Bizarro World: First-Place Jays Deal Rice to Cellar-Dwellers
Oct 1, 2018 14:21:58 GMT -5
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Post by dougiejays on Oct 1, 2018 14:21:58 GMT -5
In a bizarre trade, the American League-leading Blue Jays have shipped #5 hitter Jim Rice to the last-place Red Sox for three prospects and cash. Rice, hitting .297 on the year, with nine homers and sixteen stolen bases and a .865 OPS, appeared stunned by the move.
“I wasn’t expecting it,” he admitted. “I thought I’d proved my loyalty to this team, just signed a five-year deal, and they turn around and do this. Wow.”
Rice was in his fifth season in Toronto after four years split between Baltimore and Pittsburgh. In the aftermath of the deal, reporters scrambled to make sense of it from both sides. Why would a team nineteen games out of first place give up a top prospect for a thirty-year-old veteran? And why would a team tied for the best record in the majors look to deal away one of their cornerstone players?
“We’ve got to be creative,” Jays GM Skip Peters said to a throng of perplexed reporters. “Fans don’t like to hear it, but finances come into play. We want to make sure we have a sustainable roster going forward. So when someone comes to you and offers a prospect the calibre of Eric Davis along with an opportunity to save a little bit of money, you sit up and take notice. We think that in a couple of years Davis can be exactly the same type of player as Jim Rice.”
Davis, the 33rd-ranked prospect in the league according to HOFFBL.com, was hitting .288 in Triple-A with six homers, twelve steals and a .817 OPS at the time of the trade. But there’s no indication that the twenty-one year old will be called on immediately to fill Rice’s shoes.
“He’s close, but we’re not looking at him as a major-leaguer just yet,” Peters continued. “More likely, we’ll let him continue to develop in AAA and look to other pieces to fill in with the big club.”
A prime candidate is former first-round draft pick Phil Bradley. The twenty-four year-old Bradley, currently on the sixty-day DL rehabilitating from a broken foot, had an .867 OPS in AAA last year and had gotten off to a torrid start in 1983 before his foot injury.
“He’ll likely get a look when he’s ready,” Peters conceded. “But we’ve got lots of different ways to skin the cat. [Rich] Chiles was great last year, and we still believe that Elliot Maddox can be better than he’s shown over the past couple of seasons. We may even see Gary Alexander get a few innings out there in left field.”
In addition to Davis, the Jays received infield prospect Rod Booker, outfield prospect Jack Daugherty, and $5 million in cash. Taking into account the pro-rated portion of Rice’s $5.01 million in 1983 salary, the move projects to save the Jays approximately $8.33 million this year, plus future salary commitments.
