Gose traded for Tigers' 2B prospect Devon Travis

dagger · Post #1 » by **dagger** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 4:18 am

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ShiDavidi/status/532748966354767872[/tweet]

http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?pl ... g/2014/ALL

[tweet]https://twitter.com/MLBPipeline/status/532758856745504768[/tweet]

s e n s i · Post #2 » by **s e n s i** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 4:20 am

this is...a good trade?! wat.

dagger · Post #3 » by **dagger** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 4:23 am

s e n s i wrote:this is...a good trade?! wat.

Top prospect in the Detroit system. Not that DET has a top farm system, but I guess he isn't chopped liver.

Michael Bradley · Post #4 » by **Michael Bradley** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 4:23 am

Wow. Unless there is something wrong with Travis that I am not aware of (injury concerns, defense, etc), this is a very good trade for the Jays. If he can handle 2B defensively, then he's likely the Jays long-term 2B going forward.

Edit: just saw that Travis was ranked the Tigers #1 prospect by BA. How in the world did AA get him for Gose? There has to be something we're missing here.

dagger · Post #5 » by **dagger** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 4:25 am

[tweet]https://twitter.com/BenBadler/status/532750723373883392[/tweet]

I would think Detroit's logic, with V-Mart signed, is that they are going for it again and need more speed and a player closer to MLB ready than Travis, even if Gose only has platoon potential.

FrankGrimes · Post #6 » by **FrankGrimes** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 4:26 am

BAM! this is more exciting than signing a Sandoval or martin, for me.

good get. very good get.

Nights King · Post #7 » by **Nights King** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 4:27 am

pretty huge trade, Devon Travis was ranked number 1 tigers prospect by BAseball America just today
http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/2 ... prospects/

although a lot of it has to do with how weak the Tigers system overall is, but still a rare trade, moving an unestablished young player for a prospect.

I don't know how to feel about Travis, he's slightly olden than you'd like him to be given the competition he's played against but the numbers are solid

s e n s i · Post #8 » by **s e n s i** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 4:30 am

dat barreto/travis middle infield tho, on natural grass!

dagger · Post #9 » by **dagger** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 4:30 am

Makes you wonder what kind of a package the Jays could get for EE or JB. Not that they are considering it, but ... interesting.

dagger · Post #10 » by **dagger** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 4:31 am

s e n s i wrote:dat barreto/travis middle infield tho, on natural grass!

More like Rogers natural gas. You really believe we'll see grass in the dome?

Nights King · Post #11 » by **Nights King** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 4:31 am

Michael Bradley wrote:Wow. Unless there is something wrong with Travis that I am not aware of (injury concerns, defense, etc), this is a very good trade for the Jays. If he can handle 2B defensively, then he's likely the Jays long-term 2B going forward.

Edit: just saw that Travis was ranked the Tigers #1 prospect by BA. How in the world did AA get him for Gose? There has to be something we're missing here.

well obviously some of it has to do with the Tigers system being really horrible and Travis was a 23 year old in AA when ideally you'd want him to be younger than that. And Jays fans have underestimated Gose's value, he has a chance to establish himself as an MLB regular as an extreme all defence, no offence guy

Michael Bradley · Post #12 » by **Michael Bradley** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 4:33 am

I actually like Gose more than most here, as his skillset has a lot of value (great defense at CF and plus speed), but he was not going to be more than a 4th OF in Toronto with Pompey's emergence, and Travis fills a really big hole.

This definitely lessens the need to overpay for a 2B in free agency. They could probably roll with Izturis/Goins for a month or two and then insert Travis in when he proves to be ready in AAA. Or given his age/performance, he might even make the team out of Spring Training.

dagger · Post #13 » by **dagger** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 4:34 am

Here's your red flag!

[tweet]https://twitter.com/jonmorosi/status/532751948974673920[/tweet]

This is not typically major surgery, often a rehab of 4-6 weeks, but the Tigers apparently didn't want to take a chance he'd be sufficiently strong next season and opted for a more quantifiable contributor in Gose.

Surgery was on Sept 11.

Nights King · Post #14 » by **Nights King** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 4:35 am

and there clearly a wide range of opinions on Travis
[tweet]https://twitter.com/keithlaw/status/532752078259896320[/tweet]

Nights King · Post #15 » by **Nights King** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 4:37 am

SCOUTING GRADES
Batting: 60.
Power: 45.
Speed: 50.
Defense: 50.
Arm: 50.
Based on 20-80 scouting scale—where 50 represents major league average—and future projection rather than present tools.
Born: Feb. 21, 1991. B-T: R-R. Ht.: 5-9. Wt.: 195. Drafted: Florida State, 2012 (13th round). Signed by: Jim Rough.

