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The wiretap suggests that teams have been calling about David Purcey, the left hander with the Blue Jays. Is it a wise move for the Jays to move him or could he still figure into the starting rotation race.

http://starturl.com/gppio

I know much was made of him going into last season and he really disappointed, but he still has a lot of talent and could be a great arm out of the bullpen or even a better option to start than Brian Tallet.

Is it too early to give up on this guy or should we try to sell now and see what we get before his stock plummets even further?

It is acurious case to be sure. Pitching coach Walton has said he has been impressed with him thus far during the spring and that he is focusing more on perfecting a couple of pitches rather than focusing on the quantity of pitches in his arsenal.. Could he be useful? or should he be let go? Lefties in the bullpen are worth their weight in gold in the MLB.

Considering you probably would not get much for him, i'd rather we hold on for now and try him out of the pen.

I don't think he has consistent enough command of all his pitches to ever be successful starting, but that's not as much of a concern out of the pen as he wouldn't need more than a couple of consistent pitches.

I just think he has more value to this team as a cheap option out of the pen than as a trading cheap.

At this rate the Jays would be better off sticking him in a high leverage bullpen role (closer?) and seeing if he could either artificially increase his value (with saves) or actually become a good late-inning reliever that the team could use for the next few years. Either way, trading him now likely won't lead to a good return.

His future, if he has one at all, seems to be in the bullpen. Of course, taking a guy with command issues and sticking him in a one inning role doesn't seem like a good idea, but maybe going full bore for one inning might help him.

Cito said they reduced him to 2 pitches, so he can come out of the pen. Apparently he's looking a lot better now.

Purcey is very feast or famine. He can put up, in 4 innings, a ridiculous line like 6 Ks, 4 walks and 3 ERs. I think the feast part (strikeout machine) is the attractive part about him and I think is the reason why so many teams are interested. If someone can solve him, you've got a No.2 or 3 starter on your hands.

In the meantime, it seems the Jays have given up solving him as a starter and seems to be willing to turn Purcey into the lefthanded Brandon League. I think it's a waste of a 1st rounder.

LieCheatSteal wrote:Purcey is very feast or famine. He can put up, in 4 innings, a ridiculous line like 6 Ks, 4 walks and 3 ERs. I think the feast part (strikeout machine) is the attractive part about him and I think is the reason why so many teams are interested. If someone can solve him, you've got a No.2 or 3 starter on your hands.

In the meantime, it seems the Jays have given up solving him as a starter and seems to be willing to turn Purcey into the lefthanded Brandon League. I think it's a waste of a 1st rounder.

It sure is. Can you get ours back for us?

Purcey isn't wildly inconsistent; he just bad with some pitches. The Jays blog Ghostrunner On First took a look at this, and it turns out Purcey has two very good pitches (fastball and slider), one bad one (curve), and one awful one (change). If the good pitches were a fastball and a change, then maybe you can eek a starting career out, but with either a slider or a curve, there is one hand of hitters you aren't going to be able to get out the second time through the order.

Given that he is 27 and was drafted 9 years ago, the odds of him learning to locate ether of the bad two are slim. So now is probably a good time to see if you can turn him into a homegrown BJ Ryan, without the murderous delivery. And hey, it he figures out his curve while he is in your bullpen, you can always throw him into the rotation.

LieCheatSteal wrote:Purcey is very feast or famine. He can put up, in 4 innings, a ridiculous line like 6 Ks, 4 walks and 3 ERs. I think the feast part (strikeout machine) is the attractive part about him and I think is the reason why so many teams are interested. If someone can solve him, you've got a No.2 or 3 starter on your hands.

In the meantime, it seems the Jays have given up solving him as a starter and seems to be willing to turn Purcey into the lefthanded Brandon League. I think it's a waste of a 1st rounder.

Your accusation of wasting the pick is pretty silly. If the team thought he was going to be a successful starter than they would keep him there. As ME pointed out, the guy is 27 now, I think it's far too late to expect some great evolution in his game.

They're not wasting a pick, they're trying to salvage it by finding a role for him. Moreover, if he becomes a dependable bullpen arm then that's at least value for a first rounder anyway.

youngLion wrote:

LieCheatSteal wrote:Purcey is very feast or famine. He can put up, in 4 innings, a ridiculous line like 6 Ks, 4 walks and 3 ERs. I think the feast part (strikeout machine) is the attractive part about him and I think is the reason why so many teams are interested. If someone can solve him, you've got a No.2 or 3 starter on your hands.

In the meantime, it seems the Jays have given up solving him as a starter and seems to be willing to turn Purcey into the lefthanded Brandon League. I think it's a waste of a 1st rounder.

Your accusation of wasting the pick is pretty silly. If the team thought he was going to be a successful starter than they would keep him there. As ME pointed out, the guy is 27 now, I think it's far too late to expect some great evolution in his game.

They're not wasting a pick, they're trying to salvage it by finding a role for him. Moreover, if he becomes a dependable bullpen arm then that's at least value for a first rounder anyway.

I agree, this is baseball and the chances of a 1st round pick even making the big leagues is quite slim to begin with.