Halos of Anaheim

He should have said .380

OBP.

12 million a year + a first round draft pick 

I'll take a Saunders/Gentry platoon over this any day of the week.

I prefer Saunders over Nava too in the RHP part of the platoon. More pop and has a higher ceiling. Nava has a better OBP though. No reason why we can't keep all 3 honestly. 

This is good..maybe the Reds or Jays end up giving us a better player/a 2nd or 3rd basemen.

So let's say that Saunders returns to his 2012-14 performance, which seems very possible (he only played in 9 games last year). Here is how those numbers would look, pro-rated to 150 games:

 

.249/.320/.424, 17 HR, 16 SB, 2.5 WAR

 

That isn't so bad - sort of like Kole Calhoun in an off year.

This is assuming he platoons with Gentry, we could end up getting 3-4 WAR from the LF position this year..5 WAR better than last year.

I feel like this is going to be one of those Eppler 'I know stuff they don't' sort of deal.  

It clearly is. Supposedly he's wanted Saunders since he was with the Yankees (and would have gone after him if he was still there). Same situation with Simmons.

More playing time for Skaggs and Trop.

 

Bruce is horrible. This is a salary dump for the Reds.

 

Blue Jays need to dump Saunders who at 2.9 million is an expensive bench outfielder.

 

Angels need something besides Getury/Nava going on in LF

 

This move makes sense for all three teams 

 

Here is a profile I read on him.

 

Profile: Back in 2009 and 2010, Michael Saunders was a top 100 prospect said to have surprising athleticism for his size, good bat speed, potential for power growth, and the range and arm to cut it in center field. It took him a few years finally get established in Seattle, and he showed flashes of potential. However, injuries became a problem and his relationship with the front office soured. Saunders seemed primed for a new start in Toronto (and he was another one of the Toronto front office's "Returning Canadian Heros," to boot), but then stepped on a sprinkler in spring training. Yadda yadda yadda, Saunders got only 36 plate appearances in the majors during 2015. Contact has been an issue for Saunders, and when he really struggled with strikeouts his first three years in the majors his numbers accordingly suffered, as his other peripherals could not make up for it. However, even during this "prime," Saunders was mostly average at best. He is entering his age 29 season, and the .273/.341/.450 line he put up for the Mariners in 2014 should be on the upper end of expectations for Saunders. Indeed, even those pretty good numbers were in a small sample in an injury-shorted season (263 plate appearances). How much of his decline is reduced playing time, and how much is decline due to age and injury? The Blue Jays plan on having Saunders be their left fielder in 2015, and over a full season, he can reasonably be expected to put up something like .250/.330/.420 with maybe double digit steals and even 20 home runs. But the closest Saunders has ever come to playing a full season was 139 games. If he makes it through Spring Training and looks healthy, he is a starting outfielder in AL-only leagues, but don't pay as if he is going to give you a full season, and make sure to have a bench player that can make up the value if/when Saunders goes down. (Matt Klaassen)

 

If he did that for us this year, I'd be ecstatic. 

If we could expand this trade to acquire one of the Reds 2nd/3rd basemen..that would be great.

When Keith Law said this is the worst system he's ever seen, I didn't argue, because that assessment is still higher than what the folks here think of the farm.  

 

The consensus AW assessment of our current farm system is that it's so bad, people deserve to be jailed and shot for crimes against humanity.  And if we're talking about prospects of substance (meaning reali-live prospects with legitimate futures in MLB in some capacity), I think we're looking at 15 prospects of substance.  Now if you're saying substance means legit future MLB starters or elite relievers, I think that number drops to 9.  If substance means GOOD MLB starters, it drops to 5.  If substance means future all-stars, I think we're somewhere between zero and two.  

Imagine actually believing this..

if all its taking is a couple of prospects to land Bruce.... nevermind, not even worth the effort at this point 

Yeah, this is kind of mind boggling. But you have to think that the Jays gave them something that we aren't close to having in our farm.

Our team just got better. The responses in this thread are hilarious. We aren't giving up anything important for Saunders, I guarantee it.

No.  No it isn't.

Better than last year. They both get on base EXTREMELY well (talking .350+ OBP) in a platoon. They just have no pop.

Gentry vs LHP and Nava vs RHP is good enough for a platoon. Both end up having an OPS+ of 112 vs their preferred pitchers. What the hell did we give up for this guy?

EDIT: He has some decent pop vs RHP I guess, definitely better than Gentry/Nava..maybe a pinch hitter late in games?

No Kendrick, No Freese, No Iannetta, Pujols is 2 years older, Weaver is 2 years older, Wilson is 2 years older, worse bullpen..

I could go on and on honestly. 

Now that Arte has opened up the wallet; should be much easier for Eppler.

Weaver needs to have his starts at home maximized this season. 

Should we just accept that we're going to endure a Nava/Gentry platoon and move on?

 

I feel there are so many trades that could be made. Hell, the Brewers just got Liriano for a AAA reliever who posted an ERA above 4.00. Too bad we don't have any of those. 

 

I've soured on Arte and the new GM.

 

I need Dochalo or someone else to prove that a Nava/Gentry platoon will work with the rest of our lineup and that we'll be competitive enough to play a meaningful game on the 162nd contest of the season, or squeak into the playoffs somehow. 

 

We had ONE glaring weakness, one need heading into the offseason. 

 

1....

And the one glaring weakness was the most talented/loaded position pool in FA. This feels like a joke, a really bad joke that I haven't gotten yet.

Sigh.

Didn't know Fowler was a consistent .360-.370 OBP guy. We should bite the bullet and go for it.

Have you seen the '17 FA class? "The right player" is not available.

We're building for '18...expect some big money thrown at Donaldson after we pick up the option on Escobar for '17.

Donaldson will be 32 in 2018.

Kill me now..

Bad timing this season. He was firm that he wasn't going over tax threshold so this isn't a surprise.

Spending like idiot hasn't worked since '09, so they are finally reevaluating how to invest their resources. Smart move, if they've truly learned from it.

Keyword spending like ''an idiot''. If we signed Beltre in 2011 (a consistent 6-7 WAR player) we probably would have made the playoffs at least 2 more times. I feel like not signing Upton will be something we regret too.

Lol @ Arte

Lol @ the Angels

Wishful thinking by Yankee fans overrating the value of Gardner/what they can get for him. If we do trade for Gardner, it would most likely be for Santiago/Wilson/Trop/Shoemaker.

I have a feeling we're going to regret this the same way we regretted not signing Beltre in 2011.

I really don't see any value in bringing Kendrick back and surrender a draft pick, neither would I value Freese returning, he wasn't all that good.

Only a 2nd round draft pick if we sign Upton. If we sign Cespedes, I don't see any value in bringing back Kendrick or Freese for a 1st rounder either.