The Blue Jays, now 40-40 and in fifth place in the American League East, are looking to add to their team as the July 31st trade deadline approaches. General manager Alex Anthopoulos told Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca that he’s discussing ways of making this year’s team better.
"Every dialogue I’m trying to have now, it’s all about trying to improve the 2012 product, that isn’t going to change," he said. "I’m active in having talks, that doesn’t mean anything is going to get done, but definitely all the trade dialogue I’m handling right now is all about making the 2012 team better."
Anthopoulos told Davidi the Blue Jays have talked about some potential short-term additions, including players headed for free agency. The GM added that this year’s Blue Jays team has a stronger core than in previous years.
Only three MLB teams have out-scored Toronto, but the Blue Jays could use pitching reinforcements after losing three starters to the disabled list and adding Carlos Villanueva, Aaron Laffey and Brett Cecil to their rotation. The Blue Jays are unsurprisingly interested in adding starting pitching depth.
Two scouts told Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com that Anthopoulos should sell this summer. One scout suggested Casey Janssen could become a trade chip. Meanwhile, a rival official said the Blue Jays are “souring” on Yunel Escobar and Knobler suggests the Blue Jays could decide to trade the shortstop just one year after extending him.
Just wondering what he could get if he were to trade Jose Bautista?? Obviously not helping this years team, but man the Jays could load up on prospects.
They’re already loaded up on prospects.
Honestly thats the direction I’d go in… Chad Jenkins and Deck Mcguire didn’t develop as hoped, which set them back for this year, and probably next.
Their young arms won’t be ready in 2-3 years. You can trade Bautista, Rasmus, Johnson,Arencibia EE, Davis, Bullpen and add some legit mlb ready talent to the team.
its a tough decision, but probably the right one.. but it won’t happen.
So blow up the team like the Marlins did? Ok…
Yeah and when those prospects fizzle, and Syndergaard turns into the next Dustin McGowan, then what? Rebuild for 2020?
Okay so keep the roster as is and then go in to next season with a rotation of brett cecil and aaron laffey
Yeah bro, those are the only two options. No third or fourth option exists — like trading some of that prospect depth for additions to the major league roster. Or signing any of the plethora of FA starters in the offseason.
You’d kill the farm system to make this rotation in any way significant. With all the current injuries you are probably 3 starters away, maybe 4 if you have to send down romero to get his ish together.
and besides hamels and grienke there isn’t much to be desired in upcoming free agency. and whos to say either of them will even come here.
There are many serviceable starters available this coming offseason in free agency. Not every one of them has to be Cy Young for us to compete.
And you don’t have to “kill” the farm system. Trade for a starter or two, sign a starter or two.
Sign Zack Greinke if he hits free agency, trade for a good young pitcher (something like a Mat Latos, if a pitcher of similar age/caliber comes available), and boom, you have a solid rotation for 2013.
I don’t think 2012 is lost, but it’s so bleak at this point that it seems like a waste to all of a sudden declare “we’re going for it,” even if they’re 2.5 games back of the 2nd WC, which is a crapshoot to get into the “real” playoffs anyway.
“Killing the farm system” isn’t always a bad thing.
Seriously, have any of the fans even bothered to study how Gillick built a franchise that won the division, 4 times in 5 years?
It’s clear that AA is following the footsteps of Gillick, but for some very strange reason the fans don’t want that.
I was thinking the same thing. Gawd I would love to have Bautista! He would look awesome in RF with Kalish in CF and Crawford in LF… If they could add a sure fire 1-2 starter it would be worth it. I still think the Jays are going to be near the bottom of the east for a few yrs unless they add a dominant starter and maybe a few other positions.
So we should trade our whole offence for the hope of picking up good starters…So we’ll go from having one of the best offences in the league with no pitching to having great pitching and no offence…that doesn’t work.
