SB Nation - Joe Inglett

Rangers sign Esteban German to a one year deal

Adam J. Morris — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:44:45 -0000

The Rangers have signed Esteban German to a one year contract for 2010.

German was the only Ranger who was a non-tender candidate -- every other Ranger who is arbitration eligible was going to be tendered.

German will apparently go into camp vying for a bench job, and it may be that him re-signing means that Joe Inglett and his nearly-identical-to-German skill-set will be dropped from the 40 man roster when another spot is needed.

Small, Scrappy, Defensively-Challenged UIF Smackdown

Adam J. Morris — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 02:47:29 -0000

Who ya got?

Joe Inglett

Toronto Blue Jays

Height: 5-9

Weight: 185

Born: Jun 29, 1978

Tug Hulett

#7 / Second Base / Kansas City Royals

Height: 5-10

Weight: 185

Bats: L

Throws: R

Born: Feb 28, 1983

Rangers claim utilityman Joe Inglett from the Blue Jays

Adam J. Morris — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:36:45 -0000

Per T.R. Sullivan, the Rangers have claimed utilityman Joe Inglett from the Toronto Blue Jays.

You can see his B-R page here. This suggests the Rangers at least have enough money in the petty cash drawer to pay the waiver fee.

Inglett has played mostly second base and the outfield, and it may be that they think they can work out a cheap major league deal with him ~~without having to go through arbitration~~. (UPDATE -- Scott Lucas points out that Inglett is not arb-eligible). ~~Otherwise, I suspect he'll end up non-tendered.~~

The 40 man now stands at 38.

September Call-Ups: Inglett, Wolfe, Hayhurst -- Or, Are the Jays Even Trying?

hugo — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:50:41 -0000

More photos » by Darren Calabrese - AP

Glad to see you back, Dirk, but couldn't you have brought more friends? (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darren Calabrese)

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Well, the Jays have apparently underwhelmed everyone by calling up three players: Joe Inglett, Brian Wolfe, and Dirk Hayhurst.

Now, I bow to no one in my Hayhurst man-crush and I am very happy to see him back on the Jays. But a team completely out of the playoff picture like the Jays should be using September callups as an opportunity to give players who progressed this season a taste of the big leagues, not just recalling AAAA types unlikely to be of more than marginal use to the team going forward.

Brian Dopirak was a perfect example of someone who the Jays should be calling up. Dopriak is 25 already, but his career has been held back by injuries as much as (more than, really) development problems. He torched double A this season to the tune of .308/.374/.576 with 19 home runs in and 29 doubles in 87 games. Then, after the all-star break, he similarly smashed up AAA with 21 extra base hits in 45 games and a .344 batting average. He's right at the age where you want to see your minor-league hitter getting a shot at the bigs, and he has certainly earned a promotion with a fantastic season. Perhaps craziest of all, the Jays have Kevin Millar in the lineup on an all-too-regular basis. And yet Dopirak doesn't get promoted.

How about Angel Sanchez? Yeah, it's the PCL but he's hit .305/.363/.428 and his arm has apparently healed enough from ligament replacement surgery for him to reclaim his place as a plus defender at shortstop. With Edwin Encarnacion still hurt, Marco Scutaro could move over to third base on days when Sanchez plays SS, thereby not hurting his stats for his impending free agency. With Scutaro set to leave unless the Jays pony up, shouldn't the Jays at least take a look at what they may have in Sanchez?

Fabio Castro or David Purcey? Neither has been fantastic, but both have had credible seasons considering how tough the PCL can be on pitchers. Purcey threw a complete game, no walk, 3-hit shutout his last time out on Sunday. I'd say the Jays could take another look at him, with two young pitchers set to sit out the rest of the season, instead of giving starts to Brian Tallet. Castro could get a look as well.

And what to say about Jeremy Accardo, who has 26 Ks and 7 walks in 29 innings for Las Vegas, with a 3.10 ERA and lots of groundouts. If they were going to recall someone, why not Accardo, and not Wolfe, considering Accardo has superior both major- and minor-league numbers this season and a much better chance of being a high-leverage reliever for a major-league team.

That doesn't even get into the marginal cases like J.P. Arencibia and Scott Campbell - neither of which has had a great season - but Arencibia has 19 home runs and 31 doubles and has improved his walk rate a little, and Campbell did post a .371 OBP between AA and AAA.

What do you all think? Who would you have called up?

