Jays Journal » Jonathan Papelbon

The Future of the Jays Pen: Jonathan Papelbon and Ryan Madson?

Mat Germain — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 12:26:53 +0000

As questions about the bullpen and its makeup, particularly for next season, begin to build, I thought it was important to take a tour of the historical aspects of the Jays pen under their newest GM. If there’s one thing that has been constant in the ERA of Alex Anthopoulos, it has been the use of bullpen pitchers to get what he wants on the trade market, or in the draft. You don’t have to look any further than the evidence at hand, the transactions, to see what I mean. Here’s a rundown of significant pen events since he has taken over as the GM of the Jays:

Using Pen Pieces to Acquire Key Pieces (more…)

Jays Working on Deal with Red Sox?

Mat Germain — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 11:35:14 +0000

According to Richard Griffin, via Twitter, the Jays picked up LHP Cesar Cabral from the Rays in order to work out a deal with the Red Sox. The interesting part of this is that Griffin got the information from John Farrell, someone who knows the Red Sox extremely well – including how much they valued Cabral before he was taken from them in the rule 5 draft by the Rays. He also knows the Red Sox pitching staff extremely well, so something could definitely brewing between these 2 division rivals.

It’s hard to say how big of a trade we’d be talking about here since nothing has been expanded upon since Farrell made the comment, but the obvious thing is that if it’s only Cabral included, it should be a minor move. However, what if this is only part of a bigger deal? Here are some thoughts on what could be in play in terms of possible Jays-Sox trade targets: (more…)

The Jays Frank Francisco Signing: Making Sense of the Term

Mat Germain — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 14:39:10 +0000

As Jared posted earlier, the Jays signed the newly acquired RP, and potential closer, Frank Francisco to 1-year term worth $4,000,000. The signing is important as it allows both sides to avoid arbitration, allows Alex Anthopolous to concentrate on the lone and most important arbitration eligible player – Jose Bautista, and settles the last question mark about the bullpen in 2011. The signing is slightly closer to what the Rangers had offered Francisco before he was dealt, $190,000 below the mid-point, since they offered him $3.5 million, and he had countered with $4.88 million (numbers courtesy of MLBTR’s arbitration tracker).

Since the signing took place, everyone seems to be fine with the dollar value of the deal, but many fans have been wondering why the Jays were unable to sign him to at least a club option to go along with the 1-year. Some are even pondering whether they should have signed him to a 2-year deal from the start, in hopes of having a closer on the cheap for the 2012 season as well as for the 2011 season. Nobody can be blamed for either question, because Alex Anthopolous has proven to be agile in adding those options and setting up the Jays very well by allowing for flexibility in contracts. However, in my opinion, there are some very good reasons for not signing Francisco to a longer term than was necessary. Here they are in no order of importance: (more…)