Apparently Banks was less valuable to the Jays than Tracey Thorpe, Jean Machi, Russ Adams, and Sergio Santos. Not to mention Gus Chacin, Bill Murphy, and Buck Coats.
Brilliant.
And in other bad Blue Jay decisions Adam Lind is still in Syracuse.
How can the Jays reasonably expect to win a regular season big league game with a lineup like they fielded tonight? Barajas at 1st, Inglett at 3rd, Non-Lind call-up at DH.
I know the game was in Orlando but Spring Training finished weeks ago.
Unacceptable from a team purporting to contend.
Though I'll agree that I don't see why the Jays keep hanging on to Machi and Thorpe.
Machi and Thorpe can throw hard and have better bullpen potential than Banks. Banks' career upside at this point is NL long-man/mop-up guy. Seriously, I know we're all panicking here, but let's not go overboard. This decision will have no more impact than what socks JP wears tomorrow. (Unless they're his firing socks.)
The Padres are moving Banks to the bullpen according to Bud Black:
"He's a right-handed pitcher with a fastball, slider and split-finger [fastball]," said Black. "He has good control and a low walk rate and started his entire career with the Blue Jays, but we're going to try him in the bullpen in Portland."...
And he may get his chance sometime soon, given the Padres current bullpen situation. I don't see this as much of a loss though... he's a high draft pick with a low ceiling.
I don't mean to imply that Banks is a great prospect. I just think he could be useful at some point and many others on the 40 man roster won't be.
I understand Pistol. I was just trying to be clear that he would have been my choice to expose too. I thought he would have made it through. I think Santos would be a good shout to expose too, but I would think that someone would take a flyer on Santos ahead of Banks. Apparently, the SD scouts also last saw Banks in a 1-0 defeat in Auburn with Orignal Ryan.
[and Pistol, I'm getting draft fever]
As Pistol said, I don't think anyone here is claiming Banks will ever be more than a fifth starter or middle reliever and that's no guarantee. Still, Banks ranked number 14 on the Box's Top 30 prospect list. Thorpe and Machi were nowhere to be seen. Not that the Box's list is the be-all and end-all of prospect discussions, but I'd says the odds are pretty good that Banks will have a better major league career, perhaps simply by virtue of having a major league career, than at least one of Thorpe and Machi.
I think some of us are also questioning what the thinking is behind this decision. What is it that JP sees in Machi and Thorpe (and Chacin and so on) that makes them worth keeping on the 40-man over Banks? For that matter, what made them more valuable than Cody Haerther and Lee Gronkiewicz, both of whom were lost off the 40-man in the offseason?
Put lots of mediocre guys who are in their 'prime' and unlikely to do much of anything on the field (Scurtaro, Inglett, Eckstein, McDonald) and hope no one notices.
The funny thing is that two of those guys mentioned were given two year contracts becuase they are just that valuable that if they were only given a one year contract they would surely be highly sought after free agents. I dont get JP giving Scutaro and Mcdonald 2 year contacts, It puts you in a less flexible position. Not a huge deal, but i still dont get why?
As Pistol said, I don't think anyone here is claiming Banks will ever be more than a fifth starter or middle reliever and that's no guarantee. Still, Banks ranked number 14 on the Box's Top 30 prospect list.
Well I did my own top 30 about a week before the Box and Banks was nowhere to be seen
I'd says the odds are pretty good that Banks will have a better major league career, perhaps simply by virtue of having a major league career, than at least one of Thorpe and Machi.
I'd say the odds that at least one of Thorpe and Machi will have a better major league career than Banks. The question is which one, that's why you keep both if you can - because you know that Banks' major league career may already be over. (He was never going to see OUR roster again.)
I think some of us are also questioning what the thinking is behind this decision. What is it that JP sees in Machi and Thorpe (and Chacin and so on) that makes them worth keeping on the 40-man over Banks? For that matter, what made them more valuable than Cody Haerther and Lee Gronkiewicz, both of whom were lost off the 40-man in the offseason?
Well Chacin is a lefty recovering from Labrum surgery, so there's already more hope there than is with Banks. And as I said earlier, Machi and Thorpe are good bullpen prospects who can throw hard. Banks has two pitches: ball and meatball.
Look you can say that you would rather they expose someone else - that's fine, and you may be right. But all I'm saying is here's one guy who doesn't think this is a big deal and would have probably exposed the same guy if I were JP. Remember there's two questions to ask when trying to slip somebody off the 40-man roster: can he make our club one day? and would another team take a chance on him? Anybody who's seen Banks pitch in the last couple of years couldn't have been impressed. Whereas Machi, Thorpe and Santos have all shown some promise at certain times over the past season or two.