Blue Jays first baseman/DH Adam Lind has drawn interest from a number of teams, including National League clubs, reports Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun. One executive tells Elliott that he hears at least three or four teams have called to check in on the 31-year-old Lind.
The Blue Jays hold a $7.5MM club option on Lind, whose contract also contains an $8MM club option for the 2016 campaign. Lind batted .321/.381/.479 with six homers, 24 doubles and a pair of triples in 318 plate appearances this season, though he missed some time with a fractured right foot that was initially misdiagnosed. While his slash line looks appealing, it should be noted that the Blue Jays have shielded him almost entirely from left-handed pitching in recent years. Many players have platoon deficiencies, but Lind is an extreme example, as evidenced by his lifetime .212/.257/.331 batting line against southpaws.
Nevertheless, Lind’s price tag makes him an appealing option for a team like Pittsburgh, in my opinion, as a club that has a potential need at first base but lacks the financial muscle to bring in a more traditionally expensive slugger. The Padres and Marlins could also make some sense as a trade partner for the Blue Jays, and within the American League it wouldn’t surprise me if the Indians, White Sox or Mariners (to name a few clubs) had some interest in Lind as well. Of course, all of these teams are solely my speculation, although the Pirates did show interest in Lind on multiple occasions last winter.
Obviously, the Blue Jays will first have to make a decision on whether or not to exercise Lind’s option or pay a $1MM buyout, but it seems like a fairly easy call given the relatively modest price and his production against opposite-handed pitching.
Nobody wanted him a few years ago at 5 million dollars.
Now, folks want him at 7.5 and a possible 8?
I just SMH!
As a side note, I would have taken him at 5, but I am not in charge of anything that counts around here these days! =P
A few years ago, he wasn’t worth 5 million dollars.
A few years can do a lot to a player’s career. A lot can happen between that time frame.
Why not a team like the Brewers? Huge need at 1B plus need a lefty with power.
Do they have a platoon partner? At 1B, the lefty half of the platoon is the easy part. He actually might fit better as the lefty half of a DH platoon.
I guess it depends if they’ve decided whether or not Jason Rogers has any value other than Melvin’s desire to have an emergency backup to the emergency backup buried in AAA.
The Brewers have players within that could fit as a platoon partner. Jason Rogers (.316/.379/.568 at AAA) is one if he doesn’t replace Ramirez at 3B. Sean Halton who had a brief trial in 2013, hit .342/.387/.509 against lefties at AAA in 2014. Halton can also play either corner OF spot. He’s not currently on the 40 man.
I recall Roenicke being asked about Halton and he called him a “grinder.” Given the tone at the time I came away with the impression that he was saying something akin to he works hard but doesn’t have enough talent. Maybe I’m totally wrong. They have 2 potential RH and 2 potential LH bats to play 1st. I’d hope they’d bring them all to ST, but…
Sure, if we bring back Mark Reynolds… the thought of which just depresses me. Not as much as an Overbay/Reynolds platoon, since Lind can actually hit righties, but still.
So, let’s have a look here. Lind is a lefty bat with some power and decent on-base skills. He also has a hilarious platoon split, and only plays defense in so much as he stands on the field in the vicinity of first base. All this points to Doug Melvin being interested.
But, in all seriousness, if we can find a platoon partner for Lind that is better than Reynolds, this wouldn’t necessarily be a bad idea. $7.5MM isn’t really that much (although it is more than we paid our first basemen this year, but less than we paid Rickie Weeks). We’d just be sacrificing defense.
honestly he’s not that bad at first, he passes the eye test for me
That would make the worlds worst right side of the infield vs. Lefties. I don’t know if it would be smart to make a move like that. I’d rather them go after a guy that can play everyday.
If we can find a good platoon partner (NOT Reynolds), this wouldn’t necessarily be a bad idea. But I agree, I’d much rather find an everyday guy.
Adam Lind is like shifting Weeks over to first base…they are pretty comparable players. Good offense with a couple giant holes and defense that takes away any offensive value.
Which is, admittedly, still better than what we had this year. But not by much, and not what we should be looking for. I just don’t really know what else we can find, though. It’s gonna be interesting to see who we end up with.
So should we bring back Rickie Weeks for a couple million? He would make us better off at 2nd after all.
Honestly I think the moneyball mentality can only go far. Sure on paper all these platoons would look good but we need guys who can play every day. We already have two guys with pretty bad splits, another probably just isn’t a good idea.
I’d also be concerned with the defense too with the addition of Lind. Davis, Braun, and Lind are easily below average. Gennett, Segura, and Ramirez are average. So 6/8 positions would be average or worse…a little concerning if you ask me.
Hey, I’m not advocating for it. I’m just saying, there isn’t really much out there, and I don’t know if we’d have a better option than another platoon. I certainly would prefer to get a real, everyday option. Yeah, the defense would be a concern, for sure. It will be anyway, but with Lind it would be worse.
The only everyday option who is a major upgrade over the Reynolds/Overbay platoom in 2014 is LaRoche but I wouldn’t want to go over two years with a team option for a third to get him.
Yeah, I agree. Not to mention the price he’d likely command would be too much. I mean, he’s probably gonna get between $13MM-$15MM, and I just really don’t think we should be paying that for him. We picked a bad time to need a first baseman.
The problem with trading Lind is that he’s basically worth that salary and won’t bring back a substantial return. The Jays could use an outfielder, a second baseman, or bullpen help. Maybe starting depth that isn’t a carbon copy of Happ. Lind can get an alright reliever, but is that worth trading him?
Unless they move Alvarez, the Buccos have no need for Lind.
The Pirates were interested in Lind but pretty sure that was before the Ike Davis deal. Between him and Pedro Alvarez – who, far as I know, is a permanent 1B now – I don’t see where Lind would fit in. Unless the Bucs clear house and trade both Pedro and Ike there’d be a logjam of lefties at 1B and I’m not really seeing where Lind is a giant upgrade. He’ll still need to be platooned and one of the Bucs’ biggest problems is Gaby Sanchez is terrible as righty in that mix.
If the Bucs ditch the 1B platoon – and this is a radical idea for them – maybe they should maybe find somebody who could play everyday and hit both right and left handed pitching instead of filling the position with two mediocre guys.
I would guess that Gaby is not coming back, and I would guess that Ike will be shopped around. But I am also not certain that the Abu s are sold on Pedro being the answer at 1st. I agree that it’s unlikely that the Bucs would be interested in Lind, but it wouldn’t shock me if they are either. He would at least be significantly better than Davis turned out to be.
Davis is more likely to go; Pedro still has major troubles with left handed pitching.
Very true, but Gaby no longer seems to be the answer to hitting lefties. If they keep going with the platoon idea at 1B, I would expect them to move on from Gaby and find someone else as the righty platoon half.
Adam has had back problems for the past three years. No indication they are going away and for that reason it is not that easy a decision for the Jays. He tried a rigorous yoga program in the off season and he was hopeful the back issues were behind him (joke intended). But it did not work out that way and he spent many many weeks on the DL this year.
I could see the Jays going with a Lind/Valencia platoon at 1B next season. Their numbers vs. righties/lefties respectively would work well enough. Problem is, they can’t platoon at three positions, CF and 2B being the other two. Maybe Izturis has a decent season and maybe Gose finally starts hitting enough to be an every day player. But if the Jays have any desire to contend in 2015 I think Anthopoulos needs to be more pro-active in the offseason than waiting and hoping average players play above average.
Who exactly would the Blue Jays have left at 1B/DH if they traded him?