Thames, Choi, Aguilar and Yankees Potential

[ThisIsMyCrew]

If the Yankees are indeed exploring options. What are the chances we can dump Thames and keep Choi? Save a few dollars and keep a potentially more valueable player.

 

[wildcat2237]

I could see the Yankees being interested in both Thames and Aguilar. Here are my thoughts:

 

1. Thames. I think the Brewers would love to dump Thames salary. However, because of the salary I doubt we would receive much in return. I will be interested to see if the Brewers do a salary dump move especially in light of some recent news that we might be near the limit on payroll.

 

2. Aguilar. I believe Aguilar is probably more valuable. However, I wouldn't trade him away for anything less than the Jason Rogers package. i.e one decent pitching prospect and one decent hitting prospect.

[Warning Track Power]

I see Aguilar as being the odd man out in the 1B battle if only for the reason that he and Braun are both RH. Given Braun's injury history as well, I think the Brewers will make their choice of who they prefer to see at 1B for six weeks straight....Thames or Aguilar? I am guessing that is Thames.

[BrewCrewBlueDevil]

Eric Thames for Chasen Shreve or Jordan Montgomery straight up?

[bill hAll Star]

I don't think the Yankees would have much interest in Aguilar. I guess they could make Walker a primary 1B and platoon him with Aguilar, but I can't see Aguilar going for anything of note given that we probably are bordering on having to cut him anyways.

 

Aguilar simply isn't that good when exposed to a lot of RHP.

 

If they think they want a full time 1B, then it's Thames platooned with somebody else. I'd give them the Thames/Aguilar platoon for the right price.

[wildcat2237]

I see Aguilar as being the odd man out in the 1B battle if only for the reason that he and Braun are both RH. Given Braun's injury history as well, I think the Brewers will make their choice of who they prefer to see at 1B for six weeks straight....Thames or Aguilar? I am guessing that is Thames.

 

This is a very good point.

 

I completely forgot that Aguilar is a right-hander. That could be very important.

[wildcat2237]

I don't think the Yankees would have much interest in Aguilar. I guess they could make Walker a primary 1B and platoon him with Aguilar, but I can't see Aguilar going for anything of note given that we probably are bordering on having to cut him anyways.

 

Aguilar simply isn't that good when exposed to a lot of RHP.

 

If they think they want a full time 1B, then it's Thames platooned with somebody else. I'd give them the Thames/Aguilar platoon for the right price.

 

This is an excellent idea as well. This would allow the Brewers to keep a Braun/Choi platoon in Milwaukee. My issue there is that if(when) Braun gets hurt we are then rolling with Choi as our 1b.

[pacopete4]

Trade Thames to NYY and make Braun the everyday 1B. Choi could be a fine backup there because he's a lefty and can play 1B and LF which is nice for late game substitutions.

[coolhandluke121]

Eric Thames for Chasen Shreve or Jordan Montgomery straight up?

 

Adam Lind signed a minor league deal and Morrison got a 1-year deal for about what Thames makes. Mark Reynolds still doesn't have a deal and I'm not even sure Chris Carter will get a minor league deal. Nobody is giving up anything for Aguilar or Thames, and they'd be lucky just to be able to get out of most of Thames's salary. Aguilar will be dfa'ed in his prime for the 2nd year in a row because he's a fringe MLB player at best.

 

I would support keeping Choi instead of Thames if it meant they'd spend the money elsewhere eventually, but I am not getting my hopes up.

[TURBO]

Eric Thames for Chasen Shreve or Jordan Montgomery straight up?

 

I'd take Montgomery and pay all of Thames contact!

[pacopete4]

Eric Thames for Chasen Shreve or Jordan Montgomery straight up?

 

I'd take Montgomery and pay all of Thames contact!

Can't imagine the Yankees would trade us a 25-year-old rotation piece that isn't a free agent until 2024 for Eric Thames. Seems pretty unrealistic to me.

[reillymcshane]

I have to agree that Choi/Thames/Aguilar aren't going to garner much of anything in a trade. As people have noted, there are numerous stopgap type guys available, including Mark Reynolds, Brandon Moss, and Adam Lind. You could even expand that to some outfielders (if the club thought they could play 1B) - such as Jayson Werth and Jose Bautista.

 

The attractive thing about Choi and Aguilar would be price - both make the minimum. Even if you added them - and were forced to release them later - you wouldn't be on the hook for much money. Plus, both have been in camp all spring, so unlike a guy like Reynolds, they wouldn't need anytime to get back in the swing of things.

[KeithStone53151]

I have to agree that Choi/Thames/Aguilar aren't going to garner much of anything in a trade. As people have noted, there are numerous stopgap type guys available, including Mark Reynolds, Brandon Moss, and Adam Lind. You could even expand that to some outfielders (if the club thought they could play 1B) - such as Jayson Werth and Jose Bautista.

 

The attractive thing about Choi and Aguilar would be price - both make the minimum. Even if you added them - and were forced to release them later - you wouldn't be on the hook for much money. Plus, both have been in camp all spring, so unlike a guy like Reynolds, they wouldn't need anytime to get back in the swing of things.

