5 Moves to Improving Your Baseball Team

So I was driving home for reading week with my buddy Stevie P (regular guest on Chewing the Fat) and we got to talking about the Toronto Blue Jays.  We both agreed that this team is in a rebuilding stage and probably will finish 4th in the division this year behind the Sox, Yanks, and Rays (yes in that order).  However if you look at this Blue Jays team they aren't very far away from being a real contender and in actuality in just a few simple moves they could challenge for the wild card.

Move #1

Sign Manny Ramirez.  The guy is a hitting machine and is going to go down as the best right handed hitter of all time.  His defense is crappy, to say the least, but good thing the Jays are in the AL and he can DH.  Let him get up there and just hit.

So far he has turned down a couple offers because he wants longer than just 2 years.  My suggestion is 4 years $80 million and I'm sure he would be singing on the dotted line.  The man will still be productive at that time and the way free agency is going these days in 4 years you will be paying guys twice that much.

Manny also hated all of the media attention in Boston because he said it was suffocating.  Bring Manny to T.O where all people care about the Leafs and he will do fine.  He will still get attention but he won't be crucified if he strikes out once in awhile.

Move #2

Dump Scott Rolen as fast as possible and get a real 3rd baseman.  Where will this new 3rd baseman come from you ask?  By trading Alex Rios for Ryan Zimmerman the Jays would lose one of their outfielders (which they have plenty to spare) and acquire one of the best young 3rd basemen in baseball.

Zimmerman is stuck in baseball hell aka playing for the Washington Nationals who are going nowhere and while Rios is a good player he will never be that franchise type guy. Moving Rios before he asks for a $100 million dollar deal would be a good call.  As for Rolen you can try and trade him but since there is no market for washed up 3rd basemen who hit like my mother I suggest Cito take him out back and give him the Old Yeller treatment.

Move #3 

Sign Ben Sheets.  While he does have some injury problems in the past he is still a solid pitcher who can be effective when healthy.  Over the past 3 seasons he is 31-21 with an ERA of around 3.50 and has consistently played in more games each year as well (17, 24, 31).  Also Sheets would come cheap as his medical past has scared away teams as has the current economy.  The Jays could pick him up for under $10 million and he could slide in as the #2 starter.

Move #4

Trade BJ Ryan and Rod Barajas to the St. Louis Cardinals for Yadier Molina.  Now I know that you are reading this thinking the Cardinals would never go for that but trust me I think they would take the deal.  The leading saves man on the Cards last year was Ryan Franklin with 17 while BJ Ryan had 32 in 36 opportunities.  The Cards would get a proven closer who showed that he came back from Tommy John surgery real well and a replacement catcher for the departed Molina while the Jays would receive a talented young catcher who can hit and also play good defense.

As for the now vacant closer role in Toronto it could go to Jeremy Acardo, who showed he can handle the work load, or to either Brandon League and Jesse Carlson who are young, have proven effective, and seem to be ready to take that next step.

Move #5

Now this last move would not be popular among fans but it would help rebuild the team and would also give a true team player what he deserves.  I suggest that at the trade deadline the Jays ask Roy Halliday which team he would like to be traded to and then trade him there. 

This move would show a lot of class on Toronto's part as they would reward their ace for all his hard innings by allowing him to go to the playoffs and win a World Series (something he truly deserves).  The Jays wouldn't simply be giving him away however as they would be GREATLY compensated for a player of Halliday's caliber.

By moving Halliday you would also free up another spot in the rotation for a young player to step in and try and prove himself.

Conclusion

After all of these moves have been made the Jays opening day roster would look like this:

C Yadier Molina

1B Joe Inglett

2B Aaron Hill

SS Johnny Mac

3B Ryan Zimmerman

DH Manny Ramirez

LF Adam Lind

CF Vernon Wells

RF Travis Snyder

SP Roy Halliday

SP Ben Sheets

SP Sean Marcum

SP Dustin McGowan

SP Jesse Litsch

The bullpen would remain the same or could be upgraded through trades of Rolen, Scutaro, and Overbay (who would be replaced by Joe Inglett).  The team would be young but would still be able to compete.  Power would be gained by adding Manny, Molina, and Zimmerman and the pitching staff would get a boost from Sheets.  Johnny Mac would play short and hit 9th as his crappy batting average would still not cancel out his amazing defense.  This team would be better, somewhat cheaper (after dumping the contracts of Ryan, Rolen, and Overbay), and younger.  They may not make the post-season in '09 but they would be contenders and would have freed up funds to go after a big free agent in the next off season.  

