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ryan008 · 06-12-2009, 12:19 PM

Blue Jays 2009 Offseason Report

GM Ryan Stewart knew he was going to be very busy heading into this first offseason with the Jays as General Manager. Toronto is coming off of its second consecutive 4th Place Finish in the American League East Divison. The Jays record of 76-86 put them well back of the Division Champions the Boston Red Sox. GM Ryan Stewart was asked what his plan was for the 2009 offseason "This is going to be a very busy time for us as an organization. We have to hire some new Coaching Personnel for out Major league team as we lost both Cito Gaston and Gene Tennace to retirements and we had a few of our minor league managers move on. We also have some holes that I would like to fill in the lineup particularly at the shortstop position. We are also going to evaluate what we would like to do in 2010 as we have almost $30 million in salary coming off the books after next season"

Salary Arbitration Hearings

The Jays offseason got into full swing with the Salary Arbitration Hearings. Toronto had 6 players eligiable for arbitartion and the Jays decided to offer arbitration to all of them. These players were all awarded a 1 year contract for the following amounts:

MR Hong-Chih Kuo - $1,848,600
MR Jason Frasor - $2,210,000
SP Shaun Marcum - $2,188,300
SP Dustin McGowan - $2,725,000
MR Casey Janssen - $2,235,700
SP Brian Tallet - $1,500,000

Free Agency

The Jays would have 6 players (5 major leaguers and 1 minor league free agent) leave via free agency in the offseason. The most notable was SP Ben Sheets who signed with the Jays as a free agent at the start of the 2009 season. He was demmanding a 5 year deal in the Neighbourhood of $50 million dollars and the Jays did not have the buget room to sign such a deal. The Jays also lost C Michael Barrett, SS Marco Scutaro, RF Jason Lane, MR Jeremy Accardo and MR Brandon League all chose to test the free agent waters. The Blue Jays will save a total of just under $7 million dollars that will keep them under their buget for the 2010 season.

Player Trades

GM Ryan Stewart would be very busy in the offseason making 4 trades aimed at improving the club for next season and to aleviate some of the teams bugetary constraints.

Blue Jays Giants Trade

THe first trade the Jays made was initiated by the Giants GM Brian Sabean who showed interest in SP Scott Richmond and 1B Lyle Overbay. The Giants were looking for a starter to slot in the end of a very strong rotation that included SP Tim Lincecum, SP Matt Cain, SP Jonathan Sanchez and SP Barry Zito. The Jays and Giants agreed to a 5 player swap that saw SP Scott Richmond, 1B Lyle Overbay and minor leaguers 2B Scott Campbell and 1B Teddy Anund headed to the Giants in exchange for minor league SP Madison Baumgarner.

Richmond started the season in the Jays rotation but struggled to a 1-7 record and was than demoted to AAA Syracuse where he was 9-5 with a 3.48 ERA. Overbay was the Jays starting 1B for the entire season and hit .262 with 13 HR and 59 RBIs. The 33 yearold Overbay has 1 year and $7,000,000 left on his contract and was being pushed by 1B Justin Smoak in AAA Las Vegas. Also headed to the Giants is 25 yearold 2B Scott Campbell. Campbell hit .255 with 17 HR and drove in 51 runs for the 51's in 2009. Rounding out the players headed to the Giants is 17 yearold 1B Teddy Anund. Anund was the Jays 11th Round Pick 319th Overall in 2009 and he had a great season in the Gulf Coast League hitting .306 with 11 HR and 46 RBIs.

The Jays get 21 yearold SP Madison Baumgarner who was the 11th OVerall pick in the first round in 2007 by the Giants. He spent the entire season with AAA Fresno and was 5-10 with an ERA of 8.42. He has mid 90's fastball (92-94 MPH) and very good control and movement. He will likely get an invitation to Spring Training this year but will start the season with AAA Las Vegas.

Blue Jays - Rangers Deal

The Blue Jays had an abundace of yong pitchers in SP Shaun Marcum, SP Dustin McGowan, SP Jesse Litsch, SP Brian Tallet, SP Scott Richmond, SP David Purcey and SP Brett Cecil all poised to compete for 3 open spots in the Jays rotatio. GM Ryan Stewart managed to use some of that depth in the next 2 deals to bring in some good young talent.

In a deal with the Rangers the Jays sent SP Jesse Litsch and minor league 3B Kevin Ahrens to the Texas Rangers for minor league SP Neftali Feliz.

