GM unarmed for trade war
The Blue Jays made two announcements Saturday: one having to do with closure, the other involving a closer.
Due to concerns for the health of their fans, the stadium roof remained closed for the 4-3 win over the Tigers. As for the closer, due to concerns about the right elbow of reliever Ryan Tepera, the current ninthinning replacement for Roberto Osuna was shut down and placed on the 10-day disabled list.
Tepera admitted he first felt discomfort when the club played in Anaheim last week. After giving up a game-winning blast to Alex Bregman in Houston, he had trouble recovering physically the next day. He reported the elbow condition and the Jays are now forced to change direction at the back of the bullpen once again.
“Just a little bit of soreness in the elbow,” the 30-year-old Texan said prior to Saturday’s win. “It’s more of a recovery thing right now. I’m just not recovering the right way. Got some treatment on it, went into Houston, didn’t pitch for the first two days, still continued to get the treatment. And then after the last game in Houston, the following day the same thing: just a little bit of soreness. It’s kind of been lingering.”
As for the Rogers Centre roof, the Jays were so concerned about the local heat alert that they kept the dome closed, setting up water refill stations on many of the concourses. The plan for Canada Day on Sunday was to open the roof while advising fans to hydrate, wear hats and be careful. If conditions change, the Jays are ready to improvise and close the roof again for the sake of safety. Manager John Gibbons knows what improvising with closing is all about, given his current group of late-inning relievers populated by aging former aces: Tyler Clippard, Seunghwan Oh and John Axford.
The Jays began the season with the bullpen as a strength, with holdovers Osuna, Tepera and Danny Barnes as the lateinning trio, all knowing their roles and in a comfort zone. The veteran spring signings were insurance. Now the old guys are the entire answer heading into trade deadline month and Gibbons is still finding out what’s best day-to-day.
This group, along with lefty Aaron Loup, will be mixed and matched at least until Aug. 5, when the anointed closer Osuna is eligible to be reinstated after a 75-game suspension. But don’t book it, because a lot may happen between now and then. Another factor in closing out July games will be what GM Ross Atkins does by the 31st.
“I’ve got ideas on who’s going to do what,” Gibbons assured. “Of course you let the game dictate a little bit of that — right-handers, left-handers, that kind of thing. There’ll be a couple of guys I lean on most at the end — Clippard, Oh. If we need him earlier, Oh’s one guy that if someone gets in a jam — middle innings, seventh, whatever — he can bail you out. You know he’s going to come in and throw strikes.”
It’s tough for Atkins to move inventory when other teams can’t be sure who is healthy enough to help a contender. Also, if you trade major-league players and you have all of these injuries, who is going to fill in to the point where you can even compete? There are seven Jays on the DL: Josh Donaldson, Aaron Sanchez, Troy Tulowitzki, Jaime Garcia, Dalton Pompey, Barnes and now Tepera. Many of them would have been attractive trade chips to acquire younger pieces.
Atkins has only been in charge of the Jays leading up to a trade deadline for the past two seasons. In seven July deals, Atkins has acquired outfielders Melvin Upton, Teoscar Hernandez, Nori Aoki and Eduard Pinto, infielders Rob Refsnyder and Samad Taylor, catcher Miguel Montero and pitchers Joaquin Benoit and Thomas Pannone. To get them, he traded away pitchers Hansel Rodriguez, Drew Storen, Jason Grilli, Francisco Liriano, Joe Smith and first baseman Ryan McBroom. Teoscar has had the biggest impact in the majors, while Taylor (No. 13) and Pannone (No. 26) are among the Jays’ top 30 prospects.
The bottom line for those anticipating impact moves is that there has been no recent history of the Jays being able to use the deadline to restock the farm. With injuries and uncertainty on the current 25man roster, and assuming contending teams won’t trade for injured players, the inventory that would bring in the biggest haul of prospects is led by lefty J.A. Happ, then drops off to starter Marco Estrada followed by the four veteran members of the bullpen, outfielder Curtis Granderson and resurgent DH Kendrys Morales. But really?
Sure, there are other players on Atkins’ and team president Mark Shapiro’s trading wish list, such as Russell Martin and his $20-million U.S. salary. But the fact is, a player needs to be able to help a contender in October and many of these pieces are having trouble helping the Jays in June.
There will be trades in July, but don’t look for anything in return that will change the future of the organization. Most of the prospects who will help the Jays in the next couple of seasons are already in the system.