During yesterday's game I was thinking that every move Alex Anthopoulos has made has worked out about as well as anyone could hope. It is early in the season and things could change but, so far, you'd think he's carrying around the one rabbit's foot that actually brings luck. If I were him, I'd buy a lottery ticket or two.
Let's take a look at the transactions he's made. After the jump....
Claimed Sean Henn off waivers. Oh sure, the first one doesn't really prove the point. But then it was a waiver pick up. An October waiver pick up at that. Not that Sean has been bad, 2.93 ERA in 10 appearances in Vegas, 2 starts.
Claimed Jarrett Hoffpauir off waivers. Another waiver pickup that doesn't prove anything, though he is doing great in Vegas, hitting .327/.409/.473 in 29 games. Could get called up if we have some injuries.
Claimed Mike McCoy off waivers. McCoy has done a decent job filling in when Hill was hurt and coming off the bench, pinch running. He isn't hitting great, .235/.316/.324, with 4 steals. I'm sure Alex have this pickup at the top of his resume but it's been ok.
Signed John McDonald as a free agent, two years at $1.5 million per. Yeah, this one I still really don't understand. I mean, sign him fine. Two years? Why? Were we afraid of a bidding war after this season? He hasn't played much, shared the job of filling in a bit for Hill. 35 at bats and a .229/.229/.400 line. You would think, if you hit like he does, you wouldn't be allergic to a walk. It isn't a lot of money, but still. I'm sure he's a great guy and good to have in the clubhouse.
Signed Alex Gonzalez as a free agent, one year at $2.75M and a team option for a second year at $2.5M. One day after signing Mac we sign another defence only SS. Or so we thought. His defence has been great, but 33 games in he has 10 home runs. I'm not sure how many people had him down for 10 in the season. He does have that all or nothing swing, hitting .263/.300/.594, but so far he has connected enough that I'm ok with it. I'm not sure if it is Cito magic or if it is a hot streak that will end or if he will get too homer happy and have his average drop out of sight, but so far it is working. His May hasn't been great, .194/.256/.500. It is a contract that wouldn't be hard to move, if Alex wants to, at the deadline. So far it is looking like a great signing by Alex.
Picked up Zechry Zinicola in the rule 5 draft, signed Joey Gathright, Raul Chavez and Lance Broadway. Zinicola's gone, Gathright was the punch line for a lot of jokes this spring. Chavez and Broadway are in Vegas, neither will see any significant playing time with the Jays, barring a disaster of some sort.
Signed John Buck as a free agent, 1 year $2 million. Yeah he strikes out a lot and he (and Molina) block balls in the dirt about as you or I would. But it is a reasonable contract and he (after a slow start) is hitting ok, .247/.283/.591 with 8 homers. It would be nice if he would take a walk, but it isn't going to happen. He seems to handle pitchers well. I do have a worry that out pitchers are going to become afraid to throw any pitch that might bounce, knowing it will skip past the catchers. This is another one that has worked out as well as any could have hoped.
Traded Roy Halladay for Travis d'Arnaud, Kyle Drabek and Michael Taylor. Taylor flipped to Oakland for Brett Wallace. We won't know how this worked out for years. There is a point to the thought that if we had known we'd be 19 and 14 without Doc it would have been smarter to keep him as we'd be in the race. Hindsight is 20/20 but it is a fair point. So far the players we got are looking good in the minors: d'Arnaud is hitting .328/.362/.547 in Dunedin, Drabek is 4-2 with a 3.18 ERA (34 k in 34 innings) in New Hampshire and Brett Wallace is hitting .294/.361/.597 with 9 homers in Vegas.
Signed Chris Lubanski as a free agent. Lubanski did nothing this spring. He's hitting .253/.307/.571 in Vegas after a slow start. Might not be a bad fill in if we had some injuries.
Traded Brandon League and Johermyn Chavez for Brandon Morrow. Morrow has had, and will continue to have some games that will drive us crazy but there are good signs too. 2-2 with a 5.40 ERA at the moment, 42 strikeouts in 33.1 innings. In his last 4 starts he has a 2.96 ERA. League is doing well in Seattle, 2.04 ERA. Morrow might not turn into a good starter but it's a trade you have to make if you get a chance at it.
Bunch of minor league free agent signings and waiver pickups: Jorge Padilla, Brian Bocock, Zach Jackson, Jesus Merchan, Willie Collazo, Steven Register, Jeremy Reed and Shaw Hill. So not everything turns to gold. I like the Reed pickup, but he's been made redundant with Fred Lewis.
Traded for Merkin Valdez. Cito didn't use him/he wasn't effective, but he is still with the organization.
Signed Kevin Gregg as a free agent, 1 year at $2.75M, two team options either 1 year at $4.5M or 2 at $8.75. I didn't think much of the move at the time and you don't know if he won't start serving up homers, like he has in the past. But wow, who saw this coming? Alex was either very smart or very lucky. Either way, it works.
Traded for Dana Eveland. This has worked out far better than anyone had any right to hope it would. 3-1 with a 3.82 ERA after 6 starts.
Signed Jose Molina, 1 year at $800,000, team option for second year at $1M. Great arm, seems to have a hole in the glove but have to hope that will improve. Seems to work well with the pitchers. Hitting like a Molina, .200/.333/.240 in limited at bats. It's possible Alex signed him to force the Mets to sign Barajas, getting us a supplemental draft pick. If so it worked.
Signed or claimed off waivers Casey Fien, Chris Aguila, B.J. Lamura, Jonah Bayliss, Luis Fugueroa and Shawn Bowman. All minor moves, Fien was released again without throwing in a game.
Signed Adeiny Hechavarria. We don't know what his future might be but just signing him was a win.
Traded for Fred Lewis. You all know how that is working out. If he sits and Jose Bautista plays the outfield when Encarnacion come back, I will revolt. It amazes me that a player this good could be available basically for free.
So, though not every thing Anthopoulos has touched has turned to gold, enough of it has.