Here are Tuesday’s minor moves from around the game…
- Veteran backstop Drew Butera cleared waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A Albuquerque, per a club announcement from the Rockies. While Butera could have rejected the assignment in favor of free agency, The Athletic’s Nick Groke tweets that the 35-year-old will accept the assignment and remain in the organization. Butera went 3-for-17 in his brief run with the Rox this season and has never hit much in the Majors aside from an outlier 2016 campaign with the Royals. In 1364 trips to the plate at the MLB level, Butera owns a .201/.258/.299 slash with 19 home runs. However, he’s long been regarded as a quality defender behind the plate and has carved out a decade-long career at the big league level as a result of his glovework. Should the Rockies incur an injury to either Chris Iannetta or Tony Wolters later this season, Butera will quite likely get a call back to the big leagues.
- The Blue Jays announced that infielder/outfielder Alen Hanson has cleared waivers and been assigned to Triple-A Buffalo. Hanson, 26, came over from the Giants in the trade that sent Kevin Pillar to San Francisco, though that trade was driven in large part by salary and Hanson wasn’t necessarily viewed as a long-term piece by the Jays. In 48 plate appearance with Toronto, Hanson hit .163/.229/.163, and while it’s a tiny sample, he’s never hit much a total of 625 MLB plate appearances. Dating back to his debut with Pittsburgh in 2016, Hanson is a .232/.266/.368 hitter. The former top prospect is a .273/.327/.406 hitter in parts of three Triple-A seasons, and it appears he’ll stay on hand as a depth piece for the Toronto organization.
Too many players playing in MLB that don’t really belong there. Here’s a couple of examples. MLB needs to purge itself if a couple of teams.
Hmm, that’s an interesting concept. How do you think they would go about doing that?
Good idea, except too much money in MLB coffers to make contraction happen.
There is a lot of minor league fodder in the big leagues.
The Jays know about lots of minor league fodder on the big league roster. They traded Pillar for nothing, gave up on Smith Jr so they could keep Brito, another minor leaguer.
Yeah. That Smith deal always bothered me.
@jimmertee
As usual, fabulism is your method of analysis. Beats looking things up then thinking about it, right?
> The Jays…traded Pillar for nothing
1) As noted in the article, Toronto got salary relief — nearly all of Pillar’s $5,800,000 contract. In a non-compete year, that’s not nothing for a declining centre fielder (-0.4 bWAR so far this season) who is as dumb as a rock (see his annual “I got it figured out! Don’t swing at everything! Wait…nevermind, I’m swinging at everything! Woo-woo! See also, hero throws that never hit the cutoff man. And, gay slurs).
2) RHP Juan De Paula was the Giants’ #13 prospect as ranked by Baseball America, and MLB ranks him as #28 in the Jays’ system. BA: “De Paula is a skinny, 6-foot-3 righthander with growing stuff and room to add more weight and strength to his frame. His fastball sits in the mid-90s and touches 98 mph with above-average life.” He has a 2.84 ERA in the minors, even when including a rough start to 2019. De Paula is not a star, but he’s not nothing.
3) RHP Derek Law, according to BA: “His fastball averages 94-95 mph and reaches 98 mph, but poor command of the pitch has made him susceptible to deep counts and high walk totals. His slider is a swing-and-miss pitch, and he also has a curveball.” He has a career 3.10 ERA in AAA, 3.82 ERA in NLB. Law is not a star, but he’s not nothing.
> gave up on Smith Jr so they could keep Brito, another minor leaguer.
Absurdly and wilfully wrong. Smith was off the 40-man roster almost a MONTH (!) before Toronto acquired Brito. From their MLB player pages:
March 5, 2019 Toronto Blue Jays designated LF Dwight Smith Jr. for assignment
April 2, 2019 San Diego Padres traded RF Socrates Brito to Toronto Blue Jays
I liked Smith and hoped the Jays would give him an extended tryout as a fourth outfielder and bat off the bench. But I don’t tell lies to make my point stronger!
Jimmertree has #lyingeyes
Wow! Passion with facts!
Love it!
To summarize what TerryMesmer said….
The Jays gave up Pillar for nothing.
Long winded post where we didn’t discuss money or the fact two GMs didn’t care for Dwight Smith Jr despite swinging the bat well every time he was called up. You wasted wrist stamina in your response Terry.
Hey watch it with facts on the internet
The Dwight Smith Jr thing was just to many OFer’s on the 40man and FO got it wrong on which to DFA. But what do we know that slot money could wield us a SICK latin player and personally, love to see him taking flight w the O’s…
Just wrong bird type i imagine.
