Boy Wonder does it AGAIN
A little before 10pm it was reported your Toronto Blue Jays declined the option(s) on closer Kevin Gregg, much to the dismay of the voters in our latest poll. Of the 18 votes cast 56% of them were in favor of keeping 3G around for another year. He had a buy out attached to his option for $750,000.
Then, even more unexpectedly.....
At 10:20pm the Jays make this press release:
The TORONTO BLUE JAYS have acquired C MIGUEL OLIVO from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for a player to be named or cash considerations.
At 11:50pm they release this:
The TORONTO BLUE JAYS have declined the 2011 option on C MIGUEL OLIVO, making him a free agent.
Olivo was a Blue Jay for an hour and a half at the cost of his buy out, which was $500,000. That is quite the hourly rate of pay! And it could go up if it was cash considerations going back the other way to the Rockies to complete the trade.
So we just paid $1.25 million - maybe more - for 2 players to NOT play for us in 2011.
What we know right now:
We have 2 Type A free agents in relievers Jason Frasor and Scott Downs.
We have 3 Type B free agents in catchers John Buck, Miguel Olivo and reliever Kevin Gregg.
If you don`t know what the difference is click here.
Assuming we offer everyone of our free agents with compensation attached to them arbitration, they decline it and all sign a Major League contract with another team. Then we are looking at 5 sandwich picks between the first and the second round of next years draft as well as 2 extra 1st round picks. For now.
There are 33 picks in the first round and 18 of them are protected, meaning they cannot be lost if the team that owns them signs a Type A free agent. In that case they would surrender their 2nd round pick instead.
It is also worth noting that if a team (the fucking Yankees) signs more than one Type A, then their first round pick in the draft goes to the team losing the highest ranked Type A free agent. Currently Downs has a rating of 76.352 and Frasor comes in at 73.383.
All of this is really speculation until the next deadline which is November 23rd at midnight. That is when clubs have to decide whether or not to offer arbitration to their free agents.
Some other important deadlines are November 30 which is when players have to decide whether or not to accept arbitration and December 2nd which is the last day teams can tender a player a contract.
It's not until after this date do we get a true list of who is available this offseason and what their compensation will be.
Conclusion:
It is probable that your Toronto Blue Jays will have 10 picks in the first 3 rounds of the 2011 Amateur Draft and possible that we get 8 of the top 50.
Keep building through the draft.
In Alex we trust.
The Olivo trade confused me, but then after seeing he was a Type-B free agent, and that the Jays declined his option, it all made sense.
ReplyDeleteI also think this move shows that Rogers is willing to spend money. All be it, only $500,000 and maybe a bit more to the Rockies, but that is a lot of money for an extra draft pick. I also think that is a very smart move.
Another creative move by AA. Looking forward to seeing how this all fits into the big picture in AA's head.
ReplyDeleteYou guys seen this yet?
ReplyDeletehttp://mlbbuzz.yardbarker.com/blog/mlbbuzz/curious_miguel_olivo_trade_examined/3554182
Seems like there was some strings attached.....
I still think he declines arbitration because he said he wants to play every day, and he wont do that in Toronto with JP and Molina both returning.
ReplyDeleteIf he declines arbitration, do we still send a player to be named later?
Baseball bans trading or buying picks. AA seems to have found ways to circumvent those rules and pile up picks in return for guys he controlled, that he is sure others will sign, or like Olivo. I admire the audacity of this move.
ReplyDeleteIn effect AA buys the right to put the player out there to be drafted in return for a sandwich pick.
Is the Kid as smart as he looks so far?
@Argos!
ReplyDeleteWell the source is Kenny Ken Ken so keep that in mind. The article says the Jays will pay the Rockies $25,000 if they decline to offer Olivo arbitration, a source said. If they re-sign Olivo or offer him arbitration, they will send the Rockies a player to be named instead of the money.
Interesting wrinkle.
@joe carter,
Welcome and thanks for your comments!
Honestly, this move is pretty sneaky. AA seems to have found a away to manipulate the rules. Naturally it has a cost, the buy out and a PTBNL. But the 2011 draft is being touted as the best in years.
It seems to me that everything he has done so far has worked out well, except burning an option on Snider when his rehab stint was up and not dealing Overbay at the deadline.
You have to figure that one of a couple of things are bound to happen.
A) all the other GM's stop picking up his phone calls
B) we start naming schools after him
C) his wife breaks his Blackberry.
Thanks for stopping by guys!
I don't know, 500K seems like a lot for a pick in my mind. Then again, I've heard that the 2011 crop is going to be pretty bountiful, so maybe it's not a bad idea to rack up as many picks as you can.
ReplyDelete@BJH,
ReplyDeleteYeah it's hard to question AA's moves. He's proven to me that he has a solid vision of where we are going and what it's gonna take to get there. If he wants to sink $500K to get his hand on an extra pick, then I'm all for it.
I kinda see his point that this move protects him at the catcher position if/when somebody overpays for Buck. But in the end, I think that's all a smokescreen and he just bought a draft pick.