Jays take another Giants pitcher
After success with Biagini, Toronto selects another Rule 5 pitcher from San Francisco
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The Blue Jays caught the Giants sleeping two years ago and returned to the well again on Thursday.
In the 2015 MLB Rule 5 draft, the Jays plucked pitcher Joe Biagini from the San Francisco Giants and the big right-hander turned into an outstanding reliever, though he struggled in a starting role last season.
In this year’s Rule 5 draft, held on Thursday at the Walt Disney Swan & Dolphin Resort, the Jays selected another pitcher from the Giants organization, right-hander Drew Muren. Muren was picked in the triple-A phase of the draft, not the MLB phase, meaning that they don’t have to keep the 6-foot-6 fireballer on their major league roster for the entire season.
At 29, Muren is not exactly a prospect, but has put up interesting numbers. Last season in the minors he struck out 45 batters in 38.1 innings. But also walked 25. The season before, dividing his time between single-A and triple A, Muren made 38 relief appearances and struck out 61 batters in 41 innings pitched while issuing 20 walks. He’ll likely spend most of his time in triple-A Buffalo next season.
Toronto GM Ross Atkins was pleased that the no players were taken from the Jays’ organization during the major league portion of the draft — specifically catcher Max Pentecost and RHP Jordan Romano. They did lose third baseman Mitch Nay to the Reds in the minor league phase.
Other than selecting Muren and a couple of later minor league picks — catcher Alberto Mineo from the Cubs and shortstop Ivan Castillo from the Indians — the Jays did not make a single deal at this year’s MLB Winter Meetings, though Atkins insisted that’s not necessarily disappointing. The GM said a lot of constructive conversations were held with GMs, agents and players this week that could turn into trades or free agent signings over the next few weeks.
But for Jays fans, there was no splash here at the Disney resort other than in the pool.
“There are things that became a little bit more concrete for us and I would imagine that is the case across the industry,” said Atkins, following the Rule 5 draft. “Whether or not people end up signing contracts and moving towards physicals, it feels like that’s going to happen a little more and more this week and before we break for the holidays for a bit.”
He said some definite momentum has been put in place for possible moves in the not-so-distant future.
“Slowly, alternatives and options are coming off the board and that will continue to occur (so) absolutely there’s more than one opportunity for the Blue Jays,” he said. “This is not a deadline. This is an opportunity to learn and sometimes deals happen here and sometimes they don’t.”
One thing the Jays have learned is that AL East rivals New York Yankees are going all-in for a World Series title. The Yanks surprisingly made the playoffs in 2017 and this week traded for MLB home run and RBI king Giancarlo Stanton.
The Red Sox, who won the AL East last year, are likely to make a major deal or two of their own to counter what the Yanks have done. Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald reported that Boston is interested in two key free agents: outfielder J.D. Martinez and first baseman Eric Hosmer.
Toronto? Atkins is sticking with the narrative that the Jays are looking to complement the outfield, middle infield and rotation. All Jays fans can do is wait and hope.
Around the diamond
Though the Jays didn’t pull the trigger on any deals at the Winter Meetings, there were rumours galore ... Jon Heyman of the MLB Network tweeted that the Jays have checked in on Carlos Gonzalez and fellow free agent outfielder Carlos Gomez ... Heyman also reported that five teams have shown interest in Toronto third baseman Josh Donaldson. The Jays have no interest in trading the Bringer of Rain at this time, though that could change as he is entering the final year of his contract and is scheduled to become a free agent at the end of the 2018 season ... Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that the Giants and Jays have talked to the White Sox about acquiring outfielder Avisail Garcia ... The Jays have reportedly shown interest in Cincinnati outfielders Billy Hamilton and Adam Duvall (via Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith) ... There have also been reports that Toronto is looking at versatile infielder Eduardo Nunez, though that seems unlikely given that the Jays recently acquired Aledmys Diaz.