Blue Jays Discussion: The official Danny Jackson Appreciation Society

[Bjindaho]

That’s how I see it too. Too many teams overplaying their hand. Unless I’m mistaken, the only guy to move who we could have used was Pham.

DeJong to 2B and Whit to LF could be a move to get that righty bat in the OF without risking defense with a guy like Teo or Pham.

Mancini is still a possibility as he just got DFA’d. Mitch White for Mancini?

Can't trade but both could get released

 

[Puckstuff]

I am surprised they didn't get an RHB that hits lefties well. Needed one.

Because there weren’t any that were big enough upgrades. Even Pham (1.7 fWAR) is hardly an upgrade on Merrifield (2.2 fWAR) who they can just play at Lf and Dejong (1.5 fWAR) who they can play at 2B They obviously didn’t want to trade for offence at the cost of sacrificing defence and to then over pay for a righty bat with defensive issues i.e Teo. They’re sticking to their plan of defence first. And at DH no one available that is seriously much better than Jano/Kirk. If the cost for Teo was reasonable they could have done it and used him at DH but I’m guessing the price was too high.

What we need is our own righty bats in Vladdy, Springer and Kirk to get going.

 

[phillipmike]

Few deals trickling in.

Scott Barlow to the Padres.

Boston acquired Luis Urias from Milwaukee.

Ryan Yarbrough to the Dodgers.

 

[trellaine201]

How about Nelson Cruz?

 

[phillipmike]

Surprisingly only spoke about “small deals” today.

Sounds like they wanted to make deals and thought they wanted to get other deals done but other teams didn’t have players they thought would be available.

Says there are options in AAA to call up.

 

[Dr.Funk]

How about Nelson Cruz?

I'd rather a player who can play a position. I'd just play Kirk at DH more often. Mancini not an exciting name but to me he'd be preferable to Cruz.

 

[Kurtz]

Or because the Bo injury is minor, just use De Jong at 2B and Merrifield at LF vs lefties. That's probably just as good as Merrifield at 2B and someone like Pham at LF in terms of overall value, even if it's a bit more defensive value then offensive. Not against Pham though if it's cheap.

De Jong has good splits against lefties this year in a very small sample size, but career-wise he's hitting under .700 OPS against lefties. It's a bit of an underwhelming option.

 

[Canada4Gold]

Irv Carter might be the worst pitcher of all time. He's got a 8+ ERA in a reasonably big sample size in A ball. Was excited about him when drafted too. Hopefully Maroudis works out better.

 

[Eyedea]

Irv Carter might be the worst pitcher of all time. He's got a 8+ ERA in a reasonably big sample size in A ball. Was excited about him when drafted too. Hopefully Maroudis works out better.

He even had a special with Sportsnet and his parents were talking about a mystery man calling him a “major leaguer” and “phenom”. He seems like a good kid but tough to have that tag growing up and expecting to dominate pro ball.

 

[red devil]

 

[Canada4Gold]

I have a feeling that Seattle wasn't going to trade Teo to us for anything short of a big overpayment.

Lets say they trade him to us for Palmegiani. The optics of essentially trading Swanson and Macko for Palmegiani are bad. Yes sunk costs and all that, the environment has changed and you should make the best decision for you moving forward, but human brains always have to try to make sense to things and it looks bad.

 

[LeafChief]

Any potential DFA'd players upcoming that might be of interest? If they were to do that, would the player be eligible for playoffs?

 

[phillipmike]

MLB trade deadline grades: Report cards are in after a flurry of deals

Here's our scorecard for every big move that came before Tuesday's 6 p.m. ET deadline.

www.espn.com.au

Blue Jays land deadline's top reliever in Hicks​

Blue Jays get:
RHP Jordan Hicks

Cardinals get:
RHP Sem Rebborse
RHP Adam Kloffenstein

Blue Jays grade: B+

With closer Jordan Romano landing on the IL after leaving Friday's game with lower back discomfort, the Blue Jays struck quickly to acquire the best power reliever available. Hicks is still one of the hardest throwers in the game, with a fastball that has averaged 100.6 mph (only Jhoan Duran has a higher velocity among pitchers with at least 100 fastballs thrown this year), but he is still trying to find some consistency. Maybe he has found that over the past two-plus months, though -- since early May, he has a 1.88 ERA over 26 appearances with a much-improved 37-10 strikeout-walk ratio across 28⅔ innings.

With Romano sidelined, Hicks may even get a crack at closing. He has done that for the Cardinals since mid-June and has recorded eight saves in nine opportunities, although I wouldn't read too much into that success rate. Only two of those opportunities were one-run leads, and he blew one of them. Toronto's other option is probably Trevor Richards, who has 81 strikeouts in 53⅓ innings, but the Jays like him as somebody who can get more than three outs, plus he has allowed nine home runs. On the other hand, Hicks, with that triple-digit sinker, is difficult to get into the air and has allowed just two home runs. Certainly, Romano will remain the closer when he returns, but Hicks lengthens a Toronto pen that has been thin behind Richards, Tim Mayzaand Erik Swanson. Given the lack of relievers available, the Jays did well to acquire Hicks, even with the risk that he reverts back to giving up too many walks and can't be entirely trusted in high-leverage situations.

