A slew of scouts attended last night's Blue Jays-Royals game in Kansas City, reports Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun. The Tigers, Red Sox, Yankees, Twins, and Phillies were represented. The Reds and Mets scouted the Jays over the weekend. Clearly some of this scouting extends beyond normal coverage. Toronto's roster is littered with trade candidates: Scott Downs, Kevin Gregg, Jason Frasor, Jose Bautista, and Lyle Overbay. But several of the aforementioned teams need catching and may have been on hand to observe All-Star catcher John Buck.
Buck had a pair of doubles in the contest, bringing his line to .278/.309/.504 through 265 plate appearances. He's flashed power before, but in this season he's slugged at least .462 in every month. Buck recently turned 30 and will be a free agent after the season. He just sneaks in as a Type B right now. It's not difficult to imagine Buck receiving and turning down an arbitration offer, so his status boosts his trade value. Asher Wojciechowski (Blue Jays) and Drew Vettleson (Rays) were compensation picks at #41 and #42 overall this year, so GM Alex Anthopoulos will presumably aim for a player or package he likes more than that level of draft pick.
Elliott feels that the Tigers, Red Sox, and Reds are teams that might have interest in Buck.
I wonder if AA will get creative and try and package Buck with Downs for something great…he seems to have had no problems so far getting the players he wants. Also, Buck needs to go, the Jays have to give Arencibia a shot, he’s OPSing like 1.040 in the minors with 28 home runs
Yeah that would be great, but they are probably worth more separate.
AA believes in quality over quantity, if AA can package players for a bigger prospect that would be his choice.
Interesting to see what AA would want for Buck. Reds have some interesting peices the Jays would love.
Can’t see Cincy having interest in a catcher. They’ve got Hanigan, and Hernandez is close to coming off the DL. Cincy scout was in Baltimore, probably looking at Wigginton. Maybe Bautista.
could you imagine Batista in American Small Ballpark wow that would be crazy. As much as I love Bruce , Stubbs and Nyx and so on and upgrade of batting stats would be nice from our outfield. Gomes has been really the only productive Outfielder that has been fairly consistent. Jocketty Like trading with Toronto too. so you never know.
If it’s a Buck/Yunel Escobar package deal from TOR…Sure, I’d be interested as a Reds fan…. But not just Buck alone. W/ Hanigan & Miller w/ the big club…Hernandez ready to return from the DL…and Wilkin Castillo in AAA…The Reds really do not need another C.
Yes I’m sure the Jays will trade their only ML shortstop… especially after they just stole him from ATL. Dream bigger, Leo.
I don’t think the Reds would be able to get Yunel Escabar. I don’t see that happening. You just don’t trade for a guy to give to another team in another deal unless the trade is a 3 or 4 team trade at the time. Though it has happened in the past I just don’t see it happening here.
How about Buck and either Escobar or Bautista to DET to fill their now gaping infield issues.
I like the idea of Buck and Bautista in a package deal for a couple decent prospects.
Then you can have ex-Royals Teahen AND Buck! LOL! You can have ’em both. John Suck is having a career year, just like Bautista. Do you realize that Buck needs a running start to throw to second? That he lets balls get past him like he’s allergic to them? He’s horrible and he’s having a career 4 month stretch. Don’t be surprised if he’s back to earth in another 4 weeks.
Who cares about what happens in 4 weeks? Scouts are looking at the here and now, and so are the Jays.
I hate to ruin stories with facts, because facts, unlike blowhole opinions can be so misleading, but Buck has 1,2,4,3,5,3,7 pb’s over his career. Posada has 4,8,2,13,13,8,9,13,7,18…, Ivan Rodriguez: 1,7,5,2,6,2,4,7,4…. He doesn’t need a running start, he’s just 6’4″, takes a little longer to stand up than shorter catchers. Buck, like everyone else who gets out of KC is just playing to his potential now that he’s in a decent program.
You’re right. After posting that I re-looked and found that Olivo had 10 PBs last year. Nonetheless the Buck/Olivo tandem last year produced a team-record number of PBs and wild pitches. I don’t see you posting what his numbers are in throwing out runners but while in KC it was in the 20 percentile. You want facts? How about this:
Even with this year’s boom his career line is: .241 BA, .300 OBP, .420 SLG, and .721 OPS. He’s John Freaking Buck. Doesn’t matter where he plays that won’t change. We’ll just agree to disagree. You think 4 months makes him awesome. I think his career speaks for itself. Remember this when he fades and returns to his normal self.
i don’t think escobar’s going anywhere before Bautista, Bautista’s probably at his peak value while Escobar is working to raise his stock again. Escobar’s controllable for another 3.5 years, he’s definitely part of a contending team if he returns to his former self (and so far he’s done a fine job) so i’m not sure AA wants to move him already.
I really hope the Phillies werent scouting Buck, catcher is the least of their worries.
I believe number one starter is the least of their worries.
they need another starter to push moyer or kendrick out of the rotation
Perhaps you would have understood the unsubtle joke if I said second base is the least of their needs. They don’t need a number one starter to push those guys out of the rotation. Of course, they had another one, but traded him away for no good reason…
i’m a little slow sometimes
It happens to Philly fans. I blame the cheeze wiz.
will take Downs, dont like Gregg
Few do.
it’s very likely that some of these scouts were there to watch dejesus, farnsworth, guillen, pods, and the rest of the royals that should be headed out the door in kc
Predictions:
Buck -> Detroit: Even with the loss of Inge the catcher spot is the weakest link as the current combo is OPSing .501 and .625 for the year. Buck would be a huge upgrade over that and Guillen/Sizemore should be ok at 3B/2B.
