The Mariners have acquired outfielder Eric Thames from the Blue Jays for reliever Steve Delabar, the team announced. Just yesterday we learned that Seattle was looking to acquire young, cost-controlled hitters.
Thames, 25, hit .243/.288/.365 in 160 big league plate appearances and .335/.412/.536 in 228 Triple-A plate appearances this season. The left-handed swinger has played primarily left field in the show. The 29-year-old Delabar is a hard-throwing right-handed reliever with a 3.92 ERA and 10.9 K/9 with 3.1 BB/9 in 43 2/3 career innings with Seattle. Both players are under team control through 2017.
Delabar is a great pick up for the jays. I think he will be very good. Plus I know him personally!!! Go stevie!
Also, check out his movie on youtube, he is a real life “the Rookie”. Gym teacher from KY turned MLB pitcher!
At least he’s not replacing Lunchbox (RIP).
What happened to Lunchbox?
Missed that trade.
So whos in Lf for the Jays now of days? R.Davis?
that sucks, but probably yes.
NO! Who is on first.
Probably Davis until Bautista gets back. Then depending on how committed they are to Gose being up here, Gose might take over LF and push Davis back to the bench.
what have you seen so far that would lead you to believe gose over davis?
Nothing. Nor did I say I saw anything. I said depending on how committed the Jays are to keeping Gose up here. They may look at the situation as Bautista coming back in the middle of August, so why send Gose down for a couple weeks only to bring him back for a September call-up? And if you’re keeping Gose up here, why would you nail a potential future star to the bench and let an upcoming free agent get all the playing time? None of that depends on performance, but everything to do with gaining experience and developing.
Gose will be fine. He was hitting in the 100s his first month in Vegas as well
I’m not writing him off.. but this makes the team worse in 2012.
have to give him about 200 PAs, then demote him. give him another 200 next year and the year after, but never more than that. eventually you will end up with the reliever you always wanted
i was hoping you would come here and give me a worthwhile justification . but no one has as of yet
i tried on the happ deal, but these last two are a bit beyond me – especially since nothing’s happened since
I really don’t understand it… fine you wanted relievers, but are you seriously telling me you couldn’t acquire relievers with out giving up musgrove and snider? that scares me
now i know how mariner and cards fans have felt, the other side feels pretty craptastic. the team is worse after the deadline
Which matters because….?
because they should have tried to get better
You might consider googling the phrase “circular reasoning”.
right after you google blind apologist.
Wow. The difference? Your reasoning is undoubtedly circular, whereas my intentions are not as obvious to discern.
“We don’t need no stinking outfielders!”
Hey, we have a completely overmatched 21 year old!
Makes me think maybe AA is going for an OF.
I was just thinking that. Like… Pence? Are they hoping to get Choo?
Some nice peripheral stats on Delabar
at least with Ks and the K/BB
whip
Wow. Jays are really working hard to piece together a good bullpen…
What is going on with the Jays?
if anyone’s counting out there, AA has now traded 3 prospects, Snider & Thames for 5 relievers..
you know, relievers, those things you can get every off season. yeah.
and that is why most jays fans haven’t liked any of these deals. (though I like this one).
And yet our Bullpen every year sucks, maybe buying scraps off the FA market isn’t the way to go?
what are you talking about, the Jays pen is generally really very good most years.
wasn’t it close to the tops in the league a couple of years ago. Downs was always lights out.
The fact we got a living breathing human being for Thames already makes that trade a win.
hahha, and a human being that can miss bats.
Really? I guess the 10.9k/9 inn fooled you into thinking that?
Really? I guess the 10.9k/9 inn tricked you into thinking that
I think were going for Morneau and we’ll see Lind in LF again.
oh please no! What happened to having improved flyball defense.
What are outfielders?
Fielders that play in the outfield.
if justin upton isn’t starting in RF tomorrow for the jays I’m going on strike
Hopefully theres a bigger picture but Jays have pretty much lost all LF options.
Rajai Davis is not a LF option.
I hope AA didn’t fall out of his bed with a cuncussion this morning.
ya there is this guy named Gose that needs more MLB at bats and will get them now.
