We at MLB Trade Rumors extend our condolences to the friends and family of Oscar Gamble, as the former outfielder passed away earlier today at age 68. Gamble played for seven teams over a career that stretched from 1969 to 1985, hitting .265/.356/.454 with an even 200 home runs over 5197 plate appearances. Beyond just his impact at the plate, Gamble is also remembered as one of the most photogenic players of all time thanks to his legendary afro, which made him a favorite amongst fans and baseball card collectors for years after his playing days concluded.
Some items from around the baseball world…
- The Blue Jays and Brett Anderson have “some mutual interest” in a reunion, Sportsnet.ca’s Ben Nicholson-Smith reports, though Toronto is still considering other starting pitching options ahead of the veteran southpaw. Anderson signed a minor league pact with the Jays last summer after he was let go by the Cubs, and ended up tossing 33 1/3 innings for Toronto over seven starts, posting a 5.13 ERA, 5.9 K/9 and 2.44 K/BB rate. Nicholson-Smith’s piece contains several other available pitchers that could be fits for the Jays as they look for rotation depth.
- In another piece from Nicholson-Smith, he writes that the Blue Jays are still looking for catching help, most likely a veteran on a minor league deal that can compete with Luke Maile for the backup job behind Russell Martin. Further help could come from within the organization, however, as some evaluators feel prospects Danny Jansen and Reese McGuire could be ready for big league promotions by midseason.
- Longtime player, manager, and coach Davey Lopes is retiring, he announced to MLB.com’s Bill Ladson on Ladson’s “Newsmakers” podcast. Lopes, 72, worked as the Nationals’ first base coach for the last two seasons, his latest stop in a 23-year coaching career that also included stints with the Orioles, Padres, Phillies, and Dodgers. Lopes managed the Brewers from 2000-02, and of course he enjoyed an outstanding 17-year playing career from 1972-87, most notably appearing in four All-Star Games for the Dodgers.
- There have been whispers that the stalled free agent market would lead to a union-sponsored training camp for players who remain unsigned as Spring Training begins, though The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (Twitter link) hears otherwise. Since most players already have their own training regimens in place during the offseason, there is less need for a stand-alone camp.
Loved Oscar Gamble when he played for the Tribe. Remember his helmet always coming off when he ran, because of his afro.
oscar had to adjust his batting helmet after taking a pitch
great stance. loved Oscar. 1977 South Side Hitmen will never forget. God bless Oscar and his family.
If the players could start their own spring training, could they have a spin-off league with four teams? Lol
the borass’s?
I like that! Ha!
Go Jays, let’s sign and trade for a new starting rotation at least a #1 and #3. Then maybe the Jays can compete in 2018.
As I have said before, I see Sanchez in the pen becuase of long term finger issues, Happ taking another step back-max 140 innings, Estrada on the DL. That leaves Stroman to carry the team all year.
With Martin aging and his AB’s decreasing, the Jays are going to need a catcher to carry 40% of the workload. Maile is an out in the lineup and ranks as the worst hitter in all of MLB with minumum number of AB’s.. He is not the answer. Other good catchers have been a little more agressviely signed. What catcher that the Jays use to carry this 40% of the workload will be a good indicator of how much the Jays actually are sincere about their compete “preaching”.
About time you stopped referring to yourself as a scout. And no they don’t need a number 1 starter. You say that as if those guys grow on trees and wouldn’t cost you vlad jr. The fans, the team, the owner need to admit their window is closed and the next window is hopefully when vlad jr and bichette are the best players on the team.
Let’s keep it focussed on baseball and not personal. I agree with the assessment that the window for the Jays has closed.
And yes they need a #1 starter. We will see that this year. So if the jays want to compete like they are saying, they better go get one somehow or they can stop with the “we want to compete in 2018” rhetoric and do a total rebuild.
I scout Vlad jr as a future MLB star but Bichette won’t be a best player on any MLB team, he doesn’t have the MLB level chops. Time will bare out what I am saying as accurate. #Scoutseyes
“Let’s keep it focused on baseball and not personal”? And then you spout off the scoutseyes at the end? Get out of your basement. I’m a pretty good scout on MLB The Show too.
#BULLSHITEYES
Did you get fired from being a scout because the entire industry has Bichette as a consensus top 10 prospect while you “scout” him as not having the chopS? He’s 19 years old with an advanced two strike approach, fantastic bat to ball skills, showing great potential power-kid swings 100% every time. I haven’t heard a single scout say he won’t be an above average hitter in the MLB and he’s got potential to stay up the middle even if it’s at second base. I don’t think there are many hitters with the upside of Bo
Is the entire industry you are referring too journalists and website click bait guys? Answer: Yes.
Real scouting types know. That is why I said wait for it, time will bare this out.
And since I know someone in the BlueJays room, you might want to know that not all the Jays front office staff agree with the “industry” assessment either to the point where the Jays have already offered Bichette up once for a trade that didn’t go anywhere.
