The Blue Jays have struck a minor-league deal with outfielder Jose Tabata, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). Other terms of the arrangement remain unreported at this time.
Still just 28 years old, Tabata will be looking to spark a career revival in Toronto. Once a highly promising young talent, he was shipped to the Dodgers in the middle of the 2015 season in a bad-contract swap that sent Michael Morse back to the Pirates.
After two solid seasons to start his MLB career with the Bucs, Tabata signed an extension that the club hoped would deliver surplus value over its lengthy term (six guaranteed years with three options). But he struggled in the first season after signing and never developed into more than a part-time player in Pittsburgh. Hopes were raised by a solid 2013 campaign, in which he slashed .282/.342/.429 over 341 plate appearances, but Tabata fell off sharply thereafter.
Los Angeles paid down the remainder of the deal when it cut Tabata loose last summer, wrapping things up with a $250K buyout of a 2017 club option. He had failed to earn a return to the majors after a tepid start to the 2016 season at Triple-A, though he did exhibit his typically high-quality approach during a stint in the Mexican League. In 123 plate appearances for Quintana Roo, Tabata slashed .320/.439/.410 while drawing 18 walks against just 13 strikeouts.
Why not
HIghly promising prospect or Yankee prospect? Both have the same media effects.
Cashman took down the Future Hall of Fame plaque once he was traded. There is quite a collection of those plaques lying around. Mateo is the most recent.
Similar to them signing Jesus Montero and Domonic Brown last year. Can’t hurt to see if he somehow recaptures past success.
Didn’t work with either of them, and probably won’t with this bum.
At least we’re keeping the bums off the streets of other cities and shipping them to Buffalo
excellent comment
Hopefully it does with this ‘bum’. If not, then oh well. It doesn’t cost anything to try.
as a jays fan, all I can say is oh gosh.
How oh gosh, this is a minor league signing with no risk
Cheap lottery ticket with late success in the minors, why not?
Can never have too many Jose’s in the outfield. JoeyTabat’s?
Even in his best days, Tabata was a guy who did a lot of things fairly well, but nothing well enough that he was irreplaceable. Plus, remember that a lot of people still contend that he is really a few years older than he claims to be. Still, it’s am I or league deal, so why not take a look?
Yeesh, more lightning in a bottle attempts from the Jays. Is Jose T a good signing? Doubtful. Perhaps provide depth at the AAA level. This is not a game changing move. Hardly worth typing about. Now bring on a shut down setup man type reliever or a top of the rotation starter and that would be something to type about.
A top of the rotation pitcher is an unnecessary luxury and I think we should wait and see what we have in biagini/grilli before dumping the farm into a reliever. If they can’t repeat last years success, then I agree though, call about Nate Jones or jeanmar Gomez or someone along those lines.
Why would they need a top rotation starter.. they had the lowest SP ERA in the AL last year.
Yeah I know they were a great starting unit last year, but that won’t happen this year with these same guys. Repeating that success is almost impossible year to year. Happ will take a step back, Sanchez and Stroman will improve, I hear Estrada’s back is putty so who knows about him. Liriano is good every-other-year, the question is what year is it for him this year – he is a crapshoot and so is biagini if they decide stretch him out. There is no experienced starting depth in the minors. From fan graphs:
*10% likelihood that 4+ starters will be hurt at the same time (.082+.016+.001)
*32% likelihood that 3+ starters will be hurt (0.22 for exactly 3, plus the 4+ injured pitchers above)
*65% likelihood that at least 2 starters will be hurt at any given point in the season (105 games)
We need a high end guy, not just for depth, but to win.
Estrada can’t be that bad off if he is playing in the WBC. Check out Liriano’s stats with Martin as his catcher. 2.94 era career with k/9 over 9. His velocity also increased when he came to TO. Stroman is supposed to go back to his slider this year so hopefully he is back to dominance but it can only help. Not sure why you think Happ will regress, Searage fixed the man.
I agree on most parts from jimmertee. Happ will go back to .500, Estrada will have back problems by May and won’t recapture his form. Stroman stays the same, slightly above .500. Sanchez won’t be the ace everyone thinks he will be this year. Liriano will be around if not below .500. Easily factor in injuries then who do you turn to? Biagini? Sean Reid Foley? All the options at AAA are either unproven or complete wild cards. Too many questions surrounding this team.
