Blue Jays Sign Some Players

by Tom Dakers on Dec 13, 2009 1:36 PM EST in News Comment 25 comments

Well, I was hugely wrong on how much money Jose Bautista would get, he signed for $2.4 million, I don't see why he didn't go to arbitration instead of signing for that little. But at that money, he is a good signing. I am just going to post the Jay's press release for all the other signings.

BLUE JAYS COMPLETE SIGNINGS

The TORONTO BLUE JAYS have agreed to terms with INF/OF JOSE BAUTISTA on a one year deal paying $2.4 million US and P DUSTIN McGOWAN on a $500,000 US deal for 2010. OF JOEY GATHRIGHT and C RAUL CHAVEZ were signed to minor league contracts with an invite to spring training.

BAUTISTA, 29, is returning to the Blue Jays for a 3^rd season in 2010, after being acquired from the Prates in 2008. The Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic native posted a .235 average with 13 home runs and 40 RBI in 2009, and has now recorded double-digit home runs for the 4^th consecutive season. The 6’0" 190 lb. utility man led the majors with a 0.15 assists per nine innings as an outfielder (min 70 starts) marking the 4^th highest total in Blue Jays history.

McGOWAN, 27, missed all of last season recovering from surgery on his right shoulder in 2007.

GATHRIGHT, 28, split 2009 between the Chicago Cubs and Boston, playing in 37 games and posting a .267 average. The Hattiesburg, Mississippi native has appeared for four teams (TB, KC, CHC, BOS) over six-years recording a .263 career average with 80 stolen bases.

CHAVEZ, appeared in 51 games for Toronto last season posting 41 hits, the highest total of his career. The 36-year-old threw out 16 of 45 potential base stealers for a 35.6% caught stealing percentage, ranking him 3rd in the AL among catchers with a minimum of 50 games played.

Me back: Signing Gathright to a minor league contract works for me, and the Jays were smart to non-tender Chavez and re-sign him to a minor league deal. All-in-all good stuff today. Please Cito, don't use Bautista as the leadoff hitter, at very least not against right-handers.

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OK

Seems like roster is shaping itself for 2010.

Looks like the RF might be a platoon of Bautista and Gathright. Those two will probably take the leadoff spot, when playing. I’m OK with that. The Jays need good D out there. Those two help in that regard, but of course it makes it difficult to give a full time role to Ruiz now. They can also leadoff, and have reasonable splits.

So it looks like
DH Lind
LF Snider
CF Wells
RF Bautista/Gathright
3B Encarnacion
SS Gonzalez
2B Hill
1B Overbay
C TBD

UP McDonald
Backup C Chavez

That leaves one player roster spot open. This could possibly be Ruiz or Dopirak to platoon with Overbay? Of course, Overbay may very well be traded before Spring, so who knows.

by REMO on Dec 13, 2009 1:47 PM EST reply actions

yea, minor league contracts for Gathright and Chavez are platable

not so excited about Joba but at $2.4M, can live with it. Your stats on JoBa make him sound quite positive. If only, JoBa you could add 40-50 points to your average, it would be so much better.

Last year, JoBa produced (avg / obp / slg) of .235 / .349 / .408, very mediocre over the full season. But April JoBa 317 / 404 / 463 and Sep Joba 260 / 339 / 594 were great while rest of season JoBa left much to be desired.

Vs righties (as Dakers notes) JoBa blows at 202 / 331 / 333 compared to lefties, where he is downright stellar 293 / 382 / 537.

JoBa, produce during mid-season and learn to hit righties and we will love ya. Heck, hit 293 / 382 /537 all next season and I can all but guarantee the Jays will DOUBLE your salary. Good luck mate.

by aagoodfella on Dec 13, 2009 1:53 PM EST reply actions

Never really looked at his OPS, just saw his average and got disgusted

But a .757 OPS is not that bad at all, he makes up for a low average with a decent OBP and Slugging percentage. I’d still prefer if he didn’t lead off, but I don’t mind him as a 9 hitter and love him off the bench.

