The latest on Toronto…
- The Blue Jays could consider trading outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr., “especially if it brings the right rotation arm back,” Scott Mitchell of TSN tweets. The 26-year-old Gurriel just put up an impressive season at the plate, having batted .277/.327/.541 with 20 home runs in 343 attempts. The former middle infielder also fared decently in his debut as a major league outfielder, as Gurriel logged minus-2 Defensive Runs Saved with a plus-0.2 Ultimate Zone Rating across 532 innings in left. Between the promising production Gurriel registered in 2019 and his team-friendly contract (he’s owed just $15.9MM through 2023), it seems likely he’d draw plenty of interest if Toronto were to market him.
- The Blue Jays already swung a trade for a starter earlier this month, acquiring right-hander Chase Anderson from the Brewers. While the Jays could continue to explore that route for much-needed rotation help, it also wouldn’t be a surprise to see the club pick up help via free agency. President of baseball operations Mark Shapiro has indicated the Jays have interest in the best starter available, Gerrit Cole, but a match there doesn’t look realistic. Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet runs down some more likely possibilities, naming an array of starters whom Toronto could pursue. Zack Wheeler and Jake Odorizzi are a couple on the higher end of the spectrum, though signing either qualifying offer recipient would be expensive from a draft standpoint for the Jays. As Nicholson-Smith notes, adding one of the two could cost the Jays a top 50 pick in 2020.
- As for how the Blue Jays could attract free agents, general manager Ross Atkins contends (via Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi): “The agility of our roster, the depth of our system, the financial flexibility that we have, the leadership of (manager) Charlie Montoyo and the environment of our clubhouse are all very attractive.” Gregor Chisholm of the Toronto Star argues now is the time for Atkins and the Jays to use their financial flexibility to court Cole or Stephen Strasburg, but he admits ownership – Rogers Communications – would likely stand in the way.
- Reliever Ryan Tepera elected free agency last week after Toronto designated him for assignment, though his Jays tenure might not be done. On the possibility of re-signing Tepera, Atkins said (via Nicholson-Smith): “We maintain interest in him. If there’s a way for him to pitch for the Blue Jays again, we’ll absolutely make that happen.” The 32-year-old Tepera was an important part of the team’sbullpen from 2015-18, but elbow problems hampered him during a 21 2/3-inning 2019 in which he pitched to a 4.98 ERA.
Gurriel Giants for Shaun Anderson. and a few other I’m sure.
Pass
Gurriel foe Dereck Rodriguez?
No.
Hell no
I hope this guy is being paid a lot to write random stuff about the Blue Jays at 3am in mid-November…
I’d be very surprised to see Gurriel moved.
I’d rather see Grichuk moved. But what about Gurriel for Caleb Smith? Blue jays add a few pieces but that would be the base.
I like the idea of Gurriel for Caleb Smith especially since Starlin Castro’s contract expired in Miami.
Gurriel is an outfielder now.
Curious if a team like the Nats would consider moving an arm like Joe Ross to TOR for Gurriel.. WSH gets a 2B for the future and TOR fills another rotation spot.
I doubt any team wants Ross
I’m sure plenty of teams would, but maybe not for that price.
Gurriel is an outfielder.
He played infield mostly.
Not in the bigs. Had major defensive issues at 2nd to the point that they had to send him down to switch positions this year even though he was Raking. Guys a half decent outfielder terrible infielder
More outfield then infield
You’ll need to add more than Joe Ross to get Gurriel.
Click bait suggestion.
Gurriel is a star in the making and theJays would need a haul to consider trading him. Yes we say never say ever and Atkins has done many stupid moves but this one is unlikely.
As for zack wheeler if the Jays are smart they’ll steer clear of him. I am hearing there is a long term health issue in his core that will require attention. Avoid.
Who are you hearing this from lol
Unimpeachable sources I’m sure.
Lmao. What is with you and core issues . Are these the same core issues that you said about Bichette. You are hopeless
I never said that Bichette had core injury issues. If you are going to insult someone rather than keep it focussed on baseball get it right will ya?
