Jays claim Matt Dominguez off Waivers

North_of_Border · Post #1 » by **North_of_Border** » Sun Sep 6, 2015 7:53 pm

The Toronto Blue Jays claimed third baseman Matt Dominguez off waivers from the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday.

To make room on the team’s 40-man roster, the Jays designated first baseman Danny Dorn for assignment.

Dominguez was selected 12th overall by the Florida Marlins in the 2007 MLB draft.

The 26-year-old hasn’t played in the majors this season. In 117 games with two teams in the minors, Dominguez has a .269 batting average with 10 home runs and 56 runs-batted in.

The Houston Astros designated Dominguez for assignment on June 8. He was claimed by the Brewers off waivers on June 16.

Dominguez has 1,261 career MLB at-bats over four seasons with the Astros and Marlins, hitting 42 homers and 152 RBI.

Dorn was claimed off waivers from the Arizona Diamondbacks on Aug. 29. In six games with Toronto's triple-A affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons, Dorn has a .227 batting average and a .568 on-base percentage.

This is very similar to the Justin Smoak claim last season.

UN-Owen · Post #2 » by **UN-Owen** » Mon Sep 7, 2015 5:01 am

I'm always in support of taking a chance on a former highly touted prospect who's just entering their prime

That's what Encarnacion was. Chris Davis too (highest SLG% at SkyDome in its history)

SharoneWright · Post #3 » by **SharoneWright** » Mon Sep 7, 2015 7:24 am

UN-Owen wrote:I'm always in support of taking a chance on a former highly touted prospect who's just entering their prime

That's what Encarnacion was. Chris Davis too (highest SLG% at SkyDome in its history)

Although I agree with you, this is the first 2007 draft review I found,,, reviews seemed kinda negative from the start. IE. #1 most overrated:

The overrated

1) 3B Matt Dominguez, Marlins (12th overall)
The kid is unbelieveably smooth on the field, but he has a LONG swing.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/the-draftys-the-2007-mlb-draft-awards/

satyr9 · Post #4 » by **satyr9** » Mon Sep 7, 2015 2:52 pm

Smoak was offseason completely though right? This is something like a tryout for the old Valencia spot, that Colabello took. Between Encarnacion, Colabello, and Smoak they're using 1B, DH, and CI, which they'd likely want to change for next year. That doesn't mean it'll be Dominguez, but obviously somebody in the organization likes him enough to use September to audition him, which if they liked what they saw, could make dealing one of three or one of Goins/Travis easier to stomach in the offseason. Not because Dominguez in any way replaces any of those guys, but he might prove to be just acceptably bad to make the bench and help bring in the pitching for next year.

To my mind, he sure looks like a guy who has the book written on him and can't change the story with his swing nearly enough to fix it. But, I never would've though I'd see a consistently effective Ryan Goins at the plate, so perhaps Brook Jacoby is some kind of shitty-bat whisperer.

BTW, off topic, but Jacoby deserves credit for keeping the hot guys hot, warming up the cool guys, and legitimately performing a couple miracles at the bottom of the order. If Tulo gets right this season, he'll have run a pretty close to perfect year. I don't know how much credit he should have, 'cause I hate how much blame these guys get when the players are off, but he definitely deserves some credit. Same for Walker and working out a lot of kinks with his starters. Bullpen wasn't really his doing, it just held on until reinforcements, but Dickey, Buehrle, and Estrada all went through adjustments to get where they are and while Hutch certainly isn't fixed, he's nowhere near as bad as the guy we saw earlier. Again, the players do most of the heavy lifting, but I have to assume teams don't hire and pay these guys solely for the tradition of it.

Santoki · Post #5 » by **Santoki** » Mon Sep 7, 2015 4:23 pm

Agreed on the Jacoby part. You couldn't go a day without a Seitzer story last year and this year we have the greatest offense of the century and you barely hear a word about Jacoby. I didn't even know what he looked like before the last month.

JN · Post #6 » by JN » Mon Sep 7, 2015 4:42 pm

Wouldn't the Jays have to offer him arbitration to retain him after this season?

And what is the minimum you need to pay for arbitration -- I assume it is higher than the minimum contract. Either way I find it hard to believe the Jays would give him a guaranteed contract after his so so performance in the minors.