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Blue Jays Acquire Jesse Chavez From A’s For Liam Hendriks

By Jeff Todd | November 20, 2015 at 8:15pm CDT

The Blue Jays have officially acquired righty Jesse Chavez from the Athletics. Right-hander Liam Hendriks is going to Oakland in return.

Sep 11, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Jesse Chavez (30) throws a pitch in the first inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

This swap could have wide-ranging implications. The 32-year-old Chavez figures to join the re-signed Marco Estrada in the Jays rotation, significantly reducing the team’s need to add a free agent starter. While neither figures to be a top-of-the-rotation contributor, that duo should provide innings, depth, and options. Of course, a bigger addition could still occur.

Chavez was something of a journeyman before he landed in Oakland. Over four seasons there, he worked to a 3.98 ERA with 8.2 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9 in 363 2/3 innings. He proved especially useful for his versatility, making 47 starts and 54 appearances from the pen after working almost exclusively as a reliever earlier in his MLB career.

MLBTR projects that Chavez will earn $4.7MM this year in his final season of arbitration eligibility. That’s obviously quite a bit cheaper than one would expect to pay for an arm of his quality on the open market, but he does come with just one season of control.

Meanwhile, the A’s will get four years of control over Hendriks, the first of which (2016) will be at league minimum. The 26-year-old enjoyed a breakout 2015 in the Toronto pen after functioning mostly as a starter earlier in his career — the opposite transformation of that enjoyed by Chavez.

The Aussie ended the season with 64 2/3 innings of 2.92 ERA pitching. Most impressively, he racked up 9.9 K/9 against just 1.5 BB/9 — figures that he never approached in prior seasons. As Chris Mosch of Baseball Prospectus explained in detail earlier today, a huge leap in fastball velocity and tweaking of pitch selection seemed to drive Hendriks’ success. His new team will now hope that he can continue that high level of performance and take up a key set-up role.

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported the trade (Twitter links).

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Newsstand Oakland Athletics Toronto Blue Jays Transactions Jesse Chavez Liam Hendriks

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View Comments (75)

Comments

  1. Brixton

    8 years ago

    Return probably isn’t very much. They probably hope that they can turn him into another Estrada.

    Reply
  2. mrnatewalter

    8 years ago

    Traded from Oakland to Toronto…

    So we should expect Jesse Chavez to be the Cy Young winner next year?

    Reply
    • AsFan89

      8 years ago

      No

      Reply
    • AidanVega123

      8 years ago

      hahahahah

      Reply
    • marucci19

      8 years ago

      Lol

      Reply
  3. Brixton

    8 years ago

    Hendriks is the return? I’d rather have Hendriks than Chavez

    Reply
    • mitchell7a

      8 years ago

      why? SP are way more valuable than non-late inning relievers?

      Reply
      • Brixton

        8 years ago

        4 years of a quality, low ERA bullpen arm for 1 year of a mediocre starting pitcher that you could get someone just as good on the FA market for like for the same price.

        Reply
        • mitchell7a

          8 years ago

          Find me a SP that will sign for 4 Million a year and post a sub 4 ERA.

          Reply
          • Brixton

            8 years ago

            Jesse Chavez has had 1 career season as a starter with an ERA under 4.
            Dillon Gee had a 3.85 ERA over 446 IP from 2012-2014. I’m sure he’ll sign for under 5M.

            Reply
            • mitchell7a

              8 years ago

              You can’t just selectively choose to withhold Gee’s numbers last season…. He got TORCHED last season and that is why he will sign for under 5 million. He is getting old and will unlikely ever have a sub4 ERA ever again.

              Reply
              • Brixton

                8 years ago

                And you can’t just exclude Jesse Chavez’s last year.. in which his ERA was above 4 too..

                Even if you want to include Gee’s 2015, he had a 4.02 ERA over the last 4 years.
                Chavez over the last 4 years had a 4.23 ERA.

                Reply
                • mitchell7a

                  8 years ago

                  If we want to talk about consistency, Hendricks last season was his ONLY good season to date. Who’s to say it wasn’t a fluke?

                  Reply
                  • Brixton

                    8 years ago

                    Maybe you’re right, but last year was his only year as a full time reliever.

                    Reply
                    • R.D.

                      8 years ago

                      Yeah you’re totally right. Cause no pitcher has ever transitioned into the bullpen and become really successful.

