leaffie

"Padres: Compared to last spring, when Johnson was with Toronto, the Padres' pitcher is feeling positively great. "I was feeling beat up before spring training (last year)," Johnson, who battled arm injuries throughout the 2013 season and suffered through the worst of his nine Major League seasons." Strange, I just read this today. It was written two days ago. I remember wondering when I read it, why he was so beat up before the season even started with the Jays. Well I was against giving him the QO, and I am glad that AA didn't give it to him. Too many injuries.

He was second on my list. Leiter was given more than his fair share of chances by the jays.

Miguel Batista , he spent too much time walking around trying to impress people with his intellect, and not enough pitching.

Another point of view article on the Santana signing: Jerry Crasnick discusses why P Ervin Santana is a good fit for the Atlanta Braves' pitching staff.Tags: Atlanta Braves, Ervin Santana, Jerry Crasnick, contract Ervin Santana-mania ended abruptly this morning, with Santana headed to the Atlanta Braves on a one-year contract worth $14.1 million. While there's a great deal of uncertainty around Santana's eventual 2014 performance, there's no such guessing about how expensive the signing is for the Braves -- very. The prime motivation for Atlanta's signing of Santana is tied to the health of Kris Medlen. Taken out of a game due to elbow soreness Sunday, Medlen is heading to Dr. James Andrews to have the ligament damage in his elbow examined. Medlen is a survivor of a previous Tommy John surgery, and if he's heading for another one, his 2014 is over and the Braves are without one of their key starters in what looks to be a close National League East race with the Nationals. The NL is a better fit for Santana, and his projection reflects the environment. A ZiPS outlook of 11-8 and a 3.59 ERA in 190 1/3 innings for Atlanta is one of the better team projections for Santana; when I run ZiPS in all 30 stadiums, Camden Yards and Rogers Centre, two of his rumored destinations, were two of the worst homes for Santana, ranking 27th and 29th respectively in terms of ERA compared to league average. At 2.9 projected WAR, Santana is worth his $14 million salary. The big problem for the Braves is the additional cost, the loss of a first-rounder for one season of paying Santana a reasonable salary. Where the Blue Jays would lose a pick in the low 50s and the O's lost pick would be in the 90s, the Braves lose No. 26. For a team that likes to keep its payroll under $100 million and likely won't do anything crazy when it eventually moves into its new stadium, that's a real hit. The pre-free-agency value for the typical 26th pick is roughly 3.5 WAR, and that amount of talent would cost $19.6 million in the free-agency market. While the majority of prospects don't succeed, the payout when they do is massive. The Braves may be missing out on the next Craig Hansen (No. 26 overall in 2005), which wouldn't be so harmful, but they could also be missing out on the next Alan Trammell (No. 26 in 1976) or Dan Plesac (1983). Add the $19.6 million to the salary Santana will make in Atlanta and we're talking about a de facto $33.7 million preliminary cost for one season of Santana's services. In one way of looking at it, Santana is the most expensive pitcher over the course of a single season in baseball history. While there's at least a chance that the Braves get another pick on the back end of the signing if they give Santana a qualifying offer next season, that's far from a certainty. After all, Santana, who posted an ERA above 5.00 in 2009 and 2012, got limited interest coming off the best ERA of his career and nobody had the stomach to lose a first-rounder for him. There's no reason to think that would be any different next season unless he is significantly better than he was in 2013. Santana's experience dealing with an ice-cold market after turning down a qualifying offer could make him more likely to accept one next season. This is a move that smells of panic. Mike Minor may start the season on the disabled list, Gavin Floyd won't be ready to start the year, and Brandon Beachy's health is a concern. The short-term rotation looks thin behind Julio Teheran and Alex Wood, but Minor will be back and odds are at least one of Floyd and Beachy will be able to contribute. It's easy to skip the fifth starter early in the season, and there's a lot to be said of patience while you look for opportunity -- the difference between a good pitcher and Cody Martin/Freddy Garcia over the course of a month being only a handful of runs. It's not Santana or bust, after all, and if the Braves are going to pay such a high price, they may as well have it go toward a trade for David Price or Jeff Samardzija. Moves made out of panic frequently turn out to be rash. This one is no exception.

