Yankees trade Juan Miranda to D’Backs for not Justin Upton

November 18, 2010 by Mike Axisa 104 Comments

The Yankees have traded first baseman/designated hitter Juan Miranda to the Diamondbacks for right-handed pitching prospect Scottie Allen. The moves frees up a 40-man roster spot as well. Allen was Arizona’s 11th round pick in 2009, and this year he posted a 2.97 FIP (9.12 K/9, 2.54 BB/9) in 16 starts (78 IP) with their Low-A affiliate. I can’t find anything on the kid, no scouting report, nothing. He is listed at 6-foot-1 and 170 lbs., so there’s that. Oh, and he doesn’t turn 20 until next July, so he’s just a pup. Obviously the Kevin Towers factor comes into play here, and chances are this is the “small player move” Brian Cashman teased earlier in the week.

Miranda was a man without a home with the Yankees, getting buried behind Mark Teixeira and even Nick Swisher on the first base depth chart. He crushed Triple-A pitching (.377 wOBA) in his three years down there, but he never got much of an opportunity with the big league team. In 94 plate appearances with New York, he put up a more than respectable .343 wOBA. Miranda was out of options, so if he didn’t break camp with the Yanks next year he would have had to clear waivers to go back to minors. He’ll get a better shot in Arizona, so good luck to him.

Update: Joel Sherman has a mini-scouting report on Allen. Says he’s 88-93 with a chance for an above average curveball. They like his arm action and his control, evidenced by his walk-rate this season. Interesting arm, they weren’t going to get much for Miranda since he was out of options. A prospect of Allen’s caliber is about the best they could have hoped for.

jon

great move

juan might actually get a chance in the bigs and that kid had some decent numbers 8.9 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9.
- tommy boy
  
  Yeah that will happen in the majors sitting at 88-91.
  
  Another mistake by the Yankees dumped for peanuts.
  - Thomas
    
    He is 19. He could definitely still add velocity and improve his other pitches.
  - It’sATarp
    
    you right control pitchers can’t live in the low 90’s/high 80’s. Tell that to cliff lee…
    - JAG
      
      Or Greg Maddux. Or Tom Glavine. Or Mike Mussina. Absolutely right, it’s hopeless, we should just cut the kid.
  - JobaWockeeZ
    
    Where is Miranda going to play? A 19 year old who strikes out people and doens’t walk much is a good thing to have.
    
    better than a AAAA player who’s only options are blocked by much better players.
    
    Montero >>>>> Miranda
    JoPo (DH) >>>>> Miranda
    Teix >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Miranda
    - tommy boy
      
      He’s a fine bench guy. Better than a Single-A bullpen arm.
  - batman
    
    yea because miranda was so valuable to the future of our team… ill take a 19 year old that dominated single a over a 27 year old AAAA player any day of the week
  - steve (different one)
    
    Overreact much? How was Miranda a “mistake”? He was a low cost gamble that wound up blocked by a better player. He was acquired for peanuts and traded for peanuts. Who cares?
http://twitter.com/simmonsclass Sam

Scottie Allen to the 8th!!!!
- jsbrendog (returns)
  
  ietc
theyankeewarrior

All this does is make me want to keep refreshing MLBTR.

Upton, Jeter, Lee, Cashman, Lee, Upton, Jeter, Cashman, Jeter, Lee, Jeter, Lee, Jeter, Mo, Andy, Jeter, Upton, Jeter, Andy, Lee, Mo, Jeter, Upton, Jeter, Lee, Cashman, Lee, Upton, Jeter, Cashman, Jeter, Lee, Jeter, Lee, Jeter, Mo, Andy, Jeter, Upton, Jeter, Andy, Lee, Mo, Jeter

Make something happen!

/impatient’d
http://www.facebook.com/cecala Joseph Cecala

Poopy Pants made fun of me when I said it was a bullpen move or minor league trade. So to you Poopy Pants, HAHAHA.

Anyway, I am happy for Juan, he finally has a chance to play full time. I hope for the best with him.
- http://www.retire21.org Mike R.- Retire 21
  
  He made dun of you for the way you stated it. It sounded (read?) as if you didn’t get the Pedroia joke.
- JAG
  
  It was actually a minor-league bullpen trade. So you were double right?
RR

Glad Miranda will get a better chance to play. Hopefully this is breaking the ice, so talks about Upton can get serious.
Mike HC

I always liked Miranda and thought he should have gotten a chance to be the platoon DH instead of trading for Berkman. I think he will succeed with the DBacks and happy he finally gets a rightfully deserved chance to play in the Majors. Happy the Yanks were able to a get a young talent back for him as well though.
http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside the Elder

I can’t find anything about this not to like.

