10:48am: Toronto has no interest in Latos but might consider Dan Haren, according to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com (Twitter links). He notes that the club is very aware of maintaining a healthy “clubhouse mix” in making any additions.
10:14am: Latos is little more than a back-up solution for the Jays, a team source tells Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star (via Twitter). The team has yet even to discuss any prospect names with Miami, says Griffin, indicating that talks have not progressed very far.
9:32am: While Toronto is “tracking” Latos, he’s not among the team’s “top targets,” Morosi clarifies on Twitter.
8:46am: The Blue Jays are one of multiple teams with current interest in Marlins starter Mat Latos, Jon Morosi of FOX Sports reports on Twitter. Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun reported earlier in the month that Toronto was taking a look at Latos as a possible acquisition target.
Certainly, the more recent results have been impressive. As many others have noted, Latos has featured increased velocity and improved production since dealing with knee issues early in the year. He’s been particularly impressive in his last two outings, allowing five hits, three walks, and one earned run combined over 14 frames while racking up 23 groundball outs and 14 strikeouts.
Latos, of course, comes with some questions. Though he’s pretty much always produced positive outcomes when healthy, Latos also missed half of last year. And he isn’t cheap, playing on a $9.4MM salary, though the fact that he’s a pure rental eliminates any long-term injury risk. Obviously, an acquiring team would not be eligible to make Latos a qualifying offer.
Toronto has long been said to be pursuing one or more arms, with reports suggesting that the team is exploring a wide variety of possibilities. Latos is not as exciting as some of the top names that could be available, but he is relatively affordable from a salary perspective (compared, at least, to players like David Price and Cole Hamels) and likely won’t cost as much in terms of prospects as names like Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija. That’s especially important for a Toronto club that reportedly has little payroll space available and is reluctant to part with young pitching (especially given that many of those arms factor into the present big league roster equation).
Latos may be a former Red, but he’s no Cueto or Leake…
After leaving the Reds Latos felt it was necessary to go to the newspaper and complain about his old team and teammates, earning back the poor reputation he had in San Diego before being acquired by the Reds. At this point he’d get booed in Cincinnati for his childish response to the trade. I hope other teams recognize what sort of player they’re considering acquiring, he’s not one that makes for a cohesive clubhouse.
That may be true, but he would also probably cost less but still also be an upgrade over what we are sending out there right now.
Giving up some prospects not named Hoffman for Matt Latos, and maybe then someone like Yovani Gollardo would bolster the rotation.
Buehrle, Gallardo, Dickey, Latos, Hutchison/Estrada. One of Hutch or Estrada, preferably Hutch can move to the bullpen and provide depth there. Unless Hutch is included a trade package, which also could happen.
Neither player would require you to sell the farm like you would for a Hamels or Cueto. Obviously you would be given up a lot for both of them but neither of them are rentals and you wouldnt have as big a hole for 2016 assuming both Dickey and Buehrle leave or retire.
That’s a pretty terrible rotation, surely AAs targeting someone who can help us win
Terrible rotation? Their ERA+ in order: 120, 136, 82, 84, 120. The 84 being Latos, who is having his first bad season but who also has had bad luck (ERA of 4.48, FIP of 3.32). It’s not the greatest rotation, but it would certainly be the best in the AL East. Couple it with the Blue Jay’s AL-best offense and it’s good enough.
That’s not even top
3 in the al east
Uh, which rotations would be better than that? The Yankees, Rays, Sox, and Orioles would be worse. Show me some numbers.
Latos had 2 great year’s for us, Believe 14-6 & 14-7 then a 5-5 year of injury! Wish we had kept him part of the TRIO- he’s only 27 and is playing for the Marlins right now which has the top three WORSTfan base’s also upper Management (Makes a difference) mentally in all aspects of the game. Cueto and Lato’s were both A’s for us, while Leake had his no hitters, but you can’t deny who ever gets Latos will get a better deal then picking up any of the Reds starters!!! Still A SHAME we got rid of him and Dusty we have #HAD all the pieces
After watching all three for years, I think Cueto would give the Blue Jays a serious chance of making the ALDS, either by winning the division or pitching them to victory in the Wild Card game. Leake would give the Jays a solid middle of the rotation arm to help them on their quest. Latos would offer heartburn, it’s just a matter of when. Maybe quickly, with his recent history of injuries… maybe ineffectiveness, which he’s demonstrated for the past couple of years, maybe after the season, with his history of burning bridges behind him and turning fans against him. Whoever gets Latos has a controversy waiting to happen.
