Rays Give Up, A's Load Up

Saturday, January 10 2015 @ 11:22 PM EST

Athletics Acquire Ben Zobrist, Yunel Escobar, meanwhile the Rays Sign Juan Francisco.  Phew, one less team to worry about in the AL East...hopefully.

That A's/Rays trade sent catcher/DH John Jaso, shortstop prospect Daniel Robertson, and outfield prospect Boog Powell (no relation to the more famous one) to the A's while another $1.5 mil goes to the Rays.  Jaso is a 31 year old CA/DH who hit 264/337/430 last year and the Rays plan on him being their DH mainly with some catching duties mixed in.  Robertson was the A's top prospect (#85 in MLB based on mlb.com's ratings) was in A+ in 2014 hitting 310/402/471 at SS.  Powell hit 343/.451/.435 in A/A+ in CF but was suspended for 50 games for amphetamine use and is entering his age 22 season.

Some other news includes....

• Rockies looking seriously at trading Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez.
• Padres signing Josh Johnson (gluttons for punishment I guess) for $1 mil plus up to $6 mil in incentives
  
•  More Cuban's cleared to sign like right-hander Yoan Lopez (21 years old, counts against international spending pool due to age), Hector Olivera who is a 2B should be cleared soon (turns 30 shortly, viewed as a top free agent), and a big question is Yoan Moncada who is just 19 and viewed as a potential star.  If cleared pre-June 15th then the Yankees & Boston are favorites. If cleared after that then everyone else is as the Yankees & Red Sox will then be limited to no more than $300k and he'll command $30-40 mil.  So lets hope for the delay, which puts the Jays in the group of favorites due to a desire to shoot over the limits via Vlad Jr. and others.
  
• Yankees Sign Stephen Drew for $5 mil plus $1.5 in incentives (playing time based)
•  Orioles seem to be debating signing Colby Rasmus but can't make up their minds
• White Sox Sign Emilio Bonifacio for $3 mil this year and $4 mil in 2016 or a $1 mil buyout

Lets hope for some exciting (or at least some) Blue Jays news soon.

160 comments

https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20150110232211268