No reason to blow up the offence… but there are a few guys we could trade… Davis, Johnson, Escobar, JPA, all have some value but not tons… they can be part of deals for pitchers and are more easily replaced on the roster with our minor league talent…
Yeah I can agree with getting rid of some of them. Davis and escobar or johnson…we have Hech coming and Gose should be ready shortly to replace them.
Hech was statistically the WORST offensive shortstop in ALL of the minor leagues before he was moved to vegas.
if you think he’s going to come up here and offer anything more offensively than mike mccoy you are sorrrrrely mistaken
Yes you’re right! Before he came to Vegas…clearly they found what wasn’t working. As for your baseball knowledge, I’d rather have a defensive-minded shortstop. He’ll steal more runs away from a team, which works just as well as supplying runs.
But, the way his offence has come around I’d assume he wouldn’t be a failure at the plate.
oh please.
vegas is a hitters playground
lind, thames, cooper, arencibia, randy ruiz
all ruined vegas, posted ridiculous numbers and came here and did nothing.
Either way, a shortstop’s defence should prevail over their offence.
you mean like john mcdonald?
What was wrong with Johnny Mac…I have too many good memories of clutch hitting from him…Also, he’s a utility player…You can’t compare him to Hech. Working with the right coaches, I don’t see an issue with Hech. I really hate how thin these boxes get lol
you make it sound like anyone who plays in vegas has no shot at having any success. like he is incapable of developing his skills at the plate because hey…he plays in vegas. lots of guys have played in vegas…matt kemp played in vegas… the guy isnt saying hech is going to be the next alex rodriguez hes saying that hes a suitable replacement for escobar…as in the drop off would be pretty negligable…again lunchbox you know your stuff but you act holier than thou get over yourself bud.
The Jays are a conundrum, they aren’t good enough to go after rental pitchers, and their minor league pitching is still 3 years away. By the time they get enough pitching their hitting will be older.
The offense is good, so I would not really touch the main guys… but Escobar, Johnson, Davis, JP could be trade options for pitching… lind can be dropped, but keep Edwin, Jose, Rasmus, Lawrie… with a few more pitchers this team could win, no reason to blow it up…
Wow,
I cant believe this is even a though at this point.
you people are such fanboys..
Can you honestly see this team having a rotation that could bring them to the playoffs while bautista is still on the team?
I love Jbau, he’s amazing, but the reality is he isn’t going to win here until he’s in a mid 30’s decline. So essentially you are letting your best product diminish its value in the hopes that you catch lightning in a bottle.
our best prospects are in A ball and too far away to help this current crop of players.
Yes, they easily could. I don’t know who may be available in the trade market. But if Rogers ponies up a little cash, Dempster, Greinker, Hamels, EJax, Colby Lewis, Marcum, McCarthy, Anibal Sanchez, etc. are all scheduled to become FAs this offseason (barring any extensions).
The offense is pretty good. The Jays would be wise to get Snider up as soon as he stabilizes to see whether or not there will be another black hole in LF next year. If EE is extended and can play OK first base, the Jays can look at adding a DH-type.
Bullpens can usually be constructed on the cheap. It sucks that we’ve had to run out guys like Pauley and Richmond as of late, but that is what happens when your rotation is in shambles.
dempster? Ejax, Colby lewis, Marcum, DL Mccarthy?
do you hear yourself.. how are any of those guys going to take this team to the next level.
Come on seriously.
If you land Hamels (wont come here) and Grienke then you have a chance.. and you know what if they can try to do that then obviously trade bautista and rasmus would be a mistake.
but what are the chances of that happening? slim to aaron hill hitting for the cycle twice in a month.
no way you blow up a top 3 offence to replace it with pitching… with the offence we have we dont need the best pitching staff but we need a major league worth one… which is something we dont have… with one trade and a free agency signing over the winter it could be fixed… the bullpen can be worked out with some changes but those are easier…
you’d obviously get more than just pitching for blowing up the offense.
fine keep bautista, lawrie and morrow, trade everyone else
The Jays like the Yanks and Sox made a bad call not winning the bid for Darvish. This might have hurt the Jays the most.
