2021 Blue Jays Season Thread

[flamingred89]

I'm super stoked on this deal.

Martin was starting to look like a AAAA type player with his power not developing and defense not the best. I also feel this is a sign that the Jays might be taking a run at signing Semien by thinning out their middle infield depth.

The price may seem steep but they're dealing from a position of strength to address a position of weakness.

Bring on that 2nd wild card spot! :P

[cross16]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

I think their thought is they already have similar ceiling prospects:

At Shortstop
Bo Bichette: 23
Austin Martin: 22
Jordan Groshans: 21

Groshans is probably outperforming Martin in AA this year, and our All-Star SS at major league is still only 23.

RH Pitcher
Pearson - 24
Manoah - 23
SWR - 20
Kloffenstein - 20
Hogland - 21

At pitcher they probably feel like Pearson and Manoah are ahead of SWR. They just drafted Hogland in the first round here.

It's a big price to pay but Atkins and Shapiro had built enough depth in the prospect base that they can overpay here to get a guy that is 27 years old, that is a top 5/10 pitcher in the AL, and that they might be able to re-sign.

If Martin ends up becoming a better player than Bichette then sure it's probably not a bad trade, but considering Bichette is only a year older and is already an MLB All-Star I'm not sure I see that happening.

If the Jays didn't see Martin as an OF then I can see why they became comfortable moving him. I don't see him being better than Bichette (not enough power) and while he could be better than Groshans at 3B it's not like that a steep drop off. They also have Orelvis Martinez at 19 years old playing great in A ball and even Otto Lopez (same age as Martin) seemed to be outplaying Martin in AA. I don't see this changing their depth very much.

I agree it's an overpay but more you look at it, the more sense it makes to do.

[KelVarnsen]

I am ok with the trade.

The Jays still have a lot of prospects, and traded from a position of strength in terms of prospects. They got a pretty good pitcher who will be on the team next year.

Hopefully Pearson can come back this year. He was good in the bullpen last year

[Roof-Daddy]

After a slow start Orelvis Martinez is tearing A ball to shreds now. Leads the league in home runs and the OPS is creeping it's way up to 1.000. He's probably going to get bumped to high A soon.

And don't look now, but former top 100 fringe prospect SS Kevin Smith is having an amazing debut at AAA. He's still only 25 and was forgotten about because he had a rough 2019, and then missed 2020 like everyone else. A 1.000+ OPS as a 25 year old rookie in AAA is nothing to sneeze at and he's got some speed and defense to go along with the power. Could be a very under rated guy who makes some noise possibly.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Can we have Kimbrel now please?

Pretty please?

No. White Sox, unfortunately.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

No. White Sox, unfortunately.

Yeah bummer.

Madrigal going the other way. Steep price to pay. Good year to be a seller I guess.

[SuperMatt18]

Jeez the Blue Jays trade looks better when you consider a 24 yr old 2B with team control, who has 1.3 WAR and is batting .305 this year just got moved for 33 year old closer with 1 year before UFA.

Like this would have been like trading Biggio last season.

[flames_fan_down_under]

Infield prospect depth is deep. They dealt from a position of strength to address a position of internal weakness.

[Jason14h]

This is one the best trade deadlines in any sport I can remember

Playoff teams are going to be stacked

[KelVarnsen]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1421197098855305219

[bluejays]

Without knowing the cost, good middle of the bullpen arm.

[Roof-Daddy]

Doesn't walk many guys, decent K rate.

Not a bad add as long as it's cheap.

[SportsJunky]

I like the deal for Berrios. I don't have a problem with the acquisition cost either. It should hurt to land a top of the order arm. But what an addition Berrios should be for this team.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Numbers 2 and 4 in your prospect pool. Which other teams have recently paid that price to acquire deadline targets? I understand this is a young SP and I'm not trying to spin it negatively. I just thought a theme recently was not to give up prized prospects - so I'm saying the trend I observed (can be totally wrong) as teams were not touching the top of their prospect pools and were still landing deadline targets.

LAD (recent history) come to mind as a stacked team that brought in the prize but didn't sell their prized prospects.

I get the window (Semien) and the current opportunity so this could be the move that had to be done to really give you best shot. Still #2 and #4? Wow.

EDIT: just saw what LAD paid to WAS. Hahaha ok I was waay wrong!

[KelVarnsen]

Trade details

https://twitter.com/user/status/1421209090420772868

[KelVarnsen]

Tonight's lineup

https://twitter.com/user/status/1421214033546514436

[flames_fan_down_under]

This is all that matters now.
Jays must win!!

[Roof-Daddy]

lol I see the Royals are on a heater just in time to come play the Jays of course.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Well this is good news.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1421224630526873611

[Roof-Daddy]

That would indeed be a massive bullpen add.

So would Merryweather.

Hopefully both come back healthy for the rest of the season