It's early, but the powerful Blue Jays are playing better than most people expected them to. GM Alex Anthopoulos told MLB.com's Jordan Bastian that the team could become buyers later in the summer. The 27-22 Blue Jays would have to keep themselves in contention for another two months first.
"If that happens, you always try to evaluate how close are you relative to the other teams," Anthopoulos said. "You're balancing the short term and the long term. That'd be a great problem to have and a great position to be in."
The Blue Jays, who lead the league in home runs, slugging percentage and, most importantly, runs, would presumably look to add pitching or replace Lyle Overbay if they were buying now. But as Anthopoulos points out, we're only "halfway to the trading deadline" and a lot can change in two months.
After all, the team started 27-14 last year, but the Jays slumped and then-GM J.P. Ricciardi eventually listened to offers for Roy Halladay and traded Scott Rolen. This year's team is different, and Anthopoulos is now running it, but the 2010 Blue Jays face the same reality they did a year ago: win and become buyers, lose and become sellers.
this is bad news for the Jays. i know you play to win the games and the Jays are “currently” winning, but this organization should not be trading away prospects for pieces to win this season. the Jays have some really good prospects and should be looking to use this season to build on next season and going forward.
Jose Bautista leads the entire league in HR, he should be traded and get something good while you still can. i know some might say, why would you want to trade the league leader in HR when your team is winning?!?!! ..but look at Bautista’s career numbers, do you really think he can keep this up? seriously? ..doubtful! if you can trade Bautista and get a good prospect for him, you should do that in a heartbeat! rather do that now while you can before he CRASHES back down to earth and becomes what he was before, serviceable BENCH player. Bautista is arbitration eligible after the season. lets assume he CAN continue these numbers through the season. clearly at that point he is going to want/get a significant pay raise from the $4+ MIL a season he is getting now. then what happens next season? career numbers suggest hes not going to be this player, so then you will be in a similar situation to what the Jays are in/have been in with Overbay. a player making too much damn money for the numbers he is putting up, making said player UNtradeable! normally you want to learn from your mistakes, not make them again.
Bautista isnt even needed. once Snider comes back he will be in RF and is the RF of the future. Lewis is in LF batting leadoff and the leadoff hitter of the future. Brett Wallace is going to be coming up to replace Overbay at 1B. you have Lind at DH. that leaves 3B for Bautista or Encarnacion. both arbitration eligible after the season, but Encarnacion is younger. i would think Encarnacion is the one the Jays should be giving playing time. Bautista has never had a significant season, but Encarnacion has with Cincinnati.
what the Jays should do is trade both Bautista and Overbay.
another note should be about Shaun Marcum. last time i checked he was either leading the league or close to the top in IP. that can not continue because he hardly pitched at all last season. as the season goes on towards the end Marcum is someone who should be shut down so that his IP are not high, otherwise your risking hurting him again. then your F’d because you lose him for the future when you should be building for winning in the future, not THIS season.
ofcorse the possibility of being buyers depends on wheather they continue to win, and i dont see that being a problem because i dont see them continuing to win. 27-22 now, but 27-14 last season and they did not continue to win.
continuing to win this season would not be good for the future. i know im crazy, trading away one of the best players on the team. one of the best players, lol, Bautista? really?
First off, Bautista signed a one-year $2.5MM contract to avoid arbitration over the off season (the same amount he made in 2009). Secondly, there will be players available that will not require top prospects to acquire them. Many teams will look to slash payroll, or have players demanding to be traded. in these cases, Alex could pick up a player or two, using only marginal prospects and money, both of which the Jays have an abundance of. Lastly, nobody will offer much for Bautista, and Marcum is a key piece for the foreseeable future. The Jays have lots of money, and really solid young pitching. If the bats continue to produce, adding someone may be a good idea, especially a player that is under control for a few years. Even if the Jays end up with only 85 wins after making an acquisition, they will be in even better shape for 2011. Remember, their 25 man roster’s payroll is only ~$60MM now, and will DECREASE after 2010 season. They have the money to buy somebody if they want to at the deadline.
The only thing wrong in your post is no one in their right mind would take Oh-fer-bay. No one has a place on their team for a should-be platoon 1B with minimal power, streaky average, his OBP is very low, and has a horrible OPS against lefties [hence platoon].
Oh-fer-bay will be cut to allow Brett Wallace to come up. I think I read that after June 4th he cannot become a possible Super Two.
i made a mistake, Bautista is making $2.4 MIL this season. still would be a due a significant raise IF he could keep up these type of numbers. not worth it IMO.
Encarnacion is making $4.75 this season.
Bautista may lead the league in Homeruns but he will not get you any sort of usable prospect. At most a Middle Relief type arm who may develop into a 6th/7th inning guy. GM’s don’t overpay for a few weeks of solid power and a 240 BA. Remember Chris Shelton?
Shelton was a 1B/DH AAAA slugger who had a big month.
Bautista has played in the majors for several years, plays plus defense all over the field, and has hit more home runs than ANY MLB player over the last 3 months of regular season play. He may have a 240 average, but has a decent walk rate to get his OBP to a very respectable ~360. Nobody is saying he’s better than Pujols, but he’s hardly a quad-A player who’s had a hot month. He’s got a lot of value to teams with needs.
Opening day for the Blue Jays was April 6, so it hasn’t even been 2 full months of regular season play, let alone 3. Bautista isn’t going to net anything special in a trade, but that doesn’t mean the Jays shouldn’t try to sell high on the guy, seeing how his “value” will never be higher.