I said Bichette will eventually turn out to be a below average mlber because his wrists and stomach muscles are triple A level. Wait for it. The pitchers haven’t adjusted yet.
Whenever there is Jays news, I make sure to read Jimmer’s psychic pronouncements.
Some can scout and some read baseball reference dot com and think they can scout. Which are you?
I don’t imagine Gurriel is going anywhere with that contract…. Quite the long term value for the production potential, they’d have to be overwhelmed to deal him….
B-b-b-b-but Cole doesn’t live in Toronto! HE’S GOING TO SIGN WITH THE ANGELS!!!!!111
There is zero reason for the Jays to trade Gurriel. If the Jays want to go the trade route for starting help they have plenty of other pieces that are expendable. Gurriel is going to be a part of the Jays young core going forward so unless Atkins is blown away with an offer he’d better pass.
I’d like to see the Jays take a run at one or two of the second tier FA pitchers like Pineda(suspended), Roark, Porcello , or even Wacha. Then use some OF depth to try to land a mid rotation arm from a team like Pittsburgh or Atlanta(Giles?).
The Jays don’t need Porcello or other back end innings eaters. They need someone who can push open a competitive window. It should be a race to 90 wins, not 75.
I’d have to respectfully disagree. One of the Jays biggest needs this offseason is innings eaters. One of their many downfalls last season was their inability to pitch deep into games. Signing a veteran mid-back of the rotation starter this offseason should be made a definite priority. In a perfect world we would land Wheeler, Odorizzi,or even Kuchel it doesn’t have to be Porcello or one of the mentioned above.
That’s literally all they need is inning eaters.
They don’t have a legit ace and the big 3 starters aren’t coming to Toronto and they need to fill the rotation cause you sure as hell aren’t going out there with Wag, Thornton, shoemaker and anderson and expecting anymore then 600 innings between them. Even that’s a stretch Shoemaker has trouble making it past the first month of the season the last few years. And to finish off here they aren’t going to go out and trade any big up and coming cheap prospects (not that there’s many left in the minors) for a ace caliber pitcher if there even is any on the trade block this year
You spend the season giving innings to pitchers you think can be part of the next winning team. Giving innings to Porcello accomplishes nothing.
With what players are the Blue Jays winning 90 games? Question marks all over the diamond and bigger questions with the staff. They either need to go all out or grab an innings eater for a season to bridge the current gap. Even that is a stretch as only Pearson looks ready to reach the majors in 2020.
Their roster isn’t set, which is why giving IP/PA’s to 33 year olds makes no sense. You give Murphy/SRF/Diaz/Merryweather/Borucki/Kay/Zeuch those innings and see which ones can pitch in the big leagues.
That didn’t answer my question.
Sinker I agree with you on the 33 year olds. Here’s the problem; to reach 90 wins the Jays need a serious free agent signing or two to get there. They also need young players to take a full step forward and at least 1 AL East team to take a giant leap backward.
Murphy and Merryweather are wastes of time. SRF probably has a future in the bullpen. Borucki and Kay are the frontrunners, if healthy.
There’s no way to know what these players can accomplish if they’re toiling in AAA while Rick Porcello and Thomas Pannone are soaking up innings.
Sinker, it doesn’t have to be Porcello. What about Wacha… he’s 28 and a decent bounce back candidate. I’m just saying we need pitchers that can pitch deeper into games cause we can’t go into the season with a rotation like last year.
Again, with what players you have mentioned can the Jays reach 90 wins?
I agree with you on the AAA toiling, and I’d go further in stating I cannot stand how the organization has held back guys from being promoted within the system. Too many college draft picks performing in Single-A or Low-A at 22 or 23 and didn’t receive a promotion. AAA Buffalo had at least 5 players deserving of a pink slip. The carousel of bad pitchers coming in and going out. We could have had answers this past season yet the Jays brass chose not to.
Maybe only two pitchers that you listed are worth getting any type of MLB run as a starter. Kay will definitely be in the rotation mix, as well as Borucki if healthy.
