A look at the Blue Jays players who will be arbitration-eligible after the season…
- First time: Fred Lewis, Yunel Escobar, Jesse Litsch, Brandon Morrow
- Second time: Shaun Marcum, Casey Janssen, Dewayne Wise, Dustin McGowan
- Third time: Edwin Encarnacion, Shawn Camp, Jeremy Accardo, Taylor Buchholz
- Fourth time: Jose Bautista, Brian Tallet
Litsch probably won't be cut loose, as his cost shouldn't be too high given the time missed with Tommy John and hip surgery. Wise will be non-tendered. McGowan is a candidate, with another shoulder surgery done in June. Still, he could be retained for a salary similar to this year's $500K. Encarnacion has technically never gone to arbitration, having signed a two-year deal with the Reds. I imagine he'll be cut loose now. Buchholz had Tommy John surgery in June of '09, spent most of the year rehabbing for the Rockies, and was claimed by the Jays in September. The claim implies they'll at least consider tendering him a contract. Tallet and Accardo are too expensive to retain through arbitration.
Lewis, Escobar, Morrow, Marcum, Janssen, Camp, and Bautista will certainly be tendered contracts. Bautista should jump to the $6-8MM range, while everyone else should top a million bucks. There will be some decent, but not spectacular paydays in this mix.
I think they should lock up Bautista. He is ahving a great season and he is very versatile. Really turned in to our heart and soul. Tallet needs to be non-tendered. Yunel is under control for several more years as will Freddy so we need to give both 1 year deals. Edwin and Accardo should be non-tendered and Camp should be retained. Marcum needs to be locked up, Janssen needs to be kept. Wise probably should be kept and Morrow should be locked up.
I hope they give Mcgowan another spin, i know it might end up being money waisted, but the last thing you want is another carpenter situation..I’m not sure about cutting Accardo either, I know he had a tough go early in the season, but he’s putting together a pretty decent bid down in vegas, with downs, frasor and gregg possibly leaving after being offered arb it might be in the jays best interest to keep someone on staff who has a experience as a closer.
Good point about McGowan.
I’d also keep EE too, if lind moves to 1B next year we have an opening in the DH spot. I’m not a fan of EE on D, but his bat isn’t bad, and if he regains the strength in his wrists he could be the 2011 version of 2010 bautista. I’d non tender him and sign him to a cheaper contract though.
I’m not sure about Edwin Encarnacion. It’s not just his bat but he can’t stay healthy. I would honestly non-tender him and move Bautista to 3B with Snider in RF, Lewis in LF, and have the DH spot open.
Then who DH’s?? and personally bautista to me is so much more valuable in the outfield then 3b. I’d keep him in RF. I don’t mind parting ways with EE, but he shows flashes on potential, but falls out of favour a lot with his D. If a better option came available for Dh i would agree, but i doubt they sign a DH in the FA market, so if the spot is filled within we don’t have much to chose from.. I think I would stick Brad Emaus at 3rd and lead him off next year
Emaus-Escobar-Lind-Bautista-Snider-Wells-EE-Arencibia-Hill
Take a look at his stats — Bautista is not a good defensive outfielder. Assists sure, but has little range and made 3 awful plays already this week.
Not good at 3B either, but better than E5.
No one talks about it, but Bautista might be best suited for a move to 1B.
He’s not winning any gold gloves but his arm factor makes up for his range, he’s not hurting the team being in right field, and he’s a much much much better fielder then Fred Lewis.. if you are looking at defensive deficiencies 3b, and lf are too huge holes. Snider in to left. If you have Lind, bautista and Lewis, one has to be an outfielder one has to be a first baseman and one is sitting on the bench.. bautista is clearly the best defender so stays in the outfield, lind to first, lewis to bench.
Assists is so highly over-rated. Bautista is a not a good defender, and Snider is in fact a better defender. Look it up. Fred Lewis is a 4th outfielder, and a good one.
assists arent overrated, but i do agree about your point on snider and lewis.
Well the whole point would to have a DH by commitee or let some win the job out of ST and maybe that’s Edwin
No way — no chance Lind is an everyday 1B either. Move Bautista to first. Lind stays at DH.
How can you say that? Lind played first in college? and hasn’t looked out of place at all in the few games he’s played their this year… I’m not saying his Tex out there, but whether he can or cant play 1B everyday is yet to be determined..
I personally think that he’s young and shouldnt just be a DH, get him out there on D too.
I would just keep Snider-Wells-Bautista in the outfield permanently and put Lewis at DH. He is not a good outfielder and I know he is very below average compared to other DH’s but he still leads off for us and does a decent job.
I would non-tender E5 and try to look for a different 3B option.