McCarthy is coming off of a 4.7fWAR season. Edwin Jackson has accumulated over 3.5WAR since 2009. Marcum will lose velocity during his decline years and probably will start to struggle in the AL East. Colby Lewis put up 2.3WAR last year and is currently sitting at 2.1…
Are those guys you listed all aces? No. But the Jays will have Brandon Morrow back next year (hopefully). And maybe Romero will regain composure and settle in as a #3-5 starter. With the Jays’ offense, we don’t need the Phillies’ 2011 rotation to compete. We need guys who can give us quality starts on a semi-regular basis. If Alvarez can spend some time in the minors next year to learn an offspeed out-pitch, he could be ready for a playoff hunt in late 2013.
We’ve still managed to sit at .500 even after all the injury woes. You’re telling me if you slotted in Ejax, McCarthy and Lewis over Chavez/Laffey/Cecil we wouldn’t have won a few more games? Get real.
And in reality, if these additions had been made prior to this season, we wouldn’t have to have run out guys like Drabek when he couldn’t possibly find the strike-zone. Or rush up Hutchison.
yes if you add ALL of them that is a legitimate argument
but what are the chances we actually get 3 starting pitchers?
other teams have a say in this too, and pitching is short around the league.
You don’t have to add all of them. If a trade can be made for one or two controllable starters without selling off everything — I think AA makes that trade(s).
You’re telling me that AA can’t sign one or two FA pitchers? There should be some salary coming off the books with Coco/Frasor/Teahan… It depends on what happens with EE, KJ, Oliver to see exactly how much they will be saving.
AA saved Rogers a lot of money by getting rid of Vernon. It is time some of that is reinvested on the ML roster.
Rogers money saved by the Vernon Wells contract was immediately re-invested into JoBau’s contract, or did you think that 65M magically became available after Vernon was traded. I find myself kind’ve in the middle of the debate going on here, definitely not worth it to trade Bautista because we really have no use for prospects 3-4 years away right now but also there’s no way we can completely rebuild a starting rotation in one off-season, I think alot of people are forgetting just how good our rotation was before we lost 3 STARTERS in one week.
That’s fine. I still think that Jose would have been extended regardless of whether or not that albatross of a contract could have been exiled. From a dollar figure they were pretty close, but from an AAV standpoint, Vernon’s contract was much more expensive. Those extra dollars saved today are more valuable than those spent in the last couple years of Jose’s contract.
Our rotation was not that good before we lost three starters. It was clear that Hutch was rushed. Alvarez still needs time in the Minors to learn an out-pitch. Drabek couldn’t find the strike-zone if his life depended on it. Romero has been crappin’ the bed hard. These concerns should have been addressed in the offseason. Everything except the Ricky Romero regression could have been predicted before Spring Training.
The Jays best move might be to get Garza and Wandy Rodriguez this year. They both are good pitchers who have some control. In the off season you go after the best pitchers available.
Price is probably going to be high on Garza. Think the Astros have stated that they would prefer to eat cash on Wandy’s contract to get more prospects in return.
It’s a long shot at best!
As I have said many times on this site, the Jays inability to field a good team with Halliday on the roster really hurt them. He was the horse they needed to build around. They failed in that respect. Now they are a conundrum.
Just an FYI. The yankees had no problems parading Sabathia, Nova, Garcia, Colon, and Hughes to the mound in 2011 and they won the AL east. The Jays could trade McGuire, Lind to the Astros for Wandy. They could ship Jenkins, Marisnick, plus a low level prospect like Osuna for Garza. Morrow returns after the all star break, Romero doesn’t have to put the world on his shoulders any longer, so he can relax and have fun again, you then have Alvarez, Garza and Wandy rounding out the rotation. With the offense the team has, they could easily win the AL east with that team. Villenueva moves back to the pen, Janssen, Frasor, Perez, and Oliver lock down the bullpen and it means another bullpen arm replaces Cordero, plus the other fill in pitchers and you have the nucleus for great things. In 2012 off season, you sign a Greinke, etc for just cash and you have your world series roster, without decimating the minors. Escobar, Lind, Thames, Cecil, etc then become trade chips to upgrade 2nd. E5 has handled first and he has outhit many superstars at first in 2012, including Gonzalelz, Texiera, etc. You keep the players that finally break out, you don’t trade them, because at the deadline, if you contend, you then have to trade the future to obtain the same player you traded away, defeating the purpose.
