BBTF's Newsblog Discussion :: Yankees’ Jose Trevino now thriving after ‘he got shafted’ with Rangers

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Saturday, June 25, 2022

Yankees’ Jose Trevino now thriving after ‘he got shafted’ with Rangers

Jose Trevino will not go there when asked about his old employer. The Yankees catcher, in the midst of a breakout season that’s starting to garner All-Star buzz, has no need to be anything but diplomatic and soft-spoken.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa, his teammate in the minors, with the Rangers and now with the Yankees, though, will.

“He got shafted, pretty much, in Texas,” Kiner-Falefa told The Post on Friday ahead of the Yankees’ game against the Astros. “For him to have this opportunity to do what he’s doing now, there was never a doubt for me thinking that he was gonna do this. It was more so questioning Texas’ decisions and what they were thinking, the whole process of signing those guys and bringing those guys in [ahead of Trevino] didn’t make any sense to me.”

Other than Trevino himself, Kiner-Falefa might be one of the only people who can say he saw this season coming from the 29-year-old. Trevino has burst onto the scene in New York, posting a .282/.336/.470 slash line, leading all catchers in Baseball Prospectus’ pitch framing metric and ranking second among AL catchers (min: 100 plate appearances) in both fWAR and wRC+.

RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: June 25, 2022 at 11:23 AM | 19 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: jose trevino, rangers, yankees

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1. DCA Posted: June 25, 2022 at 11:44 AM (#6083804)

Trevino had 634 OPS (70 OPS+) with the Rangers, 598 OPS in AAA, 613 in AA. If anything, he's lucky he got a spot on the 40-man.

2. Tom Nawrocki Posted: June 25, 2022 at 11:56 AM (#6083807)

Trevino is hitting .349/.388/.571 at Yankee Stadium, and .204/.279/.352 at normal ballparks. Same thing for Matt Carpenter: .368/.478/1.211 at home, .133/.278/.333 on the road.

I assume when the Yankees are looking at acquiring a ballplayer, they're primarily interested in how many medium-deep flyballs to right field he hits.

3. ERROR---Jolly Old St. Nick

Posted: June 25, 2022 at 12:46 PM (#6083810)

But 4 of Trevino's 6 home runs have been pulled to LF. Only 1 has been to RF.

What's really endeared Trevino to Yankees fans can be found in another stat, Late & Close, where his OPS is 1.123. It's not a huge sample size, but those are the situations where a player's reputation is disproportionately made.

4. Mayor Blomberg Posted: June 25, 2022 at 02:24 PM (#6083815)

Yeh, but that smaller field makes it easier for fly balls to drop in, or lulls the outfielders to sleep, or something. Everything bad in the world is traceable back to RF in Yankee Stadium.

5. Captain Joe Bivens, Pointless and Wonderful Posted: June 25, 2022 at 03:20 PM (#6083818)

Trevino got his opportunity with the Yankees because the Yankees had poor catchers on the 40 man, and presumable no one near ready in the minors. The Rangers have Heim and Garver, who are as good or better than Trevino.

6. SoSH U at work Posted: June 25, 2022 at 03:46 PM (#6083823)

Also, it's a fluke right?

7. The Yankee Clapper Posted: June 25, 2022 at 03:48 PM (#6083825)

The Yankees traded for Trevino before the season started, after newly-acquired Ben Rorvedt was injured during spring training.

8. Walt Davis Posted: June 25, 2022 at 04:04 PM (#6083827)

In "defense" of Matt Carpenter we're talking 23 PA at home and 19 on the road ... plus his line is so extreme with 2 singles, 1 double, 6 HR, 6 BB that there are bound to be bizarre splits. He's basically doing nothing but striking out, walking and pulling FBs (0.29 G/F). According to statcast, his average EV is nearly 92** and avg HR distance is 390 so while there may be 1 or 2 that snuck over the wall, it seems most have made it pretty easily. If you remove BBE limits, he's 17th in barrels/PA with an xSLG of 495, an xISO (I made that up) of 236, an xWOBA of 374, an xWOBACON (mmmmm....bacon) of 441.

I mean it's pretty clearly a last-gasp sellout of his old LD approach to productively hang on, maybe the most extreme "old man" approach we've ever seen. But a 14% HR rate and 14% BB rate means nobody much cares what else you are capable of.

