OK, so we’ve got the details: The Mets have traded Brian Stokes to the Angels for Gary Matthews Jr. and $21.5 million of the $23.5 million remaining on the two years left on his contract.
So it’s Brian Stokes for the right to have Gary Matthews Jr. on the team at the massively discounted rate of $2 million over two years.
Whoop-dee-doo.
The good news is that Angel Pagan hasn’t gone anywhere, and theoretically he will still have every opportunity to establish himself as the club’s starting center fielder until Carlos Beltran returns from injury. And Pagan should do that, because he’s a much better player, at this point, than Matthews.
The Mets needed someone to back up Pagan, and so they went out and got a player who, in their eyes, has proven he can play center field at the Major League level.
And that’s the issue here: Gary Matthews Jr. has spent the last three seasons proving that he cannot play center field at the Major League level.
Both UZR and plus/minus say Matthews has been a significantly below average defensive outfielder since joining the Angels in 2007.
Of course the talent evaluators the Mets employ apparently disagree with those imperfect but valuable tools, and here’s hoping they’re right.
Because other than some vague reputation for good defense, Matthews doesn’t bring a whole lot to the table. He had a nice year at the plate in 2006 — earning him a giant contract — but has been a bad hitter since, rocking a .708 OPS in his time with the Angels.
You might even say he’s been below replacement level. And the Mets just went out and traded something to get him.
And that’s the issue here.
Not that Stokes was any great shakes. For whatever reason, he was overrated by some Mets fans — this one included — simply because it appeared Jerry Manuel entirely forgot he existed for stretches of the 2009 season. But Stokes was probably lucky to have a sub-4.00 ERA in 2009 with his high 1.564 WHIP, and he never had overly impressive peripheral stats.
Still, as a hard-throwing relief pitcher who posted 108 ERA+ in 103 2/3 innings over two seasons with the Mets, Stokes was something of value. And they just traded something of value for something of arguably no value, since Matthews has done little over the past three years to show that he’s any better than the readily available replacement.
Make no mistake: This is a deal of a seventh reliever for a fifth outfielder. That’s nothing. This means very little in the grand scheme of things.
But it’s frustrating and a little frightening because it shows, once again, how the Mets seem to judge talent in a way that departs so severely from the stats they should now have at their disposal, then overpay to acquire that talent.
Tedquarters 
especially when Jeremy Reed, Endy Chavez, Fernando Tatis, etc all could have served the same purpose without giving up anything
Yep, makes you wonder why their evaluations of talent is so different from everyone elses. I much rather have re-signed Cory Sullivan to a minor league deal.
Still it’s a trade….at least it shows that Omar is still alive.
As an Angels fan… i couldn’t tell you how happy we are to get rid of this guy. We have been annoyed being stuck with our previous GMs last of a long string of ridiculous moves for the past few years… and had been hoping for this day since we signed Torii Hunter. I would’ve been happy paying ALL of the salary just to get him to go away… anyways enjoy the 4th rate back up Center Fielder! And since he is so cheap for you guys now you can just waive him when you are done with him.
What makes it even more frightening is that Jerry is no great shakes at assessing the value of his players, so Matthews may get a lot more time on the field than he actually earns, just because he’s a “veteran.”
This.
I’m definitely afraid that somehow Pagan’s alleged “lack of baseball instincts” will be used to justify giving Matthews more playing time at Pagan’s expense, despite the fact that he does almost nothing better than Pagan.
Ted, is management serious with this trade? Does omar truly believe that a trade for a awesome pitcher like stokes and there is not one person here that can disagree Even you a numbers guy Ted, will put him back in the good graces of Mets fans. Ted, Omar just pretty much begged Mets organization to fire his ass. Unreal, I could understand Castillo for Matthews jr. but, for Stokes he’s one of the better pitchers the Mets have had and he was even better when Tampa Bay had him. Wow. I’m truly stunned at such a crappy trade for who the Mets gave up.
Jeremy Reed/Cory Sullivan aside… instead of having to trade for Gary Matthews to fill a temporary CF need, wouldn’t it be nice to have a young, decent CF prospect in the farm like say… oh I dunno… Ezequiel Carrera or Sean Henry??
We paid 2 mil for Alex Cora for one season and are getting Matthews for 2 years at 2.5? Not the worst deal int he history of man.
Stokes was a lost cause. I don’t see the deal as horrible. Especially if it lets us move him or Pagan for pitching.
I have a feeling a trade is in the works with Cincy.
If there is a trade in the works with cincy it won’t be for matthews. Honestly, I rather cringe watching nick evans or Sheffield run for a ball in the outfield than see Matthews.
