Joe Biagini, Aaron Sanchez traded to Astros for Derek Fisher

[Lateral Quicks]

Fun fact: Cal Stevenson is getting on base 38.8% of the time this year, and 43.9% of the time in his minor-league career to date. He has great plate discipline and can play some CF.

Sure he's old for the level, but he's also a college draftee. This is not a player you casually throw in to a trade for an AAAA type player like Fisher, especially when we probably could have had Fisher in the Rule V draft for free in a few months. This trade makes my head hurt - Shatkins may be the worst braintrust we've had since the Gord Ash days.

[Ado05]

Shapiro and Atkins have done a good job when it comes to drafting and signing IFA's imo, but everything else leaves a lot to be desired. Granted, they've had some bad luck mixed in there too (Donaldson, Osuna, Giles).

[Schad]

Fun fact: Cal Stevenson is getting on base 38.8% of the time this year, and 43.9% of the time in his minor-league career to date. He has great plate discipline and can play some CF.

Sure he's old for the level, but he's also a college draftee. This is not a player you casually throw in to a trade for an AAAA type player like Fisher, especially when we probably could have had Fisher in the Rule V draft for free in a few months. This trade makes my head hurt - Shatkins may be the worst braintrust we've had since the Gord Ash days.

He has great plate discipline, but absolutely no power; his upside is as a contact-first fourth OF, barring a miracle. Still more than I'd have given up, in that it's literally anything.

[Lateral Quicks]

Fun fact: Cal Stevenson is getting on base 38.8% of the time this year, and 43.9% of the time in his minor-league career to date. He has great plate discipline and can play some CF.

Sure he's old for the level, but he's also a college draftee. This is not a player you casually throw in to a trade for an AAAA type player like Fisher, especially when we probably could have had Fisher in the Rule V draft for free in a few months. This trade makes my head hurt - Shatkins may be the worst braintrust we've had since the Gord Ash days.

He has great plate discipline, but absolutely no power; his upside is as a contact-first fourth OF, barring a miracle. Still more than I'd have given up, in that it's literally anything.

Very little power, true, but not everyone in your lineup has to hit 20-30 knocks a year. Guys that get on base at above average to elite rates have real value. Obviously he has to prove he can do it at higher levels, but man, just tossing him into a trade Houston is already winning hands down is tough to stomach.

[vaff87]

Fun fact: Cal Stevenson is getting on base 38.8% of the time this year, and 43.9% of the time in his minor-league career to date. He has great plate discipline and can play some CF.

Sure he's old for the level, but he's also a college draftee. This is not a player you casually throw in to a trade for an AAAA type player like Fisher, especially when we probably could have had Fisher in the Rule V draft for free in a few months. This trade makes my head hurt - Shatkins may be the worst braintrust we've had since the Gord Ash days.

He has great plate discipline, but absolutely no power; his upside is as a contact-first fourth OF, barring a miracle. Still more than I'd have given up, in that it's literally anything.

Very little power, true, but not everyone in your lineup has to hit 20-30 knocks a year. Guys that get on base at above average to elite rates have real value. Obviously he has to prove he can do it at higher levels, but man, just tossing him into a trade Houston is already winning hands down is tough to stomach.

Not sure Houston was winning the trade hands down. Still, I don’t understand why he was included.

[Natural11]

Derek Fisher? Ew. Seems like Billy McKinney except not as good, and I don't mean that as a compliment to McKinney.

Not sure why we would do Houston a favor like that without evening trying Sanchez back in the pen. One quality reliever in Biagini and another potentially quality reliever in Sanchez for a fringe replacement level 4-5 outfielder. Meh.

Then they throw in Stevenson for no apparent reason. His number seem solid in low level ball and he's only 22. Why give up on him?

[Schad]

Very little power, true, but not everyone in your lineup has to hit 20-30 knocks a year. Guys that get on base at above average to elite rates have real value. Obviously he has to prove he can do it at higher levels, but man, just tossing him into a trade Houston is already winning hands down is tough to stomach.

But only if they play an important defensive position well. If he ends up as a .270/.340/.360 left fielder who can cover CF tolerably, he's not valuable. He's still the piece I least like surrendering, though, because even a fourth OF has some utility, whereas there are a lot of Biaginis and Sanchezes in the world available for a donut and coffee.

[BigLeagueChew]

Nooooo sanchize

[Schad]

For what it's worth, Kylie McDaniel likes it far more than any of us do :

4:28
Rivervillian: Am I crazy or was the Biagini-Sanchez return for the jays underwhelming

4:28
Kiley McDaniel: Neither had huge value, Fisher could be 5 years of an everyday OF

4:28
VB: What’s the story on Derek Fisher? Seems like not a lot to get back for Sanchez + Biagini

4:28
Kiley McDaniel: I guess that means it was fair?

[phillipmike]

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/instagraphs/astros-fill-two-pitching-needs-in-trade-for-aaron-sanchez-joe-biagini/

In return for these two high-upside arms, the Blue Jays received the 25-year-old Fisher, a former prospect who ranked as high as No. 7 on the Astros’ preseason list in 2017. As Eric wrote at the time:

If he ever starts hitting, he’s a potential star. Fisher is already 23 and it’s unlikely he develops great bat-to-ball skills at this point, but he still projects as a big-league regular of some kind because of the power, patience, and speed.