When Gregg Zaun beats you, you know life is not going well, Jays lose to Rays

Tom Dakers — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 22:07:51 -0000

More photos » by Reinhold Matay - AP

I don't know about you but I'd rather Hill not crash into the catcher. . (AP Photo/Reinhold Matay)

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Blue Jays 2 Rays 5

Really the game was lost in the first few innings. In the first we had runners on the corners with 1 out and Lyle Overbay and Vernon Wells struck out. In the 3rd, bases loaded, none out and Adam Lind hit a soft fly to center. B.J. Upton's throw home was offline but Joe Inglett on 3rd couldn't see that from where he was and put on the brakes. Overbay struck out and Wells ground out. In the 4th, runners on 1st and 2nd, Rod Barajas flied out, Inglett struck out and Marco Scutaro ground out.

In the 5th with runners on 1st and 2nd, Lyle struck out again, but Vernon singled and drove home a run. The line 'even a stopped clock is right twice a day' springs to mind. Aaron Hill scored, crashing into catcher Dioner Navarro. Navarro didn't move, but he also didn't drop the tag on Hill before Hill reached past to touch the base. After that Randy Ruiz struck out and Edwin Encarnacion flied out.

We had 9 singles until Scutaro hit a solo homer in the 9th. It is tough to score when you can't hit any extra base hits, but today was particularly annoying. We had a little streak of hitting a lot of homers but yesterday and today, we really didn't hit anything hard, other than Scoot's homer. Scoot had a good day going 3 for 5 and Aaron Hill was 2 for 4 with a walk. Everyone else had one hit except Lyle (0 for 4) and Barajas (0 for 4). Rod is hitting a big .238 now, his line for August is .147/.171/.235. His July wasn't any better. What say we put Chavez in as the everyday catcher. His version of can't hit at all is better than Rod's and he plays better defense. I know Rod is a streak hitter but it's been in a slump since the end of May. We really don't have the bats in the other spots to totally give up offense from our catcher.

Marc Rzepczynski (or Scrabble as he will be know around here, for his 40 point name, Torgen's suggestion, I thought Zeppo for the Marx brother that no one remembers) pitched a very good 6 innings, giving up 6 hits, 3 walks, only 1 run and 1 strikeout. He deserved the win. A few more strikeouts would be good, I don't think you can make it as a starter in the MLB with just 1 K in 6 innings but it worked for him today. Jesse Carlson pitched a perfect inning. But Brandon League did not impress. He loaded the bases then got to a full count with Gregg Zaun before Zaun hit one out. Zaun might not be great but when he knows there is a fastball over the plate coming he can hit it. League hasn't looked good since his 3 innings against the Yankees Wednesday. Maybe he could have a couple of days off?

Jays of the Day are Scrabble (.229 WPA) and Hill (.106). Carlson deserves an honorable mention. Suckage Jays are League (-.376), Overbay (-.250) and Barajas (-.140). Joe Inglett should get an honorable Suckage mention for a careless error in right. He really doesn't look good out there. I really can't wait for them to call Travis Snider up. Any chance that they release Millar to make room for him? Yeah I didn't think so either. Encarncion made an error at third when a ground ball went right through him but he made a couple of nice plays too.

The Jays have tomorrow off, then three games against the Red Sox in Toronto. The Jays said today that Brett Cecil will make the start Thursday. Glad to see he isn't going to miss anymore time. Scott Downs, on the other hand, is going to need a bit more time.

Roy Halladay and Jays Beat Rays

Tom Dakers — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 05:16:43 -0000

More photos » by Steve Nesius - AP

4 months ago: Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Lyle Overbay reaches for a ground ball hit by Tampa Bay Rays' Jason Bartlett during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, Aug. 14, 2009 in St. Petersburg, Fla. Bartlett was out at first. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)

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Blue Jays 5 Rays 2

That as a nice easy win. The Jays got 5 in the first 3 innings and Roy Halladay made it stand up. Raise your hand if you thought Lyle Overbay would make the perfect cleanup hitter. He had a 2 run homer in the first and the game was never in doubt after that.

Doc pitched like Doc, 8 innings, 8 hits, 2 runs, 1 earned, no walks and 6 strikeouts. He was just great, once we got the lead he would give up base runners but once runners got on he shut things down. He did get some help from Rod Barajas who threw out Carl Crawford and B.J. Upton stealing. Rod has had a terrible year with that bat but he really has a great arm when it is needed. Those were very big caught stealings. Doc did give up a solo homer to Gregg Zaun, but then he hit him with a pitch as well so I'll forgive him.