If you sign a vet or two to eat some innings it can maintain some sort of semblance of competitiveness. They have enough quad A guys filling those slots last year. They need some big league pitching to close the gap.
Could easily trade some of them at the deadline if they pitch well and have any value. Then guys like Pearson, Zuech and Kay can get called up midseason.
So first its Jansen/McGuire getting moved for starting pitching and now it’s Gurriel. What’s next? Vlad, Bo??
Give it a rest. The local Toronto media is on a fishing expedition for clicks. Gone are the days of Richard Griffin.
At least I hope they are out to lunch because these trade rumors stink!
Exactly, things are slow right now with baseball news, and these guys are just writing of the top of their head to get some attention. Sure lots of teams would like to have Jansen, McGuire or Gurriel, but that doesn’t mean the Blue Jays are looking to trade them? I know it always depends what the return is in a trade, but the Blue Jays need help in all areas, except perhaps the infield.
The Toronto Blue Jays and Cleveland Indians match up quite well for a deal. Both front offices are well known to each other.. For the Indians, with the departure of Jason Kipnis, a 2B/OF’er) of limited defensive ability, Lourdes Gurriel would fit quite nicely. Cleveland has a significant back log of starting pitchers and can afford to let one go… An innings eating starter like Adam Plutko or a younger w/ more ceiling SP like Zach Plesac may be enough to satisfy the needs of both clubs..
Thoughts?
I don’t know my friend, but as a Jays fan, I’d be really angry if they traded Lourdes. But I guess everyone has a price.. I hope they don’t though.
Blue Jays need good outfielders almost as much as starting pitching. In my opinion Gurriel is the only good outfielder we have right now and they’d need to get something pretty special in return to consider trading him.
Exactly
Right-on take.
If they got both Plutko and Plesac for Gurriel then now we’re talking…
Both would be doable.. Another prospect or young ML’er would be needed from the Jays side.. not a top 10 guy. Perhaps an addition on both sides where a player/prospect that has failed is moved under the “needs a change of scenery mantra” might work.. Someone like Elvis Luciano and/or Anthony Alford from the Jays. On the Indians side..Greg Allen or Bradley Zimmer might be considered?..
LOL
The Indians are not trading a young, controllable, cheap starter like Plutko or Plesac for a 2nd baseman that had to move to LF. Decides, the Indians have Luplow and Naquin platooning out there that hit just as well as Gurriel and field better.
Starters that can pitch at the ML level are the most in-demand players currently in MLB.
Within 2 years there is a very good chance that both Plutko and Plesac – working with a quality organization that develops pitching like the Indians – will be (at least) outproducing Zach Wheeler for a fraction of the salary.
Naquin, with the torn ACL..won’t be back for the start of the 2020 season.. He might be back by the All Star Break.. That is.. no platoon exists now..
The Indians also play Mercado, Allen, and Bauers in LF. Plus they’ll probably add another OF by ST.
There is nothing so wonderful about Gurriel that they’ll trade a quality young starting pitcher for.
I suggest you learn who Adam Plutko is before typing up this garbage. Jesus Christ. I hope it’s a joke.
He’s probably going to be lost to waivers at some point this year.
I’ll do a quick count of Indians starters for you: Bieber, Cleve, Plesac, Civale, Kluber, Carrasco.
There’s 6 ahead of the out of options Plutko. And that’s if we forget that Logan Allen, Scott Moss, and Jefry Rodriguez exist.
Ya know Plutko the guy who has posted a rock solid 5.08 ERA/5.61 FIP while being coached up by the Indians acclaimed staff.
Yeah I’ll say Plutko would certainly available in a small trade for a guy like Gurriel. With Plesac? You know probably not even though Plesac performed a bit over his head a bit last year. He has options and a better arm.
But that’s absolutely lunacy to suggest they would not deal Plutko for a guy like Gurriel. I can’t imagine why the hell they would not. They’re going to have a hell of a time keeping Plutko around at all unless they have some injuries in ST.
