The Blue Jays have acquired first baseman Daniel Vogelbach from the Mariners in exchange for cash considerations, both teams announced. Vogelbach was designated for assignment earlier this week following an .094/.250/.225 slash line over his first 64 plate appearances of the 2020 season.
It was a little over a year ago that Vogelbach was enjoying a selection to the All-Star Game and seemingly cementing his claim as the Mariners’ first baseman/DH of the future. A red-hot start to the 2019 season was followed by a steep decline, however, as Vogelbach hit only .162/.297/.344 over his final 310 plate appearances.
A second-round pick for the Cubs in the 2011 draft, Vogelbach was a blocked prospect behind Anthony Rizzo in Chicago, and he was sent to the M’s as part of the July 2016 trade that brought Mike Montgomery to the Cubs. Seattle had hopes that Vogelbach would build on his impressive minor league numbers and become a power bat at the MLB level, though that breakout just hasn’t come, as he has a .196/.326/.397 career slash line over 768 PA and has particularly struggled (career .547 OPS) against left-handed pitching.
It’s probably safe to assume that Toronto didn’t surrender much cash in the trade, making this a pretty low-risk acquisition for the Jays. Still, Vogelbach’s addition gives the club a third player (beyond Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Rowdy Tellez) who can play only first base or DH, plus Vogelbach and Tellez are both left-handed bats. It doesn’t make for much of an obvious fit, unless the Blue Jays simply want to have some extra depth for the bench or even down at their alternate training site.
Daniel Vogelbach and Rowdy Tellez are the exact same person. Why?
with their powers combined…
Slightly better eye but agreed, this is kind of meh. At the same time it’s only cash going the other way so that’s also meh.
Better eye…to his own detriment. The guy strikes out looking in half his at bats. Two weeks ago he had a 6 pitch at-bat without ever taking a back. It’s almost like he’s gotten too scared to swing the bat which isn’t great for a bat only DH who can’t hit lefties.
Great observation. Much appreciate it.
KJT, I think we can agree becoming more aggressive in the zone is something that can be taught. And the Blue Jays have some guys who are free swingers
They bought a former all star for probably nothing and will try to fix him, possibly getting a cheap pickup for next year.
Vogelbach has accomplished far more in both the majors and the minors than Rowdy. If he finishes the year strong they turn flip him. Or they use him as dh next year. Great no risk move imo
Tellez has actually performed nearly the same at the Major League level. OPSing a bit better and producing HR/RBI at a very similar rate.
All Star is quite an accomplishment though so I suppose you got me on a technicality! hah.
I don’t know his arb status but it just seems stupid for a team that likely won’t make it into October to give up on someone after so few at bats in such a strange year.
He hadn’t been successful in the bigs in any of his callups prior to the first half of last year. During that first half, he basically spilt time at DH with Edwin Encarnacion and was mainly getting at bats against RHP. Made the all-star game because he had a good amount of HRs and MLB rules says every team needs an all-star representative. After M’s trade Edwin and Vogey got everyday playing time including LHP, he struggled mightily which has continued this season. So he was out of options, had 1 good 1st half (which wasn’t that great since he was still only batting just over .230 during his all-star first half), came into camp with an extra 20 lbs, can’t play in the field, and is as a hit only DH he hasn’t been able to hit since last June.
Basically all this ^ He had a good half season a year ago and has cratered since then. Vogeys days were numbered the moment White signed his deal.
Exactly. Makes zero sense for them to be picking up this type of player.
This trade makes no sense unless they have another trade lined up for Rowdy.
Hopefully because the puppetmasters realized that they’d rather have fat clones that can hit than little clones that can play SS in a pinch.
Espinal, Drury and Panik are essentially the same person.
So the team ends up using Panik to pinch hit in a close game?
Gross.
Jansen has a better walk rate than Biggio as well. Nothing falling but pinch hitting him for Panik is sad.
Vogelbach will be very welcomed if it means Drury or Panik are moved along.
Try Espinal with Panik for a week with Drury at alternate site. Then if Panik still can’t cut it, try Espinal with Drury for a week. Then if either of those guys can’t cut it, hope that Bichette is ready or swap them with Groshans or Tejada as the next up.
No need for 3 backup SS on the main roster. 2 is fine until Bichette returns.
Vogelbach could hit like those guys with limited opportunities, but has a much greater ability to get on a hot streak is the real appeal in my view.
Dipoto dealing again.
It’s his second trade since the beginning of last offseason that has involved an outbound player. Narvaez was the other.
Really looking forward to people losing their minds when/if he makes a trade or two at the deadline.
1000 trades in two years will make the title hard to lose. He’s earned it. You’ll keep hearing it even though he’s tamped down the number of deals.
