Blue Jays Discussion: The official Danny Jackson Appreciation Society

[phillipmike]

The 23 best deals of the '23 Trade Deadline

There were dozens of trades in the days leading up to the 2023 Trade Deadline, which is, remember, the only deadline. (Prior to 2019, there was also an August trading period.) As we’ve done in the past, we’ve attempted to rank the biggest moves, based on some level of statistical

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4) Blue Jays acquire P Jordan Hicks from Cardinals for Minor Leaguers P Adam Kloffenstein and P Sem Robberse
The Toronto bullpen was already pretty solid, but a minor need for another arm became more urgent when star closer Jordan Romano struggled to get through the ninth inning against the Angels on Friday and subsequently went on the IL with a back injury. Despite the fact that Hicks has one of the strongest arms in the game -- his sinker averages 100.5 mph -- he’s never quite piled up the whiffs like you’d expect, because his game is more “get weak contact” than “blow hitters away.” He has managed to find more strikeout stuff this year, however, seeing that K-rate go from 24% to 31%.

Romano is not expected to miss a great deal of time, so there’s a version of the Toronto bullpen that goes Romano / Hicks / Erik Swanson / Trevor Richards / Tim Mayza as the top five, and that has the potential to be tremendous. The Jays already had the second-best bullpen ERA and the third-best bullpen swing-and-miss rate. To that, they’ll add one of the most electric arms in the game. Not bad. Not bad at all.

19) Blue Jays acquire SS Paul DeJong for Minor League P Matt Svanson
It’s been clear for weeks that the Jays would be looking for a right-handed hitter, and it was most likely that hitter would be an outfielder. Of course, then Bo Bichette injured his knee the night before the Deadline, and while the severity isn’t fully clear, it made Toronto suddenly need to pivot to adding infield depth. DeJong has had a wildly up-and-down career ever since hitting 30 homers in an All-Star 2019, even finding himself back in the Minors for a large stretch last year, but despite his flaws, he continues to play solid defense (his +8 Outs Above Average rates in the top dozen shortstops and is an upgrade on Bichette, at least with the glove).

Ultimately, “good defensive shortstop with some amount of pop [13 homers this year]” isn’t the player the Jays thought they’d be getting. But until there’s more clarity about Bichette, it might be exactly the kind of player they could end up needing.

Ranking the top 40 prospects traded ahead of the Deadline

Another Trade Deadline came and went Tuesday, and while it may have lacked last year’s generational Juan Soto move or even any of the rumors involving Shohei Ohtani that had percolated through most of July, there were still plenty of fireworks across the baseball landscape from a prospect...

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12. Sem Robberse, RHP, Cardinals (No. 6)
Acquired from the Rangers in the Jordan Hicks trade

29. Adam Kloffenstein, RHP, Cardinals (No. 22)
Acquired from the Blue Jays in the Jordan Hicks trade

 

[Canada4Gold]

This is nuts

Wait, what? I thought for foul tips you were only allowed to use your glove and bare hand to catch it. Like if the hitter foul tips it and it somehow gets jammed in the catchers mask it's not strike 3. This got foul tipped and then trapped in the catchers waist/groin area and then I assume removed by hand or glove.

 

[The Nemesis]

2022 15th round pick Michael Turconi hit for the cycle tonight (or last night if you're a pedant. I mean Wednesday night) for the Vancouver Canadians playing in Hillsboro.

 

[Bjindaho]

Wait, what? I thought for foul tips you were only allowed to use your glove and bare hand to catch it. Like if the hitter foul tips it and it somehow gets jammed in the catchers mask it's not strike 3. This got foul tipped and then trapped in the catchers waist/groin area and then I assume removed by hand or glove.

There are 3 foul scenarios

1) Ball touches anything out of play in foul territory (fans, infrastructure)

2) Ball touches something in play in foul territory and lands in fair territory (this is players and ump)

3) Ball hits ground in foul territory

The weirdest thing imo is that if a player fouled a ball off themselves and into play on the fly, another fielder could catch it for a strike.

 

[canucksfan]

Interesting numbers

 

[GoonieFace]

Wait, what? I thought for foul tips you were only allowed to use your glove and bare hand to catch it. Like if the hitter foul tips it and it somehow gets jammed in the catchers mask it's not strike 3. This got foul tipped and then trapped in the catchers waist/groin area and then I assume removed by hand or glove.

I think the catcher has to catch the ball, they can’t trap it against their body etc

 

[Discoverer]

I think the catcher has to catch the ball, they can’t trap it against their body etc

Baseball's Foul Tip Rules Change in Real Life

Based on that, it sounds like the rule changed in 2020. It used to say a foul tip had to go directly to a catcher's hand, but now it says it has to go directly to the catcher and be legally caught.

 

[Eyedea]

Richards on IL, Francis recalled. Been a fan of Francis but also feel like they should stretch him out for depth. I'd imagine they'll activate Green the next day or so.