Happ will regress because his career numbers outside of last year were 62-61 with an ERA around 4.00. Last year was an anomaly nothing else. Should have traded him during the offseason.
Being a .500 pitcher has nothing to do with how good they pitch
Stupid comment. WL record means nothing. Ask Felix. ERA since second half 2015 pretty damn good.
Left handed pitchers generally improve once they learn command. Happ is a pretty hard throwing lefty that shows zero signs of regression. I’m saying poor man’s Cliff Lee. Took a bit of time to figure it out, but seems on the way to building a solid career from what I’ve been watching.
Estrada’s back seemed putty last year, and Liriano seemed like a wild card last year. What’s changed?
The spike in pitches for Stroman and Sanchez should be the big worries. The monitoring and extra training that seems to happen is comforting but I still worry about them more than Estrada or Liriano.
Happ should be the rock but he saw a bit of spike too.
I’ll dig up some numbers to debunk what I see or prove my eyes right if there is massive doubts but I am certain that the value of Martin catching for these guys is a difference maker. Any wild cards that are needed will enjoy the same rapport and we might even avoid hiccups. The value of a smart catcher is priceless. Martin is overpaid but not by as much as it would seem. The Jeter-esque intangibles, I will dig up stats but anyone that has seen how Russell Martin’s teams have done would likely agree here.
Last year at this time, the depth seemed similar. More questions surrounded Happ, Estrada, Dickey, Sanchez, Stroman at that time than any questions in the current bunch. The backup options were slim then too. Granted going through the season without any SP injuries was a miracle that will be quite the impossible repeat.
If a top end starter were to appear now, it would cost prospects. It would push Liriano into bullpen and that would be very nice. If a Sonny Gray were cheap enough, I’d be all in. But I don’t see a difference maker pitcher being in the Jays price range so it’s hard to criticize them for not taking that path.
Instead we hold our breaths that Russell has his magic back with the pitchers and the entire staff can avoid falling apart. If a starting pitcher goes down, the season will start to look like the Angels 2016. They went through like 15 SP!!! Trade for an Ervin Santana type in June if there’s playoff hope or just rebuild if there’s no hope.
4 of the SP and every RP worries me to some extent. Happ is the least of my worries at this point. That 10% likelihood of 4 SP hurt at the same time wouldn’t shock me, but if even 2 go down at once the rebuild is on, so why not test fate with the current 5 and save money/prospects. I don’t like it as a fan, but if I were running a team, I would do the same thing.
Felix also pitches in the West aside from a few good hitters it has been a weak division for the better part of his career. I could go into other stats and state that he isn’t a flame thrower and that his stuff will catch up to him in the East. One of the tougher divisions in Baseball. Your 2015 comment NL Central. You got the Cards, Cubs, Brewers and and Reds. Not the greatest overall lineups. You can’t be a .500 pitcher and be 20-4 with all the other corresponding stats that over inflated a mediocre pitcher. He will come down to earth and everyone will be surprised that a 20 game winner just a season prior isn’t performing like he did last year. Don’t come crying to me when your denial has lead you to believe in mediocrity.
Clarifying that Cliff Lee is obviously much better than Happ. Found himself a few years earlier in career and had a higher ceiling/floor. I see similarities though.
Also, my hunches on LHP may be swayed because there really isn’t a lot of cases that stick out, meaning there would be dozens of forgettable options available to ruin my case. For LHP that stick around for more than 5 seasons, I’d figure they generally age a lot better than RHP counterparts. Maybe not improve, but fight off regression longer than expected. Moyer/Buerhle types are just as big of anomalies as Colon for RHP though. Just throwing out how I see things. The stats just may prove me wrong if someone cares enough to dive in.
A lot of my hunches were good throughout their career unlike Happ, but it seems these lefty starters hit a point where they can fight off regression into their late 30s. Some requiring 2nd and 3rd winds and some getting there on their first wind. Closest comp to Happ I can see would still be Cliff Lee. He hit the wall earliest. At 35. One more good year for Happ works for me. Another year closer to reinforcements.
