The Blue Jays added to their outfield mix today by acquiring speedster Rajai Davis from the Athletics for minor league relievers Danny Farquhar and Trystan Magnuson. The Jays also released righty Shawn Hill, according to a press release.
Davis, 30, became more expendable for Oakland after they acquired David DeJesus from the Royals. Davis slipped to .284/.320/.377 this year in 561 plate appearances for the A's, playing all three outfield positions but mainly center. It's not clear how the Jays will employ him, but capable center fielders are a rare commodity. We named him as a trade candidate back on October 25th. Davis is arbitration eligible for the second time this winter and potentially under team control through 2013.
Farquhar, 24 in February, posted a 3.52 ERA, 9.3 K/9, 4.9 BB/9, and 0.82 HR/9 in 76 2/3 Double-A innings this year. Baseball America ranked him 14th among Jays prospects heading into the season, noting that he effectively uses multiple arm angles to keep hitters off balance. The Blue Jays reportedly offered him to the Marlins as part of a deal for Dan Uggla.
Magnuson, a 25-year-old righty, posted a 2.58 ERA, 7.7 K/9, and 1.2 BB/9 with only one home run allowed in 73 1/3 Double-A innings this year. Heading into the season BA had him 22nd among Jays prospects.
Hill, 30 in April, has undergone Tommy John surgery twice in his career but was solid in 15 pro starts this year.
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first tweeted the deal was close, while MLBTR added Magnuson's inclusion.
Just a really good move by AA.
Two guys who could potentially step into bullpen roles by the end of 2011 for a fourth outfielder.
Nice.
mediocre bullpen arms are a dime a dozen… Finding an athletic center fielder who can steal bases is not… Another solid move, very similar to the Wallace for Gose trade where a much harder to find type of talent is acquired for quality, but replaceable talent that is easy to come by.
Only problem being that Davis is 30 years old and Gose is like 21 but I get your point.
He’s not a centerfielder! he’s a fast 30 year old baseball player. Not a starter on a good team, and about to get more expensive than he is worth through arbitration. There is no way the Jays intend on making him their full time starter let alone in CF
He can play CF. He posted a 8 UZR in 2009 (although -8 in 2010). Lol.
I agree ! And why not wait until after the deadline to offer arbitration ? Davis was a lock to be non tendered and then we could have picked him up for nothing. Its not like the A’s don’t have 8 outfielders of their own to find spots for(yes i know im exagerating). Still, just because the Marlins didn’t want these guys doesn’t mean they were useless.
If Davis had been non-tendered, there’s a good chance many teams would have tried to sign him. Giving up two minor league relievers to avoid competition is a solid risk for a team to take.
not really for a player of this caliber
Teams wouldn’t be interested in a plus defender with 50 SB on his resume?
I’m probably overvaluing the prospects the Jays gave up. Davis is definitely a decent player but not a starter on most teams. He’s expensive for a 4th OF too.
Agreed on the “replaceability” of bullpen arms, but there’s no way Davis is going to play center with Wells’ contract out there.
And we all saw first hand that Davis isn’t a capable starter when he put up a .320 OBP when given a starting role last year.
In the end, this is a very even trade. Magnuson and Farquhar are both interesting bullpen pieces, but they’re both still minor leaguers and Davis is a solid athlete, but he’s still a fourth outfielder.
yeah but his .280 avg is better than anyone else on the team (now that buck is gone) all he needs to do is improve his walks, which with good coaching can help. And yes, of course he won’t be playing center.. In AA we trust, has he made a bad move yet?? Obviously he has something up his sleeve to make these relievers replaceable
You don’t think the coaching staff in Oakland tried to help him with pitch recognition and laying off pitches?
86 walks in 1455 big league plate appearances = 6% walk rate
246 walks in 2732 minor league plate appearances = 9% walk rate
I’d love to meet the hitting coach who can fix that. Maybe that coach can take a look at Corey Patterson as well. If Raj was 23, I’d be on board with you, but at 30, he is what he is.
he wont walk more but his hr slg and ops are going to go up. skydome is a more friendly confines to hit in… he is a better dwayne wise. he will spell our o/f throughout the season and pinch run.
+1
i didnt mean he was replacing him, simply he is of CF quality, which is not nearly as easy to come by as a reliever
hmm a couple interesting bullpen pieces going to Oakland, now I’m REALLY curious to how the Jays plan on (re)building a bullpen this year.
Also, this seems like a pretty balanced trade, I have no clue who’s going to win out on this.
Jays badly needed some one to lead off, and had some spare bullpen arms… seems like the trade made sense for both sides
Good luck with Rajai leading off. He’s got speed to burn, but he can’t take a pitch to save his life.
