The Indians have acquired right-hander Joe Smith from the Blue Jays, The side-arming reliever, a free agent at season’s end, will return to Cleveland for his second stint with the Indians. Minor league lefty Thomas Pannone and shortstop Samad Taylor are going to the Jays to complete the deal. Righty Perci Garner has been designated for assignment by the Tribe to make roster space for Smith.
The 33-year-old Smith enjoyed five excellent seasons in Cleveland, pitching to a 2.76 ERA in 271 innings there from 2009-13. Since that time, he’s produced quality results in both Anaheim and in Toronto, although his 2017 campaign has been slowed by a roughly month-long stay on the disabled list due to inflammation in his right shoulder.
That said, Smith has been outstanding, when healthy, thus far in 2017. Through 35 2/3 innings, he’s averaged 12.9 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 with a 43.2 percent ground-ball rate. The resulting 3.28 ERA looks solid in its own right but is buoyed by even more impressive FIP (2.31), xFIP (2.46) and SIERA (2.42) marks — suggesting that there’s yet room for improvement down the stretch.
Smith is earning a modest $3MM in 2017, and he’s owed the balance of that figure — roughly $1.03MM — through the end of the year. In the interim, he’ll slot into a formidable Indians relief corps that is anchored by Andrew Miller and Cody Allen but also features a number of strong right-handed options, including Zach McAllister, Nick Goody, Dan Otero and Bryan Shaw.
MLB Network’s Ken Rosenthal (on Twitter) reported the trade. Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweeted the return after Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports reports (on Twitter) that it involved two lower-level minor leaguers.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Better than nothing, I guess
Better than Shaw at this point.
I think you mean acquired from the Blue Jays
Nah, they were just really desperate to appease their fans with a deadline move so they traded a player from their org, to their org.
“The Indians have agreed to acquire right-hander Joe Smith from the Indians”
This is literally the worst trade deal of all time.
Seems pretty fair to me.
Depends on what they gave up. Oh wait, it is very fair.
The Indians have agreed to acquire right-hander Joe Smith from the Indians.
Nice.
The Indians have agreed to acquire right-hander Joe Smith from the Indians
indians trade for their own player!
from the blue jays*
I’ll say this. If they really did acquire Smith from themselves, I can already confidently say it was an overpay.
*from the blue jays
Hopefully the Indians didn’t give up too much to acquire their own guy 🙂
Indians got Joe Smith from themselves?! Who did they give up/keep for this one?!
Oh, that’s an easy one…….Michael Martinez.
Kinda dont like the trade I am a big fan of Pannone
Me, too.
A Wright State Raider coming back to Ohio!
I like this a lot. We’ll see what the cost ends up being, but at first glance I like it.
Agreed, hopefully he’s coming back to replace Shaw in the pecking order.
Yes, please!!
It’s official. World Series champs 2017.
To the Indians from the Indians?
he’s in a different tribe. duuh
Indians acquire from Indians?
Huh
Nice
Who did they get I wonder
Half a Slim Jim and Francisco Lindor
They under paid at that point
Really like this acquisition. Smith is having a very nice year and the more weapons you give Tito from the 6th inning on the better.
It’s pretty evident that they want to ride out their current rotation and add more bullpen pieces so SPs like Bauer and Tomlin can have shorter leashes.
I can’t imagine the Tribe gave up a whole lot to facilitate this deal.
Complacent no more
I see what you did there
Not the type of name to follow-up a “Sonny Gray to the Yankees” trade. Lol
Now they’re ‘kicking the tires’ (so trite) on Lance Lynn. He’s been a disaster lately.
Lynn has been a disaster lately?! He’s been very good lately
good for joe… gets to be by his sick mother
Damn, I’m mad that they gave up Pannone. He’s way better than prospect rankings indicate.
Agreed, thought Indians could of gotten Smith for less than they did
You’re right, very good numbers and a lefty too, he might be one that comes back to haunt them in years to come.
Yep, the one thing we never have is LH starters, and now we give up a good one for the second year in a row.
Chewy must be fixated on having an all-righty rotation?
Jays need to do much more. The compensation for Smith is okay, I project one of the guys they got in return for Smith as a VG MLB level player. They other guy not so much.
With Shaprio and Atkins, it might be a while if ever before we see October baseball again, because they focus on draft and development and their history[Bourne, Swisher, Delliuci, Myers] shows their incapability of signing free agents needed to get a team over the top. During Shaprios reign the Indians didn’t reach the world series even once in 14 years, although they had a brief sniff at October baseball in 2007 and 2013.