Johnson, Glavine, Pettitte, Hamels, Sabathia, Moyer, Buerhle were my hunches for the record.
All for now. Cheers Jays fans and naysayers!
Jays rule- Happ pitched against the AL East for nearly 100IP last year. When are they going to catch up to him? Pitched about 10% worse against the East, but he still gets to pitch half his innings outside the East. Barring injury, he seems set to come in around 3.50ERA//1.20WHIP and a 15-10 type record. I don’t think anyone’s calling for another 20-4 but to say he’ll hit mediocrity with this stepback is quite the reach.
Great point about his results in the NL Central however. Small period of time as well. Great result in Coors during that time is a good sign.
To me he has been hit and miss for his whole career, watching him, he is a head case. Last year he seemed a bit less of a head case. I blame Russell Martin for this one. When he stops fidgeting, Happ pitches great. Also consider when looking at his career how the comebacker he took might effect his mentality on the mound. Might’ve taken more than 3 months to truly recover from.
Can’t help myself, ramblin away, it’s almost spring training!!!
Comment about the West and a few good hitters got me thinking.
Last year the West was right behind the East in runs scored. A pitcher in Boston (2 tough and 2 weak 2016 division mates) would face easier competition than a pitcher in Oakland (2 tough and 2 medium 2016 division mates)?? Yankees were down last year. A’s and Rays are down most years. Seattle was way up last year. Boston was through the roof so East still wins. Closer than expected overall, and factor in certain park effects if you believe in them and it might be a push. Just wanted to add this because I was sort of surprised overall.
Among top 25 BVP last year Felix:
trout, pujols, kdavis, beltre, abreu, springer, altuve
Among top 25 BVP last year Happ:
longoria, betts, bogaerts, cdavis, machado, hramirez, trumbo
Using BBreference. Drawing arbitrary line at top25 sorted by PA in 2016 and simply picking names that stand out as tough ABs but I’m open to nitpicking if someone thinks I’m cherrypicking to sway my argument.
Hard to say who has it tougher in my mind. The pitching environments say Felix still has it easier but maybe the talks about adding offense to Safeco truly happened?? Did the East even gain ground this offseason?? With Seattle in Texas territory the West was not as easy for pitchers as we have grown used to.
I could see the West scoring more runs than the East this year?? Ortiz and Edwin are gone. Gary Sanchez should hit 100HR though. Tough call. (JK on that last part– reminder that my crystal ball is kinda messed up)
Just adding a few more cents!
Goodnight baseball fans!
Well aren’t you an optimistic fan. Glad you are in the front office. Jose & Edwin were scrap when they arrived. The Jays have a way of rejuvenating carreers. Let’s keep our glasses half full.
Why the hell would I come crying to you? I don’t value win/loss record as much as you do. If I was projecting fantasy stats I wouldn’t expect Haap to end up with 20 games won. I would predict 15 though. Does that mean it’s a regression? No, I don’t think so.
Troll.
*minor league deal… I love my cell phone
At least we know there won’t be a perfect game thrown against us this year
Sheeesh so much negativity. Why so much hate for the best rotation in the majors? I agree there will probably be some regression as we were unusually healthy last year.. but everyone isn’t suddenly going to turn into the worst pitchers in the game. People also need to understand a baseball team isn’t just the 25 men on the MLB team. There is a whole bevy of players throughout the whole system. It’s not all about lightning in a bottle type finds, it’s also about filling needs for the AAA teams and more.
It’s not hate for the best rotation, it’s good scouting and reasonable assumptions. We are not tracking filling needs in other parts of the organization and we certainly don’t need announcements of depth signings of AAA. Bring on building the major league roster improvements!
What’s missing on the major league roster? Maybe a left fielder? But there is no one out there that’s better than what we have that is worth the cost of acquiring them.. maybe angel pagan? But other than that I’m pretty content with the roster and I think it’s better than what we started with last year overall
Given a time machine, I’d say the answer to that would be Edwin!!
But considering the way the cookie crumbled, I’d say aussiejaysfan is on point!
I’d take Edwin if we can somehow give up smoak??
Wait for it. They are missing depth [and an allstar] in the starting rotation. It won’t take long to see this manifest. I hope I am wrong but I don’t think so.