Offensively, after the 5 runs in the first 3 innings James Shields shut us down but by then it was too late. As well as Overbay's 2 run homer, Adam Lind had a solo shot and Marco Scutaro and Joe Inglett drove in a run each. Everyone in the order had at least 1 hit except for Aaron Hill (who looks lost at the plate right now) and Edwin Encarnacion. Vernon Wells had a nice opposite field hit and then went back to trying to pull everything. He does so much better when he remembers there is a right field to hit to. He did pull one that I thought was going to go out, but it came up short. It seemed like the ball was really carrying well to center and right field but not so much to left.

Joe Inglett had a nice RBI double but he miss played a fly ball to right that carried better than he thought it would and went over his head, then he booted it when he got to it off the wall. It was ruled a double plus an error but it could have been called two errors and it cost Doc a run. But then we won easy so didn't matter.

Jays of the Day are Doc (.227 WPA) and Lyle (.171). Joe Inglett came close (.095) but the bad play in right field cost him a JoD. Rod Barajas deserves honorable mention for the 2 throw outs. No Suckage Jays, Aaron Hill came closest (-.059).

We had great fun in the game thread, discussing marriage, Japanese animation, law and the evils of my part of the world, moles and the eating there of (does it seem to anyone else that Jessef has very strange interests in eating?) and Dungeons & Dragons which is now a banned subject around here. Occasionally we even talked about baseball. It was great fun and thanks everyone for joining in. After the game my wife and I went out for a couple of drinks, for the first time in a long while and played name that tune at the bar. Unfortunately 80's crap rock is not my strong suit. So write off any typos to the slight drunkenness of the person at the keyboard.

Tomorrow we have a night game, Brian Tallet (5-6, 4.85) gets one of his irregular starts while Scott Kazmir (6-7, 6.50) goes for the Rays. How someone with the stuff that Kazmir has can have a 6.50 ERA I have no idea. Please Cito even though the Rays are starting a lefty, I am begging you, don't bat Millar cleanup. Please.

Sometimes the Pen wins one for and sometimes they lose one for you, today was the latter: Jays lose to Yankees

Tom Dakers — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 03:06:06 -0000

More photos » by Kathy Willens - AP

4 months ago: New York Yankees catcher Jorge Posada waits for the throw as Toronto Blue Jays Adam Lind (26) scores on Lyle Overbay's third inning, three-run double in their baseball game at Yankee Stadium Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009 in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

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Blue Jays 5 Yankees 7

Other than the 4 run 8th against our pen that was a fun game, but other than running into the iceberg I'm sure the Titanic was a nice cruise. Jesse Carlson pitched a good inning yesterday but today not so much. A leadoff homer by Hideki Matsui on a full count pitch, that he just crushed, tied the game. Then a Yankee Stadium special that just barely cleared the wall and Joe Inglett's glove in right gave the Yankees the lead. An out and a double later and Josh Roenicke was in the game. A couple of singles off him and we were down by 3.

Scott Richmond had a tough first couple of innings, giving up two runs in the first. that could have been much worse if Mark Teixeira hadn't tried to score from first on a double. Vernon Wells threw him out by 20 feet or so. In the second Richmond gave up another run but got of the inning with the bases loaded, so that could have been worse too. After that he pitched 4 innings allowing just 1 hit and 1 walk.

Offensively we got 5 runs on 7 hits, helped out by homers by Randy Ruiz and Edwin Encarnacion. Ruiz looked over-matched at the plate other than his homer. Lyle Overbay had the really big hit, a bases clearing double that brought us back from 3-0.

Joe Inglett made a great catch at the wall in the 5th, if he was 6 inches taller he would have had two great catches today and Encarnacion made a diving stop then threw out the runner at second from a seated position. If he keeps playing like this we are going to have to rethink the E5 nickname.

Jays of the Day are Overbay (.179 WPA), Jeremy Accardo (.110) and Richmond. Suckage Jays are Carlson (-.563) and Vernon Wells (-.099). Wells is borderline as far as the number were concerned and did throw a runner out at the plate, but trying to pull outside pitches in a park where if he goes with the ball and gets it in the air at all it can go out.

Tomorrow at 1:00 Eastern we have the rubber game of the series, with Ricky Romero (10-5, 3.66) going up against A.J. Burnett (10-5, 3.67). I don't remember a game where both pitchers had the same record and where just .01 apart in ERA before. It should be a good one.

In other Jay news they now intend to have Shawn Marcum finish the season in the minors, instead of bringing him up later this month as they earlier planed.

