Brett Wallace Traded To Houston for Anthony Gose

There’s obviously either a) more shoes to drop, or b) we were all a lot higher on Wallace than management was.

Considering the moves AA has made so far, I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Regardless of more people being moved, you CANNOT trade Wallace straight up for a 19 year old in A ball whos only skill is being fast.

The Astros also will receive a young center fielder with sky-high potential. Anthony Gose might be the fastest player in the minor leagues. Beyond that, he has a cannon arm and the frame to support enough strength for 15 HR power down the road. He’s very young and very raw, but if you like potential—he’s got it. Think of his best case scenario as Carl Crawford on offense with Michael Bourn’s defensive ability.

Sure, we already have a similar player in Jay Austin (they even share the same birthday), but Gose is better. He’s faster and he has a better arm and he’s going to have more power.

From the Astros site, before they knew about the trade for Wallace.

This is just going by stats, and not seeing him in person, but Gose sounds like a Fred Lewis kind of player with more speed and less walks. If he can improve his OBP by taking more walks, he could turn into a pretty good hitter. He’s also, from what I’ve heard, a pretty good fielder. However, I’m concerned about his SB% this year (57.1%). Gose is only 19, so there’s room to improve, but on paper this doesn’t look like a good deal for us. Right now, I like Wallace more.

I’ll give AA the benefit of the doubt on this one, but for now his first trade I actually disagree with.

did we just trade a young player whos been playing pretty darn well in AAA for a younger player in A. wtf!!!

Does this mean Snider to first, sign Buatista for three or four years, and if Gose EVER learns to hit, 50% chance maybe – the 19 year old TERRIFIC CFer will be there to replace Wells – when Lewis is gone and Wells moves to LF.

AA wanted Goss as part of the Doc deal but couldn’t get him, and got Taylor instead…flipped Taylor for Wallace and flipped Wallace for Goss.

AA wanted Goss as part of the Doc deal but couldn’t get him, and got Taylor instead…flipped Taylor for Wallace and flipped Wallace for Goss.

Anthopoulos, on first base situation: “We’re really not sure what we’re going to do for next season.” Said Jays are “open to anything”

How can you trade someone, if you have no Plan B?

While his overall line left a bit to be desired, his age, combined with physical projection and unrefined hitting mechanics make Gose a high risk, high reward project.

In watching Gose in centerfield, I could not help but think of "The Bad News Bears" and "Kelly" catching everything from foul pole to foul pole. In making spectacular sliding catches in both outfield gaps, he showed gold glove caliber range. As impressive as those catches were, however, his routes can definitely improve, as well as his overall body control. He was borderline reckless in the outfield and could leave himself open to serious injury. In seeing him twice, he was not in a situation where he needed to show off his arm strength.

Anthony Gose makes a great first impression in person even though his offensive metrics were not impressive. In terms of prospect status, his physical projection more than makes up for his being little more than an embryo in terms of baseball development. With continued growth, Gose should be a top 100 talent by 2011 and in the conversation for MILB’s most exciting player. I normally shy away from projections, but I certainly would not be surprised if Gose becomes Carl Crawford lite and runs rampant over the National League East for years to come.

guys im kinda in shock…

At least I hope. If not then IMO on the face of this trade we are the losers, but I do know that AA isn’t an idiot and he might know something that we don’t.

the only reason i know this guy is because of his great speed
I remember a scout saying (when he was a Philli) that he had as much potential as Dom Brown

Jays have to take a risk on such a high ceiling prospect. That said, I don’t really have any emotion about this… I’m content to wait and see what else AA is gonna do before the deadline

Looks like Brad McElroy , a good old London Ont. boy will be moving. Batting .200 7 SB and 23 years old.

I think Im still in a shocked state of disbelief. I was so ready to see him at 1st everyday next year with JPA behind the plate… now I just don’t know anything anymore.

AA what have you done to me!

With Wallace, the Jays would have projected to have minus defenders (according to UZR) at every position next season (except Yunel). Lind, Snider, and Wallace are all 1B/DH types, really. And Wallace has not excited anybody with his tepid bat at AAA.

Next year, if Lind and Bautista play most of the time a first, I would be okay with this. Gose is more valuable to this team and, as noted above, has a higher ceiling at a premium position.

(Warning: Language)

And just as I add that bit above, and cross out the part about comment discussion being good, some hero calling himself Mike Wilner (not him) and using my picture for some reason, blows the doors of the hysteria with this:

“How on Earth can any reasonable person who spends two minutes looking say that Brett Wallace projects as “an above average major leaguer”. Wallace has a .334 obp vs. righthanded pitching in f**king Las Vegas, where virtually everything carries. His OPS is less than f**king Chris Lubanski, Mike McCoy and Jarrett Hoffpauir, some uber-shrimp who at the major league level can’t hit water from a boat. He projects to be a first baseman who hits like Jarrett Hoffpauir, which is to say he can’t hit at all.