Basing the success of the team on one or two players leads the team to an inevitable collapse. Especially if they’re pitchers. The only way the team will contend is if those two pitchers stay dominant and healthy throughout the year. Either one falls to injury, the team’s toast. Just like we’re seeing this year.
I hate having my hopes dashed as much as anyone, but it’s hard to reasonably disagree that our assets have more value in high-end, nearly MLB-ready prospects.
I love the idea of making EE the everyday first baseman and adding David Ortiz as the DH. That gives you the R-L-R 3-4-5 Farrell wants. Makes the lineup ridiculous.
That’d be a dream come true. Probably would cost 2years/30mill though.
look at what the orioles are doing this year…romero,morrow,alvarez,hutch+ another solid addition isnt the woeful rotation you make it out to be. are the tigers,yankees,red sox, orioles rotations so amazing that we look like were incapable of competing?
I hate to cloud the issue with fact, but if the Jays trade Bautista, Rasmus, E5, their bullpen arms etc, you want the team to start rebuilding again. The purpose of obtaining high ceiling players is to build a winner. Teams that continue to trade off their players when they start reaching their potential are called the bottom five teams in the majors. The Jays finally have an offense that ranks in the top three in the majors, signed for many years, and posters want them all traded to start over with players attached to huge question marks. Where is the logic in that?
Sometimes I believe that posters here want the Jays to fail or remain insignificant, so they can obtain all the star players for their own secret team favourites. Contrary to those posters, I hope the Jays keep their stars, add a few more pieces and beat up on the rest of the Boston’s, New York’s, etc and bring the trophy back to Canada where it belongs.
lol I’m a jays fan you make no sense
the offense is good, but has it translated to being anywhere close to competition.
How’s tampa’s offense? not great is it, but their rotation is good which is what makes them a much better team and keeps them in the race.
We’re two games behind Tampa Bay…
for now.
with no help coming to our rotation you can’t honestly see that remaining the same, especially as they are about to get longoria back
Injured players will be back soon, like morrow and other starters will play better than they are now for sure (Romero and alverez). Why would you trade all our good players that we’ve built a core around for two pitchers and prospects who will result to the same thing if not worse, except in two years
Morrow is probably still a month away. Alvarez isn’t going to improve with 2 pitches, and we honestly don’t know what’s causing Romero’s walk rates to go high.
So tear up the entire roster just so we can get more prospects? Our batting core is good, we’re fine in that regard, get some pitching and we could really be a threat.
Imagine if we had todays lineup and the old rotation of Halladay, Burnette, and Lilly….mmm…
If you think it really is in the starting rotation, then why don’t they go out and throw a boat load of money at Grienke and Hamels. A rotation of Hamels, Grienke, Morrow, Romero, and X, would play in any division. Offer enough and they’ll come. That plus the jays offense (switching Davis for Snider) seems like a competitive team to me. Obviously won’t happen, but I think it shows the jays are not as far as you seem to suggest. Doesn’t make sense to blow up the whole offensive roster. The top four of Lawrie, Rasmus, JB, and EE seems like it is legit enough to build around.
that said, the current roster, in terms of pitching, is not anywhere close, leaving the jays with almost no shot. Aaron Laffey is pitching and the best right now. Yikes. I think the bullpen with a healthy Santos is actually pretty decent. Jansen, Santos, Oliver, Frasor, Perez, CV, and ? is probably good enough.