Maybe there is already a deal done, and AA has a trade to do before they make the announcement?

That was my first thought, but the writer was also talking about salary relief for the Jays. Maybe they think AA will be blowing this up.

There was also a rumour on ESPN that the Yankees were looking to acquire Reyes to replace Jeter. Don't know whether it is just someone surmising or not.

While I do understand your not wanting to pay for just the box scores, MLB.com audio gives you the audio for all the games for all the teams. $22.00 well spent for me anyway.

According to Kennedy on MLB, the Tigers wanted Robbie Ray. They targeted him, and didn't talk to anyone else about the Fister trade.

I found it hard to believe that no one has signed him, if that is all he is asking now.

. Assessing the remaining FA market February, 11, 2014 Feb 11 4:07 PM ET By AJ Mass | ESPN.com We're still waiting for the floodgates to open on the remaining big-ticket free agents, but since the signing of Masahiro Tanaka, it has been fairly quiet. With the first spring training games creeping ever closer, the time seems right to examine who is still sitting by the phone, who might be considering making some calls, and what might be holding up the process. A.J. Burnett Teams still expressing interest: Nationals, Orioles, Phillies, Pirates. Sticking point: Apart from a potential fear that he might change his mind and opt for retirement, there really isn't any. His desire to be close to his family has already limited the market to these clubs. Current leader: Phillies Ervin Santana Teams still expressing interest: Blue Jays, Dodgers, Indians, Orioles, Yankees. Sticking point: As with all of the free agents on this list except for Burnett, the loss of a draft pick comes with any signing, which is part of why these players remain on the market. A high HR/FB rate makes Santana a risky pickup in homer-friendly ballparks. Current leader: Orioles Ubaldo Jimenez Teams still expressing interest: Blue Jays, Orioles, Yankees. Sticking point: Even though he has dropped his salary demands in half -- to the neighborhood of three years and $35-$40 million -- questions remain regarding his lack of focus when not in a contract year. Current leader: Blue Jays Stephen Drew Teams still expressing interest: Mets, Red Sox. Sticking point: Demands for a three-year deal with the ability to opt out after just one season is not likely to fly with any of the clubs still inquiring about the shortstop. Current leader: Mets Nelson Cruz Teams still expressing interest: Mariners, Orioles, Rangers. Sticking point: Reported asking price of $75 million, along with residual hesitancy following his involvement in the Biogenesis scandal. Current leader: Mariners Kendrys Morales Teams still expressing interest: Mariners, Orioles, Pirates. Sticking point: Age, desire for multi-year deal and defensive liabilities that make going to the National League a huge risk, plus the fact that Cruz is competing for the same openings. Current leader: Pirates Dan Szymborski Real cost of the qualifying offer "The market has been so slow for these players that it's fair to ask if teams are being too protective of their draft picks. But upon further inspection, it appears GMs are acting rationally. Allow me to explain."

Has anyone even heard a whisper of him meeting with the Jays?

I was told that so far it is just an eastern thing, but they have already had lots of requests in the west for Shaw customers.

I thought he signed with the Tigers.

