Coby Mayo...Trade Chip?

[Answerman]

We seem to be talking a lot about the other great prospects as being valuable trade chips, but I'd like to make the case for why perhaps we should consider moving Coby at this year's deadline. Consider:

   - He is a big, strong kid...who may still get bigger and stronger. Impressive stature!

   - He is a young kid who happens to be tearing up AA pitching...ahead of schedule.

   - His only path to playing time in Baltimore is at 1st base.

   - 1st base is the easiest position in MLB to fill.

   - We could have said the same stuff about Mountcastle just three years ago.

   - Our OF logjam may provide a long-term 1B solution (Kjerstad, Santander, etc.)

   - The guy playing 1B currently, though maybe lacking pedigree, has played like an all star (considering number of games played).

We have to face the hard truth. Coby has more value as a trade chip than as an actual player in this system. And, it's really hard to imagine that trade value being any higher than it is right now. It will surely be hard to see a prospect like that go to another team and flourish, but we need another pitcher. He can help bring us a good one, more than a rental. 

I say make the deal!

[wildcard]

I have no interest in trading Mayo.   He is far down the list of those to trade IMO.

[terpoh]

Mayo is pretty much untouchable I would think. But if he were traded it wouldnt be for anything less than a young, multi year controlled, TOR level starter. He should be a consensus top 25 prospect end of season. Not sure that match exists..  Mitch Keller? Eury Perez? Spencer Strider? Zac Gallen? Dont think any of those teams would have any interest in trading those type of guys either. 

[Sports Guy]

No..he’s the first baseman of the future and that future may be within a calendar year.

Its also a lie to say first base is the easiest position to fill, at least if you are looking for actual quality.

[Answerman]

I respectfully disagree SG...every guy on the team can move over to 1B if needed. Last night Urias played there. Hell, that's how Mounty got there. He was a very good minor league hitter who couldn't stick at any other IF or OF position. It is indeed the easiest position to fill. That's also why they put Kjerstad and Santander there to keep their bats in the lineup when the OF gets crowded. 

 

[Sports Guy]

2 minutes ago, Answerman said:

I respectfully disagree SG...every guy on the team can move over to 1B if needed. Last night Urias played there. Hell, that's how Mounty got there. He was a very good minor league hitter who couldn't stick at any other IF or OF position. It is indeed the easiest position to fill. That's also why they put Kjerstad and Santander there to keep their bats in the lineup when the OF gets crowded. 

 

Yes, guys can play there.  But as I said, I’m looking for and talking about quality. Urias dropped that ball last night in part because he’s not big enough for the position. 
 

Mounty was an IFer, so it’s natural for him to move there and btw, he’s not a great option.

[oriole]

If he can get a good return, he isn’t someone that I’d consider untouchable. But when I say good return, I’m talking about a real difference maker…no Bud Norris or Cole Irvin crap. 

What makes him more expendable to me is that his natural position (3B) has very little chance of being open by the time he’s ready. There’s already multiple players that will be around awhile for that position. Second, if Elias wants to build a team around the idea that the players should be able to maximize their output in the home ballpark then a right handed power hitter at Camden Yards is not the right guy. If they’re to fill in 1B with a true offensive threat then you’ve gotta lean towards a lefty being the main guy. Kjerstad seems to me like the 1B of the future for this reason. Third, just the culmination of less than optimal conditions that I’ve mentioned makes it so that he probably has more value to another club than here and if the idea is to maximize value and we need a great trade chip to get a great player back then Mayo makes sense in that regard. 
 

With all that being said, he looks like he’s going to be a really good player and sometimes you just gotta go with the best players and ignore the rest of the noise. I wouldn’t be upset if he ends up in Baltimore. I’m just listing reasons why I think him being used as our top trade chip make some sense. 

[Moose Milligan]

He’s untouchable all of a sudden. 

[2001OriolesFan]

I do not think that he is at maximum trade value right now.  He is mashing against AA pitching. I think if he is mashing against AAA pitching, he has a much higher value and it is worth waiting a year + to trade him.  In the meantime, we should have O'hearn, Montie and Kjerstad penciled in as future starting 1B-men, and a few veteran players cross-trained there for ocasional use and so as to not tie up a 26 man roster spot.

We have time to wait on him and would get decent return on somebody already on the roster who has played 1B.

 

[deward]

I'm only trading Mayo if he can bring back someone you can install at the top of the rotation for the next few years, not someone who walks in two years because the O's don't pay pitchers. If that isn't the return, then Mayo stays and becomes and all-star 1B.

[Gurgi]

Coby Mayo should not be traded.  As Tony said earlier if he was a college kid he would be high first round.  

[Fiver6565]

There’s not a lot of RH power in the minors (there’s no power at all in the minors equivalent to what this kid has shown). I know RH is devalued due to the Wall, but you can’t literally trot out LH bats in every spot of the lineup. 
 

That and the 1B thing are the reasons I would resist trading Mayo. 
 

In a similar vein, I also think this is why Santander has more value than people here generally assign to him. Switch hitting is not a common skill, and doing it with power is even less so. So Santander being able to switch to RH power carries a lot of weight IMO. The L/R versatility in our lineup comes down to the three switch hitters in a lot of ways. 

[sportsfan8703]

1 hour ago, Moose Milligan said:

He’s untouchable all of a sudden. 

He’s untouchable for the names that are out there. Giolito is about the only arm that would be a big enough upgrade to target. He’s just a rental and won’t cost Mayo. 

[sportsfan8703]

You don’t have to trade Coby Mayo for a 7th inning setup guy. 

[Roy Firestone]

Coby Mayo belongs in Baltimore...he has Aaron Judge upside...or at least big power numbers and a better than average glove and arm...I'd want him to earn the job here..and he's not very far from doing just that...maybe mid June next year...meantime...this organisation is loaded with hitters and I think someone like Norby and Stowers might go...Mountcastle too...But not Coby...