The Mariners announced that the Blue Jays have claimed first baseman Justin Smoak off waivers.
The waiver claim brings to an end what has to be characterized as a disappointing tenure in Seattle for Smoak, who four years ago was the centerpiece of a trade package that sent ace Cliff Lee from the M’s to the Rangers. Smoak, who turns 28 years old in December, showed flashes of promise in his time with Seattle, but he was unable to consistently string together stretches of productivity and never showed the power that Seattle hoped to be acquiring in that deal. In 1943 plate appearances with the Mariners, Smoak batted .226/.308/.384 with 66 homers.
Smoak avoided arbitration with the Mariners last season by agreeing to a one-year, $2.6375MM deal that contained a $3.65MM club option with a $150K buyout. Should that option be declined, Smoak will be eligible for arbitration. It seems likely then, that Toronto will decline the switch-hitting Smoak’s option and work out a smaller payday for his second trip through the arb process. The Blue Jays can control Smoak through the 2016 season if he turns it around following a change of scenery.
The somewhat surprising transaction further calls into question the future of Adam Lind with the Blue Jays. Toronto is reportedly receiving trade interest in Lind, whose club option for the 2015 season is valued at $7.5MM. Toronto now has another option to pair with Edwin Encarnacion in the first base/DH mix should the team move on from Lind. While Smoak clearly comes with less offensive certainty than Lind, he’ll come at less than half the price of Lind, giving the Blue Jays further resources for the offseason and arguably greater upside at the dish in 2015.
If you’re thinking this is going to be Toronto’s biggest move in the offseason, you’re probably right.
One day someone is going to realize the Blue Jays can finish 3-5 on a much smaller payroll. Why spend over $100 million to finish 3rd, 4th or 5th when you can do that with a 50 million payroll. It’s obvious to anyone paying attention that getting in the playoffs is simply NOT a priority of ownership.
i am excited about this move….Smoak had huge potential as a power bat. didnt live up to the hype in Seattle but lets see what a fresh start brings…..could this mean the rumors about Lind are true and he is officially on the block?
Let the rumors begin…lol
I fear Blue Jays fans will become intimately acquainted with what we’ve watched in Seattle for the last 4 years. A week long stretch where he looks like an offensive beast, followed by a month or two below the Mendoza line. He’s really a great guy who I wish had worked out here, and hope he turns it around. But the odds are against him becoming anything other than what he’s been his entire career at this point…a great glove and a streaky .220 hitter.
Yes, if someone could just get him to quit his bat when he’s in the box. When he starts wiggling the bat his timing gets messed up. When his bat is steady on his shoulder he squares up pitches. Someone will fix him and he will be a solid 1st baseman.
thats one of the things alex rodriguez taught mark texiera and look at what a pure hitter tex turned out to be. it really is all about timing up there.
Safeco is also the worst hitters park in the AL. A streaky player is a streaky player, but seeing the affects of going from there to Rogers, could be very interesting.
If you look at his splits, his numbers at home are atrocious. However on the road he’s typically a .250 hitter. The home stats, hitting a Safeco has a major negative effect on his overall stats and make his numbers look awful. Not to mention, he doesn’t have much protection hitting 4 or 5 most games in Seattle’s line up.
Playing at Rogers Centre I would expect his potential to be around .260 avg 20-25 HRs. He would see a lot more fastballs in the Jays lineup hitting 7 or 8.
he wont hit .260, but thats fine. if he can hit .230/.240 with a 10% walk rate, he should be a productive player. wouldnt be surprised to see his power numbers go up too
Rogers Centre vs. Safeco will certainly add something to his offensive numbers.
Adios!!!
agreed!
about time too.
Where was the crew on this one, hello we have no first baseman?????
Never got to them. Waivers still work like normal (had to pass through all AL teams first, going from worst record to best, before he made it to the NL).
There have got to be better options than Smoak…be happy the brewers didn’t get him!
I hear Adam Lind is available!
Would you rather have Smoak than in house options?
We have Logan Morrison!!! He’s the reason Smoak became expendable!!!
Ok, I wasn’t asking why he was available, rather why the Brewers didn’t go after Smoak. But as stated by Phillyfan425 they most likely never received the chance. Plus, after yesterday’s trade it made the whole question moot. But thanks for the clarification and please don’t stroke out, its not that big a deal.
Maybe the Brewers know that Smoak, as an offensive player, is quite offensive.
LOMO came on strong the second half of the season….which sounds a lot like old Smoakie. All in all though I would rather have LoMo
I’ll miss you Smoak. Just kidding.
The question now is: where is Lind off to?
