Should Blue Jays shop around the Cincinnati Reds sale?

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The heart of the Blue Jays offseason begins this week as Winter meeting are upon us. Teams will be trading, players will be signing, and hopefully the Blue Jays make some moves that make our holidays more enjoyable.

The Blue Jays, along will every other team, will have holes to fill on their roster so deals will be flying all over the place. On Winter Meetings Eve, it was reported that the Cincinnati Reds would be making everyone on the roster available in trades. That’s right folks, the Reds are entering full rebuild mode.

After three playoff appearances in the past six years, the Reds have failed to even sniff a .500 season over the past two years. Playing in what some would argue as the toughest division in baseball, the Reds have decided to swallow their pride and start again from scratch. Although the Reds could only win sixty-four games last year, it doesn’t mean they don’t have some interesting pieces on their team.

Should the Blue Jays consider any Reds players entering Winter Meetings? With so many made available at once, it would be hard not to look over some of the potential targets given the ever-increasing cost of free agency. Closer Aroldis Chapman has already been moved to the Dodgers one year before he’s set to reach free agency, and the potential of Joey Votto making a LeBron (maybe not) like return home is made highly unlikely due to his contract. Instead, here are some potential realistic options the Blue Jays should consider…

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JJ Hoover – 

The 28 year old righty reliever could be the impact bullpen arm the Jays are looking for. Hoover has been a fairly steady option for the Reds over the past three seasons. Pitching at least sixty innings every year, Hoover may not be as young as other relievers like Sanchez and Osuna, but he is still developing his pitches. Hoover throws a low-90s four-seam fastball, slider, curve, and is still developing a changeup to work against lefty batters.

In 2015 Hoover showed significant improvement over his disastrous 2014 campaign. In that 2014 season Hoover would be sent down to Triple- A after going 1-10 with a 4.88 ERA. He would only throw five innings in the minors that year, and would look to get back into his previous form. In 2015 Hoover showed signs of improvement, dropping his ERA back down below the 3.00 benchmark.

The difference here was his fastball command and improvements with his cutter. Hoover’s fastball continues to be his best pitch, but at 6’3 surprisingly he’s not going to blow guys away at the plate. Hoover’s ability to work his fastball diagonally through the zone while mixing in the occasional cutter seemed to be what made him so deadly in his first two seasons. When 2014 came around those fastballs were finding too much of the plate, and his off speed stuff just wasn’t finding the zone at all. This left Hoover with a 1.5HR/9 increase from 2013 to 2014, and a walk rate of 11.7%. Ugly numbers for someone trying to prove they can be reliable in the back end of a bullpen.

The 2015 improvements would see him drop his HR/9 down to 0.98, but that walk rate still remains to be a concern, increasing to 11.7%. Working his fastball better down in the zone allowed for an increase of 11.6%GB. The numbers remain uncertain for Hoover. You can take his improvements of his 2015 season as Hoover getting back on track to the player we think he is, or you can see them as his continued regression, and not worth the risk of a trade.

Hoover is entering arbitration and projected to earn $1.1 million. The Reds, as in nearly any deal they’ll explore, would be looking for prospect capital in return.

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Devin Mesoraco – 

The 27 year old Mesoraco could be the backup catcher the Blue Jays are looking for. The once highly-regarded prospect and first round pick, Reds fans were waiting for Mesoraco to have his breakout season. In 2014, his first full season catching, Mesoraco would not disappoint while hitting .273/.359/.534, belting twenty-five homers and driving in eighty runs.

Devin’s offensive production was good enough for him to become an All-Star in 2014. Things were starting to look up, that’s until hip surgery in 2015 sidelined Mesoraco almost the entire season. Mesoraco is still recovering in the offseason, but is expecting to make a full recovery in time for Spring Training next

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Early in 2015 the Reds and Mesoraco reached an agreement to a four year twenty-eight million dollar extension. This contract is very affordable when you consider the upsides to it, especially with a bat like Edwin Encarnacion in a walk year. If the injury this year scares you away a bit, you have reason. Hip injuries in catchers playing in the prime years of their career doesn’t sound promising. From the Reds side of things, a team looking to shed some longer term contracts, this might be a great start in terms of return value.

Mesoraco would add further power to the lineup while provided solid defense when standing behind the plate. He’s certainly still young enough and will continue to develop. With his increase in power showing in 2014, learning the Blue Jay’s plate discipline approach would be important, as Mesoraco had a 23.4K% in 2014. The Reds would again be looking for prospects in return for Major League talent, wether or not the new Jays management regime will be interested in trading their younger talent is unknown.

Finding a backup catcher is one of the main Blue Jays priorities with the departure of Dioner Navarro. Mesoraco might be that perfect fit as his talent exceed that role and his bat could help to lessen the offensive losses Toronto may be facing one year from now.

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