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Mets Trade Marlon Byrd and John Buck to Pirates for Dilson Hererra and PTBNL

By Joe D.

August 27, 2013 2 Comments

herrera

The Mets have traded John Buck and Marlon Byrd and cash considerations to the Pittsburgh Pirates for 19-year-old Single-A second baseman Dilson Herrera and a player to be named later, according to ESPN New York.

Herrera is the 20th best prospect in the Pirates minor leagues according to Baseball America and 11th best according to MiLB.com who also ranked him just behind Wilmer Flores as the ninth best second baseman.

Herrera is playing his first full season in Single-A, where he is batting .265/.330/.421 with 11 home runs, 27 doubles and 11 stolen bases in 109 games. He played in the MLB Futures Game, where he was the second-youngest player selected.

Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com recently said he could see Herrera in the big leagues by 2016, and Baseball America recently called him the best defensive second baseman in the South Atlantic League.

Here is a recent article on him.

Ironically, tonight is Marlon Byrd T-Shirt Night at Citi Field…

Obviously, catcher Anthony Recker, outfielder Matt den Dekker and left-hander Robert Carsonare all activated for tonight as Rubin first reported this morning…

Thoughts from Matt M.:

Well, it looks like the push for a strong finish to the season has been erased now that Matt Harvey is out of the picture for the rest of 2013.

Early reactions from the trade is that Herrera will immediately become the best second baseman New York has in their system moving forward. In 423 at-bats for the West Virginia Power in the South Atlantic League, he was hitting .265/.330/.421 with 11 home runs, 56 RBIs, 69 runs scored, and 11 stolen bases.

It’s tough to see Byrd and Buck go. It was cool to watch Marlon revitalize his career with the type of season he’s been putting together, and Buck was undoubtedly one of the leaders of this squad. Now that Harvey is shut down, the remaining value he had on the field apparently disappeared. However, they’re both jumping into a race for a playoffs, and I hope they continue making positive contributions as the Pirates head toward October.

Thoughts From Satish R.:

Oh, thank god. Someone woke up Sandy Alderson from auto-pilot and he decided to make a smart move. Hererra was an exciting player to keep tabs on and I caught a glimpse of him in the Futures Game. Alderson made the right call by trading Marlon Byrd and John Buck, who had no place on this team after this year. It was obviously easier to “give up on the season” after Matt Harvey went down with an injury that I do not wish to discuss…

Now, don’t get me wrong. I liked Byrd and Buck while they were here — and I wish them only the best going ahead. But getting attached to players can sometimes prove costly, and I can’t stress enough that this was a move I can get behind. We lack middle infield depth in our minor league system — and we’re getting a PTBNL to boot.

I’m looking forward to seeing what den Dekker can do for the Mets too, since he can go get it in center field.

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