From ESPN insider Paul Maholm, LHP Perfect fit: Toronto Blue Jays If you stopped paying attention at the halfway point of 2013, you probably remember Paul Maholm having a pretty decent year. At the break, he had thrown 115 innings and had a 3.98 ERA, and had helped the Braves build a nice big lead in the NL East. Then, in his first start of the second half, he gave up seven runs in three innings and was subsequently placed on the DL with a left wrist contusion, which caused him to spend the next month on the sidelines. He was pretty mediocre after returning from the DL in late August, and then was left off the Braves' playoff roster, ending his season on a pretty sour note. But prior to those 35 bad innings in the second half, Maholm was on a 450-inning run of consistently solid performances. He ran a 3.66 ERA/3.68 FIP in 2011, and then followed that up with a 3.67 ERA/4.00 FIP in 2012. At the All-Star break, he was at 3.98 ERA/4.07 FIP. These aren't sexy numbers, but they're perfectly serviceable for a major league starting pitcher, and that's not the kind of track record you want to ignore because a guy had 35 bad innings surrounding a stint on the DL. As a 32-year-old lefty with an 87 mph fastball, though, Maholm doesn't exactly get anyone excited. However, it isn't hard to make a case that Maholm can give a team most of what Jason Vargas could put up, and Vargas got $32 million over four years earlier in the offseason. On a cheap one-year deal, Maholm could be a great addition to a team like the Blue Jays, who need a short-term upgrade but hate giving long-term deals to pitchers. Maholm won't be the kind of signing that gets Blue Jays fans excited like last year's trades did, but he'll help make sure that they don't have to watch Ricky Romero take the mound again in 2014, and that makes it a move worth doing in and of itself.

This is from Buster Olney: Santana has had elbow trouble, and given all that we know about predicting injuries (read Russell Carlton's work on the topic here), some teams undoubtedly are wary of the possibility of a breakdown for a 31-year-old pitcher.