 

[trellaine201]

I guess all those nasty pitches have caught up with Richard’s

 

[canucksfan]

Someone to keep an eye on for next year

 

[phillipmike]

 

[Eyedea]

Someone to keep an eye on for next year

A lot of BP arms that will be knocking on the doorstep next season. No doubt there's going to be some movement this offseason with a few of these guys getting packaged up since they're logjammed at AAA/AA.

 

[Discoverer]

A lot of BP arms that will be knocking on the doorstep next season. No doubt there's going to be some movement this offseason with a few of these guys getting packaged up since they're logjammed at AAA/AA.

Yep, and I believe every reliever on the roster except Hicks is under team control for next year as well, so it's not like there will be spots opening up on the major league roster for them to step into, either.

 

[canucksfan]

A lot of BP arms that will be knocking on the doorstep next season. No doubt there's going to be some movement this offseason with a few of these guys getting packaged up since they're logjammed at AAA/AA.

It's something I would like to know, was it a change in development or drafting because there are a lot more arms, especially relievers now, than a few years ago. It seems as well they have a lot more swing and miss.

 

[MS]

Richards on IL, Francis recalled. Been a fan of Francis but also feel like they should stretch him out for depth. I'd imagine they'll activate Green the next day or so.

That's a big loss. Hopefully it's only a few days but if he's out for any length of time that basically cancels out the Hicks acquisition.

Someone to keep an eye on for next year

It's so hard to project relievers. A year ago we were looking at Adrian Hernandez and his massive K rate and now he's totally blown up and is back in AA with a 6.50 ERA.

Cooke throws 96-97 so that bodes better for him, though.

 

[weems]

Nimmala went 1-3 with a BB today with FCL Blue Jays

 

[Eyedea]

That's a big loss. Hopefully it's only a few days but if he's out for any length of time that basically cancels out the Hicks acquisition.



It's so hard to project relievers. A year ago we were looking at Adrian Hernandez and his massive K rate and now he's totally blown up and is back in AA with a 6.50 ERA.

Cooke throws 96-97 so that bodes better for him, though.

I don't think anyone was really super keen on Hernandez due to his low velo and high change up usage. At least most guys on the radar nowadays have two above average to plus pitches.

 

[canucksfan]

That's a big loss. Hopefully it's only a few days but if he's out for any length of time that basically cancels out the Hicks acquisition.



It's so hard to project relievers. A year ago we were looking at Adrian Hernandez and his massive K rate and now he's totally blown up and is back in AA with a 6.50 ERA.

Cooke throws 96-97 so that bodes better for him, though.

Hernandez had low velo and high homerun rate. A regression was bound to happen.

 

[MS]

Hernandez had low velo and high homerun rate. A regression was bound to happen.

I mentioned the velo but Hernandez' HR rates through 21-22 were lower than Cooke's until Hernandez blew up right at the end of 2022.

 

[canucksfan]

I mentioned the velo but Hernandez' HR rates through 21-22 were lower than Cooke's until Hernandez blew up right at the end of 2022.

Cooke is at 1.09 hr/9 this year in AA.

Hernandez was 1.15hr/9 in 2021 in AA but only threw 15 innings.

Since it has been 1.63 in 2022 for AAA and this year around the same in AA.

 

[MS]

Cooke is at 1.09 hr/9 this year in AA.

Hernandez was 1.15hr/9 in 2021 in AA but only threw 15 innings.

Since it has been 1.63 in 2022 for AAA and this year around the same in AA.

He was overall better at all levels in 2021 than Cooke in 2023 and those 22 numbers were all very late in the season. He had kept the ball in the park really well his whole career until the last month of 2022 in Buffalo.

 

[canucksfan]

He was overall better at all levels in 2021 than Cooke in 2023 and those 22 numbers were all very late in the season. He had kept the ball in the park really well his whole career until the last month of 2022 in Buffalo.

I checked his game logs and from May - June he had a HR/9 rate of 1.59 for 2022. I wouldn't call the last month numbers. The only bad Cooke numbers were in Vancouver where he only pitched 10 innings. That can easily inflate numbers due to the small sample size.

 

[MS]

I checked his game logs and from May - June he had a HR/9 rate of 1.59 for 2022. I wouldn't call the last month numbers. The only bad Cooke numbers were in Vancouver where he only pitched 10 innings. That can easily inflate numbers due to the small sample size.

Hmm, maybe I'm mistaken then. I thought he blew up at the end of the year after starting well.

 

[canucksfan]

Hmm, maybe I'm mistaken then. I thought he blew up at the end of the year after starting well.

He did well in April but struggled after that and hasn't done much since.

One guy I thought would be an option this year was Zulueta but he has struggled.

 

[Tufted Titmouse]

Is Vlad still an organizational cornerstone?

It feels like Bo is the only real franchise guy now. Monoah is bad, Vlad is just ok, Moreno is gone