The Blue Jays have traded Liam Hendriks for Jesse Chavez of the Oakland A's.
We're not exactly all jumping up and down with excitement, but the Jays are in desperate need of starting pitching depth, and this is a good step towards addressing that need. Liam Hendriks was quite good in the bullpen this year. He had a significant uptick in velocity. There was some talk (prior to the trade) by LaCava that potentially Hendriks could be stretched out to become a starter again, but it's a big unknown how that would go.
Chavez has been a proven serviceable starter for Oakland in the last two years. He was previously a Blue Jay back in 2012 and had 2 starts for them at a time when their starters were dropping like flies to injuries (ahhhh.... memories of Brandon Morrow and Kyle Drabek). He was not good back then. Well...he was bad actually. However, in 2014 and 2015, he posted an ERA of 3.45 and 4.18, respectively for the Athletics. That's mostly as a starter but he also has pitched out of the bullpen, which is an option should the Jays have 5 starters out of spring that they prefer.
Getting a starter for a bullpen guy is a good thing. But the reason the Jays were able to make such a trade is because Hendriks comes with 4 years of team control, while Chavez is a free agent at the end of 2016. This is a short term outlook deal for the Jays.
One interesting nugget of info that came out last night was that Chavez was the Jays backup plan at the July 2015 trade deadline in case the David Price deal fell through. It was always reported that Anthopoulos had a backup plan just in case, and now we know what that was. Somehow I don't think the fan base would have rushed to buy Chavez jerseys, the way they did with Price. But he also would have cost far less in prospects. There's also that banner that may not have been up there so let's not go down some alternate timeline that doesn't involve Joey Bats flipping a bat 10 feet in the air.
Right now the rotation options are: Stroman, Estrada, Dickey, Hutchison, Chavez, Sanchez, Osuna. The decision on whether Sanchez or Osuna will start probably doesn't get made until spring training, but for now they are candidates for the starting rotation. Obviously if that's the case, then there ends up with a void in the bullpen. Certainly many Jays fans are weary on what we will get with Hutchison next year. We can hope he turns it around and doesn't go on the Ricky Romero career path, but there also needs to be an alternative. Maybe Chavez is that guy.
The off-season is still young, so I'd expect more to come. I really don't have a sense of what the Jays chances of signing a free agent starting pitcher are. I'm pretty sure it won't be Price or Greinke, but what about Chen, Kazmir? Would be good to have a lefty starter in there.
Esurance MLB Awards
Pretty cool that the Jays owned two Esurance MLB Awards given out for "Best Play Offense" and "Best Play Defense". The Bautista game 5 ALDS home run, that will forever change the way my children see their father's level of sanity, won for best offensive play. The Josh Donaldson dive into the stands in Tampa Bay to catch a foul ball (and almost kill a little kid), won for best defensive play.
I think that Pillar's jump over the wall to rob a home run was a more sensational defensive play to be honest, but the situation wasn't as big. In fact, that game was a blow out. When JD dove into the stands, it was the 8th inning of what had been a perfect game to that point. It was also a 0-0 score.
I can't possibly be objective on this, but I do feel that the greatest moment of the 2015 MLB playoffs happened in that ALDS 7th inning. The best offensive play award reaffirms to me that it isn't just that I look at baseball with blue coloured glasses. That inning also won an award for best social media moment. It really deserves to have it's own ESPN 30 for 30 special.
@bluejaystwit
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