Jays acquire Escobar & Reyes for Alex Gonzalez + others

[tempests_dawn]

http://bit.ly/anoODw

BLUE JAYS have acquired ESCOBAR and JO-JO REYES from Braves in exchange for ALEX GONZALEZ, TIM COLLINS & INF TYLER PASTRONICKY.

Nice!

Buy low + Sell high!

[Avenger]

tim collins?? nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo


Wow, who saw anything like this coming? Almost 3 weeks from the trade deadline and AA already pulled off a blockbuster

[-MetA4-]

Solid deal if Escobar goes back to hitting. Seeing Tim Collins go is depressing though, and I liked Pastornicky as well.

[tempests_dawn]

I'm not familiar with Tim Collins. Can anyone shed some light on what type of player he likely will become?

[Avenger]

I'm not familiar with Tim Collins. Can anyone shed some light on what type of player he likely will become?

5'6"(yeah you read that right) closer that was striking out 15 batters per nine innings(9 is considered very very good for a reliever, 15 is **** unheard of) against significantly older competition, could have been a pretty good big league closer.

[-MetA4-]

I'm not familiar with Tim Collins. Can anyone shed some light on what type of player he likely will become?

Late inning reliever. Not much agreement on how good he will be given his extremely unorthadox profile; but safe prediction would be 8th inning set-up man.

[DonYon]

Tim Collins is a nice story, but he seems like a mini Casey Jassen minus the control. I was hoping to see Pastronicky with the team soon, since his speed fills a need on this team.

I'm not sure if I like this trade. I know Escobar hit well in previous season but he's been sucking this year. Also, I don't know anything about reyes. Is he good for anything?

[Kevin Willis]

Why? Don't see how this improves the Jays.

[tsherkin]

If he goes back to getting a ba BIP of .310 or better like he previously enjoyed instea dof the .270 he's getting now, Escobar is a .300 hitter, which would do a lot to improve our no-OBP offense.

Reyes, I don't get, but I don't know much about him. High-80s to low-90s velocity on his fastball, four pitches, not much control. Mid/late 20s.

But yeah, Escobar could help a lot, even if he's got less power than Gonzo.

[-MetA4-]

Why? Don't see how this improves the Jays.

Gonzalez was a free-agent stopgap who is playing way over what anyone could have imagined. Yunel
Escobar was a Top 5 SS last year and Top 8 the year before that. Its a classic case of selling high on a guy who is playing well above his head to buy low on a player who is under-performing. Two years ago the Braves wouldn't deal Escobar for Jake Peavy.

[Weems]

I don't like this at all. I know who Gonzalez is and his value, so it's not I'm overvaluing him or anything. I just don't like Escobar. He can field, I suppose. Woohoo.

I liked Collins a lot. Pastornicky, too, though it'd be hard to project him with this team.

[LBJSeizedMyID]

Great return for Gonzalez. Knowing the Jays hitting staff, I think Escobar will be a great fit here. Collins had some pretty sick numbers, but Reyes himself could be an interesting add on.

[aligator]

BJ trade is high risk but this is the kind of deal that is needed in terms of attempting to be very good as opposed to mediocre. We took 2 players who have high ceilings and Escobar is having a so so year after 2 very good ones. I believe he is under control for 3 more years. Reyes is a pitcher with outstanding stuff who for some reason has not been able to put it together. Braves are obviously "going for it now" and that's the appeal of Gonzalez. As a non playoff team, they would never have considered trading Escobar. As for the other 2, i like Collins and I also like Pastornicky but he is now redundant with all the ss in the organization. Collins will pitch in the bigs but there is a price to doing business and that is it. If you believe that the team that wins the trade is the one that gets the best player, the BJ's are the winner with Escobar. Of course, it is not that simple but nice to see AA has the stones to pull off a big one. FWIW, initial reaction from Atlanta scribes and fans is negative so that should be seen as good for TO. Classic buy low, sell high. Love it.

[dagger]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/b ... le1639811/

[Kevin Willis]

Why? Don't see how this improves the Jays.

Gonzalez was a free-agent stopgap who is playing way over what anyone could have imagined. Yunel
Escobar was a Top 5 SS last year and Top 8 the year before that. Its a classic case of selling high on a guy who is playing well above his head to buy low on a player who is under-performing. Two years ago the Braves wouldn't deal Escobar for Jake Peavy.

Wow.

[Hoopstarr]

The Braves liked Escobar so much that they were willing to give up Andrus to the Rangers. He's only 27 as well and a very good fielder. Just a great hitter overall but no speed for a SS. I like the deal even though I also like Pastornicky and Collins a lot.

[TheMainEvent]

I like this deal for both sides. ATL gets a veteran who plays real good D and has been a surprise with the bat this year, while the Jays get a younger SS who's having an off-year in hitting and who's fairly good with the glove.

Alex Gonzalez has been really good this year, but obviously, he's not a part of the future (which is what the Jays should and are focusing on). Like Rolen though, I'll miss watching his defense here

Tim Collins seems more like a novelty to me. He's been a pretty darn good pitcher, but I just can't see a pitcher that short be effective in the majors.

I don't know much about Pastronicky.

Yunel Escobar's a nice player. He's a good hitter (except for this season) and he's pretty good on defense (nowhere near Gonzalez, of course).

Jo-Jo Reyes, I thought was going to do a bit better than he had in Atlanta during his one real season in the majors. Even if he doesn't amount to much, I think he's a decent guy to try out.

[Avenger]

I don't like this at all. I know who Gonzalez is and his value, so it's not I'm overvaluing him or anything. I just don't like Escobar. He can field, I suppose. Woohoo.

I liked Collins a lot. Pastornicky, too, though it'd be hard to project him with this team.

He can do more than just field. He was worth 4.3 Wins above Replacement last year(5th among shortstops), he was basically Atlanta`s best player, before this year in his three seasons with the Braves he was hitting .301 .375 .426 .801 which is pretty **** good for a short stop. His struggles this year is not because he regressed or because of his attitude, he`s just getting unlucky on balls in play but everything else looks fine. His strikeouts are at a career low, his walks are at a career high, he`s walking more than he`s whiffing and despite his struggles Escobar OBP is 40 points higher than Gonzalez who`s having a career year

I don`t think there`s a Jays fan that loves Tyler P and Collins more than me but this is just gonna be an epic trade for the Jays. Tim Collins highest upside is a solid closer and Tyler P is a utility infielder which are not bad upsides but very easily replaceable. This is a kind of deal you have to make in the AL East if you`re ever gonna compete, huge kudos to Alex!

[Raptorsrock]

Calling Schad for some analysis....

[Kaizen]

A lot of Braves fans think that Escobar has a bad attitude and needed to be shipped out. They were hoping to get more for him though.