Think there’s a chance they have just decided to commit to Gose in the OF? He doesn’t appear to be even remotely ready for it.
that’s an understatement and a half.
I like Gose as a prospect,could be a good CF one day, but he’s no where near ready. He’s literally hit 1 ball hard since coming up
for 2012, I’d rather have davis there than gose.
Yeah, completely agreed. Maybe something else is coming before the deadline, but if it doesn’t I truly don’t get what AA was thinking (even if something else does happen, I still don’t like the trades he’s made in the last week+).
agreed.
whole bunch of pointless trades, the team isn’t even better
Pointless at best – giving away excess value and making the team worse at worst.
high risk low reward.
we are better today then when we were last week. hands down. there are no ifs ands or buts about it. All for some low level prospects (which we have a ton of) and snider who although never got a full shot at an everyday role, but is absolete when considering Gose is almost ready, Marisnick is not far behind, and a few other o/f prospects. The pen is our strongest need and AA has sorted that out for the most part.
Three mediocre middle relievers did not make that team better.
There is just no way you can say the current team is worse as hardly anything from the 2012 team was traded away. At least nothing that has contributed much to the power house offense. You might be able to argue excess value (in your eyes) was given up, but these trades were far from pointless. Even still, it seems pretty clear that the market for relievers this trading season was two minor league prospects or one major league bat.
are you for real with this comment? we get a young controllable pitcher struggling from morrow like issues (lincoln was drafted 4th that year morrow 5th) at worst steps in and is as good as anyone else in our pen right now, we get delabar who again is virtually as good as anyone in our pen, carpenter (the one who can hit 97-98 on his FB that is struggling with command) Happ is a throw in that at worst is a 5th starter, and Lyon who as well is an upgrade to most people in our pen. Jays issues this year and past couple has been bullpen and starters, well AA may have actually gave us something other then comp picks.
great so now our team wont blow as many leads in late innings… at the cost of not having as many leads to blow.
The players we traded did not contribute much to the Jays being one of the top run producers in the league. They will have just as many leads to blow, while you are seriously not giving enough credit to the pitchers they brought in.
How were these pointless? Of course the team is better; it didn’t sacrifice anything off of the regular 25 man roster.
100% agree.
The phrase “he can’t hit” is always tossed around loosely. But Anthony Gose literally cannot hit.
I’m fine with Thames being sent out of town. Trading Snider just doesn’t add up though unless something else is in the works.
if you are referencing his hit in the 16-0 thumping from the A’s last wednesday that was a line drive single to centre left that he turned into a double. 99% of MLB players could not pull that off. His defence is supperior to lunchbox, has a stronger arm, faster wheels. I know it must suck (esp with the moniker you have going on) gose has more value to us then lunchbox.
Thats why some Jays fans are ecstatic – Gose will be staying up when Bautista is back. Personally Gose upside trumps snider and thames together. Yeah he is struggling at the dish, but how many 21 year olds don’t? Kind of reminds me of ellssbury (not sure if spelt right to lazy to look up).
guess you dont remember snider’s .757 ops as a 20 year old
i do sadly – i just think Gose will bring more to the table at the end of the day. My best lunchbox moment was in Minny when he smoked the shot upper deck down the hallway… that was a beauty. Worst was him and Cito disputes. Dont mess with senial Cito.
what about jose bautista
It’s strange to see Seattle get the worst defensive outfielder I have ever seen
He’ll be better then the platoon of peguero and robinson!
I’ve seen way worse
So you’ve seen Domonic Brown play then?
.. but.. but.. ESPN said he’s the best player ever last season!
Thames will be a solid DH/pinch hitter type for a while I think
ya…pretty sure his bat doesn’t play at DH.
it does for the Mariners
realistically i think he eventually settles into a 4th OF, bench bat type with some pop. the bat is not good enough to DH fulltime, unless you can afford to lose value at the position compared to other teams.
isn’t Montero the DH of the future?
Eric Thames was scraping the wall at Rogers Center with his HRs.
He maybe hits 10 HRs playing at Safeco for a full season… and 9 of them come on the road.
