max silver

According to Fangraphs down in 28th place. https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=rel&lg=all&qual=0&type=5&season=2022&month=0&season1=2022&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=2022-01-01&enddate=2022-12-31&sort=10,d

Yeah Sanchez is a guy that the club should be looking into for some rotation depth.

The comment referencing Merrifield not being interested in doing his entire job because he declined to be vaccinated. I guess in a small way it makes sense as Merriweather was unavailable to play for his team during the recent Royals trip to Toronto.

This isn't really a great comparison. 0.6 of White's WAR this season came as a starter and only 0.1 WAR coming in relief.

Somebody else can stick him in their pen.

I guess part of a major league baseball players job entails receiving an optional vaccine?

I give the Jays trade deadline a B+. The team made very smart fair cost acquisitions and strengthen the club in many different areas and kept all the elite prospects in the system. It's a big plus that every one that was brought in will be able to help the team next year as well. I think the bullpen has been strengthened to a very large degree. Bass has had a monster season as he's 7th in FWAR, 89th percentile in xERA, and had a massive month of July where his k rate shot up to 11.2 K/9. It's nice to see a guy brought in who is actually having a very good season compared to the likes of Brad Hand last season. Pop has a top of the line turbo sinker already, so he's a very high floor pitcher. If he can unlock his slider to a greater degree he could be a true weapon in the future. As is he's like a fireballing version of Adam Cimber who adds another effective option for lower leverage situations. Removing the chaff at the bottom of the roster is huge as we won't be subjected to the likes of Banda, Beasley, Thornton and other assorted subreplacement relievers for the rest of the season. White gives the club a much needed swing man/depth starter option. The team literally had nobody who could give them effective spot starts. Perhaps Castillo could be that guy, but the club didn't really seem to trust him enough to start him at the major league level. It hurts a bit to lose Frasso, but I think the club is beginning to turn around their fortunes when it comes to developing power arms. They added a potential front of the rotation starter this draft, so losing Frasso is a little easier to stomach as both guys are likely many years away from being ready to contribute to the major league squad. The Merriweather addition really strengthens the bench to a large degree. I would have preferred a Benintendi addition, but Merrifield is likely to be far more effective defensively in center field. Having another legitimate bench option other than Tapia is very nice, and this very well may spell an end to Zimmer's time with the club as Merrifield offers the same benefits but with a bat that at least provides some level of utility to a major league squad.

He looks like he can play approximately average center field.

Likely depth starter/long man for the rest of the year. Curious to see who is sent out for this acquisition but this looks like a very nice depth pickup.

During Schneider's tenure we have finally seen this team play up to their potential. The offence has really been humming at top 3 in runs scored, and the pitching staff has been very solid as well during this stretch. They haven't been facing the highest quality of competition but the 12-3 record hasn't been undeserved in the slightest. The entire team's offence really went into the tank in early July around the time of the rough west coast road trip. The team's offence dipped to 86 WRC+ and they only scored 2.7 runs per game. This was unfortunate timing for an offensive slip as the Gausman injury and double header really blew up the pitching staff during this period. This looks like it was more of a speed bump as the team has rebounded with 6.5 runs per game in their next 15 games. It's rare to see an entire offence click like the team enjoyed in July, however as guys like Kirk have cooled off a bit in July but Chapman has exploded and picked up the slack. Vlad has been really damn good over his last few months of play, not 2021 levels but given how many great hitters he's surrounded with he doesn't need to carry the offence. Gurriel looks like he may be sacrificing some power in trade for a more contact oriented approach, but this may actually lead to him being a far more consistent performer as a result. The pitching staff completely tanked during this period as well. The Gausman injury and double header completely blew up the bullpen for several weeks, and the team struggled to a 5.23 ERA/5.44 FIP during this period. They have righted the ship during the stretch of better play with a 2.71 ERA/3.50 FIP.

Oh come on it's not nearly that grim yet. Springer should hopefully be able to have the elbow issue addressed in the offseason and be in better shape for 2023. His lower half/core injuries of last year haven't appeared to be an issue this season so I suspect the elbow will likely not be a big issue next season either.