White Sox to DH. Then the Sox can spend on an outfielder and a pitcher and bullpen help
i dont know that the white sox have anyone interesting to be had for lind though? I know there have always been rumors about Beckham but no thanks..lol
Beckham isn’t with the team anyway
ya thats right, i forgot he got moved….so then who would be of interest? i mean i doubt the jays just give lind away they are going to want one or 2 quality pieces
Phillies? I hear they plan on releasing Ryan Howard. Could possibly get papelbon if we add Lind and a small piece. OR trade him somewhere to reduce payroll to sign Melky
Lind for Papelbon would be straight up fair IMO, unless your talking about the Phillies giving money as well in that deal, which they never seem tempted to do. I can’t see it happening though, the Phillies aren’t competing so, why would they want one year for Lind? They should just let their future players play….
Lind for Howard would be pretty cool if the Phillies ate all of his 2015 due salary and 60-70% of the rest of the contract. I doubt it’d happen with Howard having a no-trade clause.
Howard is a waste and isnt even worth 30%-40% of his remaining contract… he hits .200. He’s not going to find a team after he gets released
I doubt that, Howard at $0 for 2015 has a lot of value considering it allows a team to spend funds at other positions like LF/CF/2B. 20-25HR and a .300OBP at the price of a league minimum contract is also very valuable.
Brewers for Thornburg & Roache or Coulter
And he’s gone in a puff of Smoak
Very interesting moves by both the Jays and M’s. Toronto still has to turn down the 2015 option, and then settle/go to arbitration with Smoak. Then they have to figure out where to ship Lind to make room (NOT Seattle, please.) They definitely improve defensively at 1B now. Forget the “advanced metrics”; Smoak is a VERY good defensive 1B, especially at digging balls out of the dirt… he has great hands and made Brendan Ryan look a LOT better than he was. His range is his only soft spot.
As for the M’s, they took a calculated risk in trying to pass Smoak through waivers; they had to know someone was going to bite (if no one else, Milwaukee would have scarfed him up.) If he had passed, they wouldn’t have had to go to arbitration with him, and he’s still in the system. But they figured they’d rather lose him on waivers and get the claiming fee ($25K, I think) than turn down his option, non-tender him in a few weeks and get nothing in return. He certainly wasn’t in their plans going forward.
Right, what was the risk? The outcomes were
(1) he clears waivers, they decline his option and outright him to the minors or release him — totally fine with them
(2) he’s picked up and they get $25K — probably their preferred option
Sorry, should have been clearer. Calculated risk that he didn’t go to a team in their division and come back to haunt them (as many ex-Mariners tend to do.) Personally, I think they could have pursued a trade with Milwaukee; they’re desperate for a 1B, and probably would have given up a low level prospect for him.
Okay, that makes sense.
Except: I don’t think Milwaukee would have gone for Smoak. There’s a decent list of 1B — Cuddyer, LaRoche, Lind (especially now), even Morse and I think Billy Butler has a high team option. All of those guys are way better than Smoak. They seem like a good fit for Cuddyer, because they know how to play without a good 1B in the lineup, and can ride him when he’s healthy.
I’d be happy to trade Lind to the M’s for a piece of their bullpen (which is the best in the league). But sadly I don’t think it’ll happen since most their lineup consists of left handed hitting
Just my opinion but the only way picking up Smoak and moving Lind to another team makes even the slightest bit of sense is if they use the money saved on Lind to throw at Melky Cabrera as a FA. Smoak isn’t very good defensively and offensively he’s nowhere near the player Lind is.
There are worse players at first base defensively. Smoak was not bad in the field. But as a Mariners fan, I’m glad to see this move. Watching Smoak hit was torture at times, and with all his potential it was such a tease when he would go on a mini-tear from time to time, only to fall back again. Moving forward, I think the M’s will be happier with Logan Morrison, at least as a short-term solution at 1B. Smoak showed some increased maturity during the past year, and he may still be able to put some things together. But the M’s need more offense, and they obviously got tired of waiting for him to produce it.
Actually, Smoak is a very good defensive 1B (doesn’t have the best range, but the glove is outstanding). But offensively, he’s just shy of a guaranteed out in your lineup.
Yet another pointless move by AA. There is no way Smoak makes the Jays better than Lind. If the Jays can’t get Maddon to manage, maybe they can get Giants assistant GM Bobby Evans to be their GM? The guy has learnt from the best in the business, knows how to win in a small(er) market, and Sabean says he deserves a chance. What’s not to like about the role, with Lind and Buehrle to use in trades, lots of major league ready talent, and a payroll close to that of the Giants ?
Toronto is one of those teams that don’t seem to have any direction. They don’t seem to have a style of play. They don’t seem to be working towards anything. Sometimes guys get hot and hit a lot of HR’s.