MLB's most unheralded player Edwin Encarnacion hits like an MVP but garners a fraction of the hype Edwin EncarnacionAbelimages/Getty ImagesEdwin Encarnacion ranks third in the major leagues with 78 homers over the last two seasons. If you think about the five most dangerous hitters in baseball (as ranked by wOBA) over the past two years, you'll certainly come up with the top two (Miguel Cabrera and Mike Trout) pretty easily. The No. 3 (Joey Votto) and No. 4 (Andrew McCutchen) bats probably wouldn't be too difficult to discern either. But which player would round out the top five: Robinson Cano, Buster Posey, Giancarlo Stanton? That trio and many others are valid guesses, but none of them make it into the top five, and if not for the big picture at the top of this article giving it away, you might have been cycling through names in your mind for hours before coming up with Edwin Encarnacion. Often thought of as not even being the best hitter on his own team, the truth is that the soon-to-be 31-year-old Toronto slugger is one of baseball's elite bats and still is almost certainly the sport's most underappreciated power source. Nomadic beginnings If fans haven't properly respected Encarnacion, they're not alone, because the sport itself hasn't always either. For years, he had been a quiet favorite of some stats-oriented observers, who looked past lousy third base defense and poor batting average (he failed to top .251 in four of his first six seasons) in favor of impressive on-base and power skills. In parts of five seasons with the Cincinnati Reds, Encarnacion hit a solid .262/.345/.449, all before the age of 27, but occasionally clashed with manager Jerry Narron and found himself fighting for playing time with the likes of Ryan Freel and Rich Aurilia. Big Hitters MLB's wOBA leaders over the last two seasons. PLAYER wOBA Miguel Cabrera .435 Mike Trout .416 Joey Votto .415 Andrew McCutchen .398 Edwin Encarnacion .392 Robinson Cano .389 Chris Davis .389 Carlos Gonzalez .389 Giancarlo Stanton .387 Paul Goldschmidt .385 In 2009, Encarnacion was shipped off to the Toronto Blue Jays in the Scott Rolen deal, but even then it wasn't smooth sailing. He was outrighted off the 40-man roster in 2010, spent time in the minors and was waived again following the season, briefly landing in the Oakland organization before the A's let him go as well. Just three years ago, any team could have had Encarnacion for nothing at all, and that's shocking when you look at what he has done. Since 2010, he has more home runs than David Ortiz and only one fewer than Stanton and Cano. His wOBA over that span is identical to Shin-Soo Choo's, who just collected a budget-busting contract from Texas, and his wRC+ is exactly the same as that of respected stars Joe Mauer and Carlos Beltran. Even when judging Encarnacion by wins above replacement, which penalizes him for that unimpressive defense, he has been worth roughly as much as Matt Kemp in that span. That's pretty strong company to be mentioned in, and it hardly stops there. Over the second half of last season, Encarnacion was an almost identical offensive performer to Arizona first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, who ended up as the National League's second-place finisher in the MVP ballot. Here's a look at how they compared over that span: Goldschmidt: .288/.408/.544 16.4 walk rate, .399 wOBA, 152 wRC+ Encarnacion: .286/.401/.538 16.2 walk rate, .398 wOBA, 152 wRC+ If one thing separated them, it was that Goldschimidt struck out 20.7 percent of the time in the second half, which isn't out of the ordinary; the sport as a whole struck out 19.9 percent of the time in 2013. But Encarnacion whiffed a mere 6.7 percent of the time in the second half and 10 percent overall, making him the rare power hitter who doesn't pile up absurd strikeout numbers, and that puts him in some other rarified company. Contact hitter Since the turn of the century, just five other players have done what Encarnacion accomplished in 2013, which is to hit at least 36 homers while striking out fewer than 62 times. Two of those players -- Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols -- rank among the best who have ever played, and two others -- Todd Helton and Gary Sheffield -- will have strong Hall of Fame cases to make when they become eligible. Only six qualified hitters struck out at a lower clip than Encarnacion did last year, and they were mostly Marco Scutaro types, not power hitters, with none coming within 100 points of Encarnacion's .534 slugging percentage. If you take that further, looking only at power hitters who know how to take a walk without piling up strikeouts, you'll find Encarnacion's name nearly alone at the top of the peak. Over the past two years, 28 hitters displayed an ISO of at least .200, and just five from that group walked at least 13 percent of the time; of those five, only Encarnacion and Votto walked more than they struck out. When you're piling up free passes, not whiffing and showing immense power, you're usually doing something right. Of course, simply not striking out doesn't instantly correlate with success -- strikeouts aren't often much worse than other outs -- but putting the bat on the ball more often does put Encarnacion in position to take advantage of his natural skills. Again looking at 2012-13, Encarnacion has the third-highest fly ball rate in the game, and the 14th-highest rate of home runs per fly ball. The equation there is simple: more contact leads to more fly balls leads to more homers. That's easier said than done, and in Encarnacion's case the key came through coaching. Prior to 2012, he was advised to shorten his swing by keeping both hands on the bat, rather than letting his top hand come off in his follow-through, and to stop attempting to pull every ball to left field. It worked, and quickly: Of Encarnacion's 24 career homers to center and right field, 11 have come in the past two seasons. Playing for a team outside of the media spotlight and often overshadowed by teammate Jose Bautista, Encarnacion generally gets left out of the conversation about baseball's best. He finally made his first All-Star team in 2013, but that's just a small step toward the recognition his performance deserves considering how great his past two seasons have been. When he's an MVP candidate in 2014 (assuming he will have no ill effects following minor wrist surgery in September), don't say you didn't see it coming. After all, the past two awards went to a powerful corner infielder who didn't offer much defensive value, either.

Talked about this yesterday on Xm. They said Toronto should be his number one location. Problem is that KC will be looking for pitching. Still thought Jays could get him.

Not to change the subject, but Scott Boras was just on XM and he said that the Tanaka rate has been set at, (at least), 7 years $140 million, and that several teams have complied. Didn't sound like posturing to me.

Discussion this morning on XM on Tanaka and teams that are in on him. Lengthy talk of the Jays, and Ferrin said that the Jays had someone watching every game he pitched. Said there was a parade of Jays personnel, from the top to the bottom. Said he would not be surprised if the Jays were in on him heavily. Also talked about where Tanaka would choose to go. Said that HE could see no reason that he wouldn't pick to go there. International city, large Japanese population (don't know if this is true or not). Don't know if any of this is true, just passing it along.

