A day after placing Aaron Sanchez on the DL, the Blue Jays might have lost another starting pitcher today — J.A. Happ will have an MRI after leaving today’s game with elbow trouble, as Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling and other reporters have noted. “I felt kind of a pull, a tug in my elbow,” says Happ. “And then I went back out there for the fifth and it just got progressively worse.” A significant injury to Happ would be yet another blow to a Blue Jays team that is already off to 2-10 start that had already led to whispers that the team could be sellers on the trade market this summer. Here are more notes on injuries.
- Dodgers lefty Rich Hill’s second start of the season ended just as his first one did — with an early departure due to blister trouble, as Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times notes. Shaikin further adds in a tweet that the Dodgers will decide tomorrow whether Hill will require another DL stay. The team could even consider moving him to the bullpen, manager Dave Roberts tells reporters, including MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick (link to Twitter). Presumably, pitching shorter outings could prevent blister flareups. Hill pitched just three innings in the Dodgers’ 3-1 loss to the Diamondbacks. “We’ve talked to a lot of different people that have issues with that outside of our game, and we just can’t pinpoint it,” Roberts said before the game of Hill’s blister issues. “We’re going to continue to try. We don’t have an answer.”
- Braves catcher Tyler Flowers is day-to-day with a strained hamstring he noticed during Sunday’s game, as MLB.com’s Mark Bowman notes. “We’re going to re-evaluate him tomorrow and see where we’re at. Hopefully it’s nothing real serious, because he’s swinging that bat real well,” says Braves manager Brian Snitker. The Braves will wait to decide whether to place Flowers on the DL. In Flowers is out for awhile, Kurt Suzuki will start and Anthony Recker will back him up. Both are already on the Braves’ active roster.
- Mariners infielder Jean Segura and reliever Steve Cishek are close to returning from injury, writes MLB.com’s Greg Johns. Segura has been doing some supervised running to test his ailing hamstring, and hopes to return on Friday, when is when he’s first eligible to come back after going on the DL last Tuesday. Cishek, meanwhile, is beginning a rehab assignment with Double-A Arkansas. Cishek is still making his way back after having microfracture hip surgery last October.
If Happ needs TJ, he’s probably done for.
Just trade Kolby Allard for Carson Kelly or some variation of this!
As good as Kelly is/can be, Allard is an overpay. Kolby has shown “Ace” stuff and potential. Now something like Matt Wisler / Bryce Wilson / Lucas Sims for Carson Kelly is something that might work.
Why would that work for the cardinals?
Wisler is trash, WIlson is a 40 fv 19 year old pitcher and this line from EL @ fangraphs sums up sims pretty well, “He needs to improve his ability to throw strikes just to be a middle-relief piece, and there’s a chance he never gets there.”
Kelly is a catcher who could likely play in the MLB now because of his defense and the cardinals are less than stacked behind the plate.
Big talk from a guy who didn’t know the numerical value to each position on the field.
I am with mr chester here though. Wisler and Sims are at a point in their development where we would have to package them to make the offer look a little more tasty (not necessarily for carson). Allard is definitely an overpay for carson at this point though.
I would like to see the braves go get Carson, but it would have to quite an offer from us that I’m not sure I would feel good with.
You can keep Carson Kelly. Wouldn’t give one our top pitching prospects like Allard, Fried, or Soroka for him.
I think the Jays should start shopping all their older vets with eye on a full rebuild. Bautista, Donaldson, Martin, Tulo, Pilar, Estrada, Liriano, Morales, and Happ if the injury isn’t bad, could all be used to bring prospects back to restock the farm between now and the start of next season. The only players on the MLB roster I think they shouldn’t trade are Sanchez, Stroman and Osuna unless a rival GM comes at them with that special Dave Stewart-esque combination of desperation and stupidity. I think Jays fans would be far more receptive of a rebuild after seeing what the Leafs have done thus far.
If theyre out of it by the deadline, go ahead and trade anything that’s not controlled through next year. The only way I’m trading Donaldson though is if someone gives up at least their three top prospects or good controllable MLB talent. And as bad as they’ve looked this year, with a few adjustments, this exact same core minus Bautista whose been part of the problem could realistically compete next year.
As for the Leaf connection, I hope they can at least do better than that, they’ve been rebuilding for like 10 years lol.
Bautista has no value elsewhere, as the offseason showed. Tulo’s contract makes him practically untradeable. The Pirates had to include Reese McGuire in a trade to convince the Jays to take Liriano. There’s not nearly the value there that many seem to think there is.
Liriano was also bad for about two months in Pittsburgh. If he pitches like normal Francisco Liriano, he could easily fetch an intriguing prospect or two.
What does intriguing mean? A 2war/200ip pitcher who only goes about 160 a year, making 13m/yr with half a year of control isn’t exactly a huge trade asset.
