AA joins Dodgers as VP of Baseball Operations

[BigCecil]

What about the Vernon Wells deal?

What about getting Travis for Gose?

 

Even getting Marcum for Lawrie was a steal - even though Lawrie never did fulfill his potential (although he did help us get Donaldson).

 

He didn't get the reputation of being a ninja for nothing.

 

AA had his negatives, but he was good at drafting (and finding loop holes in the drafting system) and at making trades. Simple as that.

 

Lots one can criticize AA for but you have mentioned some wins. I also give him credit for having the balls to get 6 years of Jose and 4 of Edwin on undermarket deals. They seem like no brainers now but at the time the deals were done there was a fair amount of risk for the Jays that their breakthrough seasons were a mirage.

[G-Snarls]

AA spoke on Tim and Sid last night and it was pretty clear that he was fairly OK with not having the GM title as long as he had people that he would love to be around on a daily basis. That is why he declined Shapiro and that's why he chose LA.

Not sure if true or not but he said even if it was working with the same people in Tampa, he would be OK with that (tiny payroll).

 

I don't believe anything AA says anymore

 

That said, these are teams that front offices build nowadays. You have top work together. You want to work with certain people and not others. It's probably as simple as that.

[KingKat]

Lots one can criticize AA for but you have mentioned some wins. I also give him credit for having the balls to get 6 years of Jose and 4 of Edwin on undermarket deals. They seem like no brainers now but at the time the deals were done there was a fair amount of risk for the Jays that their breakthrough seasons were a mirage.

 

Jose was a lot of risk. EE was just a huge solid by the player. He was inches away from FA and surely left money on the table to stick around.

[BigCecil]

Jose was a lot of risk. EE was just a huge solid by the player. He was inches away from FA and surely left money on the table to stick around.

 

Not sure how you come up with that on Edwin. He had a WAR of

 

.1 -2008

1.7 - 2009

.7 - 2010

 

Then in 2011 he broke out with a 150 wRC+. He had one big season after an up and down career with poor D, where he had been DFA'ed. Everyone passed save for one team who showed a bit of interest. He talks about that as does AA in the Brunt piece on him.

 

Based on 2012 AA signed him to a 3 year deal in 2012. Maybe he left $ on the table but there was a risk he was a one hit wonder with no position.

[KingKat]

Not sure how you come up with that on Edwin. He had a WAR of

 

.1 -2008

1.7 - 2009

.7 - 2010

 

Then in 2011 he broke out with a 150 wRC+. He had one big season after an up and down career with poor D, where he had been DFA'ed. Everyone passed save for one team who showed a bit of interest. He talks about that as does AA in the Brunt piece on him.

 

Based on 2012 AA signed him to a 3 year deal in 2012. Maybe he left $ on the table but there was a risk he was a one hit wonder with no position.

 

He was half a season closer to free agency and had carried his breakout level play into that season. Both those things make a huge difference.

[BigCecil]

He was half a season closer to free agency and had carried his breakout level play into that season. Both those things make a huge difference.

 

 

hmmm....Jose signed his in the off season after his break out 2010. Its interesting to look back. http://m.bluejays.mlb.com/news/article/16659082/

 

Maybe on Edwin. I just don't see it as a huge solid. As a poor D player he was of limited use to some teams hurting his value. And there would have been fears he reverted back to old EE (or was on PEDs). I still think it was a ballsy and fair deal with risks on both sides at the time. Its become a steal in hindsight. http://m.mlb.com/news/article/34857644/

 

Kind of funny Ricky Romero was featured in the press conference announcing the Edwin ext. There was one deal that didn't work out

[ElNik2013]

What about the Vernon Wells deal?

What about getting Travis for Gose?

 

Even getting Marcum for Lawrie was a steal - even though Lawrie never did fulfill his potential (although he did help us get Donaldson).

 

He didn't get the reputation of being a ninja for nothing.

 

AA had his negatives, but he was good at drafting (and finding loop holes in the drafting system) and at making trades. Simple as that.

 

Other moves that were lauded here include getting Rasmus, Escobar and Morrow. It's also interesting that he was criticized quite a bit for getting Happ yet he turned him into Saunders in a move widely applauded.

 

We also know he made some really bad trades. At the end of the day, his record is probably around average, give or take. Good luck to him.

 

I think many are too focused on AA vs Shapiro. The real news in all of this is that Shapiro is replacing Beeston. We should also be thankful that Rogers fumbled last year's search for a new president or the team would have Kenny Williams as team president.

