Thursday news: Oh look! Trades are starting to Happ-en

Wow was yesterday's 12-6 loss to the Twins a massive kick in the proverbial conkers. Not only was the game evenly poised at 6-6 after the Jays fought back and tied it up in the 8th, but then we went into extras and the bullpen imploded with supernova like force.

Jake Petricka came into the 11th, got squeezed by the home plate ump, gave up a double, two walks, hit a batter and we were losing again. At this point we decided to go to the reliable bullpen arm of Seunghwan Oh WAIT HE HAS BEEN TRADED??

Instead Luis Santos came in to douse the dumpster fire with gasoline. Tom’s re-written recap is here.

Oh -ver and out?

During the game it appeared that the Rockies and Blue Jays agreed to a trade that saw right-hander Seunghwan Oh head off to the Mile High City....or did they?

Minor league first baseman Chad Spanberger and another first base prospect, Sean Bouchard, are said to be heading to Toronto in the deal.

As i write this (11.30pm NZ time/7.30am Toronto) all this has yet to be officially confirmed. In fact some reports deny that Bouchard is moving at all. Confusing right?

So far this season, Oh has posted a 2.68 ERA, 10.5 K/9, and 5.50 K/BB rate over 47 innings looking far more like his “Final Boss” form from the 2016 season than his average 2017 edition. The advanced metrics have been pretty sold on Oh’s performance, as his .266 wOBA is nearly identical to his .264 xwOBA, and ERA predictors (3.03 FIP, 3.77 xFIP, 2.91 SIERA) mostly back up that impressive 2.66 real-world ERA.

So, if the trade goes through it looks like the Rockies will get some much needed quality in their bullpen. What Toronto gets back in return is a little less than stellar. You can read more on the two prospects from Matt Gross.

Will a trade for J.A. Happ-en?

Meanwhile the fervour around J.A. Happ seems to be increasing with the Yankees and Brewers front and centre. The Cubs and the Rockies are also rumoured to be sniffing around.

With that number of teams in on Happ hopefully this will result in a nice trade return for the Blue Jays. Right now it seems that the Jays are interested in the Yankees’ Brandon Drury, a solid league average infielder with 5yrs of control. Nothing yet on what the Brewers might offer, but it appears as if a trade will Happ-en in the next few days.

The future is bright

In all of the losses, constant roster rotation and possible trades, there is no doubt that the future is bright and full of hope for the Jays.

Cavan Biggio hit his 21st homer of the season today in a 5-2 Fisher Cats win, moving him into a tie for the Eastern League lead with Akron’s Bobby Bradley. The Fisher Cats single-season home run record is 27, held by Chip Cannon (2006) and Eric Thames (2010).

And then this tweet neatly sums up Vlad’s season so far (hint: its quite good)

Also today, with a double and a single, Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s hitting streak is now at eight games, a Toronto rookie record.

Arden Zwelling’s Big Read piece on Gurriel is long, but very well worth your time. Gurriel comes across as a talented and humble young man and his journey from Cuba to the Majors is quite something.

Play of the Day

Just in case you missed it, this was the only amusing thing about last night’s game from a Jays standpoint:

Bonus play of the day:

Steve Pearce realizes you can’t trust Orioles fans, even if you used to play for them...