On November 21st Toronto made a move that still has many scratching their head.
They swapped pitchers with the Oakland Athletics, trading one of their best arms out of the bullpen for Jesse Chavez.
26-year-old Liam Hendriks was reliable throughout the 2015 campaign and into the post-season. An arm like that is hard to find, one that has fans exhaling a sigh of relief upon entering the lovable turf. He was a solid late inning guy with a high ceiling and tons of leftover potential to be used.
His fastball reached 96 MPH this year and was consistently trusted in high leverage situations.
The Australian finished the season with a perfect 5-0 record, a 2.92 ERA, and 71 strikeouts in 64.2 innings pitched. His K/BB ratio also made him one of the better relievers in Major League Baseball, allowing only 11 free passes.
So why did the Blue Jays acquire Chavez?
Innings. He can eat up innings and provide the “long-man” role out of the bullpen if Toronto wishes to use him that way.
The main narrative I am hearing is that he will be used as Marco Estrada was last season: Begin in the bullpen, and go from there.
With Mark Buehrle and David Price (potentially) gone, the Blue Jays may need a guy like him. The thing that worries me is the quality of innings the Blue Jays will get.
Through 2015, Chavez finished with a 7-15 record, and has yet to have a season of over .500 baseball. His ERA was 4.18, which is just lower than his career ERA of 4.55. Through the second half of the campaign, he struggled, posting a 5.59 ERA accompanied by a .836 opposing OPS.
The book on Chavez is that he continuously dwindles away during the back half of the season. In 2014 his ERA dropped to 4.60 and in 2013 it was 5.25 post all-star break.
The reality is Toronto may have lost this trade in a big way. Hendriks is young, has tremendous upside, and is a potential set-up man. Sure, Chavez will bring innings to the table, but at what cost?
The Tony LaCava era is off to a rocky start.
