The John Farrell era in Toronto appears to have come to an end.
According to multiple media reports, the Blue Jays manager will head to Boston to take the same role with the Red Sox for the 2013 season.
Farrell, who had one year left in his contract with the Blue Jays, served as pitching coach for the Red Sox from 2007 to 2010 before being hired to his first managerial job in Toronto for the 2011 season.
The compensation that the Jays will receive from the Red Sox to allow Farrell to leave is reportedly shortstop Mike Aviles, who played 130 games with the Red Sox in 2012, hitting .250 with 13 home runs.
WEEI.com is also reporting that Farrell has agreed to a contract with Boston that will see him manage the club through the 2015 season.
My thoughts on this lie somewhere between "meh" and "good riddance".
I think we did well.
We got rid of a at best so-so manager and a pitcher that we were going to DFA anyway and we landed a very solid infielder that can play all over the field and brings decent power.
Not as upset about this as I thought I would be. Last year I would have taken this as slap in the face to the Jays, but Farrell did very little last year to make me think ill miss him.
We got rid of a at best so-so manager and a pitcher that we were going to DFA anyway and we landed a very solid infielder that can play all over the field and brings decent power.
Considering I would have been okay with letting Farrel straight-up walk I'd say getting anything is a plus. The locker room appears to have been a mess, his bullpen management was frequently headscratching, boneheaded baserunning was rampant and despite him being a pitching specialist our rotation on young arms showed little progression.
Damn articles like these getting my hopes up. I'm no JPA fan and would much rather have D'Arnaud as the catcher going forward but if somehow magically he could net Profar? Cya later Travis! Profar and Escobar up the middle. Hechavarria traded. I'm cool with that. I really hope the Jays don't sell low on Escobar. They will regret it.
Ok so most likely nothing will happen but still, some interesting ideas kicked around in the article. The Rangers have pitching depth once Lewis and Feliz get healthy again. They have a big need at C. The Jays need pitching.
The Blue Jays have acquired Esmil Rogers from the Indians for Mike Aviles and Yan Gomes, both teams announced. The move fills a hole for each club, as Toronto gets pitching depth while Cleveland gets infield depth.
Rogers, 27, pitched to a 3.06 ERA with 9.2 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9 in 53 innings for the Tribe this year. He was acquired from the Rockies for cash in mid-June after being designated for assignment. Rogers throws very hard -- averaged 95.7 mph with the fastball in 2012 -- and remains under team control through 2016. He fell just short of the Super Two cutoff this offseason.
This move makes me slightly happy even though I know very little of Esmil Rogers for these reasons:
- The Jays should be less likely to sell low on Escobar now. He's the best middle infielder on this team and I hope he's here next year.
- The tiny chance of a Hechevarria/Aviles starting SS/2B combo is totally gone. Whew.
- Yan Gomes is horrendous and my sports sanity doesn't need anymore of his plate appearances.
Rogers was also really solid once he got away from Coors, and is yet another controllable power arm in the bullpen. With Brandon League getting 7MM per, Jeremy Affeldt rumoured to be getting more then that, and Soriano getting qualified for 13MM, a cheap, young, controllable bullpen is nice to have since there is negative value in pretty much every free agent arm.
Also the fact we gave up a AAA player (Gomes) and a serviceable utility player (Aviles), and saved money while doing it. And that saving money I feel will be a big thing, I imagine AA is working under a limit of 95-100MM even though his limit should be 120-130MM, so every penny saved to go towards the rotation is a bonus.
Looking over the free agency options, I think I want Anibal Sanchez and Brandon McCarthy. Sanchez will probably cost a decent chunk of change on at least a 4 year deal. McCarthy should come relatively cheap due to his recent injuries but that adds some risk to him as well. Him being a funny dude on twitter should be a factor as well though. The Jays obviously won't go after Greinke so I'm not even thinking about that. I hope they stay FAR away from Lohse and Dempster. Edwin Jackson is meh.
Morrow, Sanchez, Romero, McCarthy, Happ. I could live with that rotation.
Looking over the free agency options, I think I want Anibal Sanchez and Brandon McCarthy. Sanchez will probably cost a decent chunk of change on at least a 4 year deal. McCarthy should come relatively cheap due to his recent injuries but that adds some risk to him as well. Him being a funny dude on twitter should be a factor as well though. The Jays obviously won't go after Greinke so I'm not even thinking about that. I hope they stay FAR away from Lohse and Dempster. Edwin Jackson is meh.
Morrow, Sanchez, Romero, McCarthy, Happ. I could live with that rotation.
That would be nice, though I imagine McCarthy goes back to Oakland where there's a lot of goodwill. He and Jackson would be a bit of a toss up to me.
I imagine the Jays are going to acquire 1 SP by trade, versus both via FA, though.
Looking over the free agency options, I think I want Anibal Sanchez and Brandon McCarthy. Sanchez will probably cost a decent chunk of change on at least a 4 year deal. McCarthy should come relatively cheap due to his recent injuries but that adds some risk to him as well. Him being a funny dude on twitter should be a factor as well though. The Jays obviously won't go after Greinke so I'm not even thinking about that. I hope they stay FAR away from Lohse and Dempster. Edwin Jackson is meh.
Morrow, Sanchez, Romero, McCarthy, Happ. I could live with that rotation.
apparently greinke prefers the west coast and that might just be a blessing in disguise.
i really think Morrow has what it takes to be an ace. his cutter showed great improvement last year and he really mixed his pitches well. i was at the game when he got his abdominal strain, i was sooooo pissed i didnt even get to my fcuking seat yet
i think Sanchez would be the best choice for our rotation. we dont need an overhaul, we just need a good 2nd or 3rd guy in our rotation, and we need to stay healthy. Lohse is overrated and Dempster peaked long ago, i dont know why people even still talk about him. I actually like Jackson as a player, watched him live when the Nats came to town and he was actually pretty dominant.
Toronto Blue Jays Offseason Thread