Jays In Serious Trouble

With their walk off win last night the Toronto Blue Jays have moved 1 game over .500 and currently posses a record of 57-56. While the Jays have won 2 in a row it is not nearly enough to get them back into the post-season race as they are currently 10.5 games back of the division leading Tamba Bay Rays and 7.5 games back of the wildcard. This season has been another disappointment in a streak of mediocrity in which the Jays have failed the make the post-season and have failed to make their team any better.

Conversations have turned from trying to make a playoff push this year to retooling for next year and trying to make the team better. Many fans think that this process can occur over night but when you really look at this team its going to be much harder than anyone really understands.

First let's look at who the Jays should keep on the team and then we will move to who should leave.

The most important player to keep is obviously Roy Halladay. Halladay is the ace of the staff and is by far the most consistent player on the team. Everyone tries harder when he is on the mound and he is a true workhorse as he already has 7 complete games this season.

Jesse Carlson and Scott Downs are two young arms that the Jays have to hold on to. Carlson has been lights out this season and appears to be the closer of the future. Downs is a solid lefty that can be a long reliever or a set up man so his versatility is useful.

As far as the bats go only Alex Rios, Adam Lind, and Joe Inglett are worth keeping around. Rios is having an off year but he is still the most consistent Jay and has shown flashes of brilliance both at the plate and in the field. Both Lind and Inglett are young guys who have shown an ability to hit at the major league level and both play decent defense as well. I would also keep John McDonald for his defensive abilities and how cheap his contract is.

Everybody else can get out of town and as soon as possible please. BJ Ryan is a terrible closer who is losing velocity and has fallen in love with a less than average slider instead of throwing the heat. Vernon Wells can't stay healthy and has a massive contract that he does not even come close to deserving. Kevin Mench, Brad Wilkerson, David Eckstien, Scott Rolen, Marco Scutaro, Gregg Zaun, Rod Barajas, Lyle Overbay, and Matt Stairs are all second rate players and most would not start for half the teams in the league.

As far as the young pitchers on the staff go the Jays have had somereal bad luck this season. Dustin McGowan was pitching very well but then had to undergo season ending surgery and won't be back until mid-season next year. He may not come back as his former self and this injury may well end his career. Shaun Marcum spent some time on the DL this season and since coming back can't get anybody out. He has given up 16 runs in just 14.1 innings since coming back and has seen his ERA go from 2.65 to 3.57. Jesse Litsch was obviously a fluke to start off the year and has shown his true colors of late and was sent back down to the minors.

Now that we have addressed the issue of who needs to go and who needs to stay the real problem presents itself. What would you get in return for all of these players? If you were to trade any of these three young pitchers you wouldn't get anything for them. Their stock has plummeted of late as compared to earlier in the season where they could have been traded for multiple prospects. So really the Jays are forced to hold on to them and just hope that they can turn it around and return to their form of earlier in the season.

As for the bats I can't think of any of those players that would fetch a good return from any team in MLB except for Vernon Wells. The rest of the team is either too old or not good enough to garner much interest from around the league as shown by the lack of movement on trade deadline day. If the Jays had only traded Wells two years ago instead of dumping money on him then they could have avoided some of this mess.

Now after I have gone through all of this gloom there is a small ray of hope for the Jays. They have got some quality prospects coming up like Travis Snyder and David Cooper and their pitching is still better than most teams. However they need to address the serious issue of lack of power and overall hitting production. The Jays have tonnes of money and have shown a willingness to spend so hopefully a couple quality free agents, not Lyle Overbay and Bengie Molina, can help give the team a quick makeover.

Lastly I think that signing Barry Bonds would be a smart move. Bonds would bring fans to the ballpark, whether they are there to cheer him or boo him is irrelevant, and would provide other incentives as well. Bonds is the all time home run king and whether that is on steroids or not he still knows how to hit the ball a mile. He would be a valuable resource in teaching some of the other guys on the team a bit more about hitting. He would be able to DH so would not be a liability in the outfield and has offered to work for the league minimum and donate it all to charity. Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

So while the Jays clearly have got some serious issues to address all hope is not lost. What I really want to see changed the most however is the attitude of the team and the fans. Every year the Jays don't do well people always start saying, "it's because were in the same division as the Red Sox and the Yankees." Just remember that during the early and mid 90's the Yankees and Red Sox used to say, "damn were in the same division as the Blue Jays." A more positive attitude can go a long way and help return this great franchise back to its glory days.