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Stairs designated for assignment/Snider's In
Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 3:45 am
by Luv 4 da game
The Toronto Blue Jays designated Matt Stairs for assignment after Thursday night’s 3-2 loss to Tampa Bay, and the designated hitter-outfielder expects to be traded by Saturday.
“I can tell you that I am going to a contender, so that makes it a little easier to swallow,” said Stairs, who would not name the team. The Blue Jays would only say they were working on a potential deal.
Toronto also purchased the contract of outfielder Travis Snider from Triple-A Syracuse.
“We’re going to play the kid and see what he’s got,” Gaston said.
Snider also played at Class-A Dunedin and Double-A New Hampshire this season. The 20-year-old had a .344 batting average with two homers and 17 RBIs in 18 games at Syracuse.
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Re: Stairs designated for assignment/Snider's In
Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 4:13 am
by Geddy
He did well for us considering the expectations were low when we brought him in. Have a feeling he'll end up somewhere in the NL.
Re: Stairs designated for assignment/Snider's In
Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 8:21 am
by bimmer
It kills me to see Stairsy leave, but I can't wait to see what Snider can do. I know it's his first trip up so I won't get my hopes up TOO much, but still, I have a feeling he'll be a monster.
Re: Stairs designated for assignment/Snider's In
Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 9:07 am
by Peteros
Foxsports.com's Ken Rosenthal reported early Friday morning that Stairs was headed to the Philadelphia Phillies, according to sources. Toronto was to receive a prospect in return.
http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/2008/0 ... esignated/
Re: Stairs designated for assignment/Snider's In
Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 12:23 pm
by Michael Bradley
I don't know if I like this move. Very Ash-like.
Snider is doing well for a 20-year old, but he's hardly setting the world on fire in the minors. Between three minor league levels, he's hit .275/.358/.480 (.838 OPS) with 154 strike outs (61 walks) in 487 at bats. I don't know what ramifications this has with Snider's service clock, but more importantly is what it will do to him as a hitter. Rushing someone before they are ready can be disasterous. To put this in perspective, Delgado didn't start hitting under Gaston until age 24, and Delgado was a better prospect than Snider. I don't want to see Snider's service time start to rack up while he struggles to hit MLB pitching for 3-4 years.
If this is only for September, and Snider starts 2009 in AAA (only getting the call if/when he proves he's ready), then fine. However, I get the feeling this is Ricciardi's way of trying to save his job by rushing the only star calibre player he's ever drafted, and Snider will be here to stay. Even Jay Bruce can't get his OPS above David Eckstein terrority at age 21. It's a huge risk.
Re: Stairs designated for assignment/Snider's In
Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 2:56 pm
by whiterasta80
I agree that its too early MB, although if it works out this move has many potential positive ramifications. (adapted from my BB post)
If Snider sticks (I doubt it, but its possible), then we can blow our wad on a SS and a pitcher. Personally I've always liked Ben Sheets and think we should take a run at him. Of course it'd be on the assumption that he's only going to give us about 22 starts, but they'd be mostly quality ones.
As for Snider, I still think its early. He should have stayed at AAA until this time next year. Let his OPS come back up over .900 and cut the strikeouts down. We do risk setting him back, and we have started his clock for no apparent reason IMO. That said, its entirely possible that he hits major league pitching just like he did in the minors- at which point... Hello DH.
Also, this is an organization that doesn't hand out huge signing bonuses to its prospects- we look for signability. An underrated part of this move is that it'll show top prospects that they can get to the majors quickly under our watch. As a high schooler Snider signed almost immediately, got a half season under his belt before many of his peers ever swung a minor league bat. He is aggressively promoted based on his performance and hits the majors at 20. That might increase "signability" of the next 18 year old kid we have to negotiate with.
I'm still against this move (and it reeks of JP trying to point out that he's got the ship moving forward), but I can't deny that, if its successful and Snider sticks, it could have a real positive impact on this team in a number of areas.
Re: Stairs designated for assignment/Snider's In
Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 3:37 pm
by cb4_89
**** this could end up biting us really bad. Snider needs to stay a full year in AAA and then call him up next year when he is more suited for the majors. We can't rush a prospect of this magnitude.
Re: Stairs designated for assignment/Snider's In
Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 3:40 pm
by Peteros
It is a huge risk.
For a 20 yr old to make the jump and play in the majors.
I'm hoping for the best..
Re: Stairs designated for assignment/Snider's In
Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 4:01 pm
by Holmes
I'm not a big Snider fan to begin with. However, I do recognize he's one of the games better prospects. But calling him up now is just farce. The guy is going to be a strikeout mess. Most people including me were predicting a September 2009 call up and going by what he's done now it makes complete logical sense.
This is so much different then bringing up Jay Bruce at 21. Snider wasn't even the same level of prospect Bruce is. Bruce was polished (although he has problems with strikeouts as well) and could defend. He could provide Cincinnati a lot more than what Snider can provide for the Jays at this point. Snider is still raw and below average in the oufield. His 154 strikeouts is ridculous. It reminds you of Ryan Howard in the minors but Snider isn't even in the same stratosphere in terms of power.
One of 2 scenarios can happen:
1) Snider does an Adam Lind and tears up September, then J.P. thinks he's ready for the following year and collapses.
2) Snider stinks it up, shows that he's clearly not ready and we shake our head at J.P. for one last time.
Re: Stairs designated for assignment/Snider's In
Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 4:29 pm
by Relentless88
I think they should've let him finish in the minors, he's so damn young. Hope it works out, big Snider fan.