No ramble this time: promise!
Quick rebut here: 12months ago, this rotation had more question marks than right now.. Undeniable.
Agreed and they did really well last year. But will that repeat or improve? Nope, not this year in my prophetic scout’s eye, unless a big trade or acquisition is made. AL East order this year: Bosox, Orioles, Jays, Tampa Bay, Yankees. The past is not an full indicator of the future on this one….
To so boldly predict doom is what I don’t get.
Most of my backup logic is higher in this thread and somewhat contradicts this next statement, but I must say I do agree with your overall viewpoint.
This is a really strong starting point compared to most Jays teams in my lifetime. Chris Michalek? Joey Hamilton? Josh Towers? Tomo Ohka? Gus Chacin-opening day!? No chance for pessimism when stepping back and looking at this year’s bunch.
They ARE playing with fire. Spending for another allstar, anywhere on the roster would have been nice, but assuming they pushed the budget past comfort, the end result is not looking that gloomy.
I will still never join the chicken little gang and consider the Jays out of anything until the magic number is 0 for some other team. Call me delusional, foolish, whatever, but there’s always hope in baseball. Amazin’ things can happen.
My broken crystal ball says the East is a 5 team race. Anything can happen still. One AJ Pollock or Garret Richards injury can drastically alter an entire franchise’s path, so your fears aren’t taken lightly where the Jays are concerned. I just think the same fears can be had for 20-25 other teams. Not losing sleep here.
For the record, before even seeing opening day rosters–
1-Tor; 2-Bos; 3-Nyy; 4-Bal; 5-TB.
Rays are a strong 5th place team. Yanks pass O’s down the stretch. Jays same with Sox. Injuries and trades that my crystal ball aren’t picking up will play big roles. My delusional obsessive disagrees with your prophetic scout’s eye. But enjoys the baseball chat.
Almost spring training!!
I often go to spring training in Florida. I have been 15+x over the years, but this year I was thinking of Arizona. I am not much into the WBC until the final round. Hope springs eternal then…..
Tabata flip
I remember his 55yr old girlfriend told him she was pregnant so he would marry her ($$$) then she kidnaps a baby and try’s to play it off like she had the kid while he was at practice… crazy stuff
This was really the beginning of he neck lips saga
Just looked that up… LOL
Hadn’t heard that story, that’s crazy. But the timeline doesn’t seem to make sense that she lied about being preggo so he would marry her; they were married for over a year before that incident. Regardless, she couldn’t just say she had a miscarriage? I mean you’re really going to abduct someone else’s kid, come on.
Tabata put up impressive numbers in the VWL this year: .367/.457/.521 in over 200 PA. Surprised it took this long for him to get a minor league deal.
Same. He’s been roughly league average, with the glove and bat, his whole career. He was just extended too young and you could match his production for cheaper. Now that he’s free of that price tag I think you could see him stick around for awhile as a 4th OF as long as he can keep his career line.
D.B. Cooper has nothing on Jose Tabata.
How many reading this did a double-take: “Still just 28 years old…”?
Was scrolling down to make the same comment. Did he enter the league at 15?
He leaned into Scherzer’s pitch
I agree. Not a fan of either team but I couldn’t believe he’d do that being the last out in a perfect game AND that he got away with it
Toronto pirates…
I’d take that moniker if we can somehow wind up with Cutch!
Give us Vlad Jr. and you can have Cutch, the moniker and the pirate ship, too.
Jim Callis has sold me on him big time.
Guy is a hack. Proved by his leaning into Max Scherzer pitch ending his perfect game. Baseball gods frown on that type stuff and gave his career exactly what it deserved.
I’m actually surpirsed he’s still in mlb. he better thank his agent. he had all the talent to succeed in pittsburgh. too much baggage with him.
So you’re telling me you’re mad at a guy who is willing to get on base no matter what way, be it an inside pitch he doesn’t shy away from…… And you’re gonna castrate him for that? If John Macdonald could have taken a few of those and maybe put a couple more balls in play he might be a hall of famer. Couldn’t hit to save his life and always a backup infielder. Great glove though. As for the main conversation, I don’t care how a guy gets on base, I just want him on base. Especially with how potent our offence can be.