Blue Jays Rumors

AL East Links: Rays, Longoria, Orioles, Hobgood, Blue Jays

By Mark Polishuk | November 6, 2016 at 1:03pm CDT

Some news and notes from around the AL East…

“When you only win 68 games, you’re open to everything,” Rays president of baseball operations Matt Silverman tells Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. “Everything” doesn’t quite extend to Evan Longoria, as Topkin writes that the team doesn’t have any interest in trading the longtime face of the franchise. The Rays head into the GM Meetings and the offseason in general with many needs, with Silverman saying that the club will primarily rely on trades to fill those needs (no surprise, given Tampa’s usual reluctance to spend big on free agents).
The Orioles’ search for a new pitching coach continues, as the team interviewed Double-A pitching coach Alan Mills this past week, MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko reports. The O’s are also interested in former Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell and Cardinals minor league pitching coordinator Tim Leveque.
Also from Kubatko’s piece, he reports that former Orioles first-rounder Matt Hobgood is trying to restart his career as a hitter. Hobgood, picked fifth overall in the 2009 draft, managed only 325 innings over parts of six pro seasons in the minors, as shoulder problems continually kept him off the mound. Hobgood still has a long ways to go in order to get properly re-acclimated to hitting, though at age 26, he doesn’t yet want to give up on his baseball dream.
With a number of first basemen and designated hitters on the free agent market, Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith argues that the Blue Jays could be in no rush to fill the potential hole left by Edwin Encarnacion. Since the Jays can offer a spot on a contender and playing time in a hitter-friendly ballpark, they’re an attractive option for many 1B/DH types, which presents the possibility of Toronto landing a big bat at perhaps a bargain price. Nicholson-Smith also posits that the Jays could pursue Ian Desmond, Steve Pearce or Sean Rodriguez to fill their need for versatility. Among more outside-the-box ideas, Nicholson-Smith suggests the Jays could try to acquire J.D. Martinez from the Tigers, or take advantage of the thin pitching market by listening to offers on “anyone this side of Aaron Sanchez,” with Joe Biagini perhaps ready to step into the rotation if another starter is dealt.

Blue Jays To Qualify Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista; Not Michael Saunders

By Connor Byrne | November 5, 2016 at 9:21pm CDT

As expected, the Blue Jays will issue $17.2MM qualifying offers to their top two impending free agents, Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista, by Monday’s deadline, according to FanRag’s Jon Heyman. Conversely, Toronto will not submit a QO to Michael Saunders, meaning he’ll hit free agency without draft pick compensation weighing down his value (Twitter links).

Of the three, Encarnacion is the one the Blue Jays want to retain the most, per Heyman. The soon-to-be 34-year-old first baseman/designated hitter is coming off his fifth straight season with at least 34 home runs, having swatted a career-high-tying 42 in 2016. Overall, Encarnacion slashed .263/.357/.529 in 709 plate appearances. Since 2012, his breakout season, the former Red has batted .272/.367/.544 with 193 homers and a .273 ISO in 3,133 PAs. Only the Orioles’ Chris Davis (197) has hit more long balls in that span than Encarnacion, whose ISO over the past half-decade ranks behind only Giancarlo Stanton and David Ortiz. Now, the power-hitting Encarnacion should encounter a robust market for his services in free agency as one of the two best position players available (Yoenis Cespedes is the other).

While Bautista won’t fare as well as Encarnacion on his next contract, the right fielder will still garner plenty of interest and rake in a sizable payday. Going back to his out-of-nowhere breakout in 2010, Bautista has recorded a phenomenal .264/.387/.542 line with 249 HRs to go with nearly identical strikeout and walk rates – 16.0 and 16.5 percent – and a .278 ISO. The 36-year-old is fresh off a less-than-ideal platform season, however, as he endured two stints on the disabled list and experienced a decline in his normally superb production. Bautista still hit an easily above-average .234/.366/.452 with 22 homers in 517 PAs and continued exhibiting mastery over the strike zone (87 unintentional walks, 103 strikeouts). But a dip in offense combined with Bautista’s age, not to mention a lack of defensive value, are among the factors that will keep him from netting a contract anywhere close to as rich as he reportedly wanted before the season.