                      *cough* Mariano *cough*
                      *cough* Hawkins *cough*
                      *cough* Britton *cough*
                      *cough* Perkins, Grilli, Nathan, Soriano,Benoit, Andrew Miller, Wade Davis *cough*

                      Ugh cold weather making me sick.

                      Reply
                      • Paddy

                        8 years ago

                        Hahaha freaking love it!

                        Reply
              • rct

                8 years ago

                “You can’t just selectively choose to withhold Gee’s numbers last season”

                Well, before last season, the Mets were actively shopping Gee and basically couldn’t even give him away. If he’d been a FA, he would have signed for under $5MM. He made $5.3 in arb, but the Mets hemmed and hawed about that and almost non-tendered him.

                But Brixton is right here, imo. I’d much rather have Hendriks than Chavez. It might be his only successful season, but it was his first as a reliever and he had 9.9 K/9 with only 1.5 BB/9 (1.082 WHIP) and a FIP of 2.14 in 64 2/3 innings. Cheaper, more years of control, etc.

                Reply
          • bluejayseveryday

            8 years ago

            Chavez is going to make around 4.7 mil in arb this next season, and you can get someone like a Rich Hill for that kind of money.

            Reply
            • mitchell7a

              8 years ago

              Rich Hill had 4 starts last year. And made 1.3 Million dollars more.

              Reply
              • bluejayseveryday

                8 years ago

                I said around. and it’s possible.

                Reply
                • ddombro4pres

                  8 years ago

                  Rich Hill is likely why the As traded Chavez. They upgraded their rotation and you got their scraps.

                  Reply
      • AsFan89

        8 years ago

        Chavez had a great first half the past two seasons, but a bad second half. He only has one year of control, and Oakland was going to use him out of the bullpen anyway. Hendricks has four more years of control.

        Reply
        • mitchell7a

          8 years ago

          Not saying it’s not a fair trade, but Hendricks was a LR for the jays by the end of the season last year. Acquiring an actual starter means Sanchez can stay in the bullpen and Hendricks became expendable.

          Reply
          • A'sfaninUK

            8 years ago

            RPs who throw 60+ IP of 2.14 FIP ball should never be “expendable”. I can feel AA shaking his head about this deal from here.

            Reply
            • mitchell7a

              8 years ago

              Chavez and Estrada were in scary similar situations before being traded to the Jays. I don’t here anyone complaining about that trade?

              Reply
      • A'sfaninUK

        8 years ago

        “Non-late inning relievers” – thats not what Hendricks was, at all. He closed out and pitched in the 8th in a majority of his games.

        Reply
        • mitchell7a

          8 years ago

          Did you even watch Jays game last year… Hendricks pitched more than half of his innings before the 8th.

          Reply
          • A'sfaninUK

            8 years ago

            You can look up his innings breakdown on baseball-ref, which is what I did. He pitched in just about every situation.

            Reply
            • mitchell7a

              8 years ago

              As did I…. and what i said wasn’t wrong…

              Reply
          • Brixton

            8 years ago

            In 53 of Hendriks 58 games last year, he pitched in the 7th inning or later.

            Reply
            • mitchell7a

              8 years ago

              Makes sense man…. Relievers usually do pitch in games after starters are done pitching…. Kind of how baseball works

              Reply
              • Brixton

                8 years ago

                the 7th inning or later is ‘leverage’ situations, which was the question

                Reply
              • A'sfaninUK

                8 years ago

                You said “non-late inning relievers”. 7th or later is “late innings”. You blew it.

                Reply
            • A'sfaninUK

              8 years ago

              7th inning or later does not = “non-late inning relievers”. Non-late inning relievers are called “garbagemen”. Hendricks was very good, the A’s won this trade.

              Reply
              • mitchell7a

                8 years ago

                You can’t argue someone won the trade before a single pitch has been thrown. Plz calm down and wait until the season actually starts before making rash judgements.

                Reply
                • genius.gm.on.mlb.the.show

                  8 years ago

                  Wait didn’t you start out talking about the 8th? Why did it switch to the 7th now

                  Reply
    • bluejayseveryday

      8 years ago

      Yup.

      Reply
  4. jgmcd2

    8 years ago

    I dislike this move a lot. Hendriks has 4 years of control left and Chavez is a free agent at the end of the year.