The BlueJays have said no to all Vlad jr trade offers. #scoutseyes
I know someone in the Jays room to and they think Bichette is not going to be a bust. That’s so strange
For sure he is not going to be a bust. I think he will have a major league career, but not as a star, as a below average major leaguer.
So a bust…
#BULLSHITEYES
You are not a scout, so stop trying to pass yourself off as one.
Let’s keep it focussed on baseball please.
Let’s keep pretending for 4-5 year olds. Just admit you aren’t a scout and be done with it. or say you scout t ball or men’s slopitch.
There does seem to be many 4 or 5 years olds that do know how to type on these pages. Just sayin’ lol.
Please keep it focused on reality ! #BULLSHITEYES
Just don’t feed trolls and they’ll eventually go away
Who are your ideal #1 and #3 for what it’s worth jim?
An ideal #1 and ideal #3 in a rotation?
Good question. Ideal #1’s for me would be shared by many: Kershaw, Scherzer, Sale, Kluber, and in the Blue Jay’s old days: Stieb, Halladay, Clemens.
Ideal #3 for me would be a [healthy, younger Estrada}, Darvish [after injury], Tyler Chatwood, Jeff Samardzija and in the old days former Jays: John Cerutti, Jim Clancy, Todd Stottlemyre
Solid #’2 would be a Stroman or Jimmy Key.
Last year only 23 AL pitchers threw enough innings to qualify.
Sale and Kluber might be the only Aces in the AL, but there are plenty more #1 caliber arms relative to the rest of the AL.
Verlander showed plenty this fall.
Archer, Stroman and Porcello are among innings leaders past 2 seasons for AL. That has some major value when you look around. Hard to really call them #1 but there’s more than 2 teams in the AL, so there’s an easy case to stretch the definition of a #1 enough to push a few more into consideration.
I’d call Carrasco a shoo-in as well.
And every team has a #1 so I gotta get this to 15 I suppose. Forgive me for some personal biases that are showing but this is just eyeballing it.
Severino, Paxton, Fulmer, Keuchel, Berrios, Ohtani, ESantana, Tanaka would fill out my top 15 AL SP off the top of my head.
Really starting to stretch though.
Throwing out another 15 for a #2 tier:
SGray, Hamels, Cole, Bauer, Bundy, Leake, Pomeranz, Odorizzi, Snell, Morton, Tomlin, Cashner, ASanchez, Miranda, Cobb.
Sabathia, Vargas, Kennedy, Happ, Estrada could slide in that group. Might see another signing or two enter the AL. And I probably missed a name or two. Clevenger. Bridwell. Felix could always surprise us. Richards or Price gotta be in discussion if I’m putting Sanchez in there.
Your evaluation is fairly on point, but I think it is also unfair to judge that way. There are only a few true #1’s, and really only a few true #2’s around the AL. Whole lotta #3/4/5/6… types and the line is very blurry. Most of these guys fluctuate too much to really judge properly! In my amateur opinion!
As far as jimmertree goes take his posts with a grain of salt. He’s like a Trump supporter blinded by evidence that only they can ignore (no offence Trump supporters). He calls himself a scout but spews a bunch of bs most of the time. Doesn’t matter what you say he will have a rebuttal. Took me awhile but now I just skip over his posts. Read a lot of articles and am not a “scout” but in more than one they compare Bichette to Kinsler. Now Kinsler isn’t a superstar but I’d sure like to have a Kinsler like type in his prime playing for the Jays!
Bichette will be no Kinsler. Ever. I would like to have a Kinsler in his prime on the Jays as well, but it won’t be Bichette. Why is that so hard to accept?
What is with the personal attacks?
Let’s stick to baseball and being postive and supportive of everyone on the blog. There is never a good reason to insult anyone here.
There is a lot more #1 starters that I like that I could put down on my list. Definitely healthy Verlander has to be there.
jimmertee- dont pay any mind to the insults. Your opinion is welcome. Anyone who pulls Trump into a conversation about a Toronto prospect has problems. He needs help. The others have personal problems as well. keep writing. I enjoy your postings and so many others do too.
Agreed, these are public comments and it’s clear some of the public is less concerned with a casual convo about baseball and more about their 15 secs of fame on the internet.
The Jays mgmt won’t part with a top 100 prospect unless he’s well into his 20’s.this mgmt came from Cleveland and they currently have one of the best rotations in baseball…ALL homegrown! Latest numbers there have over 80% of their current roster homegrown from their farm system and that’s what to expect from the Jays going forward!
They’ll trade up for key pieces, just like they did for Grichuk and Diaz this offseason! Those guys are mid 20’s and coming off seasons in the NL where they couldn’t flourish. Grichuk will likely finish his career in Toronto if he produces Bautista type numbers with a full season of ABs.
Sanchez is #1 material if he can get the finger issues fixed! Bullpen would be a setback 4 him. Had the Jays not held him back in 2016, he would’ve likely beaten out Porcello for the Cy Young!