At the midway point of the campaign, Saunders looked as though he was playing his way to a qualifying offer and a lucrative multiyear pact. In 344 PAs before the All-Star break, the outfielder batted a stellar .298/.372/.551 with 16 HRs and a .252 ISO. Saunders’ production cratered in the second half – .178/.282/.357 with eight HRs and a .178 ISO in 214 PAs – thereby putting a damper on his seemingly skyrocketing value. He also graded poorly as a left fielder, ranking toward the bottom of the majors in Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating, and comes with an injury-prone label. Saunders (30 later this month) did play a career-high 140 games in 2016, though, and both that and not having a QO attached should help the ex-Mariner’s cause as a free agent.

Blue Jays Exercise Jason Grilli’s Option

By charliewilmoth | November 5, 2016 at 8:48am CDT

The Blue Jays have announced that they’ve exercised righty Jason Grilli’s 2017 option. (SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo was first to tweet the news.) That means they’ll pay Grilli a $3MM salary for next season, rather than a $250K buyout.

Jays GM Ross Atkins recently described exercising Grilli’s option as “as near to a no-brainer” as there exists in baseball, so the team’s decision comes as no surprise. Grilli turns 40 this week, but he was very effective with Toronto in 2016, posting a 3.64 ERA with 4.1 BB/9 and an outstanding 12.4 K/9 over 42 innings following a trade from Atlanta. His option was part of a two-year, $7MM deal he signed with the Braves following the 2014 season.

Grilli, the fourth overall pick in the 1997 draft, struggled for his first several seasons in the big leagues, but he emerged as a quality late-inning reliever and then a closer with the Pirates several years ago. In addition to the Bucs, Braves, and Blue Jays, he’s played for the Marlins, White Sox, Tigers, Rockies, Rangers and Angels over the course of a 14-year career in the Majors.

Blue Jays Notes: Saunders, Encarnacion, Bautista, Free Agent Targets

By Jeff Todd | October 31, 2016 at 10:31pm CDT

The Blue Jays are about to embark upon an interesting offseason in which three key offensive producers — first baseman/DH Edwin Encarnacion, right fielder Jose Bautista, and left fielder Michael Saunders — will qualify for free agency. Their situations have been the subject of much analysis and debate, but we’ll soon begin to receive some clarity with qualifying offers due to be made (and either accepted or denied) shortly after the end of the World Series.

Here’s the latest on those positions out of Toronto:

Despite indications that the Jays are still weighing the issuance of a QO to Saunders, a rival executive tells Jon Heyman of Fan Rag that there’s “no chance” that happens. We’ll learn soon enough what direction that situation is headed in, but Saunders’s marginal second half makes the one-year, $17.2MM offer seem like a rather lofty outlay.
Toronto may now be more inclined to push to retain Encarnacion than Bautista, Heyman adds, noting that the preference for the younger slugger perhaps represents a change of position from the organization. Encarnacion certainly outproduced Bautista in 2016, though that also figures to elevate his market standing. Regardless, odds are that the Blue Jays will need to compete with the rest of the league to land either player, as both are expected to decline the QO.
Ultimately, the Jays have several bat-first roster spots in flux — both corner outfield positions, first base, and the DH slot. The overriding mandate, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca writes, is “to get more athletic, flexible and balanced in the batting order.” There are certainly some pieces on hand to assist in that regard, including the left-handed-hitting Ezequiel Carrera and righty swingers Melvin Upton Jr. and Chris Colabello. Young switch-hitter Dalton Pompey could also factor in, though he has yet to put it all together in the upper minors. Clearly, though, there’s room for additions (or, perhaps, re-acquisitions).
Toronto will be able to look to a reasonably robust market in filling these voids. According to Davidi, the club has interest in the switch-hitting Dexter Fowler, who could add a significant on-base threat to the top of the order while playing left field (and, perhaps, also stepping in from time to time for light-hitting center fielder Kevin Pillar). There’s certainly reason to believe the Jays would be well-served to add an everyday player to their lineup given the number of areas that will need to be addressed. Ian Desmond is another, quite different player who the team is expected to contact, per Davidi. Though he’s a greater home run threat than is Fowler, he’s also inconsistent in the on-base department. As Davidi notes, though, the converted shortstop could also provide some insurance against an injury to infielder Troy Tulowitzki.
Alternatively, or perhaps additionally, the Jays could look at some players who are somewhat more limited and may require platoon partners. The club is said to have some interest in Josh Reddick, who hits from the left side and could be paired with Upton — though he figures to be fairly expensive for a player who ought to be limited mostly to facing right-handed pitching. Brandon Moss and even former Blue Jay Colby Rasmus could represent more budget-friendly, southpaw-swinging options, Davidi suggests. And there are a variety of other, presumably reasonably-priced players with solid offensive chops (but also plenty of limitations) who’ll be available.
That’s all before getting to the trade market, of course, which could offer some interesting possibilities. Davidi indicates that the Jays are likely to “work on parallel fronts” to open possibilities with a variety of combinations of players. GM Ross Atkins recently suggested that the club will remain flexible as the offseason progresses. “I think it’s a matter of being transparent as you are considering your alternatives,” he said. “So it would be something as simple as letting others know that you’re weighing alternatives as you make these certain offers.”
It’s worth bearing in mind the role that financial considerations will play in dictating the course for the Jays. The team has never reached the $140MM line in Opening Day salary, and is already approaching $120MM in 2017 commitments after accounting for a few arbitration cases and the option over reliever Jason Grilli. Those obligations fall off quite a bit in the years that follow, so backloading salary could be a possibility, but one truly significant expenditure (say, Encarnacion) or a few quality veteran additions would leave Toronto without much wiggle room to address other needs — barring, perhaps, a payroll increase.

Heyman’s Latest: CBA, Orioles, Rangers, Jays, Rockies

By Connor Byrne | October 30, 2016 at 8:45am CDT

Commissioner Rob Manfred expressed optimism about negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement earlier this month, and players’ association executive director Tony Clark did the same Saturday, according to FanRag’s Jon Heyman. “I’ve always been a glass half-full guy. We continue to work. We continue to go through the issues,” said Clark, who didn’t reveal if the draft-pick compensation attached to the qualifying offer will remain the same in the next CBA. In the current agreement that’s set to expire in December, a team receives a first-round pick if it issues a QO to an impending free agent and he then signs elsewhere.

