The Brewers have acquired 1B/OF Adam Lind from the Blue Jays, Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish tweets. SportsNet.ca’s Ben Nicholson-Smith initially reported the two sides were close to a deal. The Jays will receive righty Marco Estrada in return, Andrew Walker of Sports590.ca tweets.
The Blue Jays exercised Lind’s $7.5MM option on Lind earlier today, and Lind’s contract also includes a 2016 option for $8MM or a $500K buyout. Even though the Jays picked up the option, there were rumors they might trade Lind. Lind hit .321/.381/.479 in 290 plate appearances this season, but the Jays’ acquisition of another lefty first baseman, Justin Smoak, last week was a possible indication that they were planning for Lind’s departure.
The Brewers had a need at first base, and Lind will presumably take most of the at-bats there. He’s below average defensively at any position, but he should be able to make up for that with his hitting. At age 31, there isn’t much reason to expect a steep decline from his .273/.336/.450 career numbers, although a repeat of his 2014 offensive performance is perhaps unlikely.
Lind is a career .212/.257/.331 hitter against lefties, so the Brewers will surely use him in a platoon, possibly with someone like Jason Rogers or with another outside addition. As Brewers GM Doug Melvin points out (via Todd Rosiak of the Journal Sentinel on Twitter), though, the NL Central is heavy on right-handed starting pitching. The main Brewers 2014 first basemen, lefty Lyle Overbay and righty Mark Reynolds, are both set to become free agents.
Estrada posted a 4.36 ERA with 7.6 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 for the Brewers in 2014. He’s entering his last season of arbitration eligibility (in which he’s projected to make $4.7MM) before he can become a free agent. He lost his job in the Brewers’ rotation in July, then pitched significantly better down the stretch as a reliever. He’s a fly ball pitcher and he isn’t a hard thrower, which led to 29 home runs allowed last season. Still, his other peripherals are solid, particularly if he can revert to his 2013 numbers, when he posted 8.3 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9. The Blue Jays currently appear mostly set in their rotation, particularly after picking up J.A. Happ’s option last night, so Estrada could be ticketed for the bullpen.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Sick move for the Brew Crew!
Who did we get in return???
Fingers crossed for Estrada, if it’s a pitcher. Although I couldn’t really imagine who we’d want hitting-wise that they’d be willing to part with
Remind me why we’d want a pitcher who gave up the most HRs in the NL coming to our hitter friendly stadium…they call it the Homer Dome for a reason.
Because one bad year doesn’t make a career. His previous 3 were pretty solid.
His HR rate has always been pretty high.
Not really. 1.7 HRs/9 innings last year. The previous three years were 1.1-1.3.
Estrada would make some sense. We likely won’t pay him 4mil.
Yeah, Estrada is a Starting Pitcher. He’s kinda streaky, he’s either unhittable or unwatchable.
Well that was fast. Looks like a good deal for the Brewers if they didn’t give up much except some fringe prospects and salary relief.
Then that would be a bad deal for the Jays, so let’s hope that’s not it…
It’s even worse lol
How is getting an MLB player worse than getting fringe prospects?
Calling it. Michael Fiers
Haha I seriously doubt that.
Lol I wish it was
Where will Andy Laroche end up?
Mariners possibly? They need offense and LaRoche is more of a doubles guy than a HR guy (Career Wise), so Safeco wouldn’t really make a huge difference.
Mariners’ already have too many lefties, they’re not gonna sign LaRoche to add more lefties.
They need offense and it’s limited in this offseason. I think they will take what they can get regardless. Smoak was a lefty
Probably in the minors.
I’m laughing so hard on the few guys confusing Adam with Andy.
Adam?
Smarter baseball people here than I, but don’t understand why you pick Smoak over Lind. I would hope the Jays got a good return because this one could burn them.
Either they are planning on a big FA purchase or they are trying to shed payroll as AA was told he has less to work with.
beaston has said there is more salary available. Does clear up room on salary and gives the jays position flexibility
I was thinking the same thing. Depending on what they plan on doing with the salary relief this could be a negative. Then again, Smoak could be a buy low candidate. He is mostly a power hitter who was playing in a really pitcher friendly park
Brewers fan here, hope its for Jimmy Nelson and NOT Michael Fiers. Not ecstatic about the potential of Jimmy.
Worst move in history if they did that. Would make no sense.
Nelson is overrated imo
Don’t judge a pitcher on 69innings. Even the best pitchers struggle quite a bit at the start of their careers.
