Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins had to hit the ground running after joining club president Mark Shapiro in moving from Cleveland to Toronto. He gave an interesting interview with Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star about the transition. Among other things, Atkins says he has been impressed with the level of minor league talent still in place despite the significant trades swung by former GM Alex Anthopoulos.
Here’s more out of Toronto:
- It doesn’t appear that the Blue Jays have any further extension talks lined up with slugger Edwin Encarnacion during the final days of camp, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca reports on Twitter. That’s not terribly surprising, given that all indications are the sides were not able to gain much ground earlier in the spring. Still, it’s worth noting that many extension — particularly of pending free agents — come together just before the season opens.
- Roberto Osuna will open the year as the closer for the Jays, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca tweets, meaning that the recently acquired Drew Storen will operate in the 8th inning. As Nicholson-Smith notes (also via Twitter), the Opening Day pen will include four other new additions: Gavin Floyd, Jesse Chavez, Arnold Leon, and Rule 5 pick Joe Biagini.
- Meanwhile, Toronto has settled upon Ezequiel Carrera as the team’s fourth outfielder to open the season, as MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm tweets. He had been competing for the job with players like Darrell Ceciliani, Junior Lake, and Domonic Brown. Carrera, 28, owns a .259./.309/.349 slash with 27 stolen bases over 670 plate appearances spread over five MLB campaigns.
How Ceciliani didn’t make it over Carrera is way beyond me, guy had one hell of a spring
Ceciliani has options is one reason. The larger reason at play is the role of the fourth outfielder on this club. The Jays didn’t really have a legitimate RH bat to spell Saunders in the organization so the fourth OF simply becomes a pinch runner. There is nobody in the lineup that you would pinch hit for at any point so keeping Ceciliani on the bench doesn’t make sense. Carrera is a lackluster defender and not much of a bat but he can at least run relatively well.
If there is an injury to an outfielder, I would highly doubt that Carrera fills in everyday. Assuming Ceciliani is hitting in AAA, he would most likely be the callup at that point. Or possibly Pompey, if he is hitting.
Such a shame that Dom Brown never did anything (besides that month in 2013 where pitchers challenged him with fastballs on the inner third). Phillies should have moved him a Long time ago.
Amaro is maybe the worst GM in recent history.
I assume Junior Lake is becoming that guy that will be given every opportunity to make it, but never will. I am glad he is no longer with the Cubs, but I always thought he would force his way onto someones team with his skillset.
Jays better trade E5 or Joey Bats for pitching ASAP, because that pitching staff is trash.
Yea… No they aren’t… A true ace in stroman. A second who had 3.14 era, two durable average 3 and 4 starters in dickey and happ, and a 5th starter with the upside of a second starter.
That is an average rotation. They will rank in the middle all year long. Paired with the best offence in baseball (can’t argue those numbers), they will do just fine
True ace in Stroman? What? Has he shown an ability to throw 200 plus innings in MLB? Has he even played a full season?
You sound like one of those types that was touting Brandon Morrow as some sort of savior to the Jays based on a small sample size.
That bullpen is horrendous and the rotation is very questionable.
The rotation is average with Sanchez being the x factor with decent upside. Pen looks fairly good with Cecil Storen and Osuna locking down the final 3 innings and Floyd and Chavez available if they need more. I think the pen will be solid and rotation will be ok but calling it trash and needing to trade a premier power hitter for pitching ASAP is just too much.
If they aren’t in contention by the all star break and it doesn’t look like either will resign it is a possibility, but now they have the potential to be scary.
Ya I’m not saying it isn’t. But that’s completely different from the above comment
Sorry should of made it clearer I was agreeing with you.
The rotation is above average. Stroman has the potential to be an ace. Estrada was lights out last season & is a solid #2. Dickey is far better suited in the 3 spot than as an ace. Happ is solid & Sanchez is a wild card who could be really good. I’ll take this rotation top to bottom over any other team in the division except Tampa Bay. Boston has Price as its ace, but the rest of the rotation has loads of question marks. The Jays bullpen has some question marks, but that seems to be a yearly story for them. Osuna, Storen & Cecil are solid at the back end. The rest of the pen could be good or they could be a disaster. Time will tell
Yea… No… They have an average pitching staff with the best offence in baseball (not arguable)
That is a rather bizarre way of thinking
Good call on Osuna. I’m looking forward to the kid challenging Rivera some day for career saves. And Storen is always a great backup if he, heaven forbid, crashes.
“Atkins says he has been impressed with the level of minor league talent still in place despite the significant trades swung by former GM Alex Anthopoulos.”
That is correct.
Jays fans need to check out the results of the Indians farm system under Atkins. In the next 2-3 years as the Jays scouts are phased out by Ivy Leaguers that majored in Business and/or Law, who are are deft in working personal computers, what is in the Jays farm system today will look like a level no longer attainable. Try to keep track of where AA’s scouts go. Guarantee those organizations farm systems will be better for it.
Is your argument that Toronto’s farm system is currently better than Cleveland’s? I’m not really sure I follow you considering most rankings project Cleveland’s system quite a bit higher than Toronto’s. On top of the links below Keith Law ranked the Indian’s system 11th and Toronto’s 25th. This would lead one to believe that in 2-3 years Toronto’s system could be better than AA left it.
. link to fangraphs.com
link to bleacherreport.com
Not sure what the point of trading Hendriks for Chavez is now that Chavez is in the bullpen. I would say its for starter depth but Floyd was ahead of him on the depth chart. Just not really understanding the move now that everything has played out.