    Liam was phenomenal in the bullpen for the Jays and Chavez is an average starter, maybe they think he can pitch well with the best offense in baseball behind him but I don’t like it. Waste of Hendriks, worst case Hendriks could start a few games. I miss AA.

    Reply
    • mitchell7a

      8 years ago

      Hendricks may have pitched well for the jays, but a move like this means Sanchez is likely staying in the Bullpen meaning Hendricks was Expendable (BP anchored by Osuna/Cecil/Sanchez).

      Reply
      • terrymesmer

        8 years ago

        And Hendricks was out of options. Maybe they traded him because they might lose him anyway.

        Reply
  5. Willie Stargell Ghost

    8 years ago

    Toronto trade Chavez to Oakland a couple of years ago! I guess they figured they screwed up.

    Reply
  6. sigurd 2

    8 years ago

    O_o why would they do that?

    Reply
  7. ds4tw

    8 years ago

    Not a huge fan of this deal but at the same time I wasn’t a a fan of Lind for Estrada.

    4y of control with the possibility to start a few again vs 1 year of control from a back end starter.

    A bullpen that’s fairly light lost a decent arm. Likely means Sanchez is staying in the pen.

    Reply
  8. HEpennypacker

    8 years ago

    Nice pick up jays

    Reply
  9. A'sfaninUK

    8 years ago

    2.14 FIP and a 1.5 fWAR over 64 IP for Hendricks, with 4 years of control left aka a very valuable piece.
    OR
    3.85 FIP and a 2.3 fWAR over 157 IP for Chavez for 2016 only.

    With Valencia & Doubront already gifted to Oakland for free, this looks like the Jays feeling the need to keep on paying for Donaldson more than anything else!

    Reply
    • mitchell7a

      8 years ago

      Doubrant played like trash for the As….

      Reply
      • A'sfaninUK

        8 years ago

        and the A’s paid nothing for him, the Jays gave him to them…he was once a hyped prospect whos only 27.

        Reply
        • mitchell7a

          8 years ago

          So?

          Reply
    • gneedoba

      8 years ago

      Valencia wasn’t gifted to Oakland, the Jays designated him for assignment and the A’s picked him up, but could have easily been any other team.
      I’m sure the Jays feel they owe the A’s for the Donaldson trade just as much as the Red Sox feel they owe the Mariners for the Varitek trade…

      Reply
  10. 22222pete

    8 years ago

    Gibbons didn’t seem to trust Hendricks in the pen during the playoffs, so who knows whats up with that. His last playoff appearance his velocity was down a bit .

    Chavez really does not look like a good fit for Toronto due to the park and division and his struggles against LHB’ers, but they need a SP’er and I imagine they can replace Hendricks in the pen. Chavez was really good in the first half.

    Reply
    • A'sfaninUK

      8 years ago

      Really makes no sense giving up 4 years of Hendricks for a year of a guy who might end up in the pen. The SP market is so big, Jays should have gotten more for Hendricks.

      Reply
  11. bluejayseveryday

    8 years ago

    Quality bullpen arm for 4 years of control. Decent swingman for 1 year of control. As a Jays fan, hopefully Chavez turns into and ace. And then Billy Beane dies.

    Reply
    • A'sfaninUK

      8 years ago

      Why would you want the man who is singlehandedly responsible for your teams 2nd ever MVP to be on your team, to die?

      Reply
      • bluejayseveryday

        8 years ago

        2 different sentences there.

        Reply
  12. mookiessnarl

    8 years ago

    So if you replace Buehrle with Chavez that leaves money to sign a reliver or two. Hopefully that’s what the Jays intend to do because their bullpen didn’t really have the depth to be used as trade pieces.

    Reply
    • A'sfaninUK

      8 years ago

      Chavez has never thrown more than 157 IP and has fallen apart in the 2nd half both years as a SP:

      2014 1st: 3.14 ERA
      2014 2nd: 4.60 ERA
      2015 1st: 3.40 ERA
      2015: 2nd: 5.59 ERA

      Also:
      2014 H/A: 2.67 ERA/4.12 ERA
      2015 H/A: 3.38 ERA/4.92 ERA

      So he’s a product of the Oakland Coliseum too.

      This is bad trade for the Jays.

      Reply
      • mookiessnarl

        8 years ago

        Taken in a vacuum maybe. But if they make several other moves there’s no reason Chavez can’t be a serviceable 4 or 5.