Zack Greinke literally got shelled his second season starting. A ERA near 6 and his WHIP was 1.50.
Jimmy Nelson had a 3.68 FIP last year which is pretty impressive in you first MLB stint starting.
He’s overrated by a lot of people then.
Nelson was as as good as any pitcher in AAA when he came up and was thrust into a pennant race. His stuff is plenty good.
Nelson needs a 2nd pitch. Over the long run he will make a good 3rd or 4th man in rotation.He really shouldn’t have been in the the rotation this year.AAA and learning pitching skills would have served this kid better.
Looks like Mark Reynolds is out of a job. Now all the Brewers need is to find someone to platoon with Lind.
They can use Reynolds to platoon with Lind? Lol
Prediction here is that they sign Corey Hart back to a minor league deal to try and fill out that platoon on the cheap. They could also play Lucroy at 1B against left handed pitching and have Maldonado catch. Maldy is an excellent defensive catcher and it might keep Lucroy fresher down the stretch. That would also save them a bench spot for a more versatile player.
Early offseason buzz! Love it!
Please be
Scooter Gennett
The Brewers just let Weeks go, why would it be Scoot?
hearing Marco Estrada
I think that’d be a great move for the Jays
Is it really, you’re taking a HR pitcher out of the NL Central and to the AL East where the parks are smaller. Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.
I was expecting him to go to the Padres or some other team that is pitching starved. Jays have the money to go after big pitching free agents.
I sure hope the Jays didn’t give him away for next to nothing.
The good news is Marco Estrada led the NL in home runs last season! Oh, wait…
its for marco estrada
Awesome move for Doug Melvin. Just swapped a guy we weren’t going to keep anyway for at least 3/4th of a legit first baseman.
As for the Jays…I am a littlle lost.
A legit first baseman that is hurt 1/3 or more of every season and is not sound defensively.
The Brewers have spent the last decade with Prince Fielder, Juan Francisco, Mark Reynolds and Lyle Overbay at first. I think they can live with “not sound defensively.”
In a platoon or pinch hitting situation against righties, Lind is an extremely dangerous man. But against left handed pitching, I would use the example of watching a 3 yr old kid swinging blindly at a pinata.
Or like watching Scooter Gennett bat vs. Lefties. They will platoon him.
I didn’t know Lyle Overbay was bad defensively? Defensive metrics must lie than!
27 year old Lyle Overbay, yes. 37 year old Overbay, not so much. Last year he provided -0.7 defensive WAR. There were 88 players that played first base at one time or another in the NL last season. Overbay was 72 out of 88 in dWAR. Not sure what defensive metrics you’re talking about.
Overbays UZR at 1B has generally been positive at first so I have no idea what you’re talking about. Yes, 37 year old Lyle Overbay was obviously going to be bad but he was above average back 10 years ago when you had him IE: “last decade of first basemen”.
So we agree, 37 year old Lyle Overbay was not a good defensive first baseman last year. That’s all I’m talking about–last year when he played first base with the Brewers. I guess by saying 10 years you felt to include Overbay’s last year in his original run with Milwaukee. I guess for accuracies sake I should have said nine (the year beginning with Prince Fielder). My point is still the same–the Brewers don’t seem to value defense at first over offensive production.
It’s the Brewers doing their thing.Making a big deal for a platoon player.Well the good thing is he won’t swing at every pitch like most of the Brewers are so well at doing.
Wow, unless AA plans on flipping him for somebody else, what a horrible deal.
Why? Lind is hurt all the time and can’t hit lefties to save his life. The Jays got Smoak for free so what about this deal is bad?
Because 200-300AB’s by Lind is better than a low velocity fly ball pitcher who has a scary low 32.7% ground ball percentage.
I agree that the return doesn’t make a lot of sense to me either but getting Lind off the books does.
Just to save $3 million? Aren’t the BlueJays trying not to be mediocre?
Not sure what they are doing. Rasmus gone, Melky gone, Janssen gone, holes to fill and so on. It’s early though so let’s see.
They get a pitcher that in the AL will look like Strickland from the Giants this postseason.
Even if they didn’t need/want Lind, you got to get a better return than that.
Because Justin Smoak is not good? He’s heading into his age-28 season and has a career 224/309/380 slash line. Slashed 202/275/339 this year for Seattle.
I could look up Beltre’s numbers in Seattle too and tell you that guy wasn’t going to do anything once he left just like you are right now.
