BlueJays claim Preston Guilmet and Scott Barnes

[LongTimeReader]

@alexfan590: Merry Christmas. RT @ChrisCotillo Source: #BlueJays claim Preston Guilmet off waivers.

[King]

Nice.

[Spanky99]

Nice, late inning reliever that's closed, nothing wrong with this.

[nmrch]

nice, Steamer projects a 3.46 FIP

[jaysfan2014]

Not a bad move by the Jays. 10.1K/9IP in AAA, has never had an extended chance in the majors.. maybe he'll discover it in Toronto.

[Orgfiller]

Not bad, high K's and has never really had problems with walks, only 27, might be a guy.

[gbill2004]

His average fastball velocity according to Fangraphs seems a little low at 89 mph.

[Gorlak]

Very nice.

 

Cecil

Loup

Guilmet

Lopez

Redmond

Hendriks

Delabar/Drabek/Hynes/Rasmussen

 

could be a decent pen.

 

Could also be terrible, That list does not inspire confidence.

[gbill2004]

Here's a scouting report:

 

Scouting Report: After starting 15 games for Mahoning Valley after he was drafted in 2009, the former Arizona Wildcat was shifted to a bullpen role. He became the closer for Lake County midway through the 2010 season, and filled that same role for Kinston in 2011 and Akron in 2012. He’s racked up 70 saves in the past three seasons, and has posted a 2.26 ERA since leaving the starting rotation. In addition to the solid ERA, he’s posted an extremely impressive WHIP of 0.938 as a reliever.

 

Guilmet throws from a unique arm angle, coming at hitters from straight over the top with a very high release point. He’s primarily a two-pitch pitcher, working off of his fastball/splitter combination. His fastball sits in the high 80’s, and tops out at around 91. He commands it extremely well within the zone, and does a nice job spotting the pitch to get ahead in the count. His out pitch is his splitter, a pitch that has excellent action down through the zone that is accentuated by his arm angle. The pitch generates most of Guilmet’s strikeouts, and when hitters do make contact with it a ground ball is generally the result. Every once in a while, he’ll slip up and the pitch will hang in the zone, and that’s when he can get hit hard. Guilmet also throws a slider to give him a pitch with some horizontal movement, but pitches mostly off the fastball/splitter combo.

 

Guilmet is one of those guys who’s results outpace his scouting reports. Looking solely at his raw numbers, you see a guy who looks like a dominant minor league closer. But when you see him pitch, you see a guy who succeeds based on fastball command and a deceptive delivery. He’s not unlike former Indians minor league reliever Cory Burns. Burns has put up even better numbers than Guilmet in his minor league career, but was roughed up pretty badly in his lone cup of coffee in The Show. Guilmet has already seen both his strikeout and groundball rates drop after his promotion to AA, and as he continues to climb the organizational ladder he will find it tougher and tougher to get by on command and deception alone. It’s tough to be an effective reliever without at least an above-average fastball, but the Indians are hoping Guilmet can continue to buck the trend at AAA Columbus this season.

 

Glass half-full: A solid backend reliever

Glass half-empty: Guilmet’s lack of velocity catches up to him, and he tops out at AAA

[Brenner]

Could also be terrible, That list does not inspire confidence.

 

Agreed, would like to see one reliable righty brought in or atleast McGowan back.

[intentional wok]

Should we just make this a general waiver grab thread?

 

THERE'S MORE:

 

[JaysFan4Ever]

Worse case he's another one of AA's waiver claims that he tries slipping through waivers later on.

 

Not a horrible pick up. We've had worse over the years.

 

There's never too much pitching especially if worse case he winds up back on waivers and some other teams claims him. It would be nice if AA can grab some solid, proven help for our pen, which I'm sure he's working on, but grab some guys who could surprise you or give you a few innings if/when someone gets hurt, there's a blow out, extra innings game when you need another arm.

 

Maybe he can fool MLB hitters for a bit and get by and give the Jays some innings. If not, he's not a big loss if he can't handle it.

[wamco]

looks like we replaced graveman

[glory]

Very nice.

 

Cecil

Loup

Guilmet

Lopez

Redmond

Hendriks

Delabar/Drabek/Hynes/Rasmussen

 

could be a decent pen.

 

Eh, I like Lopez in the pen, and I would give Drabek every chance possible to win a bullpen spot out of Spring Training (I still think he can be a contributor in relief), but the others are iffy to me (others meaning everyone other than Cecil and Loup).

 

Still, throw enough solid arms in there, and someone is bound to surprise.

[RealAccountant]

While these are okay pickups AA needs to come through with actual signing and I believe he will in Jan Feb 2015

[Deadpool]

Very nice.

 

Cecil

Loup

Guilmet

Lopez

Redmond

Hendriks

Delabar/Drabek/Hynes/Rasmussen

 

could be a decent pen.

 

No chance Infante cracks the pen in your mind?

[Mikeleelop]

While these are okay pickups AA needs to come through with actual signing and I believe he will in Jan Feb 2015

 

I'm thinking trade. Not a lot left on the market

[burlingtonbandit]

Very nice.

