billy mckinney appreciation thread; traded to mets 25 may

[Simba2020]

I was all for him playing when he was doing well and others (Hiura) were not. But he quickly crashed back to who he's always been and that is a lousy major leaguer.

[markedman5]

 

The Brewers have traded OF Billy McKinney to the Mets for 17-year-old lefty Pedro Quintana. The Brewers DFA'd McKinney on Saturday.

[Madhawk23]

So, what do we know about this 17-year old lottery ticket arm that we just picked up for McKinney? Is this a guy that is worthy of keeping an eye on, or is he literally just a throw-in to get a deal done?

[folly412]

Building that 2027 bullpen one DFA at a time

[sveumrules]

Quintana? Kid can throw.

[RollieTime]

Born in 2004 lol

[ClosetBrewerFan]

At least they got something for him. Clearly a lottery ticket since he has yet to play pro ball. Was just signed to a contract in January

 

McKinney did what he did for us. He got hot early in the season and had some big hits, helping us to win some games. but he really looks like a AAAA type player now and we can easily move on. Next up Derek Fisher?

[monty57]

Can't complain about this signing at all. Take a journeyman, sign him to a minor league (no risk) deal, have him fill in adequately during a rash of injuries, and flip him for a young LHP "lottery ticket" to add some talent to the farm.

 

I wish the best for McKinney and hope his success with the Brewers helps him get a few years in the majors. Even more, I hope Pedro Quintana becomes the "next Freddy Peralta."

[Jopal78]

Can't complain about this signing at all. Take a journeyman, sign him to a minor league (no risk) deal, have him fill in adequately during a rash of injuries, and flip him for a young LHP "lottery ticket" to add some talent to the farm.

 

I wish the best for McKinney and hope his success with the Brewers helps him get a few years in the majors. Even more, I hope Pedro Quintana becomes the "next Freddy Peralta."

 

Let’s not kid ourselves, they would’ve let McKinney go to New York for nothing, so it’s not like the Mets gave up a “talent” that will improve the Brewers minor league depth to get him.

 

Maybe they gave Milwaukee a player to acquire McKinney immediately, because all 5 Met outfielders are hurt and they needed him now instead of in 4 or 5 days

[brewtank34]

I'm assuming this kid is someone they attempted to sign but the Mets grabbed him instead of us. We must like his skill set so I'm hopeful. Man....what a 6 months for Billy. Crazy. Wish him well.

[monty57]

Can't complain about this signing at all. Take a journeyman, sign him to a minor league (no risk) deal, have him fill in adequately during a rash of injuries, and flip him for a young LHP "lottery ticket" to add some talent to the farm.

 

I wish the best for McKinney and hope his success with the Brewers helps him get a few years in the majors. Even more, I hope Pedro Quintana becomes the "next Freddy Peralta."

 

Let’s not kid ourselves, they would’ve let McKinney go to New York for nothing, so it’s not like the Mets gave up a “talent” that will improve the Brewers minor league depth to get him.

 

Maybe they gave Milwaukee a player to acquire McKinney immediately, because all 5 Met outfielders are hurt and they needed him now instead of in 4 or 5 days

 

Let's not kid ourselves, the Brewers' farm is one of the worst in baseball. Anything we get to improve that, even slightly, is a positive. I'm not saying that this is a 17-year old Bryce Harper type talent, but the kid is only 17 and has something going for him that made the Mets sign him and the Brewers trade for him.

 

They're called "lottery tickets" for a reason, they're a long shot, but being 17 he'll still physically mature and there's a chance he could be a MLB player. If we had received a 25-year-old AA guy, I'd say he's absolutely minor league "filler." That's not necessarily the case here.

[Jopal78]

 

Let's not kid ourselves, the Brewers' farm is one of the worst in baseball. Anything we get to improve that, even slightly, is a positive. I'm not saying that this is a 17-year old Bryce Harper type talent, but the kid is only 17 and has something going for him that made the Mets sign him and the Brewers trade for him.

