NY trades for Brandon Drury

jon abbey

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Drury is only 25 and still pre-arb, so he does fit in with the youth movement. I wonder if Tyler Wade is one of the prospects, this would seem to be his spot.
 

jon abbey

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Looks like Nick Solak, who is even more blocked than Wade, and Taylor Widener, a promising young SP but also very buried on the depth chart currently.
 

jon abbey

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Those are NY's #16 and #22 prospects in a very deep system, so Cashman must really like Drury.
 

jon abbey

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I like Drury. I’m into this.

Bummed to lose Solak though, I think he has the upside of Pedroia but the downside of Refsnyder.
Pedroia is/was a superb defender, Solak will never have that according to the reports I've read.

Something else is coming after this because NY will have to clear a 40 man spot for Drury, neither Solak nor Widener were on the 40 man.
 

jon abbey

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Didi Gregorius: traded from ARI to NY for his age 25 season, previous two seasons 1.4 and 1.1 WAR. First three seasons with NY: 3.3, 2.2, 3.7 WAR.

Brandon Drury: traded from ARI to NY for his age 25 season, previous two seasons 0.0 and 1.6 WAR.
 

jon abbey

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Phil Nevin, NY's new third base coach, was Drury's manager in AAA in 2015.
 

jon abbey

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This is not promising though:

Brandon Drury, career at Chase Field: .305/.360/.533 in 509 PA.
Drury, career on road: .239/.280/.368 in 529 PA.

The difference between Drury's home OPS (.893) and total OPS (.767) is the largest for any player with 1,000+ PA since 2015.
 

hbk72777

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His power is evenly split. And hey, Cashman usually finds players that rise up just by putting on the uniform

I still like having a guy who's played every day than piecing together backups like we probably would have
 

jon abbey

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Jabari Blash DFAd, too bad since I loved his name if nothing else.
 

E5 Yaz

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Souza becomes the power hitter replacement in Arizona
 

BigMike

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Hmm, so my AL only keeper league team had too many good keepers, not really an issue now as Tampa has moved out Dickenson, and Sousa in a week. Good grief, is there a baseball version of Lebron James in the 2019 draft? This is tanking on an NBA level.

Drury doesn't seem to any LH/RH splits. Maybe he will follow the DIdi path in NY
 

Murderer's Crow

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Yeesh

From MLBTR
Blash has strong on-base skills to go along with his considerable power, as evidenced by his career .258/.381/.571 batting line and 65 homers through 235 games at the Triple-A level.
 

jon abbey

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Blash has strong on-base skills to go along with his considerable power, as evidenced by his career .258/.381/.571 batting line and 65 homers through 235 games at the Triple-A level.
That was the PCL and he will turn 29 this summer. He had a .675 OPS for SD last year in 192 ABs, let's see if anyone else even picks him up.
 

jon abbey

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Full deal is Drury to Yanks, Souza + Widener to AZ, Solak + Anthony Banda + PTBNL to Rays
Banda was a top 100 prospect last year (#88 on the BA list coming into the season) who didn't have a great year and so fell back a bit. TB is stockpiling so much young pitching, hopefully they start giving those guys chances finally.

Also Drury was a top 100 prospect two years ago (#94 in BA coming into 2016), FWIW.
 

Oppo

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Banda was a top 100 prospect last year (#88 on the BA list coming into the season) who didn't have a great year and so fell back a bit. TB is stockpiling so much young pitching, hopefully they start giving those guys chances finally.

Also Drury was a top 100 prospect two years ago (#94 in BA coming into 2016), FWIW.
TB can draft and develop pitchers. Hitters? Not so much.
 

