2011 Toronto Blue Jays Offseason Thread

[JustAnotherGuy]

The Wells trade is massive for the Blue Jays rebuild. He was the anchor around their ass that goes away years before anticipated. Great great trade by the Blue Jays.

Having said that. Wells is a quality player and a quality guy. Unfortunately he had such an ugly contract.

[Saint Troy]

Anthoupolous is a wizard.

[Sylvanfan]

How does Wells compare to Jayson Werth? Similar offensive numbers and both guys would be pretty good defenders in a corner outfield position. I think Werth has a superior arm. At least with Wells you're only on the hook for 4 years and what 84 million as opposed to all 7 for 126 million with Werth, plus you did dump some money in that deal. For what MLB free agents who got long term deals have signed for this year....teams would be wise to stay the hell away from them.

Anthopolis continues to look like he's got a pretty solid plan in place that he's sticking too. Should be fun to see it unfold over the next couple seasons.

[habernac]

Love the guy, hated the contract. Amazing trade for AA. Good luck, VW, you've shown nothing but class for your entire tenure as a Jay. Very proud to have had you on our team.

[ricoFlame]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

I think Werth has a superior arm.

Worth has a cannon, wells, a very average arm.

I would agree fully, that the Nats have tied themselves to a guy with a contract that will become a burden as he ages, especially since he won't be able to DH in the NL.

I still can't believe that the Angels took on that contract (Wells)...I would love to have been a fly on the wall in the boardroom, or listening in on the phonecalls between Angels management while they discussed this one.

[_canuck_]

Originally Posted by ricoFlame

Worth has a cannon, wells, a very average arm.

I would agree fully, that the Nats have tied themselves to a guy with a contract that will become a burden as he ages, especially since he won't be able to DH in the NL.

I still can't believe that the Angels took on that contract (Wells)...I would love to have been a fly on the wall in the boardroom, or listening in on the phonecalls between Angels management while they discussed this one.

One would expect the Jays to eat a significant portion of that contract for that deal to have gone down for the Angels. Still this will save them money and they have a stud who can play first and behind the plate in Napoli. Takes some pressure off Lind playing first base. Rivera? He's a big meh. All in all though, AA doing a great job there in T.O.

[trackercowe]

I thought the White Sox were out to lunch when they picked up Rios a few years back, but taking on Wells contract just to try and compete with the top teams in the AL is puzzling. There had to of been better options then taking on Wells contract for the Angels. Strange move. Wells will make a nice mentor, but he's overpaid by 5-8 mill per season.

[Caged Great]

This trade is pretty much f'ing awesome for two reasons.

Firstly, it gets us two pieces that we can use to fill out a fairly solid bench, with EE, Lind, Napoli, JPA, and Rivera all alternating between spending time on the bench and in the field.

Two, it gets rid of the boat anchor for 2012, 2013, 2014. If the Jays find that after this season that they are somewhat close, say needing two or 3 legit bats, then they can dump 20 million on a Fielder, or Pujols or whomever they choose, without impacting what they normally would've spent.

AA is awesome.

[Caged Great]

Also, the $ that is saved, can possibly be redirected towards signing international free agents which would help our farm system, especially with the rules possibly changing after this year.

[flames_1987]

Originally Posted by _canuck_

One would expect the Jays to eat a significant portion of that contract for that deal to have gone down for the Angels. Still this will save them money and they have a stud who can play first and behind the plate in Napoli. Takes some pressure off Lind playing first base. Rivera? He's a big meh. All in all though, AA doing a great job there in T.O.

And to think all it took was 5 million dollars. I almost felt a sense of urgency for this thing to get done when it was first reported, so Angels management didn't have any time to change their minds.

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by flames_1987

And to think all it took was 5 million dollars. I almost felt a sense of urgency for this thing to get done when it was first reported, so Angels management didn't have any time to change their minds.

It actually didn't cost a penny. Both GM's confirmed no $ changed hands.

[CrispyGriz]

Originally Posted by flambers

Napoli has good power and can Catch and play first base. The other guy is most likely a bench guy / outfielder... who is a UFA after this season,

Does this mean the jays can get a compensatory draft pick if he walks?

I'm not too familiar with the MLB CBA.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

I never thought that Wells would be traded. Kudos to AA, that is a massive salary dump.

As others have said already, loved the player.......hated the contract.

[Trojan97]

Wells is a tremendous human being from what I can tell and I'll always admire him for his days when he was regarded as an absolutely amazing MLB prospect. It's too bad his contact tainted him in the eyes of so many fans (myself included) but that is just how the business works.

