Report: Blue Jays in contact with Gallardo

[Angrioter]

Toronto Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro addressed his team's need for additional depth in the rotation earlier this week, and a former adversary from the American League Division Series could be a target.

 

After the Blue Jays reportedly showed strong interest in Yovani Gallardo throughout the winter, the two sides were in contact this week, according to Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.

 

Gallardo's coming off a season with the Texas Rangers in which he went 13-11 with a career-low 3.42 ERA to go with a career-worst 1.42 WHIP. The 29-year-old has thrown at least 180 innings in each of the past seven seasons and hit free agency after declining a qualifying offer, tying him to draft-pick compensation.

 

"(Gallardo)'s the kind of guy that would make us better. He's the kind of guy you'd like to have," Shapiro said on Sportsnet 590 The Fan on Wednesday. "Whether or not, from a resource perspective, we still have enough to make a move like that, I think that’s still a variable that exists. But we do have some flexibility still. Thinking about how we use those resources is still a question."

 

The Blue Jays retained Marco Estrada while adding J.A. Happ, Jesse Chavez, and reliever Drew Storen into the fold this offseason. While the addition of Storen possibly opens the door for either Aaron Sanchez or Roberto Osuna to be stretched out as a starter, Shapiro remains unconvinced they have enough starting pitching.

 

"Depth is probably the overriding need for this team, because when you start to look at what do you do if you lose a guy for three, four weeks?" he asked. "There are a lot of spots where we don't have the right championship-caliber alternative to keep that going. I think that our team is good enough position player-wise that we can survive that - it happened last year at times - pitching wise, not so much. So it's more urgent."

[Terminator]

Not a fan of this unless he comes dirt cheap (and I don't think he will).

[Rusty_Savage]

I would think that if they sign Gallardo then Dickey is probably on his way out,no?

[glory]

Gallardo plus losing a pick?

 

Not happening.

[Gorlak]

Gross

[King]

eww

[BTS]

Please no

[Boxcar]

lol obvious ********. Come on.

[Krylian]

Gallardo plus losing a pick?

 

Not happening.

 

This.

[Angrioter]

I prefer to trade Sanchez for Colby Lewis

[Captain Adama]

So a rumour like this comes out right after Shapiro says that Gallardo is not the kind of pitcher they're going after?

 

Yeah, this rumour is a crock of s***.

[GreekFatAss]

Would you guys sign him to a 1 year deal if it meant we had a deal lined up for Dickey that brought back a useful piece? Like a Melancon type of expensive reliever that could allow Sanchez and Osuna to stretch out in AAA?

[wamco]

Yup

[L54]

Casuals will be pumped.

[RealAccountant]

It probably means they can shift Dickey for an asset

[Jonn]

All the hard dicks for Shapiro have officially retreated.

[jaysguy44]

Just curious.. why the hate for Gallardo?

[GreekFatAss]

Just curious.. why the hate for Gallardo?

 

Mediocre pitcher who would cost a comp pick.

[Stangstag]

Just curious.. why the hate for Gallardo?

 

He's ugly. Would definitely be #25 on the board's hot list

[Dr. Dinger]

Mediocre pitcher who would cost a comp pick.

 

As Shapiro said, you can put a dollar value on a comp pick. This is factored into any contract analysis. I trust that Shapiro would only go after someone like Gallardo if he was reasonably certain the value was there, and in this case, he probably has a taker for Dickey lined up. Gallardo at something similar to Happ dollars is not a terrible investment. Gallardo is an 8-time 2 WAR pitcher, that ain't bad. Anybody who thinks that Estrada or Happ is a safer bet to put up 6 WAR over the next 3 years is in denial.

 

Only if he shaves that f***ing beard and rat tail tho.

[BTS]

Watching Gallardo pitch is excruciating. And it feels like the wheels are going to fall off at any time.

[KingKat]

Just curious.. why the hate for Gallardo?

 

He's not very good. Basically just an innings eater.

[flafson]

Watching Gallardo pitch is excruciating. And it feels like the wheels are going to fall off at any time.

 

He kills Blue Jays hitting though, that gotta factor for something.

[P2F]

As Shapiro said, you can put a dollar value on a comp pick. This is factored into any contract analysis. I trust that Shapiro would only go after someone like Gallardo if he was reasonably certain the value was there, and in this case, he probably has a taker for Dickey lined up. Gallardo at something similar to Happ dollars is not a terrible investment. Gallardo is an 8-time 2 WAR pitcher, that ain't bad.

 

Only if he shaves that f***ing beard and rat tail tho.

 

This is a must in the contract.

 

On the bright side, if there is some truth to this and the Jays end up signing him, he should come much more inexpensively after that s*** season he had last year; and up until then, he was an above average pitcher. Maybe he turns it around.

 

That being said, I hope this is just a BS rumour. Putting aside the loss of the draft pick (which sucks, all by itself), Gallardo is a pitcher who is trending the wrong way; his K rate the last three seasons compared to earlier in his career in Milwaukee, for example.

[Dr. Dinger]

Watching Gallardo pitch is excruciating. And it feels like the wheels are going to fall off at any time.

 

Watching Dickey pitch is pretty excruciating too, as is rostering his caddy.

[Dr. Dinger]

If Gallardo's contract is digestible, we could probably even trade him for a prospect comparable to what we could draft at that pick anyway.

[RealAccountant]

This is just a bad rumor. You can't have Dickey and Gallardo on the same team. All of Dickey Stroman Happ Estrada have been promised spots. That leaves 1 spot. If you sign Gallardo then the chavez deal seems dumb as hell.

[Gorlak]

As Shapiro said, you can put a dollar value on a comp pick. This is factored into any contract analysis. I trust that Shapiro would only go after someone like Gallardo if he was reasonably certain the value was there, and in this case, he probably has a taker for Dickey lined up. Gallardo at something similar to Happ dollars is not a terrible investment. Gallardo is an 8-time 2 WAR pitcher, that ain't bad. Anybody who thinks that Estrada or Happ is a safer bet to put up 6 WAR over the next 3 years is in denial.

 

Only if he shaves that f***ing beard and rat tail tho.

 

Overpaying for Happ doesn't make wasting cash and a pick on Gallardo any smarter.

[Jimcanuck]

i'm sure shapiro is talking to a lot of player's agents

 

nothing to see here

[Laika]

Watching Gallardo pitch is excruciating. And it feels like the wheels are going to fall off at any time.

 

Sounds like Estrada