While it seems that Troy Glaus has been around for a long time he's still just 29 years old. He was the 3rd overall pick of the entire draft by the Angels in 1997. He made it to the Big Show the following year in 1998 and was a regular in 1999. In 2000 at just age 23 he made it to the All Star game hitting 47 HRs over the entire season.
In four playoff series Glaus has excelled. He was the World Series MVP when the Angels defeated the Giants in 2002. In the post season Glaus has hit .347/.427/.819, including 9 HRs in 72 ABs.
Here are Glaus' career regular season stats:
Year Ag AB BA OBP SLG OPS+ 1998 21 165 .218 .280 .291 49 1999 22 551 .240 .331 .450 98 2000 23 563 .284 .404 .604 150 2001 24 588 .250 .367 .531 127 2002 25 569 .250 .352 .453 115 2003 26 319 .248 .343 .464 118 2004 27 207 .251 .355 .575 138 2005 28 538 .258 .363 .522 125
Some cause for concern with the acquisition of Glaus is due to shoulder and knee injuries that limited his play in 2003 and 2004. While being a full time DH may be the best role for Glaus to remain in the lineup Jeff Blair reported today that Glaus has been told privately that he'll be the primary third baseman for the Jays.
Glaus had Toronto on his no-trade list in his contract with the Diamondbacks. However, his agent noted that the reason for that was only due to the old, hard artificial turf that the Jays used prior to 2005.
Glaus waived the no-trade clause, but in return for that he got a further expanded no-trade clause. Additionally, Glaus received a player option for 2009. Specific terms were not known at this time but Glaus' agent noted it was "very reflective of the average annual value of the original deal." The contract Glaus signed last off-season was for $45 million over 4 years so I'd suspect the player option would be in the $12 million range.
No money will exchange hands between Toronto and Arizona in the deal, although the Diamondbacks will send Glaus 'less than $1 million' in 2008 to make up for net money that Glaus will lose to taxes because he's playing in Canada according to the Arizona Republic.
Regardless of the turf, Glaus still could have turned down the trade to Jays. However, his agent Mike Nicotera said that Glaus is "going (to Toronto) because he believes they can win a World Series". And certainly the Jays are bringing Glaus' 'Big Scary Bat' to Toronto to attempt to do just that.
Also, coming to the Jays in the trade is shortstop Sergio Santos. The Diamondbacks selected Santos out of high school with the 27th overall pick of the 2002 draft. Santos progressed quickly through the minor leagues reaching AAA this past season, although not without struggles. However, Santos will be just 23 next year - the same age as many of the college players the Jays drafted in 2005 that will start in Dunedin - so he's still ahead of the curve for his age.
Here are Santos' career minor league stats:
Year Team League Age Level AB Avg OBP SLG 2002 Miss. Pio 19 Rk 202 .272 .367 .520 2003 Lancstr Calif 20 A 341 .287 .368 .408 2003 El Paso Tex 20 AA 137 .255 .293 .365 2004 El Paso Tex 21 AA 347 .282 .332 .461 2005 Tucson PCL 22 AAA 490 .239 .288 .367
At 6'4", 240 Santos is large for a shortstop which has led to spectulation that he may be moved to a different position. However, Arizona apparently felt he could handle shortstop and the Jays like to keep a player at the most demanding defensive position they can handle for as long as possible so it's likely he'll start at SS for Syracuse this spring.
The scouting report on Santos is quite interesting and noted that he had exceptional bat speed (and compared to Sheffield). Santos was Baseball America's #3 prospect after the 2004 season and #10 prospect after the 2005 season. With both Justin Upton and Stephen Drew in the organization the Diamondbacks apparently felt Santos was expendable.
Miguel Batista ends up being the odd man out of the Jays pitching staff after the acquisition of BJ Ryan and AJ Burnett. He returns to Arizona two years after leaving to sign with the Blue Jays. The Jays pitching staff is now back to 12 players, with McGowan and League (and Rosario and Marcum) in the wings and likely to start the season in Syracuse.
Orlando Hudson's departure opens up a full time spot for Aaron Hill. After being called up last season following Koskie's injury Hill started off on fire before cooling off ending the season at .274/.342/.385. Hill ended up moving between 3B, SS, and DH until a sprained ankle sidelined Hudson in September. At that point Hill shifted over to 2B and played capably, and statistically was as strong as Hudson on 'D' (although obviously over limited games). It was perhaps that 'audition' at 2B that gave the Jays the confidence that Hill could handle 2B in Toronto.
While the trade opens up a spot for Hill it's also a strong endorsement of Russ Adams by the Jays brass as well. If the Jays felt that either Adams or Hill couldn't handle the middle infield it's not likely that they would have gone ahead and traded Hudson.
With Glaus now on the team the Jays have 5 players (Glaus, Overbay, Koskie, Hillenbrand and Hinske) for three positions (3B, 1B, DH). It's almost certain that the Jays will need to trade one of Koskie, Hillenbrand, & Hinske. My best guess is that Hillenbrand ends up being the player traded - he seems to have the most value and most reasonable contract at this point. However, in Blair's article today he reported that Gibbons has lobbied to keep Hillenbrand and Ricciardi has apparently obliged.
Glaus will make $9 million this season, $10.5 million in 2007 and $12.5 million in 2008. It is estimated by Blair, and I believe a number given to him by the team, that the Jays currently have $73 million committed to the 2006 player budget for 26 players. The Jays have mentioned a $75 milllion payroll as their target this season.
(Note - The $73 million payroll is the accounting version of the payroll - the actual cash paid out in signing bonuses and salaries for this season is currently around $81.5 million).
Besides unclogging the corner infield it's likely that the Jays offseason is complete. There's always a chance that they will attempt to upgrade at backup catcher or RF but I think at this point they'll go with Quiroz and Rios and see how they fare. If upgrades are needed in those positions - or others positions - moves can always be made in the summer. Remember, for all the moves the Jays made this offseason they only traded away one prospect - Zach Jackson. There's still plenty of players in the minors, particularly pitchers, that other organizations would be interested in acquiring at the trading deadline.
JP Ricciardi and crew came into the offseason with money to spend and a plan to upgrade the roster. They've executed their plan and now the 'on paper' improvements will take the field in the spring. We'll see how the moves work out once the season begins but it's arguably the most exciting time to be a Jays fan since Joe Carter touched 'em all in 1993.
