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”
Phil Rogers columns are my favorite.
speaking of Prior, there was an entertaining column yesterday on the subject of a trade & whether Prior’s arm might fall off after you got him…
Any article Marshall appears in is guaranteed to be entertaining.
even if he isn’t biting someone’s nose
Living just outside of Toronto, I am amazed that the Jays were able to swing this deal for Glaus. We finally got rid of Batista, and although the O-Dawg will be missed…you need to give up something to get something.
Yes the money owed to Glaus is alot, but you can bet that Hillenbrand and his $5 mil + and Hinske and his $4.4 mil will be gone. This will help offset the Jays payroll, which J.P. has said will be at $75mil before the season starts. It’s currently at $76mil i believe.
Since the FA market is getting thinner, are the Mariners going to do something in a trade not involving Reed?
#5– I was suprised to see that the Jays gave him “a player option for an added season on the deal, worth $11.25-million, and he also has a complete no-trade provision” per the Globe and Mail
Yes, i agree that is high but to get him for the long haul would you not agree to that as well? He waived his no trade clause to come to the Jays, and for the Jays to compete….obviously something they had to negotiate and agree to.
Here is a trade that Billy B……avisi needs to be a part of….lets give up whatever it takes: meche or Pinero,+ AJones or JReed,+1 more guy
How good would a rotation of Prior, JWash, Felix, Moyer, and Meche/Pinero
I’ll take that over anything else west of the Mississippi
Yuniesky Betancourt should not be considered untouchable here
Okay, now they have Glaus for:
06: 9.25m (age 29)
07: 10.75m (30)
08: 12.75m (31)
and that player option at 11.5m (32)
That’s not so horrible. It’s certainly not Washburn bad. Especially if you think he’ll be healthy for the term of the contract.
I have a question: if the Diamondbacks pay him the difference in tax at the end of the contract, how is that counted? Is it income? Is that income taxed? Do they just assume that he’ll stand in a state without income tax while the payment’s made and then he can go about his way?
And when he’s done trading Meche, Adam Jones, and “one more guy” for Mark Prior, he can swap Bloomquist for Pujols, Moyer for Santana, and Guardado for Lidge.
We don’t want Pujols, there’s no lineup spot for him. We’d have to move Everett for Bonds to clear room and we can’t do that until later in the season.
Stop trying to make JWash happen. It’s not going to happen.
Derek – You are on fire lately…
There are plenty of players in the Mariner organization not named Felix that are better than Jon Garland… If that’s all it takes…
Under U.S income tax rules, the transfer to Glaus would be considered compensation, and thus taxed. The payment from an employer to cover the cost of (Canadian income) taxes is no different than a payment for any other cost that Glaus might incur in his life. So, yes, the payment, whether it comes from Arizona directly, or instead the Jays via a transfer from the D-Backs, is almost certainly taxable.
So you guys think that Billy Beane can pull off the trade with spare parts but we can’t? The only untouchables on the roster should be Ichiro, and Felix
Everyone here who has more faith in Billy Beane to make a creative trade than Bill Bavasi, raise your hand.
Holy crap, that’s a lot of hands.
*hand raised*
*both hands up*
oooh! ooh! call on me!
#16. Of course the Mariners could pull off a trade that would benefit them, but the question is…will they? They didnt trade when they needed to most in 2001. Why would Bavasi pull the trigger? What evidence is there that he is the type of GM that can pull off moves ala Billy Beane?
“Mista Kotter, Mista Kotter!” *hand up*
- next reference -
“Yes, Miss Hermione Granger, how surprising that you know the answer.”
*hand up*
sigh
That Hermione reference allows me to plug my favorite blog post. Thanks for the softball pitch there.
Personally, I’d like to award fifteen bonus points and a No-Prize for the Mr. Kotter reference. Sweathogs unite!
Oh, and I just got off the horn with Bill Bavasi. He’s trading me to Cub Town for Mark Prior, Alex Ciepley and a blogger to be named later. If the BTMNL is Deanna, rumor is that she’ll be flipped to the Phillies for Ryan Howard.
*HAND UP*
Billy Beane can trade Magic Beans for MVPs.
If you feel that way about Harry Potter, you’ll like this.
#16: there are spare parts and then there are **spare parts**…
stats + harry potter references = lack of dates
Why not just combine both the references for a good episode of “Welcome Back Potter”?
(it’s J-Rod the Washburninator, not JWash, dammit)
We should only take Pujols if St. Louis gives us back Art Chantry.
C’mon…who can’t come up with a more creative trade than Bavasi?
