Trades finalized
Millwood to the Rangers is official. Look forward the marquee matchup of Washburn v Millwood later this year. It’ll be a barn-burner. Or a nose-biter, depending.
Troy Glaus and prospect infielder Sergio Santos go to the Blue Jays for 2B-B Orlando Hudson, RHP Miguel Batista (giving the Blue Jays 29 1b/3b/DH types and making the Diamondbacks a nice longshot bet for the World Series at 200-1). The Blue Jays according to reports have given Glaus an extra player option year at $11.5m (!) and the Diamondbacks will pick up his additional tax burden.
The hot news, though, is the Mark Prior rumor: in a two, three, or even four-team deal, the Orioles dump Tejeda and someone gets Mark Prior. Wow. Given the past, we should fear that somehow Billy Beane will get himself involved in trade talks and wind up with Prior, giving up only valuable spare parts and shiny prospects of no consequence.
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106 Responses to “Trades finalized”
Seattle Times reporting M’s increasing their efforts for a Boston SP (now believed to be Lester or Papelbon) by offering Reed and Meche.
Glad to hear they’re no longer content with Clement or Arroyo but is this effort by the M’s FO a good move considering that JWash, Moyer will still need to depend heavily upon their defense of which Reed is a vital part???
Oops, someone already brought this up, but from reports i’ve perused, it seems the general consensus is that both Lester and Papelbon will be good but not the staff ace type no 1 SP ala Felix.
In a sense, i’d rather have the M’s do poorly enough that Bavasi is removed but i’d prefer if the damage required to get this done doesn’t compromise our future drastically. IMHO, Reed is a solid part of that future centered around Felix.
If Lester or Papelbon are solid ace prospects, then deal looks favorable even with the short term defense having a hole in CF. If they’re middle of the rotation caliber prospects, then I don’t make this trade. I am optimistic that Meche will turn it around with Chavez.
the Oakland Moneyball heirarchy, who claimed the game was only about 5% defense
Did they? Even assuming you mean fielding (since defense is obviously fifty percent of the game), that seems like a remarkably stupid thing for an organization to believe. Especially since they seem to be exploiting fielding as an undervalued commodity now that everyone but the Cubs understands the importance of onbase average.
The reason I said Glaus would be playing 3rd and Koskie would be DH’ing, came from a radio interview with JP. in which he stated as such.
Koskie is on the block but there is no interest….yes, it seems like the Jays wasted some money here, but they went after Koskie b/c he was Canadian and hoped to help draw fans out as well. I am sure they would rather like to get rid of Koskie and his contract along with Hinske’s and keep Hillenbrand.
For #100, the Jays payroll is estimated at $76mil. as reported by the Toronto Star. J.P. stated that he wanted the Jays payroll around $75 for the start of the season, but if they can somehow dump some contracts, I can see this at $70mil. before season start.
Everyone is talking about giving up on defense…but until Hill plays a full season at 2nd, how can we judge? Hill hasnt been around long enough to get enough of a sample to prove that he will be inadequate at 2nd.
The thing I like about this trade is that it helps out Vernon Wells big time. Wells needs protection at 3, and Glaus in 4 is what is needed.
The Jays made moves they needed to to compete. Simply finishing 3rd every year in the East is no longer an option.
And, to help the devolution of this into a Blue Jays forum, I think that the Jays have a decent lineup now with Hill, Overbay, Wells, Glaus, Hillenbrand…
I wouldn’t be surprised to see them approaching 85-90 wins if Halladay’s arm holds up
J.P. has just said on The FAN 590 interview that Hillenbrand will be DH’ing the most. He said he called Koskie and explained that his playing time would be cut down. He actually discussed moving Hinske to left field to play a bit in case he was unable to move anyone. (Koskie, Hinske or Hillenbrand) I’ll be sweating bullets if they actually let Hinske play left field. lol
He said Koskie is a BlueJay, but alot can happen between now and the beginning of the season, and that Koskie knows the business of baseball.
He also said he has been given the green light to keep the payroll at $75 million from owner Ted Rogers. Right now there are around $76 mil.