Smoak should be better in the Rogers Centre. His numbers outside Safeco are okay
Career road slash line is .242/.318/.411. He’s a first baseman. That’s not good.
Pretty much what I said, Estrada will get eaten alive in the AL East.
He’s gone through long stretches where he dominates. He has to spot his fastball and his change up has to break late. When he scuffled last season, his change up was breaking earlier and hitters were laying off. The question is why.
Estrada is gonna get shelled pitching in the AL
home run ball parks
Lind for Estrada. A trade that actually makes a lot of sense and seems to help both sides.
Estrada is going to give up tons of home runs in the Rogers Centre lol
Estrada helps the AL Teams more than it does the Jays. A Home Run league with DH’s and smaller parks are gonna be a nightmare for this kid.
this doesn’t make sense to be honest. Estrada put up ok numbers but gave up a ton of homeruns while pitching in spacious ball parks now he comes to the al east where the parks are tiny to say the least….he is going to get rocked….and this is all we could get for lind…really?
AA is a horrible trading partner or maybe a great trading partner for other gm’s cuz they get their way with him….horrible deal
Jays banking on a bounce back season from Estrada. If he bounces back it is a brilliant deal…if not oh well.
Spacious? Miller Park is anything but spacious, or a pitcher’s park. It’s just as hitter friendly for HR’s as Roger’s Centre, and more so than most of the other parks in the A.L East, save for Yankee Stadium.
Yeah, I can’t figure that one out either. People are wondering why Estrada gave up a lot of homers in Miller Park… pretty much everyone gives up a lot of homers in Miller Park.
Everyone seems to be convinced that Estrada gives up a ton of homers. He gave up a lot last year, but wasn’t giving up nearly as many for the 3 previous years. Yes, he struggled last year, but he’s viable bounce back candidate. Personally, I have as many doubts about Lind being decent with the glove and being only a platoon guy in the NL Central, so this is no lock for the Brew Crew either.
All I was really looking at was the the Jays really needed to move Lind and get some starting pitching, which they did, and the Brewers badly needed a 1B, and they got one
Bench player for bench player and we all make a big deal out of it.Another way to look at it 2 teams going no place anytime soon.
For any Jays fan thinking of it was a salary shedding move Estrada is due 4mil or so himself….so not shedding all that much salary.
I don’t understand lol.
Between Smoak and Estrada, we maybe save around $3 million for 2015. Not worth it for dealing Lind…
Exactly. They had a 2 WAR player in lind for under $8mm. Why give that away for replacement players and very modest savings.
Jays have cleared $30M in space so far today. Now some of that will be paid out but… …
They were going to clear out $30M regardless because of who’s leaving.
Wow… AA just got taken. This must be for salary reasons/ further moves. Estrada is now the 7th best pitcher on the jays. Mark B, dickie, Hutch, Stroman, Happ, Sanchez, Estrada, Norris. And honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Norris is a better bet re: performance next year and Estrada is actually our 8th best SP. BUT HEY! It only cost us a relatively cheap left handed bat, one who was top 5 in all of baseball last year against right handed pitching!
Redmond is better than Estrada…
I have a hard time denying that. That is scary. Redmond can sometimes get a silly amount of strikeouts with that odd delivery.
The reaction on a late swing by the opposing batter’s face always has me laughing.
maybe AA thought he was getting Fiers and got Estrada and Fiers mixed up
Either that or he had a few too many drinks last night…
He’s being nice after he fleeced Melvin in the Lawrie for Marcum trade.
I forget, how many playoff births has Lawrie led the Blue Jays to?
If this is a defense of that trade, it deserves an award of some sort.
The deal accomplished what it was supposed to accomplish for both teams. The Brewers had the pieces in place to make a playoff run in 2011 and needed pitching, and the Jays needed young talent. I’ve got no problem losing Lawrie–he’s brittle and can’t stay in the lineup. That same off season Milwaukee gave up Lorenzo Cain for Zach Greinke. Now that one is going to be hard to watch because Cain is going to be a star.
It was a heavily imbalanced trade. Yes, Melvin got a junkballer, one of his fetishes. I wouldn’t have done the Greinke trade and I’m a huge Greinke fan, but I understand it. The final accounting of it won’t be done till Odorizzi, Segura, and the 2 pitchers from the Angels turn out.
But Marcum for Lawrie was a fleecing. Maybe he reminded him of Dave Bush, one of his past loves.
