Jesse Chavez Rumors
Athletics Acquire Jesse Chavez
The Athletics announced that they acquired right-hander Jesse Chavez from the Blue Jays for cash considerations. Oakland's 40-man roster is now full.
Chavez, 29, posted an 8.44 ERA with 11.4 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9 in 21 1/3 innings with the Blue Jays this year before getting designated for assignment. He has spent most of the season starting games at Triple-A, where he has a 3.98 ERA with 8.1 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 in 95 innings. The Fukuoka Softbank Hawks made the Blue Jays an offer for Chavez earlier this year, but Toronto declined.
Blue Jays Designate Jesse Chavez For Assignment
The Blue Jays have designated right-hander Jesse Chavez for assignment, according to the team's website. Toronto recalled Chavez from Triple-A Las Vegas over the weekend and he pitched one scoreless inning in the Blue Jays' 3-1 win over the Athletics on Saturday.
Chavez, 28, has an 8.44 ERA with 11.4 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9 in 21 1/3 innings with the Blue Jays this year. He has spent most of the season starting games at Triple-A, where he has a 3.72 ERA with 8.3 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9 in 77 1/3 innings. The Fukuoka Softbank Hawks made the Blue Jays an offer for Chavez earlier this year, but Toronto declined.
Blue Jays Reject Offer From Japan For Jesse Chavez
The Blue Jays have rejected an offer from the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks for pitcher Jesse Chavez according to Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker. The Hawks offered Toronto $1MM and would have paid the right-hander $3MM over two years. Chavez's agent Paul Cobbe declined to comment.
Chavez, 28, has pitched to a 3.72 ERA with 8.5 K/9 and 1.7 BB/9 in 58 innings across ten Triple-A starts. He owns a 5.36 ERA in 152 2/3 big league relief innings with the Pirates, Braves, and Royals. He's been involved in trades for Akinori Iwamura, Rafael Soriano, Rick Ankiel and Kyle Farnsworth. Toronto removed Chavez from the 40-man roster this offseason.
The Hawks released Brad Penny a few weeks ago and are presumably looking to replace the pitching depth.
Removed From 40-Man: Jesse Chavez, Brian Bixler
We'll keep track of which players are removed from 40-man rosters right here...
- Right-hander Jesse Chavez cleared waivers and the Blue Jays outrighted him to Triple-A, the team tweeted.
- The Astros designated Brian Bixler for assignment, according to Zachary Levine of the Houston Chronicle (on Twitter). The Astros, who needed roster space because of today's trade, had claimed Bixler from the Nationals last month. The 29-year-old appeared in 79 games for the Nationals in 2011, playing all three outfield positions, shortstop, third base and first base. He posted a .205/.267/.265 line in 94 plate appearances.
Blue Jays Acquire Ben Francisco
The Blue Jays acquired outfielder Ben Francisco from the Phillies for minor league lefty Frank Gailey, announced the team. The Jays also designated reliever Jesse Chavez for assignment.
Francisco, 30, hit .244/.340/.364 in 293 plate appearances for the Phillies this year. As a right-handed hitter he's gotten a disproportionate share of at-bats against lefties in his career, but he hasn't done markedly better against them. Francisco is set to earn an estimated $1.5MM through arbitration in 2012, and perhaps the Phillies would have cut him loose had they not found a trade partner. He'll be under team control for 2013 as well if the Blue Jays want him. With Francisco filling the role of Toronto's fourth outfielder, Rajai Davis may be expendable.
Gailey, 26, posted a 3.41 ERA, 7.4 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, and 0.6 HR/9 in 74 relief innings across High and Double-A this year. A Philadelphia native, Gailey must be excited about the deal.
Chavez, 28, spent most of 2011 with the Royals' Triple-A affiliate. There he posted a 3.75 ERA, 8.4 K/9, 2.5 BB/9, and 0.9 HR/9 in 57 2/3 innings. The Blue Jays claimed him off waivers from Kansas City in late October.
Blue Jays Claim Jesse Chavez
The Blue Jays announced that they claimed right-hander Jesse Chavez off of waivers from the Royals (Twitter link). The Royals designated Chavez for assignment ten days ago when they claimed Aaron Laffey off of waivers.
The Royals acquired Chavez from the Braves in the summer 2010 trade that sent Kyle Farnsworth and Rick Ankiel to Atlanta. The right-hander had two stints with this year's Royals team, but spent most of the season at Triple-A Omaha, where he posted a 3.75 ERA with 8.4 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 in 57 2/3 innings of relief work. He provided the Pirates with a solid season of relief in 2009 and hasn't been able to replicate that success at the Major League level since.
Royals Claim Laffey, Designate Chavez
The Royals announced today they've claimed lefty Aaron Laffey off outright waivers from the Yankees and designated reliever Jesse Chavez to create a 40-man roster spot.
