Speculatory Speculation
During Wednesday's With J.P. on the FAN 590 last night, J.P. Ricciardi said that the team would be looking to add a right-handed bat to the lineup sooner rather than later. With the Jays set to face the left-handed throwing gauntlet that is the Cleveland Indians over the weekend, that seems like a sound strategy.
While names like Jason "King Of The K" Botts, who recently cleared waivers, have been bandied about, Jeff Blair quotes club sources as saying:
Ricciardi is now actively pursuing another bat via the trade route. There are trade partners, to be sure, as teams such as the Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, Texas Rangers and Cleveland Indians have started to shake up moribund lineups. And National League teams such as the Cincinnati Reds, Washington Nationals and Pittsburgh Pirates look to add pitching.
Taking a quick peak at the rosters of the teams mentioned, the Pittsburgh Pirates have the depth at outfield to make things interesting. In addition to the four outfielders currently on the active roster and the injured Chris Duffy, Andrew McCutchen and Steve Pearce are both in Triple A waiting for a call up. They also recently signed first baseman Craig Wilson who can play right field.
However, before everyone starts getting a red and white hard on for Jason Bay, there's another right-handed hitting outfielder in Pennsylvania that's available.
My own wishful thinking keeps bringing me back to Xavier Nady who has had an excellent first month of the year and is scheduled to make $3.35 million this season, while remaining under control for one more year.
According to Jenifer Langosch at MLB.com, "the Pirates aren't going to invest the type of money in Nady that he could likely garner in the free agent market, especially if his April production is a harbinger for things to come. And on the other side, with Scott Boras as his agent, Nady will want to test those free agent waters."
MLB Trade Rumours suggests that the Pirates will be looking for pitching, and that Nady could be had for an Aaron Heilman, which leads me to believe I'm not totally delusional for imagining interest from the Jays.
While I'm certainly not interested in seeing Dustin McGowan or Shaun Marcum traded away for a two year rental, I wouldn't be too upset to see a particular first round draft pick currently lighting it up in Triple A get moved, or for that matter, a certain pudgy little ginger with a knack for overachieving.
Unfortunately, the urgency to get a deal like this done would be solely on the Blue Jays, as Pittsburgh has the luxury of taking a wait and see approach all the way up to the trade deadline.
Other names of interest from the teams Blair mentioned: Casey Blake, Austin Kearns and Ryan Freel. Both Blake and Kearns are stru-guggling right now, so they may be available on the cheap. People in Cleveland are wondering if Blake is "at the end of his road," and Nationals fans want to know why Kearns isn't getting benched. Meanwhile, it doesn't sound as though Freel is enjoying the managerial mayhem of Dusty Baker.
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21 comments:
If the Jays trade Marcum or McGowan I will torch the Rogers Centre.
Also, if they trade anyone of value when they could be trying guys like Craig Wilson or whoever or get some asshole off the FA that doesn't take talent, I will torch the Rogers Centre. Enough said.
Awesome pic for this post. Inserting a pic of Jamie Lee Curtis's boobs further down would have made it even better.
To my mind you definitely can't trade Purcey, because your starting pitching depth is already way too thin. If Purcey's gone, who becomes the fifth starter for a couple weeks when someone tweaks something? Not to jinx it, but it's going to happen. Teams never go through a full year with only five starters. I remember this factoid from posting about it a while back: the last time the Jays had five starters all make 25 or more starts was 1992-- and Al Leiter still got in there for 12. There will be a need for Purcey. Stupid to trade him now. You've got to look to the bullpen if you're going to make a deal like that, I think. Frasor. Maybe even Accardo-- though I wouldn't sell low on him, I don't think, seeing as somebody already got burned once on a deal like that (even if that somebody IS fucking moron Brian Sabean). But then what do you get back for Jason Frasor, or Frasor plus a couple of minor league arms? Yeah, they need a RH DH, but unless he's going to be an OF who is significantly better than Stewart (I won't bother dreaming about a SS or C), the playing time is pretty limited. Definitely not worth trading a serviceable, young starter. Frasor, though... if somebody wants him...
I agree, no way you trade Purcey.
And as much as I love Jason Bay, I think Nady may be a better fit. Not a better player per se, but if the Jays take Bay they are kind of handcuffing themselves to an outfield of him, Wells and Rios. Not necessarily a bad thing, but with the prospects down the pipe, I would think the Jays would be fine with a rental at the right price then to perhaps give up Lind, Purcey and another prospect for Bay.
Not saying I agree or disagree with that, just saying I think thats what Riccardi and most GMs would do.
I think if they end up getting someone like Bay you might as well throw Lind in on the trade. He is a guy who deserves a chance to play in the Majors but the Jays aren't in the position of letting a kid learn how to hit in the Majors. He would fit well with the Pirates
I don't think he'd fit well with the Pirates at all. They're already overflowing with outfielders. They want pitchers, not position players.
Looking at your starting pitchers in Syracuse:
Kane Davis: 2-3, 3.89, 1.22
David Purcey: 3-2, 1.85, 0.97
Bill Murphy: 3-1, 2.80, 1.30
John Parrish: 4-0, 3.14, 1.43
Davis Romero: 0-1, 1.45, 0.91
We'll take a couple of those.
By the way good blog.
I saw Nady with the Mets down here in NY and he is a great fit for the Jays.I wouldn't trade any of the top 5 pitchers or Purcey at this point.The Jays are a win now/this year team and they need all this pitching just in case.As for Lind and another AAA or AA pitcher that is a different story.
