Blue Jays Monday Morning Mailbag: All about Drew Storen

The Blue Jays Monday Morning Mailbag returns for it’s second week. Just before recording, Bob Elliot’s report that the Toronto Blue Jays had made Drew Storen available in trades was published, so you can guess what this week’s questions were about.

I wrote about the situation at the time, but took this opportunity to expand on the difficult parameters under which any deal would take place. With Storen, it comes down to one thing: the money.

More from Jays Journal

• Blue Jays: Alek Manoah on pace to succeed in possible postseason
• Blue Jays: Bradley Zimmer has carved himself a valuable role
• Anthony Bass has been the shutdown reliever the Blue Jays needed
• Blue Jays: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. open to a long-term contract
• Blue Jays: Snapping cold streaks at the right time

The right-hander is due to earn $8.375 this season, but with a 7.80 ERA through his first 15 innings, finding a team to take on the remainder of that contract will prove to be difficult.

Perhaps the Blue Jays can find a team in a similar situation and the two sides can benefit one another by taking the other’s bad contract. Toronto could find a bench bat or starting rotation depth this way, thus allowing Aaron Sanchez to move into the bullpen (preferably much later in the season).

It’s not all bad, though. The trickle-down of Storen’s arrival in Toronto allowed for Michael Saunders to emerge as the starting left-fielder, something we wouldn’t be seeing if Ben Revere were still with the Blue Jays. Revere has made it into just 15 ball games for the Nationals this season, batting .182 with a -0.6 WAR. This wasn’t something expected or bet on at the time of the move, but it’s always important not to view a transaction in a singular scope.

We’ll be featuring the Blue Jays Monday Morning Mailbag each week, so reach out over Twitter anytime with your questions and don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast!

Twitter:
@KeeganMatheson
@JaysJournal

Podcast:  Subscribe for iOS / iTunes     –     Subscribe for Android