Honestly the only thing Bavasi seems to do well is spend titanic ammounts of money on one or two guys in the offseason.
What do you guys seriously think it would take to get involved in this trade. Im guessing we’d have to give up Betancourt for the Orioles to replace Tejada. Isn’t Luis Matos their CF? So we’d probably have to give up Reed or Jones, whichever they want. Then I’m guessing a guy like Soriano could complete the deal. Throw in Piniero and eat his salary and they might bite.
#28– Deanna, dude’s a big doofus from La Crosse Wisconsin … he just can’t carry off a groovy nickname like that. Surely something more like “Washy” lies in his future
Why I don’t want Miguel Tejada
It’s just not a very good idea.
32 – I guess. Does being from Wisconsin necessarily require having a cheesy nickname, though?
(I guess I could give the Trogdor nickname to A. J. “The Burninator” Burnett instead.)
Okay, so the math on the tax thing …
Glaus makes 9.25M (10.94 CAD)
The Canadian gov’t takes almost half (let’s call it 4.5M USD), he takes home 4.75M.
Let’s say Glaus would’ve paid 3M to Uncle Sam, the difference in his take-home is 1.5M USD
The D’Backs pay him 3M, so that he can pocket the difference, after Ottawa takes its half.
In the process, Glaus shows 12.25M USD (14.5 CAD) in income, of which he clears 6.25M.
Ottawa takes 6M in new tax revenue from Ontario’s newest resident.
And Glaus still flies to Alabama to see Dr. Andrews when his shoulder falls off, rather than seeing a Canadian doc for “free,” and putting his tax dollars to work.
Garland has re-signed with the Sox (Garland will receive $7 million in 2006, $10 million in 2007 and $12 million in 2008)
Holy crap. The Garland deal is a lot like the Washburn deal … a so-so pitcher being rewarded for a “career year” strictly on the basis of wins and ERA. At least he’s still young and it’s only three years.
That’s a lot of dough for a dude with (translated) career rates of 1.0 HR/9, 3.1 BB/9, and 4.8 K/9. Those are worse than Washburn’s rates of 1.0/2.4/5.1. Of course, Garland’s 1.33 career G/F gives him a big edge over Washburn.
If I were the owners at this point, I’d collude openly and take the consequences. The market is completely out of control.
What’s Art Chantry doing in St Louis?
But see, it’s not that hard to control prices without colluding. It just takes some control, and the willingness to walk away if it gets out of control.
An out of control market like this would certainly pay huge dividends for those organizations who spent a lot on player development and scouting, wouldn’t it? If I had to choose between $39 million to a The Jarinator and spending $39 million on my minor league franchises and scouring the globe to find excellent prospects, I know what I would be spending my money on.
#39 wrote “If I were the owners at this point, I’d collude openly and take the consequences.”
You’d collude openly? What purpose would that serve? The owners had to pay $280 million in fines when they colluded from 1985 to 1987.
I’m with you on the Hermione thing. She’s always been much more interesting to me. Then again, it might be because I’m the booksmart guy without alot of athleticism, so I always got by in baseball by understanding things and not by pure talent.
Colm, apparently he got tired of Seattle bullshit, whatever that means.
Dave, I know I’m late on this but it took me a while to put my hands down to type again. (Both hands back up!)
Ten points to Deanna for the excellent “Welcome Back Potter” pun.
Ten points also to the blogger who compared being the Ms Hitting Coach to being the Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher: strictly a one-year job that is waiting for He Who Must Not Be Named aka Edgar Martinez.
And Derek, I know you are involved in getting girls involved in debate. My best friend, Kevin Hamrick, is the newish debate coach at Northwestern. Don’t know if that info means anything to you or not, but I do know that Kevin is looking for good debaters for his program. He also coaches a lot when the school isn’t in session. Let me know if you want an intro.
Offhand, I’d say listen to Mike Marshall and give Prior a pass. It’s really too bad that he’s so damn confrontive, implicitly & explicitly prefacing so many of his comments with “you are stupid!” If he wouldn’t keep rubbing people’s noses in it, I believe more or them would listen to him and hence more pitchers would be free of sore arms & destroyed arms.
He’s quite generous with his information. A friend of mine’s son (he’s 10) got a sore arm from pitching. I suggested the friend contact Marshall via email. He did & Marshall gave him a lot of usable information (such as eschewing the curve ball until the arm is more mature) and some advice on mechanics, all for free. The arm cleared up fairly rapidly and now the kid is pitching without pain.
More relevantly, if Marshall says that Prior’s mechanics are off and that hence Prior is at the beginning of a long slide downhill (and that’s what Marshall said) then I wouldn’t discount the information just because Marshall has such a good opinion of himself.
