Valaika DFA. Mateo replaces him

[BohKnowsBmore]

4 hours ago, Yardball85 said:

Interestingly, Mateo was a top 100 prospect for a little while.  Seems he was the big piece acquired by Oakland in the Gray trade four years ago.  He's 26 now, put up solid numbers in AAA in 2019.  Worth a shot, especially over Valaika.

 

 

4 hours ago, interloper said:

We do love us some former top 100 guys. I think it's likely Mateo gets DFA'd quickly himself. Ton of guys to add to the 40 this offseason. But certainly a talent upgrade over a guy like Gutierrez, who I expect could be DFA'd for Wells tomorrow. 

 

3 hours ago, Ohfan67 said:

He's out of options and has to be kept on the ML roster. See story below. I guess the Orioles could try to pass him back through waivers, but seems like one of the other terrible teams would claim him. 

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/08/padres-designate-jorge-mateo-for-assignment.html

Before the season, Mateo was a guy the Fangraphs Fantasy Baseball guys were very high on as a sleeper who was out of options who would either be playing for Oakland or get picked up elsewhere and could do some good stuff potentially.

[NelsonCruuuuuz]

48 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Yeah, I’m pretty underwhelmed.   Putting aside his SSS big league numbers, he’s been a .739 OPS hitter in the PCL.   No reason to expect him to post a .700.+ OPS in the majors.   

https://friarsonbase.com/2020/06/30/padres-make-sneaky-acquisition-jorge-mateo-athletics/

PCL or not, speed & triples don’t lie, good pickup.

“His 14 triples and 24 stolen bases were tops and seventh-best, respectively, in the Pacific Coast League last year. We also have the full scouting report on how fast this kid is.”

 

 

 

[Legend_Of_Joey]

I wonder if he has to go through the COVID intake and if they can pull Jones up in the meantime…

[Jammer7]

4 hours ago, NelsonCruuuuuz said:

Elias hasn't exactly dazzled anyone with this waiver wire acquisitions but this one I like a lot.

Um, ok, did you just use the terms dazzle and waiver wire acquisitions? C’mon man, that is ridiculous. Waiver claims rarely do much at all, maybe become a borderline regular. No GM dazzles with waiver claims. 

You’re anti-Elias rants are predictable and tiresome. 

[Jammer7]

Mateo has 80 grade speed, according to Baseball America. I just read the write-up in the BA 2020 Prospect Handbook on Mateo. They talked about his dramatic ups and downs, his inconsistency on offense and defense. He was the preseason #8 prospect in the Oakland system. They cited his athleticism, plus arm strength and ability to play multiple positions. 

I am paraphrasing here, but essentially they describe him as enigmatic, maybe even erratic. It said evaluators cannot figure him out. They said that best case scenario might be .250 with 15 HR’s. 

it is just one write-up, but it might be one of the strangest ones I have ever read on BA. None of the other articles I have read were quite so critical of a guy in their top 100 in 2019. 

Who knows what to expect. Why not see what you have on this. I think it is a good move. He only has to be a little better than Valaika, not too much to ask. 

[waynebug]

I saw Valaika hit some real blasts last year.  Sorry he regressed.  Didn't nearly have the year that ZIPS projected for him

[Chuck A]

11 hours ago, Jammer7 said:

Um, ok, did you just use the terms dazzle and waiver wire acquisitions? C’mon man, that is ridiculous. Waiver claims rarely do much at all, maybe become a borderline regular. No GM dazzles with waiver claims. 

You’re anti-Elias rants are predictable and tiresome. 

Maybe he will BEDAZZLE us! 

 

Had to.  I just did.

[wildcard]

My biggest concern about Mateo is that Billy Bean was not impressed with him.   He traded him for an 18 year old Dominican.

[Sports Guy]

17 minutes ago, wildcard said:

My biggest concern about Mateo is that Billy Bean was not impressed with him.   He traded him for an 18 year old Dominican.

Why is this a concern?  If hes sucks, so be it?  You move on to the next AAAA player and see if they hit.

[Camden_yardbird]

12 hours ago, Jammer7 said:

Um, ok, did you just use the terms dazzle and waiver wire acquisitions? C’mon man, that is ridiculous. Waiver claims rarely do much at all, maybe become a borderline regular. No GM dazzles with waiver claims. 

You’re anti-Elias rants are predictable and tiresome. 

