Blue Jays offseason

[ricoFlame]

Roy is a true sportsman, 1 in a million and we were lucky to have him as a jay. what a guy.

[ricoFlame]

...oh yeah, and the deal for Morrow is sweet, gotta love adding young live arms for out of control, yet somehow extremly hittable one.

[RedHot25]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

C - John Buck - 2 million
1B - Lyle Overbay - 7.95 million (likely to be traded)
2B - Aaron Hill - 2.59 million
SS - Alex Gonzalez - 2.75 million
3B - Edwin Encarnacion - 2.425 million
OF - Travis Snyder - > 1 million
OF - Adam Lind - > 1 million
OF - Vernon Wells - 21 million

One of these is not like the others

Anyway, I hope the morrow deal goes through - good deal if true, depending on the prospect I guess. I like it so far.

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by flambers

Another deal, I really like. AA has landed a high end prospect with lots of potential.


Edit, now the MLB bloggers are speculating the prospect going to Seattle is Zach Stewart

Looks like the player is Johermyn Chavez going over with League.

Chavez is a pretty good prospect for the Jays. I'd look for him in the Seattle lineup in 3-4 years.

The book on Morrow is that he has electric stuff. Absolutely electric. The only issue that he has is control. He has thrown 197.2 innings and has 128 walks at the MLB level, which is... disturbing.

However, he does remind me a little bit of another guy who developed rather late in his career, actually this guy had a pretty high WHIP and led the league in walks from age 26-28. This guy.

I am a fan of the trade... League was really getting on my nerves because of his extreme lack of secondary pitches (and seeming refusal to develop any). His upside would be a good-great closer. He has great stuff, but it has been the same problem for the last 3-4 years since he came up. 1 SPEED! Mix in a change up bro.

Morrow has a very high ceiling, top of the rotation type stuff. Could work out very good for us, but he'll be extremely frustrating and fun to watch at the same time this year.

[jeremywilhelm]

Did tallet get re-signed?

[moon]

Originally Posted by flambers

Another deal, I really like. AA has landed a high end prospect with lots of potential.

Aren't the Jays just trading League for a slightly younger version of himself?

[Ziggy Lidstrom]

Moon,

you're partially right. Morrow is a power pitcher, but where they differ is that Morrow wants to and will get a chance to start. Another difference is that Morrow is a fifth overall draftpick from 06 who has never lost his velocity unlike League.

This could be a huge coup for the Jays considering the FA SP depth this year.

Marcum
Romero
Morrow
Rzep
Litch/Cecil/Tallet/Richmond

Not experienced but controllable, young and brimming with potential. Fortunately, the pressure cooker that is the AL east might see we have some with broken confidence, but some that turn into real gems.

[Gozer]

Dealing away our best prospect (according to HBT) seems counter-productive.

I wonder what the fan reaction would be if JP had made this deal.

[Caged Great]

HBT was the only publication that had that guy in the top 10, let alone first.

[JayP]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

HBT was the only publication that had that guy in the top 10, let alone first.

Yeah I make a good attempt to try and follow the Jays prospects and I've never ever heard of the guy.

Baseball Prospectus 2009 didn't even have him in their book.

[jeremywilhelm]

Yeah, never heard of the guy. Morrow on the other hand has the tools, he might just need an opportunity.

[flambers]

From what I have read Morrow has major upside... where Brandon league has never been a prospect or a player with that potential.

Morrow will be a starter for the Jays if he is ready if not he will spend some time in AAA. League is an inconsistent relief pitcher. There is a reason why the Jays had to place a good prospect in this deal (no he is not a top 10 prospect for the Jays that I have read). I believe the Jays prospect repeated A level ball.

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by JayP

Yeah I make a good attempt to try and follow the Jays prospects and I've never ever heard of the guy.

Baseball Prospectus 2009 didn't even have him in their book.

He was 2nd in the midwest league (A ball) for HRs with 21. The only guy ahead of him in HRs was 23 years old and he had 26. It was a good accomplishment given his age, but they did take some points away because he was repeating A ball.

He is only 20 years old.

If he plays next year and blows the door off A+, absolutely Seattle has a good prospect on their hands. I don't think he deserved the #1 ranking though.

Just a note, rumor has it that this was part of the Cliff Lee trade to balance out the talent, hence why it seems TO is getting the better deal.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

Just a note, rumor has it that this was part of the Cliff Lee trade to balance out the talent, hence why it seems TO is getting the better deal.

Given that Seattle would pretty much get two first round picks back if they can't re-sign Lee, it did seem like that got him pretty cheap in the trade. I mean a 29 year old ace left handed pitcher making 10 million is a good value player for next year.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

Just a note, rumor has it that this was part of the Cliff Lee trade to balance out the talent, hence why it seems TO is getting the better deal.

AA was on Fan590 and said he has been working on this deal for 2 months...

[Ziggy Lidstrom]

CLS,

If that's the truth and this trade is to offset some of the talent differential equations, then I think the Jays got exactly what they wanted except for middle inf support. Let's have a look at the optics of the 'deal' now.