#42: I was speaking hyperbolically. But now that you mention it, $280 million is what a league-average pitcher will get for five years by 2015, at this rate. By that time, agents will be pushing for seven- to 10-year deals … and probably getting them.
Actually, I’m the one that works with the Women’s Debate Institute. But it’s always good to be confused with Derek, and we can always use more connections to college debate coaches.
I do support Jeff, though.
#49: If I argue a lot with girlfriends, can that be considered as a contribution to women’s debate?
Hmm, the Mets just signed Chad Bradford to a one-year contract, apparently. Now rather than being the lefty and righty opposite sidearms of the Boston bullpen, Myers and Bradford will be operating out of opposite sides of New York.
(To go further with the Potter jokes of the day, one’s signed with Minaya McGonagall and the other with Severus Snapebrenner.)
Dave,in #31 I was talking about being the 3rd partner in the Tejada trade to get Prior. I don’t want Tejada I just wanted to see what your input was in what it would take to get Prior in the 3 way trade.
er, “works with the”.
Sorry for confusing you two guys.
I’ll bounce the link to Kevin and bring this to his attention. Looks like you already have a guest speaker for 2006, though. The Northwestern site still lists Scott Deatherage as the head coach, but here is some info on Kevin.
http://www.northwestern.edu/nhsi/CoonHardy/Faculty.html
Like I said, if you are looking for a speaker for the program, Kevin will definitely consider it. The Ms are facing the As Aug 4th and 5th, and he and I have been looking for an opportunity to him to come out here, so the timing would be serendipitous. BTW, he is a huge baseball fan, and is particularly fond of Baseball Prospectus.
for oakland to get prior, the cubs would have to cough up prior *and* zambrano, since the orioles seem to want a lot for tejada (maybe zambrano and zito?).
i guess i dont really see it. also i dont know how much of a privledge it is to have prior for 3 seasons when he has yet to pitch a full one. he’s only thrown over 180 innings once in 4 seasons. wood, prior, and zambrano are consistently in the top 10 in pitcher abuse ratings, and wood and prior have both spent quality time out with arm issues.
while i agree prior is cheap, i dont know that i would take him over solid prospects if i was beane.
If I were the owners at this point, I’d collude openly and take the consequences. The market is completely out of control.
The consequences of that would be that there would be serious objective looks taken at the profitability of baseball and the various ‘creative’ acounting used to make it appear that MLB is making much less money than it actually is. At that point, the owners’ tissue thin pretense that somehow they’re being taken advantage of evaporates and, in the next collective bargaining round, the owners get taken to the cleaners.
Which is why the owners don’t collude openly anymore. The consequences for them are the things Selig has nightmares about.
I’d value every other pitching specialist, especially House over Marshall.
Would anyone happen to know Orlando Hudson’s UZR for 2005?
Anthony
from mgl at Baseball Think Factory:
“Here are the UZR’s for the AL GG’s and here are the UZR GG’s for 2005. All UZR’s are per 150 defensive games.
Jeter -14
Hudson +12
Texeira +16
Hunter +2
Varitek -4
Wells +4
Suzuki +2
Chavez +5″
If you could get Moyer to waive his no-trade, would you trade Moyer, YuBet, and Morse for Prior?
#51: No…it just means you need counseling….
So a positive UZR is good, right? Why is Ichiro’s so low?
#61 given the rest of our pitching staff i think we’d end up losing in that deal. having good defense at SS is worth a lot to this team.
Collusion is evil. We all agree. But wouldn’t the descent of a ‘cloud of reason’ where money was concerned be a welcome phenomenon?
#46– that was RickL, IIRC
[deleted very long link]
here’s a little cold water thrown on the Prior/Tejada rumors … meanwhile the Rockies have interest in Shiggy
It just seems to me that when everyone who sees the guy play says he’s pretty much the best RF in the game and one of, if not *the*, best ever and this funky stat says he’s barely above average then something is amiss.
It seems really hard to quantify a lot of the factors of defense anyway, things like a good arm and the intimidation it brings and the way it can shut things down. Much like having a super fast guy on at first it seems to affect the game but not in a readily quantifiable way.
Zambrano is the only one of those pitchers I’d be seriously interested in. I would rather see a LH SP added, but I don’t know that trading away as much as would be required would make it worth it. The cupboards aren’t bare, but trading prospects away to get a pitcher of that magnitude would pretty much empty them. I don’t think anyone should be untouchable. The right trade and Felix is gone! I’d ship him out in a heartbeat for the right package. I’ve said before I’d haveto consider a trade of Ichiro for 2 nearly ready fireballers LH and RH. How could you not? If the Cubs offerred Zambrano and Renyel Pinto for Ichiro could you say no? Could you get more?