While that is true if we expand to player generally "picked off the scrap heap" which I would define as 1) waiver claims, 2) low profile free agent acquitions 3) players acquired for cash considerations or off of DFAs, I dont think Elias has shown any real skill in making these types of pickups.

And before we go and say that even those players rarely amount to much.  The Giants are the best team in the league, made up significantly by players like this.

Mike Yastremski, Donovan Solano, Alex Dickerson, Wilmer Flores, Darin Ruf, Thairo Estrada, Anthony DiScalfani, Mike Tuchman, Jose Alvarez, Kevin Gausman

Its a skill that good GMs have and not one that I think we can say Elias has shown particular skill in.  It is especially important on a rebuilding and low payroll team that has the time and spots to let those players play.  Players like that are found value, costing little and returning competitive value or trade value.

[jamalshw]

14 hours ago, Frobby said:

Yeah, I’m pretty underwhelmed.   Putting aside his SSS big league numbers, he’s been a .739 OPS hitter in the PCL.   No reason to expect him to post a .700.+ OPS in the majors.   

He seems to always be slow to adjust to a new level of competition. His .739 OPS in the PCL isn't that impressive, but he had a .633 OPS in 131 games in 2018 and then improved to a .834 in 119 games in 2019. Prior to that, he had a .685 OPS in 113 games in A+ in 2016, but combined to a have a .781 OPS in 129 games for three teams A+/AA in 2017. 

Mateo is obviously not someone we should expect to become a star. He's more likely to be the next Leyba than the next Mullins, but he's worth the gamble. Give him some ABs see if he adjusts and makes himself a useful super-sub or something. 

[Tony-OH]

18 hours ago, Ruzious said:

Not only hasn't Franco hit, but he can't run.  He often limps to first base.  It's been a joke that he's continued to play while clearly not healthy - considering he wasn't any good when he was healthy.  

Franco is not very good any more, but I do appreciate that he's a gamer. He's made some really nice plays on occasion at 3B. Saying all that, he probably needs to be DFA'd. He was brought here to try and provide value at the Trading deadline. He did not.

[DrungoHazewood]

17 hours ago, SteveA said:

Valaika .531 OPS this year, .649 career.

Mateo .572 OPS this year, .545 career.

We got 2, almost 3, years younger.

Mumble, mumble, something about deck chairs.

Mateo's minor league performances are underwhelming at first glance.  Perhaps we could loan him out and get him a few more years in the PCL to give him that Valaika-like sheen.

[DrungoHazewood]

3 minutes ago, jamalshw said:

He seems to always be slow to adjust to a new level of competition. His .739 OPS in the PCL isn't that impressive, but he had a .633 OPS in 131 games in 2018 and then improved to a .834 in 119 games in 2019. Prior to that, he had a .685 OPS in 113 games in A+ in 2016, but combined to a have a .781 OPS in 129 games for three teams A+/AA in 2017. 

Mateo is obviously not someone we should expect to become a star. He's more likely to be the next Leyba than the next Mullins, but he's worth the gamble. Give him some ABs see if he adjusts and makes himself a useful super-sub or something. 

*cough* new ball in 2019.  An .834 in the PCL with a 5:1 K:BB ratio is kind of like OPSing .634 in Norfolk a few years ago.

[Tony-OH]

10 minutes ago, Camden_yardbird said:

While that is true if we expand to player generally "picked off the scrap heap" which I would define as 1) waiver claims, 2) low profile free agent acquitions 3) players acquired for cash considerations or off of DFAs, I dont think Elias has shown any real skill in making these types of pickups.

And before we go and say that even those players rarely amount to much.  The Giants are the best team in the league, made up significantly by players like this.

Mike Yastremski, Donovan Solano, Alex Dickerson, Wilmer Flores, Darin Ruf, Thairo Estrada, Anthony DiScalfani, Mike Tuchman, Jose Alvarez, Kevin Gausman

Its a skill that good GMs have and not one that I think we can say Elias has shown particular skill in.  It is especially important on a rebuilding and low payroll team that has the time and spots to let those players play.  Players like that are found value, costing little and returning competitive value or trade value.

100% on point. I'm not anti-Elias at all, but the system Elias uses to identify potential upside talent has not yielded much talent at all from waiver claims or major league ready talent. It remains to be seen whether the minor league players he acquired or the players he drafted or signed become good. 

I