They may believe they can unlock the power bat he showed at the start of 2019 by increasing his aggressiveness. Sometimes a change of teams and batting coaches can lead to big gains. Worth a shot. There’s talent there.
interesting
The first big trade of the season…
no love for the Halester?
Workman trade was
/s
I’ll say this once more. It is the BIGGEST trade so far…
Id like to think that nobody else picked up on what you meant by big.
Score 1 for dshires4.
Why?
Wonder why…
So they found Rowdy Tellez 2.0
Rowdy Vogelbach is cool superhero alias name
Hilarious. He’s a Slo-pitch beer league player. About to be released. Why take at-bats away from their kids??? Shatkins screamed for a rebuild from the time of their arrival in Toronto and now that their kids are ready to play they bring in….meh players.
Do you want Dan taking pinch hit at bats or Panik against RHP?
Lol Joe Panik is trash. He’s barely on Daniel Descalsos level.
rhymo nails it!
Taking at bats from Panik that he was taking away from the kids.
This is zero risk.
He walks twice as often as Tellez so has a higher floor. Likely he won’t turn into much of a contributor… but it only costs a little cash to find out.
Vogelbach walks…back to the dugout after being overmatched in at bats. Who cares if he looks at good pitches often and some bad ones once in a while? He walks? Great. Too bad he doesn’t run. Ever.
The Vogelbach is 2.5 years older than Rowdy.
Hey you stole my line.
I can’t tell you how many first pitch strikes he watched middle middle. Then they pitched him high and away or low and in. Then buried one or high and out of the zone. Then another opposite the second pitch. Then he walked back to the dugout. I have never been a fan and glad he is gone. Even if he does well in Toronto good for him. He didn’t work here.
I also wonder why… but then I asked why when Edwin Encarnacion was acquired and I wondered why they needed another guy like Jose Bautista who was already on the roster….
Vogey’s out of options, so they can’t send him down to the alternate training site without DFA’ing him again (that’s why the M’s did it in the first place.) Unless they really have a good swing doctor in house, it’s a losing proposition for Toronto. He looks totally lost at the plate; he’s being far too patient and missing the opportunities when they cross the dish. Yes, he walks a lot, but since he has his own gravitational pull, having a 250+ lb guy at 1B a lot doesn’t help an offense. Bon voyage Vogey!
He also came into the summer workout camp with an additional 20 lbs, which didn’t impress the FO at all.
That was the beginning of the end, esp when you consider JP worked on adding muscle, Kyle Seager became more flexible w his physique and almost every young player worked their tails off during the lock-down.
It looks bad, but I don’t think they really cared what Dan’s weight is/was as long as he could hit. They weren’t going to need him to play 1B if he had stuck around.
Funny thing about Crawford adding that muscle is that it hasn’t translated to extra base hits. He has just 3 on the year, which is going to almost certainly mean a bench role in the future.
U.S.A., U.S.A!
hope the best for vogi. He’s a great kid. I would like to see him make it. Love ya big guy. Good luck. All Ms fans really liked ya.
Not this Ms fan really glad he is gone.
Welcome Dan. Now stay out of Mr. Guerrero’s way.
If he doesn’t will they have a sumo match?
Has any player traded for just cash gone on to have a solid or better career?
Babe Ruth had what some say is a half decent career.
Gio Urshela was acquired by the Yankees from the Blue Jays for just cash lol
The New York Yankees have a great professional scouting dept.
#scoutseyes
Lefty Grove was traded for an outfield fence. Could be worse, Mike Cisco was traded by the Phillies for absolutely nothing.
I wonder if we’re going to hear about an IL trip for Tellez tomorrow morning. He suffered that mild concussion a few games back and then Saturday (I think) they were talking on the Jays’ broadcast about how they thought they saw Rowdy grabbing at his hamstring on a play but that it appeared (at least at the time) to be nothing.
Vogey at SS DFA Panik?
Outright release Panik. He’s not good. One good hero in San Fran.
Pitchers dropping like flies, yet we go acquire another fat guy.
I think Vogey, Tellez, Vlad and Shaw are gonna corner Lance Lynn at the next fat guy meeting to convince him to try forcing a trade to the Toronto Buffaloes?
Thats perfect. Already having guerrero and tellez and now adding him the blue jays can now have easily they BIGGEST SLOWEST 1st base platoon in mlb history. Or maybe he will replace guerrero and send him to the alternate site. He is so messed up right now and since he was signed to be a fearsome hitter.. He is not scarring anyone.
Guerrero needs more time.
As for Vogelbach, there is great potential there but how will he help the Jays this year?
The Jays need starting pitchers, they have always needed starting pitchers. They have 1 elite starting pitcher in RYU and a star kid in training in Pearson.