Judging by some of the potential trade targets it is clear Gurriel is not the man to deal this offseason if what has been proposed is the level he’s at. If anything, Gurriel should be the ONLY outfielder not touched. There is plenty of dead weight in the outfield to move. There is no return for said dead weight, sadly.
Gurriel has a decent glove in the infield. His throwing got him in-trouble both at SS and 2B. He can immediately move to 1B and be adequate right off the bat. He should be the LF at this time.
If the Jays are willing to spend around $15-mil for Odorizzi or $20-mil for Wheeler they may as well go all out for Cole and Strasburg. Why settle for the B level guys when an A player has the ability to get you over the top. Odorizzi is a nice pitcher and Wheeler is the biggest underachiever and overrated arm on the market. If you are going to blow a draft pick do it for the best of the best. (Yes, I expect none will ever want to play for Toronto. The organization still has to make a real attempt.)
Gerrit Cole is going to get paid by anybody, you won’t outbid NYY/LAA/WAS. But you can certainly outbid teams for Wheeler.
No kidding (on Cole). Except the Jays can, and should, outbid every team. Ownership is capable. It all comes down to choice for the Blue Jays.
What has Wheeler done to deserve the money he will command, besides nothing? The Jays can find a 4-era, hard throwing right hander for much less. It will be a 4-era because the AL East is not the NL East. Stay away from Wheeler.
Agree all the way on Wheeler. Someone will overpay and regret that signing. No thanks on Wheeler. Heck no.
Wheeler is a top 10 starter in baseball the past 2 years. with 4 plus pitches. And velo. He’d be an ace for 20+ teams.
Wheeler is not better than:
– DeGrom
– Cole
– Verlander
– Strasburg
– Scherzer
– Buehler
– Corbin
– Paxton (he pitches in a tougher park, tougher league, tougher division)
– Sale
– Kluber prior to 2019
– Clevinger
– Bieber
– German
– Severino
….I’m beyond 10 pitchers, but I will continue….
– Berrios
– Odorizzi
– Morton
– Flaherty
– Ryu
Many others
Was Wheeler in the Top 10 in any category in 2019? Not the ones that matter. Zack Wheeler is not a Top 10 starting pitcher in baseball. That is an all-out lie.
Would like to see a solid signing like Tanner Roark for the Jays. Solid plug and play pitcher, and could possibly get him at a much better rate than other pitchers in the market. Possibly on a two year deal, maybe around 8 or so million a year. 2 year 15-16 million would be a solid, needed signing. Another adequate rotation arm to go with Shoemaker, Anderson. They don’t break the bank, hurt future payroll flexibility, and keep their draft picks and continue to add pitching in the draft. While also giving another year to see if one of the youngsters can step up, guys like Borucki and Kay for me in particular.
For me, a more than good enough offseason would be having already acquired Chase Anderson, bring in Tanner Roark, drop a surprise, bring in a young potent bat in Castellanos, and be smart and clever enough to trade Grichucks contract off the books.
I wonder which teams are RF, CF needy, to possibly give them Grichuk, even if we have to throw a lower level prospect or two in there to make sure they take the deal..
The Blue Jays have nothing but money to spend. Grichuk’s contract is not a problem. They’re 80 million dollars beneath a league average payroll right now.
Grichuk is a problem, bloated salary or not. Get rid of him.
Agreed, Grichuk is higher paid, but the Blue Jays have what seems to be an endless supply (especially outfielders) of players that hit from .180 to .230, can hit a few home runs, play below average defence, strike out a ton, and don’t want to take a walk and have on base averages of .220 – .280.
Another way of saying the they’re not major league players…..most of them!