I don’t like the lead off batter DH . . I don’t think I ever will. truly defeats the purpose of the ‘designate hitter’
OK then who will lead off? I’m not sure if there are 3rd baseman that leadoff or 1st baseman. Unless you would prefer Wells to DH and pick a leadoff center fielder such as Ellsbury for example. Snider has to get full playing time at LF, Bautista will stick at RF, Lind 1B, Wells DH, Ellsbury (example) CF and then you just need to find a 3B. This may be better if you can find a leadoff hitter that can play CF.
I would DH wells, but realistically he’s still not a bad fielder. I mean if you pickup a speedy lead off centerfielder, I would do a Bautista,ellsbury(example), wells outfield, Snider DH.. and plus a $23 million buck DH sounds disgusting lol..I would look high and low for a lead off 3B, i know there aren’t many, but on a team with 20 HR hitters everywhere, you can lack some power at 3rd. OR alternitavely you can move Hill to 3rd, and start Emaus, who looks mlb ready at this point at 2nd base. His OBP this year is around .400 (helped a lot by vegas’ park) but nontheless, the potential is thereSo I’d goEmaus(2b)-Escobar(ss)-Lind(1b)-Bautista(Rf)-Snider(lf)-Wells(CF) -Hill(3b)-Arencibia (c)-Encarnacion (DH)
I still have no idea how good Eamus is and whether or not he will be a starter or a bench player. Oh and Eamus can play 3rd base and I wouldn’t move Hill’s solid glove to 3rd base for Eamus. And he would just be a rookie and I’m not crazy about the idea of him leading off, not to mention Escobar plays a similar game but right now he is in a good spot.
Personally, I don’t care if Wells is DHing despite making 23 million. He is not getting traded so his value doesn’t matter and it would allow us to look for a lead-off CF until Gose is ready (I hope). Or like I suggested before, just have Lewis DH and everybody can stay in their outfield position and Lind moves to 1st base. I realize Lewis is not a pro-typical DH but does it really matter? We’ve got a bunch of other power hitters like basically everywhere in the line-up and Lewis already leads off for us and does an ok job I guess.
BTW E5 should not be back at all, period. Hard to argue after tonight’s game…
Eamus’ crazy walk and K rates make him very promissing. He even brings a little speed and power. He’s committed a TON of errors in Vegas, but I’ve been told that has a lot more to do with the field quality than his play. Given the injuries right now to the infield, I hope he gets a bunch of playing time in Sept., and could fill-in for/replace E5/Hill next year.
Yeah, McGowan was having a pretty nice 2007 before that first injury. He won’t stand to make anything through arbitration really, as he hasn’t pitched in the Majors since 2008. As you said, it might be wasted money but it wouldn’t be that much. He’d be worth the risk, though I guess it depends on if he’ll be ready for Opening Day 2011. If he will be, then yeah they should retain him.
They are very skeptical of him ever pitching again. He pitched in 1 minor league game and his velocity was down below 90 and his control all over the place, then they determined that his shoulder cartilidge didn’t rest in the spot it should have post surgery. So surgery again, we’ll see what happens, but if he ever records another out in the bigs again after 3 major surgeries he should be applauded.
I bet guys like Marcum take notice. They all know that this could easily happen to them, and i bet Marcum signs long-term this winter (if the jays feel there isnt too much injury risk with him).
I’m sure they realize how lucky they are to come back, but Marcum and Mcgowans injuries were totally different. Tommy John is serious, but everyone and their coach is having them these days, so the success rate to return back to normal is a lot higher then frayed labrum shoulder surgery. I do think Marcum does get an extension, maybe a 3/$15 with a few club options.
The way decent free agents are signing bargain deals, I would be willing to let EE go to see what is available. You can get a better cheaper bat on the market.
but you could technically non tender him then sign him for a cheaper deal…
What better, cheaper bats are available?
Believe it or not, E5 is almost Type B right now. I assume this is why is playing every day — trying to pump up his Elias ranking. They can outright him and still offer arbitration yeah?
To get free agent compensation, you have to offer arbitration and have the player decline. Players who aren’t eligible to elect for free agency can’t decline arbitration.
Is there not a scenario where the team opts-out…
Ack..reading Cot’s now…
So he doesnt have a contract for next season, but is 3rd year arbitration eligible. What a bad contract Cincy gave him. So the only recourse the Jays have, is to release him in the winter. Then why is he playing right now?