The BlueJays aren’t going deep into the playoffs with at least one more elite starting pitcher.
If this was done to replace Drury then great. It’s not and it’s a waste of time unless he is banished to the training site waiting for Vlad or Tellez to go on IL. With two 1B and a permanent DH playing RF in Teoscar there is no room for Vogelbach. But hey, always good to have a backup to the backup plan?
He’s out of options so he’ll need to clear waivers before being sent to alternate .
Then it’s a bigger waste of time.
Well, I mean Vogelbach had success just last year. It’s a “why not kick the tires?” Kind of move.
I never really hopped on the Vogeytrain. His one redeeming quality was his command of the zone and pitch recognition in at bats. He was able to lay off bad pitches and get the ones he wanted. Whatever happened after the ASB i have no idea. I never understood why we called Vogey up in the first place as Evan White was already being touted as, basically, ready to come up and he could do everything vogey could but better.
Wish him all the luck but this was about time.
What happened to him is the M’s traded Edwin Encarnacion and Vogey started getting at bats vs LHP and everyday playing time. As soon as that happened, his mediocre stats plummeted.
Ryan vogelsong
This is definitely a head scratcher of a deal. Even IF they traded Tellez (who still has more upside long term than Vogie imo) you’re getting a guy who just can’t make contact, plain and simple. He has great power potential but so what? You can put Braun Strowman up there with a bat too and he’s got power potential too but if he can’t hit a baseball at a major league level what does it matter?
If they can unlock Vogelbach’s hitting, increase his aggressiveness, he’s probably a better threat in the lineup than Tellez, who is hardly setting the world in fire. Between the two of them, maybe one reaches his potential. Worth a shot.
Good trade.
Vogelbach see’s a tonne of pitches, but has apparently has lost his stroke by watching too many pitches. Happens. I’d like to see the jays let him be a free swinger, which he hasn’t been. I bet his strikeouts would go down and his numbers would come around, because he still has a really good eye.
He is also pre arb through 21, so super cheap.
Rowdy is to uncontrolled in his approach and doesn’t have a good eye. He is pretty good against lefties though.
Vlad Jr has done nothing on offence ( 7RBI?) and is a negative defender so you could literally replace him with anyone and it would be an improvement.
Who knows what this is all about, but fans of the team should probably be prepared to say goodbye to some Bluejays in the next week.
We don’t really need 2x utility infielders , especially in the Panik/Drury mold. Drury has options so maybe they plan on sending him down and when Bo gets back DFA Panik. Get Vlad jr and Vog into a fitness regime ( I’ve heard Vlad is doing more cardio ) and try and unlock all the potential in those 2 bats. Tellez who knows part of a trade package? although he doesn’t have alot of value right now so maybe they plan on sending him to alternate as a wake up call ( again )
Tellez is not svelte by any means but he’s not even close to being in Vogelbach’s dimensions. Tellez is 6’4” and 255. Vogelbach is 6’ even and 270. Tellez would be more of a linebacker’s frame and Vogelbach is more of a nose tackle frame. That’s quite the difference.
As for numbers, Tellez has already turned 25 this year and Vogelbach will turn 28 later this year. So technically they’re more like 3 years difference.
And Tellez has a career average more than 40 points higher than Vogelbach. And a career OPS of almost 50 points higher. Tellez has produced a HR in 5.7% of his at-bats and Vogelbach in 5.6% of his at-bats. Tellez has produced 0.160 RBIs per at-bat and Vogelbach 0.147 RBIs per at-bat.
And Tellez can actually play some defence at first base. Why in the world take at-bats away from Tellez and give them to Vogelbach??? I just don’t get it.
Agreed. Today the Jays have Shaw DH’ing and no Tellez. Tellez hit lefties last year better than RHP. Are the Jays playing him against lefties much this year? Nope. Blue Jays are not giving Tellez consistent playing time or at bats. Let him play and let him sink or swim.
Redsox should have gotten him and capitalized on trading moreland’s cheap contract and in his career year
That idea makes sense.
I think the reason this trade was done is so Atkins can start moving out another AA prospect most likely Tellez.. He has done this every chance he got and most likely the reason Alford was dumped.. Ironically if Alford had been on any other team everybody would be screaming to grab him and give him a shot to see if he is the answer to our outfield problem in center.
First excuse he can find to dump Vlad jr’ he will.
I guess they’ll be dumping Romano too. Then again they didn’t care for him last year when they decided to protect aging scrubs over him. Jays are fortune Texas is a total mess (Rule 5). Romano’s dominance so far has been a highlight that could’ve been a huge miss for Toronto.
Great now we have 5 Designated Hitters, they should’ve just taught vlad how to play third and not brought in Shaw and maybe have gotten an outfielder instead