Anyone who wants a team player who reflects well on their city should avoid Mat Latos…
I have been only to see the Reds about 10 games a year since moving, cant imagine him being such a crutch in the DugOut. Just dont see the Jays giving up Top Prospects; when was the last time they made a huge midseason move or by that matter a move that makes the papers? JR spends money on FA but not known for making deadline moves.
torontos shown that they are willing to deal top prospects
Sounds like trouble maker to me !
But he’s no dubront either
Seems like every report, tweet, etc, has a team interested in a player….followed by a later report that the team isn’t all that interested. Seems more like a game between reporters to keep space occupied
I agree with you” seems like a cluster F***, but I can guarantee we will see go big or go home moves, when said and done.
Some reporters are also paid by number of page hits and views. Sometimes the discussion starts revolving around what is nothing more than conjecture.
Agreed greatly. Would love to see some level of accountability of these reporters, perhaps a ratio of number of “rumors heard” about a player who actually ended up being traded to a rumor about a player who was not traded. Doesn’t even have to be a specific team, although that would be even juicer, like a bonus point. The journalist who just makes up unfounded rumor after rumor, the pure conjecture types, would be accountable because their ratio would be like 3:3000 and would be taken with a grain of salt, while the guys who keep to themselves and do the most story/trade breaks would have something more like a 20:100 career mark and we could take them more seriously.
Stats for trade rumors per Journalist? Yes!!
Get on it tim!
Absolutely would love to know who is accurate and who just reports to keep their name stirring.
I’ve got some breaking news: Jays interested in everyone, currently acquire nobody. Shocking, I know, but we’re through the looking glass on this one.
Then we’ll get a guy like Josh Donaldson in the off-season via trade just to re-spark interest only to remind everyone they have zero cash to finish addressing actual needs like the bullpen/rotation.
Yes please. Add Latos and another starter that won’t cost any of our top 5 prospects and move Dickey and Sanchez to the pen. Norris still adds depth.
Daniel Norris would look better in red, and a Reds jersey, than blue. It’s a shame to leave him as Blue Jays rotation depth when he should be in the Cincinnati Reds’ rotation.
Why so we can continue to be mediocre going forward, why not try to win when we’re two pitchers away
Amen. I assume the Reds would be happy to acquire Norris, Pompey, and others while helping the Blue Jays in their quest to win in 2015. Go for it!
Will you also complain if they do make a trade, saying “Oh why did they give away so much!” Or wait, you’d wait until the off-season after Cueto leave as a free agent saying “The Jays gave away Pompey and Norris, and Cueto didn’t even help them get in to the playoffs! What a waste! Fire AA!”
Walt Jocketty has a history of hiring former GMs as assistants – most recently Kevin Towers – if AA makes such a trade (Norris and Pompey for Cueto) I’m all for rewarding him with a job buried in the Reds’ front office, if he doesn’t keep his current job. Favors like that deserve to be rewarded. I’ll even root for the Blue Jays this season.
That’s the problem, the Reds will get a lot for Cueto, and Jays fans will be upset if they give up top prospects for him. I seriously think half the Jays fans think they can trade Navarro, Saunders, and Liam Hendriks, and get Cueto and Chapman in return.
no we don’t. I’d have no issue of AA moved Norris as the headline for Price or Cueto
If it costs Norris, AA should hang up the phone with Cincy, no way we should give him up for 12 starts, I don’t care if it gets us into the playoffs or not
if it doesn’t work out, you can always replenish the farm system at next years deadline, since you have Bautista & Edwin set to hit free agency
Cueto has also looked nicked up during his past 2 starts…that is worrisome.
It’s a tough choice between continued mediocrity for not doing what it takes to contend in a year when they’ve gotten a real chance, and sustained mediocrity because they’ve traded top prospects for to win that season. I hope AA goes for it, as the opportunity to contend might not come again in a wide open AL East.
