2011 Blue Jays Season Thread

[zukes]

Originally Posted by moon

I think the Cards get an F and the Jays a B that could turn into a A if Rasmus turns into a better teammate.

Maybe an F is harsh as I give them credit for getting him off the team. So the Cards get a D cause they should have got quality not quantity for him.

That's a fair enough grade, however, if the Cards win the World Series this year, with even a miniscule contribution from any of these guys, it will soften the blow even if Rasmus becomes a star.

I do commend the Cards for going for it, regardless of getting the right return (who knows if the other rumours were true). I hope when the time coms the Jays aren't afraid to go all out to win.

[Jiggy_12]

A complete steal by AA..it just continues.

Getting Escobar out of Atlanta who had "attitude" problems and has been nothing but great on the Jays.

Getting Lawrie from the Brewers who had "attitude" problems and by all accounts has been a pleasure in the Jays organization.

Now stealing Rasmus away from the Cards who has "attitude" problems for a slew of relief pitchers and Corey Patterson.

His buy low - sell high philosophy is working, getting young controllable talented players at important positions. This team is taking shape and I absolutely love what I see.

[calculoso]

Do I have this right?

Toronto IN:
Teahan
Colby Rasmus,
Brian Tallet
P.J. Walters

Toronto Out:
Jason Frasor
Zach Stewart
Marc Rzepczynski,
Dotel
Corey Patterson

Chicago IN
Jason Frasor
Zach Stewart
Trever Miller

Chicago Out
Jackson
Teahan

Cardinals IN
Jackson
Marc Rzepczynski
Dotel
Corey Patterson

Cardinals OUT
Colby Rasmus
Trever Miller
Brian Tallet
P.J. Walters

[Berger]

Love these deals by AA. As for Rasmus being a jerk/doesn't listen to coaches, we picked up one of those apparent guys last year too in Escobar, and he seems to have turned out alright for us.

[bluejays]

I like the deal as much as anyone. I honestly think Stewart will be a 3rd starter, and he has a very good chance IMO, of reaching that potential, but Rasmus has star potential and more importantly, his rights are locked up. What I don't understand is how Rasmus wasn't pawned to other teams? I know AA is very quiet with his dealings, but other teams should have been given a heads up so they could potentially pony up more, and it appears that wasn't done as word never leaked out at all about him being on the block for this price.

[Jason14h]

I know AA is very quiet with his dealings, but other teams should have been given a heads up so they could potentially pony up more, and it appears that wasn't done as word never leaked out at all about him being on the block for this price.

Let's not pretend St.L got nothing. They got 2 above average RP's, and a good #3 starter, and a replacement CF who is putting up similar numbers to Rasmus this season.

In the short term the Cardinals are a much better team today then yesterday

[d_phaneuf]

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/blog?...ith&id=6808507

The Cardinals, meanwhile, have made a terrible organizational move by allowing their aging manager to run off the best hitting prospect the team has produced since drafting Albert Pujols. Whether La Russa was mostly responsible or only shares responsibility with Rasmus and his father, it is clear that La Russa's my-way-or-the-highway mentality has hurt the organization for this year and several years to come with the Rasmus fiasco, and unfortunately the front office's decision to retain La Russa for 2011 has come back to haunt them. Rasmus has the potential to be a 5- to 6-win player at his peak, and there's no manager in baseball who can produce that kind of value.

for those that don't have insider, he loves it for the blue jays, has no clue what Chicago is doing, and it helps St.Louis this year but after that it makes no sense

[Saint Troy]

Shocked that this was the best deal the Cards had on the table for Rasmus. Love this move for the Jays, as Rasmus goes from a pressure cooker to a place he can develop.

[Trojan97]

This trade is unreal. I'm not an AA nut hugger like some internet Jays fans but this is truly a SICK trade.

Dotel is a nothing loss.
Patterson is probably addition by subtraction.
Rzepczynski is someone I do like but you have to give to get..
Stewart is one young arm in a system that has many. He's far from the best.

