Whoa. Didn't see this one coming.....
Your Toronto Blue Jays traded Brett Wallace, our first baseman in waiting, for Anthony Gose, a 19 centrefielder.
Our boy Jay Ballz did two interviews with Sir Gose A Lot last year. You can check them out here and here. Keep rocking the high socks and the crooked cap kid!
Gose was selected in the 2nd round, 51st overall, in the 2008 amateur draft. At that time, he was a 17 year old outfielder as well as a pitcher. Apparently he had "electric" breaking stuff on the hill. Gose received a $772,000 signing bonus and was rated as the Phillies 6th best prospect entering this year. The left handed hitting, left handed thrower is billed as being lightning fast. He stole 115 bases in 245 minor league games to date but was also caught 48 times. His full stats look like this:
| Year | Age | Tm | Lg | Lev | Aff | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 17 | Phillies | GULF | Rk | PHI | 11 | 41 | 39 | 4 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 12 | .256 | .293 | .359 | .652 | ||||||
| 2009 | 18 | Lakewood | SALL | A | PHI | 131 | 572 | 510 | 72 | 132 | 24 | 9 | 2 | 52 | 76 | 20 | 35 | 110 | .259 | .323 | .353 | .676 | ||||||
| 2010 | 19 | Clearwater | FLOR | A+ | PHI | 103 | 461 | 418 | 67 | 110 | 17 | 11 | 4 | 20 | 36 | 27 | 32 | 103 | .263 | .325 | .385 | .710 | ||||||
| 3 Seasons | 245 | 1074 | 967 | 143 | 252 | 43 | 21 | 6 | 75 | 115 | 48 | 68 | 225 | .261 | .323 | .367 | .690 | |||||||||||
Analysis:
I think it is fair to say that Adam Lind will be playing 1st base for your Toronto Blue Jays for a long, long time. It will be easy to find a DH in the off season.
With respect to Wallace, he has been traded three times in just over a calender year. Is he the next Andy Marte?
AA has said many times in the past that he covets the speed game. Today he proved that. Here is what he had to say on the FAN590 shortly after the trade was announced.
Take a look at your lead off hitter of the future:
Update:
The one and only Jay Ballz sent over a beauty pic that I just have to share:
That's the new guy holding the trophy with not so new guy Travis d'Arnaud.
Foreshadowing?
Love the high socks. Love the crooked cap. Love the comparisons to Carl Crawford.
ReplyDeleteMy in depth breakdown of this trade: I like...
ReplyDeleteYou know I was never sold on Wallace. I wanted Taylor instead last year, and this team, right now, is deathly slow.
ReplyDeleteYou need a leadoff hitter to win. But we still love Fred, right? Right.
Geez, 2 minutes of taking pitches and exhibiting personal tics, then when he puts the ball in play, we don't get to see him put his primary asset into action?
ReplyDeleteIf he keeps doing that hands in the dirt thing before every pitch, he'll supplant Youkilis as the most annoying batter in the game.
Good luck to Gose in the Jays' system. I was looking forward to watching him in AA Reading next year, but so it goes.
He does that thing with his hands in the dirt because he is a raw dog (he doesn't wear batting gloves).
ReplyDeletehe certainly swings like crawford but he should stop dooing that and shorten it up.
ReplyDeleteA guy like this should not be sacrificing 1-2 feet by satnding at the back of the box and swinging big.
He should stay nearer the front of the box like ichiro and use his speed. Also shorten his swing so he can recover to a running mode more quickly
Hey, where did you guys get that embedded stats table? Might be nice to cite them.
ReplyDeleteGose is a leadoff batter because he steals bases???
ReplyDeleteHis best OBP in three season is .325 and that's in the A ball. That's beyond pathetic for a leadoff hitter. And this year he was thrown out almost as often as he stole bases -- Anything less than a 75% success rate causes far more harm than good.
And he has now power so pitchers can simply go after him.
He may be a great fielder and athlete but he hasn't shown any ability to be a major league hitter much less a leadoff man.
Michael Taylor, who the Jays traded to get Wallace, is a great athlete and he showed power and talent as a hitter, though this year has been derailed by injuries.
Dear Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteIt's probably a good thing you rmain anonymous, because you're clearly an idiot who, sadly, like most fans, can't even do five minutes of research outside of a stat line to understand a player or even understand the stat line.
Let me put this in perspective for you. Number of players in the FSL with a better OPS than Gose born in 1990: 1.
ONE.