Tor Rec: BWallace, KDrabek, TD'Arnaud, Brendan Morrow.
Tor Envoys: Roy Halladay, BLeague, Johermyn Chavez, Six Million.

Phi Rec: Roy Halladay, PAumont, TGillies, JRamirez, Six Million.
Phi Envs: Cliff Lee, Lou Marson, Carlos Carassco, Jason Donald, Jason Knapp, Kyle Drabek, Michael Taylor, Travis D'Arnaud.

Sea Rec: Cliff Lee, Brandon League, Johermyn Chavez.
Sea Envs: Brandon Morrow, Philipe Aumont, Tyson Gillies, Juan Ramirez.


When you look at it like that: Phillidelphia gives up the most with the seven prospects. Three of those were top 50 prospects and the other four could yield serviceable mlb talent as well. Then they gave up Cliff Lee. The Halladay acquisition is a near wash with Lee. But the 3 prospects and the six million Phi got, does that measure equal? I don't think so as there could be 4 potential astar players out of that prospect base. The 3 they received are not nearly as highly rated as the ones they shipped out. Thus, I think Philidelphia sold out the future for today's chance, somewhat. They still have the system and a top prospect, according to SI. But they acquired a HOF bound pitcher (if they win a WS) and shipped out a Cy Young Winner. The prospects they gave up will determine how bad the future will be once their current nucleus is dissolved.

The Blue Jays as we know were at the mercy of Halladay's NTC/NMC.
So, the optics for them withstanding, I feel they made out alright considering they were going to lose Halladay for two draft picks. They got 3 extra picks from that forgettable 06 draft. Plus, they got a high ceiling catcher prospect. The 3 extra picks are what will determine how the bluejays make out. Drabek could be an allstar, Wallace could be a silver slugger, and Morrow with a clear position could be a devastating starter, perhaps an ace. I see shades of a poor man's verlander with him. Also, the downside could be an american Rich soft but Harden.

Seattle is the obvious winner here. They gave up 3 average prospects, 1 in the top 100 and a pitcher they rushed to the big leagues and couldn't settle on a position for him. They gave all this up to get Cliff Lee, brandon League and Johermyn Chavez. A certified Cy Young winner and 2 usable pieces. More impressively was that it was with the Indians of 2 years ago when Lee won it. They were a giant mess.
I think with BLeague and JChavez it is good insurance with the picks if Lee does leave via FA.

I think the trade is more equitable now for the jays considering all teams involved worked out deals separately with each other. Even though this wasn't an official 3 team trade, it was a three team trade.

However, if AA truly was working on this deal for 2 months, then this entire post is superfluous poppycock. Yet, I still feel that if it took that long to consummate this deal, then it was the catalyst of Halladay to the Phils rendering them unable to keep Lee. Philli wanting to shop lee for next to nothing, that was deal breaker in the Morrow for League deal. Thus, Seattle got back a good return for what they gave up. If Lee leaves, then League and Chavez crash 'n burn they will be left with two picks for lee and Morrow. So, I feel that they have the most to lose as Tor was going to lose halladay anyway, and phili is getting what they want when they have a chance as good as any to return to the WS. If Philli wins 2 championships it will all be worth it. For Tor, they have 4 high ceiling guys that if pan out will be very valuable and tip the balance towards the Jays winning this one.

Go Jays

Go Halladay Win one for us.

[ricoFlame]

Baseball America's Prospect rankings (top 20)...Drabek at no.16 for the jays.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=7425

[Gozer]

Originally Posted by Ziggy Lidstrom

The Blue Jays as we know were at the mercy of Halladay's NTC/NMC.
So, the optics for them withstanding, I feel they made out alright considering they were going to lose Halladay for two draft picks. They got 3 extra picks from that forgettable 06 draft. Plus, they got a high ceiling catcher prospect. The 3 extra picks are what will determine how the bluejays make out. Drabek could be an allstar, Wallace could be a silver slugger, and Morrow with a clear position could be a devastating starter, perhaps an ace. I see shades of a poor man's verlander with him. Also, the downside could be an american Rich soft but Harden.

??

Do you mean the picks we didn't sign last year? How would that affect the "grade" of this trade?

[Ziggy Lidstrom]

Originally Posted by Gozer

??

Do you mean the picks we didn't sign last year? How would that affect the "grade" of this trade?

It just improves the level of farm talent which is closer to playing in the Majors and the fact we missed out on a lot of talent in that draft is kind of salvaged, so the 'grade' of the trade is improved if the morrow acquisition was influenced by the halladay trade. Otherwise, we just pick up 2 high profile first rounders from 06.

No not those picks, but Morrow was the 5th overall pick in 06. Drabek was the 16th overall pick. And Snider was 10 overall.

Snider was the only player of value we really developed from that draft but now we have 2 other high ceiling types from that first round.

[ricoFlame]

this is potentially big news...especially considering his age.

http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/story/?id=304312