The Blue Jays dabbled in the Prince Fielder market this past offseason, and today GM Alex Anthopoulos told Jim Bowden on MLB Network Radio that he would still like to add an impact bat.
"[If] I had to pick one area [to improve], you'd love to get one more bat," said the GM. "That's not to take anything away from our offense – 'cause we were top five in the American League in offense last year and I think we're improved – but you just see how over six months having that great offense can really carry you … One more middle of the order bat right now would be outstanding to just wear down the other teams."
Toronto came into today with 54 runs scored, the fifth most in the AL despite sluggish starts from Jose Bautista (.222/.348/.417) and J.P. Arencibia (.063/.118/.156). With Adam Lind showing signs of life after two down years, the most obvious spot for an offensive upgrade would be left field, although Eric Thames likely has a long leash and Travis Snider is lurking in Triple-A.
Don’t let all the fans who wanted Votto get to your head AA.
If only there was a six month period between the end of one season and the start of the next during which teams could modify their roster.
Yeah cause spending $250 Million on one player is a great idea
I imagine AA still isn’t looking for a free agent bat. If he’s adding anyone, he’s trading pieces away — at ;east the position for which he’s trading. If he trades for a 1B, Lind is being dealt with whatever prospect makes the deal.
I would much rather increase our starting rotation strength rather than our offence. I think our offence is already a lot better than our pitching so I don’t see we would improve it when we could improve our pitching. Pitching wins championships.
pitching costs too much
Who wouldn’t want to add an impact bat?
Or they could just bring Snider up….
LOL…good one.
No no no…
Just because he snapped a bat over his knee last year doesn’t make him an impact bat
Mark Reynolds would love to play for you!
OMG!
I think I just puked.
Why are you unsure?
he strikes out to much
Only upgradable position I see is LF.
They tried to get Beltran but failed.
It’s not easy adding an impact bat, but blue jays have the prospects to get it done.
1B is very upgradeable.
So is DH.
DH is fine with Encarnacion
Fine, but still upgradeable.
Would you consider him above or below the positional average?
Since he went DH fulltime? He’s been top 3-4 at the position so well above positional average.
With the way Lind is playing right now, both offensively and defensively while being signed to an extremely team friendly contract.
I doubt they replace him.
That would be pretty dumb, since he’s atrocious against LHP. At least platoon him with a righty
Soriano from Cubs is available
I think they should adress there rotation instead.
I agree.
Yes.
I was at the game tonight and… god damn. I like Morrow, but you can’t be the #2 starter in a rotation and give up 3 – 4 HR every game…
Too bad there aren’t any impact bats available AA.
there may be soon though. The Jays have a really good system and are stacked with pitching. There will be teams out there that are willing to trade bats for some of their pitching soon enough… Couple of their pitchers for mike moorse, the nats can re up their pitching depth they lost in the Gio deal, and moving Moorse allows them to call up bryce an not forcing him to play CF
I think you’re really reaching saying the Nats will trade Morse. They’re contenders. No way they trade him.
How good would Napoli look in this lineup?
Still overweight.
Sandy Alderson would probably trade Ike Davis for a couple of the Jays’ pitching prospects. He doesn’t have the track record of being an “impact bat”, but he certainly has the potential to become one.
I don’t think he would. The Mets have several high ceiling pitching prospects (HArvey, Wheeler, Mejia, Familia to name a few) and few impact bats in the minors.
Vernon Wells is available
Vlad and a couple other decent bats are still on the market and cheap now.
is Vlad out of jail?
It is rare that a team makes a trade before the all star break. It would have be something like Teixeira from the Rangers to the Braves or the Braves to the Angels.
AA has once again intoxicated kenny williams and the reported trade is paul konerko for mike mccoy and scott richmond
I don’t think it would be that bad. How stupid do you think Kenny Williams is?
He’d throw in Nestor Molina and $5MM with Konerko.
What about Morneau? The Twins’ lack of pitching depth is getting exposed this season and Justin’s a Canuck and rakes in Yankee Stadium.
I’m sure Carlos Lee could be had.
Weird, the Jays lineup isn’t exactly shabby… it lacks a Prince Fielder or Mark Texiera to go behind a Miguel Cabrera or Robinson Cano or Jose Bautista but there are 27 other teams that also lack that. There’s a few guys who are underperformers I guess (Rasmus, Johnson, Lind, Encarnacion) but none of them atrocious – except maybe Rasmus, whom I don’t like.
Nothing wrong with Rasmus this year. He’s been playing a solid CF and his hitting is starting to come around with his new approach
Rasmus has had a TON of hard hit balls find gloves so far this year. Very promising start.
Free Travis Snider!
To another team where he can produce like his potential suggests!
no
Carlos Quinten. He’ll be off the DL in a week or 2, snag him from SD before he even dons the uni. They’re so bad, he can be had for a decent prospect right now
Snider and Jenkins?
Talk is cheap, if you want a big bat, go out and get one. I know it’s not all that easy but all this talk about upgrading the pitching staff and lineup then sitting on your hands is sort of a letdown.
I think they really need a legit leadoff hitter. Escobar is not really someone I’d want batting lead off. You get a legit lead off guy up there and Escobar can be your new middle of the order bat. He would be a solid #6 hitter
No, Yunel is a perfectly fine leadoff hitter. I think they could use a solid clean-up hitter behind Bautista but if EE and Lind can keep hitting, Jays offense should be pretty good.
I don’t think offense is much of a problem though. They’re struggling a little bit early on but guys like Yunel, Jose and Rasmus have been unlucky and when they start falling in, they should be a potent offense.
Defense has been good for the Jays, bullpen has been bit of a struggle but I think the pen should be fine. Jays pitching has looked better so far, I would like to see Jays acquire a #2/3 starter that can eat some innings. I don’t expect their starting pitching to continue being this good and another reliable arm would be what Jays need IMO.
Escobar hitting 6th? 10 HR power and a high on base percentage does not equal a “middle of the order bat”. 6th being “middle of the order”? they’re looking for a dangerous bat for the #4 spot, not an average one for the 6th spot.
lawrie leading off? seeing lots of singles right now and solid wheels.
Led AL SS in OBP.
Sounds good to me in the lead-off spot.
Jason Bay would be a great, cheap OF to go for atm, AA could probably get him for a prospect or two and maybe even get a discount on his salary. I could see Bay coming to Toronto and resurrecting his career.
if he was american this comment wouldn’t have been made
Kelly Johnson had a good start but has been a little cold the past couple games, and Colby Rasmus is starting to find his bat. The Jays are getting hits, they just need to string them together consistently. While they have one of the best averages with RISP, they aren’t getting in scoring position enough. 2 runs on 12 hits like last night isn’t going to cut it. But I still like what the Jays lineup offers, especially how much of a role the bench now plays in our games.
morales for a c+ b- pitching prospect?
grass is green and sky is blue
maybe the Jays can ask Texas to trade back Napoli
since abreu is avalible, why not pick up him? he would be good for the rotation.