Should I Stay or Should I Go: Danny Mendick

Nov 24, 2022 - 3:55 AM

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fWAR: 0.8
bWAR: 0.5
WARP: 0.3

He should stay The former Gold Glove finalist (remember that?) was having a breakout season, posting good defensive numbers behind an eye-popping 125 wRC+ and briefly supplanted the struggling Josh Harrison at second base before a collision with Agent Of Chaos Adam Haseley sent him to the IL, never to return. Mendick is one of the few players on the team who can has been a relatively-reliable defender at skill positions. He still has two minor league options, so he’s cheap, versatile, and can be shuffled on and off the 26-man without issue.

He should go If there’s one immediate comp that comes to mind for Mendick, it’s Leury García: Superutility player who gets worse the more he plays. Danny is a great Cinderella story as a late-round draft pick who defied the odds to ascend to the major leagues, but he’s an unremarkable athlete with no real plus skill outside of just playing hard.

The verdict I love Mendick because I’m a sucker for guys who outperform expectations. In his case, they were less than zero, but he’s proven to be at least a reliable 26th man for the roster. There’s no need to move on from him in 2023, and he provides depth the team absolutely needs. However, having had a spurt of playing like a legitimate starting option, if some team out there can be suckered into overvaluing him in a trade, maybe, just maybe, they can get a good return on him (even as a second piece in a trade), which would be worth a shot.