 

Cecil

Loup

Guilmet

Lopez

Redmond

Hendriks

Delabar/Drabek/Hynes/Rasmussen

 

could be a decent pen.

 

Tbh that pen looks pretty bad. All of the RHP are replacement guys and don't really have any upside.

[GD]

Tbh that pen looks pretty bad. All of the RHP are replacement guys and don't really have any upside.

 

Drabek/Delabar

 

I mean, you can say a lot of things

 

But "no upside" is pretty dumn

Edited December 24, 2014 by GD

[King]

Cecil/Drabek/Delabar

 

I mean, you can say a lot of things

 

But "no upside" is pretty dumn

 

Cecil is a LHP

[GD]

Cecil is a LHP

 

The whole "RHP" thing was lost on me

 

Delabar+Drabek = upside tho

[LongTimeReader]

Drabek/Delabar

 

I mean, you can say a lot of things

 

But "no upside" is pretty dumn

 

I have to agree w/ him in that upside is very minimal

[GD]

I have to agree w/ him in that upside is very minimal

 

Delabar has had a 1+ win season IIRC? and Drabek, I mean you can say all you want about him but it's difficult to argue that there's no potential there

[LongTimeReader]

Delabar has had a 1+ win season IIRC? and Drabek, I mean you can say all you want about him but it's difficult to argue that there's no potential there

 

Lol. I think even you know you're grasping.

[GD]

Lol. I think even you know you're grasping.

 

I think it depends on how we phrase upside. I define upside, for relievers, as the ability to post 1ish wins out of the pen

[burlingtonbandit]

Delabar has had a 1+ win season IIRC? and Drabek, I mean you can say all you want about him but it's difficult to argue that there's no potential there

 

Okay I'll give you Delabar with the upside but to have one guy with reasonable upside in a pen is pretty bad. Drabek lost his stuff since his second TJS and even before that he never really showed signs of putting it together. At this point I would be very surprised if he amounts to anything. Jays really need to add at least one decent reliever and probably 2.

[GD]

Okay I'll give you Delabar with the upside but to have one guy with reasonable upside in a pen is pretty bad. Drabek lost his stuff since his second TJS and even before that he never really showed signs of putting it together. At this point I would be very surprised if he amounts to anything. Jays really need to add at least one decent reliever and probably 2.

 

I think Drabek's got some potential to be a useful RP even if he's unlikely to realize it, but eh.

 

Certainly not arguing that we need an RP. Los Del V might be nice considering we need some SP depth and he'd be a nice swingman. Lots of nice options out there.

[ace3113]

AA must have really loved my Breaking Blue article, first he acquires Travis now Guilmet. lol

 

http://www.breakingblue.ca/2013/11/22/the-expendables/

 

Preston Guilmet

Position: RHP

Height/Weight: 6’2″ 200lbs

Born: July 27, 1987 (Age 26)

MLB.com rank: NR

(IL – 2013) 49ap 20sv 5-4 1.68era 64.1ip 43h 14bb 72so

 

Minor league relievers are the quintessential trade throw-ins. Like a bad infomercial cliche – you buy one set of steak knives, and they’ll throw in a minor league reliever for free. The same seems to hold true in baseball. Even the really good relief prospects simply don’t have the value to be the centerpieces of a trade (unless you’re dealing with Alex Anthopolous).

 

Cleveland doesn’t have a deep enough system to consider any prospects disposable, but what they do have in abundance are intriguing young relief pitchers. The pipeline of relievers on their way to Ohio is extensive: Austin Adams, Trey Haley, Scott Barnes, Rob Bryson, Preston Guilmet, Chen Lee, Bryce Stowell, Shawn Armstrong, Bryan Price, Zach Putnam, the list literally goes on. Is it any wonder that Cleveland was 9th in both reliever FIP and innings pitched in 2013. They have so many relievers that they’ve almost reached the point of just giving them away. The rest, like Stowell, Guilmet, and Lee, are left to get overripe in the minors.

 

Now if you want a reliever from the Indians in a trade you’re probably hoping for the next Vinnie Pestano or Cody Allen. It was a tough choice for me between Guilmet and Price, but in the end I went with the younger Guilmet since Price was already a throw-in prospect, acquired with Justin Masterson and Nick Hagadone for Victor Martinez. Getting back to Guilmet. Two things I look for in a reliever, besides stuff, are fastball command and a swing-and-miss pitch, and Guilmet has both. Throwing from an extreme over-the-top angle (think Josh Colmenter) Guilmet’s arsenal features a high-80s to low-90s fastball that he locates well down in the zone and a nasty strikeout-inducing splitter. Guilmet is not going to be a star by any means, and there are probably guys with better stuff or potential in the system, but he is a sabermetric darling with a high probability of actually being a useful piece for a major league team.

 

Next on his list Christian Binford. j/k

[GD]

I'm writing another article rn, you should write too! Let's get some activity going lol

[ace3113]

I'm writing another article rn, you should write too! Let's get some activity going lol

 

I might if I have time this holiday. I didn't want to telegraph any of my prospect targets prior to our fantasy draft.