The Blue Jays have acquired right-hander Wilmer Font from the Mets in exchange for cash, per announcements from both organizations. New York designated Font for assignment last Friday.
The Mets acquired Font, 29, from the Rays in exchange for 19-year-old righty Neraldo Catalina early in the season to add some depth to a beleaguered pitching staff. He made a few spot starts early in his time with the club but settled into a relief role with uninspiring results. In 31 total innings as a Met, Font logged a 4.94 ERA with 24 strikeouts against 13 walks and two hit batters. Font also served up eight long balls in that short time with the Mets.
Despite his lack of success in the Majors, however, Font keeps intriguing clubs around the league. He’s been traded from the Dodgers to the A’s to the Rays to the Mets and now the Jays without ever even being exposed to outright waivers. He does average 94 mph on a heater he complements with multiple breaking pitches, and Font has experience as an opener, a traditional starter and a reliever, so he’s comfortable in a variety of roles. The Jays will become the fifth team to try to coax quality results out of Font since the 2018 campaign opened, and as a rebuilding club they can certainly afford him a decent leash if they see fit.
This guy likes to throw at people’s heads.
Part of the reason the Blue Jays are interested is because how dominant he was in the PCL in 2017.
Absolutely. He’s parlayed that impressive stint into these numerous mlb opportunities since, but has yet to see sustained success anywhere.
Another arm to bide time. Let’s see what the Stroman, Smoak, Galvis, Sogard, Giles trades bring back before I worry about this guy.
He could be a bit of replacement for Hudson and Phelps as well, I could see them used as sweeteners for trades.
No need to trade sogard. He’s a guy like Curtis Granderson; loves to play and everyone loves having him around and a good veteran to keep around the youngsters. Plus you’re not going to get anyone decent in return for them either. He can stay as long as he wants to and won’t complain.
Plus it would be foolish to trade both him and Galvis. Gotta keep some experience around rhe kids. I’d keep sogard for sure and sell Galvis hitting well like he did at the start. There should be a decent market for him.
But guys like Galvis, Hernandez etc should be sold in a package deal with pitchers like Stroman/Giles/Sanchez. Sanchez has no value. And he never will as long as Charlie Clueless and Assclown Atkins keep him in the rotation (dumbest decision they’ve made) and not back to the bullpen when he had his only real success.
Mets ownership will never turn down a chance to put some cash in their pockets
He had been DFA’d. What did you propose that they do? Did you want him back with the team?
one man’s trash is another’s treasure…
Yup, but Font has serious arm talent. Just has to harness it. Joke below aside, I think its a solid move for TOR. Font seems like one of those guys who’ll have 1 or 2 really good years in his career, sandwiched between a bunch of nothin
Font looks better than his stats suggest. Unfortunately, he lacks any kind of consistency, so he ends up being another fringe guy who can throw 95…but control is meh.
One man’s garbage is another man-person’s good ungarbage.
He cannot be any worse in the rotation than Jackson was….
Hey TOR – If you’re interested in any more A’s castoffs/reclamation projects, I’m sure Aaron Brooks isnt going to last long in Baltimore.
Or, coming soon, the return of Marco Estrada!
Darn it. I’ll have to use Arial or Calibri now that the Jays own the rights to Wilmer.
Has Nick Kingham done anything for the Blue Jays?
Decent long man outings lately, yes.
Kingham has done nothing. Shouldn’t be with the team.
He’s acc been okay, era is decent while the peripherals have been rather uninspiring
Yes. Someone else could have taken the chance rather than Toronto. I’m all about lifting the college draftees in the Jays organization moving up IF they have performed well. Having Kingham and others prohibits the promotion. That’s where I’m coming from. Middle of the pack team close to a WC spot would have been a better fit for Kingham.
He’s certainly been worth the flier on him. Whether his pretty average success is sustainable or not though has yet to be proven.
and yet Derek Law is still on the roster…
Good point Taejon.
Stroman next ??????
Good thing Brodie traded away a prospect to acquire Font. Worked out well just like all his other moves.
Yep .. they essentially sold a prospect for cash ..
Is a 29 year old with nearly 100 major league innings a prospect?
No. But the guy they traded for Font was a prospect. And then they flipped him for cash
Hence the word “essentially.” Chicks dig guys who pay attention to words and stuff.
Why?
Exactly. Why?
Your probably the kind of person who wants the jays to trade for Trevor Bauer
If I did I would have said so. Seldom right and wrong again.
With the Mets’ history and luck of late, he’ll throw 10 straight no inherited or scored run inning streak to start his Jays career.
Zeuch, Saucedo, Zach Jackson, Tice, Snead, Romano, Pannone….pick a guy, any guy, call him up. Then you replace that pitcher with Yennsy Diaz from AA. Then bring up Spraker or Allgeyer to AA to replace Diaz. And then….
It’s called promotion. It’s call giving every arm a real chance at making the big leagues. It’s called instilling confidence in the players within your organization. It’s called motivating your players.
You Jays fans applauding this crap is a problem; you build winners by building confidence. This move, along with other crap (Kingham, Edwin Jackson, others…) tells the arms in your organization they’d rather pickup dogcrap from other teams.
Wilmer Font is the latest example of a losing culture. Holding a spot hasn’t earned or deserve isn’t something to be happy about.
