Shaun Marcum Traded to the Brewers for Brett Lawrie

[Michael Bradley]

i think its a stretch to say Marcum's a legit #2 starter.
Legit #3/very solid #3 starter.
minus the Yanks, look at the starting pitcher rotation for the AL and NL finals.

Marcum was nice, but he's a good 12-15 win pitcher with nights where his stuff looks very good and nights where he looks alright/ok. he also had TJ surgery blah blah blah .

Marcum is every bit a #2 calibre starter. He is hard to hit, has very good control, and since 2007 has a 3.64 ERA (as a starter) in nearly 500 innings of work. He is very consistent year to year. Obviously he missed 2009 with TJS and parts of 2008 due to the surgery. He had a WAR of 3.1 in 2008 and 3.8 in 2010. His 3.8 WAR would rank pretty well with Matt Cain (3.9) or Jonathan Sanchez (3.4). I don't even remember who the Rangers #2 starter was, but that isn't really relevant. Greinke was at 2.4 last season, for comparison's sake. If you have two better starters than Marcum then slot him #3, but performance-wise, he is right up there in the 2nd tier range (not an ace, obviously). He is worth more than one prospect.

[flatjacket1]

Maybe this is a move to open up future financial commitments? IMO this is more of a pre-signing than pre-trade deal.

[Avenger]

Isn't Marcum a FA after this season anyway? And he'd probably command a lot more than we'd want to offer, considering we want to have Romero, Morrow, and Cecil as the real long term fixtures in the rotation.

In two years. It seems the Jays didn't want to pay him.

This is the same franchise that gave out the largest guaranteed contract EVER for a pitcher with less than 2 years service time. This isn't a financial thing at all, i don't know how anyone could possibly see it that way.

[YogiStewart]

Yogi, EVERY pitcher is an injury waiting to happen.

true....
but some more than others.

[MGD24]

Maybe this is a move to open up future financial commitments? IMO this is more of a pre-signing than pre-trade deal.

like Manny? lol

[trwi7]

I like how your GM can get a power arm under control cheaply for many years for a reliever and A ball outfielder who completely sucked prior to this year and our GM gets a mediocre arm under control for two years with bad mechanics and a Tommy John surgery for our best prospects.

It's really not even fair how those negotiations went.

[Randle McMurphy]

Isn't Marcum a FA after this season anyway? And he'd probably command a lot more than we'd want to offer, considering we want to have Romero, Morrow, and Cecil as the real long term fixtures in the rotation.

In two years. It seems the Jays didn't want to pay him.

This is the same franchise that gave out the largest guaranteed contract EVER for a pitcher with less than 2 years service time. This isn't a financial thing at all, i don't know how anyone could possibly see it that way.

Then why trade Shaun Marcum only for prospects? If it's not about money, it's really hard to find a reasonable justification for doing that.

[Waylon Mercy]

Marcum is an Intangibles guy....

Hes a true competitor, a workhorse, a Gamer, and pitches well in big games against good teams.

Hes a guy you could throw out in game 2 or 3 of a playoff series and not worry about...

He showed a lot of leadership qualities this year and was the leader of this pitching staff....

Honestly he was one of the last guys I expected to be traded...

[Randle McMurphy]

I like how your GM can get a power arm under control cheaply for many years for a reliever and A ball outfielder who completely sucked prior to this year and our GM gets a mediocre arm under control for two years with bad mechanics and a Tommy John surgery for our best prospects.

It's really not even fair how those negotiations went.

You're really underrating Shaun Marcum...he would be a virtual ace in the NL Central.

[SharoneWright]

We've been drafting arms like no tomorrow - AA is saving now on Marcum so he can pay Morrow/Cecil/Drabek/Stewart/Sanchez/Syndergaard/UpperDeck/Woj/Cardona later depending on who breaks through. Lawrie matures right along with those guys.

If anything, this deal shows AA is sticking with the plan. Dude must be patient as hell.

[hyper316]

a 2B prospect? i hope he's getting moved for gonzalez or something. if not, i just dont see how this move is bringing the Jays closer to contending trading a SP for prospect in role already filled. c'mon AA, work your magic

[Avenger]

I like how your GM can get a power arm under control cheaply for many years for a reliever and A ball outfielder who completely sucked prior to this year and our GM gets a mediocre arm under control for two years with bad mechanics and a Tommy John surgery for our best prospects.

It's really not even fair how those negotiations went.

You're really underestimating Marcum, he maybe a soft tosser but he's a damn good pitcher and he'lll easily be your number 2, its not even close. The bad mechanics is a concern and so is Free agency in two years but he should also provide pretty good value over the next 2 years, he's gonna be pretty cheap in arbitration.

[trwi7]

Hes a guy you could throw out in game 2 or 3 of a playoff series and not worry about...

Don't think we'll have to worry about that.

[darth_federer]

A source had indicated that a second Canadian prospect might also be included, 20-year-old righthander Nick Bucci, from Sarnia, Ontario. Late last week, the Brewers had sent reliever Carlos Villanueva to the Jays for a player to be named later.

http://thestar.blogs.com/baseball/2010/ ... wers-.html

[DonYon]

a 2B prospect? i hope he's getting moved for gonzalez or something. if not, i just dont see how this move is bringing the Jays closer to contending trading a SP for prospect in role already filled. c'mon AA, work your magic

or it could just mean he doesn't plan on having us contend next year

[DonYon]

a 2B prospect? i hope he's getting moved for gonzalez or something. if not, i just dont see how this move is bringing the Jays closer to contending trading a SP for prospect in role already filled. c'mon AA, work your magic

or it could just mean he doesn't plan on having us contend next year

[The Flying Gent]

Then why trade Shaun Marcum only for prospects? If it's not about money, it's really hard to find a reasonable justification for doing that.

Justification like... pitching being a major area of strength for our team, getting great talent in return, Marcum is probably too old (29 in a few days) to be relied upon as part of the core, and will be even older when it's time to pay up?

You're being needlessly cynical.

[YogiStewart]

Marcum is an Intangibles guy....

Hes a true competitor, a workhorse, a Gamer, and pitches well in big games against good teams.

Hes a guy you could throw out in game 2 or 3 of a playoff series and not worry about...

He showed a lot of leadership qualities this year and was the leader of this pitching staff....

Honestly he was one of the last guys I expected to be traded...

intangibles are overrated.

and replace "Marcum" with "Halliday" and you see how far 1 guy goes to get you to the promise land. and use the Halliday example to explain why AJ is now dropping big turds in the Big Apple.

[Avenger]

This is the same franchise that gave out the largest guaranteed contract EVER for a pitcher with less than 2 years service time. This isn't a financial thing at all, i don't know how anyone could possibly see it that way.

Then why trade Shaun Marcum only for prospects? If it's not about money, it's really hard to find a reasonable justification for doing that.

ever heard of this concept called selling high?

[Schad]

Then why trade Shaun Marcum only for prospects? If it's not about money, it's really hard to find a reasonable justification for doing that.

I really doubt that it's about money...Marcum would've only made something like $4m in arbitration this year, and we've handed out larger stacks of cash simply to facilitate deals.