Number of players in the FSL with a better OPS than Gose born in 1989: 2.
TWO.
One of which is D'Arnaud.
Pastornicky would qualify if he was still with the Jays and not in AA.
Oh, I also believe there was only two or three players in 88 who had a better OPS as well, one of which was McDade.
It's a pitcher's league, especially this year. Christ. Research is hard.
^^^^ All great points. He's way too young and raw to be drawing any permanent conclusions as to where he'll hit etc but if the scouts project him to lead off I'm not going to argue. I've yet to see AA do something stupid so if he's trading a major league ready first baseman with power for a 19 year old, he must be seeing superstar potential. You've got to make these gambles if you're Toronto. Go all in and maybe you win the hand...
ReplyDeleteSorry Jays Fans, but if you seriously like this trade you are ridiculously homering.
ReplyDeleteBesides the fact of Wallace having a way higher ceiling, Gose isn't much.
The speed and the defense might be similar to Crawford, but right now a better comparison is looking like Brett Gardner, Scott Podsednick, or even a CF version of Chris Getz.
Crawford actually hit 300 in the Minors. If you hit 240 in the minors, you won't be hitting too high elsewhere.
Heyo! Many thanks to all that stopped by.
ReplyDelete@bleaf
Early comparisons are fools gold but if we just traded for the next Carl Crawford then we win. Again.
@Mattt
Perfectly said. Doubt anyone would have read my post if I only said that though.....
@Roy
Wallace will play in the bigs and he may even rake in that park in Houston if he goes the other way with pop but he may have been oversold to the masses here in Toronto.
As for Fred, I like him at leadoff, right now, considering the alternatives. But he is a short term fix. A good one but short term none the less. His D in the OF is getting harder and harder to watch. Maybe a guy in the DH mix next season?
@Cookie
Love the screen name bro! Yeah sorry bout the video. The other shots of him online where far away. I wish someone filmed him legging out a triple or making a play in CF but what are you gonna do?
@Anon
Raw Dog eh? Does that mean George Brett is the Top Raw Dog all time? Hmmmm (insert Jeopardy! music here)
@Gspy
He does take a big hack. Maybe he needs the: "you may run like Hayes but you hit like shit" speech.....
Give him some time. He was a draftable pitcher in high school and only decided to focus on the other half of the game full time in the minors. He must still be learning about what he can and can't do with the stick.
@Anon
From the best baseball website for simple statistics in the game: Baseball-Reference.com
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=gose--001ant
Now in fairness, I did drop a few columns and they are statistics which I kinda think means they are fair game to anyone. I guess I could have taken the six minutes out of my day that it would have taken to just type it out or made my own snazzy spreadsheet.....but I get the point. I wonder out loud where that line is sometimes?
Anyways, I gotta think that you only care because you work for BR and probably have a handle but chose to pussy out and go Anon route which to me is telling.
Attention everyone, I have an announcement to make:
PEOPLE FROM BR READ MY BLOG!
@Anon
You're right if the player you are talking about is 24 or 25 and in AA or AAA.
However
This is a 19 year old KID. Think bigger.
His stolen base numbers, to me, say this guy tries to go all the time, every time. (see above comment regarding still learning what he can and can't do)
As for Taylor, get over it. That was SO 2009 dude.
@Daniel Bimke
You sir are welcome here anytime. You may want to play around a bit with this shiny toy:
http://www.minorleaguesplits.com/mlecalc.html
Your welcome!
@Mattt again
AA seems to have bought into the "strong up the middle philosophy" which is a good one in my opinion. How many corner OF are available every year? (think Dye) And how many 1B / DH types are available every year? (think Delgado)
The Gods at Fan Graphs did a great piece on the trade. In it, they talk a bit about what Wallace would have to do to be a valuable MLB 1B. Check it:
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/the-roy-oswalt-trade-houstons-new-prospects/
Sir Gose A Lot is all potential baby. And as you said, we gotta play the pocket 3's and hope they hold up. Maybe we even hit a set on the flop and win big.....
@Anon
Carl Crawford at 19 years of age in AA:
.274BA .323OBP .352SLG 36SB 20CS 90K 4HR 51RBI 36BB 24D 3T
Anthony Gose at 19 years of age in High A:
.263BA .325OBP .385SLG 36SB 27CS 103K 4HR 20RBI 32BB 17D 11T
(Anon Baseball-Reference.com guy, that shit was for you!)
And Crawford had 120+ more plate appearances in which to do it.....so what exactly are you saying again?