Due to Houston’s plethora of outfield talent, Fisher fell out of favor on the depth chart and has been limited to just 312 big league plate appearances in three years. In that time, he hasn’t been particularly impressive, either, posting a 77 wRC+ and just 0.2 WAR. He’ll likely be the beneficiary of a significant boost in playing time with Toronto. He’s a year younger than their current center field regular, Teoscar Hernández, and likely has more upside with his speed and power combination. Whether he can develop into something more remains to be seen, but the opportunity to do so is much greater playing for a rebuilding team in the Blue Jays than a contending one in the Astros. For what it is worth, Fisher is hitting .286/.401/.522 (125 wRC+) in 270 Triple-A plate appearances this season, his fourth straight season with at least some time at the minor leagues’ highest level.

This trade makes sense for all involved. The Astros receive a high-upside arm to bolster their rotation and a solid, improved relief arm to provide value in the postseason, while the Blue Jays take a chance on a former prospect who will have the opportunity to prove himself on a rebuilding squad.

[Denisaur9]

If we had traded that package for Clint Frazier would people be upset? Frazier was off limits by the sounds of it.

Fisher is a year older but minor league stats are very similar.

Hoping he surprises us but if he does decent we have 5 years of control for a guy who has set a record for most games without a win and has had nothing but injuries for years with one year of control a rule 5 pickup and lower potential guy.

I think we are over valuing guys we have watched thinking they are still valuable.

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[Lateral Quicks]

He has great plate discipline, but absolutely no power; his upside is as a contact-first fourth OF, barring a miracle. Still more than I'd have given up, in that it's literally anything.

Very little power, true, but not everyone in your lineup has to hit 20-30 knocks a year. Guys that get on base at above average to elite rates have real value. Obviously he has to prove he can do it at higher levels, but man, just tossing him into a trade Houston is already winning hands down is tough to stomach.

Not sure Houston was winning the trade hands down. Still, I don’t understand why he was included.

Because Fisher has demonstrated little in the bigs and can't stick on their big league roster. Meanwhile Biagini and Sanchez both have track records of being solid to above average relievers. I do not see Fisher as a meaningful upgrade on Hernandez, who we already have under team control until 2024. Actually Hernandez has already shown more than Fisher has at the big league level.

Where is Fisher going to get his ABs when Grichuk and Gurriel hold down full-time corner OF jobs?

[phillipmike]

If we had traded that package for Clint Frazier would people be upset? Frazier was off limits by the sounds of it.

Fisher is a year older but minor league stats are very similar.

Hoping he surprises us but if he does decent we have 5 years of control for a guy who has set a record for most games without a win and has had nothing but injuries for years with one year of control a rule 5 pickup and lower potential guy.

I think we are over valuing guys we have watched thinking they are still valuable.

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Interesting way to look at it.

[vaff87]

Very little power, true, but not everyone in your lineup has to hit 20-30 knocks a year. Guys that get on base at above average to elite rates have real value. Obviously he has to prove he can do it at higher levels, but man, just tossing him into a trade Houston is already winning hands down is tough to stomach.

Not sure Houston was winning the trade hands down. Still, I don’t understand why he was included.

Because Fisher has demonstrated little in the bigs and can't stick on their big league roster. Meanwhile Biagini and Sanchez both have track records of being solid to above average relievers. I do not see Fisher as a meaningful upgrade on Hernandez, who we already have under team control until 2024. Actually Hernandez has already shown more than Fisher has at the big league level.

Where is Fisher going to get his ABs when Grichuk and Gurriel hold down full-time corner OF jobs?

The Jays like to rotate guys in and out of the line up, and there’s also DH. Having said that, they play Drury and McKinney in the outfield, too.

[spykelee]

Maybe we owed houston some future considerations... Would be interesting to actually track that sometime. Maybe help explain why teams unnescarily attach more for middling prospects.

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[Schad]

Because Fisher has demonstrated little in the bigs and can't stick on their big league roster. Meanwhile Biagini and Sanchez both have track records of being solid to above average relievers. I do not see Fisher as a meaningful upgrade on Hernandez, who we already have under team control until 2024. Actually Hernandez has already shown more than Fisher has at the big league level.

Where is Fisher going to get his ABs when Grichuk and Gurriel hold down full-time corner OF jobs?

Yeah, the roster crunch is getting pretty real. Right now, we have:

C: Jansen/Maile or McGuire
1B: Smoak
2B: Biggio
SS: Bichette/Galvis
3B: Vlad 2: The Envladening
LF: Gurriel
CF: Grichuk
RF: ?
DH: ?

Where the question marks comprise Drury, Teoscar, McKinney, and now Fisher.

The easiest way to resolve it is option McKinney, which would give us a regular lineup of, I guess:

C: Jansen
1B: Smoak
2B: Biggio
SS: Bichette
3B: Vlad 2: Envladening
LF: Gurriel
CF: Grichuk
RF: Fisher
DH: Teoscar

(Basically, Grichuk/Teoscar/Fisher can be deployed in any combination there, which is appropriate as they are all the same player.)

Bench: Galvis, Drury, a catcher.


You can kinda shoehorn everyone in there, but it's awkward.

[JaysRule15]

that's not a contending lineup imo. Grichuk and Hernandez aren't good enough to be regulars at a position which demands offense. Ditto for Fisher.

[Schad]

It definitely isn't a contending lineup, but we aren't contending. My expectation is that we spend quite a bit on pitching, maybe make a major run at trying to lock up extensions with some of the young guys, as that was their MO in Cleveland, and post a win total in the low 70s next year. Then use 2020 to make final calls on our vast collection of fringy players before actually trying to win in 2021.

[polo007]

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[JaysRule15]

Vlad, Bichette and Gurriel are probably the only locks I'd have in a contending lineup. Jansen and Biggio have the potential, but their offensive numbers would need to improve. Grichuk, Hernandez, Smoak, etc. all need to be eventually replaced over the next couple of years.