And to go with the original comment – I don’t think Martin or Morales are getting much of a return either.
” And as bad as they’ve looked this year, with a few adjustments, this exact same core minus Bautista whose been part of the problem could realistically compete next year.”
Would be interested to hear the explanation on this one. They were a fringe team coming into this year, next year Martin, Tulo, Morales, Donaldson, etc. are all gonna be a year older.
I don’t expect it to be a great return but they won’t have to package him with prospects to get rid of him like Pittsburgh did. He has value and can help any playoff team win
Is Biagini an option in the rotation with Sanchez and Happ down? He’s been impressive
He’s not that far removed from starting (2015 at AA). If they can stretch him out without screwing up his arm, then I’d say it’s worth a try.
He’s not that far removed from starting (2015 at AA). If they can stretch him out without messing up his arm, I don’t see why not.
Things are looking real bad real early in Toronto.
Damn $48 million for a reliever cmon Dodgers
Didn’t they just give Jansen like 80 million or something like that?
You can’t be serious. There’s absolutely NOTHING that even comes close when comparing Hill and Jansen.
Hill has been very good, but not consistent. His injury history travels backwards for quite a while, and he’s not always “lights out” by any means. He’s 7 years older than Jansen, a 2.3 K/BB rate……and a 9.1 K/9 rate….(618 innings pitched in his career)
Jansen, on the other hand……has been a “Lights Out” Closer for several years, has a track record for consistency and excellence…….and although he has had a hiccup or two in his day, he has a 4.5 K/BB rate……and has a 13.9 K/9 rate…… (413 innings pitched in his career)
Jansen is easily worth twice what Hill is.
Look at Anibal Sanchez
I’m a Blue Jays fan & I’m not for a full blown rebuild at this point. Most of our best prospects aren’t MLB ready yet.. Anthopolous traded away all of those guys. That is why the organizational depth is as poor as it is. I don’t know how much value some of those players would have right now with the way they are playing. Bautista has almost no trade value right now. Martin is still a very good defensive catcher, but his offense is non-existent. I’m not sure how much you would get for him. I’m okay with trading some players to add depth to the organization. We desperately need a corner outfielder. We need starting pitching depth.. We need a bullpen piece or two. However, you can’t trade off all your veteran bats away. You have to have some veteran bats in your lineup to help the younger players along. I’m also not sure how Toronto would take a full blown rebuild at this point They waited so long to get back to the being a contender & the team finally won the city back. If the team goes into a full rebuild after what the team has done the past two season, I fear the Jays would lose the city again. It would be back to being all about the Leafs and their great young team..
As a fellow Jays fan, I don’t think they have any option but to go full rebuild at this point. Donaldson and Pillar are the only position players on the roster that could bring back legitimate prospects, and the club has so many holes to patch. It’d be a bitter pill to swallow, but I think the best path to recreating what Shapiro started in Cleveland is by trying to reload with assets on similar timelines to Alford/Urena/baby Vlad and hoping they hit on a few of them just before Stro and Sanchez hit FA.
Travis too
I dunno how much you could get for him until he can stay healthy for a full year.
A full rebuild doesn’t work at this point because you aren’t going to get much in return for a lot of the players they’d want to trade. You can’t rebuild with mediocre and low end prospects. You have to get real talent in return. Estrada might bring something of value in return. The only problem there is that the Blue Jays literally have nobody to take his spot in the rotation. The have absolutely no starting pitching depth & their top pitching prospects are nowhere near the big leagues. I don’t think the Jays can afford to trade Donaldson at this point. They would completely lose the city at that point. Toronto is a hockey town first. The Blue Jays aren’t the top team. The fans don’t show up for bad teams. Donaldson brings the fans to the ballpark. If they trade Donaldson, they will completely lose the city.
I agree that they’ll take a hit attendance-wise, but the past two years have shown that crowds will come back in a matter of weeks if the team is winning. My office is at John & Adelaide, and I went from being able to walk down to the Dome and get a $10 scalped ticket in the middle of the 1st inning in early June 2015 to having to pay above face value on Stubhub in mid-August. If you trade JD and hit on a couple of the prospects that come back, you could be back in contention in a couple years, and the crowds will come back as soon as the team starts winning again. It’s that or hope Bautista, Estrada, and Morales heat up enough to bring legit prospects back. If everything breaks just right, you could do that and then try sign JD to a long-term deal.
Disagreed on Pillar. Incredible glove, mediocre or terrible at every other aspect of the game.
Agree 100%. Pillar only has value on a stacked offensive team that needs a CF. His value will drop unless the rest of the Jays start hitting.