He sure won’t be catching those over the wall HR’s like Ichiro could.
Where did you guys here Morneau with the Mariners? I like that rumor because hes a dead pull power hitter.. would work for safeco!
GUYS, Hey guys, what if, Guys what if, he is getting these pieces for a bigger trade?
*please let that be the case*
either he’s bringing in an outfielder or he’s planning to sell off janssen, and oliver
maybe, but you can still think they sold low on Snider.
Oh thats for sure, here to hoping Lincoln can be the new Janssen and be a silent killer for us.
or the next morrow?
Watch Lincoln pitch, new Janssen if were lucky. Im thinking this is AA hedging his bets on Sergio Santos coming back healthy and effective
How are the three relievers he got going to be worth more than Snider, Thames, and the prospects he got rid of?
The GM he is dealing with said we dont want OF we want bullpen pieces. *IM PULLING AT STRAWS GIVE ME A BREAK*
Boston doesn’t really need outfielders, but as long as AA is giving away everyday players for middling relievers he can send some Boston’s way.
Breaking! Jays send Yunel Escobar to boston for a guy with an arm who says he has a curveball
The Sox must have picked Darnell McDonald back up, he relieved for them once and threw something that registered as a curve.
Everyday players? Snider will not be a full time starter in Pitt, and Thames is a terrible starting fielding option.
i think he was referrng to cordero and francisco haha
Ummm no. He was saying that AA has given up everyday players for relievers and will likely continue to do so. Those everyday players would have to be Snider or Thames since neither of the Fransiscos were everyday players, and one of them was not even a position player.
Disqus is a relatively easy format to follow, you should try it some time.
Edit: not to mention, @MaineSox clearly mentioned Snider and Thames in his post, hence why I addressed those two players.
Which every day players has Toronto traded? I didn’t notice any. Francisco, nope. Snider, nope. Thames, nope.
Thames is useless. Snider has never shown any consistency hitting
Great! Now the Jays can unload some of their new pitchers to my Cubs for Garza AND Soriano or even Lahair. What do you think Jays fan? Would AA do that? lol…
deal but throw in like 10 dollars for a beer please
If the Jays traded anything more than a Chad Jenkins and filler, it would be a massive overpay. Garza isn’t worth anything of value. Garza, the guy with the 5.43 ERA and 12 – 27 record against the Red Sox, Yankees, Tigers, Rangers, and Angels. Just an FYI, but those are the teams the Jays have to beat to reach the playoffs and you don’t do it with a pitcher that gets blown off the mound in hitters parks.
AA is a man with a plan… Just sit back and watch, the Jays will likely make another move
For a reliever…
Who knew that either of these trades were coming? Nobody. AA keeps things quiet, and I bet he’ll surprise a few of us in the next few hours
And I think AA is So overrated.
so was ricciardi. it’s not enough to have a plan
The difference is that so far AA’s plan is actually working, unlike JP where we just treaded watre
this deal i’m fine with from the jays perspective. i think we’ve seen the best of thames in toronto, and most are pretty sure that he will never hit well enough to either a) DH or b) overcome his awful outfield defense enough to play full time.
delabar seems like a pretty interesting piece.
“Snider traded?…oh yeah I’m going to Seattle to start again…it’s my time baby!”
– Eric Thames
“haha…that’s cute.”
– AA
Good deal for Seattle. Get a nice younger bat and didn’t give up anything real useful. (Delabar has a homer problem, and leaving Safeco won’t help him.)
Thames has a sucking problem. Real nice guy, but leaving Canada that won’t help him.
“Seattle has the best fielding percentage in the majors”
…is what they said before they traded for Eric Thames.
Good luck with Delabar giving up dingers left and right in Toronto with his 2.2 HR/9 rate. He was very much a fringe reliever, we aren’t going to miss him. Thames can work at DH as well here, and being a lefty should help slightly in Safeco.
And P.S. we lead the league in UZR and we already had a verison of him earlier in the year with Mike Carp.
haha, good luck getting that bat to play at DH. Pretty sure Seattle doesn’t need more fringe bats in that lineup
Delabar is a fringe AAAA pitcher. He just got called up because of injury in the pen. I’d take a chance on a LHH with some pop over a medicore homer prone reliever every day of the week.
yes the fringe AAAA pitcher with 11.29K/9 and 2.7BB/9 in the majors this year.