That’s all hypothetical…
Obviously the Cubs aren’t looking for an ofer, but…
Moyer, YuBet, and Morse for Prior? Assuming Prior has no qualms with staying in Seattle, trade accepted.
smegma,
there are problems with these defensive stats, as Dave and Derek will tell you. UZR is a play-by-play stat that weight different events by a value (Runs saved). It has flaws but I think UZR might be the best PBP stat available.
LF,
I think a willingness to deal any player is the right approach. Even listening to offers for Ichiro, my favorite player, is justfified. I don’t trust Bavasi though so I would not want to trade Felix or any young player because we are rebuilding and need to stockpile talent and let the players sort themselves out.
So you think Ichiro really is just a barely better than average defensive player?
It’s just one year of data. UZR has scored Ichiro quite well in the past.
Do you think Adrian Beltre sucks because he had a poor 2005? I’m guessing no. You’d look at his total career and gain his true skill level from that, while acknowledging that he can perform differently in any given year. Same goes for defense.
Wouldn’t it be more logical to assume that Ichiro’s defensive value is like his offensive value, and has swings, than to just assume that a guy is going to be great defensively every year?
74 smegma,
No. He’s the best since Clemente. His arm may be overrated but that is okay since runners don’t take chances. He is outstanding in the fundamentals (where to throw, positioning, setting up for the catch.) These skills are what separates him from the all other right fielders.
I don’t think his range is as good as a center fielder’s range simply because I don’t think he is as fast over 30-40 yards as someone like Hunter or Wells. But he cuts off gappers before they reach the track.
Some say that his routes are erratic. I don’t know about that. I think factors which only a fielders sees such as spin of the ball and sun make it hard for a fan to judge.
He plays the wall better than all other RF’s. But Cameron and Hunter play the wall better.
75 Dave,
It seems logical that there would be less variance in UZR because defense is easier to control (than controlling the direction and location of a hit ball).
What would cause variance in UZR – opportunities, positioning of the CF?
It could also be possible that last year was a down year in all respects for Ichiro. Whatever was bugging him and fucking up his game probably affected his fielding as well.
I’m all for dubbing Washburn ‘The Albatross’. Because, after all, that’s what he is, isn’t he?
The Jays are loaded even further with Glaus, but they still have to get over Boston and the Yankees in the AL East. I can’t call them anything more than a wildcard contender.
Are we talking about the Glaus-Hudson trade here
I can’t see how this is anything but a great trade for the Dbacks and a bad one for the Jays. Because of his defense, Hudson is basically as good as Glaus (similar WARP) and he’s younger and $8M cheaper. Dumping Batista’s contract (I assume he’s being paid in 2006 about what he made this year) makes it a bit better for Toronto, but the contract isn’t THAT bad.
I don’t get this trade at all. Do the Jays simply not value defense? Plus as noted, they have a 1B/3B overload — six or seven players who seem to be major league starters by my count — and no major league SS. I guess Hill plays 2B and someone can DH, but the Jays don’t seem to be done trading.
#79– well, every Ancient Mariner needs one…
But the albatross is a sign of good things, unless you kill it, which is bad.
Unlike Washburn’s signing, which was a bad thing, and you can fill in the rest.
If he’s The Albatross that means we can’t shoot him or death and life-in-death will play dice for out souls.
Wow, way late on the calssic literary reference.
Has anyone heard anything else on the Reed to Boston rumors? I’ve been scouring the boston papers and blogs and such and haven’t heard anything.
Not a word and I’ve been scouring all sources for any info on this, though from the Sox fan side. I very much want to see the Sox get him for centerfield.
How about Monkey Man as a nick name for Washburn ’cause his contract is a Monkey on the back of the Mariners. I still like the SoDoMoFo for Everett…. Priceless!
D’ya get wafers with that albatross?
#80…this is a great trade for the Jays. Since you say that they are about the same defensively, what about offensively? Do you think that he is going to be better than last year? Do the O-Dawg have a stick? No. Will the O-Dawg ever be anything but a 7-8 in the order hitter. No. It is hard to let go of a defensive gem like Hudson, but Glaus is a stud. Now I am not sure if you have seen Batista pitch…but he is horrible. You can pull stats out of any book, but as a closer he is not good and as a starter he is not good. He led the AL in blown saves last year. Good luck in the Zona’.
J.P. will live with his contract, dump Hillenbrand and Hinske. That is close to $10mil. in their contracts, hopefully picking up a decent arm or OF in return.