Their TV announcers are enjoyable and informative at times, and they transmit a sound with a batter hit a ball that is unlike any I’ve ever heard.
I think they have a clear direction on Offense. They want speedy table setters up front and power through the rest of the lineup. Their pitching is more difficult to understand and where they seem lost.
Style is grip it and rip it.
“Their TV announcers are enjoyable and informative at times”
I can’t tell if this is sarcasm or not. Buck Martinez and Pat Tabler are horrendous, bordering on Hawk Harrelson territory. Both usually sound drunk.
Another Colby Rasmus type of hitter
Smoak is yet another victim of the “Cliff Lee trade curse” Maybe he will put it together, finally. Texas didn’t get that much from Lee, who was decent but not spectacular for them, and didn’t give up much.
Texas wouldn’t have won the pennant without Cliff Lee
Not saying he wasn’t useful, he just wasn’t dominant during the balance of the regular season. ERA+ of 113, bWAR of 1.4. Obviously very good in the playoffs until he hit the Giants.
You know, Justin sometimes has games where he puts up a real smoakscreen of being a good hitter, but generally, watching an at bat of his is a real drag…
It worked with Encarnacion, Bautista, Francisco… who knows?
what worked, the Jays haven’t won anything…. “worked” means you are the Giants heading for a third World Series win in five years. The Jays haven’t made the playoffs for 21 years. Nothing’s “worked”.
You do realize that the context of what he is saying is that the Jays have been able to get hitters that had strong pedigree but never quite figured it out in the majors off of the scrap heap and had them succeed correct?
Succeed? Maybe individually, but finishing on average in third place as a team for 21 seasons is failure, not success. Sure J-Bau and EE are great, but the team stinks.
What exactly “worked” with Fransisco?
Maybe you should think harder and be more objective before posting homer replies on MLBTR.
What “Go Jays Go” was referring to, Charles, is the fact that they grabbed guys from the scrap heap and turned their bats around to become quality hitters:
– Bautista was languishing in Pittsburgh before being traded to Toronto for a PTBNL (Diaz);
– Encarnacion was signed as a FA after Oakland declined to tender him
He didn’t mention anything about the team being successful, just that they know how to find hitters. It’s the pitching that they haven’t had much luck in, and everyone knows that.
Most good teams do this, finding hitters who they can help turn around in new surroundings (i.e. Aaron Hill & Alex Rios). The Jays organization doesn’t possess any unique skill at this. Being objective here, but who cares if team can’t win anything? Smoak doesn’t give the Jays a better chance to win than Lind, so it’s an effort in running to stand still.
If only Ricky Romero, Delabar, and Santos still had their stuff together. The Jays objective in this off season would be a lot different than now.
Francisco is awful and wasn’t even playing towards the end of the season..
Justin Smoak was the centerpiece of the July 2010 trade of Cliff Lee, but let’s recall that on December 16, 2009, Seattle GM Jack Zduriencik traded Phillippe Aumont, J.C. Ramirez and Tyson Gilles for one season of Lee.
Five seasons later Aumont, Ramirez and Gillies have accumulated WAR of -0.2, -0.7 and 0.0, respectively. Lee posted a WAR of 3.7 in 13 starts for the Mariners in 2010 before being traded with Mark Lowe for Justin Smoak, Blake Beavan, Josh Lueke and Matt Lawson.
Since the trade, Lowe has posted -0.2 WAR. The Mariners have gotten 0.2 WAR from Smoak, 0.6 WAR from Beavan, 0.2 WAR from Lueke and no WAR from Lawson. Lueke was traded for John Jaso (who posted 2.6 WAR for Seattle), who was traded for Michael Morse (who posted -1.1 WAR for Seattle) who was traded for Xavier Avery (who has yet to play for the Mariners).
The July 2010 trade of Cliff Lee produced disappointing results, but the downstream yield from the trade of Aumont, Ramirez and Gillies softens the blow.
The upshot of that is that Cliff Lee may be the best player ever traded for nobody good.
The Justin Smoak era in Seattle ended just as I though it would. Even when Smoak came back from injury in 2014, Logan Morrison was getting most of the vast majority of starts at 1st. Morrison produced after a slow start and is a good 1st baseman, he has a future with the M’s. This year was Smoak’s last opportunity for a future with the M’s, Smoak was a disappointment as usual offensively in 2014. A new environment may help jump start his career. I wish him the best of luck.
Morrison responded with the same fielding percentage as Smoak (.996) AND batted 60 points higher. Smoak flashed real potential for a week here and there, but never caught fire. By all accounts he’s a really great guy, so I wish him well, but I won’t miss his mostly embarrassing plate appearances.