I’d rather have Mckinney making 500k playing everyday, then Grichuk who’s on a 4/5 year deal making 13-10 million a year, to not get in base, not hit above .240, and does nothing but run into a home run every now and then.. as for the “defence”, if he wouldn’t be able to catch a ball, Grichuk wouldn’t even warrant being an MLB player. Teoscar Hernandez can do as much as Grichuk can, not counting the defence. And Teoscar at least has way more upside, and is younger, much cheaper. There’s truly no point in having Grichuk on this team, not at all.. Jays wanna extend him like he’s one of the “core” players. Which anybody who has eye balls can see that he’s definitely not. On a truly contending team, Randal Grichuk is nothing more than a 4th outfielder. If at that! If at that … me personally I wouldn’t even want him as a 4th outfielder. Want a guy who can get a base hit, not break records striking out . It was a bad extension that the Jays rushed. And if Atkins is smart he’d try his best to find a sucker to take on Grichuk even if he has to throw in a couple lower level prospects to get rid of him.
His contract is immaterial. The Blue Jays have 160,000,000 dollars to spend in AAV before Grichuk’s salary would matter. I get Grichuk is a lightning rod for you but it literally doesn’t matter.
My friend, it’s 10-13 million a year that could be put into something else, is the point. I don’t care how much you have to spend if you don’t use the money wisely. You add another 5 million to that 13 million a year, that’s 18 million. 18 million possibly gets you Castellanos on the open market.
McKinney looked amazing in his 2018 callup. Then…2019 happened.
His contract is the example of an organization that does not know how to adequately spend. The contract is only immaterial when the team A) sucks, B) isn’t spending and C) aren’t contending. When they spend, get good and need more to be great we will see Grichuk’s underwhelming stats and undeserving contract and say, “gosh, wish we could get rid of that dead weight”.
Terry coming in with the usual nonsense. McKinney was not “amazing”. He was adequate in 2018. Stats would prove that he was not amazing during what was quite a small sample size.
We could sign a decent starting pitcher for the money we pay Grichuk
Yeah I don’t know who he really is?
not sure how many people read mlbtr when he was here but i miss ben nicholson smith 🙁
Head on over to Rogers SportsNet and ya will find him there!
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that the Jays are going to be better than people think. They should sign M. Wacha and R. Porcello, add C. Dickerson or K. Calhoun and sign a savvy vet like Howie Kendrick to mix with the youngsters. If they miss on Kendrick, which is likely, L. Morrison or J. Smoak could hold down 1B for a year. Acquire a couple bounceback relievers like B. Morrow, B. Bach, L. Gregorson & T. Rosenthal for pennies and see how things break in the spring.
Are you aware they’re playing in a division with the Rays and Yankees. And that they cannot hold a candle to the Red Sox, even if the FO dumps 2 large salaries and gets nothing back?
Lol stahp this madness
Earth calling Scott????????
Funny they haven’t mentioned trading Ken Giles, I guess his trade value must be next to nothing. I’d think he’d get a couple decent not great prospects, but, what would I know.
Jays fans are beginning to adjust to life with Mark Shapiro. The standard bar is so low one has to learn the Limbo.
He’s AJ Preller without the pizzazz, but offering political correctness. As Atkins put it when discussing why free agents should come to Toronto –
“The agility of our roster, the depth of our system, the financial flexibility that we have, the leadership of (manager) Charlie Montoyo and the environment of our clubhouse are all very attractive.”
Yes. That and fighting with the Orioles to stay out of last place.
I agree with them that having a great farm system will eventually pay off. And patience will be needed to not rush the process, to not make and hasty decisions that will limit the future growth of the team. If you look at the Astros and the Cubs, they did the same exact things, and both have a World Series to show for it, with young talent they can compete with for years to come. A great organization really takes time, but they can’t ruin the progress by trying to jump a couple of steps. They have to stick to the process and eventually it WILL pay off. You don’t acquire all the young prospects in the world that they possibly can and have nothing to show for it. Eventually they will reap the benefits, it’s the fan base, in us, that needs to allow these guys to do their jobs, and not pressure them. They truly have one of the best farm systems in baseball. One of the lowest payrolls in baseball, with Tulo coming off the backs still after next season is up. With young talent already at the big league roster like Bichette, Guerrero, Gurriel, Biggio. Teoscar with some power upside. It takes time.. and the work will pay off. Throwing 30 million dollars around on a guy or two will only hurt the long term plan of building a championship contender year in and year out. I understand what they are trying to do. I’m in support… but they also can’t be making mistakes signing guys like Grichuk to long term extensions. Time will tell.. but the arrow is definitely looking up.