The 25 yearold Litsch was 9-13 for the Jays in 2009 with an ERA of 3.97. He spent most of the season as the teams #3 starter. He was quickly being surpassed on the Jays depth chart by some younger arms and was likely headed to the bullpen or AAA Las Vegas for the 2010 season. With the Rangers he will ge the chance to be an everyday starter. Toronto also sent the #45th rated prospect in the Majors in 3B Kevin Ahrens to the Rangers to complete the deal. Ahrens is a 20 yearold switchitting 3B who hit .272 with 10 HR and 65 RBIs with AA New Hampshire. He was quickly moving up the Jays depth chart and was slated to start the 2010 season with Las Vegas.

Coming over to the Jays is 21 yearold right handed pitcher SP Neftali Feliz. Feliz has a power arm and is just the type of player that GM Ryan Stewart and his scouting staff are looking for "We like big strong pitchers with hard, heavy fastballs like a Roy Halladay. Feliz is a big boy at 6'3" and a fastball in the 94-96 MPH range. we like this kid a lot and tried to pick him up at the trade deadline without success" Feliz was 14-6 with a 3.91 ERA for AAA Oklahoma in 2009 and will get an invitation to Spring Training for the Jays. He may even get a shot at being the teams #5 starter this year.

Blue Jays - Nationals Deal

The second last move the Jays would make was a suprising one. GM Ryan Stewar was approached by the Nationals GM Omay Minaya about the availiability of SP Shaun Marcum, the Nationals offered the Jays a straight deal of Marcum for CF Elijah Dukes and GM Ryan Stewart accepted.

SP Shaun Marcum is a 28 yearold righty who missed the majority of the 2009 season with arm troubles but was 2-1 with a 4.98 ERA in 4 starts in September.

CF Elijah Dukes is a 25 yearold right handed batter who hit .275 with 21 HR an 74 RBIs for a bad Nationals team last season. He will likely be the Jays opening day centerfielder as CF Vernon Wells has been aful and is not coming close to living up to his $23,000,000 a year price tag.

Blue Jays - Mariners Trade

In the final move of a very busy offseason the Jays would send another of their starters along with a pair of minor league pitching prospects to the Mariners to fill their hole at short. Toronto agreed to send SP Brian Tallet and minor leaguers SP Kyle Ginley and SP Jonas Cutto to the Mariners for SS Carols Triunfel.

SP Brian Tallet was very good filling in the starting rotation at the begining of the season. He started out strong posting a 6-2 record in the first 3 months of the season but seemed to tire near the end and wound up with a record of 13-13 with a 4.59 ERA. He would have been bumped out of the rotation and back into the bullpen with the return of some of the Jays injured pitchers but he will get to continue as a starter for the Mariners. The Jays also sent SP Kyle Ginley a 23 yearold righty who was 10-9 with a 4.42 ERA for Low A Lansing and SP Jonas Cuotto a 23 yearold righty also from Lansing who was 5-7 with a 5.55 ERA.

Coming over to the Jays is 19 yearold SS Carlos Triunfel. He spent the entire season with AAA Tacome hitting a respectable .286 with 8 HR and 30 RBIs. According to my scouts he is major league ready now and could be the Jays openting day shortstop. He doesn't have a lot of power but will hit for a good average and steal a few bases.

Waiver Pickup

The Jays claimed 25 yearold MR Kevin Jepsen off of waivers from the Texas Rangers. Jepsen is a hard throwing right hander whowas 3-2 with 1 SV and a 6.75 ERA with the Rangers last season. He has very good stuff but needs to work on his control. He walked 30 batters and struckout 21 in 34.2 innings of work last season.

Staff Signings

The Jays announced that they have found a replacement for Manager Cito Gaston and Hitting Coach Gene Tennace who both retired at the conclusion of the 2009 season. Mike Hargrove will take over as the teams manager and 44 yearold Sean Berry will be the teams new hitting coach.

Other News

The Commissioner's Office informed the Jays that they will receive a 1st Round Pick from the Tampa Bay Rays as well as a Supplemental 1st Round Selection for the loss of SP Ben Sheets. Sheets signed a 5 year $26.5 million dollar contract with the Rays in the offseason. He was 1-2 with a 4.46 ERA with 9 BB and 29 K's after coming off the disabled list for the Jays in 2009.