I, like many people, want to see players locked up after an awesome season in the hopes that it’s a perennial trend we’re witnessing in its infancy, rather than the aberration we hope it is not. The players feels the same way about their numbers, but the contract is a complex question. Sacrifice potential tens of millions down the line for security now, or take the security in the very real chance that this is their career year and if they put up numbers even just half as good (which would still be excellent) they’ll hurt they negotiating powers down the line. If I was Bautista I’d go to arbitration, try to max out the single year contract number and then pray that I put up AT LEAST 36 HR’s and 100 RBI’s. Because right now the Blue Jays still unequivocally have all the negotiating power. If I were the Jays I’d be thinking about a 3 year/$22.5MM offer and really nothing more. Maybe push it to $25MM thanks to a nice signing bonus. Other than that, if he asks for more, wait it out.
I agree with that, I think that a lot of players stop puting in the extra work needed to be have great seasons as soon as they become set a bit financially, call it the Aj burnette syndrome.. I fear, like Lind that if bautista is locked up that a complacent attitude might set in leading to a decline in numbers. The reverse is of course that he tries so hard to repeat his stats to live up to his contract, that he grips the bat to tight, a la aaron hill. . Its a tough decision, because if he does repeat a 30HR, 100 rbi performance next year then it will cost the jays big bucks to lock him down
Is John Buck a free agent?
yup.
Yes, and will be gone returning draft pick compensation.
What about Frasor? His arbitration status offering may depend on the Type A or Type B designation. The Jays love their draft picks but do they risk Frasor accepting arbitration and the accompanying raise? On the other hand, Gregg will be cut loose and Downs will not be resigned so does Toronto risk going into 2011 with a proven starting staff and an unproven bullpen. Ask the Diamondbacks how that worked out.
He’s no longer under team control.
Frasor would get a multi-year deal, so he wont accept arbitration. But if he is Type A, the Jays would be looking at Supplemental pick and a 2nd or 3rd depending on other signings (no team in the back half of the draft would give up their first round pick for him). Im sure that is what the Jays are expecting, and are still super happy with that scenario.
EE is gone next year. Bautista stays as a rover, 6.6 mill over 4 years. The guy that is most likely gone in the outfield is Lewis.
the jays will offer arb to frasor/downs/gregg/buck. worst case scenario is that the player accepts, they dont have many good relievers in the farm right now, so another year out of those guys would be nice.
Toronto has contract options on Gregg
-release as free agent, or
– 1 yr at $4.5M
– 2 yr at something like $8.7M(total)
They might elect to keep him arounf 1 yr
Release Release Release…. he’s a type b right? take the pick… if the jays plan to convert a home grown talent in to their future closer, should give them a chance to close some games out next year.. Rzepchynski, Purcey, Robbie Ray, Whoever Whoever… I wonder if perhaps moving forward the jays put a guy like Marcum in as the closer?
Funny this is… Gregg is getting close to type A (yeah I know, not really funny).
We need Frasor and Gregg to suck enough to be Type B.
I agree with the release Gregg comment. but I don’t understand relevance of type or type b. I understood(or perhaps misunderstood ) that type or b is relevant only if the team is offering arbitration. If the team offers arbitration then you could end up “stuck” with the player
Does anybody think we should keep Wise? He’s not that bad and may be worth keeping around.
Out of all those guys, Tallet is 110% gone. He is flat out terrible, EE should be cut loose as well.
keep Edwin and DH him next year,when hes healthy he has flashed power but hits for a low average.put bautista at third,snider in left,wells in center,lewis in Right and then move lind to first like you planned.keep wise as a pinch runner and defensive replacement,thats where hes good at and has most value.lock up bautista and downs.let morrow perform another year this has been his only good year in the majors let him prove hes over the consistentcy problems
lewis is not a good oreven average rf.
Heck, he’s below average in left. Unfortunatly he’s still better as a fielder than any of Lind, Snider or Bautista, and a better option for lead-off than anyone on the team save Escobar.
We should cut E5, he doesnt fit with the team. We already have enough low average, power hitting players. Look at this past year, we are hitting the most HR’s in baseball. Yet we are not scoring tons of runs, because we dont get anyone on base. We need someone to play near the top of the order and let the HR guys (pretty much the rest of the team) to hit them in….
I would keep Lewis or Wise. Lewis has done quite well but Wise is obviously a better fielder and if Gaston was still around he would be the better fit, considering bench plaers dont really play… so it all depends on what type of manger we have next year.
I wish the jays would make a pitch for Alex Gordon from KC. He is considered a bust there but with a change of scenery who knows. We need a 3rd baseman and well this guy has HUGE potential if he ever lives up to it….dont know what it would take to get him but at least find out
Oh and also Yonder Alonso to play 1st from Cincinnati…with Votto in the way i could see them dealing this potential stud away as he has no where else to play. Make the call AA!!