New York Yankees Trade Watch: Pedro Alvarez
As we all know by now, the trade between the New York Yankees and the Seattle Mariners that sent Jesus Montero to the AL West is finalized and official. The next order of business for Brian Cashman is filling the vacancy at designated hitter. He spoke about this a little bit the other day and mentioned that there was a chance that the New York Yankees may trade some excess starting pitching as part of their plan to acquire a DH. I have also discussed the need for the New York Yankees to find their 3B of the future and transition Alex Rodriguez to the DH role. One guy that could kill those two birds with one stone – DH in the short-term and provide a potential long-term option at the hot corner – is the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Pedro Alvarez.
Why Pedro Alvarez?
You won’t take me seriously if I don’t address the shortcomings in Alvarez’ game, so let’s do that first. The main problem is that he swings a bat made out of Swiss cheese which has led to his staggering 30.7% whiff rate in the bigs. That is not going to get it done. Obviously. He is also not a strong fielder evidenced by his -7.9 UZR. Perhaps, like me, you don’t care for defensive metrics, but like them or not, it’s hard to argue that Alvarez has been an asset with the glove. With all of that said, there are three categories to place a player in (for the sake of this discussion at least): players who produce, players with potential and players that take up space. You can break down the third group into more categories if you want, but those players don’t matter here so we’re going to ignore the scrubs. Of course every team wants to start the season with 25 guys that they know are going to produce at a high clip, but that just doesn’t happen. The next best thing is having players who still possess potential and upside. Alvarez falls under that category.
Alvarez, 25 on February 6th, was drafted in 2008 and moved pretty aggressively up the Pirates’ organizational ladder. Despite the holes in his swing and his struggles against left-handed pitchers, Alvarez mashed in the minor leagues and flashed the type of raw power and ability that made him one of the top prospects in the game as recently as 2010. Throughout his minor league career, Alvarez posted a beastly .238 ISO. To put that into context, Jesus Montero’s minor league ISO was .193, Mike Stanton’s was .296, Mike Moustakas’ was .221 and Jason Heyward’s was .190. That is just to display the type of class Alvarez is in terms of raw power.
Raw power means batting practice fireworks, but it does not necessarily mean in-game performance. We all know that. What’s to say that Alvarez will figure things out? Honestly, I don’t have any concrete MLB stats to cite. I just have faith and a willingness to see the Yankees take a calculated risk. Alvarez did produce at the highest level of the minor leagues and I think he has too much natural talent to fall into Quadruple-A limbo. A lot of people will cite the short porch in Yankee Stadium as a potential spark to Alvarez’ game, but PNC Park is only 320′ down the rightfield line, so they have a bit of their own short porch. Instead I think a more likely accelerant to Alvarez’ development is the presence of hitting coach Kevin Long. Part of me is afraid that Yankees fans are starting to act as if Long is capable of fixing anybody’s swing, but after the work he’s done with Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson why not believe it until it stops being true?
Why MIGHT the Pittsburgh Pirates Be Willing to Trade Pedro Alvarez?
As discussed above, Alvarez has struggled mightily in the big leagues. However, with only 169 MLB games on his resume it would seem pretty damn foolish for them to give up on him this early and at such a low point of value, but it wouldn’t be the first time a team broke the “never sell low” rule of thumb. Forgive me if this is painfully obvious, but the most significant reason the Pirates would have to trade Alvarez is if a package convinced them to pull the trigger. After all, there aren’t any payroll issues saddling the franchise nor are they in a situation where they need one more piece to contend. Would they be willing to trade “problems” with the Yankees and try their hand at repairing Phil Hughes’ game? It certainly makes a nice narrative, but that’s all it is for right now.
Even though the Pirates made some noise in 2011 and even sat atop their division much later in the season than anyone expected (Alvarez didn’t really contribute to that success by the way) I’m not sure anybody sees them as a legitimate contender this season. They do have an interesting crop of starting pitchers en route to the Steel City though. Do they try to acquire some prospects who project to hit the scene at around the same time as their wave of power arms? Hughes doesn’t fit into that equation, but what about someone like Mason Williams? I’m not suggesting that the Yankees should propose him in a deal, I’m just thinking out loud.
Final Thoughts
There is not a very straight forward argument for the New York Yankees to go after Pedro Alvarez. As with any other trade target, there are several pluses (raw hitting ability/power, he “plays” 3B, still has potential) and minuses (astronomic K rate, poor fielding) to consider. There was definitely some stretching in terms of speculating on why the Pittsburgh Pirates might be willing to move Alvarez, but I don’t think there were any hamstrings pulled. You don’t typically see teams give up on a top prospect this quickly, but sometimes the games within the game will surprise us.
I have to give a little credit to commenter T.O. Chris for partially inspiring this post.
