Coco's Is No More

... than a piece in a weird trade thing.

The Jays have acquired the services of J.A. Happ (who was nearly included in the Roy Halladay deal), Brandon Lyon, and David Carpenter from the Astros for Francisco Cordero, Ben Francisco, and prospects Joe Musgrove, Asher Wojo-something, David Rollins, Carlos Perez, and a player to be named.  Color me interested, simply if it means getting rid of Coco.

Let's get started.

• Happ is a tall lefty, who has started 18 games for the Astros this year.  He has some decent peripheral numbers (8.5k/9, 3.4bb/9) to go along with a few ugly numbers (1.5 HR/9, which could be attributed to the hitter-friendly confines of Minute Maid Park) and a 4.83/4.45/3.94 ERA/FIP/xFIP  He had a nice rookie year with the Phillies in 2009, but has been decidedly below average for his whole career.  Still, the Jays need a starter or two, and you take what you can get, I guess.  He was traded to Houston from Philly, with Anthony Gose (!) for Roy Oswalt.  He makes $2.35MM this year and will be arbitration eligible for each of the next two seasons, though he's got non-tender written all over him.

• Lyon was drafted by the Jays in the 14th round of the 1999 draft, and appeared in 25 games for the Jays in 2001 and 2002 before being shipped off to Boston on a waiver claim.  He's 32 years old, and is a halfway decent relief option for the Jays at the moment.  He's been a closer before, so I'm sure we're going to have a new least favorite reliever soon.  He's suppressed HR's in Houston, which is nice, and has performed to a 3.25/3.28 ERA/FIP so far this year, despite a .330 babip, striking out almost a batter an inning.  He's making the rest of $5.5MM (in the last year of a 3 year deal) before becoming a free agent at the end of the year.

• Carpenter is a 27 year old reliever who has split time between AAA and MLB.  He has not been good in the majors this year, over 30 appearances, with a WHIP of almost 2 over 29.1 innings.  He'll make the league minimum until 2015, and is controllable until 2018.

As for what the Jays are giving up:

• Francisco Cordero has pretty terrible this year, as many of us predicted.  He started off the year pretty horrifically, taking over as closer for the injured Sergio Santos, but he still got to pitch in high-leverage spots for some reason up until recently.  He's essentially a washed up closer, but you already knew that.  Fuck him.
• Ben Francisco was acquired from Philadelphia for a 25 year old A-ball pitcher this offseason, and has gotten 54 PA's in a bench role.  He makes the rest of $1.54MM, and will probably be non-tendered after the season.
• Joe Musgrove was drafted in the sandwich round in 2011, and has some decent numbers in the Appalachian and Gulf Coast (rookie) Leagues over the last year and a bit.
• Wojciechowski was taken in the sandwich round in 2010, and has some reasonable stats in high-A ball this year, albeit in his second go-around at the league.
• Perez is a 21 year old catcher, playing in A-ball for the second time, with an OPS over .800.
• Rollins is 22, and has dominated the minors so far over 113 pro innings pitched.  He holds a 2.46 ERA, and has struck out 8.3/9IP across three leagues.
• PTBNL's are typically people who were drafted in the most recent draft, who can't be traded for 6 months after initially signing.

So yeah.  Fangraphs lists Wojo as the Jays 13th best prospect (as of this past January), so I don't really think the Jays appear to be giving up a whole lot, and they aren't really getting a whole lot either.  The obvious positives include getting Coco the hell away from John Farrell, and getting a pretty reliable relief option in exchange, in Lyon.  The Jays didn't give up anything overly special (at least I don't think so; we'll know more from the prospect guys soon, I'm sure) in this one, and moving Francisco will (hopefully) open up a spot on the bench for Rajai Davis, which, in turn, will open up an everyday LF spot for Travis Snider.  Happ has got to be a better option than what's-his-face or that other guy in terms of emergency starters, even if he gets non-tendered at the end of the year.

Trade season is upon us!