Quick Hits: Fernandez, Pillar, Tanaka, Yankees, M’s

By Mark Polishuk | October 29, 2016 at 5:01pm CDT

Some news from around baseball…

According to toxicology reports released today, Jose Fernandez had cocaine in his system and a blood-alcohol level that was twice the legal limit during the boat crash that took the lives of the Marlins ace, Eduardo Rivero and Emilio Jesus Macias on September 25, David Ovalle of the Miami Herald reports. Authorities have yet to determine who was driving the boat at the time of the crash — neither Rivero or Macias were legally drunk, though they both had alcohol in their systems. (Rivero was also found to have cocaine in his system.)
Blue Jays center fielder Kevin Pillar underwent surgery this week to repair a torn thumb ligament, Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi reports. The defensive standout is expected to be fine by Spring Training. Pillar hurt his thumb while stealing a base on August 6 and spent some time on the DL before playing through the injury throughout the rest of the regular season and Toronto’s postseason run.
The Yankees should listen to offers for Masahiro Tanaka this winter, Mike Axisa of the River Ave Blues blog opines, though obviously it would take a big haul for New York to actually trade its ace away when the Bombers are themselves looking for quality pitching. Tanaka can opt out of his contract after the 2017 season, which seems like a very likely possibility assuming he stays healthy and keeps delivering his usual strong performance. Tanaka would be hitting the free agent market heading into his age-29 season and would score well beyond the three years/$67MM owed on his Yankees deal through 2020. If New York only has one year left of control of Tanaka, it makes sense for the club to see what it could potentially get back for the right-hander in a deal. Axisa’s mailbag piece covers other several Yankees-related topics, including how the Yankees’ prospect return in the Aroldis Chapman trade was better for the club than if they had swung the rumored Andrew Miller-for-Kyle Schwarber deal at the deadilne.
The Mariners aren’t likely to make a big splash in free agency, MLB.com’s Greg Johns opines as part of a reader mailbag. Seattle already has $88.5MM locked up in just five players (Robinson Cano, Felix Hernandez, Nelson Cruz, Kyle Seager and Hisashi Iwakuma) so there isn’t much remaining payroll room for another big contract. Johns thinks GM Jerry Dipoto will instead spread funds around to address several needs, improve depth and continue to raise the Mariners’ talent floor.

Cafardo’s Latest: Bautista, Davis, Cespedes, Balentien

By Mark Polishuk | October 29, 2016 at 3:13pm CDT

Some hot stove items from Nick Cafardo in his latest Boston Globe notes column…

Jose Bautista isn’t likely to accept a qualifying offer from the Blue Jays, a major league source tells Cafardo. Bautista had two DL stints, a rough postseason and (for him) a subpar regular season that saw him hit .234/.366/.452 with 22 homers over 517 PA. There was some thought that Bautista could accept the one-year, $17.2MM QO in order to try for a better free agent platform season in 2017, but Bautista feels he’ll be able to find solid multi-year offers this winter.
If the Royals were to trade Wade Davis, a team source says they would want controllable young pitching in return. The Royals floated Davis’ name in trade talks at the deadline but put a very high price tag on his services, including a big ask for young pitching in the form of star prospect Lucas Giolito from the Nationals. Kansas City also reportedly tried to attach Davis with Ian Kennedy in trades, which would’ve gotten K.C. lesser prospects in return but quite a bit of payroll relief from Kennedy’s large contract.
Don’t count on Yoenis Cespedes signing with the Red Sox this winter, as the outfielder didn’t particularly enjoy his previous stint in Boston in the last two months of the 2014 season. Cespedes also wasn’t popular with the Red Sox coaching staff. Cespedes didn’t really seem like a fit for the Sox anyway, given how they have star prospect Andrew Benintendi slated for left field in 2017.
Wladimir Balentien is considering a return to the big leagues after six seasons in Japan. Balentien last played in the majors in 2009 and has since produced some huge power numbers for the Yakult Swallows, including a Nippon Professional Baseball league record 60 homers in 2013. This past season, the 32-year-old Balentien posted a .269/.369/.516 slash line and 31 home runs over 537 PA.

Heyman On Ramos, Duda, Colon, Lovullo, Fowler, Cubs

By Mark Polishuk | October 29, 2016 at 9:29am CDT

Jon Heyman covers World Series news, a profile of Andrew Miller’s career and development into a relief ace and some hot stove items in his latest two columns for FanRag Sports…