"He's healthy," Ricciardi said. "There's nothing wrong with him, but there's no reason to rush him. He's going to pitch next year for us. He'll be like 17 months post-op at that time. He feels good. We'll probably just keep throwing him, but there's really probably no need to get him to the big leagues at this point.

I'm glad, I don't see that anything will be gained by bringing him up now. Unless, of course, they were to release Millar to make room for him.

Orioles 7, Jays 5

hugo — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 15:38:38 -0000

More photos » by Jim Ross - AP

Former Toronto Blue Jays player Joe Carter laughs as he is acknowledged by the crowd during a celebration of the Blue Jays World Series team from 1992 and 1993 at Rogers Centre before a baseball game between the Blue Jays and the Baltimore Orioles on Friday, Aug. 7, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press,Jim Ross)

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The Blue Jays finished in second place in yesterday's contest with the Orioles, not exactly reminding fans of the team's glorious past.

On the Mound: Ricky Romero ran into trouble in the 6th inning, giving up 4 runs and spoiling a start that had been solid to that point. Of course the inning started with a walk to Matt Wieters.

At the Plate: Vernon Wells and Alex Rios hit solo home runs in the first inning to stake Romero to a lead. Aaron Hill doubled in Joe Inglett (who has been hitting well recently) in the 5th but the Jays then had another golden opportunity with runners at 2nd and 3rd and 1 out. Adam Lind and Lyle Overbay failed to bring any of them in. Wells and Rios accounted for another 2 runs in the 8th with an RBI single and sacrifice fly, respectively.

From the Pen: Brandon League had problems in the 8th. He got the first batter on a groundout but then gave up a single through the middle. A wild pitch sent that runner to second. League then got three straight ground balls. Unfortunately, two of them went through the infield and the inning unraveled from there. League did bail out the Jays in the 7th by coming in to retire the final out after Jesse Carlson had left two runners on, so it was another situation where he ran into problems after the inning break. He's been very good recently, and other than the double he served up to Matt Wieters, didn't look all that bad yesterday, but it was an ugly result.

Vernon Wells earns Jay of the Day honours. Romero and League take home the Towers and Bautista, and Barajas earns himself a golden Hinske (or should the Jays of the Day awards be made from porcelein with cobalt glaze?)

AAA Watch: Travis Snider was 3-5 with a double. Brian Dopirak and J.P. Arencibia didn't do much, but Casey Janssen pitched another perfect relief inning, striking out 2. He seems rather sharp recently so I wonder how long it'll be before he replaces someone like Accardo, who looked pretty shaky yesterday.

That was Great!

Tom Dakers — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 06:54:37 -0000

More photos » by John Froschauer - AP

4 months ago: Toronto Blue Jays catcher Rod Barajas continues a television interview even with a beard full of shaving cream after the Blue Jays' 11-4 win over the Seattle Mariners in a baseball game in Seattle on Monday, July 27, 2009. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

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Blue Jays 10 Mariners 4

Boy that was enjoyable. Great game, ok beer, 30-70 Jay's fans to Mariner's fans, but the Jay's were loud. It is a beautiful park and filled with nice people.

Ricky Romero wasn't great, he went 6 innings and gave up 10 hits and 4 runs, but it was good enough to get the win tonight. I'm not sure how the Mariners got 10 hits, their batting order is full of guys that weren't hitting their weight and Ichro. They are a very sad looking offensive team, Jesse Carlson, Scott Downs and Dirk Hayhurst each pitched a scoreless inning to finish out the game. You can tell Cito has lost some confidence in Snakeface when he pitches the 8th inning in a blow out but he looked really good tonight.

We got 11 hits and 7 runs off the Mariners best pitcher, Felix Hernandex and 4 more hits and runs off Sean White. 15 hits in the game and 2 home runs. Looks like our offense is returning to we had back in April. We were helped out by some terrible defense. Third baseman Jack Hannahan turned a sure out into a double and center fielder Franklin Gutierrez decide not to catch a fly ball at the wall. He put his arm up like he was going to catch it then nicely avoided the ball with his glove.

Everyone in the Jay lineup had at least one hit except for Adam Lind. Marco Scutaro had 4 hits, Rod Barajas had 3 and Vernon Wells and Joe Inglett had 2 each. Inglett also carefully avoided looking our way even though I was yelling out to him every time he went by. Scott Rolen made an amazing leaping catch just in front of us and doubled off the runner at second to get Romero off the hook in an inning that looked to be a bad one for him.

