Jays desperately need to acquire infield depth

[TheGrandslamMan]

Jays really need to address their infield positions. I understand that Goins and Tulo are great defensively, but they're both killing the team with their offense. Tulo's average currently sits at 162 and Goins is at 146. It's not early anymore folks. Their offense has been so detrimental that I don't think you can keep them in the lineup on a daily basis. The only problem is there's no other options. Barney's looked good, but don't be fooled: his offense has always been his Achilles heel and he will come down to earth sooner than later.

 

Can you guys think of any sensible trade targets or call-ups who can provide a little pop for the infield?

[TheGrandslamMan]

Simply having 1 defensive wizard/offensive black-hole in a lineup is a risky decision and the Jays currently have 3, 2 which happen to play side by side at middle infield.

[jays4life19]

Can you guys think of any sensible trade targets or call-ups who can provide a little pop for the infield?

 

Devon Travis.

[Daniel Labude]

Jays really need to address their infield positions. I understand that Goins and Tulo are great defensively, but they're both killing the team with their offense. Tulo's average currently sits at 162 and Goins is at 146. It's not early anymore folks. Their offense has been so detrimental that I don't think you can keep them in the lineup on a daily basis. The only problem is there's no other options. Barney's looked good, but don't be fooled: his offense has always been his Achilles heel and he will come down to earth sooner than later.

 

Can you guys think of any sensible trade targets or call-ups who can provide a little pop for the infield?

 

Once Travis comes up...Tulo and Goins will slip SS playing time (probably just Tulo though)

[Cyborg]

Tulo

Travis

Goins

Barney

Burns

 

We have great infield depth.

[gbill2004]

Bullpen is the problem. Not infield depth. This thread should be locked.

[jays_fever]

Why would Tulo and Goins split the playing time at SS

[TheGrandslamMan]

Devon Travis.

 

When is he slated to return? He's been out so long that I don't think you should expect much out of him though, but my goodness has he been missed.

[Jimcanuck]

Jays needs in order of priority:

 

1. New manager

2. Another high leverage bullpen guy

3. Bench bat

[TheGrandslamMan]

Tulo

Travis

Goins

Barney

Burns

 

We have great infield depth.

 

Despite Goins' glove, I really don't think he should be on a big-league roster so I wouldn't exactly consider him a viable option. Andy Burns hasn't even been all that good in the minors so I wouldn't feel very comfortable giving him extended playing time.

 

The biggest disappointment is easily Tulo. I think the first warning sign would have been the fact that The Rockies happily shipped their face of the franchise player out of town. Surely he can't continue to be as abysmal as he has, but even if he levels out with an AVG around 230 or 240 he's still an albatross to the team considering his contract.

 

Sure, If we're rebuilding than you can try and piece things together and give whomever a chance but this is a team who's built to win a division. Changes need to be made.

[500LevelSTH]

One of the silliest over reaction threads yet.... Its may 8th.... May 8th.... Until we hit june 1, you cant make any reasonable conclusions on this team. They are around .500 with all the issues... Tulo and Goins havent cost this team a thing... Half decent start by storen and cecil and this team is running away with the division.

[Jimcanuck]

Despite Goins' glove, I really don't think he should be on a big-league roster so I wouldn't exactly consider him a viable option. Andy Burns hasn't even been all that good in the minors so I wouldn't feel very comfortable giving him extended playing time.

 

The biggest disappointment is easily Tulo. I think the first warning sign would have been the fact that The Rockies happily shipped their face of the franchise player out of town. Surely he can't continue to be as abysmal as he has, but even if he levels out with an AVG around 230 or 240 he's still an albatross to the team considering his contract.

 

Sure, If we're rebuilding than you can try and piece things together and give whomever a chance but this is a team who's built to win a division. Changes need to be made.

 

Jays paid quite a bit of prospect capital to get Tulo. Rockies didn't happily ship him out of town lol. They are in a rebuilding phase, keeping Tulo was pointless.

[TheGrandslamMan]

Jays needs in order of priority:

 

1. New manager

2. Another high leverage bullpen guy

3. Bench bat

 

Absolutely. I found it a little unorthodox that the new front-office didn't bring in their own team management guys but I suppose that was a PR move.

 

The bench is a huge problem, and back to my point- would benefit greatly with a guy who could play some infield that you could at least sub in for Goins and Tulo (if he continues to struggle) late in the game... But they have no options. The fact that Ezequiel Carrera is the go-to bat off the bench late in the game is sad.

[Jimcanuck]

Absolutely. I found it a little unorthodox that the new front-office didn't bring in their own team management guys but I suppose that was a PR move.

 

The bench is a huge problem, and back to my point- would benefit greatly with a guy who could play some infield that you could at least sub in for Goins and Tulo (if he continues to struggle) late in the game... But they have no options. The fact that Ezequiel Carrera is the go-to bat off the bench late in the game is sad.

 

Bring up Pompey when healthy, and rotating guys in and out of the lineup among 1B, DH, OF means you have a viable bench bat at all times.

[FrozenRopes]

Gibby seems like a good guy. Unfortunately, we need a manager, not a friend.

[TheGrandslamMan]

Jays paid quite a bit of prospect capital to get Tulo. Rockies didn't happily ship him out of town lol. They are in a rebuilding phase, keeping Tulo was pointless.