Miranda was out of options (and of limited value anyway) and therefore had no role on the team. Scottie Allen is a hard(ish) throwing 19 year old kid in A-ball who doesn’t require a 40-man spot and won’t even be R5 eligible for like 3 more years.

Even if Allen never amounts to shit, we got a lottery ticket for a guy we probably would have DFA’d at some point in the near future.
- http://twitter.com/simmonsclass Sam
  
  This, plus the “small player move” wasn’t re-acquiring Aaron Small. Double win.
- http://twitter.com/SteeeeveO Steve O.
  
  This.
- mustang
  
  What he said in bold.
Mattchu12

Don’t knock what you get in a deal for a surplus player. We traded Alberto Gonzalez to the Nats for Jhonny Nunez way back when, and Nunez ended up being part of the Swisher deal.

Miranda had no future in the Bronx, while Allen could help us at some point on the field in a trade.
- Mattchu12
  
  or in a trade*
- Sheepmeister
  
  Trade Allen back to the Dbacks as part of trade for Upton.
Thomas

Apparently the AZ Snakepit guys were fans of Allen. Their prospect guru had him as the 8th best DBacks prospect.

http://www.azsnakepit.com/2010/11/18/1822278/diamondbacks-trade-for-juan-miranda-from-yankees
- Thomas
  
  Sickels didn’t have him in his top 20 DBacks prospects, but he was in the “Others” section (along with Zach Kroenke).
- It’sATarp
  
  if thats true..man what a steal
http://www.retire21.org Mike R.- Retire 21

There goes my idea of acquiring Gavin Floyd for a package of Miranda and Venditte.
- vin
  
  Perhaps Jorge Vazquez can take Miranda’s place?
tommy boy

Let’s see the Yankees trade Melancon for Berkman because they didn’t want to play Miranda only to trade Miranda for a lesser bullpen arm.

Berkman with the Yankees? 91 OPS+
Miranda with the Yankees? 90 OPS+

Makes sense.
- http://twitter.com/SteeeeveO Steve O.
  
  Berkman was much better in the playoffs with a much longer track record than Miranda. You know this.
  - tommy boy
    
    He was 5 for 16 in the post-season. That’s hardly earth shaking. In the ALCS he sucked.
    - Mattchu12
      
      Who didn’t suck during the ALCS?
    - Clay Bellinger
      
      dude, he hit .313 with a homer and knocked in 4 runs in a platoon role against postseason pitching. Let’s see Miranda do that.
    - http://www.twitter.com/deanezag Zack
      
      That’s .312, if he was 6-16 it would be .375, anything more and he would hit over .400
- It’sATarp
  
  Miranda in 3 seasons provided .3 fWAR…berkman in half a season less gave us the same.
  - tommy boy
    
    Ummmmm, Berkman got more PAs in that half season than Miranda got in those three combined. Thanks for proving my point.
    - It’sATarp
      
      Berkman had an amazing 20 more AB’s. Oh man what a difference. Honestly if you were going to pick between berkman or a 27 year old journeyman…you honestly would take miranda? In a follow up question…if you took miranda…are you friggin nuts?
      - Clay Bellinger
        
        Anyone who would choose Miranda in that scenario should be banned from all MLB front offices…actually, they should be banned from all baseball blogs.
        
        hello9
        
        You’re actually choosing Berkman over Miranda + Melancon, which makes it marginally closer, but probably doesn’t change the end result.
        
        JAG
        
        Well, to be fair, you’re choosing Berkman + Allen over Miranda + Melancon, which almost certainly makes up the difference.
- Clay Bellinger
  
  Come on man, don’t compare Juan Miranda to Lance Berkman.
  - tommy boy
    
    Yeah, silly statistics…
    
    Berkman was great with the glove too. Nah, there’s no comparison there at all.
    - Clay Bellinger
      
      You’re looking at the statistics from a part of one season man. So the Yanks should’ve disregarded the rest of Berkman’s career when deciding who would be better to have in the lineup over the last couple months between the two players?
      
      …and since you like stats so much, why don’t you check out Lance’s UZR? Not so bad bro.
      
      Quit making a fool of yourself and comparing a legit major league player to a scrub.
- Mike HC
  
  I’m with you. I don’t think the Yanks ever gave Miranda enough respect. Towers obviously saw his value in the short time he was here.
  
  Lets just hope the guy we got in return is pretty good. Everyone seems to be relatively ignorant about him, so time will tell.
- steve (different one)
  
  What does this have to do with the 2011 Yankees? Nothing. Lance Berkman isn’t blocking Miranda anymore, Posada and Teixeira are. He’s out of options. Makes sense to trade him.
  
