Blue Jays 2013/14 off season

[dustyanddaflames]

And there it is, "The Blue Jays are "infatuated" with Anderson"....

[jschick88]

@RobinsonMegan According to #Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos, a small deal could be done tonight. He's on @FAN590 right now.

@RobinsonMegan AA: "We're working on a small deal right now. maybe we'll have it announced tonight. Small though, I'm not trying to get buzz going."

[jschick88]

@bnicholsonsmith Blue Jays send Brad Lincoln to Phillies for C Eric Kratz and LHP Rob Rasmussen per team

[Caged Great]

They basically gave Lincoln away. Kratz is a minor league catcher (33) and Rasmussen is short and is otherwise mediocre. Nothing much to write home about on either end.

[Matty81]

Dunno why they would even bother trading lincoln for those guys, they are basically filler for buffalo, and not even good filler.

Also hope they go for somebody less injury prone than anderson for the rotation.

[dustyanddaflames]

Originally Posted by Matty81

Dunno why they would even bother trading lincoln for those guys, they are basically filler for buffalo, and not even good filler.

Also hope they go for somebody less injury prone than anderson for the rotation.

Because Lincoln wasn't going to make the big league roster, and was out of options. Nice move by AA to get something for Lincoln. I believe I read Rasmussen still has 3 options remaining.

[zukes]

And Kratz has an option left and may be better than Josh Thole. It's a good move for a piece that they may have lost for nothing on waivers.

[bluejays]

Wasn't Thole primarily brought in just to catch Dickey in the event at the time Arencibia couldn't adapt to him?

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by fleury

Wasn't Thole primarily brought in just to catch Dickey in the event at the time Arencibia couldn't adapt to him?

Never hurts to have options.

[zukes]

Kratz has caught a knucleballer before.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by zukes

Kratz has caught a knucleballer before.

Barely. I hardly think catching Charlie Zink in a Arizona Fall League stint makes him particularily qualified to catch R.A. Dickey at the MLB level. Arencibia caught Dickey at the WBC and he couldn't do it well come regular season.

Really that's what his lone chance of starting in the majors depends on... offensively Kratz is basically J.P. Arencibia (High Power with Low OBP) 2.0 his defense passes the eye test it's not anything really special but it's decent. Career wise he has a reverse split in his batting where he's awful against lefties but pretty good against righties so in a back up role you could partially shelter his bat. Thing is the team isn't going to carry three catchers so he has to demonstrate that he can handle Dickey's hard knuckleball.

[Cheese]

Arencibia close to signing with Texas

http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/story/?id=438327

[RedHot25]

Well, in some good blue jays news, this tidbit adds one more bit of validation to the Delabar trade...

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/1...ke-mcdade.html

Eric Thames will play for the NC Dinos of the Korean Professional Baseball League in 2014, his agent tells Venezuelan reporter Ormuz Sojo (hat tip to Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle). Thames posted a .799 OPS in 420 minor league PA in 2013, mostly at the Triple-A level for the Mariners' and Orioles' top affiliates, and was claimed off waivers by the Astros in September. Thames hit .250/.296/.431 with 21 homers in 684 PA with Toronto and Seattle in 2011-12.

[RedHot25]

Originally Posted by moon

Surprised the Jays didn't get/go after (at least I heard no rumours) Doug Fister.

For what he went for it seems like it would have been a good fit. While he isn't a number 1 and arguably a number 2 he would have been an upgrade and come much cheaper than what FA's are going to want.

Sounds like they likely tried, but no interest at all from Detroit - even if hypothetically the Jays wanted to "overpay" for him.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/1...oles-rays.html

Whenever there's a trade that fans perceive as being one-sided, fans will often wonder why their team didn't get involved in negotiations. The beginning of a recent SportsNet.ca interview with Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos shows why that might not be as easy as it sounds. Anthopoulos says Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski told him that the Jays simply didn't have the players he wanted in a trade for Doug Fister. Detroit eventually sent Fister to the Nationals for Ian Krol, Steve Lombardozzi and Robbie Ray. That Dombrowski apparently didn't think the Blue Jays could beat that package might seem surprising, but it appears the Tigers simply had a very clear idea what they wanted, and it wasn't possible for the Jays to enter a higher bid.

[RedHot25]

Speculation more so than anything that the Jays may be looking at trading Happ (he makes a lot!!) although not sure they would get much for him...

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/1...lbon-happ.html

J.A. Happ could be a trade chip for the Blue Jays if the team needed to free up some payroll space, Sportsnet's Ben Nicholson-Smith writes. Happ is set to earn $5.2MM in 2014 with a $6.7MM team option for 2015. The southpaw was limited to 18 starts in 2013 due to head injuries suffered when he was hit in the head with a line drive, as well as a knee injury also stemming from the incident.

[Caged Great]

If the Jays want to go the cheaper route of filling the current roster, why not do the following

Lawrie --> 2B
Bautista --> 3B
Gose --> CF
Rasmus --> RF

Gose will provide enough value defensively to be playable in the outfield, even if his bat is just okay.

That way they can focus their attention solely on getting a decent mid rotation starter. Personally, I'd go out and sign Ubaldo Jimenez and call it a day.

They have already removed one black hole from the lineup, and if they go with the alignment above, they could remove another. That alone should make the jays about 7 or 8 wins better. Add a starter like Ubaldo and that should add another 3 or 4 and you're now starting to be in the conversation of possibly being a playoff team.

[browna]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

If the Jays want to go the cheaper route of filling the current roster, why not do the following

Lawrie --> 2B
Bautista --> 3B
Gose --> CF
Rasmus --> RF

Gose will provide enough value defensively to be playable in the outfield, even if his bat is just okay.

That way they can focus their attention solely on getting a decent mid rotation starter. Personally, I'd go out and sign Ubaldo Jimenez and call it a day.

They have already removed one black hole from the lineup, and if they go with the alignment above, they could remove another. That alone should make the jays about 7 or 8 wins better. Add a starter like Ubaldo and that should add another 3 or 4 and you're now starting to be in the conversation of possibly being a playoff team.

Lawrie will play 3rd base all year.
http://www.thescore.com/mlb/articles...pn-com-reports

Obviously 2nd base now has to be addressed, in addition to the perennial SP debacle.

Of course, there's always the 1% chance that Gibbons gets the heave ho...would likely be before Jan 1, or otherwise a 2015 option kicks in.

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by browna

Lawrie will play 3rd base all year.
http://www.thescore.com/mlb/articles...pn-com-reports

Obviously 2nd base now has to be addressed, in addition to the perennial SP debacle.

Of course, there's always the 1% chance that Gibbons gets the heave ho...would likely be before Jan 1, or otherwise a 2015 option kicks in.

Having Goins and Izturis there is going to create a vortex of suck. Are there any average SS/2B that could be signed without having to deal prospects for nothing.

[moon]

Gose isn't any better a bat than Goins (which is they both suck), Lawrie didn't look comfortable at 2B in his short stint there last year and no guarantee he will be good if moved back.

Seems to be shuffling the deck chairs around and not really addressing the issue of improving the spot. Just moves the weak hitter from 2b to CF and makes defense worse.

[dustyanddaflames]

I'd still like the Jays to sign Ellis or Infante, but with the Yanks now searching for a 2b, it will be pricier than it was a week ago.