Brett Lawrie: Toronto Blue Jay?

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want Lawrie to start opening day with Toronto. I think it would be harmful to his development, as a fielder, and as a hitter. He’s making it awfully hard not to consider him though. There’s a bunch of factors that play into it, and I’m going to try to see if him starting the year here is really a bad idea.

A)   A) The conditions at AAA Las Vegas.

-The field conditions in Las Vegas are hard, rough and not the environment you want to put a guy learning a brand new position.  And while I know Rogers Centre wouldn’t necessarily be any better, at least he would have consistent access to Brian Butterfield, and I don’t think sending him back to AA is a great idea because…

B)  B) He’s too good to go back to New Hampshire

-He put up a .361 wOBA at Huntsville last year. He had a respectable BB% of 7.7, and his K% was 21.3, which is really quite good for a 21 year old with just over 1000 pro at-bats. And some of those triples and doubles are going to start turning into tater tots. I don’t think it would be good for his development, or psyche, to go back to New Hampshire and hit .300/.380/.500. He seems like the kind of guy who would let that go to his head.

C)  C) Speaking of his personality…

-Do you really want Brett ‘Doctored Eminem Tattoos’ Lawrie going to sin city? I’ll let you answer this one.

D)  D) Our line-up would improve

Without Lawrie:

C Arencibia

1B Lind

2B Hill

3B Bautista

SS Escobar

LF Snider

CF Davis

RF Thames/Podsednik/Patterson*

DH Encarnacion

With Lawrie:

C Arencibia

1B Lind

2B Hill

3B Lawrie

SS Escobar

LF Snider

CF Davis

RF Bautista

DH Encarnacion

…Uh, yeah, Podsednik or J-Bau…your call.

E)  E) He had a double and a homerun today, and Ashby liked his D

-This is a completely reactionary post. I listened to the Jays game today on the ol’ Fan 960 here in Calgary, and when I heard Ashby gushing about Lawrie pickup on the one double play…well, got me thinking about his defensive readiness, I mean, he has been playing second for a year or two now, hasn’t he? Weren’t we all asking for Hill to go play third earlier this year? Can’t be too hard of a transition. And then ‘The Law’ hit his homer and…well, this post was spawned.

The Case for Trading Shaun Marcum

I believe that the Jays should trade Shaun Marcum.

Before you pour a steaming vat of liquidized hatred into my cold dead corpse, hear me out. 

The Jays (with Marcum) would have this rotation

1 Morrow

2 Romero

3 Marcum

4 Cecil

5 Drabek/ Stewart/ R-Zep/Hill

And without Marcum

1 Morrow

2 Romero

3 Cecil

4 Drabek

5 Stewart/ R-Zep/ Hill

Do we really lose much in way of talent? or Production?

Morrow's FIP= 3.16

Ricky Romero's FIP= 3.64

Brett Cecil's FIP=4.03

Kyle Drabek's FIP AA/MLB=3.87/4.08

Shaun MArcum's FIP= 3.74

Morrow and Romero are clearly better pitchers than Marcum, stuff-wise, and production wise. Cecil will likely come close to Macum production wise next year, and i believe Drabek's FIP will end up around 3.50 or so (his xFIP was 3.59 in the MLB). The fifth starter would probably produce a FIP of about 4.30. If i were AA i would also want Stewart to pitch as little as possible in AAA So you could maybe have him start the year there, then come up in May, ala BrettCecil. You would lose value with Marcum, but not an inexplicable amount

The return for Marcum would have to be very good as well. I have no idea if the rumours were true, but he was hinted to be involved in a Brett Lawrie deal (MLBTR) close to the trade deadline. If they were able to get LAwrie, that would allow the Jays to trade A.HIll, but I'm getting ahead of myself there. I read a suggestion via the blog PIne Tar and Pocket Protectors that suggested packaging him and a prospect for Colby Rasmus, That would move Wells to DH (keeping him fresh all year), Lind to first and allow for Gose and Marisnick to take their time developing.

There is something to be said for the fact that Marcum has emerged as the off-field leader of the staff, and if I were AA I would consult with the other pitchers thoroughly before pulling the trigger on a deal.

All stats are courtesy of Fangraphs