  I get that you didn’t like the Berkman trade, but it’s irrelevant now.
http://twitter.com/Mattpat11 Matt DiBari

Nice deal.
- Clay Bellinger
  
  Agreed, nice move. Really nothing bad that can be said about this.
  - tommy boy
    
    Except that swapping Miranda and Melancon for Berkman and this bullpen fodder is a loss of value.
    - theyankeewarrior
      
      They sacrificed a tiny bit of value that they probably would have had to give up anyway (Miranda was out of options) for an upgrade to their ALCS starting lineup.
      
      That’s something that you do every time.
      
      Berkman was awesome in the ALDS. Aside from Grandy, he was our best hitter.
      
      This is a MINOR MOVE that is completely unrelated to Lance Berkman.
    - theyankeewarrior
      
      Correction: they sacrificed Melancon’s value for Berkman and Miranda’s tiny value for the upside and control (both in years of control and pitch command) of Scottie.
      
      Berkman still has nothing to do with this move.
    - It’sATarp
      
      why would it be a loss in value when they weren’t traded for each other? Unless you have a crystal ball and know how Allen is going to end up when he hits the MLB level, it’d not value lost when bother Miranda and Melcancon provided no value for us this year and probably no value for the future.
    - Clay Bellinger
      
      Where’s all this value that they lost? Miranda? It became pretty damn apparent that they had no use for him at the ML level.
vin

Sounds like a 19 year old David Robertson. Low 90’s FB, potentially good curveball, slight build. Perhaps Allen will be ready to take over for David Robertson when he hits FA.
- http://twitter.com/SteeeeveO Steve O.
  
  I don’t think so. Robertson has an insane K-rate, while Allen’s is good, not great. I’m not sure who a good comparison for Allen, but it’s hard to place a comparison on him when he’s still so young and undeveloped.
  - vin
    
    9.1 k/9 for a starter is pretty impressive. But, yeah, trying to pin his future down at this point is an exercise in futility. I was just making a potential (and perhaps lazy) comparison.
    - http://twitter.com/cephster Ross in Jersey
      
      Yeah, not much sense in trying to figure out what he is yet. Considering Miranda was going to be a waste of 40 man roster spot, getting someone with any upside at all seems like you can call the trade a win from the get-go even if he doesn’t pan out.
  - sleepykarl
    
    The low 90’s FB, good CB and slight build do describe Robertson, he’s just a lot better and K’s guys at a much higher rate. I see what he was getting at, stuff-wise it seems like a decent comparison, but performance-wise not really.
http://twitter.com/SteeeeveO Steve O.

Wait, we traded with the Diamondbacks and didn’t acquire Justin Upton? What the hell, Cashman?
- vin
  
  Cashman will probably just try to slip Justin Upton’s name into the fine print of the trade agreement. Pull a fast one on his BFF Towers.
  
  Dude’s a ninja.
http://kierstenschmidt.com Kiersten

This has to be said:

Scottie? I mean, is he 6 years old?
- vin
  
  or a HOF small forward?
- Thomas
  
  Apparently his full name is Richard Scott Allen. So on the plus side at least he isn’t Dickie.
- http://mystiqueandaura.com Steve H
  
  Worked out ok for Pippen.
- Clay Bellinger
  
  Scottie doesn’t know
mikeH

sad news, he had two walk offs in his yankee career (1 in 2009, and 1 in 2010)

leaves us with no immediate 1B depth
- Thomas
  
  I’d say Nick Swisher is the back up 1B with Posada, Nunez, and Pena all able to play there if needed.
- Anthony Murillo
  
  Nick Swisher
- JobaWockeeZ
  
  Nick Swisher. Jesus if push comes to shove.
- JohnnyC
  
  Nick Johnson.
- hlrjr
  
  brandon laird
jsbrendog (returns)

i can see it now, miranda does well and all the ig’nant yankee fans go GREAT MOVE CASH IZ TEH SUXOR
- http://mystiqueandaura.com Steve H
  
  You think that is going to have to wait until Miranda does something well?
http://www.twitter.com/deanezag Zack

Funny how trolls try to rip Cashman for anything.

You cured cancer? Hope you’re proud, now what about AIDS?!
- tommy boy
  
  Funny how homers play up every minor move for bullpen fodder as if it’s an immediate benefit.
  