06-12-2009, 12:19 PM	#15
ryan008 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: St. Catharines, Ontario Posts: 2,354	Blue Jays 2009 Offseason Report GM Ryan Stewart knew he was going to be very busy heading into this first offseason with the Jays as General Manager. Toronto is coming off of its second consecutive 4th Place Finish in the American League East Divison. The Jays record of 76-86 put them well back of the Division Champions the Boston Red Sox. GM Ryan Stewart was asked what his plan was for the 2009 offseason "This is going to be a very busy time for us as an organization. We have to hire some new Coaching Personnel for out Major league team as we lost both Cito Gaston and Gene Tennace to retirements and we had a few of our minor league managers move on. We also have some holes that I would like to fill in the lineup particularly at the shortstop position. We are also going to evaluate what we would like to do in 2010 as we have almost $30 million in salary coming off the books after next season" Salary Arbitration Hearings The Jays offseason got into full swing with the Salary Arbitration Hearings. Toronto had 6 players eligiable for arbitartion and the Jays decided to offer arbitration to all of them. These players were all awarded a 1 year contract for the following amounts: MR Hong-Chih Kuo - $1,848,600 MR Jason Frasor - $2,210,000 SP Shaun Marcum - $2,188,300 SP Dustin McGowan - $2,725,000 MR Casey Janssen - $2,235,700 SP Brian Tallet - $1,500,000 Free Agency The Jays would have 6 players (5 major leaguers and 1 minor league free agent) leave via free agency in the offseason. The most notable was SP Ben Sheets who signed with the Jays as a free agent at the start of the 2009 season. He was demmanding a 5 year deal in the Neighbourhood of $50 million dollars and the Jays did not have the buget room to sign such a deal. The Jays also lost C Michael Barrett, SS Marco Scutaro, RF Jason Lane, MR Jeremy Accardo and MR Brandon League all chose to test the free agent waters. The Blue Jays will save a total of just under $7 million dollars that will keep them under their buget for the 2010 season. Player Trades GM Ryan Stewart would be very busy in the offseason making 4 trades aimed at improving the club for next season and to aleviate some of the teams bugetary constraints. Blue Jays Giants Trade THe first trade the Jays made was initiated by the Giants GM Brian Sabean who showed interest in SP Scott Richmond and 1B Lyle Overbay. The Giants were looking for a starter to slot in the end of a very strong rotation that included SP Tim Lincecum, SP Matt Cain, SP Jonathan Sanchez and SP Barry Zito. The Jays and Giants agreed to a 5 player swap that saw SP Scott Richmond, 1B Lyle Overbay and minor leaguers 2B Scott Campbell and 1B Teddy Anund headed to the Giants in exchange for minor league SP Madison Baumgarner. Richmond started the season in the Jays rotation but struggled to a 1-7 record and was than demoted to AAA Syracuse where he was 9-5 with a 3.48 ERA. Overbay was the Jays starting 1B for the entire season and hit .262 with 13 HR and 59 RBIs. The 33 yearold Overbay has 1 year and $7,000,000 left on his contract and was being pushed by 1B Justin Smoak in AAA Las Vegas. Also headed to the Giants is 25 yearold 2B Scott Campbell. Campbell hit .255 with 17 HR and drove in 51 runs for the 51's in 2009. Rounding out the players headed to the Giants is 17 yearold 1B Teddy Anund. Anund was the Jays 11th Round Pick 319th Overall in 2009 and he had a great season in the Gulf Coast League hitting .306 with 11 HR and 46 RBIs. The Jays get 21 yearold SP Madison Baumgarner who was the 11th OVerall pick in the first round in 2007 by the Giants. He spent the entire season with AAA Fresno and was 5-10 with an ERA of 8.42. He has mid 90's fastball (92-94 MPH) and very good control and movement. He will likely get an invitation to Spring Training this year but will start the season with AAA Las Vegas. Blue Jays - Rangers Deal The Blue Jays had an abundace of yong pitchers in SP Shaun Marcum, SP Dustin McGowan, SP Jesse Litsch, SP Brian Tallet, SP Scott Richmond, SP David Purcey and SP Brett Cecil all poised to compete for 3 open spots in the Jays rotatio. GM Ryan Stewart managed to use some of that depth in the next 2 deals to bring in some good young talent. In a deal with the Rangers the Jays sent SP Jesse Litsch and