3:11pm: The two sides are still finalizing terms according to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca (on Twitter). He says it's unlikely anything will get done before next week given the holiday and the need for a physical.
1:07pm: The Blue Jays are close to signing Darren Oliver, reports Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News. Both Oliver and the Rangers were interested in a reunion, but the team wouldn't make any commitments due to the potential outlay for other players, namely Yu Darvish.
Oliver, 41, is a modified Type-B free agent per the new collective bargaining agreement, meaning the Rangers will receive a supplemental first round draft pick as compensation (tentatively #51 overall). The Jays would not forfeit a pick. The left-hander has pitched to a 2.40 ERA in 112 1/3 innings for Texas the last two years, holding lefty batters to a .212/.250/.306 batting line during that time. The Angels also expressed some interest in his services.
This post was originally published on December 30th.
Good Pickup by the Jays. How much does Oliver have left in the tank is the question.
That seems to be the question every year, but the man continues to go out and give some pretty decent long relief year after year. Hopefully this year will be the same.
Like it!!
Yes , was hoping for him as our loogy , not much else out there and he’s been rock solid. Guessing its a 1 year 3-4 million plus club option for like around 3.5 – 4.5 million with a 500k buy out.
At 41 years old, his 4 best seasons from the best to 4th best are 2011, 2010, 2009 and 2008.
like it… solid move
Oliver could be good on a 3.5million deal with an option possibly, we need another lefty specialist who faces just lefthanders and this could work out well. I think he def. has enough left for next year but should prob. retire after…
by darren oliver.. they mean prince fielder right?
Sure, but about 1.5x older and 1.5x skinnier.
and 100x more expensive
I think you mean less expensive. Unless you expect Oliver to sign for about $15 Billion.
Ah, thanks for this. I genuinely laughed out loud.
Pathetic
Yep, math jokes are “pathetic”.
durrr of course
BUT 100x more experience….. he reminds me of a Scott Downs but with more knowledge on hitters.
I hope.
Disappointed as a Rangers fan. Oliver has been solid.
don’t worry you can trade something to the Jays for him in July.
Maybe the Jays can get Napoli for him.
like darvish…
I’d rather have Mike Gonzalez anyways.
Was holding out hope for an Angels reunion. Oliver is a great guy to have in the pen.
so far jays pen
Closer- Santos
Setup LHP- Oliver
Setup RHP- Janssen
Carreno
Litsch
Villanueva
Perez
not bad. not great. but not bad
One more power righty or lefty and we’re in business.
I’m sure over the course of the year some starting pitchers will end up in the pen.
Mcgowan can’t have a full workload, so they’ll prob give him some starts then put him in the pen.
Its possible that Drabek ends up in the pen, with his great pitches, the bullpen could actually become really strong.
Closer- Santos
Setup LHP- Oliver
Setup RHP- Janssen
Carreno
Drabek
Villanueva
Perez
I would say that is a great pen, but im not sure about our lefties.
why would the jays move drabek in to a relieving role though?
Not yet ready to start? Seems unlikely, but back in Phil Hughe’s bullpen days he was solid. Not he’s a good SP.
I “liked” it. Might tweak it by replacing Litsch with Chad Beck. But, this involves trading Litsch. Might not happen.
beck does look good, but he seems more of a late innings reliever
I have litsch in there as the long man.
Yep…it makes more sense having Litsch as a long middle innings reliever.
4th best in the division.
bullpen wise? probably 2nd or 3rd actually
Rangers could have used him, but if it’s Darren or a 1st round pick…. Sorry bud.
pick is in the 50’s
Oliver is also just about in his 50’s. There’s still plenty of talent left at that slot.
You cant just say he’s almost 50 when he’s 41 , is someone almost 30 when there 21? lol 9 years is a bit of a stretch when rounding up…
Yeah, but it’s in baseball years, which basically count as 5 years for each regular year once you hit 30.
Sooo you’re saying Oliver is 85 still throwing 90mph and making lefites look silly? lol I’ll take that for a year or two.
Yep. 85 in baseball years. Like dogs.
You don’t seem to fully understand how valuable a top 50 pick can be in the hands on the Rangers.
Supplemental pick and Mike Gonzalez over Darren Oliver any day.
are you kidding? mike gonzalez isnt that great….. he use to be a pirates player remember? and orioles? lol
Gonzalez does perfectly fine against lefties which is what Texas needs for their final relieve spot. I was thoroughly impressed with how Gonzalez played in a Rangers uniform last season. I’d be perfectly happy to have him be our lefty specialist and have our FO and scouts use this top 50 pick to get yet another top prospect.
Yep…smart moves by Rangers and Jays
Yep…I would take the 1st pick.
First Signing of the Yeeeeeeeeeaaaarrrrrrr!!!!! That’s not official.
Jays sign 41 year old Darren Oliver….because he throws left handed and has a heartbeat…
Despite the sarcasm, I don’t mind this singing as I am sure the price is right.
close to signing Darren Oliver.
He owns lefty’s, pitches well despite a notorious hitters park, and is not completely useless against righties. Very solid signing
good move. bullpen now shapes up as santos, janssen, oliver, villanueva, litsch, and carreno. still would be nice to add another lefty, but maybe they’re figuring on putting brett cecil in the pen.
that shapes up pretty well imo. those top 3 are very tough, villanueva was lights out in the pen last year, litsch is very tough on righties, and carreno also looked good in his short stint (great slider).
carreno’s slider is for reals legit, I wouldn’t mind seeing him back in a starting role though
its so good that i think fangraphs has misidentified some of them as curveballs.
he had a 6.7 h/9, 10.2 k/9 last year in new hampshire..
which is pretty ridiculous..
but his, 4.5 bb/9 is concerning as a starter, although it may be an outlier as for the most part he’s demonstrated much better control
I like Carreno as well , although im not sure who goes if another arm is signed? Litch?
i think litsch and villanueva are a bit redundant, so yea i could see one of them being left out should they add another.
villanueva, in the pen last year was amazing.
He is a legend need lefty out of the pen. Good signing
Looks like Rogers is finally spending the dough
Glad for the Jays and Oliver. Gonna miss his arm in the bullpen for the Rangers, but better to take the money when it is offered.
Yes, Finally! I’m really excited for the season to start!
AA is GOD
i think you mean glod
I think our Bullpen might be a little bit underrated…
Nice signing if true. He is a left-handed specialist that can also retire righties. The bullpen now has improved 100 percent, since all the deadweight was jettisoned that led to 25 blown saves last year. AA has quietly replaced bench players with potential all stars at many positions and fans still complain. 2012 will be an exciting year to watch the players mature and get better. Teams have gone from worst to first and won the world series, so anything is possible and that is what makes baseball special. Fans write teams off, but then eat crow when those same teams beat everyone in October for the prize. No one picked the Giants, Cardinals, etc to win the world series, probably just as many didn’t pick Arizona to win the NL west either. That is why games are played and won on the field, not on paper. Anything can and usually does happen that no one expects.
giants & cardinals dont have the yankees, sox and rays in their division
why do you always post needlessly long comments? So much unneeded information in that paragraph
I think that every time he posts. He makes paragraph responses to one word posts, its exhausting.
The Cards and Giants had pitching, which has been a weakness of the Jays for the last few years. Check the stats.
Good signing. We needed a lefty and got a good one. Another good late inning arm would make our bullpen great.