LF Options on the trade market

Asif16 · Post #1 » by **Asif16** » Fri Jun 9, 2017 2:43 am

LF is obviously a huge gaping hole right now on this team. Both offensively and Defensively.

What are some legitimate options out there right now on the trade market. You have to think the upgrade will be through a trade.

Lorenzo Cain? Mett Kemp? Ryan Braun?

HangTime · Post #2 » by **HangTime** » Fri Jun 9, 2017 2:56 am

How long until Dalton Pompey is ready to comeback? Another Switch hitter in the lineup would be interesting.

Asif16 · Post #3 » by **Asif16** » Fri Jun 9, 2017 3:02 am

HangTime wrote:How long until Dalton Pompey is ready to comeback? Another Switch hitter in the lineup would be interesting.

Pompey's chance this season has passed due to the injuries. I can't see the jays calling him to be our everyday LF during the middle of the season. Pompey needs a lot more time to get his feel back in the minors. Jays would also much rather have Pompey go through a full spring training with the team to determine if he's worthy of the spot. Only way Pompey get called up is we're faced with even more injuries or for the expanded roster in october

bluerap23 · Post #4 » by **bluerap23** » Fri Jun 9, 2017 11:51 am

Still holding out hope for Steve Pearce

Raps_Swingman · Post #5 » by **Raps_Swingman** » Fri Jun 9, 2017 12:19 pm

Dwight Smith deserves some run at this point or even Roemon Fields whose hitting well above .300, although on an inflated BABIP.

Both provide speed on the basepaths and a different look in a lineup full of HR hitters.

Raps_Swingman · Post #6 » by **Raps_Swingman** » Fri Jun 9, 2017 1:03 pm

bluerap23 wrote:Still holding out hope for Steve Pearce

Pearce was rehabbing last night in NH. Went 0-3 with a Walk. Could be back soon.

Black Watch · Post #7 » by **Black Watch** » Fri Jun 9, 2017 5:53 pm

I'm still holding out hope that we sell, not buy.

dagger · Post #8 » by **dagger** » Fri Jun 9, 2017 5:54 pm

When considering options on the trade market, I'd ask what money do the Jays have to add net salary, and if there is no flexibility there, what prospects do you expect to give up for an upgrade? I suspect there is little flexibility and less appetite for giving first or second tier prospects.

dagger · Post #9 » by **dagger** » Fri Jun 9, 2017 5:57 pm

Black Watch wrote:I'm still holding out hope that we sell, not buy.

When you consider that as things stand, three of the four AL playoff teams could be ahead of us in the AL East standings, we ought to have a pretty good idea of playoff chances come mid-July. If the Jays aren't a few games over .500, playoff odds diminish. The team has about a month to figure out how to close the gap with Baltimore and Boston in particular. It doesn't look like Sanchez in particular is close to returning, Happ hasn't found his form, Liriano is meh, the bullpen is overworked, and Travis might be out indefinitely. So it's going to be a hard slog, in my opinion.

The_Hater · Post #10 » by **The_Hater** » Fri Jun 9, 2017 5:59 pm

HangTime wrote:How long until Dalton Pompey is ready to comeback? Another Switch hitter in the lineup would be interesting.

I wish people would stop bringing up this name as a possible solution, Buffalo isn't even dying to get him back.

Carrera is still by far our best internal option and although he's not great it would take a fairly major trade to upgrade on him. Also remember there is money tied up in Pence and LF remains the only spot he will likely play much. Since we could end up being sellers in 3 weeks I'm not sure management will be looking this direction short term.

wamco · Post #11 » by **wamco** » Fri Jun 9, 2017 7:23 pm

None of Pompey, smith or fields are going to amount to much imo. Throw in Reese McGwire and Harold Ramirez while at it

rarefind · Post #12 » by **rarefind** » Fri Jun 9, 2017 7:59 pm

Pearce will be back soon and likely soon back on the DL again. He is roughly good for 90-100 games per season, he has a pretty good track record of this.

Lateral Quicks · Post #13 » by **Lateral Quicks** » Sat Jun 10, 2017 1:19 am

I wouldn't call it a gaping hole. Carrera is decent in spurts, but gets exposed with regular playing time. When Pearce is back, a Carrera/Pearce platoon will be fine. Below league average, sure, but not enough of a problem to expend treasure on an upgrade when the team may be selling in a month.

Post #14 » by **Schad** » Sat Jun 10, 2017 5:53 pm

dagger wrote:
Black Watch wrote:I'm still holding out hope that we sell, not buy.

