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.
Really? You’re going to give up on Drabek that quickly, and not give d’Arnaud or Gose a chance?
That catching prospect that’s considered one of the top 15 best prospects in baseball says hello, and Drabek still has a chance to more than pan out, and Gose has yet to contribute in the majors, but hey, they got fleeced.
One bad year as a rookie. GUESS HE’S A BUST. You know who had over a 10 era his rookie year? Roy Halladay. What a bust he turned out to be.
A) Drabek isn’t a bust yet. Had a terrible year. That does tend to happen with young pitchers. See: Halladay, Lester, Buchholtz etc etc.
B) Travis D’arnaud is essentially unanimously considered to be the #1 catching prospect in baseball. Gose (who the Jays acquired by flipping Taylor for Wallace, and then Wallace for Gose) is in most experts top 100 prospects lists – as high as 26th on one BA list. Even if Drabek is a total bust, they got some serious value in return.
C) Halladay (supposedly) was only going to accept a trade to THREE teams. Yanks, Red Sox, Phillies. Yankee fans on here were writing things like “Jays are screwed. We’ll send you Joba and Brett Gardiner. Take it or leave it.’
It’s hard to imagine any team would get full value for trading someone like Halladay, but all things considered it looks right now like Toronto did quite well.
The net result for the Blue Jays in the Halladay deal was Drabek, d’Arnaud and Gose. In the end, Halladay had made it known to AA that he demanded a trade but that he would accept a trade to one team only (the Phillies). AA’s hands were tied, but yet he still managed to get d’Arnaud and Gose (who are the current top 2 prospects in a very deep farm system) and Drabek who is one year removed from being a top-25 prospect overall. That’s a long ways from being “fleeced”.
There’s only one Roy Halladay…
But considering that the Jays were negotiating with zero leverage with a single team, they did exceptionally well to effectively score Drabek, D’Arnaud and Gose: three high-ceiling guys who are all expected to produce for the Jays in the near future.
Drabek was the 2nd highest ranked high school prospect in the 2006 draft and 22nd highest ranked minor league prospect. It wouldn’t be too bright to give up on him because he had a bad season at age 23. Especially when scouts say he still has two plus pitches.
I have to think that at least 75% of MLB GMs make that Halladay deal for Drabek, d’Arnaud, and Michael Taylor if they were in the shoes of the Blue Jays’ GM at the time. So even if none of the remaining remaining pieces pan out, I still wouldn’t call it a fleecing.
As flawed as your logic is, you do touch on something that I’ve noticed here and in other blogs and that is that Blue Jays fans have placed exceptionally high expectations on Drabek (last year), d’Arnaud (this year), and Gose (this and next year) seemingly because these are the guys that they now have to show for the departed fan favorite Halladay. d’Arnaud may well turn out to be a decent major leaguer, but my hunch is that A.J. Jimenez will wind up being the Blue Jays catcher for most this decade and into the next one – he’s simply a better receiver and thrower and really only loses out to d’Arnaud offensively in the HR department. Gose is more of a question mark as a prospect from the hitting side- the defensive and baserunning skills are clearly there but he hasn’t shown much improvement at the plate as he’s progressed up the major league ladder.
Considering Halladay forced his way to Philadelphia, acquiring Drabek, D’Arnaud, and Anthony Gose is far from a fleecing…
D’Arnaud has the makings of a future superstar and Drabek is still young enough to rebound. Gose has a high cieling too. (Yes I know he wasn’t in the original deal but I consider him to be).
Anytime you trade Roy Halladay you are going to get fleeced. What is the most surprising is that more teams weren’t willing to give up more than what Philly was offering to get the best pitcher in baseball.
It was at that moment that Anthopoulos realized that the new market efficiency was trading prospects for elite players.
straight trolling as per usual
spark up something you cant defend so you just run and hide
Your pessimism is showing.
I think Drabek’s got what it takes to turn it around. It might just not happen with the Jays – maybe he gets moved somewhere, earns a spot in the rotation right out of ST, and becomes a viable MOR starter, as has been projected.
Yes, at 24 years old he’s bust. Forget the fact that D’Arnaud is one of the top 10 prospects in baseball and Roy Halladay HAD to be traded and only to the Phillies. Ignorance is bliss.
Tremendous insights Professor!
24 yr old’s don’t figure it out after failing once & don’t even bother with the those other prospects.
Excellent analysis.
The guy’s just trolling. Reasoning it useless.
My pessimism is showing? I thought i wore a longer skirt.
Agreed 100%
So glad Blue Jays got rid of that Roy kid when he had a 10 ERA . . . what was his last name again?
Brandon Beachy may grow into another Roy Halladay. His stuff is the nasty good
well gose was not part of the halladay trade sooooo….
Yes, Taylor was acquired in the Halladay deal… But Taylor was almost
immediately traded straight up for Brett Wallace. Brett Wallace was then
traded straight up for Gose. I think it is quite fair to say that the
acquisition of Gose is part of the net result for the Blue Jays as part
of the Halladay trade.
Well if we got Taylor in the trade, then dealt him 1 for 1 for Wallace, then 1 for 1 for Gose, then why wouldn’t you consider him part of the trade?
The suggestion is:
Halladay struggled his rookie year. Therefore Drabek could become a good pitcher.
“Blue Jays fans have placed exceptionally high expectations on Drabek
(last year), d’Arnaud (this year), and Gose (this and next year)
seemingly because these are the guys that they now have to show for the
departed fan favorite Halladay”
I think fans place high expectations on Darnaud because he’s the #1 ranked catching prospect in MLB, and one of the higher ranked prospects in any position in MLB. Not because he was part of the Halladay trade.
In TO thus far it hasn’t really been about fans having high expectations for those three guys at all to be honest. As someone who listens to pretty much all the FAN590 post game call in shows, fans two years ago were constantly calling and asking when Brett Wallace would be called up from Vegas. Last year it was Lawrie people kept calling about (way more pressure put on him and he wasn’t part of that deal).
So while I see what the ;logic in what you said I disagree with it because those three players don’t really get discussed all that much. That is likely to change this year though with Gose and d’Arnaud being in AAA.
200 Ks
…and you didn’t even mention Wallace’s fielding.
uhhhhhhh, que?
There are about 30 prospect pitchers I would say could be the next Doc before Beachy.
No he won’t.
Because the phillies didn’t trade him. Im sure the blue jays initially asked for Gose instead of going through the Astros for him. It’s E Wade that traded Gose, not the phillies. Taylor hasn’t amounted too much so right now D’Arnaud is the only win out of that deal so far.
What difference does it make if they directly traded him or not?! Nobody is hating is on what the Phillies gave up, we’re discussing the Jays. Therefore looking at Drabek, Gose and D’Arnaud.
It is still way too early to say who won or lost this trade.