Regardless of who was in the trade, I don't think you can assume that the reason Dombrowski didn't trade with AA was because of something that AA did. He didn't trade with 28 other GM's that all need pitching either. Griffin is weak and this article was a perfect example of making something out of thin air.

But perhaps that is not what Detroit wanted? Jays fans on this board think Goins is filler, Nolin had one terrible start in the majors. So that really means the only proven player was Cecil.

So "perhaps" Dombrowski would rather get a worse package than deal with Anthopoulos. Perhaps, the lack of moves is making Griffin's job a little more difficult and he couldn't do better than come up with this garbage, thus hinting at some incompetence on his part. Discussing this very subject right now on XM. Said that Griffin's article wasn't credible. Also that if it was true, shame on the GM that added to this article. Said, that AA has always kept things quiet, and that it is his job to gather information. That might tick off some writers. Thinks a lot of these articles come from the winter meetings where some guy has a few drinks, and mentions some little thing, and a month later these type of articles appear. As far as the Detroit trade goes, said that it was common knowledge that the Jays don't want to trade Stroman or Sanchez, so who else were they going to use in that trade.

I have posted the entire article, Jays are near the bottom. Fixing surprising team weaknesses Identifying under-the-radar problems, possible fixes for potential contenders Updated: December 19, 2013, 12:08 PM ET By Mike Petriello | ESPN Insider 6 3 5 Email Print Matt Garza AP Photo/Colin E. BraleyCould Matt Garza be a potential fix for the Giants' troubled rotation? The offseason is barely half over, so teams still have time to fill the remaining holes on their rosters before spring training starts. Some of those weaknesses are obvious; everyone knows, for example, that the Angels need another starting pitcher and that the Yankees, as currently constructed, might not be able to cobble together four healthy infielders at the same time. However, some teams' flaws are flying a bit more under the radar and, unless fixed, could have an impact on 2014's pennant races. Here's a look at four teams with surprising weaknesses and potential fixes for each. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team: San Francisco Giants | Weakness: Starting pitching For a team that has long survived -- excelled, really -- on great pitching carrying a merely decent offense, the Giants have started to lean the other way over the past year or two. The problem with last season's 86-loss team wasn't the lineup, which had three star-level performers (Brandon Belt, Hunter Pence and Buster Posey) and at least two wins above replacement from all eight lineup positions, counting the combination of Angel Pagan and Juan Perez in center. It was the starting rotation, where Barry Zito and Ryan Vogelsong each fell apart, Matt Cain had his worst year since his rookie campaign and Tim Lincecum continued to look like a shell of his former elite self. Tim Hudson, going on 39 years old and coming off a severely broken ankle, was the Giants' big winter upgrade, although he should still be a considerable step up from Zito. Even so, a rotation led by underappreciated young ace Madison Bumgarner is largely treading water and, after ranking 27th in MLB in WAR last season with 6.4, is projected to reach just 9.6 this year. (By comparison, Detroit led the majors in 2013 at 25.3.) Proposed fix: Vogelsong's comeback story was nice, but he's best served as depth rather than guaranteed a rotation job. A No. 14 overall pick is too much to give up for free agents Ubaldo Jimenez or Ervin Santana, so adding Northern California native Matt Garza, the most talented pitcher remaining who's not subject to a qualifying offer, makes a lot of sense for a team that needs to improve to compete with the Diamondbacks and the Dodgers. The Giants won't, but they should. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team: Cincinnati Reds | Weakness: Outfield Last season, the Reds had three of the better offensive performers in the National League in Shin-Soo Choo, Jay Bruce and Joey Votto, along with reasonably productive infielders Todd Frazier and Brandon Phillips, so it's somewhat surprising to see them ahead of just five other offenses in FanGraphs' 2014 WAR projections. That gets less surprising when you see that both left field and center field are projected to be barely above replacement level, with each position ranking worst in the league. The downgrade from Choo to talented-but-risky Billy Hamilton is obvious, yet it's really Ryan Ludwick who's the issue here. Ludwick will turn 36 this year, is