Yeah, those names mentioned won’t bring anyone to get them anywhere. Typical contenting fan reasoning is that enough bad players add up to a good one.
I’ll complain about not trying to win with a historic offence and I look what we got out of the Halliday deal and understand that all the kids aren’t going to turn into superstars.
And how much worse will the offence be next year? Will EE and Bautista suddenly become garbage players? Need to lower your expectations if you think the Jays will get an ace this year. It won’t happen if the asking price is Stroman/Hoffman plus some prospects.
I have no idea, You can’t bank on health, look what happened to our rotation when stroman went down. Norris headlining a deal should get you one of price or cueto. The asking price isn’t stroman anymore
You can never bank on health, which is why it’s good to have depth. If you trade away all your prospects, it’s hard to have depth. I’d rather stand pat with what we have, maybe acquire a rental that won’t cost us a top prospect, and go for it next year. The Jays won’t have Dickey or Buehrle next year, they’ll have like 40 million to spend. Go after Cueto or Price as a free agent after this year, have them lead the rotation next year. Cueto/Price, Stroman, Hutchison, Sanchez and Norris would still be a really good rotation next year. The offence will still relatively be the same. When is the last time a #1 offence has ever won anything in the post-season? Anyone? Seriously I don’t know the answer to that question.
Dickeys been our 2nd best pitcher this year, 3rd best if you just count Estradas last month and a half
By what measure? His numbers are dreadful across all metrics and raw numbers.
His 4.70 ERA is a little below average, but I bet you he has lost at least 6 games this year 2-1 or 3-2 when the offense just dried up for him. A W/L record shouldn’t indicate how a guys pitched because if that’s the case Hutch would be one of the best starters in the league, and he certainly has been far from that this year. I know he isn’t pitching like the ace we paid for, but Toronto fans need to get over that and realize Dickeys still a pretty good 3-4-5 starter
These updates are acting pretty bi-polar right now, it’s litterly one report saying the exact opposite of the other
The best one was yesterday, when Beane went from “submitting his list of Mets prospects he wanted”, to “no talks at all” between the two sides in a matter a minutes.
Toronto is all talk.
8:46: Toronto is interested in Mat Latos.
10:14: Latos is little more than a backup plan.
10:48am: Toronto has no interest in Latos but might consider Dan Haren
11:52am: Haren is little more than a backup plan.
12:58pm: Toronto has no interest in Dan Haren.
July 23: Jays no longer interested in Marlins pitchers; pursuing _________’s pitchers instead
@RCT You need to pass around that Coolaid you’re drinkin friend.
That rotation wouldn’t even compare to Baltimore’s let alone the Yankees….best in the AL East>>>>PLEASE!!!
there’s no prize for best rotation, only best team.
Club house issue? It’s July! He only has to get along for a few months. Winning can help that. Also AA can use this as a short term audition for next year. If he’s liked maybe they get him on a good contract as other teams will be scared off due to his personality issues.
Take that Rasmus, Adam Lind & JA Happ!
Did Happ or Lind have issues? I know Rasmus’ was well documented but I didn’t hear anything about the other two, especially Happ
Rasmas, Lind and Happ were all in the club house for the whole season. As the season is half over and he will be coming to a team in a playoff race I think he would be fine. If the Jays aren’t interested it’s because he is owed $4.5 million and that would eat up all the money AA has stated he has left to spend. Latos will be motivated to get a long as he will be playing for a new contract next year and what players don’t want to be in the playoff race?
Ahh the “clubhouse mix” fallacy. How many more times does it have to be proven that on-field performance is the ONLY thing that matters, always? Latos being the nicest, easiest guy in the world to have on your team isn’t going to make up the 12 games the fish are out of first. He does have a 3.32 FIP, which is better than any Jays SP, who I am sure are all great clubhouse guys 😉
A’s won three rings back to back in the 70’s and practically hated each other. But they united in hating Charlie O’Finley more. But…I do think there have been occasions maybe that bad clubhouse juju has maybe held a team or two back…Montreal in the early 80’s should have won…but those guys road the rails right up their nose…
do any jays fans have any idea what prospects the marlins might get back any names ????????