Cardinals grade: B-

The Cardinals are no doubt frustrated that Hicks never really reached his potential in St. Louis, with Tommy John surgery wiping out much of 2019 through 2021, but as he heads into free agency, they at least were able to cash in on his well-timed breakout. They get two starting pitching prospects in Double-A for a rental reliever. Robberse, a 21-year-old native of the Netherlands, has a 4.06 ERA for New Hampshire in 18 starts. He was Kiley McDaniel's No. 10 Blue Jays prospect heading into the season with a 45 future value grade. Kloffenstein, a 22-year-old right-hander, has slightly outperformed Robberse at Double-A with a 3.24 ERA and 105 strikeouts in 89 innings, a nice rebound season after struggling in 2022 and falling off the prospect radar. Neither player is a high-ceiling prospect, but both are young, at least have the potential to start and will offer potential rotation depth for next season, which the Cardinals will need. If one of them eventually pans out as a back-end rotation starter, the Cardinals will be happy. -- Schoenfield

Jays add DeJong to infield in deal with Cards​

Blue Jays get:
SS Paul DeJong

Cardinals get:
RHP Matt Svanson

Blue Jays grade: A

I'm giving the Jays a high grade here not because DeJong is Honus Wagner or Cal Ripken Jr., but for quickly reacting after Bo Bichette left Monday's game with a knee injury when he rounded first base after a potential double, jammed on the brakes and then limped off the field. Bichette had started all but four of the Blue Jays' games at shortstop and since backup Santiago Espinal is also a platoon starter at second base against lefties, the Blue Jays needed insurance for Bichette in case he misses significant time.

DeJong is a solid defender and should be a noticeable upgrade over Bichette -- DeJong ranks in the 97th percentile in Statcast's outs above average compared to the sixth percentile for Bichette. Obviously, he's not the same hitter as Bichette, who leads the AL with a .321 average and 144 hits, but at least DeJong has bounced back at the plate to hit .233/.297/.412 after two miserable seasons. DeJong might end up playing a minor role if Bichette's injury isn't serious, but the Jays couldn't afford to head into the final two months without a healthy shortstop as they battle for a wild card.

Cardinals grade: C

Yes, that spelling is correct -- Svanson with a "v." A 13th-round pick out of Lehigh in 2021, the right-hander has transitioned full time to the bullpen this season and crushed Class A with a 1.11 ERA in 32⅓ innings. Baseball America didn't have Svanson in the top 30 Blue Jays prospects in its midseason update. The Cardinals like Svanson enough to assign him to Double-A where we'll find out if he's a legitimate prospect. But maybe the exciting aspect about this deal for the Cardinals is the potential call-up of Masyn Winn, the 21-year-old shortstop with the rocket of an arm who is hitting .284/.356/.467 with 16 home runs at Triple-A Memphis. I think it makes sense for the Cardinals to start his big league clock and give him experience now, as he likely takes over in 2024 as the starting shortstop. -- Schoenfield

---

 

[trellaine201]

Lets can the two hitting coaches and hitting strategist lol , no kidding the Jays have a hitting strategist! Lets can these three.

 

[dredeye]

I have a feeling that Seattle wasn't going to trade Teo to us for anything short of a big overpayment.

Lets say they trade him to us for Palmegiani. The optics of essentially trading Swanson and Macko for Palmegiani are bad. Yes sunk costs and all that, the environment has changed and you should make the best decision for you moving forward, but human brains always have to try to make sense to things and it looks bad.

I kind of figured it would be like Biggio going the other way. Major league talent with control. Nothing great but something

 

[Dr.Funk]

I kind of figured it would be like Biggio going the other way. Major league talent with control. Nothing great but something

When they let Wong go earlier I thought that Biggio and a middling prospect was a good loking possibility.

 

[tmlms13]

Aw man, don't stab the guy. He's already been through enough.

Hard to believe he still has a job after missing in 2022

 

[phillipmike]

Anyone see how much cash the Jays got from St. Louis in the DeJong trade?

 

[theaub]

Meh, and the 1-13 against Baltimore and Boston doesn’t bode well for a regression to the mean? This team is playing .620 ball against everybody else. 3-4 against TB, and 3-4 against NYY is not that horrible either.

No I agree with this. Just saying I get why people are frustrated.

 

[Hoverhand]

It's all fine and dandy to be .620 against everyone else until you play Baltimore in the ALDS.

 

[tmlfan98]

It was super obvious they needed someone who could hit lefties in the offseason. It's only become more obvious throughout the season. How did they not do anything to address it? Dumb.

The only thing that can make up for it at this point is calling up Schneider.

Schneider is a good prospect, but he isn't the lefty masher you think he is. His AAA splits suggest he hits better vs righties (this season .754 OPS in 115 PA vs LHP, and a 1.086 OPS in 252 PA vs RHP).

 

[Eyedea]

Schneider is a good prospect, but he isn't the lefty masher you think he is. His AAA splits suggest he hits better vs righties (this season .754 OPS in 115 PA vs LHP, and a 1.086 OPS in 252 PA vs RHP).

I think the point to be made here is how would the Jays fare if they subbed Biggio/Espinal for Schneider/Clement?

 

[Scotianhab]

Lets can the two hitting coaches and hitting strategist lol , no kidding the Jays have a hitting strategist! Lets can these three.

It’s very sad that 1 or 2 of these coaches haven’t been fired yet.

 

[LaP]

I think the point to be made here is how would the Jays fare if they subbed Biggio/Espinal for Schneider/Clement?

Schneider is having a pretty good season in Buffalo not sure why they are not trying him specially with Bo injured,

 

[Hoverhand]

Schneider is a good prospect, but he isn't the lefty masher you think he is. His AAA splits suggest he hits better vs righties (this season .754 OPS in 115 PA vs LHP, and a 1.086 OPS in 252 PA vs RHP).

He has an 1.086 OPS against the handedness that makes up 90% of baseball and they still haven't called him up???