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D'Backs clear out some of its infield logjam (Lamb, Owings, Ahmed, Marte, Descalso still there)
Yankees clear out some surplus prospects and upgrades their infield slots since Drury plays all over (played only 1 game at 3B last year, with most at 2B, has also played the OF)
Rays clear out salary. Too bad it's now Kiermaier and junk. But that's by design

Works out all around

Too bad the Sox don't have room for Blash, I liked him too.
 

jon abbey

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Here is Drury's peak moment of 2017, Brandon Morrow did not give up a HR the entire regular season or in game 1 of the NLDS but in game 2, Drury blasted the first pitch he saw for a 422 foot three-run pinch-hit HR to cut LA's lead to 7-5, the hardest hit ball Drury hit all year (around 109 MPH):

 

wallypip

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Drury also still has options. So we could still be looking at a five man competition for three infield spots. Seven if you consider Jace Peterson and Danny Espinoza in the race.
 

wallypip

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Blash could be resigned to a minor league deal. Now we just need to get pitchers to throw the ball right here:


 

jon abbey

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Via Dan Federico on Twitter:

NL Exec on the Drury trade: "The #Yankees needed a veteran guy in the infield. Our team grades him as solid everyday player. He's a pretty good defender with a plus arm that has some pop in his bat. Everyday player on 15 teams. Young, controllable - perfect for the organization."

On what the #Yankees gave up: "If Widener stays healthy, he's going to be a really good big league player. Solak profiles like Refsnyder but is a better defender, better athlete and is faster. [The Yankees] gave up some good talent but it doesn't make a dent in their system."

Overall thoughts on the trade: "I thought it was a really good move for the #Yankees. They didn't dip into their top guys. They very clearly want to hold onto them, or else they could've gotten Cole earlier this offseason or someone like Chris Archer now."

What happens with Andujar: "I think it's a positive for Andujar. I think the #Yankees open the season with Drury at second and Andujar at third. He's 110% ready for the big leagues. He's gotten better at every single level he's played at. Word is Boone loves him, too."

What about Torres?: "This is huge for Torres too because he'll get a chance to play one position (2B) everyday instead of bouncing around the infield. And remember, he played in 50 or so games above High-A. He can use the at-bats. When he's promoted, Drury will be a utility guy."

Where this leaves Wade: "Can't see him making the big league club right now. I'm sure the organization wants to see him hit in AAA again after his stint in the bigs. [Thairo] Estrada may have also leapfrogged him in the front office's eyes."

Chance Adams: "I'm hearing more #Yankees people see Adams as a reliever. That's not a bad thing. He can take Warren's place now as someone who can give you 2-3 innings and pitch very well in that role. If he impresses in the Spring, Warren can be trade bait."

Chad Green: "Green is a special, special player. He will mean more to the #Yankees this season than Andrew Miller did with the Indians last year."
 

chawson

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Via Dan Federico on Twitter:

Chad Green: "Green is a special, special player. He will mean more to the #Yankees this season than Andrew Miller did with the Indians last year."
Maybe "last year" is the key criterion here, when Miller "only" posted a 2.59 xFIP, but his previous three years each rank in the top 25 relief seasons this century, and 2014 and '16 are both in the top 7.

Green's season was impressive as hell and he strikes out a ton of guys, but doesn't he give up a pretty good amount of hard contact to be projected as an historic relief god?
 

jon abbey

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Yeah, I don't agree with that one either, I think last year for Miller is indeed the key, but I still think it ignores the lefty/righty factor.
 

Murderer's Crow

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I don't think he's saying that Green will be better than Miller, just that he will play a role a similarly important role. I'm skeptical also. This all reminds me that Betances still has a lot to prove.
 

wallypip

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What's up crow! I saw you said hi to me a few weeks a go, but I hadn't checked in in a while.
What about Torres?: "This is huge for Torres too because he'll get a chance to play one position (2B) everyday instead of bouncing around the infield. And remember, he played in 50 or so games above High-A. He can use the at-bats. When he's promoted, Drury will be a utility guy."
"
Interesting. The thing about Drury as the utility is that he's never played SS outside of emergencies in mlb or minors. Maybe they think they can live with him at SS once a month or they use Torres at SS?
 

jon abbey

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Drury could take Austin’s bench spot as backup 1B, Wade could be the backup SS.

So by June, Torres/Andujar starting, a bench of Drury/Wade/Romine or a better backup C (please Cashman) and a backup OF, ideally Frazier but looking like Ellsbury.