Wednesday Afternoon Bantering: Links

There were few stories I wanted to make note of:

First this thwip from Jon Heyman:

keep hearing #jays want to deal yunel escobar. #braves, who have simmons out and had yunel, not interested.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) July 18, 2012

I'm sure Alex would trade anyone for the right deal, but I doubt he is 'shopping Yunel', since we have a very team friendly contract. But maybe they believe Adieny Hechavarria is ready for the majors. They brought up Anthony Gose after half a season at Vegas, maybe they think they could do the same with Adieny.

Over at Baseball Prospectus (subscription required) Bill Parker is wondering, along with the rest of us, why the Jays rushed Gose to the majors when they have Travis Snider:

The decision to call up Gose is a strange one, made even stranger by the fact that the Jays had another choice on the Vegas roster, one who (as a slugging corner outfielder) is a much more natural replacement for Bautista, and one who is considerably more seasoned and having a significantly better 2012 than Gose offensively. But alas, Travis Snider was snubbed by the Blue Jays again.

And all he does in the minors is rake. In 787 PA in Triple-A-most of them in 2011 and ‘12-he has hit .329/.409/.550. The same Vegas-related caveats discussed with regard to Gose above apply to Snider's numbers, of course, and maybe that keeps him from projecting as a star, but the numbers are still well above the norm. When you consider his still-young age and former top-prospect status, one would think that Snider would be the type of guy a team would want to give every possible chance to succeed, certainly over the likes of Rajai Davis and Eric Thames. Instead, he spent most of the past four years bouncing back and forth between Toronto and Las Vegas, losing playing time to Davis or Thames (or players much like them) at the first sign of a struggle.

Travis Snider might have all kinds of holes in his game, and maybe they'll never be closed. But he's got a really sweet swing, an awesome Twitter handle, and a great Baseball Prospectus profile photo, and he deserves a shot. And if it's time for the Anthony Gose Era to begin (however temporarily) in Toronto, it's time for the Travis Snider Era to get a reboot somewhere else.

If I'm Travis, I'm just trying to get through the season. Next year the Jays either have him on the roster or he'll get to go somewhere else. Until then, he really can't do anything other than keep hitting and hope that some one takes notice.

Adam J. Morris at Lone Star Ball thinks the Rangers should try to trade Darren Oliver. Make a good offer.

I'm sure you've all heard about Tony LaRussa dropping off Colby Rasmus' World Series ring. Here is Shi Davidi's post on it.