Gathright/Bautista platoon makes a lot of sense. A good budget-type move by AA.

by SPENCEMAN on Dec 13, 2009 2:19 PM EST up reply actions

but, not a formula for winning

by aagoodfella on Dec 13, 2009 2:24 PM EST up reply actions

OPS is just OBP + SLG so it is already embedded in the avg / obp / slg presentation hence I do not usually put it up

JoBa’s 349 OBP is pretty good, but again there is a mix issue with OBP of 382 vs. Left and 331 vs Right — JoBa OPS’s 919 vs. Left (good) but only 664 vs. Right

I would have to say Joba is downright good vr. Lefties but he only plated 1/3 of the time vs. Lefties and 2/3 of the time versus righties …. if he can (1) improve vs. righties in the offseason or (2) only face lefties he should be ok

by aagoodfella on Dec 13, 2009 2:32 PM EST up reply actions

Ryan Church

Might be an interesting addition. Hits RHP well enough(OPS 813), is a plus defender in the field, has about the same speed as Bautista. A platoon between the two of them would make a pretty decent leadoff hitter, looking at an average OBP of about .360 or so, with power and at least some speed to worry about.

by dexfarkin on Dec 14, 2009 10:42 AM EST up reply actions

I would have to say GREAT idea. I looked at his career numbers and they are 280/353/463 vs. righties

He would probably not be all that expensive and between JoBa’s prowess vs. Lefties and Church’s respectiability vs. righties, we would have a downright productive RF — Snider in left, Wells in CF and Lind at DH, and if Snider and Wells had good years and Lind continued, well I would say the Jays would be quite good indeed

I like the Church idea alot - lets get this to AA - of course for sure we have to move Overbay now, so we can keep Ruiz on the roster

by aagoodfella on Dec 14, 2009 12:18 PM EST up reply actions

or Delgado if the Jays go that route

by aagoodfella on Dec 14, 2009 12:18 PM EST up reply actions

Church and Bautista

in a strict platoon would probably provide league average or better offense and defense in a corner spot, and either provides something of a backup in centre, if not an ideal one. Unfortunately, I don’t trust Cito to put his Bautista-love to rest every time the Jays face a righty. I think we are going to see far too much Bautista out there this season against starboard-siders, and he has proven during his career that he can’t hit major-league, right-handed pitching.

"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman

by hugo on Dec 14, 2009 12:58 PM EST up reply actions

True. If only AA could lean on Cito to platoon Joba-Church, left-right, we could be ok. But after the Millar fiasco last year, can we count on that? It is till not clear what agenda Cito was following when playing MIllar, but clearly winning was not at the forefront.

by aagoodfella on Dec 14, 2009 1:03 PM EST up reply actions

Maybe

Depends exactly how much latitude Gaston has as compared to last year. I know people are disappointed that Anthopoulos didn’t fire him, but I personally didn’t see how it could even be an option. He had a great year last year, and a great start and a great finish. The utter horror that was the middle four months of the season has been heaped publicly largely on the head of Vernon Wells and Alex Rios. Firing Gaston would have been a huge negative symbol for the casual Toronto baseball fan, and on top of trading Doc, I can see even Rogers saying ‘suck it up, it’s just one year’.

Not saying that Gaston didn’t do everything possible to deserve getting let go, but I sort of feel that the best compromise Toronto baseball fans were likely to ever get is Ricciardi’s head and a deadline on Gaston’s time.

by dexfarkin on Dec 14, 2009 1:42 PM EST up reply actions

I wasn't one of those calling for Cito to be fired

but nor do I trust him to manage a strict platoon. Blaming two players for a horrific 2/3 of a season is silly, in my opinion. If the team has invested so much in two players that the team rises or falls based on whether they are playing well (or playing at all), well, that’s the team’s fault.

"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman

by hugo on Dec 14, 2009 1:54 PM EST up reply actions

I personally didn’t see how it could even be an option

Actually, a new GM retaining the old manager is not typical. It’s expected that a GM wants to bring his own personnel in rather than stand by the people associated with the old GM.

He had a great year last year, and a great start and a great finish.

Great start yes. Great finish not so much (wasn’t it 17-16 for the last 33 games?).

The utter horror that was the middle four months of the season has been heaped publicly largely on the head of Vernon Wells and Alex Rios.

I’m not so sure who was blaming Wells and Rios solely for the collapse. I’m not sure that even the best manager could have prevented the drop off that occurred. I do think that a different manager could have gotten them turned around sooner though.

I’m not so sure that Gaston is as much a well loved a figure by the casual fan as you think. Right now, the casual fan doesn’t really care about the Jays at all. I don’t want to suck it up for one more year because that’s what we’ve been doing since 94. I want to see progress, whether in wins or in development of players.

by siggian on Dec 14, 2009 2:31 PM EST up reply actions

I’m not so sure who was blaming Wells and Rios solely for the collapse.

Mostly the entire population of Toronto’s sports talk radio callers. And, sure, it’s not solely blamed on them, but disproportionately so wouldn’t be an unfair assessment. Especially Wells. At least one in three calls to Jays Talk seemed to be to trash Vernon as much as possible.

I still think the retention of Gaston was mandated for reasons that had nothing to do with on-field performance, and certainly was not something Anthopoulos could have changed without spending his limited capital as GM in doing so right away.

by dexfarkin on Dec 14, 2009 3:06 PM EST up reply actions

I don't disagree that was the sentiment on sports talk radio

but you can’t run a team based on comments on sports talk radio.