If Doug Melvin is a bad GM, then what would you call the Blue Jays brain trust? Melvin at least has 2 playoff appearances, with one trip to the NLCS, over the past seven years. In Toronto, they’re working on the longest playoff drought in MLB–21 seasons and counting. They haven’t had a baseball mind running that organization since Pat Gillick.
I’ll pass on a complete evaluation of Melvin or the Jays, but it was a horrible trade if for no other reason than he could have got more.
Yea after watching the Series this year our boy Melvin gave the house away in 2011
Lawrie is a bit of a head case that will keep him from being an all star same with Colby in the outfield.
Hey AA, remember when you traded Aviles and Gomes for Esmil Rogers? This better not be another one of those.
and now they decline the option on smoak, im gathering its to redo his contract correct?
They already expected to do that…even Smoak himselft expected that.
The Blue Jays will decline their option on first baseman Justin Smoak, taking him to arbitration instead
Estrada’s extreme HR tendency should play great in Toronto. And NY. And Boston. And Baltimore.
And now AA is declining Smoak’s option…. ????
They are just declining the Smoak option to pay him less through arbitration. If they don’t want him by spring training (end) they only have to pay him 1/6 of the contract.
Adam Lind was a platoon player and rode the bench a lot. Marco Estrada is filler for the Blue Jays rotation until the Triple-A pitchers are ready for the MLB.
With Smoak, he provided .839 OPS against RHP in 2013. With Lind, he provided .860 OPS against RHP in 2014. The only question is “can Smoak be his 2013 self in 2015?”
$4mil filler? I doubt that is what they view him as.
“With Lind, he provided .860 OPS against RHP in 2014”
Incorrect, Lind has been one of if not the best bat versus RHP over the last two seasons with .354AVG/.409OBP/.533SLG/.942OPS in 2014 and a .309/AVG/.385OBP/.539SLG/.924OPS in 2013.
Makes me wonder if people are trying not to make it sound like the Jays got ripped off with this deal? If they sign an impact 1B/DH like Adam LaRoach, Victor Martinez or even Nelson Cruz all will be forgiven, until then the Jays got ripped off. In no way does this deal make the team better even if they use the funds dealt away to bring back Melky.
Help me out here Jays fans, this move doesn’t really make much sense to me. I believe you could have got more in return for Lind, or am I wrong? Estrada isnt all that impressive and now hes gonna be pitching in band boxes of New York, Bmore and Fenway
In Estradas defense he pitched pretty well at Miller Park and vs. The NL Central prior to last year.
Estrada has the stuff to be decent, he just appears to be prone to the long ball lately. I think the Brewers just kinda lost patience in the guy, but he’s not all that bad.
That and its his last season under contract.
Trust me, we’re all crying at the moment.
Makes no sense to me either… To be honest, at his cost, i would rather have just declined Lind’s option at this point. Save money for a real piece. We don’t need Estrada. He gives up way too many home runs for our ballpark and is not cheap for a guy that as of now fits in our bullpen. Isn’t even top 6 in our SP depth chart. And lind was top 5 in baseball last year against right handed pitching… This has Rogers financial strangle written all over it. It’s one thing to give a team a shit load of money, it’s another to give it and then strangle them after. You either do the marlins/ Mets deal and keep spending a TINY BIT to cover the inevitable holes, or you don’t do it at all. Rogers makes my brain want to explode. And the Ted Rogers statutue outside of the Skydome, or sorry, the rogers centre (NO BASEBALL STADIUM SHOULD BE CALLED A CENTRE!) is puke worthy. Rogers has made a stupid amount of money off of this team. They control all TV rights and distribute it nation wide. Anyone defending them because our payroll is “top 10 in baseball” hasn’t looked at the complete situation. I’m a lifer jays fan and will always support them. But I despise Rogers for how they have handled things.
I’m confused. Why didn’t the Jays just decline the option on Lind? Estrada’s a slightly above replacement level right handed reliever making market value. Not exactly a hard to find commodity. Was the buyout on Lind’s option particularly high?
Because if they were to trade him they wanted something for him.
They could have just declined the option in the first place and saved some money. There’s little point in trading for a .50 bWAR player.
He was a 1.5 WAR starter in 2012 and 2013 as a starter…you guys know he pitched outside of last year right?
K but last year is what matters most.
You’re only as good as your latest season. And since he was victimized by the long ball, I can’t see how a move to Rogers Centre is going to help with that.
couldn’t agree more.
You can say that but there isn’t a single GM who acts like they believe it.
You’re right. Every single one of them wants to catch lightening in a bottle. They all want to be the smartest guy in the room. It rarely happens.