Jays of the Day were Baraja (.295 WPA), Scoot (.134), Alex Rios (.113) and Washington boy Lyle Overbay (.110). Joe Inglett deserves an honorable mention. Suckage Jay was Romero (-.183).

We even got on TV when a bouncing ball came up to the wall near us but Carm didn't lean over it to make the catch. My son called me right after. Then later another ball came our way, I thought it was going to hit the wall again and started to lean over and it skipped higher and cleared the wall and just missed the little boy that was sitting just behind me. It was hit so hard, it could have hurt him. His dad asked him how close it came to his head and he said 'Not close" and then held his hand out about a foot from his head. Scary stuff.

We will have to meet up with Temujin and Wroth91 tomorrow. Guys, give me a call tomorrow and we'll figure out what we'd like to do. I hope tomorrow's game is as much fun. We are sitting just above the Jays dugout tomorrow. Can't wait, but it will be enjoyable wandering around Seattle tomorrow.

Bluebird Banter Trade Deadline Roundtable, Part II

hugo — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:45:47 -0000

Hi everyone. It's time for the next installment of the Annual Bluebird Banter Trade Deadline Roundtable. Part I was right here. Again, our participants are JesseF, Tom Dakers, myself, and special guest star JohnnyG. We look at this as just the beginning of the discussion, so keep it going with your own thoughts in the comments. Enjoy the off-day!

Hugo: How about Scott Rolen? He is having a tremendous season and is under contract for one more season, but of course lingering injury concerns have to remain.

Tom: The trouble with trading Rolen is that we don't have an obviously 3B prospect ready to go. A challenge trade of trading a 3B for a 3B (like we did with Glaus to get Rolen) isn't likely to happen again. If someone had a good enough 3B to trade straight up for Rolen, why would they want to trade him? So trading Rolen almost forces a second trade.

Jesse: What the Jays do with Rolen is entirely up to their plans for 2010. If they want to compete next season, they are going to have to hold onto him, unless they want to make a blockbuster deal. One thing that I don't think anyone has considered is packaging Halladay with Rolen to upgrade (or at least not significantly downgrade) at third, while also getting some prospects. That is, of course, a lot of salary for a team to take on, but if they traded back a ML veteran in addition to the prospects that could offset the salary issue somewhat. If management doesn't think the team will be competing in 2010, I think they should trade Rolen now.

JohnnyG: I love Scott the Rock Rolen, his defense... sweeeeet. His Bat... AWESOME... Ok I'm done. I have to think Rolen is trade bait, but not so much that if the Jays can't get anything for him that should dump him for the best offer. The problem being is the market is much smaller for Rolen vs. Halladay. Everyone and I mean everyone could use a Halladay because you could always use a pitcher. Does every contending team need a new 3B? Off the top of my head maybe Milwaukee, The Phillies may want an upgrade over Feliz. Packaging him with Halladay may help but as Jesse pointed out but that is a lot of salary to take on. Bottom line for me is pretty much the same as Halladay, if you don't get a decent offer for him that should include a decent prospect (preferably a decent 3B one) then just pass and let him play out the rest of his tenor next year and maybe look at next years deadline.

Hugo: My take is that If the Jays are serious about putting a competitive team on the field next season, they have to either keep Scott Rolen or acquire a third-baseman to replace him. The Jays have no one in the organization ready to step up and man third, unless you count a platoon involving Jose Bautista and either Scott Campbell or Joe Inglett. That said, if the Jays could move Rolen to a contender for a young third baseman with some power potential, that would be tremendous. Of course, as you have all pointed out, that is far easier said than done. Still, with Rolen's value high right now, it can't hurt to ask around.

Tom: Is it posible that Campbell could be a decent major league 3B next year? He doesn't have the power we'd like to see but then Rolen likely won't get more than 10 homers this year.

Hugo: Sure, it's possible. He was pretty impressive in the Spring and you have to like his ability to get on base. But AAA wasn't kind to him the first-time around and after that, he's had a number of nagging injuries. They've prevented him from developing, particularly defensively, so it's tough to say he could be capable of the job next year. I'd like to see what he does in the second half and then I could see him making the team as a utility player next year and trying to work his way into the lineup that way. Even if he can get on base like Rolen has this year, he won't field like him.

Hugo: Moving on, Marco Scutaro is a free agent after this season and could very well be a Type A free agent. Do you think the Jays would be better served to trade him now, to attempt to resign him, or to offer him arbitration at the end of the season and, assuming he declines, take the draft picks?

