Blue Jays fans are watching the coming trade deadline with as much anticipation as any group of supporters, as GM Alex Anthopoulos has spoken quite a bit about the club’s intention to look hard at making impactful additions. As Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca writes, it’s worth considering the club’s summer trade history both to gain some insight into how the organization operates and to better appreciate the reasonable expectations. Toronto faces a “tricky time,” says Davidi, who provides a lengthy overview of past deals. Likewise, Tim Britton of the Providence Journal breaks down the recent deadline work of Red Sox GM Ben Cherington, who faces tough questions as his club has stumbled coming out of the All-Star break.
Here’s more from the AL East:
- Yankees GM Brian Cashman indicated that he does not expect to strike a major deal this summer, as Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News reports. “I would predict it more likely not doing anything than doing something significant,” Cashman said. “We’re making our phone calls, talking to all clubs involved. We’ve practically analyzed everything.” In addition to citing his belief in the club’s current options, Cashman said that the “the acquisition costs might be prohibitive or that unicorn might not exist.”
- Going into further detail, Cashman indicated that the Yankees are unlikely to go get a big-time arm to add to their staff, as Feinsand further reports. “Are there available starters that are better? Yes, but the acquisitions cost are certain players that I have no intention of moving at this stage,” Cashman said. “I would say the smarter play would be to hold off on shooting any of those particular bullets.”
- Neither do the Yankees seem likely to be aggressive in attempting to upgrade at second base. Cashman said that the infield market was particularly thin, noting that it was hard even to identify available options that could theoretically provide better production than incumbent Stephen Drew. Cashman also addressed the decision to send down young second baseman Rob Refsnyder, saying he preferred that approach to designating another player for assignment. “I can get Refsnyder back,” he said. “As we approach the trade deadline, I think it’s better to have all assets in play to give us as much flexibility as we can have.”
- Rays owner Stuart Sternberg indicated that his club will also likely rely primarily on internal options rather than making a deadline splash, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. “People say, ‘Buyer? Seller?’ It will be no different than we’ve done in years past,” said Sternberg. “I think we’re in almost precisely the same spot we’ve been in every year since ’08. Which is, we’re close, we feel we have a really good team. We’d like to see our team on the field all at once. And we’ll try to be opportunistic.” Though the team has obviously scuffled of late, and will be prepared to sell if it falls too far back, the Tampa Bay owner said he hopes to remain in contention and believes the current roster is good enough — especially with players returning from injury — to stay in the mix.
Yes. Thank you Cashman. Good idea. Stick with that decision for the next 10 days and I’ll be a happy Yankees fan.
Perhaps New York could pry Brandon Phillips away without giving up too much. He’d also be under team control for the next two years. He may be 34 but sure doesn’t look it, defensively.
Phillips better years are behind him, I thnk if anything the Yanks try to get Prado back!
Get Phillips or Prado , Just sent Drew to the House!
AA, these losses are on you for not addressing your biggest need the bullpen going int the year, you owe it to the players and the fans
To make an impact acquisition
I would disagree that it is AA’s fault for the losses this year. Put the blame where it lies and that is on John Gibbons and his mismanagement of the bullpen. I have watched 18 games where he kept bringing Aaron Loup into the game and he either gave up the hit with men on base that tied the game or gave the lead to the other team, stealing defeat from victory. It is frustrating as a fan to watch that and you wonder why a manager continues to use the same reliever that has failed more times than he succeeds. Loup doesn’t get the loss and the starters are charged with the runs against and losses, because Gibbons refuses to put the right pitcher in that the situation calls for. If that continues through July, there is no point in the Jays acquiring anyone because the games will be lost through the manager’s poor judgment. They would need to get a starter that will go nine innings every start and then Gibbons takes them out as they are cruising after eighty pitches. Why… it is anyone’s guess. lol.
Aaron Loup has inherited 22 baserunners this season. Five have scored.
Gibbons is not the problem here, he can only work with what is provided to him. Loup was the best option out of the bullpen all of last year and with what they have this year Gibbons is going with who he trusts the most. AA had all off season to address the pitching staff, both starters and relievers, and he chose to go with what he already had, and ignored the issues. The losses should be on him not Gibbons.
Gibbons has made about 5 decisions that has left me wondering this year, don’t blame it on him for what he has on the team. Bo Schultz is our second best reliever, Bo freaking Schultz. It also doesn’t help that he has had the likes of Jeff Francis, Phil Coke, Andrew Albers and Todd Redmond on his team
Don’t blame Gibbons when his second best reliever is Bo Schultz. He has done a pretty good job so far this year for what he has to work with
AA needs to land either Hamels, Cueto, or Shark or the Jays will have a slim chance of making the playoffs and he will be fired!
Hamels yes (if he’ll agree to come to Toronto) Cueto or Shark no. He would also be fired for trading some of the best prospects for a rental, then STILL not making the playoffs, and losing that rental for nothing at the end of the year.