coming off a 2013 that was marred by a shoulder injury and poor performance, and has been worth fewer than 2 WAR in three of the past four seasons. Because he's also a negative defender, he shouldn't be counted upon to be an everyday player at this point, especially if the Reds are going to gamble on Hamilton in center. Proposed fix: Choo would be ideal but likely will be priced out of a return to Cincinnati, and the outfield free-agent market behind him, including the overrated Nelson Cruz, is barren. Instead, this is a rarely discussed but smart landing spot for Andre Ethier, whom the Dodgers are likely to deal. Yes, he's overpriced, but the Dodgers can eat enough salary to make him palatable, and as a top-10 hitter against righty pitching over the past three years, Ethier would make for a great complement to the right-handed Ludwick while adding some Hamilton insurance after spending most of 2013 playing a surprisingly not-awful center field. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team: Colorado Rockies | Weakness: First base It's been a long time since the Rockies needed to fix up first base; the last time they entered a season not expecting Todd Helton to be the primary first baseman was 1997, when the Diamondbacks and Rays had yet to play their first games. With Helton finally riding off into retirement, Colorado went out and signed former Twin Justin Morneau. That would have been fine if this were still 2006, but at age 33, with declining defense and negative value on the bases, Morneau is barely above replacement-level these days. Throw in a total inability to hit lefty pitching -- .298 career OBP, a number he hasn't even managed in a season since 2010 -- and it's easy to see how first base in Colorado could be among the least productive positions in baseball. Proposed fix: Fortunately, the Rockies have an in-house solution for this problem in Michael Cuddyer, who won a batting title in 2013 but isn't likely to repeat the .382 batting average on balls in play that helped make it happen. He's still a reasonably productive hitter, however, and giving him 50 percent or so of the time at first base would not only help minimize Morneau's exposure, but it also would keep one of the worst defensive right fielders of 2013 from doing as much damage in the outfield. So far this month, Colorado has added defensively proficient outfielders Brandon Barnes and Drew Stubbs, giving it both the depth and flexibility to make such a move. The Rockies have some interesting pieces, but they just need to deploy them correctly. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team: Toronto Blue Jays | Weakness: Starting pitching A year ago, Toronto's rotation was newly assembled and fascinating, with NL Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey, Miami ace Josh Johnson and the reliable Mark Buehrle joining Brandon Morrow and J.A. Happ. Beset by injuries and Dickey's inability to repeat his 2012 performance, last season the Jays ended up using 13 starters, including digging up discards like Ramon Ortiz and Chien-Ming Wang. Now, Johnson is gone to San Diego, Dickey is 39, Morrow's health can't be counted on and the Jays suddenly have a rotation that's middle-of-the-pack at best. In a tough American League East and with a still-dangerous lineup, Toronto badly needs a starter it can rely on in order to make the run it was supposed to go on last season. Proposed fix: Because Toronto failed to sign its 2012 first-round pick (No. 10 overall) and finished with the No. 9 overall pick this year, the Blue Jays have two protected first-round picks. That means that signing a player who received a qualifying offer would cost them only their second-round pick (their third in the draft, somewhere around No. 45 overall) and shouldn't cause hesitation on moving on such a player the way it might for other clubs. Santana is a possible fit, but the better choice is Jimenez, who is less homer-prone than Santana while missing more bats, important in an offense-friendly Toronto park. The draft pick is immaterial here, while the boost to what is clearly a win-now Toronto team is essential.

Well like your belief that AA won't admit failure, which is ONLY an opinion. Your explaining anything doesn't make it fact. It is an opinion, just like mine. The OP question asked what our opinion of AA is, that is mine. I can't help it if you don't like it. He took a chance. It is yet to be decided whether it has worked or not. But if it doesn't work, they are no different than they were before the trades. The Jays will be a club with one of the top farm systems, and that will be it. So perhaps since, you don't agree with me, you can save your breath explaining it over and over. I don't agree with you, and we will just have to agree to disagree.