Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Should New York Take a Chance on Carlos Quentin?


Carlos Quentin was part of the mega Opening Night trade between the San Diego Padres and the Atlanta Braves that saw Craig Kimbrel and Melvin Upton Jr. heading to San Diego while Quentin was joined by Cameron Maybin and a couple prospects on the plane headed for Atlanta. As soon as Quentin heard the news of the trade he was texted again and told that he was designated for assignment by his new team, the Braves. Quentin is owed $8 million for the 2015 that Atlanta will be on the hook for this season making Quentin extremely cheap if he were to sign a major league deal and even cheaper if he were forced to sign a minor league deal. Should the Yankees be interested in taking a flyer on a right handed bat with limited defensive value?

Quentin is in his age 32 season and even after spending his last three seasons playing in Petco Park still averages 30 home runs per season in a 162 game average. Quentin played in no more than 86 games in any of his three seasons with the Padres after battling for playing time and battling to stay healthy for much of his tenure. The question is would he be worth the risk of wasting a 25 man roster spot and $507,000 in league minimum salary for the chance of him hitting 20-30 home runs in the Bronx.

If it was a minor league deal then I'd be all for it, I've never seen a minor league deal that I didn't like. If it was a major league deal, even if it was for as little as $507K and change, I can't say I'd be comfortable justifying the deal. Quentin adds no value defensively in the outfield and shows no signs of being able to learn a different position. If the Yankees didn't have Alex Rodriguez stuck on the roster I think I would be all for taking a shot at adding a career 162 game average of 30 home runs and 95 RBI but Quentin just isn't a good fit for this Yankees team unfortunately.

7 comments:

  1. A bat first, injury prone, aging veteran. Sign him up! We don't have ANY of those plugging up our roster at all!

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    1. Well said. I could have said it that quickly Jeff but where is the fun (and readership) in that?

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  2. It's the cynic in me Daniel. I can't help it sometimes. The sad part is that I can actually see Cashman going after him. It's exactly the dumb scrap heap move he likes to make.

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    1. It is the stupid move he makes but the Coupon Clipper has put the brakes on spending so no need to worry about trades like this until the Yankees are 14 games out and no one is in the stands and Hal starts to realize he is a crappy owner and really shouldn't be in this game and its time to sell. Hey I can dream can't I

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    2. This has little to do with spending Hans. It's a 507k league minimum salary. The problem is the Alex Rodriguez contract. If it weren't for that I think Quentin would already be here

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  3. WHO IS MIQUEL SULBARAN ( Minor league pitcher ) ?.....No clue ?
    This one was tough.

    Miquel Sulbaran was acquired from the Minnesota Twins in 2014, in exchange for
    Eduardo Nunez.
    Nunez, is now listed as the LF, for the Twins. In 2014 he batted .250, in 204 AB.
    Nunez got a lot of ink here at the Greedy, during the winter of 2013-2014.

    Miquel ? Not sure where he is now, but he was 'Pitcher of the Week'...7/14/2014
    for Tampa, in the Florida State League.

    Not sure why I went about writing this. Being a mulch head ?

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    1. He hasn't done much that I have seen. Reminds me a lot of Diego Moreno who we got in the AJ Burnett trade. Brought in to get something rather than morning for a player.

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)