 

Generally agreed. I have to think Lind or Moss could be signed for 1-2 million, a bit more than the 550k that Aguilar or Choi would get...but hardly a noticeable difference to any team, especially the yankees. I feel like they will be announcing an Adam Lind signing any day, that would make a ton of sense for them. They'll definitely target a LH bat.

[MrTPlush]

Eric Thames isn’t going anywhere. He is a huge lefty power bat and is not expensive at all. If they were confident enough in Braun to play there everyday and Braun wasn’t made of glass, maybe. As it stands trading Thames makes little sense. Dump Aguilar or Choi. Who cares which one, whoever it is will be gone in a few weeks. We are only paying Thames $6mil.

[bill hAll Star]

Eric Thames isn’t going anywhere. He is a huge lefty power bat and is not expensive at all. If they were confident enough in Braun to play there everyday and Braun wasn’t made of glass, maybe. As it stands trading Thames makes little sense. Dump Aguilar or Choi. Who cares which one, whoever it is will be gone in a few weeks. We are only paying Thames $6mil.

 

At this point of the year, the contract only matters to Attanasio. Thames has an affordable year next year and an option, which are a bonus, but if the Brewers got a good pitcher or prospect back and truly believed that Choi is not a huge dropoff from Thames, then I'd make a trade.

[DocLuna7]

FWIW, the Yankees just released Lind this week.

[wildcat2237]

Yeah, the Yankees had Lind and released him, so it is very doubtful they wold re-sign he a week later.

[bill hAll Star]

Yeah, the Yankees had Lind and released him, so it is very doubtful they wold re-sign he a week later.

 

Their situation changed. If they can't find a taker to give them a good deal on a trade, they could get Lind right back.

 

EDIT: Unless my timeline is wrong and they cut Lind after they already knew that Bird was out for a while.

[torts]

Greg Bird 1B for Yankees is out 6-8 weeks to recover from surgery around bone spurs

[reillymcshane]

I don't know how Lind left the Yankees - that is, was it on good terms? Did he look all right when he did play? That sort of thing. If they weren't impressed with him, they may not see him as an option.

 

Assuming they want the left handed bat, to me he'd be a perfectly reasonable option for 2-3 months until Bird is back. Or maybe they'll just plug Walker into 1B.

[chuckiehacks]

If they need someone (and to this point they're at least saying they're staying with in-house options), they should just sign Mark Reynolds. For 6-8 weeks at minimal cost, he'd be perfect.

[bill hAll Star]

If they need someone (and to this point they're at least saying they're staying with in-house options), they should just sign Mark Reynolds. For 6-8 weeks at minimal cost, he'd be perfect.

 

Not to quibble too much, but if I had my pick of the litter, I'd probably take Moss, Lind, maybe even Napoli over Reynolds.

 

Regardless, I'd probably would just make one of those signings if I'm the Yankees.

[MNBrew]

Didn't Bird miss some time with an injury last year?

 

Also, Haudricourt mentioned a cryptic comment from either Counsell or Stearns that there was a scenario in which Choi could still make the Opening Day roster. I can't imagine that would happen without some kind of trade.

 

Thames' power is impressive and his 75 walks were also a real plus (that's as many as Perez (20), Villar (30), and Aguilar (25) had combined in nearly 3x as many ABs; note Broxton had 40). However, his 163 Ks were lousy and the fact that he hit 31 HRs yet only drove in 63 total on the year says he was pretty poor w/ RISP outside of his HRs -- not exactly great run production from your #4 or 5 hitter.

 

I'm torn on Thames, but in all I'd probably think hard about dealing him if anything close to a decent deal came along. I don't fully trust Choi to produce like Thames (ST is ST, after all) -- at least not yet. That said, goodness knows Thames' $5M salary is chump change to the Yankees, and there would also be a chance Bird could miss time again, so Thames might be a very appealing trade target for them.

[pacopete4]

If Thames had mental issues in Milwaukee can’t imagine him in New York.

[TooLiveBrew]

Thames' power is impressive and his 75 walks were also a real plus (that's as many as Perez (20), Villar (30), and Aguilar (25) had combined in nearly 3x as many ABs; note Broxton had 40). However, his 163 Ks were lousy and the fact that he hit 31 HRs yet only drove in 63 total on the year says he was pretty poor w/ RISP outside of his HRs -- not exactly great run production from your #4 or 5 hitter.

 

I'm torn on Thames, but in all I'd probably think hard about dealing him if anything close to a decent deal came along. I don't fully trust Choi to produce like Thames (ST is ST, after all) -- at least not yet. That said, goodness knows Thames' $5M salary is chump change to the Yankees, and there would also be a chance Bird could miss time again, so Thames might be a very appealing trade target for them.

For 472 of his 551 PAs last season, Thames was in the #2 (399 PAs) or leadoff spot in the lineup. But he did have just a .180/.354/.290/.644 line with RISP, despite an overall line with runners on base of .236/.390/.489/.879.

 

I think the biggest contributor to his lower RBI total was his batting order spot, even though he didn't hit well with men in scoring position.