Heading into the the deadline I really didn't have the feeling that major acquisitions were needed. My wish list was bullpen help first, back end of the rotation/depth starter second, better quality left handed bat last. The first need has been addressed, we shall see what the final two hours bring with regards to patching up the other holes on the team.

I quickly crunched the WAR numbers for the Jays pen after the recent Bass and Pop acquisitions for comparison sake to a few other great bullpens. I took the top 7 guys from the Braves and Orioles pen and compared to the top 7 guys of the new improved Jays pen. The Braves have an elite pen. Their top 7 relievers total up to 6.1 WAR. The Orioles top 7 relievers (before trading away Lopez) total up to 5.2 WAR. After today's acquisitions the Jays pen top 7 guys totals up to 4.7 WAR. Bringing Bass and Pop aboard removes crap like Richards, Banda, Beasley etc. from the pen and replaces them with guys who can reliably retire MLB hitters.

Hopefully Richards is removed from that list as soon as Pop and Bass report to the team.

After the Bass and Pop acquisitions I'm not so sure there's room or a need for Robertson anymore.

If Springer could actually play center field full time that would also be great.

Given what Bass has accomplished in 2022 I would have zero issues with handing him the ball in that type of situation. He has two elite pitches including a slider that induces a 40.7% whiff rate. It appears as though his slider usage has increased as the season went on. He has been k'ing a ton of batters in July at 11.2 K/9. I checked out his game logs, and this has been going on since near the end of June. Since June 21 he has been on a tear, 0.51 ERA/1.42 FIP, 10.7 K/9, 0 home runs allowed. My major complaint at the last few deadlines is that the front office has acquired guys who were having shaky seasons and were basically reclamation projects, this season they have attained a guy who is trending upwards as the season goes on.

Garcia has largely been excellent this season but it seems like a lot of people are slow to recognize this fact. His k rate is not exciting but has been increasing as the season goes on. Both Garcia and Bass have been been extremely hard to square up this season and this directly ties into their ability to keep the opposition off the board. Bass has legitimately been a top reliever in all of MLB this season and is a massive upgrade for this team. Go look at his statcast page, check out Fangraphs leaderboards for relievers as well. He's been borderline elite, makes next to nothing salary wise, and has another year of control. There's really nothing not to like about this acquisition.

I recall Bass was a very effective reliever for the club in 2020 during the covid shortened season.

Pop has legit stuff and Bass has been MLB's 7th most valuable reliever by FWAR this season. Their value in the offseason is irrelevant when it comes time to upgrade a roster at the trade deadline. Groshans has produced an 82 WRC+ in AAA this season, he obviously has very little trade value at this point and this wasn't likely to improve moving forward, might as well cash in an extra piece for a massive overall upgrade to the pen.

Even if he doesn't maximize his slider potential Pop still looks like a flamethrowing version of Adam Cimber with tons of remaining control. This is a very nice pickup for this season with potential to be a massive get in the future.

Pop shows how limited the actual utility of these stuff metrics can be at times. Pop's slider looks good to a stuff metric but hasn't played the way you would expect as he's given up a .606 WOBA/.520 xWOBA and only induced a 12.5% whiff rate.

Yeah looks like he needs to work on developing a more effective secondary pitch as his repertoire has no swing and miss right now. Upper 90's wormburner inducing sinker is a nice starting point though.

Go take a look at what Bass has been doing this season. This move is a little under the radar but Bass might actually be one of the most effective relievers moved this at the deadline. A 1.41 ERA/2.79 xERA/2.06 FIP/1.4 FWAR reliever is a massive upgrade to the Jays pen.

This trade really upgrades the Jays pen to a large degree. Pop looks like a pitch to contact guy but he has a huge sinker. Bass is in the midst of a monster season and arguably becomes the bullpen's best reliever. It's too bad Groshans has turned into a pumpkin in the upper minors but he's largely become expendable.