TSN.ca is reporting that that Tony LaCava has been promoted to Assistant General Manager. LaCava's name has surfaced several times as a candidate for other general manager jobs. With most GM jobs filled for next year the Jays have moved to promote LaCava. The promotion would not likely stop LaCava from pursuing other GM opportunities.
It is not clear how this will change LaCava's day-to-day responsibilities. Those details will likely come out by tomorrow.
Dunno if that was an intentional Office reference, but it made me smile anyways.
Not to encourage getting off topic
But what exactly is Glaus' trade value?
I get the feeling it would be purely a salary dump, which I don't really see making sense for the Jays. With what's available this off-season where are you going to spend that money more effectively?
Here's an off-topic prediction that just occurred to me: 2008 Oakland A's DH will be Troy Glaus. Billy Beane can get away with a player who has the steroid cloud over his head because A's fans will simply see it as another market inefficiency to exploit.
And the Jays won't get away with it? You actually think Jays fans are going to boo Glaus and call in to radio shows to protest him playing for the Jays?
Of course Glaus is going to be booed, and Wilner will get more than a few calls about him as well.
The A's have a DH who makes the minimum and may be better, Jack Cust.
The dude did play as much in the OF last season as he did at DH...
Jamey Newberg reports on a former Jay:
The Rangers have outrighted catcher Guillermo Quiroz off of the 40-man roster, reducing the roster to 39 players. Quiroz has declined the assignment, opting instead for free agency.
Not sure where to post this, but Joe Torre just rejected a one year contract offer from the Yanks brass and will no longer be the coach of the Yankees. I know this was already greatly rumoured to be happening it's still a shock to actually see it happen.
Should be interesting to see whose names appear in relation to the vacant Yankees post.
Of course Glaus is going to be booed, and Wilner will get more than a few calls about him as well.
Glaus will get booed if he struggles for any length of time. If he gets off to a hot start and is relatively consistent then no way he gets booed.
Castro seems the obvious choice but given the demand for decent catchers there's going to be competition for him. Plus his .887 ops seems well out of line with his career .723 ops and the marks of .756 and .711 the two years before. Also a .310 career OBP (.321, .322, .331 last 3 years). I'm pretty sure he'll be overpriced.
I like the idea of looking at Barrett. Given his recent struggles and bad press he could come at a good price on a one year deal. He's 31 years old and in 2005/2006 put up .824 and .885 ops. Although catchers tend to hit the wall pretty definitively, one would think he's not completely done at 31.
I think both Castro and Barrett carry their risks but Barrett has the higher ceiling I think, especially for the price.
Really? That seems like buying a big box of trouble.
True. But one also assumes that would get you a pretty good price. If he's a part time player coming into a new league and a new situation, maybe that helps him. He was a good hitter a year ago. I can't help but wonder how much of his problems have been exacerbated by his struggles at the plate. He has upside and if you're going to spend on an experienced #2 I'd rather have the upside that could turn into something than the generic MLB average catcher.
I do like Thigpen and I like Lind as well. I'd like to see them both get major league playing time next year. If the team has its heart set on contention though then I can also understand the reluctance to press them into the lineup without having established themselves. Thigpen couldn't seem to get a swing going with any oomph and Lind couldn't lay off of bad pitches.
Regardless of what Barrett made, he's also coming off a season where he put up a 68 OPS+ and got plenty of bad press related to his personality conflicts on the Cubs.
It's probable he will be looking for a starting job but the terms will probably not be what he's used to, at least for one year.
I don't mind if they're terrible at throwing out runners again. It's not like the trio of Halladay, Burnett, and McGowan have problems preventing runs. It's much more likely those three pitchers would be a nightmare for the average catcher. You can spend time and resources looking for a catcher with a cannon arm and superb release but I think that will be an effort which won't produce much in the way of team improvement.
The offence out of catchers that were not the second half Greg Zaun was awful. A healthy Zaun plus a rejuvenated Barrett could really turn things around in that respect without putting pressure on younger guys like Thigpen and Diaz to be good right away.
You could also look at Castro but I have a feeling that 2007 is not likely his typical hitting year and he's been consistently a part time player. Barret had a period of 3 straight years for the Cubs as an everyday catcher (2004-2006) putting up an OPS of at least .820 each year.
