Why The Ben Revere Trade is So Bittersweet

Ben Revere is an odd player. As fellow BJP writer Ewan Ross noted, Revere may be the only player in Major League Baseball to both play consistently and have two 20 grade tools. In Revere’s case, those two 20 tools are his arm, which…well, is this, and his power (he has three career HRs in the majors). However, Revere also does a couple of things quite well. For one, he’s fast (he’s third in SB over the past calendar year), and for another he hits for average (his career BA is .292). Those two characteristics combine to make Mr. Revere a rather revered figure (see what I did there?) by the old-er school baseball fan. As a result, you’re going to find that he’ll be valued much higher by some fans than others…which will be…interesting.

All that said, let’s get to the bitter-sweet-ness.

Bitter: Fans Will Clamour for Revere to Hit Leadoff

In Philadelphia, Ben Revere hit in the leadoff position 366 times, which is more than twice as many times as all of his other lineup spot appearances combined. With that said, Ben Revere should not be in the leadoff spot. Ever. Certainly not in a paltry Phillies lineup and especially not in a loaded Blue Jays lineup. When Devon Travis comes back Ben Revere will have the lowest OBP among Jays regulars not named Kevin Pillar.

Yet, still, as we discussed before, Ben Revere is fast. Do you know what a lot of fans would like out of their leadoff spot? A fast player, in spite of any other shortcomings. Oy vey. Having a guy projected for a .324 OBP would be a travesty for a Jays lineup that includes Josh Donaldson, Troy Tulowitzki, and Russell Martin. Who, despite their non-speediness, would all make excellent leadoff candidates.

Earlier today I ran the Blue Jays’ ‘optimal lineup’ through Baseball Musings’ lineup optimizer. Here were the results.

Yes, that is Ben Revere in the 9th spot in every one of the top 14 optimal lineup suggestions. While I certainly don’t expect the Jays to put out the most optimal lineup, I hope Gibby sticks to his guns.

Sweet: Revere is an Upgrade Over Those Who’ve Been Playing in LF

Even with his faults considered, Ben Revere is a pretty good player. He’s on pace for 2.8 fWAR this season, which would’ve ranked 4th among Jays position players in 2014. Revere is also defensively a polar opposite over the guys we’ve seen thrown out there. In his career, he’s been an average defender in CF and a +10 defender in LF by UZR per 150 games. While he does lose a lot of value by being forced into LF, he does recuperate some of it in that elite LF defense.

Fortunately for Ben Revere, he doesn’t quite have a large LF hill to climb: Jays LFers were collectively worth 0.2 WAR in June and -0.2 WAR in July. If he hits even a little, the defense will make him an upgrade, which given that he didn’t cost much at all, makes the trade for him a good thing. This will even be true if Revere is forced into a platoon, which sounds like it might be the case. I imagine that the Jays want to ride out the Danny Valencia hit parade, while in the mean time, Revere can be used as an elite pinch-run option; win-win.

Bitter: Dalton Pompey Might’ve Been a Better Solution

Hi, season-long Dalton Pompey supporter here. Despite the fact that Mr. Pompey presently remains in the minors, I was optimistic that he’d be an upgrade for the Jays in LF and/or CF at some point this season. If you compare him to Revere, they’re actually quite similar. Both are elite defenders, with elite speed and a little bit of hitting. The plus to Pompey is that his arm allows him to be an elite defender in both LF and CF, and that there’s still a little projection left in the hit-tool and power departments. However, by keeping Pompey in the minors, you *probably* help him develop a bit better and don’t further tarnish his prospect status any further. Having Ben Revere allows you to do that. This leads to our next point.

Sweet: The Jays Can Dangle Pompey as a Trade Chip

Dalton Pompey is an incredibly valuable commodity. He plays up the middle, he’s a top 30 prospect in all of baseball, and he’s hit at every level…save for the major leagues. Given that the non-waiver trade deadline has passed, Alex Anthopoulos probably isn’t making any major trades still this season, but Pompey could be dangled in the offseason. Unless the Jays pony up a wad of money, it’ll be tough for them to retain David Price. Maybe Pompey is the piece in the offseason that nets the Jays a starter?

While I am enamoured with Dalton Pompey, given that the Blue Jays will have Michael Saunders, Ben Revere, Jose Bautista and Kevin Pillar already in the outfield, Pompey doesn’t have a spot. As well, unlike a guy like Anthony Alford, Pompey doesn’t need much extra time in the minors, he’s ready now. Therefore it’s harder to justify keeping him in AAA.

There you have it, (hopefully) all of the many unintended consequences of acquiring Ben Revere. If you think nothing else of Ben Revere, at the very least he’s interesting, and a minor upgrade. He may not be Troy Tulowitzki or David Price, but he’s yet another valuable addition at this trade deadline.

Picture Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

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