Latest On Ohka

Ah, the Tomo Ohka saga.  What could be more exciting in late January?  Football just can't compete.  The Pirates have "escalated efforts" to snag the righthander, which I suppose means an increased offer.  An Ohka signing for the Bucs would probably push Shawn Chacon out of the rotation, never a bad idea.

The Nats, Blue Jays, and...wait for it...a mystery team are the contenders for Ohka.  My guess is that Ohka wants a Jason Marquis type deal. 

Comments

[Grant77]

If he wants a deal similar to Jason Marquis, then I hope the Jays are out of it. I'd give him 2/14 but not the third year.

[Guitar Hero]

Unfortunately I think this would be a great depth move for the Jays but I wouldn't give him more than 1 year, and thus I don't want him. I'd rather take a 1 year flier on Redman. The reasons being he just came off a frayed rotator cuff, he has 'tude problems, if he's a disaster he's still here for a year and he very well could be because of low K rates (or he could be average, you never know how the world works), and he'd block cheaper, possibly better mediocre starters in the Jays farm system. But I have a feeling they won't get him. If they did, I'd only be happy if its 1 year with an option, that amount to 2/12 at most (option with a healthy amount of starts or IP in year 1).

[Bonatom]

Mystery Team.... Mets?

[allabouthephils]

All the teams in the NL East can only hope the Mets give Ohka a 3@21MM deal....

[beeniez]

As much as I'd like to see the Mets blow $21 million for the next 3 years, I think Omar is a lot smarter than that.

[bsox21]

ohka would be a MUCH better investment than marquis.

ohka will post better numbers than mulder AND marquis for the next 2 years.

[nrmax88]

If omar was going to give Ohka 3/21, then why wouldnt he have just signed lilly or meche or one of these guys for a little more. I wouldnt mind Ohka for a year or 2 on the Mets

[BlueDynasty]

The Blue Jays don't need Ohka. They have a slew of mediocre arms (Thompson, Towers, Marcum, McGowan, Janssen) who at any given time could and will outperform Ohka. Besides, given Gibby's problems with vets Hillenbrand and Lilly, it is highly unlikely that the Jays would throw 20+ million at an injured pitcher with a poor attitude.

[Guitar Hero]

Ohka's not getting 20 million. He's getting 1 year, my guess is around 5-7 million. But your point is a good one: will he do any better than the cheaper minor league arms? Probably not. He's not bad though. But tough division, declining K-rate, bad shoulder...

[BlueDynasty]

personally, i think that Josh Towers is due for a rebound year. I know that he was quite possible the worst pitcher in baseball last year, but you cannot deny his 2005 stats, where he was arguably the Jays best pitcher. That '05 ERA would be good for at least 16 wins with the Jays potent offence. The same goes for Casey Janssen. He was brought along rather quickly, and got off to an awesome start. Quite possible we got a little physically and mentally fatigued down the stretch. If both of those P's (and we also have Marcum and Thompson...and they very well could be #4&5- who knows what to expect from them) can post sub 4.40 ERA's, then the Jays are in fine shape.

[Guitar Hero]

Even if Towers bounces back, it likely won't be at his flukey 3.76 ERA level. It'd be in the 5.00's, as he's hit in certain times of his career. Are you really happy with a 5.50 ERA? Janssen has not been a pitcher long and needs more time in AAA. He got lucky to start, then was smashed as hard as Towers going 1-8 with a 8-ish ERA. You just can't put that out there. Marcum is the only solid pitcher who faced really hard teams last year and had a consistent 5.00 ERA (Which would have been better without that demolishing by the Orioles). There is also Taubenheim who did well in small sample size and at AAA as a STARTER last year, but has fringy stuff. McGowan won't be ready yet. That's mostly it. Oh yeah, there are arguments abound if Chacin will implode yet again, or maintain being a league average pitcher.