minor league 3B Kevin Ahrens to the Texas Rangers for minor league SP Neftali Feliz. The 25 yearold Litsch was 9-13 for the Jays in 2009 with an ERA of 3.97. He spent most of the season as the teams #3 starter. He was quickly being surpassed on the Jays depth chart by some younger arms and was likely headed to the bullpen or AAA Las Vegas for the 2010 season. With the Rangers he will ge the chance to be an everyday starter. Toronto also sent the #45th rated prospect in the Majors in 3B Kevin Ahrens to the Rangers to complete the deal. Ahrens is a 20 yearold switchitting 3B who hit .272 with 10 HR and 65 RBIs with AA New Hampshire. He was quickly moving up the Jays depth chart and was slated to start the 2010 season with Las Vegas. Coming over to the Jays is 21 yearold right handed pitcher SP Neftali Feliz. Feliz has a power arm and is just the type of player that GM Ryan Stewart and his scouting staff are looking for "We like big strong pitchers with hard, heavy fastballs like a Roy Halladay. Feliz is a big boy at 6'3" and a fastball in the 94-96 MPH range. we like this kid a lot and tried to pick him up at the trade deadline without success" Feliz was 14-6 with a 3.91 ERA for AAA Oklahoma in 2009 and will get an invitation to Spring Training for the Jays. He may even get a shot at being the teams #5 starter this year. Blue Jays - Nationals Deal The second last move the Jays would make was a suprising one. GM Ryan Stewar was approached by the Nationals GM Omay Minaya about the availiability of SP Shaun Marcum, the Nationals offered the Jays a straight deal of Marcum for CF Elijah Dukes and GM Ryan Stewart accepted. SP Shaun Marcum is a 28 yearold righty who missed the majority of the 2009 season with arm troubles but was 2-1 with a 4.98 ERA in 4 starts in September. CF Elijah Dukes is a 25 yearold right handed batter who hit .275 with 21 HR an 74 RBIs for a bad Nationals team last season. He will likely be the Jays opening day centerfielder as CF Vernon Wells has been aful and is not coming close to living up to his $23,000,000 a year price tag. Blue Jays - Mariners Trade In the final move of a very busy offseason the Jays would send another of their starters along with a pair of minor league pitching prospects to the Mariners to fill their hole at short. Toronto agreed to send SP Brian Tallet and minor leaguers SP Kyle Ginley and SP Jonas Cutto to the Mariners for SS Carols Triunfel. SP Brian Tallet was very good filling in the starting rotation at the begining of the season. He started out strong posting a 6-2 record in the first 3 months of the season but seemed to tire near the end and wound up with a record of 13-13 with a 4.59 ERA. He would have been bumped out of the rotation and back into the bullpen with the return of some of the Jays injured pitchers but he will get to continue as a starter for the Mariners. The Jays also sent SP Kyle Ginley a 23 yearold righty who was 10-9 with a 4.42 ERA for Low A Lansing and SP Jonas Cuotto a 23 yearold righty also from Lansing who was 5-7 with a 5.55 ERA. Coming over to the Jays is 19 yearold SS Carlos Triunfel. He spent the entire season with AAA Tacome hitting a respectable .286 with 8 HR and 30 RBIs. According to my scouts he is major league ready now and could be the Jays openting day shortstop. He doesn't have a lot of power but will hit for a good average and steal a few bases. Waiver Pickup The Jays claimed 25 yearold MR Kevin Jepsen off of waivers from the Texas Rangers. Jepsen is a hard throwing right hander whowas 3-2 with 1 SV and a 6.75 ERA with the Rangers last season. He has very good stuff but needs to work on his control. He walked 30 batters and struckout 21 in 34.2 innings of work last season. Staff Signings The Jays announced that they have found a replacement for Manager Cito Gaston and Hitting Coach Gene Tennace who both retired at the conclusion of the 2009 season. Mike Hargrove will take over as the teams manager and 44 yearold Sean Berry will be the teams new hitting coach. Other News The Commissioner's Office informed the Jays that they will receive a 1st Round Pick from the Tampa Bay Rays as well as a Supplemental 1st Round Selection for the loss of SP Ben Sheets. Sheets signed a 5 year $26.5 million dollar contract with the Rays in the offseason. He was 1-2 with a 4.46 ERA with 9 BB and 29 K's after coming off the disabled list for the Jays in 2009.