Jonah Keri on the Fan 590 (Dec 5th)

[LBJSeizedMyID]

Posted this in the Prince Fielder thread but creating it as a new topic now since a couple other things were discussed.

Jonah Keri interview on the Fan: I'm just summarizing points that pertain to the Jays.

http://www.fan590.com/ondemand/media.js ... 4840_13336

- Not a lot of suitors for Fielder, so price could come down enough to attract Toronto. However if in the $140 range, Milwaukee will just come back and get involved again.

- Don't believe everything you hear. Rays said it would be crazy to pay $7M for a closer during the 2009-2010 winter meetings. Then a few days later traded for Rafael Soriano, who made close to $7M. GM's know how to put the poker face on, and AA certainly fits that bill.

- GM's want to lower the years on FA's to minimize risk. Prime example - Johan Santana $50M next two years owed. The Mets are now having to let Reyes go, possibly Wright and do a rebuild.

- Fielder could give you 2-3 years production, but because he's fairly one dimensional Jays could start to pay for it and be stuck with a $60-$70M contract the next three years. AA not looking to be GM for a year or two nor does he want to have to do another rebuild in a couple years, so he wants full value for the life of the deal.

- Reyes is a move the Jays probably were never interested in due to the two extreme outcomes - MVP season or 100 games on the DL. Reyes gave four incredible seasons (6 WAR), however two years were spent on the DL quite often.

- Fielder less risk than Reyes as he'll give you 30-35 homeruns minimum next four years.

- After being asked about the Braves and the possibility of Martin Prado & Jair Jurrjens, Keri said he's not sold on either Jurrjens isn't the exact picture of health either so 200+ innings is not a guarantee. Also if he moves to the AL East he feels that Jurrjens would get destroyed. Prado is overrated and has holes in his game. (I agree on both). He doesn't hit for power, doesn't walk much, defense declining and 34 (**EDIT -- He's only 28 years old) years old so legging out base hits will be more difficult as he continues to age. If the Jays are going all in for 2012 he'd be fine with the move, otherwise having to give up premium prospects for either player is a move the Jays should definitely not be making.

[vaff87]

Martin Prado is 34 now? Did he like, just age 6 years or something?

[LBJSeizedMyID]

Oops. My bad. I just looked up his age and I must've been looking at a different Prado haha. Still think he's overrated though

[Weems]

Jonah Keri's pretty good.

[Wo1verine]

Jonah Keri's pretty good.

Indeed.

[Kurtz]

Jonah Keri's pretty good.

Is he?

Prince Fielder is one dimensional like Roy Halladay is one dimensional. Afterall, Doc's a terrible hitter, is **** on the basepaths, and he's not winning a gold glove any time soon.