right. to me, it’s time to sign a bad contract. sounds weird, but that’s kind of how it has to work. the toronto idealism has to have a limit; AA can’t actually build a perfect organization of balanced contracts and homegrown superstars. it’s impossible
what needed to happen: develop a strong foundation through the farm system, acquire a star or two through savvy trades, and supplement the roster with productive, affordable players. check check check
and the jays are where they should be expected to be, given all of that: a pretty good team – in last place. welcome to the AL East
should they blow it up? maybe. it’s possible that their biggest pieces could bring back something incredible
to me, though, they’re finally in a position where spending some big money makes sense. that means a bad contract or two, because that’s how free agency now works. but they’ve done a great job with young talent and strong contracts so that they can now afford those bad contracts
and again, they’ll be bad in 5-8 years. over the next 3-4, they should be getting star performances from a couple guys. if those are guys like greinke, the jays can give themselves a great shot. two wildcards changed things dramatically
I wouldn’t agree with trading away Bautista, simply because of his strong attachment to the team’s marketing.
Trading away Bautista could end up as a good baseball move, but it would probably end up as a bad business move.
Unless they could grab a star RF like Justin Upton + high ceiling
prospect, I would be very weary of trading away Bautista. At that point,
Lawrie would probably be the new poster boy for the Blue Jays.
*Just my opinion*
kudos for being willing to consider it. that’d be a bitter pill
i don’t know that it’s necessary, though. i’d like to see them convert arencibia, johnson, maybe EE into some productive pieces, but i think it’s finally time for the jays to get out there and land a couple big tickets
and theoretically it wouldn’t have to be one or the other. couldn’t they get a justin upton in a bautista trade? i.e. not just prospects, but a budding superstar
i’m open to the idea of a bautista trade; it sounds fun. but i think rebuilding the jays entirely is premature
i think we could land Justin Upton in a trade for prospects. his owner doesn’t like him. he could use a change of scenery. having an Upton-rasmus-Bautista outfield, would be awesome and this would also get us a bigger bat in LF. I know pitching is a top priority but getting another bat would make this team a little more consistent offensively. Adding pitching could happen next offseason, by getting one of Grienke or Hamels (no way with another bat like upton in the outfield one of those pitchers don’t want to sign with us) to be honest 2013 is more realistic. If you really think about it, 3B, SS, 1B (EE) all are productive position offensively and defensively. we can sign a cheap DH and a 2B or keep kelly (but I think he strikes out way too much) and we’re only 1 or 2 pitchers away from being in great shape to contend for 1st in AL east. Boston and NY will only get older and will look to go under the luxury tax. So Why go for it this year and waste some prospects for pitching, get another young but productive hitter (Justin Upton, Carlos Gonzales, ect. the point here is controlable year just like AA likes it) another bat makes this team a real great signing destination for free agents.
“Just wondering what he could get if he were to trade Jose Bautista??”
fired
NO TEAM in baseball has enough prospects to pry Bautista loose right now. AA isnt trading him. Its that simple.
Why would you deal Janssen?!?! He’s the only thing doing well in the Pen!
They won’t. That’s just Danny Knobler being Danny Knobler.
He puts the “knob” in “Knobler”
Lmao knob. Hopefully the jays can pull a trade off with Escobar and arencibia and what ever prospect for a good arm
We can get ride of JP, Johnson or Escobar, Davis for pitchers and bring up D’Arnaud, Hech, and Gose to replace them.
D’arnaud’s hurt. 6-8 weeks.
Yes but he’ll be back…I don’t expect that we’re trading JP tonight lol
agreed. without him the entire pen should just forfeit.
I wonder what it will take to get Samardzija.
Unless he is facing the Braves every night, why would you want him?
I might be a biased Cubs fan, but Samardzija has shown flashes of brilliance, he had a rough June.
Do you think we can trade Cordero for two grade school children that may have a chance to become ball players?
Of course he will if the come cheap. Good luck with that. AA is all chatter while his pitchers get over used the past month.
Can anyone tell me which movie is better? fWARhorse or bWARhorse?
