Jays acquire Aledmys Diaz

[Spanky99]

Cards FO "Diaz is blocked for DeJong. Trade him for an awful 23 years old single A OF with 99% K rate"

 

This is why they moved him, plus the Marlins might like Woodman(to add in trade), no-one really knows.

[Spanky99]

What?

Tulo can't hit the baseball like a real man, and can't stay healthy.

 

It’s decent when healthy, which is rarely the case. I get his bat is garbage now, but maybe a move to a less demanding position would help him offensively, along with a move back to the friendly confines of Coors.

 

I don’t necessarily buy what I just said, but would love to see the Rox, or anyone really, take him and a good chunk of his contract.

 

Meh, Tulo's bat still plays at SS when healthy, we're not going to be able to move him because of the contract, it is what it is.

[AdamGreenwood]

Both those statements are perfectly sensible and do not by amy stretch indicate some kind of love affair with a fringe major leaguer like Gift.

 

KingKat and Gift sitting in a tree...

[jays4life19]

KingKat and Gift sitting in a tree...

 

K-I-S-S-I-N-G

 

cf

[Spanky99]

K-I-S-S-I-N-G

 

cf

 

First comes Love, <3

[BTS]

First comes Love, <3

 

Then comes marriage

[jays4life19]

Then comes marriage

 

Then comes Todd Jr in the Baby carriage.

[Spanky99]

Then comes Todd Jr in the Baby carriage.

 

Boo!

[baubau]

Then comes Todd Jr in the Baby carriage.

 

[P2F]

So are you back or what, baubau?

[baubau]

So are you back or what, baubau?

 

Nah, I'll still be on / off. I'll drop by when news breaks mostly. This place is full of *******s and I enjoy seeing when dumb comments get called out (sometimes including my own!). Its great!

[jays4life19]

BP wrote their analysis on the Woodman trade today and its behind a paywall so i'll have to paste the whole article.

 

Toronto Blue Jays acquired IF-R Aledmys Diaz from St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for OF-L J.B. Woodman. [12/1]

 

Usually the patented “Cardinals Devil Magic” makes a player much better over a longer term than Diaz, who was something of a disappointment almost immediately after coming over from Cuba. Sure, there were flashes of power and a hit tool, but nothing in his minor-league profile made him look like anything other than a bust and an organizational depth infielder who could eventually become a long-term fixture with the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds.

 

Instead, a chance opening covering for Ruben Tejada in 2016 turned into a feel-good, All-Star story and for a hot minute the Cardinals thought they had an elite shortstop of the future. All’s well that ends well, unless you’re sick and tired of St. Louis turning unheralded players into legitimate stars. But this breakout was short-lived, as you can tell by the fact that he was just traded for what appears to be a light-hitting, low-minors outfielder with a name like a lumberjack.

 

That 2016 power and production spike certainly looks much more like a fluke than a forecast. Last season, he started off as the Cardinals’ starting shortstop through the first three months, but a .260/.293/.396 line earned him a demotion with Greg Garcia and Paul Dejong waiting in the wings. He’d hit seven homers, which is perfectly acceptable so long as he adds value by reaching base and playing defense … neither of which he did well at all.

 

It takes a rare approach to fail to garner a .300 on-base percentage while hitting .260, so therein you have the definition of “empty batting average.” Not only did his True Average drop nearly .100 points, Diaz’s defense–which has always been considered questionable at shortstop–was just as bad, if not worse than his previous season. Our FRAA metric rated him 10 runs to the detriment of his team, and the eye test certainly didn’t do him any favors either.

 

After he was shipped off to Memphis, Dejong came up and had a breakout not dissimilar to Diaz’s own during the previous season, so there was no hope of the plucky Cuban coming back up and fighting for his old job. He became superfluous. Of course, superfluous in St. Louis isn’t exactly superfluous a few hundred miles north. The Blue Jays have to deal with two injury risks up the middle in Troy Tulowitzki and Devon Travis, and any non-Ryan Goins depth would be greatly appreciated.

 

Betting on Diaz as a reserve middle infielder isn’t a bad idea at such a low cost, because if he somehow finds a bit more of his 2016 stroke, he could be a suitable bat-first backup and might be a little more defensively apt at a different infield spot. I personally don’t have a lot of hope for an All-Star renaissance, or even a return to relevance, but this deal probably benefits all parties involved. The Cardinals slough off a mild, but unnecessary contract, the Blue Jays take a flyer on a potential reserve, and Diaz gets a clearer path to playing time.

 

On a note unrelated to Diaz’s on-field performance, please check out this Twitter thread from John Rabe, who reminds us of baseball’s power to provide light and joy as a respite from the most challenging of circumstances. —Bryan Grosnick

 

***

 

St. Louis Cardinals acquired OF-L J.B. Woodman from Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for IF-R Aledmys Diaz. [12/1]

 

Woodman struggled this season in the Single-A Midwest League and often looked overmatched while hitting .240/.320/.378 in 96 games at age 22. The former second-round draft pick out of the University of Mississippi showed a poor approach at the plate, getting overaggressive, expanding the zone frequently, and striking out a ton on the way to a 157/40 K/BB ratio.

 

He flashed decent speed and athleticism on the defensive side of the ball while playing all three outfield spots, but his reads were inconsistent and as a whole he looked raw in center field, with a full-time shift to a corner a distinct possibility. —Emmett Rosenbaum

[Boxcar]

and any non-Ryan Goins depth would be greatly appreciated.