On man, where were all of you 6 weeks ago, when I was calling for the Jays to trade for a #1 starter and elite bullpen depth? All I got was mostly trolled for my suggestions. This team is done and will not make the playoffs. The best course of action is to retool via trades, but they need to give the team a chance to get out of the hitting funk so that the trades are from a place of strength, not weakness. This is not a firesale even though many of the pieces have to go: Travis, Goins, Smoak, Estrada, Bautista, Martin, Smith, Leone, Grilli, Salty, etc etc. If they start the trade process now, they will get nothing in return. They need to wait for some of these players to get hot and they will get hot, and then put them on the market to the buyers closer to the trading deadline when the prices are higher. For example, I know for a fact that at least 4 teams would take Bautista right now in a fair deal. They didn’t sign him because of the money he was asking in free agency. The Jays will probably have to absorb some of his contract to move him for quality prospects and they will get good prospects for him, the demand is there now and will only increase as the trade deadline approaches and he starts to hit a bit. I don’t beleive that Bautista’s career is over yet, I think he has a few good years left, but it may take him a while to get going at the plate. The Jays have one more year of control over Donaldson, so he is likely going no where as is Pillar. Tulo has a full no trade and rumor has it only wants to go to the Yankees, which isn’t likely happening. Morales is here for 3 years and is a good piece to keep. Liriano, well who knows what you get with him, not likely anything in return. They need to release Howell, he is terrible for the AL East. Like it or not, accept or not, we are going to see a very different Blue Jays team next year.
You know trading for an ace and elite bullpen arms is a lot easier said than done, right? The blue jays have 1 top 50 and 2 back end top 100 prospects. You’re gonna have a really tough time getting an ace and elite pen arm(s) with that.
The Blue Jays didn’t need to trade for a #1 starter. They needed to add pitching depth, both in the bullpen & in the rotation. They had no depth after the starting 5. Now, they could be down 2 starters. That’s a bad roll of the dice by the front office in hoping your rotation stays healthy. Now, they’ll either have to bring up a below average pitcher from AAA or sign a back-end of the rotation guy like Doug Fister. As for the bullpen, the cost of elite bullpen arms is outrageous. Look at the trade packages that it took to get Chapman & Miller last season. The White Sox asked the Nationals for 3 top prospects for Robertson. The Blue Jays don’t have those kinds of prospects. Anthopolous traded them all away. They signed Howell because the contracts for lefty relievers were ridiculous.
Which 4 teams would take Bautista?? They sure weren’t going out of their way to sign him in the offseason. Hate to tell you, but I don’t know of ANY team that would be willing to give up anything of consequence for him.
One thing is true – a fire sale is not going to happen, because there’s not anyone besides Donaldson, Sanchez or Stroman that would give anything significant back in prospects. I’d say the Jays are more likely to give this group another month or more before they decide what to do…largely because there isn’t much alternative.
Osuna? Pillar? Even happ if he avoids injury.
Osuna yes. Pillar’s value is limited to only a couple of teams, because offensively he’s mediocre so he needs to go to a place that (a) needs a CF and (b) can withstand an offensively weak outfielder. Happ – IF he’s healthy yes, but that’s very iffy right now.
I hated the 3 year deal LA gave Hill. Sure he pitched ok in the playoffs, but 3 yrs for a guy who can never stay healthy is nuts. I know it will never happen, but if this shi* continues stash him in the pen or bury him on the DL. God I hate this guy
I cant see how you could hate him so much as management for giving him that contract or irratation at how fragile his hand is. When hes not hurt, hes been fantastic for them. Hes a classic high risk, high reward guy.
Now that’s a Pro tip!
I could see a deal with Atlanta for some pitching… Sean Newcom, Bartolo Colon, Jaime Garcia, Mauricio Cabrera and Matt Wiser for Josh Donaldson, Vladamir Guerrero, Jr., Reese McGwire and Aaron Sanchez.
oh look, stupidly one sided braves trade proposal. I really hope you are a a troll.
Obviously a troll. Toronto wouldn’t trade Sanchez or Donaldson straight up for that package, and maybe even Guerrero too
This is just a bad hypothetical trade offer all around.
@JDGoat
What worries me is that dude might not be a troll. Ive seen people on here that think you can get a high end starter for Kevin Pillar *heavy sigh
The Jays are the oldest team in MLB… A retool in Toronto isn’t going to work. They have too many aging vets and they don’t have enough on the farm or MLB roster to upgrade those vets via trade to keep this team competitive.
The Jays have to start somewhere in the retooling/rebuilding. Might as well start at this trade deadline and see how the marketplace will play out. A lot can change between now and July and the team and/or players can get on a little run and look good and drive up the asking prices for vets. This team won’t be competative for years unless they can do a schrewd, quick retooling and that can happen with one or two great deals for performing players at the deadline. Let’s see what happens.
The Braves should at least inquire on Donaldson. He did go to Auburn and Adonis Garcia can’t hit his way out of a wet paper bag.
The package would cost far to much at this point in the rebuild. Unless the Jays just had some kindness of heart, it really doesn’t make sense. Stick to the plan and make minor adjustments, not major