He posted a .360 OBP in 2009, 2007 which is pretty good by Jays standards.
He doesn’t need to. Dwayne Murphy will have him swinging from the heels and he’ll hit 35 home runs in 2011…..
Assuming that Davis will make about $3M in arbitration and was a non tender candidate in Oakland after Crisp was resigned and DeJesus was acquired I think that Toronto way overpaid for for Rajai. He is not a good leadoff man or center fielder.
They should call themselves the Blue Jais.
or we could call him Rajay Davis
lol good one
First trade that AA hasn’t won.
haha give it time man, let’s let either of the 2 RPs actually do something in the majors first
by whose standards?
It’s just 2 ok relievers that aren’t really worth much. Davis isn’t worth much either but at least he gives this team something: speed which has been lacking for years. I don’t think he’ll leadoff unless he somehow manages to get around .350 OBP but he is still a decent player who will fit in nicely.
It’s not a mind blowing trading but a good trade for both sides.
he didn’t lose either
you serious? why is so many people QQing over 2 minor league relievers? When AA just acquired somebody who can potentially have a significant impact on the dynamic of our offense next year? an OF who can steal 30+ for two relievers who haven’t touched the majors..? I’d make that trade anyday. His BA and OBP are above average for Jays standards too
good move AA is going to have to build bullpen now i bet he pulls off a few trades and sign a big free agent
i don’t understand this sentiment. please tell me which of Farquar or Magnusen was definitely going to be in the Jays bullpen next year?
neither
25 year old AA relievers are not good candidates for the bullpen. Maybe he picks up some 22 year old AA pitchers through Rule 5 drafs.
Shame JP never held onto Randy Wells
… Not sure why Hill was released. Is Alex planning a big run on the Rule 5 draft or something?
Though I’ve always been a little irrational in my liking of Shawn Hill, since he’s from my hometown.
I was a bit confused about the Hill thing as well.
+1 on Shawn Hill. Just the type of reclamation project I can see Theo Epstein taking a look at.
lol nothing like an absolutely ridiculous way to hype theo.
is that mississauga or georgetown? they always seem to tout him as being from one of those two places. I’m pretty sure he went to E.C. Drury or Bishop whatever in Milton, so that complicates it further. I grew up in the ‘saug, but now i’m in georgetown.
he’s not a BAD pitcher by any stretch of the imagination, he could easily be a middle of the rotation starter if he can stay healthy, I dont get the release either.. Unless ofcourse he asked for it so he can go find a job as a starter somewhere.
I’d assume that’s what he did and I think AA was nice enough to grant him that. He would likely be a reliever here which wouldn’t be a bad thing considering his arm.
AA has something up his sleeve. He always does.
Arms. And we all do.
Well most of us anyways (sorry to any one or no armers out there)
No worries, most no-armers can’t type.
AA definitely has a few quality arms up his sleeve(s).
The Jays have potentially 10 SP ready for the show. So five need to play somewhere.
more like 7, 10 is a little much
Morrow/Romero/Marcum/Cecil/Drabek /RZep/Stewart/Mills/Richmond/Litsch/Ray
Looks like a great deal for the Jays. A lead-off hitting, base stealing CF for nothing but a couple of minor league relief pitchers.
To another uninformed Jays fan, good luck with Rajai leading off. Just because a guy has speed doesn’t mean he’s a leadoff hitter.
He posted a .360 OBP in 2009, 2007 which is pretty good by Jays standards.
I’ll give you 2009, but he had only 190 at bats in 2007.
Whatever, he was basically free.
you still have to pay him, which is probably why the A’s got rid of him. they probably wouldn’t have tendered him a contract anyways
He posted .320 OBP in 2010 which is also pretty good by Jays standards for a right-handed batter.
The jury is out on this one. Rajai looks to be a bit too inconsistent and there’s no way of telling how the prospects will turn out; could swing either way. Certainly not a slam-dunk win for either GM at this point.
This trade to me says the Jays will move Bautista to 3rd and Lewis/Davis split time in RF.
There is absolutely NO WAY that Fred Lewis will play half the games in RF for the Blue Jays next year.
Lewis’s defense is just horrible, and he’s not that fast. Rajai is a way better defender and base stealer
Well I think Davis is more of an everyday player than Lewis. Davis starts 130 games or so? I’m just saying that we all know Wells is stamped in CF. Snider in LF. There could be some games where Bautista plays right while McDonald plays 3rd. Or, AA isn’t done making moves.
AA isn’t done making moves and I’m positive that he won’t bring back Lewis. Lewis is just bad.
