Litsch to Vegas, Francisco Activated

[Garmfay]

According to various twitters. WTF, I'm hardly a Jesse Litsch fan but keeping junk baller Jo Jo Reyes is ridiculous. What does AA love about Reyes. Been horrible through out his career

[Osiris]

Demoting Reyes would require clearing waivers... Litsch can be optioned without any such concern.

Although yes - I'm not sure what we're hanging on to him for, aside from shuffling him to the pen once Morrow comes back - at which point I'm not sure who we'd send down/away to bring Litsch back...

[soulchild_07]

Confirmed: http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110419&content_id=17977418&vkey=news_tor&c_id=tor

[victor page]

I'm sick of the "he's out of options" crap. Sportswriters and some fans like to parade that out as a justification, just to try to show how smart they are (ooooh you understand that certain players can be sent down without waivers and other can't, how impressive!).

Reyes could potentially be a lefty specialist but he walks too many even for that, I have no idea what they're saving him for. Litsch can beat a lot of teams in the AL - the Yankees and Red Sox aren't among them unfortunately. But against the many of the other line-ups he can eat innings and give you a chance here and there. In 2011 that's what you'd settle for in a 5th starter.

[s e n s i]

Randle must be livid, and rightfully so. I wonder what the hell is going on here. Reyes is a sh*tballer.

[Avenger]

Nobody ever accused me of being a litsch fan but even i hate this move, if they wanna keep Reyes its gonna have to be in the bullpen, he's not starting material.

[Michael Bradley]

I wonder what type of upside AA sees in Reyes. He is 26 with a career 6.42 ERA in 207 major league innings. He walks nearly five a game and doesn't even keep the ball on the ground or in the ballpark. Josh Towers is better than him.

Not only do the Jays demote a much better option in Litsch, but this coming after they stifled any starting pitching development out of Rzepczynski to keep Reyes in a spot he has no business being in. Rzep in the rotation and Reyes in the pen is a MUCH better option, but they put one of their top 5 best starters in the pen for Reyes. Doesn't make sense to me.

I hope Reyes shocks us all and becomes a good SP this season, but nothing I have seen from him suggests he can.

[rtcaino]

I'm fine with this move.

As I have pointed out, the vast majority of Reyes Major League Innings came at age 23 or younger: which means you can largely discount the outcome of that performance.

His last outtings have been painful to watch, but I still believe there is a non-zero chance that he puts it together and becomes a useful pitcher.

[Lateral Quicks]

Unexpected.

[There There]

Last I checked, Litsch/Reyes does not need to be resolved until Saturday.

And we have Drabek, a rookie, and Cecil, who has been mostly terrible so far this season, going up against the Yankees.

Having an extra arm in Francisco in the pen makes sense right now. Litsch/Reyes can be decided later.

[tsherkin]

Nobody ever accused me of being a litsch fan but even i hate this move, if they wanna keep Reyes its gonna have to be in the bullpen, he's not starting material.

+1?

I am by no means a fan of Litsch but he's not the worst 5th starter in the world and demoting him instead of Reyes, waivers or not, isn't exactly the world's biggest deal, especially with Scrabble waiting in the wings. Not sure why AA thought this was a good idea. Will wait and see what happens but definitely having a WTF moment.

[Randle McMurphy]

Litsch has a 3.17 FIP/3.50 xFIP in three starts and the last time he was healthy he had a good year for this team (2.6 WAR in 2008). I don't care whether he had options, he didn't deserve this, nor does his demotion help the team at all.

Reyes is a worse version of Purcey. He has no future pitching in the AL East and should be DFA'd as soon as possible.

It's quite clear, at this point, that winning isn't the primary motivation for this team (as it hasn't been for the last few years). Developing talent is, and that's fine (for now). But does Jo-Jo Reyes really qualify as talent?

[Randle McMurphy]

I wonder what type of upside AA sees in Reyes. He is 26 with a career 6.42 ERA in 207 major league innings. He walks nearly five a game and doesn't even keep the ball on the ground or in the ballpark. Josh Towers is better than him.

The 2004-2007 version of Josh Towers would blow Reyes right out of the water. Heck, maybe the current version would too. At least he'd throw strikes.

Not only do the Jays demote a much better option in Litsch, but this coming after they stifled any starting pitching development out of Rzepczynski to keep Reyes in a spot he has no business being in. Rzep in the rotation and Reyes in the pen is a MUCH better option, but they put one of their top 5 best starters in the pen for Reyes. Doesn't make sense to me.