** Statcast has the avg EV as 91.8; b-r has it as 87.5. Anybody know what's going on there?

9. Misirlou cut his hair and moved to Rome Posted: June 25, 2022 at 06:25 PM (#6083860)

“He got shafted, pretty much, in Texas,” Kiner-Falefa told The Post on Friday ahead of the Yankees’ game against the Astros. “For him to have this opportunity to do what he’s doing now, there was never a doubt for me thinking that he was gonna do this. It was more so questioning Texas’ decisions and what they were thinking, the whole process of signing those guys and bringing those guys in [ahead of Trevino] didn’t make any sense to me.”

Aw screw you. I really hate this narrative. Trevino got ample opportunities in TX, more than he deserved frankly, and sucked every step of the way. When exactly did he shafted out of deserved opportunities? In 2017 after he put up a .598 OPS in AA? Or 2018 after a .615? Or 2019 after a .598 in AAA? Or should they have held onto him after 2021 after he put up a .634 OPS in parts of 4 seasons with the big team? I know the quote was not him saying he got shafted, but I hope he realizes that he is lucky to be given a 5th shot

10. Walt Davis Posted: June 25, 2022 at 06:27 PM (#6083861)

Trevino ... it's kind of amazing. It's not like the Yanks knew what they had -- in April he got just 8 starts in 21 games, put up a 519 OPS. The other guy wasn't doing well either so Trevino got 7 starts in 13 games, put up a 333 OPS. Then the magic happened and 20 starts in 36 games with a 1060 OPS. Anybody can hit anything in 77 PAs but this seems a bit extreme -- 357/403/657. Nothing much seems to have changed in his EV, hard-hit, G/F, pull%s. Has anybody checked his back hair?

11. Howie Menckel Posted: June 25, 2022 at 06:50 PM (#6083866)

The Rangers' main catcher, someone named Jonah Heim, has a 119 OPS+ to Trevino's 131, and is 2 1/2 years younger than Trevino. Texas also have given a combined 26 starts to C-DHs Sam Huff (96 OPS+) and Mitch Garver (94 OPS+).

"It was more so questioning Texas’ decisions and what they were thinking" - um, maybe they were thinking, 'we have 3 guys who can catch and hit, so who needs Trevino'?

12. Walt Davis Posted: June 25, 2022 at 08:48 PM (#6083881)

Conveniently enough, one of the guys the Yanks gave up in the historic Trevino trade was RP Albert Abreu who was traded again 3 weeks ago from Tex to KC who put him on waivers a couple of weeks later to be selected by the Yankees. Minor-leaguer Robby Ahlstrom is the other guy, he's got 45 IP at A/A+ so far, age 23.

13. JJ1986 Posted: June 25, 2022 at 09:27 PM (#6083886)

So Kyle Higashioka did not turn out to be the answer?

14. The Yankee Clapper Posted: June 25, 2022 at 10:29 PM (#6083893)

Higashioka started the season pretty poorly, but he may have turned it around recently, with a 1.044 OPS over the last 15 days. Overall, the Yankees have received a .663 OPS from their catchers, which doesn’t sound great, but is still good for 13th in MLB, since so many teams are far worse.

15. The Duke Posted: June 25, 2022 at 11:05 PM (#6083896)

The amazing thing about Carpenter was that he maintained his walk rate when he couldn't hit at all. Now that he can scare you with a HR, his walk rate will stay high. But yes, this is a last gasp. He had a torrid 2-3 months in 2018 that almost won him an MVP but on either side of that he was terrible in 2018. Then he was full time terrible from 2019 - 2021 with no good streaks. This streak will end soon enough

16. Gold Star - just Gold Star Posted: June 25, 2022 at 11:30 PM (#6083899)

What's really endeared Trevino to Yankees fans can be found in another stat, Late & Close, where his OPS is 1.123. It's not a huge sample size, but those are the situations where a player's reputation is disproportionately made.

Late Night Lamont nods in agreement.

17. the Hugh Jorgan returns Posted: June 26, 2022 at 01:05 AM (#6083908)

Shane Spencer to the white courtesy phone..Shane Spencer? Spencer scoffs at your 1.060 OPS in 77 PAs....

18. ERROR---Jolly Old St. Nick

Posted: June 26, 2022 at 12:17 PM (#6083916)

Spencer's problem was that at best he was a good platoon player against LHP and a dreadful hitter against RHP, a fact that started revealing itself as early as his first full season. Teams will often hang onto brief but spectacular players like that well after their clear expiration date, not wanting to believe that pitchers have simply discovered their weaknesses.

19. willcarrolldoesnotsuk Posted: June 28, 2022 at 08:18 AM (#6084234)

Pitchers simply discovered that... they should be right-handed?

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Saturday, June 25, 2022

Yankees’ Jose Trevino now thriving after ‘he got shafted’ with Rangers

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