  Of course, dude’s a ninja.
  - http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa
    
    What is your problem? Did you just come hear to bash us in every thread? They do enough of that at NoMaas, you’d probably fit in better there.
    - http://twitter.com/cephster Ross in Jersey
      
      Are you sure this isn’t Rob posting from another IP address or something? Seems awfully suspicious.
  - Mike HC
    
    Dude, I enjoy your opinion. Why do you have to play the victim to the big bad RAB machine, ha. If you see them/us as homers, cool, but just disagree without getting nasty. I would like to continue to hear your take on things without you getting banned for being too combative.
    - jsbrendog (returns)
      
      it’s axl rose!
  - http://www.twitter.com/deanezag Zack
    
    You understand Miranda had to be on the ML roster next year right? So you traded a bench player, who has no versatility, and doesn’t hit LHP very well, so he’d PH for um nobody and place defense for um nobody – for a 19yo pitcher who doesn’t cost a ML roster spot.
  - http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa
    
    Oh wait, you’re Rob. That’s why you’re being a dick. See ya.
    - http://twitter.com/cephster Ross in Jersey
      
      So called it.
    - Mike HC
      
      So, Rob couldn’t even adapt with a second chance? You guys must have really irritated him, ha.
    - http://youcantpredictbaseball.wordpress.com bexarama
      
      LMAO. Called it.
    - Rob (same one)
      
      If I wanted to sock puppet I could at any time.
      
      Hard to see how this is a good move though. It’s another failure to leverage young useful bits.
      - Mike HC
        
        so, wait, it wasn’t you? Axisa was just guessing? This is getting too confusing for me now.
        
        Fuck you all. Ban the shit out of everyone!!!! hahah just messing around. I love it all! High entertainment all around.
        
        Rob (same one)
        
        The death knell of every dictatorship: The rules when folded upon themselves becomes a mockery….
        
        Ok, back to my “banning”.
        
        Mike HC
        
        You know the world has made immeasurable progress when RAB is compared to a dictatorship.
        
        Mike HC
        
        Or maybe that is the opposite of progress. I’m not sure now, ha.
        
        pat
        
        Not the first time.
        
        Jimmy
        
        When they came for the annoying posters, I remained silent. I wasn’t an annoying poster….
        
        Mike HC
        
        ha. We are all complicit in this ruthless dictatorship. ha
      - http://youcantpredictbaseball.wordpress.com bexarama
        
        If I wanted to sock puppet I could at any time.
        
        Not really, we’d all know it was you in 3 seconds
http://Yankeeblog Iron

Beam me up Scottie…
Riddering

Allen will be the Yankees 2016 opening day pitcher. Book it.
YankeesJunkie

Nice move for the Yanks. Miranda was not going anywhere with the Yankees and they got a guy that has put up some solid numbers in A who has not hit 20. Nothing to complain about unless you really think Tex is a serious injury risk or want to have him as a DH which would not really be beneficial for the Yanks.
Shaun

I’m glad, hopefully Juan will get a chance to play in the bigs. Best of luck to him
hlrjr

so does brandon laird become our 1st basemen down at Scranton?

or is he still in the “super utility mix”?
YANKS1FAN

The Yanks had no choice but to move him. They also wanted to bring Jorge ‘El Destructor’ Vazquez up. Plus Miranda can only play 1b. Jorge can play 1b and 3b. Jorge is a monster. Will be excellent off the bench and giving A-Rod and Tex a day off. the last four years in Mexico AAA, he averaged for a full season, .350, 52hr and 150rbi. In two seasons with the Yankees organization, in 143 games in AA and AAA he hit .302, 40 doubles, 31hr, and 118rbi. the last 12 games of AAA this year he hit .300, 5hr 10rbi, 10BB, .440obp, .725slg, and 1.165ops. In AAA in 76games he had 18hr and 62rbi. Plus he only had one error in his last 26 games at first, .995%. In the WBC with Mexico he hit right behind Adrian Gonzalez and hit .300. His first WBC at bat was a 475ft grand slam. He is ready, and the Yankees know this.
- http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside the Elder
  
  Jorge Vazquez had virtually nothing at all to do with this move. We didn’t trade Miranda away to clear a spot for Vazquez, we traded Miranda away because he was out of options.
  
  Jorge Vazquez is a 29 year old org guy. He’s filler. There’s nothing to see there. His chances of ever amounting to anything are smaller than Dustin Pedroia.
  - YANKS1FAN
    
    YOU SHALL SEE….AND LIKE I SAID, THE YANKEES HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO GET RID OF HIM…HE IS OUT OF OPTIONS. DUH. GET BACK TO ME AND APOLOGIZE WHEN HE IS IN NEW YORK IN APRIL. PEACE OUT V
    - ROBTEN
      
      LOUD NOISES!
bonestock94

It’ll be interesting to see if Miranda sticks, I guess Towers liked what he saw. Hopefully the kid we got can hack it in the pen in a few years.
yankees1717

nothing not to like here. it’s basically like buying a ticket in a really crappy lottery, but getting it for free. of course, there’s not a very good chance allen amounts to anything, but miranda had no future here.