Here’s the latest from around the AL East…
- It could make sense for the Blue Jays to pursue extensions with Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman this spring, Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi opines. Locking up young pitching is obviously a logical tactic, and if nothing else, the Jays could gain some cost certainty on both starters through their arbitration years. Sanchez will be arb-eligible for the first time next winter, while Stroman is going through the arbitration process for the first of four trips (as a Super Two player) this offseason, to the point of going to a hearing to determine his 2017 salary. On the other hand, since both players have so many years of control ahead of them, the Jays could wait at least one more season to see what they really have in either starter before discussing a long-term agreement.
- Dalton Pompey will need a big Spring Training to break into the Blue Jays’ planned Melvin Upton Jr./Ezequiel Carrera platoon in left field, MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm writes. The Jays want Pompey to play every day, so if he does make the big league roster, it won’t be in a bench role. A good spring performance, however, will put Pompey in line for a promotion should one or both or Upton or Carrera get off to a slow start. Elsewhere in the mailbag piece, Chisholm notes that it may be hard for any prospects to find a spot on Toronto’s Opening Day roster, and highly-touted Cuban signing Lourdes Gurriel Jr. isn’t likely to be a viable roster candidate until 2018.
- Blake Swihart’s eventual role with the Red Sox could be serving a multi-positional threat who can catch 90 games while also contributing at first, third, DH and the outfield, Peter Gammons writes in his latest piece at GammonsDaily.com. Boston moved Swihart to left field last season due to defensive issues behind the plate, though Swihart is intent on carving out a niche for himself as a catcher. Since Sandy Leon and Christian Vazquez both have their own question marks, Swihart could still emerge as a catching option for the Sox in 2017. As Gammons and Sox bullpen coach Dana LeVangie both mention, Swihart doesn’t have all that much actual catching experience in his career, and got precious little time as a catcher last year due to the position switch and the ankle injury that shortened his season.
- Re-signing Matt Wieters “would be sentimental, but not practical” for the Orioles, MLB.com’s Brittany Ghiroli opines. There have been whispers that Baltimore could bring back Wieters as a part-time DH and in a timeshare behind the plate with Welington Castillo, since Wieters could be had at a lowered price given his long stay in free agency. Signing veterans at a relative bargain price is a Dan Duquette specialty, Ghiroli notes, though the O’s aren’t actively pursuing Wieters. It could also be hard for Baltimore to offer Wieters enough playing time, given Castillo’s presence and the likelihood that Mark Trumbo will get more DH at-bats this season.
- For more out of Baltimore, check out this set of Orioles Notes from earlier today on MLBTR.
Swihart should spend the year at AAA catching then if they want him to get more experience as a catcher. His development was botched, by both injury and mishandling. It wouldn’t hurt him to get more experience there. His main problem is his bat is there but his defense is terrible.
I feel like I’m getting whipsawed. Vazquez and Swihart are both future Johnny Benches, or they are going to be platooned, or they may be used at several positions, or what? They will be starting, or in the minors? Lot’s of conflicting info–seems like half the time the writers are trying to pump up their trade value.
They’re both trash and Boston media is trying to save their trade value by hyping them up still, even after they’ve both proven nothing. Sandy Leon is still Boston’s best C.
Vazquez is one of the best defensive catcher’s in the game in every aspect. last year, without full armstrength recovering from TJ he still threw out close to 40% of base stealers. Close to the 50% of his rookie season and he’s already regarded by pitcher’s and stats as one of the best pitch framers in the game.
Even if his hitting never improves? c-Vaz will hang around a MLB roster for years as a #2 backup, far from trash as you describe.
Calling them trash may be a bit harsh; to johnsilvers point, in 2014 Vazquez caught 52% of runners, while in 2016 he caught “only” 35%, still better than league average. Swihart projects as a crafty hitter in his prime. Neither will be anything close to Pudge Rodriguez, but they’re definitely solid options, both in the present and the future.
only way we see another Pudge is if MLB starts allowing roids in again…
Gentlemen… Swihart has pass ball issues with the knuckleballer…not A total d issue. He has a good arm, not as good as Vasquez but has a better bat then Vasquez and Leon… man has a big potential, donot write him off
Everyone has passed ball issues with knuckleballers.
The O’s resigning Wieters would be a bigger mistake than signing Gallardo last year.
as a jays fan i was really hoping they would tie up a bunch or resources in him.