Laffey, 26, posted a 3.88 ERA, 5.1 K/9, 3.5 BB/9, 1.18 HR/9, and 48.1% groundball rate in 53 1/3 innings for the Mariners and Yankees this year. He wasn't any better against left-handed hitters. Earlier today, Joe Pawlikowski of River Ave. Blues wrote that Laffey was an expected victim of the Yankees' upcoming 40-man roster crunch.
Chavez, 28, had joined the Royals at last year's trade deadline in the Rick Ankiel/Kyle Farnsworth deal. He struggled mightily in the Majors this year but had a 3.75 ERA, 8.4 K/9, 2.5 BB/9, and 0.9 HR/9 in 57 2/3 Triple-A innings. Chavez averaged 94.5 miles per hour on his fastball the last few years, but that dropped a full two miles per hour this year in the Majors.
Braves Acquire Ankiel, Farnsworth
The Braves have acquired Rick Ankiel and Kyle Farnsworth from the Royals in exchange for Jesse Chavez, Gregor Blanco, and Tim Collins. Atlanta also received an unknown amount of cash in the deal.
Ankiel, 31, missed over two months with a quad strain this year, but will bring a much-needed .261/.317/.467 batting line to Atlanta's outfield. He is still owed just over $1MM for the remainder of the season, and there's a $6MM mutual option for his services next year that could instead be bought out for $500K.
The 34-year-old Farnsworth is back for a second stint with the Braves, and has pitched to a 2.42 ERA with 7.3 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 44.2 innings this year. He is owed $1.64MM through the end of the season, and Atlanta could buy out his $5.25MM option for next season for $500K.
Chavez, 26, was acquired in the Rafael Soriano trade during the offseason. He had not performed as expected, with a 5.89 ERA and 7.1 K/9 in 36.2 innings this year. Blanco, 26, is a career .252/.361/.309 hitter in 633 big league plate appearances with experience in all three outfield spots. Both he and Chavez are under team control for another four seasons.
Collins, 20, was acquired in the Yunel Escobar-Alex Gonzalez trade earlier this month. He has struck out 15.4 Double-A batters per nine innings this year, and boasts a 2.35 ERA in his minor league career.
CBSSports.com's Danny Knobler first reported the deal while Ed Price of AOL FanHouse added details (Twitter link). A Royals press release confirmed the deal.
Mike Axisa contributed to this post.
Discussion: Best Move Of The Offseason
With Felipe Lopez finally catching on with the Cardinals, essentially every big name free agent is off the market (no disrespect to Jermaine Dye and Jarrod Washburn). That allows us to sit back and reflect on all of the offseason's moves, and try to figure out which one was the very best.
Here are some candidates...
- Mets sign Jason Bay to a four-year, $66MM contract.
- Yankees acquire Curtis Granderson for three prospects.
- Phillies acquire Roy Halladay for three prospects.
- Red Sox sign John Lackey to a five-year, $82.5MM contract.
- Mariners acquire Cliff Lee for three prospects.
- Rays acquire Rafael Soriano for Jesse Chavez.
There's certainly no shortage of candidates, but one has to be the best of the best, right? What do you think it is?
Rafael Soriano-Jesse Chavez Swap Made Official
The Rays made their deal for Braves reliever Rafael Soriano official today, tweets Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times. He says the Rays came to terms on a one-year, $7.25MM deal with Soriano, who was acquired from Atlanta for reliever Jesse Chavez. A reminder on how this all played out:
On December 1st, the Braves made arbitration offers to Type A free agent relievers Soriano and Mike Gonzalez, expecting both to decline. The Braves moved quickly to sign Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito in the days following, making it clear that Soriano and Gonzalez would have lesser roles if they returned. Gonzalez, a Scott Boras client, declined arbitration. But after his agent talked to teams all day Monday at the Winter Meetings, Soriano decided the best move was to accept arbitration (otherwise, he would've cost his signing team a draft pick). The Braves held talks with the Orioles, Astros, and Rays at the Meetings, eventually shipping Soriano to Tampa Bay for Chavez. So the Braves hoped to get two draft picks for the loss of Soriano, but instead received five years of Chavez.
And from the Rays' point of view...back in November, a few days before they had to decide between second baseman Akinori Iwamura's $4.85MM option and a $550K buyout, they traded him to the Pirates for Chavez. It was a solid move, Chavez being under team control through 2014. Still, he wasn't a guy to whom they'd hand over the ninth inning. The Rays were expected to add a few bargain free agents to compete for the closer job, with owner Stuart Sternberg saying on December 6th, "There is no $7 million closer showing up." Maybe Sternberg was being literal, as the Rays sent Chavez to the Braves and now have a $7.25 million closer.
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