10:12 PM Eastern
What appeared to be another quiet off-season Monday night got loud in a hurry with the Blue Jays making a pair of moves, signing Brandon Morrow to a three-year contract worth $20 million and giving Hall-of-Famer-to-be Omar Vizquel a minor-league contract with an invitation to compete for the back-up infielder’s job in Spring Training starting next month.
The Morrow signing might confuse a lot of fans, since in his two years with the Jays, the hard-throwing righty has gone just 21-18 with a 4.62 ERA, but look beyond those numbers and you see a pitcher with off-the-charts stuff who has been a full-time starter for just those two years. You also see a WHIP than went down from 1.380 to 1.288 from 2010 to ’11, a K rate of 10.5 per nine innings over those two years, a walk rate that went down from 4.1 per nine innings to 3.5 from ’10 to ’11 and an xFIP of 3.48 in ’10 and 3.53 in ’11.
That is to say that for the most part, Morrow has pitched well, though the results haven’t always been there. His biggest problem has been getting out of the gate. Morrow’s first ten starts in each of the last two years were pretty rough (6.66 ERA, 1.700 WHIP in ’10; 5.63 ERA, 1.491 WHIP in ’11), but he has managed to turn things around very nicely each season. Slow starts are often something that can plague power pitchers, but Morrow really hasn’t been at it for long enough to say it’s going to be a real issue.
With this contract, the Jays buy out Morrow’s final two years of arbitration and his first year of free agency. The 27 year-old stood to earn about $4 million this season, which likely would have gone up to at least $6 million in 2013, and he then would have hit the open market, where (if he stays healthy) his big 29 year-old arm would have had many teams drooling. It’s unclear as to whether ’13 is an option year for the Blue Jays, and the breakdown won’t be announced until Tuesday’s news conference, but I wouldn’t bet against it being a two-year plus an option deal. Morrow passed his physical Monday in preparation for the announcement.
In Vizquel, the Blue Jays bring in their oldest player since a 48 year-old Phil Niekro fluttered his knuckleball for them for three starts in August of 1987. The Jays lost all three games (10-3, 3-1, 6-5) and lost the division by two games that year, so draw your own conclusion.
Vizquel, who broke into the big leagues in 1989 (the Jays had just one division title in club history), will turn 45 before the end of the season’s first month, and though his best days are far behind him, he’ll be a good guy to have around.
Remember that the other utility infield options the Jays currently have are Mike McCoy, Luis Valbuena and Jonathan Diaz. Diaz is the best defender in that group, but he has never played in the bigs and has a lifetime .228/.363/.296 line as a minor pro (that’s a lot of empty walks). Valbuena is not a shortstop and McCoy is a decent defender, but nothing spectacular. Vizquel gives the Jays a legitimate defensive option at second, short and third – though he’s no longer the player he was in his prime, when he might have been the best there ever was – and he’s a guy you can feel comfortable plugging in to the line-up for two or three weeks if there’s a short-term injury on the infield.
Vizquel can’t play the outfield, as McCoy can, but the Jays are planning to break with five outfielders (Rajai Davis and Ben Francisco on the bench) so that mitigates the need for a utility guy you can send out there.
Add to all that the fact that Vizquel fits in beautifully with Alex Anthopoulos’ stated goal of bringing in as many quality human beings on to his team as possible, and you have a strong signing. Vizquel is a terrific person, and while the need for great clubhouse guys and good team chemistry is often overstated,having someone who commands respect the second he walks into a room and who also happens to be terrific and a willing teacher certainly can’t hurt.
I remember leaving Exhibition Stadium after covering a Jays-Mariners game in 1989 and seeing Vizquel wander out of the players’ exit into the Ex parking lot. He was kind of looking around, sheepishly, when a Mariners’ writer opened the door of his cab and invited him to ride back to the hotel with him. Vizquel climbed in. I don’t know why that made such an impression on me that I still remember it vividly almost 23 years later, but it did. I don’t know that many players now would share a cab ride with a reporter.
Vizquel is 159 hits shy of 3,000 for his career, and having amassed 137 over the last two seasons, he won’t reach that milestone unless he plays in 2013, at least, but he’s going to the Hall of Fame anyway, and will join Niekro, Rickey Henderson and Dave Winfield as Hall of Famers who have had brief sojourns with the Jays.