How do you figure? Maybe they re-sign him to a 1 year deal worth around $5-$10 mil. There is no way that could possibly be worse than Gallardo.
It is since they already signed Castillo. Also, Wieters skills are really declining and his days behind the plate are very limited. It was obvious last year that he’s slowing down and I just feel he would be a waste of money when they still need a pitcher and outfielder.
It would be awesome if the Blue Jays gave Stroman an extension
meh: would prefer to see him traded if his value is what people think it is. either that or one more year in rotation and send him back to the ‘pen. he has done nothing in MLB to deserve the hype he gets.
Except Stroman hasn’t really shown he should go to the pen. Outside of a really crappy month of June where his mechanics went out of whack, Stroman was pitching rather well, especially down the stretch. I agree the hype machine FanGraphs started last off season got out of hand but let’s not act like Stroman is a guarantee to fail as a starter because to this point, he’s shown the complete opposite.
with the pen being in the state that it is imo he would help a lot more there, sorry my comment was not meant to be a ‘he is garbage throw him in the pen thought’ (poorly written by me ) – at this point he is a 4/5 in our rotation. As for last year, he was either really good (when he won) mediocre in no decisions and absolutely awful in loses (10). He adds support to why people still look at/promote a pitchers W/L record…. who knows maybe this year he doesnt bother with a goofy change to his windup and a half dozen pitches. focus on fb and ch go from there.
5 of his losses last year came in September where he received 1.33 runs of support while posting a 3.41 ERA and a .230 opposing average. From July through September he was pitching very well(3.60 ERA) and was a huge reason the Jays were able to give Sanchez time off.
I do agree that he needs refinement of his pitches and likely could do well to cut one out and perfect the other 4. But Stroman is too valuable as long as he’s successful as a rotation piece to even think of putting him into the bullpen. Finding effective relievers is quite easy in comparison to finding quality starters with Stroman’s potential, even if he stays as is.
and in september he carried a whip of almost 1.30 and k/bb ratio less then 2-1 so…. as for time off for sanchez that was a biproduct of the 6 man rotation, stroman nor anyone else were pitching on short rest. I see him as a #4/5 – a lot of people hype him, time to cash in on said hype imo. im not saying he sucks, he just has not done anything to say he is a top tier starter. if people think he is a 1/2/3 man that could be worth a huge haul and expedite shatkins desire to rebuild.
***edit: cleveland cubs went WS on the strength of their BP – KC did the same couple years before, it is why yanks dumped $Xmillions on aroldis while believing 2018 is when they make their push. you win and lose games in the 7th/8th more often than not. our pen is a joke and stroman has shown he has some poise so why can he not be our andrew miller so to speak?
The reason I don’t want Stroman in the pen is because his emotions are what are keeping him from taking that next step as a starter IMO. Putting him in that high leverage role would only enhance that issue.
Now trading him, that’s completely different. But now isn’t that time. Teams would and likely do covet his potential and elite groundball rates but they also know exactly what we know about him(if not more). The targets that have been talked about aren’t exactly without question marks themselves(McCutchen, Blackmon) but their would be a massive downgrade from Stroman and what he can provide(as well as the potential he has) than the FA you’d have to sign to replace him. Not to mention the added payroll.
You can’t trade him either. Estrada and Liriano are gone at seasons end and Happ the year after, that’s just to many pitchers you have to replace via free agency with a bare farm.
im not worried about 2017/2018 im worried about capitalizing on an asset if teams value him more than we do. he seems to have a lot of hype. imo it is undeserving.
I’m worried about 2017/18, I want this to keep going instead of being excited about some minor leaguers
its going to be a long year unless somehow we manage to avoid injuries again. the BP is in a dire state. 2017 may be really long season which will make 2018 the start of a rebuild year. this team will be getting reconstructed as per shatkins desires (otherwise they would have resigned Cecil)
Cecil was terrible last year and so was the rest of the bullpen. Our offense struggled, we got to the playoffs off the strength of our rotation and it’s better without RA.
I agree that Stroman should go to the pen. I think he would make an elite closer. But that doesn’t mean he can’t be a starter either. Except he won’t be a top of the rotation starter like the hype says. He’ll end up a 3. Greg Zaun feels similar. Stroman has electric stuff but can’t keep it together consistently. There is always “something” knocking him out of whack for a stretch, then he gets good again. I suspect that this performance up and down will continue. He tends to have blowup innings every-once-in-a-while and then gets it back. Still though, he is a good starter, a 3 that can look like a 2 on occasion but overall at the end of the season, he’ll be a 3. He I am hoping for great year this year from him as are the Jays. We already have a closer so he stays in the rotation as a good starter but he would make an elite closer.
