Wednesday Notes

by jw

Gonna try to cover a few points quickly, hopefully stealing post ideas from J-Mac.

Divisional Realignment?

There has been talk from semi-influential sources about a sort of floating divisional realignment, where if, say, Cleveland wanted to join the AL East and Tampa wanted to join the AL Central for a season they could swap.  In this example Tampa would have a good chance of making the playoffs, while Cleveland, who have little shot at the playoffs anyways, could gain revenue from playing in the same division as the Yankees and Red Sox.  Obviously this whole scheme was brought forth with Tampa, Baltimore, and Toronto in mind.

Better people than I (and also the Drunks) have discussed this, and Neyer pointed out some of the practical flaws of a system like this - notably the unlikelihood of two teams agreeing to switch divisions at the same time.  Regardless, at the very least some people around Major League Baseball are taking note of the competitive imbalance and are proposing solutions.

I think there are about three camps within Jays fans on the topic: that it would mean more to beat the Red Sox and Yankees in order to make the playoffs (see: Rays, 2008), that the divisions are fine they just need a balanced schedule between divisions, and 'screw it, just pick the option that gets us to the playoffs fastest.'  I think I lean more toward the second camp, but I will note that according to team WAR numbers the Jays have been a top five team these past four years and they would have likely made at least one playoff appearance had they played in the Central.  Also: they were 23-15 against AL Central teams last season.  Just saying.

Jason Frasor Trade Rumours

Jason Frasor's name has been mentioned a few times in connection with both the Cubs and now the Twins who have lost closer Joe Nathan to injury.  It seems like a no-brainer that if Alex Anthopoulos can get a decent prospect for Frasor he would pull the trigger - even if he has to eat Frasor's salary - and it's quickly becoming a seller's market on the once-castigated right hander.

On the other hand, Frasor seems to be a good bet to claim Type A free agent status this coming offseason - especially if he's traded and gets the closing job - so any team seeking a deal would have to send the Jays value at least equal to one year worth of a good reliever, a supplemental round pick, and a second round pick (I've given up the hope of netting first round picks with Blue Jays free agents).  That's a rather substantial package and the other teams may not be willing to meet Toronto's price, so we may not be at the end of the Jason Frasor era in Toronto yet.

It was only a year ago that fans were calling on the team to just non-tender Frasor, wasn't it?