Hill will play 2nd, Adams SS…they make $350,000 each. Koskie will DH at this point, but J.P. isnt done dealing yet.
If Koskie DH’s instead of Glaus the trade might net out as nothing positive at all for the Jays. Didn’t Glaus come out very poorly in all the defensive rating systems last year. Letting Hudson go and putting a poor fielding Glaus on astroturf could be a bad thing that cancels out Glaus’s hitting.
Totally agree James…I’d think Koskie’s got to play 3rd most days as well. Give Glaus days at third to pull his mind off hitting when he slumps. Koskie may not win any gold gloves, but he’s way more solid than Glaus.
#88… he didn’t say they were about the same defensively. He said the opposite, actually.
Byrnes to the D-Backs for 1 year/$2.2M, according to The AZ Republic. Not as a 4th OF, mind you, apparently as the starting CF. His career .260 EQA doesn’t necessarily look so bad as a CF (although he’s bad against RHP), but I’d be pretty wary of his glove in CF.
Also, Glaus apparently has a full no-trade clause for the remainder of his newly extended contract with the Blue Jays. Is it just me, or does it look like the Blue Jays totally wasted their money getting Koskie last off-season and should have just gone out and signed Glaus last offseason if they really wanted him so badly?
I think this is a trade that works for both teams – the Jays wanted a power threat and Glaus is that. They needed to clear up room for Hill, and they have done that. They don’t want Batista anymore – gone.
Glaus apparently came out to check on the new FieldTurf that the Blue Jays have put in this year and he liked it.
My comment, which I guess wasn’t clear to some, is that while Glaus is obviously the superior offensive player (which I assume is the impetous for the trade), Hudson is equally superior on defense. Glaus is 40 Runs above Replacement offensively and replacement level on defense; Hudson is just above replacement level offense (yep a 7-9 hitter) but 35 RAR on defense. My numbers come from BP, which is realize doesn’t have the best defensively metrics, but others regard Hudson as exceptional as well. (I’d appreciate if anyone could point me to public data on other defensive metrics.) They’re both WARP 5 players.
Even if Hudson isn’t THAT good, they aren’t $8M (3-4 wins) apart. I guess continuing to play Adams at SS, answers my question about the Blue Jays and putting a value on defense (or not).
I don’t follow the Jays closely, but clearing room for Hill and winding up with Hinskie and Hillenbrand, each at $3-4M, on the bench seems to solve one problem and create another.
I think you mean “impetus” rather than “impetous” which isn’t a word and is most like “impetuous”, which is not at all the meaning you’re looking for.
Times today reporting that the M’s are offering Reed AND Meche for either Lester or Papelbon. NOW we’re talkin! I love Reed, and not only do I think he’s going to be an outstanding player, but our outfield takes a big hit defensively if he’s dealt, but to get a potential staff ace while he’s young and making the minimum for 4-5 more years is the kind of deal good organizations make. Papelbon looks like the real deal. I’d be interested to know the USS Mariner guys’ take on him. Lester is more of an unknown to me. I know he’s from the Seattle area, but he’s a lot younger and hasn’t faced higher competition yet. To me… the idea of a Felix/Papelbon 1/2 punch for the next 10 years sounds like a pretty damn good basis to build a rotation around.
Good news to see.
Unfortunately, Bavasi he’s shown me he’s a schmuck that doesn’t know how to work a deal, so either nothing will get done, or he’ll settle for Arroyo like an idiot.
I still fear our defense with the possiblity of Reed out of town. Tell me this doesn’t put Matt Lawton as our everyday centerfielder, if anything happens, and that’s a capitol IF.
How good is TJ Bohn defensively? I’ve heard he has a cannon, but does he have CF range? Probably not the guy we want out there everyday, I imagine.
I dont get the Glaus trade either…. The Jays already have a groundball STUD of a pitcher in Holliday and they just spent a ton of money to bring in Burnett who has suddenly turned into a groundball producer…
Then the next thing they do is seriously gut their infield defense at second and third?
And since Reed trade rumors have been mentioned, I just read this….
******The Mariners are trying to get Jon Lester or Jonathan Papelbon from the Red Sox using Jeremy Reed and Gil Meche.****** (source: seattle times)
Does that make anyone change their mind about trading Reed?
Well, Riccardi was part of the Oakland Moneyball heirarchy, who claimed the game was only about 5% defense, so it doesn’t surprise me much.
Horrible IF defense, playing on turf, a slough of sluggers… it should be fun to watch the Jays for once.
By the way, how big is the Toronto payroll now?
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.