 

They're called "lottery tickets" for a reason, they're a long shot, but being 17 he'll still physically mature and there's a chance he could be a MLB player. If we had received a 25-year-old AA guy, I'd say he's absolutely minor league "filler." That's not necessarily the case here.

 

Sure, the future is unknown, and therefore in the purest sense, every minor league player is a "lottery ticket" that could beat the odds and become the next Mickey Mantle.

 

However, with McKinney, its not as if the Brewers GM was seeing three moves ahead on the chessboard. The Mets had an immediate need for help due to having 4 OFers and their starting 1B on the DL.

 

I would speculate the Mets offered the Brewers a player or cash to make the trade immediately instead of New York waiting around on their waiver claim or until McKinney was released in a week's time.

 

It's an absurd notion that a GM would give up a player they perceive as being more than an organization solider in order to acquire a likely temporary player who would be available for nothing in a few days time.

[pacopete4]

He's 17 and we probably liked him ourselves and lost out on him to sign. Will he be a good player? I don't know, check back in 4-5 years. It's a nice way to get something that COULD be of value down the road.

[Jopal78]

He's 17 and we probably liked him ourselves and lost out on him to sign. Will he be a good player? I don't know, check back in 4-5 years. It's a nice way to get something that COULD be of value down the road.

 

I guess that's my point, it's equally possible Quintana wasn't even on the Brewers radar. They likely could have been presented with a choice between cash or Quintana, and they decided to take the player.

[MrTPlush]

I don't think anyone thinks Quintana is anything special. Actually, I am guessing everyone would agree this thread will be the majority of posts talking about him from now till the end of time. He is 17 and probably has some promise in him or the Mets would never have signed him and paid for a plane ticket from Venezuela. Maybe he becomes something down the road or becomes a trade chip. Whatever he becomes is better than losing McKinney for nothing. Getting any player for a nothing burger in McKinney is great. We DFA'd Nottingham and couldn't get a bag of balls. Then in desperation got Nottingham back for a small check. I think we did alright.

 

Though it would help if every 'lottery ticket' we get could stop instantly being referred the next possible Freddy Peralta.

[JosephC]

http://metsminors.net/recap-of-mets-international-free-agency-signings/

 

I've found Quintana's name in a few different articles, but they are all just like the link above. Just a name in a list of names. I have found several different sites that have listed various signing bonuses handed out by the Mets, but not one reference to what Quintana got. Have to think he's a "bottom of the list" guy who didn't get much of a signing bonus.

[clancyphile]

Can't complain about this signing at all. Take a journeyman, sign him to a minor league (no risk) deal, have him fill in adequately during a rash of injuries, and flip him for a young LHP "lottery ticket" to add some talent to the farm.

 

I wish the best for McKinney and hope his success with the Brewers helps him get a few years in the majors. Even more, I hope Pedro Quintana becomes the "next Freddy Peralta."

 

Same here.

 

It never hurts when you can flip for a lottery ticket or two. I liked that about the Adam Lind trade way back then. It's good now for McKinney.

[StearnsFTW]

Quintana? Kid can throw.

 

[Simba2020]

There's probably a good chance Quintana got $10,000 to sign his deal. I doubt the Mets outbid the Brewers for his services. Our farm system isn't any better today than it was yesterday.

[markedman5]

There's probably a good chance Quintana got $10,000 to sign his deal. I doubt the Mets outbid the Brewers for his services. Our farm system isn't any better today than it was yesterday.

 

You don’t know that……just because he wasn’t a high bonus player doesn’t mean he won’t become a player……just like paying a huge bonus doesn’t mean you are getting a future star…..as we well know.

 

Obviously the Brewers see some potential in the kid or they would have picked someone else or just taken cash.