Prior to tearing his ACL, Wilson Ramos was aiming at a $100MM contract in free agency. It’s an eye-popping number, as Joe Mauer ($184MM from the Twins) and Buster Posey ($167MM) are the only catchers to crack the nine-figure threshold. Both of those deals were extensions rather than free agent contracts, and both Mauer and Posey had more consistent track records than Ramos. It’s quite common for a player and his representatives to aim high with an initial asking price, of course, especially when that player is the top free agent at his position. Injury notwithstanding, Ramos is still expected to receive significant interest, to the point that he is still looking for four or five years on the open market.
The Mets will indeed tender a contract to first baseman Lucas Duda. MLBTR projects Duda to earn $6.7MM in arbitration this winter, following a rough year that saw Duda spend much of the season on the DL due to a stress fracture in his lower back. He hit just .229/.302/.412 with seven homers over 172 PA in 2016, though given the first baseman’s strong production in previous seasons, the Mets are surely counting on a bounce-back next year when Duda is healthy.
“Nothing’s close” on a reunion between the Mets and Bartolo Colon, though the team has interest in bringing the veteran back and “no one would be surprised” if the two sides work out another contract.
“It would be an upset” if the Diamondbacks hire anyone other than Red Sox bench coach Torey Lovullo as their new manager, Heyman writes. Lovullo has been widely connected to the Arizona job from virtually the moment former Boston GM Mike Hazen took over as the D’Backs’ new general manager. Hazen does plan to interview between 5-7 candidates as part of a managerial search, and as of last Tuesday, the D’Backs hadn’t yet asked the Sox for permission to speak with Lovullo.
One executive suggests Dexter Fowler should accept the Cubs’ qualifying offer, though Heyman believes the center fielder can top the one-year, $17.2MM offer in free agency. I agree with Heyman; while the QO limited Fowler’s market last winter, his outstanding season for the NL champions should easily net him a nice multi-year deal this offseason.
Assuming Fowler leaves, Heyman notes that the Cubs face an “interesting” outfield situation with Kyle Schwarber, Ben Zobrist and Jason Heyward all best suited to playing the corners. It should be noted that Chicago faced a similar scenario last winter prior to Fowler’s unexpected return, as the Cubs had Schwarber and Jorge Soler lined up for the corner outfield spots and Heyward was going to play center. Heyward has posted excellent defensive metrics over his brief (404 innings) time as a center fielder during his career, though since Heyward is arguably the best defensive right fielder in the game, any lessening of his value could be a problem given how badly Heyward fell off at the plate this year. The versatile Zobrist is now locked into outfield duty with Javier Baez’s emergence at second while Soler and Albert Almora are also in the outfield mix, so the Cubs are fully stocked with outfield options.
The Blue Jays have parted ways with scout Ed Lynch. Best known as the Cubs’ GM from 1994 to 2000, Lynch had been working as a scout for the Jays since 2010.

Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins Discusses Offseason

By Steve Adams | October 24, 2016 at 3:20pm CDT

Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins met with the media today and addressed a number of topics, including qualifying offers for the team’s free agents, his club’s offseason needs, Jason Grilli’s club option and much, much more. Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith was among the many on hand and relayed a number of highlights from Atkins’ media session (all links to Twitter)…