When you consider that as things stand, three of the four AL playoff teams could be ahead of us in the AL East standings, we ought to have a pretty good idea of playoff chances come mid-July. If the Jays aren't a few games over .500, playoff odds diminish. The team has about a month to figure out how to close the gap with Baltimore and Boston in particular. It doesn't look like Sanchez in particular is close to returning, Happ hasn't found his form, Liriano is meh, the bullpen is overworked, and Travis might be out indefinitely. So it's going to be a hard slog, in my opinion.

And we've also positioned ourselves such that we're either even with or behind many of the underperforming teams that were expected to compete for the playoffs, even after a great month of May, so if even one of them get it together and outperform us over the remainder of the season, we're probably done. Seattle had injury problems that probably exceeded our own, but they're now playing well (though, like any stretch, they aren't going to keep playing 10-2 baseball) and above us.

Still, we have a month before we need to make any decisions. Here's hoping that either we distinguish ourselves and get into good position, or someone else does and makes our decision for us.

johanliebert · Post #15 » by **johanliebert** » Sat Jun 10, 2017 11:06 pm

LF our biggest hole?

id say its 2b when travis cant stay healthy and goins has been getting regular abs.

Post #16 » by **Schad** » Sun Jun 11, 2017 4:22 am

Should mention that Carrera is fourth among our hitters in fWAR, and one of only three Jays regulars with a positive Runs Above Average. A great hitter, he is not; he is not the first player we should be replacing, either.

polo007 · Post #17 » by **polo007** » Sun Jun 11, 2017 8:21 am

Read on Twitter

One area of concern is the production from left field. The Jays are ranked 14th in batting average and slugging percetnage and 13th in on-base percentage in the American League at the position. The seven players who have played in left have combined for five homers and 17 RBI. Only three of the seven players have hits while playing the position, led by Ezequiel Carrera (.248/.328/.303).

The defence has also struggled in left. The Jays are ranked 23rd in MLB in defensive runs saved at -5.9. Steve Pearce and Carrera have been particularly bad with their reads and routes.

The plan was to utilize a platoon in left with some combination of Pearce and Carrera. Pearce was recovering from an elbow injury when he signed and has never been completely healthy. He has only played in 27 games as was placed on the disabled list on May 15 with a calf strain. The Jays hoped that Pearce would emerge as the everyday player, freeing Carrera to move between all three outfield positions.

Whenever teams commit to a platoon at a position there is a chance they could get very little production. Players who are part of a platoon typically aren’t good enough to be everyday players. The club hopes to reduce their vulnerability in certain areas by limiting their playing time in those situations. If one or both of the players underachieve, production can be severely compromised.

The Jays haven’t had a true chance to evaluate Pearce, so I expect they’ll wait until he returns from the DL before they look for upgrades. That being said, I don’t think the Jays will go all-in on a starting left fielder, even if Pearce isn’t overly productive.

They may just add a more substantial portion to the platoon. That means a guy like Curtis Granderson from the Mets is more likely than his teammate Jay Bruce. Granderson struggles against lefties but could be a more impactful left-hand hitting option than Carrera. The price for Granderson will be much more affordable. It also likely means a slugger like Tigers’ slugger J.D. Martinez won’t be a Blue Jay. The cost would be too high and his acquisition would significantly diminish the role of Pearce, who they signed to a two-year, $12-miliion deal last off-season.

The_Hater · Post #18 » by **The_Hater** » Sun Jun 11, 2017 12:07 pm

Phillips makes nice use of sective stats in his article. We're 14th in BA primarily because both Coglan and Pearce have been awful thus far. Carerra has a .329/.382/.464 vs RHP when we count his entire production and this is primary player we're looking to replace? I don't get it. Once Pearce comes back as a platoon partner this should be a positive offensive position for the rest of the season.

The serious question is when does Gibby finally figure out that Pillar and his .305 OBP vs RHP should not be leading off when he has Carerra in the lineup?

Al_Oliver · Post #19 » by **Al_Oliver** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 2:22 pm

The_Hater wrote:Phillips makes nice use of sective stats in his article. We're 14th in BA primarily because both Coglan and Pearce have been awful thus far. Carerra has a .329/.382/.464 vs RHP when we count his entire production and this is primary player we're looking to replace? I don't get it. Once Pearce comes back as a platoon partner this should be a positive offensive position for the rest of the season.

The serious question is when does Gibby finally figure out that Pillar and his .305 OBP vs RHP should not be leading off when he has Carerra in the lineup?

Better still, hopefully Pillar gets traded before everyone realizes that he has turned back into a pumpkin...