This time last year he was a teacher. He’s barely worthy to be in our bullpen, so there’s nothing special here.
what he was doing last year is irrelevant. what is relevant is that he has demonstrated (in a limited sample) that he can be highly effective against mlb hitting. you are right that the homers are a red flag, but there is a considerable amount of luck involved in having a 27%HR/FB rate, especially playing at safeco.
look, this is not an earth shattering trade by any means. delabar is a flawed but interesting reliever, and thames is likely no more than a 4th OF who cant play defense and doesnt hit well enough to DH.
If you take middle relievers like Lueke, Delabar and League and turn them into Good young hitters like Jaso and now Thames to go along with the prospects from LA, you’re doing it right. Even if it’s hit and miss, it better to try to get a good bat on the low then just keep an average reliever for a team that’s not going anywhere.
This really wasn’t meant to be a groundbreaking trade. Thames has absolutely zero value and was never going to see Toronto again. It’s not like the Jays have been blessed with great relief pitching this year barring a select few. AA probably just picked one out of hat and said this will do.
But the most important part is Peguero is gone. It amazes me what anyone sees in him. He was give only 42 PA’s and had 22K and only 1 walk. Good Riddance to him.
Also Guti should return in the middle of August sometime so he’ll get a couple week tryout for our major league team.
Wow, there goes that ridiculous OF depth the Jays used to have.
Hate to break it to Toronto, but at least one of Thames or Snider is bound to develop to their potential.
I don’t think Thames has much potential bud.
Seems like there is still a lot of depth with Bautista/Rasmus/R.Davis/Gose/Sierra/Marisnick/Pillar/DJDavis in terms of potential and readiness. Not to mention Gomes and Encarnacion can spell a breath in LF as well.
I cringe everytime I see a Catcher try and play LF…
Gomes is a very useful and athletic utility player that can probably field every corner spot on the diamond at an average level, including catcher. I cringe more when I see Davis out there / saw Thames.
It wasn’t meant to be a stab at Gomes… just a joke
I see. The generalization did not come through very well as humour on this here interwebs. Apologies.
The Mariners were looking for cost-controllable hitters. Well, at least they got the cost-controllable part, now they just need hitters.
That’s going to be awks for Eric Thames if he faces the Jays this series…. Small talk while he’s on the bases is gonna be brutal (if he gets on base)
not a strength of his.
This better be part of a bigger package. Dismantling that left field for peanuts. AA, my faith in you is waining.
Doubt Thames would ever be in the Majors with the Jays again, so at least they got a solid reliever, Snider on the other hand…. I’m a bit disappointed with the return
Hunter Pence maybe?
unlikely, but that would be fun.
Please.
Maybe these trades spell Olivers exit?
Everybody loves a lefty.
What is AA doing? It is quarter to two. I wonder if he will remember these trades in the morning or have a “what happened last night” moment.
Moneyball feat. The Hangover
this just in the jays trade jose bautista to re aquire fransico cordero
Welcome to the Mariners Eric Thames. Good luck in Toronto Steve Delabar.
Colby Rasmus is the CF at the Moment at he would have to be Traded to open up CF and Joey Bats plays RF and he can’t play 3B or 1B or DH because already filled only if your going to trade know,Lawrie, Cooper and Edwin E.
peace out lunchbox and chocolate thunder. welcome lincoln and delabar. hurts to see youth get moved, however it is whats required to get two solid relievers with one potential starter. people who are bashing lincoln’s struggles in the rotation can look no further then one mr morrow.
AA dealing two outfielders before the Deadline and stockpiling on pitching makes me think he may have something bigger in place. Only time will tell. I am not a fan of the Snider for Lincoln deal from the Jays perspective. Just last year the Pirates were ready to trade Lincoln for Francisco Cervelli, to get Travis Snider and his great potential is a steal for the Pirates. The Mariners also came away with a nice LF piece here in Thames.