 

It’s a crap shoot……we got Aguilar on waivers……so did the Marlins…….Nelson Cruz was DFA and nobody wanted him……you just never know….. chances are the kid won’t make it…..but our system has another player that it didn’t have a day ago……so that’s not a bad thing.

 

I swear it seems some people would rather have gotten nothing for a player we had to release.

[SomewhereInTime]

There's probably a good chance Quintana got $10,000 to sign his deal. I doubt the Mets outbid the Brewers for his services. Our farm system isn't any better today than it was yesterday.

 

Agreed. The addition of any high school aged soon to be DSL minor leaguer is completely worthless. (Could actually argue that they provide negative value in that it costs money to field DSL teams and they have produced almost no big leaguers for the Brewers over the last decade or so)

[MrTPlush]

There's probably a good chance Quintana got $10,000 to sign his deal. I doubt the Mets outbid the Brewers for his services. Our farm system isn't any better today than it was yesterday.

 

Agreed. The addition of any high school aged soon to be DSL minor leaguer is completely worthless. (Could actually argue that they provide negative value in that it costs money to field DSL teams and they have produced almost no big leaguers for the Brewers over the last decade or so)

 

#8 - Eduardo Garcia

#9 Hedbert Perez

#12 Luis Medina

#13 Carlos Rodriguez

#16 Jeferson Quero

#20 Jesus Parra

#29 Pablo Abreu

 

Nearly 25% of our current Top 30 play or have played for the DSL Brewers. Thank god for wasting all that money, imagine our system if we stopped spending money down there.

[markedman5]

mentioned, the player who the Brewers received in return has yet to appear in a game professionally. 17 year old Pedro Quintana was an international signee by the Mets during the most recent period, inking with the team just a few month ago in January out of Venezuela. The Brewers do heavily scout and sign players from that country, so it’s quite likely they are a bit more familiar with Quintana and his future outlook than the general public is at this time. At this point, it looks at best like a lottery ticket that could pay off years down the road, which isn’t a bad return for a DFA’d outfielder.

 

https://www.brewcrewball.com/2021/5/26/22454486/milwaukee-brewers-deal-billy-mckinney-to-the-new-york-mets-for-teenage-lefty-pedro-quintana

[Simba2020]

There's probably a good chance Quintana got $10,000 to sign his deal. I doubt the Mets outbid the Brewers for his services. Our farm system isn't any better today than it was yesterday.

 

You don’t know that……just because he wasn’t a high bonus player doesn’t mean he won’t become a player……just like paying a huge bonus doesn’t mean you are getting a future star…..as we well know.

 

Obviously the Brewers see some potential in the kid or they would have picked someone else or just taken cash.

 

It’s a crap shoot……we got Aguilar on waivers……so did the Marlins…….Nelson Cruz was DFA and nobody wanted him……you just never know….. chances are the kid won’t make it…..but our system has another player that it didn’t have a day ago……so that’s not a bad thing.

 

I swear it seems some people would rather have gotten nothing for a player we had to release.

Well nothing is almost certainly what we did in fact get. Comparing a guy who has never even played a professional game even in the DSL to Aguilar or Cruz is pretty ridiculous.

[SomewhereInTime]

There's probably a good chance Quintana got $10,000 to sign his deal. I doubt the Mets outbid the Brewers for his services. Our farm system isn't any better today than it was yesterday.

 

Agreed. The addition of any high school aged soon to be DSL minor leaguer is completely worthless. (Could actually argue that they provide negative value in that it costs money to field DSL teams and they have produced almost no big leaguers for the Brewers over the last decade or so)

 

#8 - Eduardo Garcia

#9 Hedbert Perez

#12 Luis Medina

#13 Carlos Rodriguez

#16 Jeferson Quero

#20 Jesus Parra

#29 Pablo Abreu

 

Nearly 25% of our current Top 30 play or have played for the DSL Brewers. Thank god for wasting all that money, imagine our system if we stopped spending money down there.

 

Goes to show you how bad our farm system has become. Maybe three of them make it above A ball?