Rebuilds do not always work out. Look at the White Sox and Padres floundering for a half decade.
There is no guarantee this works. You can’t make brutal trades over and over and expect to fall into a competitive team just by drafting in the top -10 for 5 years.
That’s 100% true. I’m not saying they’ve been perfect, they’ve been very very far from it. But they are “trying” to do it the right way. I support that. They’ve made their fair share of awful decisions, but the plan, and the state of the franchise is really in a good position as of now.
Not trying to Donaldson when he still had value, was a horrendous move… You can’t leave the opportunity to acquire young talent the way the Cardinals were willing to give up for Donaldson. Even though they KNEW full out that a rebuild will be needed either way in the near future. They just had to try and milk the Toronto fan base one last time… it may have cost them a young game changing pitcher to slot in the Jays rotation. They can’t be making awful decisions like that. Don’t know what that was … but certainly wasn’t for the best intentions for the franchise moving forward.
Yep. Merryweather for a guy like Donaldson was an embarrassment.
Another example of a rebuilding team; the 2008-2015 Indians. Shapiro and Atkins had a hand. Yes they had 2016. For 15 years they had a nice little run in 2007 and a Wild Card game in 2013. Not exactly stellar.
Lot’s of Jays fans for sure… As for trading Gurriel , his brother said Lourdes is a better player than him. that says enough. Roger’s will not approve a Strasbourg type move. They have enough issues overpaying for that ten year NHL rights and Trudeau promised to reduce cell phone charges by 25 per cent..
Saying it doesn’t make it true. Watch some young Yuli highlights and that statement is in-doubt.
I hope the Jays go out and get themselves Odorizzi so they can have their very own Alex Cobb.
Wow amazing range of comments on the Jays. Great passion.
Let’s remember the goal is to win now in the AlEast, not be long term competative. That is just Shapiro KoolAid. Don’t drink it or you’ll never see a winner, ever in Toronto again with these guys at the helm. He couldn’t do it in Cleveland and can’t do it now.
It is foolish to do anything but build towards a 90 game winner. That means no signing of #4 in the rotation mid tier pitchers. The Jays have those already. The Jays need to either sign top tier free agents or trade for elite. Boston won by trading for Sale, signing Price as well as many other shrewd moves.
Building towards a 90 game winner means giving the kids a chance. Promote from within as well as sign and trade for elite players.
Plus Shapiro has fired most of the [good] scouts and it really shows in their professional scouting competence. The professional scouting staff needs to be overhauled from Shapiro’s meddling.
As fans, let’s keep putting the pressure on Rogers to spend big, 200 mill every year regardless of if Shapiro says it is time to “leap”.
In case anyone hasn’t noticed Rogers and its other name [Sportsnet] have been pruning big money people and dollars like crazy: the Jays budget, McCowan, Kypreos, Maclean, Cherry etc. This is all about money NOT winning.
Let’s watch this off season about how much money is spent and for what? Will it build to a 90 game winner or is it appeasing fans like they tried in 2016 and 2017.
This mess was called in these pages at the end of 2016. It typically takes a cashman or dombrowski 2 years to turn around a franchise. We are 3 years in since this mess was called in 2016. Do the math.
Gurriel Jr and the catchers are likely going no where. If they do the Jays better get a [good] haul.
Let’s remember Atkins trading record is isn’t the greatest. Lots of 4A players for quality BlueJays assets. A few lottery tickets.
I like Ryu, Cole, Strasburg, Donaldson, Odorizzi., Didi at the right price, Puig, PIneda and Gardner. I don’t like Wheeler, Keuchel, Moustakas, Hamels, EE, Ozuna and Teheran.