Add September 2009, there, friend.
Gotcha, it just didn’t cross my mind to go back to last season, my bad.
I agree with SpecialEd. Being buyers at the trade deadline is a ridiculous idea, but luckily the Jays will too far out of the race for that to happen. Bautista might not net a stud prospect, but his value is certainly much higher then it ever has been and likely ever will be. If his torid pace continues, I can see a contender overpaying for him. His versatility also makes him a valuable asset on a good team.
there is no way the jays a month from now will be in the race. they have played just 12 games vs teams in the al east, they are gonna play the rays yankees and the rays again in the next 2 weeks, that should drop them back, and with the sox coming on strong, that should diminish the hopes of a run at the wild card as well.
Jays? Buyers? For as much as I want to believe that we will be in a position to be buyers, I tend to be more of a realist. The June schedule is absolutely BRUTALRaysYankeesRockiesPadresGiantsCards PhilliesIndiansMy beloved Jays are terrible when it comes to Interleague Play and we have already had our a$$e$ handed to us by Boston (1-5) and lost a series to Tampa. Now granted, we could very easily be 4-2 against Boston and 2-1 against the Rays this season… but I have watched this team just choke and make uncharacteristic mistakes against top echelon teams. Guys like Edwin Encarnacion are a liability at third base and I for one cannot wait till big boy Travis comes back so that E5 rides the pineTrade away Jason Frasor, Scott Downs, and Jose Bautista.
You can maybe add Shawn Camp to that list.
See you on DJF Aqua!
They shouldn’t be buyers; however, I don’t understand the argument that they should be sellers. The return on the guys that they would trade would be minimal. Maybe it’s just me, but I would rather see my team finish out a strong season above .500 instead of dumping guys, even over-achieving “sell high” guys, for middling prospects. They wouldn’t get much for Overbay and Bautista, wouldn’t you rather finish higher in the standings?
I understand that some think that where you finish doesn’t matter if you don’t make the playoffs (or win the World Series for more ambitious teams), but I would choose hanging around in wild card contention over dumping free-agents-to-be for longshot prospects. It’s also easier to attract free agents to sign with your team if you didn’t finish last in your division (ask the annually over-paying Royals).
I get your argument about finishing with a respectable season, but the way I see it is that the top 3 in the division will be some order of the Yankees, Rays, and Red Sox. Now that leaves 4th and 5th place for the Jays and Orioles, and seeing how the O’s are playing absolutely terrible, I’d say they’ll probably be in that 5th place position. Logically that leaves only 4th place for the Jays to finish in, maybe 3rd if they play well all season but what is the point to hanging on to pieces that won’t help your future just so you can possibly finish in 3rd instead of 4th? Frasor, Downs, and Bautista should all be traded and could possibly bring back at least one piece that ends up being important for the future of the organization. Just my philosophy on it.
Also think about this, the worse record a team has, the higher in the draft order they are the following year, now I’m not saying teams should purposefully tank to get a better pick but if it becomes a forgone conclusion that your missing the playoffs, why not get what you can for expiring contracts and most likely get a better position in the next draft?
Anthopolous is great at talking a lot but saying very little. If you read the article, he really doesn’t say anything either way, and I’m sure @mlbastion only put a small part of what Alex said in the article.
Honestly I don’t think there is anything to read into this at all.
Yankees420 Ii has been 3 months if you include last sept, Bautista has hit more HR’s in the last 3 months of regular season baseball then anyone else. Not saying it will stay or anything however someone who is hitting for good power with a respectful OBP that can play almost any position on the field will net you something decent. Not a top 100 prospect likely but maybe 2 100-200 prospects.
Thanks for the correction, and yeah I could see some team desperate for power giving up one or two B-/C+ prospects.
im not suggesting the Jays could get a top tier type prospect for Bautista, but there are teams out there in a need that could give atleast a B or even C type prospect. Bautista can play multiple positions on the IN and OF so there are many teams out there that could be looking at him.
i know the Jays payroll is low and they have the room to add more money, but i would not want Bautista to be someone getting more money in the offseason.
i really have no interest in how many wins the Jays finish with. i can pretty much guarantee you that they will not be in a playoff race, so it does not really matter wheather they have 85 wins or 75 wins. your not really getting anything for winning a few more games if your not making the playoffs, if anything your worse because your putting yourself in a worse spot for drafting. im not saying dont care about winning, you still want to see the players continuing to try and win games. if you trade Bautista and use Encarnacion at 3B i doubt fans are going to be so upset that they dont come out to games anymore. you goal is to win a championship. if you can move players(like Bautista) to acquire players that will be a bigger help in the future then you do that.
now if the Jays were thinking about trading Bautista and using McDonald at 3B(or some other scrub) then i could see fans screaming WTF!! ..but its not like the Jays dont have a more capable player to replace Bautista, because as i said Encarnacion has had the better numbers in his career. i dont see Bautista as the 3B of the future. im not even sure i see Encarnacion as the 3B of the future, but i think Encarnacion has the higher ceiling. if/when Bautista is traded the Jays can use Encarnacion for the rest of the season to see what hes got. “maybe” Encarnacion can show the promise he had from earlier in Cincinnati. worse case he sucks and you dont offer him arbitration after the season and go after another 3B by either trade or free agency.