Elliott: Blue Jays planning for stretch run or 2017?
By: Bob Elliott
Canadian Baseball Network
We could all come to love someone who leads the National League, the pitcher’s league, in bases on balls with 69, which at the time of the trade was 10 more than Jimmy Nelson of the Milwaukee Brewers and Brandon Finnegan of the Cincinnati Reds.
We are not worried that he comes to Your Toronto Blue Jays with a 6-11 record and a 5.46 ERA in his first 21 starts. A year ago ... he was 7-6 with a 3.13 ERA striking out 144 in 129 1/3 innings after 21 starts.
You might be worried that he allows 1.5 homers per nine innings while walking 5.5 per game.
It really doesn’t matter if we are discussing Francisco Liriano or Nelson Liriano.
The big deal about deadline day is not that a lefty from the Pittsburgh Pirates -- it could be any lefty, say Wilbur Cooper, John Candelaria or Lefty Leifield -- will soon arrive in the Blue Jays rotation.
No, the problem we have and a lot of Blue Jays fans have, is who leaves the rotation to make room for Liriano.
That would be exiting through the left field door into the Jays bullpen ... Aaron Sanchez, the American League ERA leader. He is bounced to the bullpen not for David Price but for the redoubtable Francisco Liriano. All the better to take care of his tender arm, which is at 139 1/3 innings heading into this weekend's start at Kauffman Stadium against the World Series champion Kansas City Royals, likely his final one this season.
You know the Jays are right to do this.
Yep, 100% right ... as long as management can guarantee that a year from today the Blue Jays will be in the same position they are in the standings, with the same chance to win.
The Washington Nationals shut down Stephen Strasburg.
Hopefully the High Energy/High Performance committee or whatever it is called was not deployed to make a group announcement inside the clubhouse. Could you imagine ...
“Lads, we’re taking our best bloke and not letting him start any more, because we want him to be healthy for next season.”
Hopefully they don’t ask “any questions?”
Ah, there might be some from people like Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista, R.A. Dickey, Michael Saunders (Victoria, BC), Brett Cecil and other free agents? They won’t be in the same position next year on Aug. 1. Few if any will be in Toronto. Even those who are staying -- think Russell Martin, Josh Donaldson, Troy Tulowitzki -- you think any of those guys think it's a humm dinger of an idea to move the team’s best pitcher to the bullpen?
The Blue Jays are going to hate going to Houston:
_ They were there in 2014 -- after president Paul Beeston and majority owner Edward Rogers had told them at their final going away banquet at the Bon Appétit restaurant in Dunedin that if they were in the hunt come July 31 ... “the funds were there to make additions.”
The Jays added Danny Valencia ($12,000 US over what the guy he was earning made) in Boston and nothing when they landed in Houston holding one of the wild-card spots. Veterans like Casey Janssen and Bautista when asked, said they were disappointed that the Jays about the zero additions at the deadline. They vented. Fans who didn’t know about the spring promise to the players behind closed doors knocked the veteran players. The Jays dropped three of four and finished five games out of the wild card spot.
_ Last year they were swept in a four-game series, just as ex-Jay Colby Rasmus had predicted before the series ended. Both the Jays and Astros wound up in post-season play.
_ The Jays lost the opener in 14 innings Monday night.
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ESPN’s Jim Bowden on moving Sanchez after acquiring Liriano: “this is a terrible decision. How can you possibly do this? You are sitting there with a chance to get to the post season, a chance to get to the World Series, you were in the ALCS last year, you have the experience, you’ve got Jose Bautista’s free agent year, you’ve got Edwin Encarnacion’s free agent year, you’ve got Michael Saunders’s free agent year, you have a window here, you don’t know if you’re going to get this window again and you are going to take your ace, your best starter and literally put him in the bullpen here? I don’t get it. Replace him with Francisco Liriano who averages 5 1/2 walks per nine innings, that’s what you are going to get every five days. I don’t get it.”
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This is Stephen Strasburg 2.0. Since Strasburg was coming off Tommy John surgery, the Washington Nationals decided to limit the number of innings Strasburg would throw in the 2012. Shutting down the best starter became a national topic as NFL broadcasters Troy Aikman and Terry Bradshaw, TV hoops broadcaster Stephen A. Smith and politicians such as Rudy Giuliani commented on the decision made by Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo.
So, no doubt Rob Black, Duane Forde, Leo Rautins and John Tory are warming up for the Saturday talk shows.
Strasburg was shut down after a bad Sept. 8 outing and he did not pitch as the Nationals lost the National League Division Series to the St. Louis Cardinals. Shutting him down was the guarantee future health.
The next year he was on the disabled list with a with a mild lateral strain in June missing two starts. He pitched a full season (34 starts) in 2014 and last year only made 23 starts due to injuries.
The difference between Strasburg and Sanchez is that Strasburg was all ahead full STOP. Sanchez is going from pitching six or seven every five days to making three innings every five days.
The Jays can talk all they want about how Liriano will find the strike zone when re-united with catcher Russell Martin (Montreal, Que.), but frankly we think that is an awful lot to ask.
We hope Sanchez never gets hurt. Twenty years ago experts said curve balls caused arm injuries. Now the same people say it is fastballs.
Point is, no one knows when Sanchez or anyone will get hurt. Is it 190 innings, 200 innings or 230?
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ESPN’s John Kruk: “As a position player you have two guys who are free agents -- Encarnacion and Bautista. I have a feeling that they might say ‘you know what I’m not going to say anything, because I want to get a big deal some where else.’ But I would be absolutely livid if someone came in and said ‘hey guys here is what we are going to do: we’re going to take our best pitcher, he’s not going to start any more, we’re going to put him in the bullpen.’
I would be as upset as I could be. The general manager and I would have a lot of words to discuss about this move.”
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The more and more you look at the transactions, the more you get the impression that the Jays are more worried about the 2017 season than this year.
_ OF Melvin Upton and cash were acquired for RHP Hansel Rodriguez, a minor leaguer on July 26. Upton basically replaces Carrera as the back-up this year. Next year when Bautista and Saunders are gone he will be an everyday player. Some scouts predict the toughest test the final two months for manager John Gibbons will be keeping four everyday outfielders happy.
_ RP Joaquin Benoit was sent to the Seattle Mariners on July 26 for Drew Storen, who had been designated. A deal of struggling relievers.
_ LHP Liriano was acquired along with C Reese McGuire and OF Harold Ramirez, 21, for RHP Drew Hutchison, Liriano is under contract for next year with the Jays picking up about $18 million US.
McGuire, a first rounder from 2013 when he was selected 14th overall from a Seattle high school, hit .259 with 16 doubles, two triples, a homer and 37 RBIs in 77 games at double-A Altoona. Ramirez is batting .306 with 16 doubles, seven triples, two homers and 49 RBIs in 98 games.
_ RP Scott Feldman on the final year of his contract was obtained for minor league RHP Gaudalupe Chavez.
_ RP Jesse Chavez was shipped to the Los Angeles Dodgers for RHP Mike Bolsinger
So to recap .... Bolsinger was supposed to replace Hutchison at triple-A Buffalo; Feldman takes over from Chavez, Benoit fills in for Storen, Upton replaces Carrera and Liriano replaces Sanchez in the rotation, while Sanchez will likely get his old eighth-inning spot back replacing Jason Grilli.
But they are in better shape for next year.