Wishing him all the luck in Toronto. Hopefully a new team and stadium will help!
He was rushed as a player. Look at his minor league league numbers before getting thrust into the majors; he never really did anything significant.
Ms seem to do this to all their young hitting prospects. They just take them and say, here kid you’ve made it onto quite a few top prospect lists, now get out there to one of the harder parks to hit in and produce! It’s a great plan and really well thought out. Next up on the list: DJ Peterson. He sputtered last year once promoted to AA, but will almost certainly get some consideration next Spring.
Well first of all, Texas called him up initially. He played 70 games as a Ranger before the trade. Second, his minor league numbers are pretty good, just because he wasn’t hitting a ton of home runs doesn’t mean he didn’t perform well. He showed excellent contact and plate discipline. He is a typical AAAA player.
No, his numbers showed no sign of being ready before being given the Ms starting 1B job. Here’s how his “development” played out:
2009 – .930 OPS at AA through 200+ PAs, gets moved to AAA and struggles through 200+ PAs (.723 OPS).
2010- Starts at AAA and goes on a tear through 15 games (1.010 OPS) and gets called up. Struggles though those 70 games for Texas, then he’s traded to Seattle where he continues to struggle through July before getting sent down. He then puts up mediocre numbers through a small sample size (.859 OPS) before getting called up again in September.
2011-2013 He averages roughly 500 PAs for the Ms and never has a year above .750 OPS.
The Ms gave him the starting job even though he did nothing to show he was ready.
For what it’s worth.
Career Away: .242 /.318/.411
Career Home: 205./300./348
If the Jays can outright him, very possible given he’s making actual money, he’s actually got some value in AAA as depth for when the Jays go through one of their annual 100 injuries. I sure hope this doesn’t spell the end of Adam Lind, and if it does they better get someone good as a return. Raising ticket prices for a horrible middle of the road franchise and then not doing anything to support that motion is a horrible idea to get fans excited to go to the ballpark next season.
Maybe what we saw in Seattle was Jesus Montero by osmosis and this could be the stealth move of the offseason
Good riddance!
Finally, the eternal “prospect” can take his wares and fleece another club to the tune of millions of dollars for his mediocre skills. As I’ve stated before, Smoak looks like the Mighty Casey, but bats like Dave Valle. (Ouch!)
(For those who don’t understand the reference, look into the local folklore surrounding Valle’s BA while he played for Seattle.)
Too bad the Jays can’t claim postseason appearances. Seriously, they can’t help themselves when someone hits the waiver wire, can they?
Definitely not a huge impact player, probably just minor league depth. However, if he is an everyday player next year, how much of a benefit will he see from hitting in the Rogers Centre 50% of his games compared to an extremely pitcher friendly Safeco?
I don’t think Lind goes anything as a result of this pickup.
If the Blue Jays replace Lind with Smoak, it is a downgrade. Smoak has more raw power, but he is also an easier out. He has never hit above .238 in the majors. Lind can hit for average. If the Blue Jays wanted to move Lind & replace him with someone cheaper, there had to be a better option than an underachiever like Smoak
Only plus in this all is that he’s a switch hitting-slight improvement on defense player for the First base position. If he can find his stroke working on his craft this off season/spring training then okay we’ll see what he can do, but otherwise it’s just another waiver claim that didn’t work out for AA. Wishing him and the Jays luck though, we need a break lol
Bucos need at 1st baseman as well, no way Pedro becomes some kind of super hero at 1st. They have young pitchers they could use as trade bait, I heard Ike might be
going to Florida.
I like this move. There sure better be more than waiver wire stuff up AA’s sleeve this year.
I believe Smoak is seen to replace Johnson in Buffalo at AAA, depending on other moves. Some people believe the Blue jays will transition to a 1B/DH tandem of Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion (which wastes Jose’s arm but gives both the chance for rest). If they re-sign Melky (expected) they have 3 players to handle other 2 outfield spots — Pillar, Pompey and Gose — or somebody from a trade. We’ll see.
Louder drumbeats on trading of Lind and Buehrle. Needs are in pen and second or third, with Lawrie moving to 2B if they get a 3B.
Then, there are free agents.
They have said they will spend more than $135 million, but how much more?
Smoakie is a great guy but he is only going to tease you. He will struggle all season and put together a great September which assures him of another shot next year where the cycle repeats itself yet again. If the Jays think he will replace Lind they got a rude awakening coming. He does have a great glove though but that is not going to be enough.
He will now proceed to average 40HRs per season.
Toronto….where underachieving hitters go to ressurrect their careers.(See Bautista, Encarnacion)