Blue Jays rumours: Scouts watching Andrew Cashner on Thursday

Blue Jays scouts scouts had their eyes on Andrew Cashner last night, who’s been linked to Toronto in the past

With ten days remaining until the August 1st MLB trade deadline, bleachers at all levels will be littered with scouts.

On Thursday, Jon Heyman reported that the Toronto Blue Jays had scouts watching Andrew Cashner of the San Diego Padres. He also adds that Toronto had eyes on New York Yankees starter CC Sabathia, but that is complicated by the remaining money on his deal, Sabathia’s 10-and-5 rights, and the Yankees being a division rival.

Cashner, the former first round pick that was sent from the Chicago Cubs to the San Diego Padres in a deal including Anthony Rizzo, is struggling through a down year in his final season of team control.

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Now with an ERA of 4.79 through 15 starts, Cashner has fallen victim to the home run ball more than in previous years. He’s also giving up fly balls at a slightly higher rate, something that could be linked to the ~1.0 MPH he’s lost off his fastball this season (there has been little movement with his slider and changeup).

He certainly did his job last night, though, striking out eight batters in five and two-thirds innings and allowing just one run on three hits.

Cashner’s name lingered around the Blue Jays leading into last year’s trade deadline, but as Shi Davidi reported last July, many teams had Marcus Stroman atop their wish-list when it came to the Blue Jays. Even for rentals.

While he’s a very talented pitcher and still just 29 – not to mention big-bodied at 6-foot-6 and 235 pounds – Cashner’s career has been held back recently by inconsistencies. By the time the deadline rolls around, adding a rental starting pitcher buys a team ten to twelve starts. Acquiring an arm prone to inconsistencies presents the possibility of giving up legitimate prospect capital for 60-to-70 innings of production that could have been taken from a triple-A arm. Therein lies the risk of the deadline.

As always, it’s important to take a report of a team scouting a player for what it’s worth. These situations can represent anything from simple due diligence to genuine interest, but it usually falls towards the beginning of that scale. There’s also the possibility that, in spots like this, a team is scouting a catcher, left-fielder, or bullpen arm, and an available starter just happens to be on the mound that night.

Next: The disappearing Drew Storen: What happens next?

Twitter:  @KeeganMatheson
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