Re: Stairs designated for assignment/Snider's In
Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 4:31 pm
by TR50
its gonna be scenario 2...i can jut tell....one positive is JP gone...
well since he's up i hope he can run with it
Re: Stairs designated for assignment/Snider's In
Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 6:31 pm
by Nolan
I'm a little iffy on bringing Snider up this quickly dudes only played 18 AAA games although he's put of good numbers in those games I still don't think he's ready.
Sad to see Stairs leave but it was the right move.
Re: Stairs designated for assignment/Snider's In
Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 8:16 pm
by Michael Bradley
whiterasta80 wrote:I agree that its too early MB, although if it works out this move has many potential positive ramifications. (adapted from my BB post)
If Snider sticks (I doubt it, but its possible), then we can blow our wad on a SS and a pitcher. Personally I've always liked Ben Sheets and think we should take a run at him. Of course it'd be on the assumption that he's only going to give us about 22 starts, but they'd be mostly quality ones.
As for Snider, I still think its early. He should have stayed at AAA until this time next year. Let his OPS come back up over .900 and cut the strikeouts down. We do risk setting him back, and we have started his clock for no apparent reason IMO. That said, its entirely possible that he hits major league pitching just like he did in the minors- at which point... Hello DH.
Also, this is an organization that doesn't hand out huge signing bonuses to its prospects- we look for signability. An underrated part of this move is that it'll show top prospects that they can get to the majors quickly under our watch. As a high schooler Snider signed almost immediately, got a half season under his belt before many of his peers ever swung a minor league bat. He is aggressively promoted based on his performance and hits the majors at 20. That might increase "signability" of the next 18 year old kid we have to negotiate with.
I'm still against this move (and it reeks of JP trying to point out that he's got the ship moving forward), but I can't deny that, if its successful and Snider sticks, it could have a real positive impact on this team in a number of areas.
I agree that if Snider stays on the team and hits well, it will help the Jays tremendously since he fills their main weakness (LHB with power). However, how likely is that? As much as I would like to have elite players under the team's control for as long as possible, I don't mind promoting a 19/20 year old if he's ready for it. But is Snider at that point? He's not an A-Rod level prospect.
Vernon Wells was called up in 1999 at age 20 (he was drafted out of high school in 1997 so it's almost identical to Snider's situation). He struggled for a month, and didn't become a regular until age 23 in 2002. Calling Wells up didn't hurt since he spent two whole seasons in AAA before becoming a regular and he was a productive player for six years before being signed to a huge extension, but what if Wells became a regular in 2000 at age 21? That's what I fear will happen with Snider given the team's lack of options. Wells had Stewart, Cruz, and Mondesi blocking him. Snider is different in the sense that he can DH (Wells was too valuable defensively to DH), and DH happens to be Toronto's weakness.
Ricciardi is a sample size idiot, so if Snider lights the world on fire in September, he'll be a HOF'er in JP's eyes and will be pencilled in at DH for 2009 immediately. Who knows, maybe Snider will take off and never stop, but he doesn't strike me as that type of prospect. He has K issues and doesn't walk enough or hit for a high enough BA (yet) for me to be optimistic about him facing MLB pitching at age 20. I'd imagine a lot of strike outs in the coming month.
Ultimately, I just hope it's a one month experiment and Snider starts 2009 in AAA. There are a few short-term DH options out there in free agency (Delgado, Giambi, Ibanez, etc). I wouldn't mind blocking Snider for 2 years and make him force the Jays to play him, rather than rushing him out of necessity.
Re: Stairs designated for assignment/Snider's In
Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 8:40 pm
by Schad
This strikes me as another case of businessman JP dominating the agenda at the expense of team-management JP. With yet another pointless September ahead, Ricciardi is scratching and clawing for every last filled seat, even if means using our best prospect as something of a sideshow. I doubt that it hurts Snider's development (he can't be dumb enough to start him in the majors next year, right?), but it does give him an early start on his service time, though a very limited one. With the AAA season coming to a close it could be as simple as extending his season...though I would much prefer that Snider got an early start on his fall workouts instead.
Re: Stairs designated for assignment/Snider's In
Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 1:03 am
by cb4_89
He is 1-2 with a double right now. I like what I see.
Re: Stairs designated for assignment/Snider's In
Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 2:54 am
by SCF99
At a million Stairs would have been cheap option next year,,,Snydor could have stayed in triple a year longer thats a big part of your future you are gambling with bringing him up and playing the ruin the confidence game
Re: Stairs designated for assignment/Snider's In
Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 3:42 am
by evilRyu
surrpised stairs is heading to the NL considering his lack of defense.
Anyway, I do agree with most people in that it's pretty early for Snider to be called up. I was listening to the game on the radio, and when i heard that Snider was in the lineup, i was very excited, definiltey want to see how the kid performs.
whiterasta80, how "profitable" is this "signability" reputation the Jays have created by having Snider in the big leagues so early? Will it help us sign better players down the road? Surely the performance should speak louder
Re: Stairs designated for assignment/Snider's In
Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 4:14 am
by NH_soxfan14
Im stoked for travis. Im gonna get tickets from him for the september 13th series vs. the sox. I'll talk to him and see how he feels.
Re: Stairs designated for assignment/Snider's In
Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 4:30 am
by Alfred
Once JP Ricciardi is replaced with a better GM this offseason, Snider will be put back into AAA to continue his development. Hopefully.
Re: Stairs designated for assignment/Snider's In
Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 4:51 pm
by evilRyu
NH_soxfan14 wrote:Im stoked for travis. Im gonna get tickets from him for the september 13th series vs. the sox. I'll talk to him and see how he feels.
nice! so did you get a chance to talk to him about his mlb debut?