered for the leadoff spot. Maybe for 2014 we can go with D in CF, and Sandy can find a high quality leadoff hitter that can play SS. And, maybe he can find a high quality power bat that can play RF and that would not require a 9 figure salary commitment. I have names on the tip of my tongue, but I just can’t recall.
    • Dan B June 19, 2013 at 11:12 am
      I actually think the Mets should look for a high salary player. Trading for a quality player will require the Mets giving up quality prospects of which they have few. The Mets DO have payroll flexibility ($100 million less per year next offseason compared to when Alderson took over). Trading for an useful but overpaid player will take a bag of fungoe bats and some sanatary hoses (do ball players ever wear those any more?)
      • DaveSchneck June 19, 2013 at 2:33 pm
        Dan,
        The approach that you suggest should be strongly considered. The Mets need a quality MLB bat at leadoff and cleanup. One they can buy as a FA and one will need to be traded for. Stanton would be sweet but as you suggest the price would be steep and empty the farm. I agree that an overpriced vet with a power bat would be a very good fit. Ethier does not fit my job description. Fill those two spots, add a proven late inning arm to the pen, and drop in plus defense at SS and CF, and this team can play with the Braves and Nats in 2014. The Dudas, Murphys, and even Wright would look much better with a supporting cast like that.
  5. Joe June 19, 2013 at 10:37 am
    McHugh didn’t show much MLB potential and the Mets basically was in a rush to get rid of him for roster spots. They still got a useful spare part. Let’s see if further useful trades will be forthcoming with other spare parts.
  6. Walnutz15 June 19, 2013 at 10:54 am
    Ed Coleman had mentioned that they were close on a deal, prior to the start of the DH yesterday. Some thought that Alderson’s conference call, to announce the Wheeler plans (going back to Vegas until they play in Chicago) – was going to be to announce they’d made a trade.

    Probably took a bit longer to execute.

    Young’s a guy who seems to pop-up on the Met radar every off-season. Will be interesting to see how they plan on utilizing him.

    About the best thing we can outline is that he’s a solid base stealer, who could be valuable at a few different positions off the bench.

    That’s important — and everything we should have been able to reasonably expect from a guy with, say, Valdespin’s skillset. Unfortunately, Baseball IQ – and common sense, can’t be injected into a player that isn’t wired the right way.

    Otherwise, Young hasn’t done anything in his career outside of Coors, so I’m really lukewarm at best.

    Other than that, I’m not lamenting the loss of McHugh. Definitely wished he’d gotten a longer look than – say – a known dud like Aaron Laffey.

    But that’s how life in the Big League goes. Good luck in Colorado.

  7. Joe June 19, 2013 at 11:00 am
    Colin … time to update your social media pages!
  8. Mike Kelm June 19, 2013 at 1:59 pm
    He doesn’t hurt anything… we knew what McHugh was… a guy who had an Era of 7.59 last year and was over 10 this year before being sent back down. Or put another way, he was not going to be part of the major league rotation.. so why not give him a shot somewhere else and bring in a guy like Young? Young is a speedy guy who has never really had a shot with Colorado and makes the major league minimum. So why not let him have a shot with the Mets outfield? Basically if you’re name isn’t Wright, Murphy, Wheeler, Harvey, Neise, or Buck, that’s what this season amounts to- an extended try out.

    So I see Young as a guy with no downside. If he does what he has traditionally, hit .260 with a bunch of steals, then he’s a vast improvement over anyone the Mets have in the outfield now. If he crashes and burns, then he goes in the pile with Cowgill, Captain Kirk, Mike Baxter and the rest of the crew who have roamed the outfield in Citi Field this year- there is no commitment or penalty past the last out of the season for the Mets. I mean at this point, who else you got?

  9. argonbunnies June 19, 2013 at 3:19 pm
    Adam Rubin said Young’s OF play has regressed. Speed guys are often slowing down at 28. Barring an improved ability to reach base, I assume Young is useless to this Mets team — a pinch runner on a team that desperately needs more hitters.
  10. TexasGusCC June 19, 2013 at 4:16 pm
    Although I can understand the pessimism, I think if Young can at least play LF like Duda did, and that shouldn’t be a problem, he can lead off and get some fastballs for Murphy and Wright to hit. To me, .270 with .330 OBP is what Bourn would have done anyway. Keep Lagares and denDekker in CF.
    Valdespin: utility guy, like Bonafacio.
    Next year, I would like to add Hamilton and Choo or Ellsbury or Hart. But, the Young move is probably for this year, as I cannot see a lead off hitter at any level.
  11. WmLBaltz June 21, 2013 at 9:59 pm
    Young for Cowgill. You’re shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.

    Over 700 MLB at bats all with Colorado about evenly split – .300/.359/.385 versus .209/.288/.282.

    Yeah, this’ll turn it all around.