I just don’t get why Shaprio and Atkins aren’t trading away everyone old on this Jays roster. This team will not compete next year. Have they misjudged the talent on this team so poorly? Let’s speed up this retool process to a full on rebuild. I’m not paying for a ticket to watch this current mess.
Really? They got decent prospects for a short reliever that barely gave them 30 innings this season and will walk at the end of it.
At this point I see the Jays as solidly behind the Red Sox and Yankees (sigh – feels like old times) and in desperate need of retooling.rebuilding. I’d be in favour of moving out all of Martin, Smoak, Tulo, Donaldson, Carrera, Bautista, Barney, Estrada, Happ, Loup, Leone, and Biagini, If Osuna doesn’t want to try starting (or the team doesn’t want to try him there) then I would be shopping him as well. Move the expensive vets and utility guys like Tulo, Barney and Carrera for what you can get. Trade Osuna and Donaldson for massive packages headlined by close to the majors elite prospects or young controllable players with star upside. Go all upside on the rest of the trades with an eye toward 2019. The Jays, as constructed just aren’t going to be competitive against the top teams anymore.
Shapiros Indians made the World Series last year. Threats the team he built
No that is not the team Shapiro built that made the playoffs last year. Gimme a break. First the Indians replacement regime had to get rid of Shapiro’s mistakes: Bourne, Swisher, Marmol, Johnson, Marcum, Floyd, etc etc.
Then they did what Shapiro’s group couldn’t do and has been never able to do succesffuly that is: trade or sign elite successful ballplayers to fill the holes left behind: Napoli, Miller, Goody, Crisp, Davis…etc etc.
Shaprio [and Atkins] are great, and I mean great at drafting and developing players, but on majority terrible at free agent signings. I don’t know if they are fearful or just listening to the wrong people or have this ridiculous long-term competative goal messing up their decisions, but the Jays need either a total rebuild or do the steps the Yankees and Dodgers took this year and go for it again while this core is old. This BlueJays team will be medicore and not have meaningful games at playoff time for years and years under this current regime unless there is a mindset change[or executive personnel.change].
I find it hard to watch the team when I know it can’t compete to win. This team will not win anything this year or nmext barring significant acquisitions.
“Good and elite”.
Lists rajai Davis and coco crisp. And a guy who wasn’t even on them last year. Mindless hating.
The reality is is that Shapiro built the core of that team. Miller was the only significant player that wasn’t his, and he would’ve added to that team
You don’t just dump everyone old for whatever scraps you can get because you ruin your leverage with other teams for future deals. They may not have traded everyone they could have, but they got nice returns for the guys they did move.
I agree, good teams trade high value players that are older for high value players that are younger. All the Jays did at this trade deadline is get rid of two expiring assets that were medium value and they got medium to great value back, becuase of the money. But they did not nearly do enough. This team will not compete for a championship this year or next year barring big acquisitions. It won’t happen, they are not good enough. With the attitude of not going to a full rebuild, this team will not be competative for years and years. Don’t drink any other Kool-aid that says they can compete, it’s hogwash. And I won’t be buying a ticket to watch old guys who don’t have a prayer to win a championship.
I agree that no one should be untouchable. But look at the 2017 Jays. Who on this roster is going to get you a good haul, based on their 2017 performance? I’d venture to say not many, or none. Marcus Stroman or Roberto Osuna are the only locks to get you something of real value. But with them, they’re the type of players you want. Young, controllable. So I’m not sure there’s sense in trading young players whom you know are MLB ready, to try and get prospects back, who may or may not pan out. Many of the big names on the team are older veterans, who as we’ve seen have been banged up or regressed below their average norms.
Justin Smoak is having a career year. But he’s a bargain for his production. And if I’m an opposing GM, I’m not giving up top tier prospects based on 4 good months of what Smoak has done.
Josh Donaldson in 2017 is not 2015 or 2016. So if you’re trading him this year, you’re doing so when his value is the lowest. They’re better off waiting till the offseason, or hoping he rebounds next year, if the plan is maximize the return you can get.
Bautista – same story as above.
Tulo – at this point, you’re hoping someone will pick him up on non-tender waivers in August, so we don’t have to pay him for the next 2 years after this one. He’s injured till next year, so again, no chance we get anything of value for him.
Estrada – having a down year, so again, you’re selling low if you try to trade him now.
Sanchez – not an old guy by any means, but blister problems all year have hurt him and any value if you wanted to consider trading him.
