Jays sign Oliver ($4m/2012), eat Teahan's $5.5 million

dagger · Post #1 » by **dagger** » Mon Jan 9, 2012 4:06 pm

Says it all.

Team has 2013 option on Oliver. Teahan designated for reassignment. Nothing says useless like having team eat your $5.5 million salary in mid-winter.

LottOnBaseball
Jays finally announce Oliver signing ($4M for '12, $3M club option for '13), designate Teahen for assignment, eating his $5.5M for '12.

evilRyu · Post #2 » by **evilRyu** » Mon Jan 9, 2012 4:18 pm

I forgot where I read this from, but this signing is the largest per-year amount AA has signed a FA since he took over.

Post #3 » by **Rhettmatic** » Mon Jan 9, 2012 4:32 pm

evilRyu wrote:I forgot where I read this from, but this signing is the largest per-year amount AA has signed a FA since he took over.

gregorMLB Gregor Chisholm
The $4-million surpasses last year's $3.75M signing of Rauch. It's the largest FA deal for #BlueJays since Eckstein signed $4.75 in '08

xAIRNESSx · Post #4 » by **xAIRNESSx** » Mon Jan 9, 2012 5:06 pm

Splash

evilRyu · Post #5 » by **evilRyu** » Mon Jan 9, 2012 5:22 pm

Thanks for posting that Rhett. And wow! We need to make a big FA signing, I wonder if there's a 1B that fits the bill that is still out there!

Lateral Quicks · Post #6 » by **Lateral Quicks** » Mon Jan 9, 2012 6:19 pm

The Teahan news is most excellent... surprised more people aren't expressing their pleasure over this move. Now we can fill that spot with a more productive player, rather than carrying dead weight.

Hopefully Teahan lands with another team. Absent that contract he still has some value, and maybe he can yet turn it around.

Post #7 » by **Rhettmatic** » Mon Jan 9, 2012 7:21 pm

This from AA's just-completed conference call to announce the Oliver move:

LottOnBaseball John Lott
After signing Oliver, AA still exploring deals but doesn't "expect to do a whole lot more between now and spring training."

I know, I know, AA is a ninja and would never tell the media about his plans for world domination. But pretty soon we might have to entertain the possibility that the roster as it stands now could closely resemble the roster a few months from now.

If that's the case, I'll be disappointed in this off-season.

mikero · Post #8 » by **mikero** » Mon Jan 9, 2012 7:55 pm

I can't imagine the Jays will start the year with 6 outfielders (Bautista, Rasmus, Thames, Snider, Davis, Francisco).

WpgPage · Post #9 » by **WpgPage** » Mon Jan 9, 2012 7:59 pm

Will only be one of Snider/Thames I think

Michael Bradley · Post #10 » by **Michael Bradley** » Mon Jan 9, 2012 8:31 pm

Yeah I believe Snider can still be sent down so it will likely be a spring training battle between Snider and Thames with the loser going to AAA. I really hope Snider wins the LF spot because he has more upside than Thames and the Jays need prospects to start panning out if they never intend on bringing in free agents.

As far as the bench, that leaves Francisco, Davis, McCoy, and Mathis. My guess is Encarnacion, even if he is starting DH, is probably viewed as the back-up 3B in case Lawrie gets hurt, while Francisco is the back-up OF, and Davis is the back-up CF in case something happens to Rasmus. McCoy fills in at 2B/SS and obviously Mathis is the back-up catcher. Of course things can always change.

Post #11 » by **Nolan** » Mon Jan 9, 2012 9:04 pm

Thrilled to see Teahan gone, he was nothing but dead weight.

gei · Post #12 » by **gei** » Mon Jan 9, 2012 9:52 pm

Rhettmatic wrote:This from AA's just-completed conference call to announce the Oliver move:

LottOnBaseball John Lott
After signing Oliver, AA still exploring deals but doesn't "expect to do a whole lot more between now and spring training."

I know, I know, AA is a ninja and would never tell the media about his plans for world domination. But pretty soon we might have to entertain the possibility that the roster as it stands now could closely resemble the roster a few months from now.

If that's the case, I'll be disappointed in this off-season.

Disappointed? I would call it an 'epic failure'.

They had a chance to build off the fan momentum going into the offseason. Instead they've dashed any hope we had.

Homer Jay · Post #13 » by **Homer Jay** » Mon Jan 9, 2012 10:56 pm

Michael Bradley wrote:Yeah I believe Snider can still be sent down so it will likely be a spring training battle between Snider and Thames with the loser going to AAA. I really hope Snider wins the LF spot because he has more upside than Thames and the Jays need prospects to start panning out if they never intend on bringing in free agents.

As far as the bench, that leaves Francisco, Davis, McCoy, and Mathis. My guess is Encarnacion, even if he is starting DH, is probably viewed as the back-up 3B in case Lawrie gets hurt, while Francisco is the back-up OF, and Davis is the back-up CF in case something happens to Rasmus. McCoy fills in at 2B/SS and obviously Mathis is the back-up catcher. Of course things can always change.

McCoy will still have to beat out Valbuena for backup IF. Although he has the edge right now due to also being able to play 3b or any OF spot too unlike Val.

Francisco will be in a l/r platoon to start the season, at least, until one of Thames/Snider proves he can hit lefties more consistently.

Davis will see quite a a bit of PR duty as well, especially in tight games. He's a great weapon to have on the bench that way. He can change a game on the paths like no other (Maybe Bourn is better but he's in NL anyway). Getting on base as always been his big problem, but if somebody else gets on for him then no worries.

I think we still need to have a l/r platoon at 1b since Lind is such a piss poor hitter of lefties. While EE tears them up.

Glad AA had the go ahead to punt Teahen. I was worried he was going to swallow a roster spot all year and screw our depth. I guess they can look at the 5.5 million dollar price as being made up by the controlled years of Rasmus vs. having to address CF in FA.

Lateral Quicks · Post #14 » by **Lateral Quicks** » Mon Jan 9, 2012 11:27 pm

I reallly don't understand why AA wants to carry two OF's, especially when you consider Encarnacion, McCoy, Lind etc. can all play there in an emergency. Maybe they only see Davis as a pinch runner off the bench, and don't want him to ever see a bat

flatjacket1 · Post #15 » by **flatjacket1** » Tue Jan 10, 2012 12:51 am

Lateral Quicks wrote:I reallly don't understand why AA wants to carry two OF's, especially when you consider Encarnacion, McCoy, Lind etc. can all play there in an emergency. Maybe they only see Davis as a pinch runner off the bench, and don't want him to ever see a bat

Agreed. Raja will only get on base once a game by his bat, mind as well put him in the game once a game as a pinch runner.

Randle McMurphy · Post #16 » by **Randle McMurphy** » Tue Jan 10, 2012 1:22 am

Good. If Teahen had actually played in 2012, he would have only hurt the team. He had negative value.

youngLion · Post #17 » by **youngLion** » Tue Jan 10, 2012 8:07 pm

flatjacket1 wrote:
Lateral Quicks wrote:I reallly don't understand why AA wants to carry two OF's, especially when you consider Encarnacion, McCoy, Lind etc. can all play there in an emergency. Maybe they only see Davis as a pinch runner off the bench, and don't want him to ever see a bat

Agreed. Raja will only get on base once a game by his bat, mind as well put him in the game once a game as a pinch runner.

Davis is actually a pretty useful platoon player versus lefties, which is more than you can say about a guy like Fransisco. it's going to be interesting to see how the outfield looks on opening day.