Either way if they don’t make the playoffs he will be fired! He is hesitant to make a deal after trading with the Mets and seeing Syndergaard pitch.
It’s the same story every year. He always hopes the internal options will work, and hopes everyone will stay healthy, and hopes everyone will improve over last year. Then at the trade deadline the prices are too high to acquire a player so he says “Well we tried, but the prices were too high and didn’t make sense for our ball club long term.”
You would think AA would stop worrying about long term at this point. That seat of his must be getting pretty warm with this team playing .500 ball again.
He’s kind of in between a rock and a hard place. Trade the future for a chance this year, or do nothing and wait until next year. Either way, fans will be upset. Personally, I say next year is the year to go all in. The core of the offence will still be together, Stroman will be back, Norris/Sanchez/Hoffman may all be on the team, Osuna and Castro will be one year more mature. So go after that big free agent pitcher in the off-season. A good GM will always have his eye on the future, trying to do what’s “best” for his team long term.
This is exactly what AA seems to think every year. The reality is that you ALWAYS will have underperformers, overperformers, and injuries. Stroman may be back next year, but Buehrle and his 200+ innings will be gone. Osuna and Castro might play like 21 year olds, and some other guy will overachieve while others fall off a rock offensively.
I totally agree that long-term is good, but you may not have a better shot than right now. The offense is absolutely killing it but they just can’t pitch. Next year they may have better pitching but can an older offense still keep up?
True, Bautista and EE are declining, but they are far from old. I really just think there are way to many flaws to fix on the team this year to make them real contenders. Getting one ace and one bullpen piece does not make them contenders. They need a legit #1 and #2 starter. Will all due respect to Buerhle and Dickey…they just don’t match up well against the aces of other teams they would face in the playoffs. If they make a wild-card, that’s a 1 game playoff I believe, so they’d likely be facing their opponents #1 pitcher…and they Jays will throw MB or RAD on the mound. Or at this point…might be Estrada. Point is, they have a rotation full of #3, 4 and 5 guys.
And their offence, while killing it some days, looks absolutely lost other days. Kind of frustrating to watch a team that everyone knows has so much talent, but underperforms. Maybe a manager who is a bit more inspiring than John “oh well we got outplayed again” Gibbons.
Plus a potential 30ish Million in salary cleared off the books
Exactly, no Buerhle, Dickey, or Romero on the books for next year. Having Stroman, Norris, Sanchez, Hutchison in the rotation next year, maybe Hoffman gives them 5 cheap options right there. They can afford an ace, if one will choose to come here on a contract of under 5 years. As much as I dislike that 5 year rule of AA, looking at how Reyes contract is such an anchor on this team, I can’t really blame him for that. It’s hard to project where a player will be that far in the future and if their contracts will be worth it.
Its not AA’s rule
Sorry, it’s a “team policy” that AA enforces, but has flexibility, but has never used that flexibility.
Team policy, your sounding a little like the Mets.
It’s not me at all. It’s AA who said it’s the team policy not to sign any player for over 5 years. He’s willing to go to 6 year contracts in certain cases, but is pretty firm on the 5 year “rule.”
AA cop out!
You snooze, you lose, the Yanks will have big money coming off the books in 2 years, and probably will go after another ace in the off season. The time is now for the Jays!
So slider32, what exactly do you propose the Jays do? Go all in by getting Cueto, Chapman aaaaand Samardzija? That’ll probably cost (at least) Norris, Pentecost, Hoffman, Stroman, Sanchez and then some. Then lose Cueto and Samardzija after the season for nothing. Better to snooze and wait for next year in that case.
Jays should forget a rental and focus on next year. If we can get into playoffs with a lower priced addition, a cost controlled TOR arm or by standing pat, that’s great. If not, no biggie. We should be set with young stud pitchers for years if AA doesn’t mortgage the future to save his hide.
BTW Stroman is never going anywhere. He will be the face of the franchise for years to come and will one day be the greatest Jays pitcher ever. Mark my words. All those other GMS salivating and trying to steal him from AA see it.
Agreed. Selling the farm for a rental that might end their non playoff streak isn’t smart for business. If the jays players are upset by this then they should have played better and smarter.
” it was hard even to identify available options that could theoretically provide better production than incumbent Stephen Drew” Seriously, Cashman? Aaron Hill is pretty awful these days but he would be better than Drew.. Gyorko would be better than Drew.. Pretty much any second baseman in baseball is better than Drew outside of Utley.. He has had exactly 12 good at bats this year.. That shouldn’t be too difficult to improve on.. Start with the Marlins and see about Prado.. Or you can scrape the barrel and see what it would require to get Uggla.. He is hitting 30 points higher than Drew this year.. That says a lot when Dan Uggla could be an upgrade.. Whenever Cashman says hitters don’t just decline overnight as badly as Drew I wish a reporter would reply “what about Uggla?”
