Snider and Thames Both Traded

Pfffft, just kidding.  No, but really, definitely traded.

I'm not even going to begin that I'm unbiased enough to analyze this one, because I'm seriously pretty bummed about this one, so I'll let Eno Sarris of Fangraphs do so for me.  Like most trades of this nature, it depends. Clearly, The Jays believe that Snider isn't the guy that they thought he was going to be when he was the 6th ranked prospect (or something like that).  Still, Snider has never played more than 84 MLB games in a season without either getting injured or demoted, so who the fuck knows?

For his part this season, Snider has hit .235/.270/.559 in the majors since getting called up, which includes 3 HR's (all against lefties).  In return, the Jays will get Brad Lincoln, a reliever (?) who didn't have a weird service clock manipulation, and will be under team control until 2018.  He's both started and relieved for the Pirates in each of the last three years.  He's got a 2.73 ERA, 3.57 FIP and 3.45 xFIP this year over 60 innings.  His K% is way up this year, and his BB% is down slightly, so that looks pretty good, I guess.

Farrell's comments after last night's game suggest that Lincoln will be heading for the bullpen, which suddenly isn't full of a bunch of minor leaguers and AAAA guys.  If you can't get starters, then I guess the next best option is to stock up the bullpen.  Again. For third time in the last two years.  Still, Snider, the future savior, for a reliever...  I dunno.  I'm kind of hoping that they stretch him out next year and try him out of the rotation the way they did with Morrow.

As for Thames, meh.  I kind of feel like I predicted that Thames would go to Seattle during this past offseason, but it's not a big deal.  Thames is pretty much an all-or-nothing bat with no on-base skills and little to contribute defensively.  In return, the Jays get reliever Steve Delabar, a 6'5' fireballer who is striking out 11.3/9IP.  This is his first full season in the majors, and he just turned 29.  Not exactly encouraging, but this is mostly poop for poop.  If you think Delabar is actually something, look up his home/road splits.

With both Snider and Thames being moved, and Bautista still on the disabled list for another few days, the Jays currently have an outfield consisting of Colby Rasmus, Rajai Davis, and Anthony Gose.  Doesn't quite look right, does it?  Especially now that Rasmus' bat isn't quite on fire anymore, Davis has returned to being Davis, and Anthony Gose is a raw 21-year old who can really only contribute defensively right now.  I'm pretty disappointed that I have to work today, because I feel like there's another trade on the way.

The Jays are linked to Matt Garza, but apparently kind of need an outfielder now too, assuming they still think that they're buyers at this deadline.  Shane Victorino, Alfonso Soriano, Shin-Soo Choo and Hunter Pence are all apparently available, to varying degrees.  I actually think Pence-to-Toronto kind of works, assuming he's okay playing in LF.