"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman

by hugo on Dec 14, 2009 3:49 PM EST up reply actions

No, but you don’t completely ignore it as a barometer of what the general mood in the city is. I realize we all obsess about quantifable stats here, but really, am I the only one that has experienced a fairly negative view of the team expressed around this city with every statement starting with ‘Wells’? I’ve heard easily twenty times the criticism of the Jays centred on Vernon than I have even hinted about Gaston. I realise personal experience is variable, but I can’t image that I’m missing this groundswell of anti-Gaston opinion in Toronto and just happen to drink in bars, overhear conversations, sit in the 500’s and watch sports with the only people who gush about Gaston and somehow miss the rest.

by dexfarkin on Dec 14, 2009 4:12 PM EST up reply actions

no

I basically think you’re right about that. I don’t think there is a lot of anti-Gaston sentiment, mostly because the city isn’t very engaged about the Jays at all and Gaston isn’t the one making $126 million. I only visit T-dot though, so I could be wrong.

"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman

by hugo on Dec 14, 2009 6:22 PM EST up reply actions

And one more...

Catcher slot filled in – Jayson Stark’s reporting Jays have signed John Buck for $2 million.

by mlaffs on Dec 13, 2009 1:59 PM EST reply actions

If Gathright can hit a lick at all, it will be a good signing. At best he is the leadoff hitter, at worst he is a pinch runner.

Its too bad we didn’t have a Gathright type player last year to push Scuturo to the 2-hole, Hill hitting 3rd and Lind hitting clean-up. It would have made for a much better functioning lineup.

Cito is going to have to breakaway from the bloop and the blast manager type. He’s going to have to find ways to create runs through basestealing, bunting and hit and runs.

As it stands, this lineup is going to miss Scuturo and his mental approach and his battle at the plate. Replacing him with Gonzalez is a significant downgrade, especially with the bat.

by The Playa on Dec 13, 2009 5:49 PM EST reply actions

well, his career avg / obp / slg is 263 / 327 / 303

so he does not look like a real good hitter … certainly he has zippo power, but he successfully steals about 1 in every 5 times he reaches the bases — if I converted his stolen bases to slugging bases, he would be slugging about 370, still nothing to get excited about

if he had a 2007 year, his best year with 50+ AB, things would be great. He produced 307 / 371 / 342

by aagoodfella on Dec 13, 2009 7:06 PM EST up reply actions

You’re right Gathright doesn’t bring a lot other than speed, but at least he brings speed. He doesn’t hit well, his arm is week, he doesn’t even like to take a walk. He’ll probably be the Jays version of Willie Mays-Hays.

I’m just sure who else the Jays could have brought in that has blazing speed and can hit a little.

by The Playa on Dec 13, 2009 7:17 PM EST up reply actions

Doesn’t that describe Buck Coates?

by siggian on Dec 13, 2009 7:48 PM EST up reply actions

i think my point would be that his speed is nice but negated by his lack of bat … the Jays could get, I m guessing, someone who could slug better than 370 but not steal a base and be as well off or better

not to sound too cynical

by aagoodfella on Dec 13, 2009 7:57 PM EST up reply actions

The Jays need to find ways to grind out a run here and there. They lost so many one run ballgames last year due to untimely hitting and lack of speed on the basepaths.
There are times when they need the three run HR and then there are times when they’ll have to steal a run.

by The Playa on Dec 13, 2009 9:15 PM EST up reply actions

Woo and, Well Yeah, Hoo... I Guess

There’s absolutely nothing here to get excited about, but there’s nothing bad here. Chavez did a pretty decent job behind the plate last year, but if he’s willing to take a crack again for a minor league nothing contract, I’m all for it. Buck is, well, Buck, which means a Zaun-like defensive catcher (good movement and glove behind the dish, poor arm), has some power, and can be used as a pinchhitter with some actual punch.

Bautista returning doesn’t actually thrill me, but $2.4mil with defensive versitility and the occasional flashes of offensive power work for now. Gathright is about deserving of a minor league deal, and having him up in some kind of platoon in RF with Bautista means we’ll have decent enough defensive, a real pinchrunner off the bench, and well, a combined poor bat.

These are certainly defensive signings along the lines of what AA said. He’s certainly not picked up any expensive or high quality free agents, and none of these pieces are going to offer any risk financially, or even for a moment cause hesitation to release or demote if we’ve got someone coming in or breaking out from the minors. It is both very sensible and very boring.

by dexfarkin on Dec 13, 2009 8:19 PM EST reply actions