Background: Travis has spent most of his baseball life being overlooked. Undrafted out of high school, he went to Florida State, where he posted big numbers as a three-year starter. Still, teams were wary of Travis’ 5-foot-9 size, so he lasted until the 13th round in the 2012 draft, then signed for $200,000. That quickly looked like a bargain when he hit a combined .351/.418/.518 through two levels of Class A ball in his first full season in 2013. A week into the 2014 season, Travis suffered an oblique injury that kept him on the disabled list for six weeks and lingered into May. After shaking off the rust, from June 1 onward he batted .312/.379/.481. With Ian Kinsler blocking Travis at second base in Detroit, the Tigers moved the prospect from second base to center field for the final three games of the season and planned to play him there in the Arizona Fall League until Travis was sidelined following core muscle surgery in September.

Scouting Report: While there’s nothing flashy about Travis, and he still has his detractors in the scouting community, he has excellent bat-to-ball skills and an extensive track record for hitting everywhere he goes. He has superb hand-eye coordination, good balance at the plate and strong bat control, which allows him to make consistent contact and use the whole field. He’s a smart player who’s been able to make adjustments as he’s moved up the ladder. His stance was more spread out in college, but in 2013 he adopted a more upright approach, dropped his hands and used a shorter, simpler load to be quicker to the ball and improve his plate coverage on the inner third. He stays within the strike zone and squares up both fastballs and offspeed pitches. Travis has the strength for 10-15 homers per year. He is an average runner who’s sometimes slower going from home to first base, but he’s a better runner underway and moves well going first to third. He’s an instinctive player and an efficient basestealer. At second base, Travis is steady, making the routine play and turning double plays well with an average arm.

The Future: With Kinsler signed through 2017, with a club option for 2018, Travis doesn’t have a clear path to Detroit. His pure speed isn’t ideal for center field and he has minimal experience there, though his bat could be ready at some point in 2015. While Travis fits the grinder mold that gets thrown on a lot of short players, he’s more than just a scrappy reserve because of his bat potential. If everything clicks, Travis could be the Tigers’ version of the Pirates’ Josh Harrison, another diminutive righthanded batter who hit at every minor league level but never had many believers among scouts until his breakout 2014 season. Even if Travis doesn’t hit that upside, he has a chance to turn into a steady, average everyday player.

2014 Club (Class) AVG OBP SLG AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
Erie (AA) .298 .358 .460 396 68 118 20 7 10 52 37 60 16

Michael Bradley · Post #16 » by **Michael Bradley** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 4:39 am

Nights King wrote:
Michael Bradley wrote:Wow. Unless there is something wrong with Travis that I am not aware of (injury concerns, defense, etc), this is a very good trade for the Jays. If he can handle 2B defensively, then he's likely the Jays long-term 2B going forward.

Edit: just saw that Travis was ranked the Tigers #1 prospect by BA. How in the world did AA get him for Gose? There has to be something we're missing here.

well obviously some of it has to do with the Tigers system being really horrible and Travis was a 23 year old in AA when ideally you'd want him to be younger than that. And Jays fans have underestimated Gose's value, he has a chance to establish himself as an MLB regular as an extreme all defence, no offence guy

No doubt Travis is not worthy of #1 prospect in a good system, but if he was the best one they had (according to BA at least), then trading him for Gose seems a bit strange to me. Obviously the injury issues might be some explanation.

Lateral Quicks · Post #17 » by **Lateral Quicks** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 4:40 am

I don't like it. Travis won't help next year, a year the team supposedly wants to try and compete. Gose actually had some value as a MLB 4th outfielder with above average speed and defense. I'm as high on Pompey as anyone but I don't think he should be thrown into the fire next year as our starting CF out of the gate.

Putting up an .800 OPS in his age 23 season at AA isn't bad, but then again isn't great either. Especially when it constitutes an over 100 basis point plunge in OPS from the previous year. I do like that he doesn't strike out much. Any scouting report on his defense?

FrankGrimes · Post #18 » by **FrankGrimes** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 4:41 am

keith law is a hack.

sickels however, i'll read with interest. grades travis as b- and suggests that his numbers in 2014 mean 2013's breakout was not a fluke.

Nights King · Post #19 » by **Nights King** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 4:42 am

btw, Pompey just booked himself the starting CF job. I dunno how i feel about that on one hand its super exciting but i feel like he needs a couple of months of seasoning in Buffalo.

Michael Bradley · Post #20 » by **Michael Bradley** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 4:44 am

Keith Law is consistently wrong about anything related to prospects, so I take his negativity and Sickels' positivity to be a good thing for this particular move.

I do think people are underselling Gose, though. In a platoon with Pillar, I think it was possible they could have gotten a 2 WAR out of that, or maybe better. We just have to hope Pompey is ready.