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Two of the best pitching prospects in the Toronto Blue Jays' system started in the Minor Leagues on Tuesday.

The San Diego Padres, Miami Marlins, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies and Oakland Athletics scouted Jeff Hoffman, who pitched for Single-A Dunedin, according to sources.

The Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers, Reds, Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs saw Daniel Norris for Triple-A Buffalo.

The most likely option for a trade may be San Diego, who has young pitchers to trade and could even move Craig Kimbrel.

Everybody is scouting everybody at this time of year.

I'd trade Hoffman for Johnny Cueto if we can get him to sign an extension with us.

Trade Norris to the White Sox for Samardzija.

2 starting pitchers. Done.

Xaos wrote:I'd trade Hoffman for Johnny Cueto if we can get him to sign an extension with us. .

Cueto isn't signing an extension with anyone. Why would he? He's going to go on the open market and take the biggest deal he can get, which almost certainly wouldn't be coming from us.

Xaos wrote:I'd trade Hoffman for Johnny Cueto if we can get him to sign an extension with us.

Trade Norris to the White Sox for Samardzija.

2 starting pitchers. Done.

Rogers will never give both of these guys the money they want. You'd be trading them for two months of both. It's fantasy stuff, unfortunately.

Cueto will not sign an extension prior to testing free agency, and if he's traded mid-season, that means he won't be subject to draft pick compensation, so he'd have even less incentive to sign an extension if traded. Same goes for Samardzija.

I've said before, I have no issues with making a rental deal this time of year if the team was 5-10 games up on the division and needed one extra arm for the playoffs. However, making that type of deal when the team is hovering around .500 and are 3-4 games back with 3 other teams right there with them, would be foolish. They would have had a higher probability of making the playoffs if they made a difference making move last trade deadline (10 games over .500, a game and a half back of 1st in the East, and leading the 2nd WC). They did absolutely nothing. They'd be smart to do the same here, when the probability of making the playoffs is no where near that good.

I don't expect AA to trade his "favorite player ever", but man it would be nice to see if there's any kind of market for Reyes. Eat salary, take back the best talent you can get, whatever. Pipe dream, but one can hope.

cueto won't sign with the jays in any scenario considering the jays don't hand out contracts more than 5 years which he'll surely get as a free agent.

AA should move on and look more creatively.

Xaos wrote:I'd trade Hoffman for Johnny Cueto if we can get him to sign an extension with us.

Trade Norris to the White Sox for Samardzija.

2 starting pitchers. Done.

Cuento will not sign an extension, and it is going to cost a lot more than Norris to get Samardzija. It is not happening. This team has not shown enough at this point to give the impression that they are only one pitcher away. They stand at .500 going into Kansas City. They will finish below .500 in all likelihood going into the break. If they continue to struggle after the break, and up until the trade deadline, and suddenly find themselves 7-8 games back out of the division lead, i think instead of buyers they might as well become sellers.

I'm frankly terrified of what AA might do. I'm dreading waking up one morning to read AA did something stupid like trade Norris, Pentecost and say Urena for a rental of Cueto. My fears are not without cause (see the disastrous Dickey trade).

Lateral Quicks wrote:I'm frankly terrified of what AA might do. I'm dreading waking up one morning to read AA did something stupid like trade Norris, Pentecost and say Urena for a rental of Cueto. My fears are not without cause (see the disastrous Dickey trade).

That's a bit unfair. AA has had good and bad trades but the two worst both came in that same season where he seemed like he had to throw together something quick when he had the money to spend. And you can argue the Marlins trade was a wash in the end really. He's also the same GM that landed us Donaldson. I don't think he'll make a dumb trade like that for a rental.

Lateral Quicks wrote:I'm frankly terrified of what AA might do. I'm dreading waking up one morning to read AA did something stupid like trade Norris, Pentecost and say Urena for a rental of Cueto. My fears are not without cause (see the disastrous Dickey trade).

The difference is those trades yielded players with many years of control left, save for Josh Johnson (Buehrle for 3, Reyes for 5+1, and Dickey for 3+1). Even the original Happ trade was done when Happ had two and a half years of control left.

AA trading strictly for a rental would be a first for him. I wouldn't be surprised if he does (as I've said before lame duck management scares the crap out of me), but I wouldn't say it's a foregone conclusion. It wouldn't shock me if he traded Norris, Hoffman, etc, for someone with a bit more control (i.e. Hamels), assuming the money issues can be ironed out. A pure rental would be surprising, and disappointing at this point.

I've started a kickstarter fund to raise $20m for Rogers to go get some players.

Xaos wrote:I'd trade Hoffman for Johnny Cueto if we can get him to sign an extension with us.

Trade Norris to the White Sox for Samardzija.

2 starting pitchers. Done.

If we really had to I would even consider one of those guys being Norris. We can always look to draft well but I think with Stroman coming back as a possible Ace, we need to sure up the starting pitching for next 5 years and that gives us time to draft well and develop without having to Rush guys to the majors like we have in the past. This is a great time to trade off.

Once you start winning then players will come you wont have to overpay to land them either once winning is developed.

Keep top pitching prospects. Syndergaard would look great right now.

Another consideration in what the Jays might do is whether the Yankees in particular will do something big, first. The Yanks are one good move away from locking up the division, and they have plenty of attractive prospects they could offer.

Xaos wrote:I'd trade Hoffman for Johnny Cueto if we can get him to sign an extension with us.

Trade Norris to the White Sox for Samardzija.

2 starting pitchers. Done.

More like 2 rentals for 2 of our top prospects. Dumb

dennistokyo wrote:Keep top pitching prospects. Syndergaard would look great right now.

A lot of what we traded in that offseason would look pretty good, heh. We have three remaining players from the Marlins/Mets deal...they've posted a shade under 2.5 fWAR thus far this season, and will be paid a combined $54m. Those we gave up have combined to post about 1 fWAR more...while being paid less than $5m as a group.

Hindsight is 20/20 but if neither trade was made that year, the Jays would have a near elite team now with mounds of money to spend and be in a position to contend for many years and not just one.

This is why I don't want to make any short term trades.

In past years where short term trades were made, the team was clearly a contender and the trades designed to make them championship material.

This year's team not so much. They are what they are, a team barely playing .500 ball.

Sifu wrote:Hindsight is 20/20 but if neither trade was made that year, the Jays would have a near elite team now with mounds of money to spend and be in a position to contend for many years and not just one.

This is why I don't want to make any short term trades.

In past years where short term trades were made, the team was clearly a contender and the trades designed to make them championship material.

This year's team not so much. They are what they are, a team barely playing .500 ball.

If the Jays had not made those trades, then 2013 and 2014 likely would have been complete flameouts with no "hype" to attract fans to the ball park. They pretty much had to go in one direction or the other; either make an effort to win during Bautista's window, or start looking more long-term. They went the direction I wanted them to go to, but just chose the wrong players and the wrong contracts in hindsight. I still think they could have made the playoffs in 2014, and even 2015, with a little boost in payroll and some better roster construction, but what's done is done. It's clearly not going to happen now, and it's better to realize that a year too soon, rather than double down and regret even more prospect capital panning out on other teams because of short-term moves.

Theres no guarantee any prospect will pan out, but Hoffman is the JAYS best chance at redemption for the Syndergaard trade. I hope they dont trade him too.