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	<title>Toronto &#187; Mat Latos</title>
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		<title>Joe Biagini Is Going to Be Starting on Sunday&#8230;Because It&#8217;s 2017!</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/05/05/joe-biagini-is-going-to-be-starting-on-sunday-because-its-2017/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/05/05/joe-biagini-is-going-to-be-starting-on-sunday-because-its-2017/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 05 May 2017 20:55:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Gideon Turk]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joe Biagini]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mat Latos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Toronto Blue Jays]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=10723</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[You read the title. You&#8217;ve heard the news. Joe Biagini, the Rule Five draft pick from a year ago who took the Toronto bullpen by storm (topical weather joke!) in 2016 will be starting for the Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon at Tropicana Field. Joe Biagini will start for #BlueJays Sunday per manager John Gibbons [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>You read the title. You&#8217;ve heard the news. Joe Biagini, the Rule Five draft pick from a year ago who took the Toronto bullpen by storm (topical weather joke!) in 2016 will be starting for the Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon at Tropicana Field.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Joe Biagini will start for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlueJays?src=hash">#BlueJays</a> Sunday per manager John Gibbons</p>
<p>&mdash; Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) <a href="https://twitter.com/bnicholsonsmith/status/860590844872732674">May 5, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Biagini, 26, has been off to another dominant start in the bullpen this season, showing increased command and a higher affinity for striking batters out. This has resulted in an increase of his K-BB% by over five percentage points over 2016. In February, Matt Gwin <a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/02/24/joe-biagini-should-start-the-season-as-a-starting-pitcher/" target="_blank">wrote a piece</a> explaining why Biagini is a great fit as a starter, and it boils down to just having a ton of pitches that he can use to get through an opponent&#8217;s lineup multiple times in a game. Biagini hasn&#8217;t started games in the regular season since he was in AA in 2015 with the Giants organization, but he did so pretty successfully with a 2.42 ERA in over 130 innings. It&#8217;s unclear how his velocity will be impacted when he has to pace himself, but his broad repertoire should help him mitigate any drop-offs.</p>
<p>With Mat Latos being designated for assignment earlier in the day, J.A. Happ still &#8220;a ways off&#8221; according to John Gibbons on Wednesday, and <a href="https://twitter.com/bnicholsonsmith/status/860592973750427648" target="_blank">Aaron Sanchez&#8217;s return</a> now being slowed down, the Blue Jays were in need of two starters in their current rotation. To solve the issue, the Blue Jays will be going with Biagini on Sunday, while Marcus Stroman, originally scheduled for Tuesday, will move up to pitch on normal rest on Monday. That means the Blue Jays still need a starter for Tuesday&#8217;s game. It appears as if it will likely be Mike Bolsinger, as he was <a href="https://twitter.com/baseballexis/status/860596173165481988" target="_blank">scratched from his start</a> in Buffalo tonight and <a href="https://twitter.com/Panikkar37/status/860582756631425024" target="_blank">threw a 90 pitch bullpen</a> last night. That puts him in line to start next week.</p>
<p>The Blue Jays pitching staff is in shambles because they were not prepared to deal with so many injuries at once. Because of that, the bullpen has been overtaxed and has struggled. No bullpen, no matter how good, will be able to give you five or six brilliant innings night in and night out, so moving Biagini to the rotation is being done in hopes of stabilizing another rotation spot. Although <a href="https://twitter.com/ArashMadani/status/860592593515802625" target="_blank">Gibby is only hoping</a> for four innings in Sunday&#8217;s start out of Biagini, the hope here is building him up into a successful starter who can give the bullpen a rest instead of having to come in and put out fires started by Mat Latos.</p>
<p>The Blue Jays will need some good luck as the season gets closer and closer to slipping away and hopefully Biagini will be able to grant their wishes with this move.</p>