I’m not disagreeing with you. I would like to get an everyday 3rd baseman and keep Jose in the outfield. But that’s just me.
What I’m worried about with all these guys the jays are dfaing is why hasn’t Lewis been released yet ??? I would have sworn Hill would have been much more valuable then Lewis is, but it looks like AA knows something.
I think AA won this deal, he got a MLB player for 2 guys who likely won’t make it or might be one of those injury callup types. The jays have lots of Pitchers who can go to the pen because they won’t win starting jobs.
Let’s see how Farqs and Maggs does in the PCL.
I’m OK with this as a Jays fan. It’s November. Let’s see how the rest of the pieces of the puzzle shake out. If they’re counting on Davis to be their every day leadoff hitter and starting left fielder, I’ll be a bit concerned, but who knows what the plan is as of today. Davis is an OK piece.
the A’s are taking a huge risk with their team they’re gonna have the most fragile outfield next year,they seriously need to find durable players.
wait? Who are the fragile outfielders?
Coco Crisp, Conor Jackson, Ryan Sweeney. And with the A’s history of injuries, I wouldn’t be surprised if David DeJesus went on the DL this upcoming season.
I wouldn’t be surprised either if they non-tendered Jackson it would be a mistake they need depth in the OF.The loss of Rajai doesn’t make sense to me because he was one of the few durable players the A’s had and if they get injured early Michael Taylor would have to be rushed.
They have Michael Taylor waiting in AAA
I know but the A’s outfield is so fragile Sweeney had a season-ending injury, Crisp played only 75 games spent half the season on the DL, if DeJesus gets injured too Taylor may be rushed to the majors. I wanna see him take his time and be ready when he comes up.
I definitely see your point but a team doesn’t have enough roster space to keep 5 or 6 OFers around just because some of them are injury prone. It is unlikely that ALL of them get injured anyways.
I’m trying to wrap my head around all of the A’s moves so far: Give up Rajai and Mazarro and get back two Minor League Relievers and David DeJesus.
Davis and DeJesus are a wash (especially when you consider that DD will cost 3-4M more this year) and that leaves us with Mazzaro for to MiLB RP’s. I haven’t disliked any of the A’s moves so far this year, but they don’t seam to be in our favor when you put them all together.
Don’t forget Edwin Encarnacion! (Despite the fact that you might want to)
DeJesus =/= Rajai Davis… not even close.
The A’s are going to have one of the best pitching staffs in baseball for several years to come.
Both these guys are relievers.
…And what do you think a reliever does?
relieve?
himself?
Might’ve made sense had he said ‘starting.’
These were guys that AA was looking to move (offered one of them in the Uggla trade). Davis is a good option for left feild and Snider is going to move to right. Bautista becomes an everyday 3rd baseman. Now all the jays need is a first basement and a couple of good bullpen arms and they are set for 2011.
The Blue Jays need to catch up. The Rangers are already working on their 4th basement.
i’ll never forget my first basement, it had a futon
plus a left fielder.
This is more like the Maybin for Webb+Mujica deal. However, in this case, Davis has proven that he can hit big league pitching (though not tremendously) and the two relievers sent Oakland’s way haven’t retired a hitter north of AA ball (no, that doesn’t mean Alex Anthopolous ball). So on a relative scale the Jays made off far better than the Padres did.
4th OF – PR for Manny?
HAHA
yes x2
Who fields LF better – Lind or Manny?
Snider
Fine move. Other than Shawn Hill release. Maybe AA saw something we didn’t.
Hill’s probably going for another tommy john.
he does them himself now, he has a home kit
Bullpen arms are easily replaceable…. – Josh Byrnes
…on second thought I would rather have uggla…soon to be overpaid fourth outfielder…strikes out all the time…and has no power…first bad move by AA
I don’t think the Jays got hosed by any means but I like this deal from the A’s perspective. Farquhar and Magnuson are more valuable than Mazzaro and Marks whom they gave up for DeJesus. Sure Davis would have been around more years, but DeJesus is obviously better. I think the A’s win both moves (though more so the DeJesus trade), and look really good in the grand scheme of things.
Meet the Jays next 50 HR man.
Rajai will run wild on whomever Boston & NYY have behind the plate.
Hard to be upset about this deal either way, both relievers are ready for the majors, AA’s willingness to give them up suggests he may be in the midst of signing a few free agent relievers.
That being said I don’t see Davis starting, I see him as a late inning pitch runner. Maybe start 1 or 2 games a week and have Wells DH and what not. . He basically replaces what Wise did last year.