He was never white & blue, just always black & orange bird.
Ahahahah
Too many OFs because management brought in other OFs believing they were superior to Dwight Smith Jr.
Just repeating your point and not addressing facts doesn’t thereby prove your point, JimmerReaper.
That would imply what you said was true. Glad you’ve confessed you can’t get enough of yourself. You want facts?
– In reality, Rogers doesn’t need salary relief when it comes to a guy making Pillar’s money. Otherwise why sign Galvis if money is an issue.
– The Blue Jays currently carry a total of 0 players capable of playing the CF position. They also have 0 players capable of playing up to Pillar’s level defensively.
– Pillar is not a very good hitter. Can’t argue there. If we played a game of “Would You Rather”, I’d take Pillar and that contract over Brito every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
– Until Derek Law sticks in the majors for at least a full year, he is a nothing.
– De Paula is a 22 year old who hasn’t touched high-A. That is a project and a long shot.
– The Blue Jays gave up on Smith by 2017 by never giving him a shot. Jonathan Davis and Roeman Fields are currently in that boat regardless of how productive they are in AAA.
– Jimmer and I are two different people.
Terry, get a clue. I can drive the point home but I shouldn’t have to. Targeting my “lack of facts” shows you do not have any clue about this team. Pay attention to history and the breakdown of how this team got here, starting from the day Rogers owned the team.
Well said Trim.
I am looking forwad to see how the Atkins braintrust handles this year’s trade deadline, If they can restock with elite pitching prospects and an elite hitting prospect or two, then my faith in this mgmt team will be restored.,
There is enough inventory to get elite prospects, either by trading one of the BlueJays at a time or bundling them to get more value.
We all know who has to go: Sanchez, Stroman, Smoak, Galvis, Giles Tepara, Hudson etc. If they delay trading these guys, it delays winning if they don’t deviate from the current methodolgy.
And cut Buckholz now, bad signing.
Unfortunately they may need to keep Clay solely based on the poor performance of the AAA Bisons pitching staff. They need to cut Morimando or put him in the bullpen, call up Sopko. Put Romano in the bullpen and call up Diaz. Single-A arms are performing and should be called to AA to join Pearson. Cut dead weight.
But no, Jays bring in Patrick what’s-his-name to block young players from being promoted. Stupid.
Agree on the players you mentioned, except I do think they may need one of Stroman or Sanchez because of the lack of pitching depth. I’d also try and deal Grichuk despite the extension.
Since Grichuk’s extension, he has started to go the other way. Then he forgets about it and goes back to what he has always been.
I am totally in agreement with you about promoting the kids and getting rid of the fringe players
> Rogers doesn’t need salary relief when it comes to a guy making Pillar’s money.
You miss half the point: The Jays didn’t have to eat Pillar’s salary so as to buy those players; San Fran paid Pillar’s salary to acquire a negative WAR player AND give up three younger players, including two pitchers. If I were SF, I would have asked for a prospect plus Pillar, or told the Jays to eat salary.
> The Blue Jays currently carry a total of 0 players capable of playing the CF position.
Except Grichuk.
> If we played a game of “Would You Rather”, I’d take Pillar and that contract over Brito
You do know Brito wasn’t in the Pillar trade, right?
> Until Derek Law sticks in the majors for at least a full year, he is a nothing.
Law did that in his very first year, when he was called up April 15, 2016, and stayed on the MLB roster through to the end of the season.
> De Paula is a 22 year old who hasn’t touched high-A.
Except he is 21 years old, and will be through the end of the MiLB season. (Born: September 22, 1997.)
Winning arguments in you own mind is easy when you make up facts! Well done! You win in your own mind again!
> Jimmer and I are two different people.
Then stop using his illogical and fact-free methods, including sticking up for him. Your sock is showing.
> Targeting my “lack of facts”
Admitting your problem is the first step. Stay strong!
Ok Thanos
After Thanos snapped his fingers, only 15 teams remained.
AL: Seattle, NY Yankees, Houston, Texas, Kansas City, Baltimore, Boston
NL: Miami, Chicago Cubs, LA Dodgers, Washington, San Francisco, Pittsburgh
Houston decides to move back to the NL, because why the hell not!
can he snap Harper’s contract too?
Wow. Just checked, Butera’s career WAR is -2.9. Interesting.
every team has its fringe 25 men. to be honest, i think there is a lot of talent that doesn’t get to prove itself due to roster size restrictions.