To cap off the busy night, there was a report out of Japan that the Jays were closing in on a trade with the Rangers for righty reliever Koji Uehara, who got beat up in the playoffs (earning the nickname “Koji Ue-homa” for allowing three homers in 11 batters faced) but had an incredible regular season – 0.723 WHIP, 11.8 K/9 against 1.2 BB/9. Uehara is likely being made available because the signing of Yu Darvish allows Texas to move Alexi Ogando back to the bullpen, which would make the 37 year-old (on Opening Day) expendable.
As quickly as I learned that there was actually something to the report, though, I found out that talks with Texas had cooled, so don’t get your hopes up.
The Jays will announce the Morrow signing at a Tuesday news conference, and I’ll have more on this story for you after that, both here, on Twitter (@Wilnerness590 – you can follow Morrow @2Morrow23) and on air on Sportsnet590 The Fan!
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In my opinion, everything that happened today for the Jays was a win. Morrow for 6.66 mil is a Jays friendly contract, Omar is a great guy to have in a very young and inexperienced club house. If there’s any traction left in the Uehara talks he’d be an asset we should pay for.
I know the Jays haven’t made that big splash everyone wants but we’re modelling after the Rays, not the Yanks. We want sustainability, not flash in the pan. You need to win some coin flips in order to have a 95 win season.
Look at the lower to mid payroll teams.
ARZ: Upton, Drew – Drafted // Kennedy, Hudson, Young – Trades
Mil: Fielder, Braun, Weeks, Hart, Gallardo – Drafted // Grienke, Marcum Trades
Tampa: Upton, Longoria, Jennings, Shields, Price, Moore, Hellickson – Drafted
This is how you build championship caliber teams without making 100 million dollar mistakes. You need to gamble on players with high upside and upside we have in spades. If we have even 2 new guys have semi-breakouts (Rasmus,Thames, Hutch, Alvarez, Johnson(again)) this will be a fun year for Blue Jays baseball. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to have Fielder, only for the right money though. For now, I’m gambling with Anthopoulos, on a very talented and young team.
Lets!! Play!! Ball!!
- WilsonGood read!
MW: Thank you!
- ajThere is one man I can immediately think of who would disagree with your “quality human beings” assessment of Vizquel.
Jose Mesa.
Ahem.
When you say the Jays will break with 5 OF, this means RDavis, BFrancisco, Rasmus, Bautista and just one of Snider or Thames? You don’t envision a trade of 1 OF before April 5?
MW: At the moment, I don’t. But of course, one could happen an hour after you read this that no one had even whispered.
- Adrian, co-alumnusMike:
Interesting times we live in!
Evidence suggests AA is fixed on achieving something of significance in next 2 years. Morrow signs for 2 years plus an option (to be confirmed), Vizquel (great signing) is one year with perhaps a second.
All signs of optimism in 2012 and 2013 for Toronto basseball
- Grant Carterbest group of humans who finish fourth every year!
- Mark Mac“Loud in a hurry”? Bleh. I guess when a club only makes one notable move in an off-season (see Santos), any other roster move appears big. This signing would have been a footnote for any other team in the AL East. While I’m sure Omar is a lovely man, I want players that will generae wins. What’s his WAR? Let’s hope some “real” moves are still yet to come.
- bg…like this signing…at first glance I thought “they’re asking Omar to go to AAA and mentor Hechavarria” – but I can’t see him going to the Minors unless of course there is a Farrell connection from Cleveland & Vizquel is actually interested in moving into coaching now that his playing days are over….?
MW: Vizquel’s not going to AAA. He’ll likely either make the team or retire. If he can’t beat out Mike McCoy or Luis Valbuena, he probably should retire.
