Blue Jays hurlers Brett Cecil and Kyle Drabek and drawing attention from scouts of other teams, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter). The team is reluctant to move Drabek while his value is down, however. He was acquired in the Roy Halladay trade and considered one of the game's 30 best prospects just one year ago by Baseball America.
Cecil, 25, pitched to a 4.73 ERA in 123 2/3 innings for Toronto last season. His velocity had dropped noticeably, and he spent a dozen starts in Triple-A trying to figure things out. Drabek, 24, posted a 6.06 ERA with more walks (55) than strikeouts (51) in 78 2/3 innings last season. He spent another 75 ineffective innings in Triple-A. The left-handed Cecil is under team control through 2015, the right-handed Drabek through 2017.
Earlier today Rosenthal reported that the Jays were in the market to add starting pitching, not necessarily subtract it. They've spoken to the White Sox about Gavin Floyd and GM Alex Anthopoulos recently scouted Joe Blanton of the Phillies. Nationals' left-hander John Lannan is said to be available as well. The Jays could be willing to move either Cecil or Drabek for a more established pitcher with a similar amount of team control years remaining.
Yeah they’re not going anywhere
I wonder if Epstein makes a Garza deal with the Jays.
He’d rather have Turner.
As a Jays fan I would like to see that. I was always impressed by Garza when he was with the Rays (he always killed Toronto).
If there was one thing preventing the Jays trading for Garza, I feel it might be the length of his contract. Considering how young Toronto is, I don’t think they’d want to give up a couple of stud prospects for a guy who could leave after 2013.
Probably not…Anthopoulos seems to only cough up C and D+ prospects. I doubt Epstein agrees to AA’s terms.
Edit – with two exceptions…Michael Taylor & Brett Wallace. But, in both cases, he traded them for a younger prospect with a higher ceiling (Taylor for Wallace and Wallace for Gose).
I’d still rather see a trade happen with Detroit, though signing Fielder probably makes that much less likely.
Comparing Drabek to Halladay is … interesting.
I’m not saying he won’t turn it around, just that you can’t really compare two guys just because they struggled as rookies.
They have similar pedigrees as prospects. However, Halladay’s is a little stronger being ranked 12th as a minor league prospect. Conversely, his struggles were greater than Drabek’s.
I don’t know much about Drabek but I do know that Halladay’s reemergence came from his developing new / more breaking pitches, re-tooling his mechanics and working on his command.
Has Drabek done any of these things?
Halladay biggest change was the arm slot
In addition to his preparation/mindset. I truly think that was the key in his development.
Yes…they have modified his mechanics. He had too much “tail off” when following through in his delivery. Ricky Romero had a similar problem in AA. Drabek is now focused on eliminating the tail-off. Will probably start in AAA to get an opportunity to develop consistent execution. The team expects Drabek to develop better command with the improved mechanics.
For Halladay, Blue Jays had to completely redefine his mechanics. For Drabek, it seems more like a refinement as opposed to redefining.
Fair enough. Thanks for the insight.
No problem…I know his stats from last season look like a complete disaster. However, scouts still say he has 2 plus pitches which gives him No 2 starter potential if he gets his command in order.
double post
I’m not crazy over Floyd, Blanton or Lannan despite them probably eating up more innings. I’m not opposed to trading Cecil, but I really think he will have a bounceback year and am interested to see how he performs. I am completely against Drabek being traded because much like Snider, this organization seems to have strong faith in him to one day find his groove and like the article said, his value is at its lowest right now, so it would not make much sense to do it regardless.
Neither Drabek or Cecil has to be traded if Jays acquire another starter. Drabek has two seasons of optional assignments remaining. Cecil might have one left. This web page listed players who are out of options. Cecil wasn’t on the list.
I didn’t say anything about options, unless you were just adding on. But Cecil would still be in the rotation even if we acquire someone else.
Someone has to be moved out of the rotation if Jays acquire a starting pitcher. If not by trade or assignment to the minors, then into the bullpen as a swingman which pushes aside Carlos Villanueva.
I see Drabek and Cecil as relievers one day, excellent ones in a perfect world. Whether that’s for the Blue Jays is another thing.
and, yes the Jays did well enough in the Halladay deal. but then again we’re talking about Ruben Amaro J, who rivals Kenny Williams when it comes to getting a little too, uh, excited (politically-corrected for new MLBTR rules) about the immediate prospects of “getting” a superstar/super model
You can’t give up on drabek yet.
Cecil take what you can get for him.
the name Drabek would look good on the back of Pirate uni again
Drabek strikes me as a head case. He read and reread his press clippings on the way up and believed everything that was said about him. Too bad. Perhaps, the not so spectacular beginning he has enjoyed since being brought up by the Jays will sober his outlook enough to turn him into a good pitcher. He has the tools and is still young. During the few times I have seen him throw he tried to nibble the corners rather than going after the hitters he faced with hard stuff.
Maybe manager John Farrell and pitching coach Bruce Walton can bring him around. Should be interesting to watch in 2012.