The Mets traded depth they had for depth they didn’t. The Mets system is filled with marginal middle relief help that can step in in a pinch at the Major League level. They have Angel Pagan as their back up CF depth and now for an unknown period of time he will be the starter. They traded for needed depth, something they demonstrated in 2009 they didn’t have much of. I applaud the move.
Exactly had the news been” Stokes waived to make room for 1 mil for Matthews Jr. with club option for another year at 1 mil NO ONE would have bat an eye.
Stoke would have more than likely been waived in ST due to the bullpen arms we got in the offseason. This is a high reward low risk move.
Frankly this outcry is more about a restless fanbase waiting for a big signing or trade for starting pitching and seeing this instead.
And sabermetrics people tell me what’s worse? Cora for 2 mill or Matthews at 1 mil?
This is one of those moves under normal seasons goes under the radar and people don’t bat an eye.
But the problem is, adding Matthews doesn’t add depth because he doesn’t appear to be useful in any real way. Plus, since there are certainly a handful of readily available players better at backing up the outfield than Matthews, why give up any of the pitching depth for him?
Also, while I agree that a lot of the uproar over this deal is likely related to the 2009 season, I object to the contention that no one would have batted an eye if the Mets made a poor decision like this one during a normal year. If you’ll read the Abraham Nunez column linked in the right column of this site, you’ll see I’ve been fixating on the margins of the Mets roster since long before it came in vogue.
It’s pointless, maybe, but it’s fun. And there’s really no excuse for baseball teams with huge scouting departments and paid analysts to be making decisions – even minor ones – that appear either careless or transparently bad.
Ted, Stokes was not going to make the team out of Spring Training and was out of options. He was essentially replaced by Iragashi.
People should be more pissed they waived O’Day last year and keep Stokes than this move- or even Castro for Broadway whom we already dumped.
And worse case scenario we release him and some team grabs him (like the Cubs) who will also roll the dice and we don’t pay a cent of the 1.25 mil. At that cost he wouldn’t make it through all 30 teams to be outright released.
had this deal not been done Stoke would have been designated for assignment in April and picked up by another team. Guys like Stokes are a dime a dozen through waivers or what not. We traded a position of strength to get a position we needed.
And for sabermetrics fans Cora at 2 mill should annoy you more than Matthews at 1.25. Low risk high reward.
Remember we paid $500k for Sheffield last year. At least Matthews can still somewhat play OF.
sorry for all the spelling errors typing fast and not proofreading.
Also take a look at out roster, we picked up Escobar, Iragishi, Stoner, and Nieve has to stay on the club too I think because of options. And then you have Everetts, Egbert (both I don’t know) and Parnell. Where exactly does Stokes fit in or give us depth?
Granted I’d have liked Sullivan or Reed but I think the Mets are rolling the dice with a safe gamble that Matthews change of scenery gets him going, if not like I said we release him.
Look, like I said, I think Stokes got lucky last year. But he did have some success, and why write him off in favor of a couple wild cards in Escobar and Igarashi, before Spring Training even starts, for a defensive replacement who can’t defend?
But why not just resign reed, or sullivan, or sign endy, or byrnes anyone of them would likely be more useful than Matthews.
I don’t think anyone has an issue with this deal because of “cost”, it’s because it shows the mets still apparently can’t evaluate talent. Gary Matthews jr, is pretty much depth in name only.
Whatever, this isn’t going to make or break our season. At least they’re trying to get some depth. It’s just going to be that much more amusing when (IF) Beltran comes back and Matthews ends up as the most expensive bench guy ever.
Why does everyone see matthews as depth? First of all despite what every one thinks about stokes probably not making the team, he’s still better at pitching than Matthews is at whatever this guy is suppose to be doing. So, the mets trade a decent pitcher for a guy who couldn’t even hold Beltrans jock strap yet alone field his position just to take away much needed time away from Pagan.
For all this the mets could have kept cory sullivan, jeremy reed or Sheffield for this “I’m only still in the majors because my daddy made some phone calls” loser. Then again this is the same organization that gave away money to the mo vaughn fraud company.
I always thought that when I got to the majors I would push for a trade to the Mets or accept a hometown discount as a free agent. But now I’m just really not sure.
I’m not sure about your statement Stokes was something of value. He was on the verge of being cut.
I kept going back and forth on this trade. Stokes is pretty worthless so I suppose I can get behind trading away crap in an abundant area for crap in an area of need. The problem herein is the crap. Crap in the baseball playing of GMjr and crap in our scouting / decision making department. It’s almost as if they were disappointed we couldn’t irritate the hell out of us with Molina so they found another old, lousy player.
At least it gives me the funny mental image of Omar Minaya in an oaken library, in front of a fireplace in a silk robe with photo spreads of Gary Matthews, Jr. playing baseball all over as Omar writhes in pleasured joy on a bearskin rug.
dude, there is nothing about that image that is funny…