Jays are moving in the right direction. I’m excited for 2018! We may not win the division, but we have all the pieces to make a run if we stay healthy!
It may not satisfy scouting definition of a #1 but my curiosity wonders if you would have Stroman in your top 15 AL SP for the upcoming season?
I also sincerely wonder what AL staffs you see as looking better than the Jays. I’d give the Indians and Astros certainly. Red Sox, Yankees, Rays, Twins, Angels, Mariners are in consideration for me but have red flags themselves. It’s tough to accept the warnings of doom when the same arguments could be made for nearly every other team. Some will catch a break, some won’t. Hopefully the Jays get some luck again. 5th place in the AL and hot at the right time is all it takes. Having a shutdown ace is key but not necessary. In season trades are never out of the question.
I think Stroman is close to being an ace. He has to show us and Gibby that he can eliminate the blowup inning. Sometimes he comes out to the mound and just loses it and gives up 2 or 3 runs. Then he comes back in the next inning and looks great again. He has to learn to get it back right away and then he will be able to beat the other team’s ace one on one.
I agree that every rotation needs good health as well as talent to be a winner. At the moment in the ALeast I obviously like the
Bosox and the Yankees rotation. I see them healthier than the Jays as well. I think both the Bosox and the Yankees rotations are on the MLB upswing as well, rather than on a decline like the Rays, Orioles and Jays.
On paper the Indians and Astros look like the best rotations and the Dodgers manage to do well every year. By the end of spring training I’ll have a better feel of the ceiling of success I see in those clubs this year. I haven’t watched them enough to be able to say I see them winning/healthy or not this year.
RIP Oscar. I just examined his career numbers and found this: 5197 PA, 610 walks, 546 strikeouts. Mr. Contact!
Very cool stat. Made contact 78% of the time. I wonder how that ranks all time?
In 1937, at age 22, Joe DiMaggio struck out 37 times in 692 PA…while hitting 347 with 46 HRs & 167 RBIs. Through the rest of his career, he never struck out that often again.
BBRef has a list if you search “strikeouts per at bat” you can see!
Some highlights:
Gamble 8.25 AB per K ranks 890th All-Time! (minimum 3000PA)
Dimaggio was 18.49 AB/K ranks 151st.
#1 Willie Keeler every 63.17 AB!!
Tony Gwynn 21.4 was the toughest to K that I got to see. Ranked #92.
Nori Aoki is the active leader. 10.53 ranked #618.
Oscar passing away just gets stuffed into quick hits instead of its own article?
Good luck to Lopes – will always be remembered as a member of the “longest running show in the infield” with co-stars Russell, Cey and Garvey. Won’t ever happen again with free agency.
Will Smith and Kemp to the jays
If Will Smith is all it takes to shed Kemps money he would be gone already
I agree. Smith is a solid catching prospect, but it’s just under $20m a year over two years, so if the Dodgers only threw in Smith, I would imagine, the receiving team would only eat about $5-$10m a year.
While it would be foolish to expect a top guy like Verdugo to have to be linked, I could see Caleb Ferguson and Kemp together, in a deal in which the Dodgers only have to pay about $5m a year at the very most.
Oscar Gamble was a fun player to watch. Made contact, had some power, walked more than he struck out, And the hair….
Fun fact—185 of his 200 HR’s were hit against RH pitching
Lopes had far more than a stint with the Dodgers. He was signed by the Dodgers, played nine major league seasons with the team, made his four All Star appearances as a Dodger, was part of the team’s most legendary infield, and won his only ring with the Dodgers. He later coached for the Dodgers. Davey Lopes had stints with other teams late in his career, but he will forever and always be a Dodger. Enjoy your retirement, Davey, you will always be remembered in LA!
Davey Lopes had a good head of hair, too.
On Bichette, there is nothing to indicate that he is going to be a bust. He has a very low strikeout rate, and while his BABip is a bit high, the average is so high that any regression would still put him at about average.
Furthermore, he’s 19 years old in Class A Advanced and has good speed and power potential. He looks like the real deal.
The Jays should try to set themselves to compete in 2019 around he and Vlad (and Jansen, I might add, who I am very fond of). They have the pieces to trade for a rather quick rebuild. While the system may be top-heavy, those top guys are among the best in the league.
Oscar Gamble, 17 seasons, finished with more walks than strikeouts while having a healthy .454 SLG. Hard to do now!
I see Brett Anderson as a long reliever, he can’t pitch a lot of innings with that long history of injuries. The way he generates ground balls is great for anyone but he won’t start.
The best place for Brett Anderson is at home on his couch surrounded by pillows so he won’t get hurt. I’ve never seen a more fragile player than he.
Seems more like retirement announced Davey Lopes. Should’ve had more than 2 1/2 years in Milwaukee when his predecessor and successor were given more time.
Lmfao a little sensitive are we? It was a joke!
Yes they are! These little snowflakes can dish it out, but can’t take it when given back to them! Bunch of pansy ass kids who still live with Mommy
and who have been babied their whole lives
and told how special they are
Lol