In addition,trading Accardo or a Frasor at this point for a Nady or a Bay is too much!The Jays need those guys this year to win,JP should trade someone of lesser value from AA or AAA.I hear all the trade talk from the Mets fans and radio personalities down here in NYC and trading Heilman has been a cause celebre for years...Why?Heilman doesn't want to be a reliever ,he wants to start so he supposedly isn't happy being a Met.He wants out if he can start......
If the team is still in contention and exhibiting shitty offense in June/July, you can bet your Frank Thomas bobblehead that JP will make a deal. At least that's what I took from his comments last night and his "win-now" actions of the past few months. Playoffs or bust!
Frasor won't get us much. My bet is on Tallet or Carlson. Both are good sell high candidates and we only need one of them. Four lefty setup guys is one too many.
Then again, I'd be hesitant to weaken a HUGE competitive advantage for us. I'd rather trade a minor leaguer.
Frasor and Thigpen for Nady.
But why are they looking for a RHB? To me this just means they are going to call up Russ Adams or Curtis Thigpen for the weekend. Why would they make a move for a RHB when they really need a leftie?
I think this is just another piece of disinformation from JP.
Yeah, I probably agree now that I think about it. But... there has to be something in it for the other team. Nady would be a great fit, if he plays the way he's capable, with Stewart moving to platoon with Stairs at DH.
Oh and thanks Bucsfan. Hey.. you lost the 69.
You can have any one of those guys but Purcey and probably Romero, as far as I'm concerned.
I have a feeling it might be Kevin Mench from the Rangers. He is stuck in AAA and if he isn't recalled by June 1st he will become a free agent. I don't see JP making a big trade to solve this problem.
Andrew, actually, you're kind of right. I don't know why it has to be a RH bat. They need an RH side of the DH platoon, because Stairs, as much as I love him, is a career .238 hitter against LHP. But you can move Stewart to the DH platoon like that, and bring in a better player than him for LF. Not sure why 20 ABs says this isn't Adam Lind, though. I'd have given him more of an audition, if he's the difference between having an in-house solution and having to waste an asset to get someone to do exactly what Lind ought to be doing. But hey, that's me...
First, the Yankees are weaker now that at any point since the '94 strike. And no one is running away with the WC. If we combine average to slightly above average hitting to go with probably the best staff 1 to 12 in baseball, that's right... PLAYOFFS!
That's a circuitious way of saying that JP should be all in during the mid-season trade period.
I know mocking the Canada Firsters who want Jason Bay just because he's one of us comes natural; I don't have a problem with that. But nationality aside, he's a Scott Roleny type bat: no great split differentials, can be expected to put up a 130 OPS+, and now that his knee is better, is playing some good D (same ZR as V-Dub through the first 5 weeks of the season). Adam Lind eventually becomes as good of a player as Bay is now in your wildest dreams.
The Pirates are not asking much and have been rebuffed by the Pads when they tried to move him for Chase Headley, so expect them to lower their demands. From a baseball sense, the only reason I can see NOT wanting to trade for him are concerns about his knee. Those concerns are valid, but fuck it, I just want the guy that badly and I'm not a flag-waving douchetard.
If you go for a guy like Nady you can't exactly stash him on the bench for more than a game or two, but he's not really good enough to be an every day player. Didn't we run Reed Johnson out of town because he couldn't hit righties? I disagree, strongly, with the notion of bringing him to town.
JW
If we need to add a righty bat because we're about to face the lefty-heavy Indians, we can pretty much eliminate the Indians as trade partners, at least in the extreme short term.
I like Kearns. We need power from that position though. I don't know how happy Nady would be splitting time at DH. Maybe you use a triumvirate of Nady, Stewart and Stairs to hold the LF and DH position.
Unfortunately, I don't see the Pirates going for this for anything less than a pitcher. Too bad Janssen is still injured.
I think the easiest solution is bringing in a low cost RH power hitter. Mench is an interesting idea that makes sense.
If only Adam Lind was right handed.
Maybe Overbay has been right handed all these years?
But seriously, I cringe a bit at the idea of a JP Ricciardi trade. The fact that Nady would be mentioned in the same sentence as a McGowan or Marcum is sickening. It's a typical Ricciardi move to trade for a hitter like Nady while he's hitting .349, yet obviously won't sustain that.
Shannon Stewart does not really hit lefties better. While Adam Lind might be a good idea for a 4th OF since he has nothing left to prove in AAA, I can see a righty being useful to bash lefties as a DH or LF. Reed would have been perfect, but there are a dime a dozen AAAA hitters that a Billy Beane type GM would be searching for, instead of going for overpriced vets like Nady and Bay. I'm talking about guys like Josh Koshanksy on the Rockies, who are looking for pitching, and is blocked by Todd Helton.
There are a few free agents left.
http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2004/06/free-agent-position-players.html
Koshansky and Lofton are lefties by the way. But the former is sporting a 917 OPS in AAA right now, and has a career 892 OPS in the minors. Really, a lefty wouldn't be bad either, to platoon with Shannon "not really a starter" Stewart.
Man.. it's too bad we don't have another right handed hitting LF on the 40-man roster. Preferably one who had really good splits against LH pitchers. Imagine if he were a defensive upgrade over Stew, as well.
Holy cow, look at this guy over the last 3 years:
vs. Left .305/.380/.831
He'd look pretty good in a Jay's uniform.
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