When the best you can say is that he might hit like Lyle Overbay (and he doesn’t, even Overbay is better than Chris Lubanski), you know he’s not the player AA wants to play a power position.

Gose is a 19 yr old converted pitcher, who is learning to hit in high A at 19, and already has a better obp vs. righties than Wallace (.340 vs. .334 this year). He has a high ceiling, unlike Wallace who hit his years ago and has now been dealt by 3 organizations. His speed and arm are exceptional.

It amazes me how people blow smoke out of their ass on this website about things they know nothing about.

Wallace was about to get cooked at the major league level and have no trade value at all. AA pulled off an exceptional deal using someone who’d have no trade value at all in 12 months."

Wow… I’m starting to like this deal a bit more now.

I hate this city.

i say we throw a poll up to see what the majority of people think

an OF tools prospect is HUGE vs a 1b/3b one dimenisional ( see ford griffin),,,we have snider /lind and soon to be over and outbay,,,,we can’t have to many of those types,,,we need a lead off hitter and we need some speed and some OF,,,,do it ,makes sense,,some one will be picked up for 1B or on of the above converted to 1b,,,not that tough as others have done it,,,keep of the ledge,,,ball has been in TO since 77 and many of us remember that,,but it sounds/reads like most of you are in the JP era of fan base age,,,,relax,,,,,please take some time and read some history of ball and putting together teams ,,even the making of the jays teams of 80-90,,,,,it was a different time,, but the context is still the same

In AA I trust I guess.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting/_/year/2009/position/1b/sort/OPS

Low-to-mid .800 OPS hitters — which Brett Wallace projects to be — are a dime a dozen.

It isn’t difficult at all to replace his foreseeable production.

Value is relative.

but can someone explain to me how the Astros end up with Happ and we didn’t? I justed started following you guys btw and starting to really get into the jays again after a long break from them.

Happ was supposed to be the phils #2 right behind Doc.

I’m shocked to see Brett Wallace go, because of the certain expectations that he was our new 1B just around the corner. But as I digest this move, I’m fine with it.

Reading this MLB story, obviously Anthony Gose was the guy the Jays really wanted in the Halladay deal. Is Gose better than Michael Taylor who we did receive? The Phillies seem to have thought so if they refused to deal him. And obviously the Jays thought so too as they flipped Taylor right away and ultimately parlayed him into Gose now. So I’ll defer to both teams’ judgment on this one.

But is Gose better than Wallace? Well that’s not really the comparison as different positions and timelines. The question is whether Gose is more valuable to us. Considering that the Jays don’t seem to have a high-upside CF prospect in our system, apparently, then he probably is more valuable than a converted 1B prospect in Wallace. Yes, Gose is only in A-ball so more of an unknown, but listening to AA rave about him, seems like he’s one of the rare players to receive unanimous glowing verdicts on from our scouting department. So that’s probably worth the risk.

It will be a shame not to see Wallace break into the majors with us as he’s probably going to be a decent player and if so we may have gnash our teeth in self-doubt for awhile watching him play in the big leagues while Gose still develops. That said, don’t want to knock Wallace, as getting traded doesn’t mean a team thinks you suck. But it is worth pointing out that the Jays are now the third organization to trade him, which makes you wonder if there aren’t some doubts about his upside. Maybe not, but maybe. Nevertheless, wish him well.

As for the Jays and 1B, I have no worries about this at all. If anything, this helps us by opening up a position for a few of our guys. I’ve never liked having a young guy like Adam Lind being a full-time DH and to me he’d be well worth exploring as our 1B. Alternatively, with the outfield/3B logjam for players like Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion, maybe one of them could be our 1B. Brian Dopirak could also warrant a look as he’s got respectable numbers in Vegas. And of course, there are always options out there via trades or free agency between now and spring training 2011.

So in the end, this is bittersweet, so I’m not jumping for joy, but I have faith in AA’s judgement and so am fine with this trade. Now let the Gose watch begin!

I don’t get it.

Like most baseball fans in this town, I really thought the Jays had Wallace on their radar as the everyday first baseman for next season. It’s a shame this is no longer going to transpire, but I am confident this is all part of Anthopoulos’ plan to take this team to another level.
Not familiar with Gose, but he is young, has great wheels and the potential to be an everyday MLB outfielder one day.
It’s hard to say who got the better end of the deal at this point, but based on what Wallace has done this year in the minors, right now Houston do appear to have the edge of the two players involved in this transaction.