Downs -> Philly: A very good non-loogy lefty in the pen would be huge for the Phills
Frasor & Overbay -> Boston: Frasor is a good match with just about anybody but the Sox have the need and pieces to get him. The Sox aquired lefty backup/starting firstbasemen in LaRoche then Kotchman for the stretch run last year and could do the same again here.
Gregg -> LAD: I think the Dodgers will go out and get a veteran setup man for Broxton and I think they will overpay a bit in prospects to get the Jays to pick up the tab on the salary.
Bautista -> Atlanta: The Braves are going for it this year and Bautista would be a fantastic power/patience guy to plug in full time in our fluid 1B/3B/LF/RF rotation and drive in our high OBP guys.
Philly will have a hard time getting Downs with Yankees and Boston fighting all over him. All 3 teams could use an elite lefty set-up man like Downs so it’ll be interesting to see what happens. I bet Downs gets the most return.I know Boston is over the luxury tax so Jays would have to pick up all the salary but that means we can get something better!!Bautista would fit in quite well in Atlanta and Atlanta were interested in him during the Escobar-Gonzalez talk so it should be interesting. I think Tampa may also go after Bautista since he’s cheap and having a career year while big impact bats are too expensive for Tampa and there aren’t a whole lot impact bats after Fielder and Dunn.
“All 3 teams could use an elite lefty set-up man like Downs.”
You left out a zero, dude.
Yeah my bad. I meant 30. 😛
I like the thought of Downs with Philly… Even with Yanks and Boston on the hunt, I like Philly taking Downs.
Gregg might be tough to trade, when he is off his control is horrid
For some reason I feel the Jays might actually sign Bautista to a 2 or 3 year deal if they can dump Edwin E and move Bautista to 3rd to make room for Snider to return. Gaston loves this guy and I would not be surprised if they keep him. Or they move around Fred Lewis, Lewis and Escobar make a nice 1-2 in the batting order, they need the speed in the lineup. So Bautista could go either way, if they get a top offer he goes if not they sign him
Clarence Gaston is gone in 3 months…
not really gone… just not the manager. Im sure we will advise them to sign Bautista from a golf course in Florida
The Jays may have an adequate replacement for Wells soon in Darin Mastroianni. Last season in the minors the dude stole 70 bags with an OBP of .398. He’s on pace for roughly 60 steals and has an OBP of .403 this season in AA. Slightly less power than Lewis, but you can’t ignore that OBP and speed.
“Cervelli and and a 2 grade B prospects for Buck Bautista and Scott Downs ”
haha ya…no
I got to say Bautista is a great athlete and does a lot of baseball things very very well. He’s got a rocket arm and watching him practice long toss in between innings with Wells he really rears back and throws much like a pitcher. The guy is just in shape and because of it plays many positions very well. He has been starting to hit again and am just glad i got to watch him a lot this year.
Seems weird that so many Jays are having career years all in the same year. Trading Bautista to Atlanta where he could back up Chipper at 3rd and play the corner outfield spots or back up first seems like a good fit. If AA can pool another Houdini and manage to make Mike Minor disapear from Atlanta and appear in Toronto I will eat my hat and choke on it if he turns Buck into Juan Francisco
This whole thing on Buck amuses me.
It’s like a couple of weeks ago when the Royals went 10 – 3 and some fans were getting all stoked up about maybe putting together a run. Then the team lost 5 straight. In the end they’re still the Royals.
Same thing here. No matter how well he seems to be doing when the day is done he’s still John Freaking Buck…or ‘John Suck’ as he’s known in KC.
Alex Gonzalez will remain Alex Gonzalez yet he brought back Escobar.. GM’s desperate for a need will take the man having the hot year…
“As he’s known in KC”… and this is relevant because obviously KC made the right move dropping him in favour of Kendall, right?
it amuses you because you still can’t believe that someone can be crappy on a crappy team, but leave and become a good player. You can’t fault buck, catching all those crummy pitchers, losing all those ball games for so long. Bucks happier, working harder and its paying off, both defensively and offensively. Whether you want to acknowledge it or not
His career high .337 BABIP isn’t hurting matters.
Sure, it’s entirely possible Buck has turned a corner. 30 isn’t exactly an unreasonable age for a catcher to turn it around. However, it’s more likely that he’s just having a stretch of good luck accounting for that high BABIP.
from a reds standpoint…howbout buck and downs for juan francisco and a lower prospect
from a logic standpoint: no.
i’d imagine that the J’s would be able to get more out of the BoSox for buck alone. and Francisco has a career .311 obp!!!
I’d be very surprised if AA wasn’t asking for Yonder Alonso in any trade involving the Reds. He tends to aim high.
Brett Wallace >> Yadier Alonso anyways..
Alonso’s stock was falling faster than Goldman Sachs before this month. Plus the Jays don’t need anymore 1B/DH/LF types. More than enough of those.
AA seems the type to take best prospect available, and then trade from excess. Taking someone with the potential of Alonso and then trading him for a need could be a solution.
Can someone explain to me why exactly these teams need to “scout” John Buck? I mean I understand that scouts are invaluable for evaluating amateurs, minor leaguers, etc… but the guy’s been a regular/semi-regular for seven years now.
He’s batting well above his usual career norms. Teams will want to scout him to clarify if it’s a matter of luck, adjustments, ballpark factor or a mix of the three.
It’s funny that the Twins are mentioned in this posting. I’m sure our advanced scout was there just to scout the Royals, since the Twins play them after their upcoming series against the Orioles.