<p>That sentence wasn&#8217;t as bad as watching Mat Latos pitch, so I don&#8217;t apologize.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Blue Jays Reportedly Agree to Sign RHP Mat Latos to Minor League Deal</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/02/15/report-blue-jays-agree-to-sign-rhp-mat-latos-to-minor-league-deal/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/02/15/report-blue-jays-agree-to-sign-rhp-mat-latos-to-minor-league-deal/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 Feb 2017 23:09:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Gideon Turk]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mat Latos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Toronto Blue Jays]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=9024</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Even with players reporting to Dunedin for Spring Training this week, the Blue Jays front office didn&#8217;t decide to slow down their work, agreeing to a deal with RHP Mat Latos according to David Bules, a friend of the pitcher. The deal is a minor league contract with an invite to Spring Training, and would have a base salary of $1.5M [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Even with players reporting to Dunedin for Spring Training this week, the Blue Jays front office didn&#8217;t decide to slow down their work, agreeing to a deal with RHP Mat Latos according to David Bules</a>, a <a href="https://vine.co/v/hBbATmHdKaQ" target="_blank">friend</a> of the pitcher. The deal is a minor league contract with an invite to Spring Training, and would have a base salary of $1.5M if he makes the team plus $500K worth of incentives.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Mat Latos on the way to Dunedin to sign a minor league deal with the Blue Jays. Invite to camp, $1.5M if he makes the team, worth up to $2M.</p>
<p>&mdash; David Bules (@DavidBules) <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidBules/status/831994437857312768">February 15, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>The 29-year-old Latos was roughed up in 2016, finishing the year with a 4.89 ERA in 70 innings pitched split between the rotation and bullpen. He spent time with the both the Chicago White Sox and Washington Nationals last year, struggling with both teams. He posted the worst peripherals of his career since his rookie season in 2016, with a 9.7% BB%, a 13.6% K%, and a 1.41 HR/9. Even worse than those numbers which suggest a lack of command is this chart, showing the velocity on his fastballs over his career.</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/Screen-Shot-2017-02-15-at-5.26.59-PM.png"><img class=" wp-image-9026 aligncenter" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/Screen-Shot-2017-02-15-at-5.26.59-PM-1024x678.png" alt="Screen Shot 2017-02-15 at 5.26.59 PM" width="500" height="331" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: left">Since the start of his career, Latos&#8217; velocity has consistently fallen, to a point where he is now pushing 90 mph compared to the 95 mph he was hitting six years ago. What this suggests is a deterioration of talent, not just a flukey season or two impacted by bad luck or something of the like. However, as mentioned earlier, Latos is just 29-years-old, meaning there is still some chance that he can regain some of his lost velocity and become the pitcher he used to be once again. From 2010-2014, Latos threw over 900 innings combined with an ERA of just 3.27, accumulating 16 WARP in the process.</p>
<p style="text-align: left">Latos&#8217; pathway to the big leagues is pretty complicated with the Blue Jays. The major league rotation is set with Aaron Sanchez, J.A. Happ, Marco Estrada, Francisco Liriano, and Marcus Stroman. In the bullpen, most of the spots are tied up with Roberto Osuna, Jason Grilli, Joe Biagini, J.P. Howell, Joe Smith, and Aaron Loup. The last spot is available and will be a fight between Glenn Sparkman, Ryan Tepera, Mike Bolsinger, and Gavin Floyd. Latos&#8217; easiest path would likely be for that last bullpen spot, or an injury to one of the starters. Either way, he will need to show in Spring Training that the velocity and command issues are behind him, and that he can return to a form that resembles the Latos of old.</p>
<p style="text-align: left">At this point, we are unsure if Latos&#8217; deal has an opt out date, something found often in deals like this for veteran players. According to a team source, the Blue Jays sent two different scouts to watch Latos in back to back throwing sessions this past week, and obviously things progressed since then to the point where Latos and the club were able to agree to a deal.</p>
<p><strong>UPDATE:</strong></p>
<p>Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sporstnet is now also reporting that the deal is done.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlueJays?src=hash">#BlueJays</a> have agreed to sign RHP Mat Latos per sources</p>
<p>&mdash; Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) <a href="https://twitter.com/bnicholsonsmith/status/832257760737771526">February 16, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p><strong>UPDATE #2:</strong></p>
<p>It looks like Latos will have two opt outs in the deal, which is indeed $1.5M with $500K in incentives: </p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Mat Latos/Jays: Minor-lg deal with ST invite. $1.5M base in majors, $500k incentives and can max at $2M. 2 opt-outs: end of ST, in-season.</p>
<p>&mdash; Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisCotillo/status/832284053059563520">February 16, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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