Best post today.Look at all the can’t miss players that never make it.
Yohan, it seems a lot of people are near-sighted when it comes to evaluating players. You make an excellent point.
I agree the player they got was not that great but they specifically got him in case they were to trade happ (who is getting a lot of interest).
Estrada can still be a starter. He had good success in 2012 and 2013 as a starter. He has potential to bounce back.
If you say so. I guess he could be a servicable number 5 starter, but the Jays have a ton of young pitching. Tough to see why they made this move.
I will agree I’m not sure I see the point in this move. Jays don’t really seem like they are dying for #4 starter. I’d understand this for depth if he wasn’t making 4mil…but with the expensive price tag it seems like little upside.
Maybe they though they could get more for Lind when they picked up his option. It just looks like AA was outplayed. Although they could have waited. Maybe they wanted Estrada for some reason. Time will tell I suppose.
But they could have just declined Linds option, saved money and just brought up Norris
Yes this. A million times this.
S1M buyout. So they acquired an asset, maybe not what you would want but I had visions of Lind being on the DL for 2/3 of 2015. Cant argue with this as I suspect it is to open up space/money for other acquisitions.
Hard to call Estrada an asset. Particularly when they have much better young pitchers. If they didn’t want Lind, they should have just bought him out. Now they have to pay 3.3 million for a position that could have been filled at the ML minimum and had better performance.
Just an fyi, Miller Park is one of the more home run friendly parks in the majors, so it’s not like its going to be a total home run disaster (ie going from NL West to AL East).
Cept Rogers Centre is the third most HR friendly park and the yankees have the first and millwakee is just inside the top 10 so i see what your saying but his HR problems could definitely get worse.
They will get worse, hes gonna be pitching in Toronto, Yankee Stadium, Fenway and Camden annually
I know i Just mentioned the two that were in the top 5
Fenway is consistently in the middle or bottom of HR park factor ratings; it was 27th last year. Why do people always talk about it like it’s a HR park? It is long down the right field line, has a very deep CF with a high wall, and has a giant wall in left that even though it’s close, prevents many line drive HR’s that would go out of other parks. Fenway is anything but a HR park.
Forget the Park for a second, he is switching to a league that has a DH instead of the pitcher batting, he’s going to pitch in parks that are smaller, and a league that has more elite batters than the NL.
mainly though their isnt a free out at least once every 9 guys
The only question I have for the Brewers is this:
“If the Blue Jays were not higher up in the waiver wire than you, would you have added Smoak? And if so, would adding Smoak have prevented the Estrada for Lind trade?”
I’m going with no. They have probably been talking Lind for a while. I also think Doug Melvin likes Lind’s far better lefty bat.
The Brewers are cheap always looking for table scrapes like Adam Lind . He may be a fine bench player if not on the DL but as a Brewers fan this trade doesn’t excite me one bit.The Brewers need a real 1st baseman and are to cheap to pay for one.
Where is a real first baseman…and they just paid 8mil…so cheap.
not happy jays fan today
why AA why. No one out there wanted to give us anything of value for lind.
i understand we dont need him. But i would rather prospects then a home run pitcher. AA does not where the jays play 81 games this year.
Strange trade for the Blue Jays, pretty good one for the Brewers.
I can only think this is for payroll reasons and to free up room for another move down the line because if it’s been made purely from a Baseball standpoint then I am struggling big time to see any real logic in it or numbers to back it up.
Not a payroll move. They pick up 4mil in Estrada, so they only save 3mil. Would have save 7mil just declining the option.
Whatever AA’s logic is here i have to admit im struggling to see it.
I had him going to the Brewers for a RP and a marginal prospect…
I can see Estrada being moved as a piece in a Freese or Kendrick deal now.
Great trade for the Brewers. Estrada had non-tender written all over him with Jimmy Nelson in the bigs and the re-emergence of Mike Fiers. Lind certainly fills a glaring weakness. Although, I was kind of hoping they would go after Cuddyer.
Upon looking up Estrada’s stats for the past few years, this move makes sense. Sure, he was a little more prone to the long ball last year, but his stats otherwise are reasonably what I would expect in such a deal.
Pretty awful move, doesn’t make the Jays better unless they plan on moving him and a mid-level prospect to say San Diego for Joaquin Benoit.