The fact the Jays have now filled the black hole in CF with Rasmus is great. He may be a dick but the locker room leadership appears solid and I doubt he rubs off on anyone to any great extent. If he can put up an OPS of .860 and hit 23 jacks with good D, he can mope all he wants.

[howard_the_duck]

Any word on whether Rasmus is playing tonight? Where do we see him in the Jays lineup?

I'm thinking

Escobar
Thames
Bautista
Lind
Rasmus
E5
Snider
Hill
Arencibia

Can't believe AA got Rasmus. One of the best up and coming CF's in the game. That lineup looks WAY better for the Jays, and they only gave up a few relievers from the current roster.

Unbelievable

[spetch]

Joey Bats seems to be a great leader and should be able to turn any sort of ego he may have around.

[GirlySports]

In general, turning Vernon Wells into Colby Rasmus and a Bautista contract extension by using a bunch of relievers, a couple DHs, and $5 million is really amazing.

[calculoso]

@ShiDavidi:
Cardinals also get 3 players to be named or cash from Jays. They have list to choose from, or may take cash/prospects combo by year's end

-------
Wonder who's on the list and how this will eventually shake out.

[Matty81]

Originally Posted by calculoso

@ShiDavidi:
Cardinals also get 3 players to be named or cash from Jays. They have list to choose from, or may take cash/prospects combo by year's end

-------
Wonder who's on the list and how this will eventually shake out.

Ya I was kind of hung up on that when I heard about the trade earlier today, almost no one is mentioning it in their analysis - 3 prospects could be pretty big.

Given the volume of 3 players you'd assume quantity over quality but the initial return of a rental pitcher and IMO one solid bullpen piece seems way too low for a kid held in such high regard by the broader baseball community.

I read about the futures earlier and heard AA interviewed a couple times but nobody asked a thing about it.

[calculoso]

http://tsn.ca/mlb/story/?id=372590

snip
...
It appears that the Cardinals are a better team after making this deal, at least in the short-term, and the Blue Jays are better long-term. In the case of the White Sox, their improvement may effectively have to be internal, as depth relievers won't make nearly the difference that Viciedo or De Aza might.

[NoCupsIn40Years]

Originally Posted by zukes

moon, Escobar was considered a jerk too, and has been nothing but a positive since coming to the Jays for nothing (well except having to watch Jo-Jo Reyes for 5/8 of a season)

Jim Bowden is chatting on ESPN and says Jays absolutely stole Rasmus.

Not to nitpick but tiny Tim Collins would look great in our bullpen. Specifically as our closer.

[Kelekin]

Fantastic. Turning relievers into value is always huge when you aren't going to have a playoff year. This still leaves Camp, Rauch, and Francisco as all possible Type-Bs for extra draft picks.

Not only that, but this also relieves pressure on everyone expecting Gose to be the next coming. The kid has tools, but he needs a lot more development time, and now we can give it to him.

[NoCupsIn40Years]

Still not sold on the Marcum trade, we traded our ace for an unproven player. Lawrie needs to come up and contribute before I can claim him as our savior.

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by NoCupsIn40Years

Still not sold on the Marcum trade, we traded our ace for an unproven player. Lawrie needs to come up and contribute before I can claim him as our savior.

Lawrie is in the same class of prospect as Rasmus and Snider. Just a matter of time for him to get his shot.

Unf-ing believable that AA was able to pull that one off. It seems like he is getting even better at raping other GM's.

I don't even know why other GM's even answer the phone when he calls.

Now all we need is a SP, a Closer, and a 2nd baseman, although I suppose we could just keep Hill.

C - Arencibia, d'Arnaud
1B - Lind
2B - Hill
SS - Escobar
3B - Lawrie
OF - Snider, Rasmus, Bautista
DH - Thames

Bench - Davis, EE, Teahen, McDonald

We could add another bat possibly like Pujols or Fielder if we wanted. It's starting to look good.

[nik-]

Hopefully Hechevarria can learn to hit and we won't need a 2B after all, but it's not looking promising.