So how much longer does Gibbons stay with Bautista in the 3 hole before bumping him down the lineup? I imagine Jose has a pretty long leash but this is getting ridiculous.
He takes some bad routes to balls too I find. But no where near the worst OF. Anyone see JD Martinez try to field a ball last year? Or Colabello in LF the year before that? Oof.
If you were confident that Howard would hit RHP like he did prior to 2014 he'd be a solid platoon option. I guess that's a risk some team out there will take but I doubt it'll be the Jays.
Those comments at Snet are depressing. No one will know how well this trade worked out for the A's for another few years. In the short-term it's hard to imagine it works out poorly for the Jays.
The problem is that Hardy isn't going to come cheap. Jhonny Peralta got 4/$52M from the Cards last offseason and while he's the better hitting SS I don't think Hardy will command a whole lot less. Factor in the cash the Jays will need to send along with Reyes and his $70M owed and it might just be worth it to hang onto him. Moving Reyes also creates a hole at the top of the lineup.
Regression might be likely but it still doesn't change the fact that he's been able prevent runs in a relief role.
BTW, I wasn't advocating him for 9th inning duties. I think that would be a mistake.
Unfortunately I doubt a sought-after infielder like Hardy is going to pick Toronto's artificial surface over another team with a real ballpark. I'd love him on the Jays though.