2017 can be either really good or really bad – doubt it will be anything in between. our pen is a disaster outside of Osuna. we are playing russian roulette with only one empty chamber it seems….
If anything it’s likely a sub 500 team, were not really good and we’re not really bad.
Oh you are so right and I am shocked and disappointed in the lack of attention towards solid bull pen acquisitions this off season. Middle to long relief was non-existent and a huge Achilles.
Stro needs a veteran roll model to motivate him. Look what happened with Price to follow. Up went the adrenalin. He is a competitor and needs to be pushed.
I love how people are still talking about Swihart despite the fact he’s done nothing even when he’s been healthy. He’s been failing in front of us being propped up by Boston’s media hype train for what seems like ages now. He’s probably going to pan out as a poor mans Matt Wieters, whoop de doo.
kind of like stroman vs pedro
Stroman has proved he can be really good in the major leagues though. He’s going to bounce back, especially with his amazing ground ball percentage
stroman has not proved anything other than he will fight hard at rehab
When Stroman’s sinker sinks and his slider ins’t spinning in the middle of the plate, he can be an awesome pitcher.
yes and when smaok connects good things happen lol – side note, thanks for the optimism, I do need it today 🙂
2014 and September of 2015 not happen in your world. And even last year, his fip was nearly a full run less than his ERA.
He was 18th according to fangraphs last year according to WAR (with 3.6), 20th according to baspeball prospectus WARP (4.5). Baseball reference didn’t love him at 1.4 WAR but he’s far from a failed starter. give him some time and even if he’s not an ace he will be solid 2-3 pitcher.
When Melvin Upton catches a ball he can be really good at defence.
with where the jays are i would prefer they not sign anyone that is under team control for more than 2 years. why? so much inconsistency and injuries with players only leads to being hamstrung.. as well its. time to bring salaries down and more reasonable. this can only go on for so long before it busts. the average fan is being squeezed hard, if your team is not winning people won’t pay exorbitant prices to enter the stadium. a lot of teams will be losing money soon.
I agree that teams will be losing money soon. But the huge cable networks in the states have floated the teams huge cash inlays for rights. However, the advertising dollars are slipping and cable subscriptions are starting to slip [ESPN] and if that trend accelerates like I believe it will, you may see some of the higher team payrolls slashed significantly
Agreed. I have been an avid baseball fan my entire life. I’ve watched a game in all the ballparks. The salaries are ruining baseball. I get the old argument of supply
I hate to be “that guy”, but isn’t it Lourdes Gourriel Jr.?
no O in last name
Gotta tell Baseball-Reference.com then. They still have him with the “o” in his last name.
Get a life
You’re really cool.
Yeah… Don’t you just want to be him?
I think Davidi may have forgotten but Sanchez just hired Boras as his agent. I can’t recall the last time a Boras client signed a pre-Arb extension(if one even exists) but Sanchez had a pretty great 2016 and if he replicates that in 2017, it sets himself up beautifully to do well in arbitration.
for Sanchez a JDesque type deal may work. as in buyout three years and leave last year of team control in place for arbitration.
Boras will steer Sanchez to the biggest dollar possible. No extension. I think we’ll see Sanchez go for free agency and a huge dollar at the end of jays controllability.
Either the Angels or Nationals are the best landing places for Wieters…
The option situation (Blake has 1 left, Leon & Vaz. have none) dictates that Swihardt spend 2017 until Sept at AAA unless Leon or Vaz. need a DL stint. Remember in 2016 the Sox needed a 5th C (Brian Holaday) when Hanigan, Swihardt, & Vaz. all went on the DL at the same time. Right now they have Dan Butler as a 4th C on a minor league contract but I wouldn’t be surprised if they look to sign additional depth at the end of ST.
Good luck with that. t’s just playing with service time
No, it is not just service time. Swihardt having an option yr. left allows the Sox to recall him as many times as needed if Leon or Vaz. need a DL stint. Whereas Leon or Vaz would have to pass through waivers to sent to be sent down. Regardless of that fact Blake needs regular time at C to improve his D. The service time issue is an added bonus as Blake has 1 yr and 133 days MLB time so if the other two stay off the DL he won’t become a super 2 player this yr.