        Reply
      • mitchell7a

        8 years ago

        It is not fair at all to say “he’s a product of the Oakland Coliseum,” by just looking at ERA…. His peripherals (xFIP and k-BB% both higher) were actually BETTER away from O.co

        Reply
        • A'sfaninUK

          8 years ago

          Regardless of where he played, he had a 5.86 ERA over his last 15 games of 2015 – that’s positively doodoo.

          Reply
      • doubleddownie

        8 years ago

        I’ve got an idea let Chavez start half a seasons worth of games all on the road so he doesn’t fatigue and let Drew Hutchison start the other half at home where he had a 2.92 ERA. Between the 2 of them you’ve got 1 dominant starter

        Reply
  13. mitchell7a

    8 years ago

    For those people hating on Chavez (and this trade):

    Chavez has a 3.74 xFIP and a 3.85 SIERA over the last 3 years. In 2015, his xFIP and k-BB% were both higher away from Oakland than at home. Steamer projects him at 176 innings in 2016 with a 3.86 ERA and a fWAR of 2.2. All for $4.7 million.

    Reply
    • Rooster

      8 years ago

      Oh yes projections. They are always guaranteed.

      Reply
      • cxcx

        8 years ago

        And someone said or insinuated they are.

        Reply
  14. jfodes

    8 years ago

    This is a horrible trade, Jays are not going to spend any money on pitching. Hendriks could of easily been transferred back to a starter and he’s controlled for four years. Chavez is a long man in the bullpen at best. Can’t rely just on the bats to bring them back to post season.

    Reply
  15. R.D.

    8 years ago

    Great trade for the A’s. I’m afraid Chavez isn’t gonna hold up the the AL East. At all.

    Reply
  16. Rooster

    8 years ago

    Trade makes no sense. Hendrix could of been stretched out in the spring to be your swingman. Would rather have Liam than Chavez filling that role. Don’t get it. Bad start for Shapiro so far.

    Reply
  17. nowaydude

    8 years ago

    I like this trade. I really don’t think the Jays plan to add him to the starting rotation but are adding him to the bullpen and spot start when they need him. They need one more guy like this. Liam was good and cheap but very easy to replace

    Reply
  18. TJECK109

    8 years ago

    Some where AA is scratching his head…

    Reply
  19. chinabell70

    8 years ago

    What a Bad Move? Maybe next move will be Donaldson for Lawrie!!!

    Reply
  20. bruinlife33

    8 years ago

    Getting Chavez for any other pitcher the Blue Jays have (other than Estrada) is an upgrade. The postseason exposed their weak pitching

    Reply
    • cxcx

      8 years ago

      Stroman is kind of good/important for them going forward.

      Reply
  21. szagski13

    8 years ago

    I’m neutral on this trade at the moment, not thrilled about trading a guy with 4 years of control for a guy in his walk year. On the other hand, Gibby didn’t seem to be a fan of Hendriks so if he wasn’t going to be used much we may as well trade him (for the people saying he could’ve been stretched out as a starter, that would decrease his velocity, which is the entire reason he became more effective in relief). The good news is this move helps our rotation; Stroman, Estrada, Dickey, Chavez, Hutch isn’t the worst assembly of starters. Hopefully we sign a tier 1/2 FA starter to push most of those guys down a spot though.

    Reply
    • rivera42

      8 years ago

      That is actually a pretty bad rotation. Stroman, while very good, is coming off injury. Can he give you 200+ innings? Estrada had a career year. How likely is he to repeat it? Dickey is old, and he’ll probably give you what he did last year. How will Chavez do in the AL East? Will Hutchinson be awful on the road again? That rotation is seriously lacking in talent. I see one TOR starter(Stroman) and a bunch of back-end starters.

      Reply
  22. roger12345

    8 years ago

    i don’t like this trade at all. I like Liam; he’s a better pitcher than Chavez. Jays basically giving players back to A’s to accommodate the Donaldson trade.

    Reply
  23. impactrookies

    8 years ago

    I like this deal for the Jays and it also makes sense for a rebuilding Oakland club. Chavez is a competitor who keeps his team in games by pitching low in the zone with effective breaking balls. I think it’s a solid return for Liam Hendricks who they got for free off of waivers. Hendricks offers Oakland a bullpen option on the cheap that they can give an extended look at. I think both have a great chance of out-pitching their contracts in 2016 which is always a good thing.

    Reply

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