This trade has to put the rebuilding process at least a year or two ahead of current expectations. There's really nothing bad to say about it. Great job AA, you appear to have an incredibly bright future as an MLB GM.

[Flames in 07]

To sit here looking at the jays two years ago with all that money planned for rios and wells and not much in the system to where they are now is impressive. They may not win much more than 85 to 87 games this year but the building up process will be interesting to watch

[moon]

Surprised at all the negative reaction from the media on the Angels side (well except for Law who is a world class moron.)

This is the type of deal that Yankees, Red Sox and Angels can and do make. The type of deal that makes them successful year after year.

Who cares about how much money Wells makes when it comes to the Angels? They don't have to worry about money and can focus on making their team better by getting solid players.

Can't see how the deal isn't a win for the Angels as it doesn't stop them from adding guys in the future and they get by far the better end of the deal from a baseball perspective.

The Angels are one of the few teams trying to win and this deal makes their team better.

[RedHot25]

Yup, I agree Flames 07. This was a trade that had to happen. Same type of thing with Rios, but for different reasons. Regardless of how they play afterwards...just time for the franchise to move on. That's all. All the best Vernon.

Moon, wow, for once I generally agree with what you are saying. I think this is a win, at least at the momment, for both teams. The Jays get out of the contract/time for Wells to move on, and regardless of the money - the Angels can pay whatever so what do they care - LA gets a good player that helps them out right now.

[JayP]

Originally Posted by moon

Can't see how the deal isn't a win for the Angels as it doesn't stop them from adding guys in the future and they get by far the better end of the deal from a baseball perspective.

How do you figure that?

Wells' best seasons offensively are very similar to Napoli's best, but Napoli doesn't have a the ridiculous "off-years" Wells has. Add in the fact that it gets the Jays out of the rut they've been in where they can't move Wells out of CF despite the fact that he's been the worst defensive CFer in the league the past couple seasons.

Consider this: Advanced stats that add up both offensive and defensive production (WAR) say that Wells was one of if not the worst regular in baseball in 2009.

Essentially the Jays should get better offensive production from Napoli, get better defensive production from putting a real player in CF, improve their bench in Rivera, and save themselves about $13 million this season (and more in future seasons if Rivera isn't re-signed).

This trade is an absolute game-changer for the organization. With that albatross of a contract the Jays were surely going to have to trade good young players away before their free agency years. Now they have the option of keeping a couple of them around long-term.

[moon]

Originally Posted by JayP

How do you figure that?

Wells' best seasons offensively are very similar to Napoli's best, but Napoli doesn't have a the ridiculous "off-years" Wells has. Add in the fact that it gets the Jays out of the rut they've been in where they can't move Wells out of CF despite the fact that he's been the worst defensive CFer in the league the past couple seasons.

What?

Napoli's best offensive seasons aren't close to Wells best seasons. Napoli has some power and that is about it. Everything else

Essentially the Jays should get better offensive production from Napoli, get better defensive production from putting a real player in CF, improve their bench in Rivera, and save themselves about $13 million this season (and more in future seasons if Rivera isn't re-signed).

Unless Napoli someone takes a huge jump forward in his ability I don't see how they get better offensive production from him, especially since he plays the same position as a bunch of others on the team.

Rivera on the bench is a whole bunch of meh, especially since the Jays aren't competing next year.

This trade is an absolute game-changer for the organization. With that albatross of a contract the Jays were surely going to have to trade good young players away before their free agency years. Now they have the option of keeping a couple of them around long-term.

If they are going to be the kind of team that competes with the Red Sox and Yankees like people keep saying then the Wells contract shouldn't have mattered to re-signing guys.

Good to get rid of the contract since the Jays weren't going to be competitive at any time that Wells would have helped and dumping the deal does help the team I agree with that.

[JayP]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

just for the stat junkies, the 11 players with more total bases last season:

Bautista
Gonzalez
Pujols
Cabrera
Cano
Hamilton - MVP
Votto - MVP
Beltre
Konerko
Holliday
Braun

Ahead of guys like A Gonzelez, Crawford, Werth, Longoria, Texeria, Howard

How about in 2009 and 2007 (or even 2008 pre-September when he had a .760 OPS on August 22nd and got hot after the Jays were well out of the playoff picture, ending with a .839 OPS)?

Last year was a great year for Wells, but the guy's bad years are absolutely brutal. And considering he's already 32 there's a strong likelihood of more brutal years to come. If you in the fact that the guy can't take a walk to save his life, you see that any significant decline in Wells' bat basically makes him unplayable.