Magnuson was Rule 5 eligible, and both pitchers were repeating double A at 24-25 yrs old. Davis is a great 4th OF, which is what he’ll be in Toronto.
Magnuson was a 5th yr senior sign and jays unsuccesfully tried to convert him to SP. He went back to SP the last 2 seasons and dominated. The other reliever is 23.
Magnuson has NOT started since 08 when he went 0-9 with 5.40 ERA. He has dominated, but as a relief pitcher.
Also I don’t see Wells moving over.. I mean if we aquired Rasmus, then your talking, but i doubt very much he moves over for Davis..
i like the idea of Rasmus, but I still have to think someone is asking Wells to take to RF if they’re intent on giving Davis the opportunity to bat leadoff every day.
perhaps if Davis is given the opportunity to play every day, then maybe.. but he might have to earn that right. .. guess i’ll wait to see the roster filled out
Not sure how anyone can disagree with this deal from a Jays perspective? AA gives up two RP that have never pitched above AA, and are both in their mid 20’s. The Jays need some more team speed as mentioned by their new manager, and wanted to do different things besides hit HR this year. This gives them a speedy STARTING outfielder who could leadoff, what other option do the Jays have? Last year Snider was their leadoff hitter at times…. Davis is definitely an upgrade, and will be a starting OF, Guaranteed.
Very good move by AA. We finally have some one who can steal…
My guess is he struck out on plan A and went to plan B.
Plan A: Acquire Uggla for 2B, Move Hill to 3B and Leave Bautista in RF
Plan B: Acquire a RF, Leave Hill at 2B and mmove Bautista to 3B
At least thats what i got, but AA is alway a tricky guy. He said he would only move Bautista or Hill to 3B if he acquired an impact player at one of their positions to justify a position change. Is Davis an impact player? Maybe Hill or one of the OFs are on their way out.
If not i really like the addition of Davis… He has speed and thats what the Jays need, 30 – 50 SB will be huge for us… Either way i am not getting too excited, i sitll expect the Jays to finish no higher than 4th. But at least i can watch a good game or two down at the Rogers Centre.
RF: Davis
2B: Hill
CF: Wells
3B: Bautista
1B: Lind
DH: Manny?
LF: Snider
SS: Escabor
C: Arencibia
hill 2nd??? no no no, escobar 2nd… have u seen his bunting skills? and manny for dh is a joke lol
when will Jays fans finally understand that Aaron Hill is NOT a number 2 hitter?
I’m THRILLED to have Davis out of the AL West. He KILLED Texas the last few seasons. I’m surprised Oakland traded him away. They say they wanna upgrade their offense, then trade away 50-60 stolen bases. Makes no sense.
The most significant part of this deal is the money that Davis is going to make. You can’t just look at it at face value and say the Jays got the better deal. The A’s would have probably non-tendered him. Davis will be a great 4th outfielder, but also a very expensive one at around $3M.
I’m not saying this trade favored one team or another. I see it as basically even. Just trying to explain why this isn’t the Jays getting a player for peanuts.
Y’know there is a middle ground between “lead-off hitter” and “4th outfielder” everyone.
Yeah, like a far better guy to stick in the nine hole than Snider…I like the trade, at worst he’s a great fourth outfielder and at best a decent lead-off hitter. With all the money coming off the books the Jays can’t be worried about paying $3 million or whatever for a bench player.
280 avg and 50 stolen bases is hard to do from the bench… lewis seems better fit for 4th outfielder. let davis run crazy on the base paths who cares if his obp is 330 for his career, if h’se still stealing 40-50 then hes obviously making the most of his chances while still hitting for a solid avg. and not to mention with escobar hitting u could get pretty creative with hit and runs etc.
Still on the fence about this deal. Davis is arb eligible, 30 years old, and way too similar to fred lewis for me. Sure Fred’s garbage on defense and can’t really steal, Davis does both those things but look at their offensive numbers. Lewis is a better hitter. Period. So while Lewis cost the Jays $75k, Davis costs the Jays two specs in a bullpen that is looking really raw next year anyway, plus Davis’ contract. I get what Davis brings to the table, the defense, the speed, the potential to lead off etc. Look at his splits though, sub .700 ops against RHP? 3 full seasons in the majors at 30 years old? Only one of those seasons was actually good? It’s a questionable move for me and I’d love AA to prove me wrong by finding Davis steady playing time so he can get those 50 steals. However, if he flops, this move, as well as missing out on Dan Uggla will be a couple nasty stains on an otherwise impressive young career by a GM I like alot.
Its moves like these that the casual fan shrugs off, but are the ones that reward a team more than acquiring a big name player