Tom: I'd like them to try to sign him to a 2 year contract, he's getting to the age that much beyond 2 years we might be seeing some decline but I think we need a couple of years for one of our top SS prospects Justin Jackson or Tyler Pastornicky to develop to where they can take the job. I'll admit I really like Pastornicky quite a bit, he has the sort of speed we don't have on the team at the moment.

Jesse: I would like to see them offer him a one year deal with a vesting option (contingent on him playing 130 games) for the second year. If they cannot resign him, I would prefer to offer arbitration and take the two draft picks after this season because I think most teams are going to undervalue Scutaro and would not be willing to give up any significant prospects for him. If he accepts arbitration, that is fine with me as well -- I doubt he will make more in arbitration than he would through free agency.

JohnnyG: I would like to see them offer a 2 year deal but be sensible about it. Yes Scoots is having a great year but let's not go overboard here, Scoot is making 1.1Mil this year. In comparison Johnny Mac Makes 1.9 Mil this year and has his contract expire at the end of the year as well. Offer Scott something over 2Mil a season for 2 years Maybe in the 2.5-3.0 Range perhaps with some additional bonuses if he hits certain numbers again. If he wants more let it go to arbitration and pick up the draft picks if it doesn't work out.

Hugo: I don't think those offers are going to be enough to keep Scutaro, though I agree with making the offer. I have no idea what the market for him is going to be like, but my guess is that, coming off a bit year, he will feel comfortable testing the market and taking the chance that the Jays won't fill their SS hole in the meantime, allowing him to go back to the Jays if he has to. As for our long-term SS picture, Pastornicky is having a good season and just needs to develop some power. It looks almost certain, though, that Jackson is going to need to repeat Dunedin, and that's going to hold Pastornicky back a bit.

Tom: No chance Pastornicky can skip past Jackson? They are about the same age.

Hugo: Well, there's one way I could see it happening. Pastornicky has been good but he would have to put up a monster year, and Jackson really fall off, for them to just switch places. The Jays still expect Jackson to develop at the plate. It could happen if Jackson gets injured, though, and Pastornicky has to be called up to fill the void, and excels.

Hugo: How about the Jays' bullpen arms? Jason Frasor is having a very nice season - he and Scott Downs are both free agents after 2010 - should the Jays look to trade one or both of them?

Tom: High on my wish list is keeping Downs. Frasor has had an up and down run with the Jays, I'd like to trade him quick while he's up. The other half is, I kind of doubt that he would resign with the Jays, since much of his time here he hasn't had the confidence of his manager.

Jesse: I would like them to resign Downs, his stuff is just as nasty as ever and he doesn't rely on a hard fastball so I don't see why he can't pitch well for another few seasons. As far as Frasor, is Jayson Werth available? All joking aside, outside of 2008, Frasor's had solid K/BB ratios throughout his career and while he's been lucky this season, I think he was quite unlucky in 2007. Although his stock is higher now than it probably will be next year, he is a quality major-league setup man, so if you do trade him, you want something useful in return.

JohnnyG: Resign Downs. And quickly too before he racks up too many saves and his agent can use that as leverage. As I mentioned above, Frasor is a prime trade target for someone looking to help bolster their bullpen. And from what I can find, (using Cot's) Frasor is signed only through this year so he would be a FA in this coming offseason, Downs is signed through next season. If this is actually the case I say trading Frasor if possible is the right move.

Hugo: I think Frasor was a super-2 so I think that while his contract is just for this year, he is under team control for one more season after this one. Cot's has him listed as a 2011 free agent. I like the idea of extending Downs, personally, I think he's as good a bet to hold down the closer job as anyone, but I'm not sure Downs will negotiate during the season; he is reputed to be very superstitious. The only issue with keeping him is how much it would cost. I'd trade Frasor if I could get a good return, but I wouldn't mind keeping him either if that didn't happen. He and Downs could both well end up Type A free agents when their contracts expire - while a team normally gets better value for a player by trading him rather than letting him leave for the draft picks, relievers that are Type A can be a different matter because they often don't fetch all that much in return. Justin Speier was a very effective pitcher for us but became Brett Cecil (and Eric Eiland) when he left. Glad we didn't resign him!

JohnnyG: I stand corrected on Frasor. If the Jays still retain his rights then I think I would be more inclined to keep him and hope he has an even better year next year. Then maybe you could flip him next year, Again Relievers I believe are a little easier to find so I wouldn't mind losing him if he gets better and becomes a type A, that would be great news.

Join us again next time!