What is it with the Jays trading quality players for meh pitchers? As a Tribe fan, I’d deal with Toronto more often. Esmil Rogers for Mike Aviles comes to mind. And Yan Gomes was the throw-in…
They dig themselves in a hole by letting the world know they’re on a fixed payroll. I assume GM’s lineup to offer all their magic beans that they’re thinking of non-tendering while AA cries.
hard to believe that the Jays would give up an often injured power bat(6 homers in 2014) who is not great defensively and doesn’t hit lefties making on $7.5M for a 6th starter/long man in bp
He didn’t hit .350 vs RHP last year right? Or .310 vs them in 2013? His OPS was north of .900 vs RHP for the last 2 seasons as well.
One bad year and Estrada is a 6th man? Tough times
After some research on Estrada… I am uneasy about this move.
Estrada is certainly not terrible. He was not as good in 2014 as the 3 previous years, but he was a very solid starter 2011-2013.
I dunno man… bringing this guy into the AL east and into the most hitter friendly park in the league seems like a pretty bad plan.
Estrada has good stuff. He’s been really solid out of the pen or as a part-time starter.
Just don’t ask him to start 30 games.
He’s a nice long reliever, who can spot start.
Lind looks like a nice platoon with Mark Reynolds, who himself isn’t a starter but a nice bench player to back up both 3B and 1B.
Adam Lind has had 1 good year. Estrada has had two. Pick your poison.
One good year?
2009
An .854 OPS and 2.3 WAR in 2013 classed as average now is it?
Where are you getting those stats? Fangraphs has him at 1.8
Baseball Reference.
Even if you split the difference its around 2 WAR.
I put it to you that a .357 OBP, almost .500 SLG and .854 OPS are far better than average, yet not spectacular…making them what i would call, good.
Except his defense is laughable and he’s going to the NL which obviously has no DH. I don’t expect anything above a 1 WAR if he’s playing 1st base every day.
Check those numbers again friend. 2009 wasn’t a “good” year, it was a MONSTER year for him. Since then he’s had a bunch of “good” years.
Lind because he is very good when platooned. You need a back up 1B anyway so no big deal. He will also give them a good bench bat when not starting.
Marco Estrada is a good #4 if he can bounce back…but going to the AL East and going to the Jays that is doubtful. $4.7mil for a guy likely to be a long man and give you a 4.5ERA sounds like a loss.
Agree
Until he pitched well out of the pen the last month or two, Estrada was almost certain to be non-tendered. Even so, odds were no better than 60-40 that the Brewers would have wanted to pay him nearly $5 million to be long man/starter insurance.
Here’s what Jays fans need to know about Estrada. His best pitch is his changeup and if a hitter is looking for it, Estrada will throw his straight 90 mph fastball by him. He strikes out a fair amount but in the main, he’s a fly ball pitcher. Just like a guy who was once dealt from the Jays to the Brewers, Dave Bush, Estrada will be sailing along, then out of nowhere, boom!, sometimes followed quickly by another boom. He lost his spot in the rotation in June because his control had faltered leading to more pitches over the plate and multi-run HR. The Brewers also had the two of the hottest starters in AAA at the time in Nelson and Fiers. To his credit Estrada went to the pen and eventually got himself straightened out and he was quite effective down the stretch in multiple inning relief appearances.
Shakes up the Adam LaRoche market
I think the Brewers got the better of this deal….. albeit November. Lind (when rarely healthy) will bomb balls out in his new home ballpark. Estrada is kind of an enigma. Decent enough stuff to a keep good K/BB ratio, but tends to give up big innings. Brewers need for 1B power made this deal. Estrada giving up 29 HRs made things explainable to Brewers fans. On paper a push – but my gut says Lind will have a better 2015.
Both players I feel could be involved come December in transactions
Brewers wanted a lefty power bat bad. Unless a deal with LaRoche was lined up I don’t think a trade would happen. I guess it is possible they made this trade as a fall back incase LaRoche is too pricey.
I think they are set with Lind and a platoon partner though. Could work out nicely.
Solid move on both sides. Jays add depth to their rotation and the Brewers get a guy with a lot of upside. If Lind stays healthy, I see him turning in a beast of a season for the Brewers.
Blue Jays seriously let Lind go for that little? Strange that no one overbid him or that the Blue Jays just ended up keeping him instead. Smoak is no upgrade anywhere
Defensively he is…and at least Smoak’s back doesn’t give out every other month…oh and Lind wasn’t worth a lot anyways. He’s how old? This is probably the best the Jays were gonna get..
Excellent move for both teams! Jays get an effective starter/longman/reliever and Milwaukee gets a high upside 1B/OF bat.