Over the weekend, news reports surfaced the Mets were trying to find a trade for Collin Cowgill. The outfielder was designated for assignment last week to make room for Eric Young, Jr. on the 40-man roster.

Cowgill had a great spring training for New York in PSL, winning the starting center field job by the time Opening Day came around. After a historic debut that included a grand slam, his approach at the plate quickly became ineffective, and he fell out of favor with a .180/.206/.311 line with two walks and 15 strikeouts in 61 at-bats.

Sandy Alderson tried sending Cowgill to the Angels over the weekend in exchange for minor league pitcher Matt Shoemaker, but Los Angeles wouldn’t budge. However, they eventually agreed to a deal yesterday, dealing outfielder Kyle Johnson to New York for Cowgill, and sending him straight to Triple-A.

That begs us to ask the question…who is Kyle Johnson? The Iowa native was drafted by the Angels in the 25th round of last year’s draft out of Washington State University. After a good year in Rookie Ball with Orem (.289/.367/.381 in 97 at-bats), Los Angeles to A-ball with Burlington. The 23-year-old has responded with a fantastic start to the season. He’s hitting .308/.416/.421 with two homers, 30 RBIs, 41 runs scored, and 30 stolen bases in 247 at-bats.

This was a great job by the front office for getting something in exchange for Cowgill that nobody would have ever thought he would. Will Johnson end up making an impact with the Mets? He’s been assigned to join the Sand Gnats in Low-A, so time will tell. At this point, I’d take his speed, 12.9% walk rate, and youth over what Cowgill produced while with the Orange and Blue. At the age of 23, Johnson provides some upside for the future, whereas that ended up not being the case with Collin.

I was a big Cowgill fan, and I still am. I was happy when he performed well enough to win a starting job come Opening Day, and I felt he deserved it. I wish it could have ended better with him in Flushing, but sometimes things don’t work out, and you need to just cut your losses and move on. I applaud Alderson being being able to turn Cowgill around and get a player like Johnson.

We wish Collin nothing but the best as he continues trying to stick in the major leagues, and we welcome Kyle as one of the newest Mets minor leaguers to root for!