 

I also think people are downplaying the message that was sent to AA with the fumbled president search. It clearly sent the message to AA that new prez would be a baseball ops guy which meant structural change in the organization.

 

Anyway...

[Dick_Pole]

Totally agree. He was supposed to build a sustainable winner, a team that would make the playoffs each year and have good talent always coming through the system.

 

It took him 5 years to get us to playoffs, and we don't have much talent left in the minors.

 

Stroman, Travis, Pompey, Osuna and Sanchez all have 5 years of control and are young guys who would be considered prospects if they weren't already on the MLB roster. If they were still prospects they'd fill out #1-5 on the Jays' minors list. The minors may be relatively barren at this snapshot in time but teams aren't judged by how many MiLB championships they win.

 

Looking at the Jays' system, yeah it's bottom third. But if you add the guys with 5 years of control who are 25 or under (sorry, Kevin) and did that with every other team in the league I'm sure the Jays would move up into the top half.

 

The Jays gave up a lot of young pitching depth in 2015, but it's not like I'm losing too much sleep over any individual they traded. Baretto is the only one who really stings and you do that trade 50 times over, even if you have to give up two Barettos and a Lawrie to get it done.

[BigCecil]

Stroman, Travis, Pompey, Osuna and Sanchez all have 5 years of control and are young guys who would be considered prospects if they weren't already on the MLB roster. If they were still prospects they'd fill out #1-5 on the Jays' minors list. The minors may be relatively barren at this snapshot in time but teams aren't judged by how many MiLB championships they win.

 

Looking at the Jays' system, yeah it's bottom third. But if you add the guys with 5 years of control who are 25 or under (sorry, Kevin) and did that with every other team in the league I'm sure the Jays would move up into the top half.

 

The Jays gave up a lot of young pitching depth in 2015, but it's not like I'm losing too much sleep over any individual they traded. Baretto is the only one who really stings and you do that trade 50 times over, even if you have to give up two Barettos and a Lawrie to get it done.

 

Fair comment. Those looking only at what we gave up is glass half empty. What would JD bring back in prospects as an asset if we moved him with 3 more seasons of control, subject only to arb? (not that we should!)

[highhard2]

Stroman, Travis, Pompey, Osuna and Sanchez all have 5 years of control and are young guys who would be considered prospects if they weren't already on the MLB roster. If they were still prospects they'd fill out #1-5 on the Jays' minors list. The minors may be relatively barren at this snapshot in time but teams aren't judged by how many MiLB championships they win.

 

Looking at the Jays' system, yeah it's bottom third. But if you add the guys with 5 years of control who are 25 or under (sorry, Kevin) and did that with every other team in the league I'm sure the Jays would move up into the top half.

 

The Jays gave up a lot of young pitching depth in 2015, but it's not like I'm losing too much sleep over any individual they traded. Baretto is the only one who really stings and you do that trade 50 times over, even if you have to give up two Barettos and a Lawrie to get it done.

 

I love the way this teams set up. They could go for the gusto in 2016 then do a compete overhaul or, if thier farm shows enough improvement,and a few specs look ready to make the jump they could just continue on as is.

 

Stroman,Pillar,Travis,Osuna,Sanchez,Goins,Colabello,Alford,SRF,Pentacost,Urena,Tellez,Jansen,Vladdy JR(eventually), could be a nice start to a rebuild.Coupled with the picks you get for Bautista and EE,and the trades of Donalson,Tulo,Martin,Happ,Estrada,Hutch,Loup and anyone else that you can get any value out of with two or less years of control after the 2016 season.

 

I could easily see a complete overhaul after this year with only a 1-2 year rebuild. It also wouldn't take much to keep the core and have a very good team as is going forward.It'll be interesting to see which direction they go and should produce a very good team either way.

 

Edit: Another bonus with a complete teardown is that payroll would be so low you could go nuts on the international FA market to help expedite the rebuild.

Edited January 16, 2016 by highhard2

[Dick_Pole]

Fair comment. Those looking only at what we gave up is glass half empty. What would JD bring back in prospects as an asset if we moved him with 3 more seasons of control, subject only to arb? (not that we should!)

 

More than what Shelby Miller got, hopefully. I'd say Miller's take plus another Barreto-like prospect would be a decent haul.

[P2F]

Umm...no.

[Gorlak]

AA didn't leave Shapiro any players with negative trade value and that's while being at the upper end of the win curve. I would be more against the farm management if he didn't shift so much surplus value into the MLB team.

[TheHurl]

Yanks interviewed AA about a front office job. That would have been fun