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	<title>Toronto &#187; Tony Sanchez</title>
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		<title>Non-Roster Invites in Blue Jays Camp: The Hitters</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/03/11/non-roster-invites-in-blue-jays-camp-the-hitters/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/03/11/non-roster-invites-in-blue-jays-camp-the-hitters/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Mar 2016 14:00:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Steve McEwen]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Casey Kotchman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Adams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Domonic Brown]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Humberto Quintero]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Maicer Izturis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tony Sanchez]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=57</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Every year at spring training, there there are a numbers of non-roster invitees (NRIs) that may seem surprising; some are there more as instructors and mentors while others are projects returning from injuries or just looking for another shot at the big leagues. This year the Blue Jays have 29 players in camp who aren’t on [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>Every year at spring training, there there are a numbers of non-roster invitees (NRIs) that may seem surprising; some are there more as instructors and mentors while others are projects returning from injuries or just looking for another shot at the big leagues. This year the Blue Jays have 29 players in camp who aren’t on the 40 man roster &#8211; twelve pitchers and seventeen position players. Fourteen (eight pitchers, six hitters) of these players have some major league experience while the remaining eighteen players comprising of minor league fodder mixed in with legitimate prospects.</em></p>
<p><em>BP Toronto will be breaking down these NRIs into three groups &#8211; <a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/03/10/non-roster-invites-in-blue-jays-camp-the-pitchers/">veteran pitchers</a>, veteran hitters, and prospects &#8211; and assessing their odds of making the opening day roster.</em></p>
<p>Without further ado, let&#8217;s get to the veteran hitters in camp looking for a job.</p>
<p><strong>Humberto Quintero – Catcher</strong></p>
<p>PECOTA Projection: 250 PA &#8211; .232/.256/.344 &#8211; 4 HR, 1SB, 7 BB, 54 K, .212 TAv, -1.0 WARP</p>
<p>In Spring Training, the more catcher depth that you have, the better; Quintero is a prime example of what you want to bring in. Humberto Quintero has good reviews for his work with pitching staffs, and is a veteran of nearly 500 MLB games. While he isn&#8217;t a prolific hitter in any sense of the word (.594 career OPS), he&#8217;s a solid catch and throw backstop. Quintero has thrown out 33% of would be base stealers in his major league career.</p>
<p><em>How he fits:</em> He&#8217;s a likely mentor for young catchers, both in Spring Training and in the minors. Quintero will likely slot in at AAA Buffalo for the season.</p>
<p><em>Chance of Making the Opening Day Roster:</em> 1/5</p>
<p>If Quintero makes it as the backup, it&#8217;s unlikely that he&#8217;ll play much. However, he could fulfill the one or two day a week role if he develops a rapport with a starter a lá Dioner Navarro and Estrada/Buehrle.</p>
<p><strong>Tony Sanchez – Catcher</strong></p>
<p>PECOTA Projection: 250 PA &#8211; .236/.314/.388 – 7 HR, 1 SB, 22 BB, 62 K, .292 TAv, 0.7 WARP</p>
<p>Tony Sanchez is easily the second best catcher in camp&#8230;and yes, that includes Josh Thole. He is a former Pittsburgh Pirates first round pick, and has gone through quite a bit of adversity on his climb to the majors. In contrast to Humberto Quintero, Sanchez is not a good catch and throw receiver, as his career 22% caught stealing rate shows. However, Sanchez has additional defensive value in the his framing. Over the last three years between AAA and MLB, he&#8217;s posted well above average pitch farming numbers, and isn&#8217;t a liability at keeping the ball from the backstop. Beyond his defense, Sanchez has also been a solid offensive catcher for years in the minors, and he hasn’t failed miserably in the majors. At AAA Indianapolis, he he has a triple slash of.248/.342/.415.</p>
<p><em>How he fits:</em> As the second best catcher in camp, he profiles well as a backup to Russell Martin. His only drawback being his inexperience in catching the knuckler.</p>
<p><em>Chance of Making the Opening Day Roster</em>: 3/5</p>
<p>I&#8217;d give him a 4 out of 5 if it weren’t for his lack of options. The Jays seem to want someone who can catch the knuckleball. If Sanchez made the team out of camp, and then couldn&#8217;t catch the knuckler, he&#8217;d have to be waived in order to bring up Thole. That&#8217;d be an asset management disaster.</p>
<p><strong>David Adams – Secondbase and Thirdbase</strong></p>
<p>PECOTA Projection: 250 PA &#8211; .240/.311/.372 &#8211; 5 HR, 0 SB, 21 BB, 51 K, .246 TAv, 0.3 WARP</p>
<p>David Adams is able to play at the keystone or at the hot corner. He is more infield depth for a team that already plenty. He&#8217;s been a competent hitter in the minor leagues, and was once thought to have the upside of a quality utility infielder. However, injuries have slowed him, limiting his ability at both second base and the plate. In that way, he has a similar profile to Jays farmhand Andy Burns. In the end, Adams should slot in for the Jays at AA New Hampshire.</p>
