This week on the Jays’ Nest Podcast, Keegan and I are basking in the afterglow of the MLB Trade Deadline. Like most Blue Jays fans, we are having a bit of a hard time believing that all of this is real. So, we go over initial reactions and whatnot before we get into the meat of the episode. This week we feature a sit down with Matt Pelc of Motor City Bengals to discuss David Price and the Detroit Tigers. They do great work over there, so if you’re interested in the Tigers, check them out! It was a pretty interesting conversation. After that, we offer a bit of a breakdown of the trades and our two cents on the job Alex Anthopoulos has done.
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The interview with Motor City Bengals was a good one. Matt filled us in on the Tigers perspective of the David Price trade and the organization as a whole. We started with a discussion about the state of the Tigers heading into the Trade Deadline and their decision to sell. With the moves they’ve made, we wondered just how much of a rebuild is going on in Detroit. It was interesting to hear Matt talk about owner, Mike Illitch. The level of expectations around winning might be seen as a bit of a contrast with that of Rogers Ownership…or, at least the perceived approach of Rogers.
Toronto Blue Jays
From there, we asked about what the feeling is in Detroit about David Price testing free agency. That grabbed my attention a little bit. Many have questioned whether it is a realistic possibility that Price signs with the Blue Jays after this season. And, the response from Matt (as great as it was) didn’t help to settle the issue. On the one hand, the belief is that Price wants to test free agency (and, why wouldn’t he?). On the other is the belief that he would have stayed in Tampa Bay his whole career if he could. You’ll have to listen to hear the reasoning behind that. But, I will tell you that it might make you feel a tad bit better about signing Price.
Matt had some interesting things to say about the return the Tigers got for Price. Apparently, Daniel Norris has already won folks over in Detroit. Hearing the “van story” already piqued their interest and a strong outing recently certainly helped his cause. Tigers fans are split between being OK with selling and not. The ones who are OK with it are happy with the return they got in Norris, Matt Boyd and Jairo Labourt. All three immediately jump to “top prospect” ranking in the Tigers system. Matt believes that Norris is part of the future plans for the Tigers’ rotation as they move forward. We ask Matt about how the Tigers will move forward from here. We also had to ask him how in the world they agreed to trade Devon Travis for Anthony Gose. It was a good chat.
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After we let Matt go, we got into a rather heated conversation about the reaction to trading for Ben Revere. Some out there have been rather negative about this move. Keegan led off the discussion with his “Charge the Mound” moment and then we got into why this is actually a good move. it helps bolster the defense in left field, which has been a nightmare up until this point. As well, he is a contact hitter with speed, which the lineup needs. Revere fills a need the Blue Jays have and will do so for two more years after this one. This also brings up a good point: what will the club do when Michael Saunders comes back and if and when Dalton Pompey is promoted.
From there, we handed out our weekly awards. Our Hitter of the Week was split between two of us. Both were deserving candidates, though. The Pitcher of the Week was also split, but we kept a similar theme: age.
Thank you for listening to our weekly show! We appreciate the love. Next week, we’ll have Doug Fox of Clutchlings on to discuss the Blue Jays’ minor league system. It’ll be a good one!