Martin – great clubhouse guy, can still call a good game, but inconsistent bat and his contract is a noose ($20M 2018 and 2019).
Again, fully on board with the idea of trying to trade away to get young, controllable players to rebuild, but based on 2017 performance, injuries, and inconsistency, I realistically don’t think we’d get anything of value. right now, short of finding an opposing GM who is willing to be fleeced. So you’re left with hoping that you can get something of increased value in the off-season, or next year if some guys can rebuild their value.
In short, I think we’re having this same conversation next year, because of what I mention above, hopefully with a better outcome if some guys can redeem themselves.
As a former scout, I would disagree on most of the valuations that you have summarized. There would be lineups of teams if the Jays made it known they were offering up Donaldson or Martin or Smoak or Sanchez[even with the blister]. The Jays could make the contracts work. The only reason that most of them weren’t traded is because they were not being offered., I know Smoak was heavily talked about by one team, but they were offering lots of fringe prospects and the Jays wanted a boatload of quality prospects.
Fair enough, but you kind of emphasized my point. You can argue Smoak has been the best player on the Jays in 2017, and the team you allude to was offering fringe prospects. As I mentioned above, if I’m a rival GM, I’m not giving up A-level prospects for Smoak now, he needs to show me that 2017 isn’t a one-off..
I feel a similar situation re: lower trade value would exist for the guys mentioned above – whether or not there is one or several interested teams, I believe their trade value would be at a lower point comparatively at this point in 2017, due to the things I mention above. And that’s where I was going with things. If I’m Shapiro or Atkins, I’m not trading guys who have under-performed for pennies on the dollar, in the vein of a rebuild. The Jays have very little MLB ready guys in AA or AAA ready to take their place. . But I respect your difference of opinion since you’re a former scout.
If the prices were as low as I heard about, then I agree with you. But there is something to see in Atkins recent comments. They had 15 close deals on the table. But were they all for players that were not free agents? That’s an indicator that the mgmt of this club has either overvalued the club as a whole by thinking it can compete or someone at the top has a bonus clause in their payplan that they get paid when the seats are full so they keep selling the phoney kool_aid and not trading away the stars. Atkins did very well with the trades he did, but it is like getting nice, new, fancy deck chairs on the Titanic when what we need is a new captain to steer the ship differently and new engines[a new core now like Dombroski would do ].
@Stormie — Not sure if this was directed to my earlier comment, but I’ll address it since it seems very related. When I say the Jays should look at trading “Martin, Smoak, Tulo, Donaldson, Carrera, Bautista, Barney, Estrada, Happ, Loup, Leone, Biagini and Osuna”, I mean they should be looking at trading any of them if it makes sense. I’d guess there is zero market for Tulo. And not much of one for Carrera, Bautista, Barney or Martin. During this trade deadline however they could’ve likely pulled just about any team’s #1 prospect and more for Osuna. Also at the deadline, they should’ve focused on working trades for Liriano (which they did), Happ and Estrada (which they didn’t) and some of the RPs (which they sort of did).. Hey, if a team is feeling panicky about it’s catching situation Martin can be traded, or if someone is looking for an upgrade at 1B or RF then listen on Smoak and Bautista, but there’s obviously little imperative there since neither is particularly expensive nor likely to bring much significant back in trade. If any team is willing to give up better prospects in exchange for keeping salary then *do that*. I think what you’re talking about is that you feel the team shouldn’t seem to be waving the white flag which I can understand, but realistically I don’t think even an obvious fire sale would have any effect on the market value for the Jays most valuable pieces Donaldson and Osuna.
Gonna be honest – I had never heard of either of these guys before this trade. …which is about what you have to expect in a trade of a middling RP.
Taylor is a 2B at Rookie Level Mahoning Valley, and looks good. But with Haggerty playing the same position at High-A and producing even better, he was expendable.
Haggerty is a top-of-the-order bat, hits for a high average and already has 33 steals on the season.
Losing Pannone hurts, but someone has to go in trades.
Cool.. Thanks for the info man. Rooting for the Tribe to break through and win it all this season btw. Liked the team ever since watching Major League as a kid. 😉
I got the MiLB First Pitch app, that way I can follow everything minor league related. I check box scores and news daily, to see how the Tribe teams and prospects are doing.
Don’t know who you follow, but it’s a good way to keep tabs on prospects.
Mahoning Valley is A ball, not Rookie
True. I meant short season A. But they are mostly newbies.