 

I sure hope Stroman doesn't read this

[Dr. Dinger]

I sure hope Stroman doesn't read this

 

It's kinda weird that someone as outwardly competitive as Stroman can't be objective about the fact that Goins is a sub-replacement level player.

[Pendleton]

Nah, I'll still be on / off. I'll drop by when news breaks mostly. This place is full of *******s and I enjoy seeing when dumb comments get called out (sometimes including my own!). Its great!

 

What a dumb comment.

[glory]

It's kinda weird that someone as outwardly competitive as Stroman can't be objective about the fact that Goins is a sub-replacement level player.

 

Goins is one of his "brothers" though. Talent, skill, production, etc, is irrelevant.

 

HDMH

[burlingtonbandit]

Well didn't take long for Stroman to have beef with another local media member. Jeff Blair is an idiot for writing about it but he is right about the whole thing.

[Brownie19]

It's kinda weird that someone as outwardly competitive as Stroman can't be objective about the fact that Goins is a sub-replacement level player.

 

It's almost like friendships develop when you play 162 games and travel all over the country together....friendships which cloud your judgement and generate bias opinions. I'm completely sick of the Stro-show, but he is human. Being upset and a tad perplexed that one of your friends got cut is a pretty natural reaction.

[ValiantJaysFan]

Well didn't take long for Stroman to have beef with another local media member. Jeff Blair is an idiot for writing about it but he is right about the whole thing.

 

Stroman is really nauseating if you follow him on social media. Motivational quotes after every bad start, acting like he's oppressed and the odds are stacked against him at every turn and we should view him as some kind of underdog hero...Blair really nailed it in his article. I've never liked Stroman because of his attitude and the fact that he acts like a f***ing douchebag, so glad to see someone call him on it finally.

[KingKat]

Blair pretty much nails it in his piece which, frankly, is hardly over the top in it's criticism. Stroman isn't the one time prospect who was doubted because of his health anymore. He's already proved his doubters wrong and established himself but it just seems like he always wants to make himself a martyr. He's like the guy who contacts you 25 times to tell you how much he doesn't care what you think. It's ultimately more silly than anything else and does no real damage to anything other than his image but it would be nice if it stopped. Try to enjoy the ride dude.

[BTS]

Stroman is a silly person.

[KingKat]

In a purely hypothetical scenario where Stroman makes the HOF, does he spend his whole speech railing against everyone that aggrieved him à la Michael Jordan? That's the vibe he's giving right now.

[ValiantJaysFan]

In a purely hypothetical scenario where Stroman makes the HOF, does he spend his whole speech railing against everyone that aggrieved him à la Michael Jordan? That's the vibe he's giving right now.

 

And constantly referring to "the brothers" on the teams he's played for.

[G-Snarls]

Stroman is a silly person.

 

Brags about taking private jets

 

Says he doesn't care what people think while continuously tweeting and reminding people that he doesn't care what they think while telling others to not care what other people think all while clearly caring very much about what people think

 

Says he doesn't care what people think about his clothes, hair, tattoos while continuously posting pictures of himself on Instagram and snapping at people who comment on his clothes appearance and hair

[Brownie19]

It's almost like friendships develop when you play 162 games and travel all over the country together....friendships which cloud your judgement and generate bias opinions. I'm completely sick of the Stro-show, but he is human. Being upset and a tad perplexed that one of your friends got cut is a pretty natural reaction.

 

For some stupid reason - I was just on Stro's twitter feed looking for what he said about Jeff Blair. What I found was a post where he said Goins had the best infield glove in baseball. That kind of bias goes beyond a normal friendship. One can only assume that's a semen induced bias right there.

[Deadpool]

For some stupid reason - I was just on Stro's twitter feed looking for what he said about Jeff Blair. What I found was a post where he said Goins had the best infield glove in baseball. That kind of bias goes beyond a normal friendship. One can only assume that's a semen induced bias right there.

 

I'd be willing to bet that 90% of all players in Baseball think that Goins is one of the best infield gloves in baseball, he is a prime example of a player who looks slick and flashy as a f***, but whose metrics do not match the eye test.

[KingKat]

For some stupid reason - I was just on Stro's twitter feed looking for what he said about Jeff Blair. What I found was a post where he said Goins had the best infield glove in baseball. That kind of bias goes beyond a normal friendship. One can only assume that's a semen induced bias right there.

 

I don't think that kind of bias is unusual among teammates if for no other reason than you see your teammates play more often than the players on the other team. That being said, Stroman does seem to have a thing for developing an intense bro-mance (for lack of a better term) with a single teammate and then getting bitter when it ends or is forced to end. It might be sexual (and frankly I'd understand it better if it was) but I suspect that it's no even sexual but just a testament to his insecurity that he has to quickly establish these kinds of intense friendships.

[KingKat]

We sure could use some more real news so we can move on to a better topic...

[G-Snarls]

We sure could use some more real news so we can move on to a better topic...

 

Omg yes

[burlingtonbandit]

I don't think that kind of bias is unusual among teammates if for no other reason than you see your teammates play more often than the players on the other team. That being said, Stroman does seem to have a thing for developing an intense bro-mance (for lack of a better term) with a single teammate and then getting bitter when it ends or is forced to end. It might be sexual (and frankly I'd understand it better if it was) but I suspect that it's no even sexual but just a testament to his insecurity that he has to quickly establish these kinds of intense friendships.

 

Lol wtf?