Vernon Wells trade...

My name is Craig Bllard, and I am a Jays fan...

Time for us to hold another AA meeting...around here AA stands for Alex Anthopoulos (GM of YOUR TORONTO BLUE JAYS)...This guy is less than 2 years on the job, but we have seen a lot to be impressed and excited about...


Jan 21, 2011 ends the Wells era in the T-Dot


The latest is a move that we have been discussing here through the blog, and on Sounding Offf with Spencer Miller for a while now...with the influx of Outfielders that AA has brought in like Fred Lewis (released), Corey Patterson, and Rajai Davis the team is giving several veterans playing time in the OF, and we figured they were looking to replace someone...in particular we looked together in a previous blog entry at the Jays trading 1B of the future Brett Wallace for 20 year old CF Anthony Gose http://craigballard77.blogspot.com/2010/08/aa-meeting.html  ...Gose has Superstar upside and we started our Wells-Watch then as AA had added a replacement for Vernon in Gose...Now without question Gose needs seasoning...this leaves Davis and Patterson to split the leadoff man, and CF position for at least 2011...we do see potential here for a drop off talent-wise from those 2 compared to Mount Vernon, but this deal was all about long term financial flexibility...

We look at the upcoming contract for HR King Jose Bautista...looking more and more like a hefty long-term deal is coming for Jose which would mean a team that has a budget to work with would have Wells and Bautista taking up around 35-40% of the payroll...unacceptable...we remember the albatross contract in years past of Carlos Delgado that prohibited the Jays from making any kind of moves as they were so handcuffed financially...AA has committed to young players with Superstar upside (Gose, Brett Lawrie, Yunel Escobar, Deck McGuire, Kyle Drabek, Ricky Romero, Brett Cecil, Brandon Morrow to name a few) that also have financial stability for several years...the word to use would be controllable...you know what you are paying these guys for several years and there are no surprises or contracts that you cannot get out from under (in particular this last part is why this trade will be celebrated as a great move for AA as the Wells contract was thought to be almost un-movable...AND Wells has a no-trade clause so you had to find a team with A) $$$ to pay Wells B) an interest in taking Wells C) return assets of interest to AA and D) a team of interest to Wells so he would waive his No-Trade Clause...tall task, but for AA mission accomplished...I am already seeing several news outlets criticising the Angels for taking on this contract...especially since the power #'s between Wells and Mike Napoli are so similar,but at about $17 mill per year salary difference...

The 2 sides have been slightly evasive when discussing what teams will pay whose salaries etc, but it does look like each team will pay their own new player(s) meaning the Jays will really be off the hook for the entire $86 million over the next 4 years still left on Wells' contract...The Jays get back C Mike Napoli (headed to arbitration, but likely looking at $5+ million this season...not a free agent until 2013 at the earliest) and OF Juan Rivera who is the final year of his contract and will earn $5.25 million...quick math tells us the Jays will save in the $12 million neighbourhood this season alone...what I love is the idea that AA can spend that $$$ the way he sees fit (I have great faith that AA will use that $$$ to help acquire and develop numerous assets)

Here are the newest members of YOUR TORONTO BLUE JAYS...

BIG swinging Mike Napoli

Mike Napoli...Catcher/First Base...the Jays have liked Napoli for a while now...I think we would all agree that his catching defence is decent at best which is not ideal for a young team with young pitching...but he does play First Base also...we remember AA had interest in signing Russell Martin to play some Catcher (25 year old Cather J.P. Arencibia won the MVP in 2010 at the AAA level and is set to start his MLB career so he and Napoli could platoon behind the plate) and be the right handed hitting First Baseman vs left handed pitchers to platoon with Adam Lind...Napoli brings the same things to the table, and has more power than Martin so AA got what he wanted there...Napoli has hit at least 20 HR's in the last 3 seasons...now caveat emptor  this guy strikes out a TON and hits into double plays a lot too...the Jays will look to help him get better in both areas, but again we keep in mind that the best asset in this trade was not Napoli or Juan Rivera, but the financial flexibility from 2011 going forward...



Rivera will get a chance to be in the OF mix in '11

 Juan Rivera...OF...Juan was one on several Angels players that had great 2009 seasons (.287 batting average...28 HR's...88 RBI's) but struggled in 2010 (.252 avg...15 HR's...52 RBI's)...The Jays have liked him as a 4th OF for a while too...he will have a chance in Spring Training to be in the OF mix with Jose Bautista and Travis Snider sure to be every day players with Patterson, Davis, and now Rivera to compete for the 3rd and 4th OF spots...one scenario could be having Rivera play LF vs lefties to rest the lefty hitting Snider...In his 10 seasons Rivera has hit over .300 just twice, hit 20+ HR's just twice, and drove in more that 80 runs just twice...again we say that the #1 asset in return for the Jays is the financial flexibility from 2011 going forward...

The time to try to trade Wells was now...his value was higher than it has been in ages, and you can't risk him having poor #'s this season as that would mean trying to move him next year where he would be a 33 year old decent CF making $63 million for the next 3 years...absolutely un-movable at that point...this past season Wells had more HR's and RBI's than he has had in the past several years...also had his highest Slugging Percentage and OPS in years too (OPS is On Base Percentage plus Slugging Percentage...this stat is relatively new and is used as a measurement of a batter's overall performance)

My name is Craig Ballard, and I am a Jays fan...

Keep the emails and your thoughts coming... craig.ballard@hotmail.com