Best luck in Cleveland, Z-Mac
Here’s the info, I’m sure some folks will not be pleased about this one:
Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports says via Twitter that right-handed pitcher Zach McAllister is the player to be named later from the July 30th Austin Kearns deal with the New York Yankees.
McAllister, 22, is 8-10 with a 5.09 ERA in 24 starts this year for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He has a 1.530 WHIP with a 6.0 SO/9 ratio.
I have to think the Yanks were down on Z-Mac, feeling he was exposed somewhat in AAA this year. As our own Eric Schultz detailed this morning, the Yanks have high upside arms in Banuelos and Betances who look like the kinds of pitchers the Yanks will keep, and to be honest guys like Z-Mac are the type they generally deal off. Getting a reserve OF with an expiring deal for 2 months doesn’t seem like a great return to me, but you have to consider that Z-Mac’s stock was low after his poor showing this year.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
8 Responses to Zach McAllister PTBNL in Austin Kearns deal
Leave a Reply
TIQ IQ
Another note, this is yet another example of Cashman trading a player when his stock is low. He did it with IPK, Jose Tabata, and now again with Z-Mac. Fans often decry these moves as “selling low” but I think they don’t understand how the Yanks operate. The Yanks are such a rich organization that selling low on someone like McAllister is cab fare, and his lack of upside means they won’t lose an ounce of sleep over the move. There are a bunch of guys with his talent available in trades or on the waiver wire on an annual basis, there’s just no incentive to hang on to them if a need can be filled. So yes, they sold low, but it doesn’t matter.
I think more than anything the emergence of Ivan Nova onto the scene is what makes McAllister expendable, Nova has a very similar skill set to Zmac when it comes to being a sinker ball pitcher with lower velocity but Nova seems to throw harder and create more ground balls.
At first a lot of people regarded Nova as a poor mans McAllister however since he got over the setback he had last year when he was first moved to triple A he has seemed to handle this level of competition better and has ousted Zach as previously thought of better pitcher.
How many low upside sinker ball arms do you need?
I don’t disagree, but when discussing trades many fans have this notion that ‘YOU NEVER EVER SELL LOW, THAT’S JUST STUPID!” and I cited 3 instances where Cashman clearly has. My point being, it’s never that myopically ideological, you deal with these things on a case by case basis. And yes, occasionally you sell low on a player to fill a need if (as you said) the organization is in a strong position.
Well if you think of prospects in terms of stocks then yes to sell low on a stock that is going to rebound is generally not a smart dump, however to identify a potential problem with a prospect and sell low when not expecting there to be a bounce back on said stock is just cutting losses and picking up what you can in return.
In this instance we acquired a bench bat that we did need to strengthen the depth of the team and lineup while while getting rid of a stock that hasn’t bounced back all year and since this was the year a lot of people thought Zach would be one of the first arms up if he performed well and the emergence of Nova it doesn’t hurt to sell now especially if you think he might rebound.
Right. While his value may have dropped, it still may be higher now than it ever will be again. I don’t think the White Sox can get anything for Jeff Marquez at this point.
I haven’t read any complaints about dealing Z-Mac now. The bloom was off his rose. In a year when Yankee pitching talent exploded in the minors, McAllister had about as much of a future with the team as Kei Igawa.
True, but he was thought of as a top Yankee prospect as recently as last year. I thought there would be some backlash, but (thankfully) I was wrong about that.
I think McAllister was only ever considered a top Yankee prospect because of the unknown of Banuelos and the given up for dead attitude we all had to have about Betances and Brackman, lets face it over the last year the Yankees minor leagues have gotten a lot deeper.