Alex Anthopoulos says Toronto Blue Jays still have

polo007 · Post #1 » by **polo007** » Tue Oct 27, 2015 7:56 pm

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TORONTO – After trading away 13 young pitchers in the past year, Alex Anthopoulos remains bullish on the Blue Jays’ farm system.

However, when the general manager was asked to name Toronto’s top prospects, his list included just three pitchers. Only one has reached Double-A.

“We still have a lot of really good young prospects we’re excited about,” Anthopoulos said during his post-season media session Monday. “They’re not as famous right now but they will be as they start to move along.”

In deals for Josh Donaldson, David Price, Troy Tulowitzki, Ben Revere and Mark Lowe – all major contributors to the Jays’ playoff run this year – Anthopoulos traded away 16 players. The departed included big-league infielders Brett Lawrie and Jose Reyes. The rest were pitchers, except for shortstop prospect Franklin Barreto, who went to Oakland with Lawrie in the Donaldson deal.

The list of traded pitchers covers a wide range of experience and potential. They range from Daniel Norris, who started the season in the Jays’ rotation, to five pitchers still in the low minors.

The return, of course, was substantial, and factored heavily into the Jays’ return to the post-season for the first time since 1993.

Donaldson, Tulowitzki and Revere remain under contract. Price and Lowe are free agents.

Asked to identify the top prospects remaining in the farm system, Anthopoulos listed three pitchers and four position players.

dagger · Post #2 » by **dagger** » Tue Oct 27, 2015 8:28 pm

The interesting part is that they are starting Vlad Jr. at 3B.

JoeyBats · Post #3 » by **JoeyBats** » Tue Oct 27, 2015 8:58 pm

dagger wrote:The interesting part is that they are starting Vlad Jr. at 3B.

Probably means Donaldson won't be around soon as his arbitration years are over.

bluerap23 · Post #4 » by **bluerap23** » Tue Oct 27, 2015 9:19 pm

JoeyBats wrote:
dagger wrote:The interesting part is that they are starting Vlad Jr. at 3B.

Probably means Donaldson won't be around soon as his arbitration years are over.

Doesn't mean much. Vlad is probably 5 years or more away from the Bigs.

JoeyBats · Post #5 » by **JoeyBats** » Tue Oct 27, 2015 9:21 pm

bluerap23 wrote:
JoeyBats wrote:
dagger wrote:The interesting part is that they are starting Vlad Jr. at 3B.

Probably means Donaldson won't be around soon as his arbitration years are over.

Doesn't mean much. Vlad is probably 5 years or more away from the Bigs.

I've read that his bat is almost ready, within 2-3 years.

Post #6 » by **Schad** » Tue Oct 27, 2015 9:51 pm

JoeyBats wrote:I've read that his bat is almost ready, within 2-3 years.

Very doubtful we have him up as a 19 year old. He doesn't even turn 17 until March.

And yeah, this has zero bearing on Donaldson. You start prospects at the highest-value defensive position they can play adequately, and then adjust from there. If he reaches the bigs as a teenager and Donaldson is still here, he can always be moved.

satyr9 · Post #7 » by **satyr9** » Tue Oct 27, 2015 10:19 pm

IMO if they're starting him at 3B, he'll be a 1B almost for sure.

And I know he wants to move fast, but you gotta believe even accelerated beyond reason he's rookie ball '16, I guess ending at Lansing might be feasible for '17 (really fast though), and far enough through A+ or a look at AA in '18 for him to maybe be on the horizon in '19. That would be extraordinarily fast though. If he were to move that fast he would not be a 3B by the end, that I can guarantee.

If his body type surprises and he can stick at a better position, for sure he's going to need some more time to round out that part of his game too. I'd say 2020 is a reasonably fast progression, he'd still be just 21 at that point. Far more reasonable, especially for a guy who I expect to undergo some fairly large body changes: '16 rookie, '17 Vancouver, '18 Lansing/Dunedin, '19 Dunedin/NH, '20 NH/Buf/Sept call-up, '21 Buf/TOR, '22 full-time Blue Jay. No GM ever is worrying about a prospects overlap with his current roster if the player's most likely arrival date is something like 4-6 years away.

The_Hater · Post #8 » by **The_Hater** » Tue Oct 27, 2015 10:29 pm

JoeyBats wrote:
dagger wrote:The interesting part is that they are starting Vlad Jr. at 3B.

Probably means Donaldson won't be around soon as his arbitration years are over.

No. It means they think Vlad Jr would be best at 3B. At least for now.

Hoopstarr · Post #9 » by **Hoopstarr** » Wed Oct 28, 2015 12:50 am

There's pretty much zero chance Vlad Jr. sticks at 3B. He's already huge at 16 yo.

JN · Post #10 » by JN » Wed Oct 28, 2015 2:48 am

He is not going to sell his system short as it would impact trade talks.

As for Vlad -- many prospects start at an "optomistic" position to see if they can handle it.... they would rather challenge them early, and downgrade than going the other way.

How is Vlad Jr's arm. Vlad Sr had one of the best outfield arms in MLB early in his career... albeit he heaved throws around wrecklessly.

dagger · Post #11 » by **dagger** » Wed Oct 28, 2015 3:16 am

Also, the organization is full of first base candidates, like Tellez, and the major league roster has a number of players who are playing first or could gravitate to first. If Vlad can play another position, so much the better.

CrookedJ · Post #12 » by **CrookedJ** » Wed Oct 28, 2015 2:50 pm

JN wrote:He is not going to sell his system short as it would impact trade talks.

As for Vlad -- many prospects start at an "optomistic" position to see if they can handle it.... they would rather challenge them early, and downgrade than going the other way.

How is Vlad Jr's arm. Vlad Sr had one of the best outfield arms in MLB early in his career... albeit he heaved throws around wrecklessly.

The handful of things I have seen about his arm is that its not as good as his dads. No idea if that means its only above average, or whether its poor. Third base will be a great test of arm.

Figure he's in Bluefield this year? He's really young.

StopitLeo · Post #13 » by **StopitLeo** » Wed Oct 28, 2015 3:28 pm

It's a cycle isnt it? Trade prospects for mlb players now when you can win/contend, then trade away your mlb players for prospects when you are not going to contend? I guess the issue is whether we have the prospects to add a few more pieces outside of free agency.

North_of_Border · Post #14 » by **North_of_Border** » Thu Oct 29, 2015 6:32 am

In baseball prospects can take up to half a decade to reach the MLB. Thats a long time, and a lot can change in that much time.

Seems crazy that the Jays are grooming Vlad at 3B with Donaldson around, yes... But in a 4-5 year period anything can happen. Its not guranteed that Donaldson will be the best option on 3B in that time span or maybe he wont even be on the team at all. Training Vlad at 3B has nothing to do with Donaldson. Theres even a good chance Vlad is a bust. Thats just how prospects work out. Jays are putting Vlad at 3B as an investment for the long run. Im sure AA has never thought of him as Donaldson's successor. Its too early for that.

-MetA4- · Post #15 » by **-MetA4-** » Thu Oct 29, 2015 4:45 pm

Hoopstarr wrote:There's pretty much zero chance Vlad Jr. sticks at 3B. He's already huge at 16 yo.

Claims like this are absurd. Vlad Jr. has already lost weight, he is a much more muscular build now. The same things were said about Osuna at this same age because he had baby-fat, the way he was described it seemed to be implied that it was a foregone conclusion that he'd be Bartolo Colon on the mound.