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8 Rants to “New York Yankees Trade Watch: Pedro Alvarez”
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Craig, Craig, Craig. A guy who can’t hit and can’t field? This is going to improve the Yanks how? And you propose giving up decent prospects for this turkey? Let’s just re-sign Chavez for another year, and see if Laird or Nunez develops.
Well, I was more tossing ideas out versus actually suggesting that the Yankees make specific proposals. The Phil Hughes for (insert young, struggling hitter) isn’t really anything new and I mentioned Mason Williams because in that particular line, I wanted to mention someone with an ETA similar to their top pitching prospects Jameson Taillon and Gerrit Cole. Alvarez has definitely struggled in his short Major League time, but you did read the part about him only having 169 MLB games under his belt right? There is some potential there and I think it’s worth the gamble. Hell, if the Yanks have thoughts on putting Hughes back in the bullpen, I’ll hop on a plane to NYC and pull the trigger on a Hughes-Alvarez deal myself.
I need to start speaking out on this Chavez love. First of all, he hasn’t been good in half a decade. Secondly, he’s NEVER healthy anymore. You can’t sign someone like that to handle significant DH duties when he’s not even going to be in the lineup. Also, Laird is a bench player for the Yanks. He doesn’t need to be getting extended playing time in 2012. Nunez could possibly start at SS eventually, but the same thing applies to him in 2012 – although to a slightly lesser extent.
You’re right about Chavez, a backup who is LESS HEALTHY than the guy he’s backing up is hardly worth the roster spot. I’m tepid at best on Nunez, and Laird is a terrible hitter (OBP below .300). But we are talking only about 2012. For one more year, I’m not gonna sweat it. But no way do I support the notion of acquiring a long term DH. Rodriguez’s going to be filling that spot full time very shortly (talk about a guy who can’t stay healthy, ex-juicers always break down). With Jeter’s range issues, the natural solution might be to move Jeter to 3B, an find a SS to hold down the fort for a few years. Pena can at least field the position. Trading Hughes is fine with me, as I hate overweight and out of shape players. But Burnett should go first, preferably for a left handed hitting part time DH (Aubrey Huff?).
I think you’re right about the Yankees not acquiring a guy like Billy Butler. Even though I would have a hard time being bent up about the Yankees going in that direction, it just doesn’t make sense when a lot of people expect A-Rod to have to spend the majority of his time at DH sooner rather than later. That’s why I like the idea of the Yankees acquiring a young 3B – a guy in the mold of Pedro Alvarez. Jeter to 3B eventually might not be a bad idea, but that should only happen when there is a legitimate SS replacement. Not to knock Nunez, but I cringe at the idea of him and a crazy old Jeter getting a full season of at-bats. As far as Ramiro Pena…I won’t even touch on him.
Depending on the return and the Yankees’ plans for him, I could very well be on board with a Hughes trade. I’ve mentioned that several times. I also have confidence in his ability to deliver some decent production this year in the starting rotation. You hit it on the head with Burnett though. If at all possible, he should be the first out of the door.
These are the Yankees they don’t have time to develop players especially under developed players.The DH on the Yankees has to be a veteran who can hit,hit with some power,maybe take some walks,and be able to play the field once in awhile.The pressure of playing for the Yankees is another reason why not too many young players can play in NY.The reason for the protest that the Yankee fans have given against the Montero trade is because the Yankee fans know there aren’t many young players that can take playing in NY,and when they come along they know they’re special,like Nova.
There aren’t really any vets left on the market that fit those requirements.. I agree with your first sentence to an extent, although I’d say that Yankees don’t take the time to develop a lot of players versus not having the time. They have the resources to address vacancies from outside the organization and in the past outside solutions were more plentiful. Unfortunately those times are fading away in the rear view mirror – for a few more years at least. The Yanks definitely need to address their aging roster and try to infuse some youth and impact talent into their lineup. Whether they do so or not will be answered in time, but taking a flyer on Pedro Alvarez wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Did someone have to write something, came up empty and offered this turkey? He can’t hit in his division and he’s going to hit in the AL East? He can’t field and you think he serves a purpose? Please don’t waste our time with nonsense because you had a deadline and nothing to write.
I’ll give you that the sub-par fielding is something to be concerned about, but people act like just because he’s a bad fielder now he’s going to remain a bad fielder for the remainder of his career. Besides, when you’re discussing someone to occasionally replace A-Rod at 3B in 2012 the options are going to be slim anyway. Brandon Laird, Eduardo Nunez? No thanks. And why are you ignoring the fact that he’s only played 169 games at the Major League level? Look at Alex Gordon. People wrote him off as a bust and he had an All-Star caliber year this past season. Pedro Alvarez could absolutely have a similar breakthrough at some point over the next year or two.
Yankees fans need to realize that every problem isn’t going to have an easy and obvious solution. This may not be the instance that we see it, but the Yankees could benefit from a little creativity of their own.