Yes, it's a bit annoying that the Jays have three vastly superior options for the #5 spot (Rzep, Litsch, Stewart) and perhaps more if you count Richmond/Mills, and are still giving innings to this scrub. If Rzep has become a permanent reliever as a result of this move, it will also leave a bad lasting legacy.

[rtcaino]

... It's not like we DFA's Litsch. He's still in the organization, and I don't think this decision is an indictment of his future as an MLB starter.

Based on performance, he should be in the Majors. Life isn't fair all the time.

There's little opportunity cost to Litsch being sent down: he can get his innings and continue to establish his value after having surgery.

Reyes doesn't have that option. And regardless of what anyone suggests here - he has pretty decent stuff, especially for a lefty. This is the only way that we can have him get his reps as a starter.

I'm not sure how anyone could be so against giving Jo-Jo another look or two - except perhaps Jessie and his close associates.

[Randle McMurphy]

Reyes doesn't have that option. And regardless of what anyone suggests here - he has pretty decent stuff, especially for a lefty. This is the only way that we can have him get his reps as a starter.

I'm not sure how anyone could be so against giving Jo-Jo another look or two - except perhaps Jessie and his close associates.

Reyes has pitched over 200 innings in the majors (almost all of them in the terrible NL), and done horrifyingly bad. For comparison, David Purcey only had a little over 100 innings as a starter (and did much better, considering the league/division he pitched in). But as you know, the Jays gave up on him as a starter, moved him to the bullpen, and then gave up on him as a reliever.

What need is there to give a lesser David Purcey another look or two? We know what's coming here.

[flatjacket1]

I'm sick of the "he's out of options" crap. Sportswriters and some fans like to parade that out as a justification, just to try to show how smart they are (ooooh you understand that certain players can be sent down without waivers and other can't, how impressive!).

I highly doubt anybody argues this, I'm pretty sure everybody understands that the choice was either lose 1 player or keep both.

Reyes had a rough start.
So has Felix Hernandez.

Just saying it can happen to the best of them.

[Randle McMurphy]

I'm sick of the "he's out of options" crap. Sportswriters and some fans like to parade that out as a justification, just to try to show how smart they are (ooooh you understand that certain players can be sent down without waivers and other can't, how impressive!).

I highly doubt anybody argues this, I'm pretty sure everybody understands that the choice was either lose 1 player or keep both.

Reyes had a rough start.
So has Felix Hernandez.

Just saying it can happen to the best of them.

Except Reyes' entire MLB career is a rough start.

[There There]

Reyes doesn't have that option. And regardless of what anyone suggests here - he has pretty decent stuff, especially for a lefty. This is the only way that we can have him get his reps as a starter.

I'm not sure how anyone could be so against giving Jo-Jo another look or two - except perhaps Jessie and his close associates.

Reyes has pitched over 200 innings in the majors (almost all of them in the terrible NL), and done horrifyingly bad. For comparison, David Purcey only had a little over 100 innings as a starter (and did much better, considering the league/division he pitched in). But as you know, the Jays gave up on him as a starter, moved him to the bullpen, and then gave up on him as a reliever.

What need is there to give a lesser David Purcey another look or two? We know what's coming here.

An asset is an asset. Farquhar was fantastic return for Purcey, but perhaps the A's wanted Purcey all along and that is why that deal presented itself.

If AA does not have any ongoing discussions regarding Reyes, then why force the matter by DFA'ing him right now.

Besides, the spot is not an issue until Saturday. By then, Litsch could be back, another bullpen arm could be in AAA ( Perez ? ) and Reyes could be in the pen.

Or they could skip the spot altogether and go back to Romero on Saturday.

With the Yankees in town, it does not make sense to send a bullpen guy down in place of Francisco, so Litsch was the obvious move for now.

edit... Forgot about the 10 day minimum assignment. So even if Romero went Saturday on regular rest, it's likely Reyes would be needed Tuesday before Litsch could be returned. Even still, I can handle Reyes for one more start if someone else eventually replaces him, whether that be Zep, Stewart or Litsch.

[Lateral Quicks]

What does this do for the catching situation? Molina catches Reyes and Drabek exclusively, and last year he was Morrow's personal catcher. Does Molina start catching 3 out of every 5 days with Morrow's return, and if not, who does Arencibia start catching?

If this moves keeps Arencibia out of the lineup more frequently, it's an even worse move than most are making it out to be.

[kwamebargnani]

What a waste of option. Nobody cares if we lose a sh#tbum for nothing.