The dangers of being an MLB trade deadline seller: The PCA story

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Rahimi & Grote Show 13 min 3 speakers 3 chapters transcribed 2 months ago

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What triggered the discussion about the Mets–Cubs trade involving Pete Crow-Armstrong (PCA)?

0:04

You're listening to Rahimi Harrison-Grody on Sports Radio 104.3, The Score. Doors closing. Oh, my goodness. Wow. Well, not only fast, but cuts the base perfectly. One of the worst trades in a long while by the Mets. Well, they got six good weeks out of Javi Baez. Now they've got to watch this guy be a star.

Vinny Rotino 0:36

Man, Tyler just covering all the bases there. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score. The song is Shorty Swing My Way. The call is by the Mets broadcast, which is facing very nihilist times on their shows recently. Gary Cohn and Keith Hernandez. And yes... Of course, Pico Armstrong, the player of the month for June, as you mentioned, is a focal point for Mets fans because they could use him right now. Even with their massive payroll, they could still use that production.

Marshall Harris 1:08

Layla, what I'm about to tell you is not going to make Keith Hernandez or anybody who roots for the Mets feel any better about what's going on in PCA.

Vinny Rotino 1:14

After what he said yesterday, I don't know.

Marshall Harris 1:16

Well, that's a separate subject.

Vinny Rotino 1:18

We've been requested that for halftime. We'll play it and talk about it tomorrow because we have the short show today.

Marshall Harris 1:22

But understand this. With this 10 for 21 explosion to start off the month of July by Pete Crow Armstrong, he now is tied. with Shohei Ohtani in B-War at 5.6. And remember, Ohtani pitches too, and that's a large reason why he's at the top. Because Ohtani's not having the greatest of offensive seasons. He's having a good offensive season, don't get me wrong. But not only has he tied him in B-War at 5.6 on the season, he's only now .2 behind him in F-War, that's Fangraff's War. 6.0 for Shohei Ohtani, and now 5.8. for Pete Crow Armstrong. And again, Shoya Ohtani, his batting war is 3.0. His pitching war is 3.0.

Vinny Rotino 2:04

Slice the numbers however you want. And some people do... They're going to consider war when it comes to trying to measure Pete Crow Armstrong. But in every single metric, which is what you're pointing out, he's showing his value. In the meantime... The Mets broadcast had a right to lament when they saw him perform in that four-game series that they had a couple weeks ago. Because Peter Armstrong was part of the offensive production that the Cubs had to enjoy that sweep. And it's rare that you get confessions like this, even as recently as five years ago, from the person in the room. And former Mets general manager, he was acting at the time, Zach Scott, was on the Break It Down show and confessed about what the thought process was into trading away Pete Grover Armstrong for Javi Baez.

Zach Scott 2:56

When we did that trade, I heard from some of my friends from... the Red Sox saying, I can't believe you traded for a rental because you hate rentals. And so it was often my position in the room in Boston to be really opposed to doing anything big for a rental player because it's such a lopsided future value negative. Now, that said, when you look at it at the time, when I dissect it and look back and see where did things go wrong, part of that was my bias coming from Boston. We did not like PCA in the draft. We didn't like Matt Allen in the draft either, and that was actually the player the Cubs wanted. So in hindsight, that would have obviously been the much better deal.

Marshall Harris 3:40

Yeah, we haven't heard from him since.

Zach Scott 3:41

Yeah, and so it's tough, but I'll say this. If you looked at the farm system back then, you had, I'd say PCA was seen as like the fifth or sixth best Mets prospect.

Marshall Harris 3:52

Yeah, I'd probably say that, give or take.

Zach Scott 3:54

Yeah, and I can tell you from talking to people in the industry, he wasn't someone that teams really asked about. And even the Cubs were asking reluctantly. So I don't think he had a lot of industry value. He'd been drafted 19th, which isn't usually where the top talent is. It's usually in the top 15 picks. So it doesn't surprise me that the industry didn't value him that early in his pro career. Yeah. You know, I love the defense, love the base running, like the makeup, too, as far as, you know, wanting to be really good. Just didn't didn't trust that the bat would come along the way it has.