The Blue Jays, as has been widely expected, will issue qualifying offers to both Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista barring some form of unforeseen injury popping up between now and the point at which that decision must formally be made. The Jays are “still working” on determining whether they’ll make a QO to Michael Saunders, who enjoyed a massively productive first half of the season before flaming out in the season’s final months. Toronto would, of course, receive a compensatory draft pick for any free agent that rejects the one-year, $17.2MM qualifying offer and signs with a new team. The Jays will “do everything” they can during contract talks with Encarnacion and Bautista in the exclusive five-day window they have with their own free agents following the completion of the World Series. Atkins added that he still feels Bautista can be an effective defensive outfielder.
Atkins described right-hander Jason Grilli’s affordable $3MM club option as “as near to a no-brainer” as you’ll find in baseball, per Nicholson-Smith. The soon-to-be-40-year-old Grilli came over to the Jays in a minor swap back on May 31 after struggling with the Braves through the first two months of the season and rebounded tremendously with Toronto. In 42 innings with the Blue Jays, Grilli posted a 3.64 ERA with 12.4 K/9 against 4.9 BB/9. Those numbers would’ve been better had Grilli not served up six runs in his final 1 2/3 innings of the regular season (he had a 2.45 ERA in Toronto prior to that stretch), but he was terrific in the postseason, tossing 3 2/3 scoreless innings with three punchouts, one hit and no walks.
Kevin Pillar had a thumb injury this season but played through the pain, the GM revealed. Surgery is being considered to remedy Pillar’s hand, but even if he goes under the knife he’s expected to be ready for Spring Training. A thumb injury could help to explain Pillar’s power outage over the season’s final couple of months. While he’s never exactly been a slugger, Pillar went homerless over his final 78 games of the season, hitting .270/.311/.333 in that time. Even with the thumb injury, Pillar was very arguably the best defensive player in Major League Baseball this season. His +21 marks in both Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating ranked third and second among all players at all positions, with only Adam Eaton of the White Sox topping him in both categories. But, much of Eaton’s defensive work came in right field after being moved out of center partly due to poor defensive ratings there last season.
There are no plans to stretch closer Roberto Osuna out to try him as a starter again, so it would seem that the 22-year-old phenom has laid claim to the Toronto closer’s gig for good. Osuna came up as a starter through the minors, of course, but he wound up closing games in 2015 out of necessity and has been one of baseball’s best stoppers since assuming that role. Over the past two years, he has a 2.63 ERA with 9.8 K/9 against 1.9 BB/9 in 143 2/3 innings.
Rule 5 pick Joe Biagini, on the other hand, could be stretched back out and given a look in the rotation, Atkins said (via Brendan Kennedy of the Toronto Star). Selected out of the Giants organization, the 26-year-old Biagini was perhaps the best pick of this year’s Rule 5 class, totaling 67 2/3 innings with a 3.06 ERA to go along with 8.2 K/9, 2.5 BB/9 and a 52.2 percent ground-ball rate. Biagini was a starter with in the Giants’ minor league system and could give the Jays some valuable rotation depth if the team elects to go that route.
Of course, if Toronto does move Biagini to a starting role, it’ll only further the need for bullpen help. Atkins said the team expects to address that need this winter and is willing to go to three or more years for the “right” free agent reliever, per Nicholson-Smith. The Jays are set to lose Brett Cecil and Joaquin Benoit to free agency this winter.
Generally speaking, Atkins said the Jays will look to potentially add “more balance, more platoon advantage and potentially more speed,” via Nicholson-Smith. The Jays feel that the free-agent market suits their needs well (Twitter link), as the team has a good amount of starting depth but needs to add some corner outfield/first base/DH types, which are indeed fairly plentiful this winter.

Blue Jays Had Pre-Deadline Interest In Carlos Beltran

By Connor Byrne | October 23, 2016 at 12:26pm CDT

The Blue Jays were among the teams that chased then-Yankees designated hitter/right fielder Carlos Beltran prior to the Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline, Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News reported earlier this month.

“We saw Beltran over the years with the Yankees, and what a great hitter he was,” said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. “A clutch-type perfomer.”

Deals between the AL East rival Yankees and Blue Jays have been rare, with Brendan Kuty of NJ.com noting that the teams’ most recent trade came when New York acquired Raul Mondesi in 2002. Beltran ended up going to the Rangers, who sent three right-handed pitching prospects (including 2015 fourth overall pick Dillon Tate) to the Yankees for the 39-year-old. Along with the Rangers and Blue Jays, at least three other AL playoff contenders – the Astros, Indians and Red Sox – pursued Beltran in advance of the deadline.

Even though their summer interest in Beltran didn’t lead to a deal, the Blue Jays still went on to vanquish him and the Rangers in a three-game ALDS sweep. Toronto, which then fell to Cleveland in the ALCS, is now facing an offseason in which three of its most important offensive cogs could depart as free agents. With Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista and Michael Saunders all potentially on the way out, the Jays circling back to Beltran as an affordable stopgap in free agency seems possible.

Considering his age and declining defense, Beltran’s a strong bet to remain in the AL as primarily a DH, where Encarnacion, Bautista and Saunders saw action in a combined 121 games this year. Beltran won’t come cheap after slashing .295/.337/.513 with 29 home runs in 593 plate appearances in 2016, but he should appeal to offense-needy teams on a short-term contract.

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