Post by dougiejays on Oct 13, 2023 14:11:21 GMT -5
The Jays’ first move seemed like fairly standard operating procedure for a sell-now team. On June 2, the Jays flipped starting pitcher Gary Glover – acquired in a salary dump with KC at the very end of last season – to the New York Mets for fellow starter Ramiro Mendoza and a second round draft pick. Both Glover and Mendoza have ERAs over 5.00 on the season, but with Glover having another year on his deal while Mendoza’s is expiring, the modus operandi for this deal was quite simple: the Jays acquired draft compensation while opening up more than $8M in payroll room for next season.
Toronto’s next move was a little more puzzling. On June 18, they dealt ace reliever Scot Shields to the D-backs for another second rounder, but rather than keeping that pick, they immediately flipped it to the Pirates in exchange for 30-year-old reliever Fernando Rodney. The result was essentially a three-way trade in which Pittsburgh collected a draft pick, Arizona acquired a shutdown reliever, and the Jays simply swapped out one stud reliever for a more expensive one signed over a longer term. The deal makes a little more sense after considering reports that Rodney was reportedly Toronto’s prime target in free agency and the fact that he is a year younger than Shields, but there’s no doubt that the deal raised eyebrows around the league, with one anonymous source in the Philadelphia front office being quoted as calling the deal ““mind-boggling” before adding “(I) hate that Rodney contract. Relievers have zero value.”
Next, the Jays turned around and acquired 33-year-old utilityman Mendy Lopez from the L.A. Dodgers. Lopez is a solid defender all around the field, but despite a .292 batting average this season in a role as a fairly regular starter, his career OPS is just .635 and he’s several years older than most of the players in Toronto’s core. But at just $700,000/year, he’s affordable, and it’s notable that the Dodgers did sign him to a three-year contract extension right before the deal and that it didn’t cost the Jays any significant talent to acquire him.
It seemed that Lopez was destined to replace the inept bat of Alex Cintron at shortstop for the rest of the season before ultimately sliding into a utility role, but just two weeks after the Lopez acquisition came the biggest stunner of all: the Jays packaged a 2nd round pick along with relief prospect Andrew Cashner (himself selected in the second round a couple of years back) and outfield prospect Lorenzo Cain for 29-year-old second baseman Jack Wilson from Houston. Wilson comes with a stellar defensive reputation, but his bat has been flaky throughout his career; he hit over .300 in each of the past two seasons with Pittsburgh but has slumped to a .259 average this season, and with a near-total lack of power that has left him as a below-average offensive player. Still, Wilson does have a Gold Glove Award on his mantle and is signed to an affordable contract of just $4.5M/yr through 2010, and Cain and Cashner were both quite redundant in a Jays’ system rife with speedy outfielders and high-upside relievers. It seems clear that the Jays were determined to acquire a core middle infielder who will remain with the team over the next several years as they make their way back towards contention, and the temptation to do so without parting with any of their top 10 prospects or either of next year’s 1st round draft picks was impossible to resist.
Right after the Wilson deal was announced, the Jays turned around and flipped incumbent second baseman Keith Luuola back to Kansas City for a 3rd round pick and some undisclosed compensation. Luuola is an elite defensive infielder who was in the middle of a resurgent offensive season with a .766 OPS, but he’s also a pending free agent and sources inside the front office indicate that he didn’t have much interest in extending with Toronto as long as the team remained below .500. This will mark the third time in his career that he’s been flipped between the Royals and the Blue Jays, who seem to be the only two teams in the league who value his services.
All in all, Toronto’s deadline approach would give the impression of a team that is buying far too early in the rebuild process. However, with some prospects just reaching the big time and some money coming available in the offseason, is it possible that the Jays are closer to competing than some prognosticators think?