The Jays are 2.5 games out of the playoffs.
Man! Trade Rasmus, Bautista…give your heads a shake! All star in center and right and you want to trade them for a 1-2 starter for every 5th day? Trade the prospects and sign Garza to an extension if he comes back and does well. This team is very close to being a front runner for years to come. A .500 record despite the fact that you are down three of your five starters is good. All you nay-sayers ready to jump off the band-wagon, good riddance! Go Jays now and forever:)
Uhm, “the prospects” you want to trade are the guys who will turn Jays into front runners. It won’t happen if you trade them away.
Agreed!
yah and garza would totttally put them over the top.
Honestly i get the desire to win, I’ve been a long time jays fan, but the perception that this team is 1 pitcher away from the promise land is so false.
“but the perception that this team is 1 pitcher away from the promise land is so false.”
They’re certainly not one pitcher away from being an elite, mid 90s win team.
But from winning in the mid to high 80s and taking a decent shot at one of the WCs? Sure they are.
Judging from the next most recent post, I can think of one player the Blue Jays could add to bolster their bullpen (hint: his name rhymes with “Bobby Jenks Sucks”).
Cool, I like it.
And I hope people don’t read into this like Jays are going after rentals. They are buying but they want guys under control that could be long-term solutions (ala, Yunel/Rasmus). Some scrubby cheap pitchers for this year would be nice too seeing as the pitching staff is absolutely decimated.
maybe Doc Halladay looks around and sees all the osteoporosis patients he’ll have to nurse and request a trade ‘home’
Solid Joke.
Who is the ‘rival’ official that says the Jays are souring on Escobar? Seriously. I hadn’t heard that anywhere else.
Can’t imagine why any team would sour on Yunel…
-C
No need to do anything stupid. Eventually the right pitcher will want to come to Toronto. With this offense I would. Let Texas pick up the has beens such as Oswalt. Everybody needs pitching. Hang in there if possible till Morrow returns.
Maybe we can get someone good…
You don’t trade the key pieces for other key pieces people… You try and trade pieces you don’t need for guys that you do. While AA is stuck admiring his work on minor league so called can’t miss guys he will miss the boat ! Like I have said on these forums and others sometimes a prospect has no higher value as when he is just that a prospect other people can dream on , before he flatlines or becomes mediocre. Like the other guy said thin the Hurd figure out what you can deal and drop the dime to some other gm who wants to admire his work and miss the playoffs for another decade!
exactlty what Jays really need, is to spend money when free agency comes around. all teams that are contending except tampa have one-two or three big contracts, we need pitching and another LF bat, maybe even a DH. Lind could be traded for pitching. All prospects will not make it to the show, why not package some for an Ace-like pitcher, and a big bat, I say Justin Upton is available for the right price now that the owner expressed his displeasure towards his work ethic. Why not package 2-3 prospects for his services, WHAT PITCHER WOULDN”T WANT TO SIGN WITH THE JAYS WITH A LINEUP LIKE THIS????? Lawrie, Rasmus, Bautista, Upton, EE, DH( ortiz??), Yescobar, Arencibia/D’arnaud, 2B
To address a few things in here…
For starters the Jays arent trading for anyone, wont happen, AA loves his precious prospects far too much to trade any of them. There’s not even a point to discussing it really.
I love the Jays but if its one thing I know about AA its that he has his eyes set on the rebuild, nothing will change that this season.
Here’s what will happen. The year will go by, EE will be extended, Johnson will go away, Hechavarria will come up, theyll move Escobar to 2B, D’Arnaud will come up to take over full time catching duties, come the off season they will sign a starter which I can only assume will be Marcum and likely some relief help but not really bother with a LF bat if Davis continues his resurgence and then poof, your 2013 Jays.
Thats it. Anyone waiting for something to happen this season is waiting for nothing in my opinion because the price for the starters available is just completely insane and there’s no way AA has another Rasmus deal in his bag of tricks so thats that.