Blue Jays General Manager Alex Anthopoulos addressed a number of topics concerning the club's future in 2013 and beyond tonight and Chris Toman of MLB.com has the goods..
- Anthopoulos is hoping to see more out of Adam Lind going forward, but noted that the Blue Jays won't be afraid to look elsewhere for better production. Toronto is on the hook for $5MM in 2013 with club options on him from 2014-16 totaling $22.5MM.
- Even if the Blue Jays don't find an out-of-house upgrade at first baseman/designated hitter, Lind could face competition Travis d'Arnaud, who could be in the mix with J.P. Arencibia as the starting catcher. David Cooper, a 2008 first-round pick who has hit .300/.324/.464 in 45 games this year, could also factor in.
- The Blue Jays still aren't sure if they see impending free agent Carlos Villanueva holding up as a starter for an entire season. The right-hander has made 13 starts for the Blue Jays this year, posting a 3.58 ERA with 8.9 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 in that role. Recently, Villanueva told Shi Davidi of Sportsnet that he wants to continue as a starting pitcher.
“David Cooper, a 2008 first-round pick who has hit .324/.464./.788 in 45 games this year, could also factor in.”
As absolutely freaking INSANE as that would be, he’s actually hitting .300/.324/.464.
Some people show OBP/SLG/OPS instead of BA/OBP/SLG.
Well obviously some people do, but it’s still common practice, especially around here, to do BA/OBP/SLG. I wish the former was standard practice, and I’m sure it will be one day.
There are buyouts at 2.5M, so really they are on the hook for Lind for 7.5M not 22.5M
They didn’t say they were on the hook for 22.5 mill…that’s the amount of the options (2014 – 7, 2015 – 7.5, 2016 – 8).
“David Cooper, a 2008 first-round pick who has hit .324/.464./.788 in 45 games this year, could also factor in.” This statement is absolutely ridiculous. If they decide to go with Cooper it will be a very long year. Cooper is like taking your sister to the prom. NO THANKS
Going on with Lind must be like taking your brother.
AA needs to start watching jays games if he doesn’t realize lind is useless and carlos is his number 2 starter next year behind morrow. lind is just as pathetic with his glove as with his bat, what a waste of a roster spot.
Any chance D’Arnaud gets traded to the Mets this offseason? They have parts to deal and are open for trading.
There’s almost no chance they trade him. They coveted him for years even before the Halladay trade.
Arencibia might be obtainable though.
I’d take either one at this point honestly lol Mets need a catcher badly and some OFs as well….
JPA is one of JPR’s guys so it would kind of make sense. JPA/Sierra/Jenkins for Niese?
overpay.
ok.
carlos a #2??? so we don’t want to make the playoffs ever?
1b/DH is where a real upgrade needs to happen, it is their one opportunity. And we’re not talking David Ortiz. Villanueva is a nice no.5 starter, Jays need to add two more MLB arms if they’re serious about 2013 – Romero is a wastebasket, Morrow is OK, Happ is OK, Alvarez is not ready for MLB, and everyone else is hurt.
morrow is just ok?
That’s impossible! He pitched well enough to get us free pizza last week. :p
why the hate for cooper. he hits near average and that OBP will return close to his career OBP once he shows he can hit MLB pitching. sure his slugging is < .550 but he does hit his share of doubles along with a low K rate and decent OBP, plus hes cheap.
i believe he deserves a shot if we don't get one through trade.
I wouldn’t mind seeing D’arnaud at DH. He could spend some time backing up at C as well, if necessary.
As for Villaneuva he will have a IP limit, probably around 155 – 160 IP.
One solution might be to set Villaneuva as a starter from April to August, and put him in the bullpen for September.
That should be around 27 starts. Give him a strict 6 IP per start, and hopefully he averages out around 5.5 IP per start, for a total of 149 IP. After that he could pitch in the bullpen in September.
Just one thought.