The Blue Jays have inquired on pitcher Cory Luebke, a source tells Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (on Twitter). However, an industry source tells Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet that there have not been substantive discussions between the two sides. The inquiry, BN-S hears, was primarily health-based.
Luebke, 31 in March, has started 25 MLB games and has 30 relief appearances to his credit. Therefore, the Blue Jays could be eyeing the 2007 first-round draft pick as a rotation option or as a bullpen piece. It’s not clear exactly how much interest there is at this time, however. So far this winter, Toronto has addressed the starting five with deals for J.A. Happ, Marco Estrada, and Jesse Chavez.
Luebke hasn’t pitched since the 2012 season due to a pair of Tommy John surgeries that have derailed his once promising career. The pitcher’s most recent Tommy John comeback was halted when a flexor strain slowed him in Triple-A, and he eventually had surgery to remove loose bodies from his left elbow. In November, the Padres declined their $7.5MM option on Luebke, opting instead to pay him a $1.75MM buyout.
Needless to say, that’s not how the Padres saw things playing out when they inked Luebke to a four-year, $12MM contract following his strong rookie season in 2011. Luebke logged a 3.29 ERA with 9.9 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9 in 139 2/3 innings that season, and the modest $12MM guarantee on his four-year pact would’ve bought out a pair of pre-arb seasons as well as his first two arbitration years while giving San Diego control of his final arb year at $7.5MM and his first free agent year at $10MM. Had Luebke remained healthy for even a couple of years, he likely could’ve delivered more than $12MM worth of value, but he’s pitched just 31 Major League innings since signing at the end of Spring Training 2012. While the deal seemed club-friendly at the time, it serves as a reminder that even contracts that look to favor the team on the surface can ultimately result in misses.
Wouldn’t be the worst idea– probably can get him for value.
Why arent the blue jays going out and getting reliable bullpen arms? We have the most complete offensive/defensive team in baseball. There is not one weakpoint. Catcher, Russel Martin, 3B J-don, SS, Tulo, 2b, Devon travis, 1b colabello/smoak platoon, CF pillar, RF joey bats and LF ben revere, DH EE. With this amazing team, we should be going out and solidifying our pitching to absolutely dominate the ALE. This is a joke.
I thought for sure they would replace David Price with at least Johnny Cueto but you’re right a more solid gold bullpen would serve the same purpose….
Clippard perhaps?
Hmm…perhaps because they have a cap? There’s a reason why they didn’t really try to resign Price or sign one of the top tier pitchers to replace him, or make a competitive bid for guys like Soria and O’Day. Theres a CAP, it limits the amount of money teams can spend. For some teams, its the luxury tax. For others, like the Jays, they are limited by their market and their owners who don’t want to spend all their money every year.
Well of course we have a budget. But we have already spent 30m this off season and very poorly might I add. We added estrada which i like, happ which was a terrible contract and traded for chavez. For the same money we could have added Zimmerman, chavez and a top relief arm.
They could have, and I disliked the Happ signing too, but they needed to fill out their rotation. Signing Zimmerman would’ve left the rotation with Zimmerman-Stroman-Dickey-Chavez-Hutchison which is only marginally better than Estrada-Stroman-Dickey-Happ-Chavez/Hutchison. Also, you have to factor in the fact that top players might not want to go there. Outside of Russell Martin, I don’t think theres any players that the Blue Jays have signed as free agents (not counting any international free agents). I also know that the Jays have a “five year” rule, which might deter some guys from signing. Zimmerman did sign a five year deal, but the money might’ve been too much for them while still having room to fill out the rotation, bullpen and bench plus arbitration.
Because they are run as a business first, and therefore have to work within a strict budget set by Rogers.
Either way I seriously doubt you will “dominate” The ALE…..compete? Absolutely but I don’t think anyone will dominate the ALE, Boston made vast improvements to the overall pitching staff and I believe they will compete with the Jays wire to wire
I hope the Padres bring him back because I like him and i want to see him come back in a Padres uniform
I meant the jays would dominate the division with better pitching.
No argument there
Should sign Chen from Orioles
Pretty surprised the Pads declined that option. The net cost was only $5 million to keep him. Seems like an excellent bet to give you at least that much production, with possibly a lot more.
Must have some serious health concerns.
Two Tommy John surgeries and hasnt pitched since 2012. Thats pretty serious health concerns.
Too many bandaids, and many of them used beyond being useful. Ross and Mark need to legitimize this bullpen. So far, no lead is safe.
“Ross and Mark need to legitimize this bullpen. So far, no lead is safe” :
I feel that you are spot on….their #’s 6, 7, 8 are weak, and will be addressed through the winter, for sure., but to inject my observations:
regardless of who is in the pen, I hope, unlike Krylov’s Inquisitive Man who didn’t notice the elephant in the museum, I do hope they notice the colossus that seems to practise incompetence when visiting the pen, leaving starters in too long, or ignoring righty, lefty matchups, seemingly making decisions that r just wrong decisions, replacing starters for example, when they have a commanding lead, with two out in the fifth, and ultimately, taking a playoff win from a team mainstay and giving it to a temporary reliever
It’s December, don’t assume the offseason is over already.
I know absolutely nothing about this guy but I’m glad that our new front office is at least making calls. Tepera, Schultz and Delabar are all decent options but they need to make at least one decent experienced reliever signing to help create depth. Blanton, Bastardo, and Clippard are all reasonable remaining FAs.