For the 50th time, call up Jonathan Davis and drop Brito. If he clears waivers send him and his noodle arm to Lansing for instruction.
Sitting here watching the Jays getting pounded by the Twins again for the third night. It keeps running thru my mind does this not remind you of when Lori gutted the Marlins just prior to dumping them.
Shapiro and Atkins have taken a team that was building and stripped away every player with experience and what we are looking at is basically a AAA team.
A news report the other day said attendance in MLB was down and most of it was this rebuilding nonsense, and Jays are leading the parade the attendance is down by 33% over last year. There was a time when Yankee’s or Boston came to town and you couldn’t get a seat. This coming May 20th (Victoria Day) Boston is in town 1;30 start and you can get seats anywhere in the house.
And Buck Martinez and Pat Tabler do a good job but for god sake stop trying to blowing smoke up everyones butts this current team is terrible and will be terrible for a long time..
Heard the Billy McKinney homerun call by both TV and radio broadcasts. Buck was low key since the bomb made it a 7-1 game last night.
Radio call? As if it was mid-October.
The point? They along with the team are owned by the same people. They will blow smoke, and they really need to address the radio team. Overexcitement in blowout games is a no-no.
As for the stripping down the ballclub, I didn’t see the Marlins giving an underachieving athlete a contract extension the way the Jays did Grichuk. They went full rebuild, Blue Jays didn’t. They have put forth a bad product without allowing some of the younger talent to truly grow. Biggio, Davis and Urena should be up and playing.
When the Jays first started there was Tom Cheek and Early Winn. Winn was an old time player like Dizzy Dean. They brought him in for a few years because they knew the Jays weren’t going to be good and it was his job to keep the game interesting. We have passed that time in the life of the Jays, this is one reason they fired Greg Zann, the supposed sexual harrassment was a good reason to dump a colour man who called it like it was,
I know Jerry Howarth sited health reasons for retiring but I think too like Gibby he didn’t like the direction Shapiro and Atkins are taking the team and it was time to step away while they still had respect.
Yahoo Sports today cited that Jays haven’t played this bad in a long time. Montoye said he knows his “boys” haven’t played well since they left Oakland only winning one game and giving up over 50 runs since then,
Montoye is right about one thing “boys” and thats what they have, a team of AAA candidates. Some of these kids will be good and maybe even great given time but you can’t take a AAA team and toss them into the fire, you will ruin their confidence.
Shapiro and Atkins said nothing in regards to the terrible team, But then all spring they kept saying the team would surprise fans. Well the fans aren’t surprised and they are staying away in droves.
I didn’t say Alford should be up. Didn’t say Bichette should be up. Didn’t say Gurriel should be up. Didn’t say any pitcher should be up. Jonathan Davis is turning 27 and is hardly a boy. Urena isn’t considered a top prospect either. Only prospect mentioned is Biggio.
Toss them in the fire.
I agree with you that they need to be up with the big club where you gain the experience. However if you push them to hard you can destroy their confidence and take potential good or even great players for years. My feeling is you can’t go from one of the oldest line-ups in the MLB to the youngest in one fell swoop. By the trade deadline they will have traded Stroman, Smoak, and Sanchez, and depending on how Bichette’s hand comes round Galvis could be gone as well.
When I said Kid’s that’s a direct quote from Charlie Montoyo “My Kid’s arent playing well”.
I know I’m beating a dead horse but the Jays will go nowhere as long as Shapiro and Atkins are steering the boat, they proved it when they were in Cleveland, they leave Cleveland improves.
I hear you and I understand what you mean. Pompey, Snider, Lawrie, they are prime examples.
The only young guy I’d want up is Biggio (pending a move with the current team). The first difference between him and the rest is he’s 24 years old. The others were 20-21 when promoted.
One reason I’m not as concerned over Biggio is because he may be the most improved player over the last two years in the organization. That tells me he’s the hungriest.
This team looks really bad but it’s all apart of a rebuild. I think the Smith dfa makes the Jays front office look really bad. They literally have nobody in the outfield that can hit .250. This is scary…
To rebuild you have to have a solid foundation, the Jays don’t have that foundation. I’m not suggesting they chase after the Harper and Trout types but look what they did in the off season. They grabbed a bunch of players that no other team wanted at bargain basement prices. And other then Galvis how many are showing anything.
Jays are on the hook for over 70 million in salaries to players who are now playing with contentors because they dumped them all and ate the salary. They won’t spend money to get some good players but they spend it to dump players.