- Miguelmichael,
- darrell bishopbaseball news just keeps rolling in indeed. and of the blue jays variety. even better.
your observation of this morrow contract extension perhaps “confusing some fans” is an interesting one for the exact reasons you stated.
it’s funny though. in alot of cases teams and gm’s (in all sports) will pay seemingly outrageous $ to players maybe approaching past their prime status based on prior credentials and numerous yrs. of tenure and are hoping they can continue on in the same fashion, but to unfortunately find out they in fact can’t.
end result. overpayed. bad signing. bad contract.
i like this type of situation alot more. you have to i think. probably overpaying based on recent sample size but have all the potential in the world of the player earning every last penny and a good chance as well on him outperforming relative to the $ shelled out.
and in the case of morrow, similar to romero etc… with his best yrs definitely in front of him. tough to ignore.
and with an arm and stuff like that, just let experience and maturity take it’s natural course of action as can often be the case and you got yourself a great signing.
well, well worth the play and risk in this case michael.
besides, those $ rendered seem like the going rate in today’s day and age of rotation starters in any case. particularly top of the rotation guys as is the case here for this team.
crazy to say it sure. but still true.
and as importantly i think, if you cite the cases of most other pitchers in mlb that are earning those kind of $ currently, pretty sure you’ll find this young man’s stats don’t look all that out of line right now anyway….
win/loss record the last 2 yrs. whip, strikeouts etc…
nice going aa. ain’t gonna hurt you and betting that it most likely helps…..
Morrow signing: no surprise here – the surprise might be that it took this long…
Look, he may never become that #1 or #2 starter he projects to be – but he’s a solid #3 or #4 even while he struggles.
I actually call him the #3 guy and slot Alvarez #2. I think with “Hendarez’s” control & his heavy sinker he can’t miss with a decent infield behind him.
I like Cecil & McGowan in the 4, 5 spots. They are both question marks (Cecil may not bounce back & McGowan is just a sneeze away from another injury). I really feel Cecil can be a top 3 starter if he’s healthy and not ‘pudgy’ like last year.
Speaking of pudgy, Cecil Litsch and Lind all showed up ‘way heavy’ last spring. The brass sent Lind to the minors under the disguise of a ‘sore back re-hab’. They said he needs to work on his ‘core-body strength’. Pregnant ladies get sore backs too. Whatever, it worked, Lind’s first appearance on TV was almost shocking – his skin tight jersey that spilled over his belt was now loose with wrinkles …belly & love-handles gone. Unfortunately, it seems his batting eye (and subsequently his confidence) suffered.
But I’d wager he lost 10-15lbs, or at least converted a good portion of fat to muscle.
Jesse seemed to just continue a steady weight gain all year and ended the year heavier than when he reported in Spring – but I love him in the bullpen. I think he can be the guy to come in and get that ground ball double-play or throw 2 or 3 innings when needed (replacing Camp?).
I have to eat a little crow here too. A couple of years ago, I said Janssen & McGowan wouldn’t make it back to be effective pitchers in the Majors again because it was their shoulders not elbows that they had surgery on. The numbers were stacked against them. But Casey is all the way back – pitching as well possibly better than ever. Dustin is so close he can taste it – fingers crossed here.
Back to the point about the 3 & 4 spots in the rotation being question marks – if you’ve got young guys coming down the pipe – you can’t fill those slots with veteran FA inning eaters. You need room to give the young guys innings if they’re knocking at the door having great years in the Minors (Drabek, Hutchison etc.)…
Mike: thanks for the winter baseball fix – keep up the good work!
“…staring out the window waiting for the snow to melt”
MW: Thanks! Can’t agree with your fat Adam Lind conspiracy theory, though.
- MiguelThis is the first year where I’ve seen such a polarizing offseason for the Jays. People either hate his signings or love them, seems to be no in between. I personally would love to see Fielder but not at 8 years…4 years at 20 million or so sure but not long term. Whatever the result I hope it works out because the first blown save or slow start I just feel that Alex is going to get a lot of criticism. Heres hoping for a competitive 2012
MW: It really has been a crazy off-season as far as fan reaction, hasn’t it? But there’s passion we haven’t seen in a while, good or bad, and that’s a good thing.
- Mike ChambersI USED TO BE A SEASON TICKET HOLDER ( 88 – 94 ) AND WILL CONSIDER AGAIN …ONCE I SEE A SIGNIFICANT EFFORT ON MANAGEMENT TO BE COMPETITIVE. SIGNING A 45 YEAR OLD FUTURE HALL OF FAMER DOESN’T DO IT FOR ME. NOW MR. FIELDER??? THAT WOULD SHOW ME SOMETHING!!! ONLY BALTIMORE WILL KEEP US OUT OF LAST IN THE EAST
MW: Sorry about that Fielder thing. No need to yell, though.
- AnonymousGood signing. Both of them.
- Langs...