 

Fair enough. Although I'm not really sure that the Rockies are going for a full-blown rebuild. They seem to be taking the half-pregnant measure and I think if they believed that Tulo was still the kind of player who would give them 5+WAR a season that they wouldn't have bothered trading him.

[TheGrandslamMan]

One of the silliest over reaction threads yet.... Its may 8th.... May 8th.... Until we hit june 1, you cant make any reasonable conclusions on this team. They are around .500 with all the issues... Tulo and Goins havent cost this team a thing... Half decent start by storen and cecil and this team is running away with the division.

 

Over reaction? I don't see how. I think it's clear at this point that Goins shouldn't be given extended playing time. It's not as if he hasn't been below replacement level before. And you can't keep putting Tulo in the lineup if he's not going to hit.

 

You are right about one thing though, this is a good team, and it's almost surprising that their record is as good as it is with all things considered. But that just goes to show how awesome the rotations been.

[TheGrandslamMan]

Bring up Pompey when healthy, and rotating guys in and out of the lineup among 1B, DH, OF means you have a viable bench bat at all times.

 

Sure, but then you have another guy in the starting lineup who might not hit.

[Jimcanuck]

Sure, but then you have another guy in the starting lineup who might not hit.

 

What do you mean? You are rotating JB, EE, Smoak, Pompey, Pillar, and Saunders. The guy with the day off is the potential late inning bench bat.

 

All of those guys are quality, on the lineup card or off the bench.

[crazy47larry]

Fair enough. Although I'm not really sure that the Rockies are going for a full-blown rebuild. They seem to be taking the half-pregnant measure and I think if they believed that Tulo was still the kind of player who would give them 5+WAR a season that they wouldn't have bothered trading him.

 

Its not a smart rebuild, but they are not a smart organization either.

[KinofChaos]

Once travis gets back INF depth is like this teams least pressing concern lol.

[Praxis]

Its not a smart rebuild, but they are not a smart organization either.

 

Not disagreeing with you, but f***: Castro was lighting it up until he went on the DL, Hoffman is now one of their top ranked pitching prospects in AAA and tearing it up down there. Even the Reyes/Tulo argument is kind of pointless given how well Trevor Story is doing.

 

Pretty soon this deal has the potential to look as bad as the Dickey/Syndergaard trade.

[xposbrad]

Jays needs in order of priority:

 

1. New manager

2. Another high leverage bullpen guy

3. Bench bat

 

I would add, a new RF big bat to replace JB next year.

[Governator]

Fair enough. Although I'm not really sure that the Rockies are going for a full-blown rebuild. They seem to be taking the half-pregnant measure and I think if they believed that Tulo was still the kind of player who would give them 5+WAR a season that they wouldn't have bothered trading him.

 

They traded him at the perfect time really. It was a rebuild move, swapping Tulo for Reyes let's the big contract expire a couple years earlier, just as Hoffman/Castro should be competing for MLB service time. It was never about Reyes, just shortening the big contract to free up money sooner.

[Captain Adama]

Not disagreeing with you, but f***: Castro was lighting it up until he went on the DL, Hoffman is now one of their top ranked pitching prospects in AAA and tearing it up down there. Even the Reyes/Tulo argument is kind of pointless given how well Trevor Story is doing.

 

Pretty soon this deal has the potential to look as bad as the Dickey/Syndergaard trade.

 

Hoffman has a 4.54 FIP in AAA. How exactly is he "tearing it up?"

[Deadpool]

Really on the fence about closing this, but I don't want to abuse my mod powers just because I think there's some rampant stupidity going on...

[crazy47larry]

Not disagreeing with you, but f***: Castro was lighting it up until he went on the DL, Hoffman is now one of their top ranked pitching prospects in AAA and tearing it up down there. Even the Reyes/Tulo argument is kind of pointless given how well Trevor Story is doing.

 

Pretty soon this deal has the potential to look as bad as the Dickey/Syndergaard trade.

 

Yeah it could look bad in a few years I suppose if everything breaks just right for the Rockies. And honestly later on I will still be fine with it because we sent pitchers to Coors so its unlikely it bites us back in the future. Plus f*** Reyes. Could you imagine if we were still stuck paying Reyes to do nothing but beat his wife? Even when he was healthy he was s*** for us. We all already bash Rogers for all sorts of s***** budget reasons but everyone would have a field day if we put $22m into sunk costs and literally had Ryan Goins as the de facto starting SS. Lots of IFs and BUTs left over but I am fairly certain the new regime would have kept those prospects aswell.

[Statman]

I would add, a new RF big bat to replace JB next year.

 

120ish wRC+, improved RF defense and a best friend of Josh Donaldson.

[KingKat]

They traded him at the perfect time really. It was a rebuild move, swapping Tulo for Reyes let's the big contract expire a couple years earlier, just as Hoffman/Castro should be competing for MLB service time. It was never about Reyes, just shortening the big contract to free up money sooner.

 

I more or less agree with this but I also think that they somewhat naively thought they could flip Reyes but yeah at worst the contract was shorter.

[Praxis]

Hoffman has a 4.54 FIP in AAA. How exactly is he "tearing it up?"

 

Can't tell if being serious....

 

ERA 1.96, WHIP 1.04, .208 avg, 36.2 IP, 8 ER, 30 SO, 11 BB, fastball sits 94-96 mph range (has hit 98 this season) and he's only 23.

 

MLB currently rank him #48 in all of baseball as well btw.

 

http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2016/#list=col?list=prospects