Oh really EXACTLY 12 good at bats? I seem to remember down 1 run top 9th 2 outs vs the Mariners and he hit the game tying single which led to the yankees eventually winning in extras.
“Pretty much any second baseman in baseball is better than Drew outside of Utley..”
Except the guy they tried to replace him with. Drew has been bad this year. In 80 games this season, he has accumulated a -0.4bWAR. The guy they brought up to replace him? Refsnyder has accumulated in only 4 games….. a -0.5bWAR. How is that even possible?
The guy a Bum, cut him !
This team was 20-12 to start the season when everyone was healthy, now they have upgrades in Nova and Warren in the pen. I’m not sure they need to make any moves at this point. They could always bring up Severino and Judge if need be.
Utley has hit more Hard Balls that have been caught this year than in his Previous 5 Seasons , Bad Luck and no player on 1st Base in Front to get defenses to play him honest , But Still more Dangerous than Drew , Especially in Yankees Stadium with that Short Right Field Porch
I’d like Cashman to keep to a discipline. The Yankees may get lucky this year and make the playoffs. It’s possible. But even if they were to bring in Mike Trout for a fringe prospect, it wouldn’t be a certainty. They are still too old, too fragile, too much on the downsides of careers. If they make it, great. But I’d rather see him not squander hope for the future for an illusory upgrade in the present.
I guess by lucky you mean being the division leaders for 90% of the season.
The Yankees are 50-41, a .549 WP. The last team in the AL East to win the division with that low a WP was the 2000 Yankees, who lost their last 7 games. Many years, that WP wouldn’t have even placed 2nd. So, yes, lucky
By that logic Baltimore should be lucky they are in second place with a near .500 record and I guess Boston is even luckier to be “only” 9 games back with a .452 %pct. It was clear to me no one was going to run away with the division. But I didn’t expect .700 ball from the Yankees this year.
Cherington has ended up in a terrible position. The Sox are set up to make win-now moves, but we’re going to have to be sellers. Except the players that a seller would want to move (Napoli, Victorino, Masterson) are having terrible seasons. None of them are even in reasonable QA territory, so it’s really down to eat salary and get a C-prospect, or ride them out and get nothing.
Uehara would be an option to trade but his 2016 salary looks pretty prohibitive, given his age.
I’m not really very psyched for this year’s deadline >.>
Sox shouldn’t sell in my opinion unless they can get value for Napoli. The Sox will still have lots of talent last year. They can just chuck up this year as a loss and get another high draft pick to bolster their already strong farm.
EDIT: Sox shouldn’t sell in my opinion unless they can get value for Napoli. The Sox will still have lots of talent NEXT **year. They can just chuck up this year as a loss and get another high draft pick to bolster their already strong farm.
I think in this situation you get what you can get for Napoli and Victorino. I agree they shouldn’t go full seller and trade anything they can use in the future. But the guys you mentioned just trade them for anything you can get or worst case for nothing but salary relief. Send them out and take back the trusty PTBNL or cash considerations. I would look to see if I could get someone to vastly overpay for Hanley and if not keep him.
If I’m the Red Sox, they just gotta DFA Napoli and Victorino (maybe Masterson too if they want to give a young arm in AAA a shot) as soon as possible, and then try to work out a trade. If they can’t trade them, the lost isn’t all that much (other than the cash of course) because they got to see what they have from the guys in AAA, like JBJ, and Castillo. Also, I think they should listen to offers on a lot of their players, minus the young ones and established team leaders (Papi and Pedroia). If they can get rid of Sandoval, they probably should. I also wouldn’t mind them selling high on Brock Holt if the return is great. And if they can get someone to overpay by trading their bullpen arms, like Koji and Tazawa, I would definitely do it because they can buy a bullpen via free agency this Winter.
Make others Teams an Offer that they can’t refuse !
Most jays fans want that big splash. That big trade for an ace. I want that too but not for the players we keep hearing about. The problem is the price is way too high. We tried that once before when we traded for Dickey. Gave up a ton and in the end it wasn’t worth it.
If the jays trade for an ace pitcher he’ll get roughly 12 starts before seasons end. I’d say he’d roughly win 7-8 of those starts. The rest well become either loses or no decisions. Is giving up someone like Norris worth 7-8 wins? I doubt any of these ace pitchers will sign with the jays due to Rogers wanting more for less.
No they should not. Ideally, IF Hamels would agree to come to Toronto, he’d be the one to target, depending on what the Phillies would want and if they have any interest in what they Jays have to offer. Would that be worth giving up Norris? I think so. It’ll take a lot more than Norris though.
Agree, Need to convince Cole that Toronto is really a nice city, and that you can walk down the streets at night without getting killed, According to Gary Mathews x-Philly announcer.
It is if you make the playoffs
Hoping AA can find a number 1 or 2 starter that can win at least ten games. Everything else is window dressing.