Trim calling guys up when they aren’t ready isnt a promotion, it’s a confidence Killer. of the names you mentioned, maybe 1, possibly outside chance of 2 is ready right now. So you being a guy up now, he gets hit hard and you send him back down. What did that get you?
I’m not saying every Atkins move is Gold but this wanting them to always call up people regardless of preparedness just to fill a spot is what cheap teams do.
1. Who says they will ever be ready?
2. When will they ever be considered ready? Maybe when they are called up?
3. Sink or swim. Figure it out
4. Font isn’t deserving of a promotion
5. Neither was Kingham or Law or Jackson
6. I never said to send them down. It’s July. Ride them out. No more short stints. Tell every pitcher the next two months are a showcase for 2020. That’ll motivate.
7. The organization’s culture is a massive problem and very few Jays fans are concerned or care or believe there is a problem. There is a serious problem and it’s been there since Rogers bought the franchise.
I really hope Trim gets a job for a GM job for a division rival of my team.
Meh. I think after the trade deadline you’ll see a lot more opportunities for the upper level pitching prospects. Likely Stroman, Giles, Hudson and maybe Phelps will be moved to open up spots. If any of them were kicking down the door for a promotion I’d be a bit upset… but they’re not. So it’s fine.
It’s rare but sometimes these waiver guys work out. Gaviglio was on waivers in 2017 before being picked up and traded to the Jays. No risk to try him out and if it doesn’t take… the other guys in the org will still be there in a few weeks.
Sam Gaviglio is your example? Sam Gaviglio’s of the world can be found anywhere. In fact they can be found in Buffalo, New York.
This is a waste of time pickup for Toronto. They have performing arms in their own organization, and to say Font deserves a chance over every single arm in Buffalo is ignorant and flat out wrong. What’s the motivation for guys in their mid-20s being passed over?
The system can produce Font-like numbers. You want motivated players in 2020 with confidence rather than pessimism. That’s the culture created and it needs to stop.
Gare, care to explain why? Or do your teams have a loser mentality too? Next time come up with something, even if you have to use google to find a clue.
Trim depth is a thing. Having veterans is important. Calling a player up too soon, especially a pitcher, is a mistake the Jays often make and it can completely ruin a player. If they aren’t ready they’ll get shelled and if you keep putting them out there and they keep getting shelled their confidence is shot and there goes their career. Some players if they get shelled and sent back down, there goes the confidence they’re career is derailed. Some of the guys you mentioned could be worth a shot, and will likely get it in a few weeks. Some are putting up ERA over 5.5 and need to iron some stuff out. Being patient isn’t an end of the world issue, typically it works out for the better. Being impatient can get you in a hole fast.
Who is being called up too soon, JBS? Are you really going to come up with the bogus theory that a guy gets roughed up and his career is suddenly over?
Well then, no reason to give those guys a shot. Wait, they just did with Wilmer Font and Kingham.
We are watching a player not get a callup in Bichette, and he would have been my choice when Tellez was demoted. Are you going to use the confidence excuse for Vlad Guerrero? No, you won’t. Why? Because it’s bogus. There are arms wasting bullets in the minors deserving of a chance to pitch. This is not about patience on my part, it is about the culture of the organization. It hasn’t changed with the new guard. Same loser mentality Ash, Ricciardi and Anthopoulos left here.
Wilmer Font is the type of arm a .500 team in the NL takes a chance on because he has experience and they don’t want a young pitcher in high pressure situations. Blue Jays are not high pressure. Give the darn kids a chance and give them a reason to look forward to going to the ballpark overworked and underpaid in the minor leagues. That’ll change the culture to something positive real quick.
This is more dumpster diving from Atkins. There must be a secret Shapiro order in behind the scenes to tank.
An organization that wants to win would never behave like the Jays are behaving now. This is not about winning. This is about money. This is not about long-term winning either, it’s about money.
Schapiro’s pay plan must be tied to finances otherwise there would be a lot more quality movies going on. Don’t buy the Kool-Aid that we are building something. It doesn’t take this long. Take a look at the Yankees or the Red Sox when they rebuild. It takes two years for them. As far as I’m concerned the Jays are in their third year now and we have two or three years to go.
The dumpster dive is to help the tank with pitching depth at no expense.
I heard a nice one two nights ago Jimmer….
Rogers vetoed the Donaldson trade to St Louis, not Atkins. It was all about the profit at the gate and on TV. Losing their #1 money maker wasn’t in the cards.
I hadn’t heard that one but it makes sense. Someone is really messing this up at a high level in behind the scenes.
I hear it is board level all the way.
It would make sense considering the rumors that Rogers contemplated selling the Blue Jays. Losing top players and a fading attendance dents the value.
On one hand an ownership change might be the only chance the team has to finding success.
On the other hand, there aren’t many around here willing to pay $2+ billion for a Canadian franchise dealing in American funds with an outdated ballpark in-need of more repair and renovations. Maybe the Rogers CEO should pitch himself on Shark Tank.
Perhaps Maple leaf SPorts and Entertainment would take a roll of the dice…
I wonder if there is a billionaire Jays fan. Galen Weston? Roy Thompson’s grandson? I don’t have $2+ Billion to work with.
So, the Mets trade a 19-year old pitcher, who is pitching well in Rookie League for the Rays, for a 29-year old that hasn’t done much anywhere, who they then trade for cash from the Blue Jays.
Is the goal to develop a winning team or make money?