Why Is 2013 AL ROY Wil Myers Suddenly on the Trading Block?

Hey, remember how clever the Tampa Bay Rays looked when they traded for Wil Myers two winters ago? Remember how they looked even smarter after he won the 2013 American League Rookie of the Year?

Yeah, well, now it sounds like it's their turn to trade him. And exactly how smart of an idea that is certainly is worth questioning.

First, the situation. Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com reported word of Myers' being on the trading block Tuesday night:

Rosenthal clarified that a trade between the Rays and San Diego Padres wasn't imminent, but Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports stepped in and said there was "significant optimism" of something getting done.

Things then proceeded to get nutty, as Passan reported that other deals could be made on top of the Myers swap and Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reported that a third team might be involved.

Whatever the case, it sounds like Myers isn't long for Tampa Bay. And while a star player being traded from the Rays is nothing new, Myers is an unusual case.

Alex Brandon/Associated Press

Typically, the Rays deal players when they're getting too expensive. The trade that brought Myers to Tampa Bay in the first place is a good example. The Kansas City Royals swapped him for James Shields, whose 2013 and 2014 options would combine to pay him over $20 million total.

Myers, however, is far away from being expensive. He's not even eligible for arbitration until after 2016, so he's only entitled to the league minimum for two more seasons. Those are the players the Rays should be collecting, not dealing.

Oh, and then there's the reality that Myers has shown he can be pretty good.

When Myers won the Rookie of the Year, he did it by OPS'ing .831 with 13 home runs and according to FanGraphs, a 2.4 WAR in only 88 games. That's good stuff for a 22-year-old, and it was a case of Myers' living up to his billing as a super-prospect.

So Myers is not only cheap, but he's also talented as well. Why, exactly, would the Rays want to trade him?

Well, let's just say it's not as nuts as it might sound.

As encouraging as Myers' debut season was, his sophomore campaign was at least equally discouraging.

His OPS fell over 200 points from .831 to .614, and he followed up his 13 homers with only six. This despite playing in roughly the same number of games (87) and logging only 12 fewer plate appearances.

Granted, in the middle of all this was a pretty severe injury. Myers suffered a broken right wrist in a collision, and it ended up sidelining him from the end of May through the third week of August. He didn't play well upon his return, OPS'ing just .530 in his last 34 games.

But blaming Myers' lost season on his wrist injury doesn't really work. Mike Podhorzer of FanGraphs highlighted how Myers was a below-average hitter even before he got hurt, as well as just how bad his power outage throughout the length of the season really was:

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As you might imagine, his batted ball distance supports the loss of power. Last year, he ranked 41st in distance with a 293 mark, but he slid down the leaderboard this year to just 201st with his 272 foot average.

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We know Myers' slow finish wasn't helped by his wrist injury, but how can the slow start that kicked off his disastrous season be explained?

In a word, maybe laziness.

At the end of the year, Myers had an interesting confession to make to Topkin:

"Last year I came into spring training wanting to prove to everybody, wanting to prove to a new team what I can do. And this year I kind of came into spring training thinking I had already arrived and didn't really work as hard as I should have, like I did the year before."

Steven Senne/Associated Press

He added: "It's one of those things where I have to get back to proving to people what I can do instead of feeling like I already arrived."

On one hand, Myers' honesty can be appreciated. And if you're the Rays, one way to approach this is to buy into Myers having learned his lesson.

But on the other hand, a young player saying he felt he had earned the right to slack off isn't something you want to hear. You wonder if the Rays took it as a reason to worry about his work ethic.

Between that and just how terribly Myers performed in 2014, you have one explanation for why the Rays are looking to deal him. Basically, maybe they're looking to pull the plug.

Or, it could be there's a much simpler explanation: The Rays are looking at an offer they can't refuse.

We don't actually know whom the Rays stand to acquire from the Padres in a trade for Myers, but this tweet from Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com suggests there may be pitching involved:

Matt Wisler is the prize name, as MLB.com has him rated as San Diego's No. 2 prospect and the No. 61 prospect in baseball overall. Burch Smith and R.J. Alvarez, meanwhile, are both in San Diego's top 20.

It's not by accident that the Rays would be eyeing young pitchers. Developing pitching is their thing, but they're currently low on pitching prospects. They may view a Myers trade as a chance to replenish the ranks.

But according to Jim Bowden of ESPN and MLB Network, there's another name in play:

Austin Hedges is not only San Diego's top prospect, but he's also widely regarded as the game's best catching prospect. Even if he never hits much, he projects as a game-changing defender. That makes him a hot commodity in a league that has never had a greater understanding and appreciation of catcher defense.

Mike McGinnis/Getty Images

Just about every team could use a young catcher like that, but the Rays could use Hedges more than most. Ryan Hanigan's defense makes him playable, but he's a 34-year-old with a limited bat. And behind him on Tampa Bay's depth chart, there's really not much.

So by trading Myers, the Rays may be able to fill one or two major needs for the long haul. Knowing how much Myers' trade value has taken a hit, the Rays would make the grade with a job well-done.

This is not to say there's no room to criticize the Rays' willingness to trade Myers. He's a young, cheap, controllable hitter who has significant offensive upside and from the right side of the plate to boot. Players like that aren't exactly growing on trees.

If the Rays trade Myers, however, it will be defensible. They have reasons to be skeptical about him after his 2014 season, and dealing him now may be their best chance of getting good value for him.

Note: Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted/linked.  

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