<p><em>How he fits: </em>As the emergency 2B, for the emergency 2B. If everyone gets injured, he&#8217;ll be up in the big leagues. However, there&#8217;s far too many guys ahead of him on the depth chart for that to realistically happen.</p>
<p><em>Chance of Making the Opening Day Roster</em>: 0/5</p>
<p>As mentioned above, the Jays just have so much depth in the middle infield. Even if Devon Travis is out beyond May, there is little chance that Adams makes the team.</p>
<p><strong>Casey Kotchman – Firstbase</strong></p>
<p>PECOTA Projection: 250 PA &#8211; .259/.323/.382 &#8211; 5 HR, 0 SB, 19 BB, 30 K, .253 TAv, 0.0 WARP</p>
<p>Casey Kotchman is a former four time Baseball America Top 25 prospect. At present, he&#8217;s an elite defender with above average contact skills at first base. Kotchman was a valuable player early in his career with the Angels, but was never quite as good after leaving LA as part of the Mark Teixeira deal. Outside of one resurgent season with Tampa Bay in 2011, Casey Kotchman has been in the minors, struggling to replicate the promise that he once showed. Now on the wrong side of 30, he appears to be in the line to play 1B for the Bisons.</p>
<p><em>How he fits:</em> Kotchman is at least 5th guy on the first base depth chart heading into the season. It&#8217;s possible that he was brought in to spring to mentor beloved Blue Jays first base prospect Rowdy Tellez on the finer points of the position.</p>
<p><em>Chance of Making the Opening Day Roster</em>: 0/5</p>
<p>There is just too much depth in front of him to expect him to make the team out of camp.</p>
<p><strong>Domonic Brown – Left Fielder</strong></p>
<p>PECOTA Projection: 290 PA &#8211; .252/.312/.413 – 9 HR, 5 SB, 35 BB, 53 K &#8211; .281 TAv, 0.5 WARP</p>
<p>Another former top prospect, Domonic Brown was the one Phillies&#8217; one untouchable players during the Roy Halladay trade negotiations. Since then, there has been a lot of struggles for the former Top 25 prospect. He was once viewed as a right fielder with some power, an ability to run, and solid defence. However, Brown has struggled to live up to the hype once bestowed upon him. However, somehow, in 2013, Brown was an All-Star. That was mostly on the back of his first 62 games wherein he hit .293/.333/.604 with 19 home runs. He&#8217;s yet to be able to repeat the success he had in that short run.</p>
<p>With that said, despite Brown&#8217;s negatives, there is still untapped talent inside. We&#8217;ve seen formerly well regarded prospects come to Toronto and thrive. Brown could be a dark horse to make the team this season; particularly if an outfielder starts the season on the DL.</p>
<p><em>How he fits:</em> In addition to unfulfilled potential, Domonic Brown brings a much needed left-handed power bat to the table. With analytical and supportive hitters like Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista in the clubhouse, it&#8217;s possible that some of that talent could shine through.</p>
<p><em>Chance of Making the Opening Day Roster</em>: 3/5</p>
<p>Brown&#8217;s potential makes him a fun add to the team. However, his inability to cover centre field and be an effective fourth outfielder hurts his chances to make the team.</p>
<p><em>NOTE: Maicer Izturis was on the initial draft of this post, but due to his retirement, he has been left off. He was an underrated and very valuable utility piece during him prime as a result of quality defence and some solid hitting for some very good Angels teams. While he never produced in his time with the Jays, he was a player who gave it his all on the field. His retirement leaves Bartolo Colon as the last remaining active former Montreal Expo. All the best in retirement Maicer!</em></p>
<p>In the end, it&#8217;s unlikely that any of the hitters profiled break camp with the team. With that said, there are some interesting names in camp like Tony Sanchez and Domonic Brown. Both players have untapped potential and are in the prime of their athletic careers. Next up on Saturday, Ewan Ross will break down the prospects in camp.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>How the Blue Jays Finally Created a Deep Roster</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/03/08/bluejays-depth-spring-training/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/03/08/bluejays-depth-spring-training/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 Mar 2016 14:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Joshua Howsam]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Depth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Domonic Brown]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gavin Floyd]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Offseason]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rafael Soriano]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ross atkins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tony Sanchez]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=107</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[With exhibition games starting up and the stars we know and love finally starting to take the field, fans are ready to embrace the optimism that comes around this time of year. With camps full of players from the 40-man roster, prospects hoping to impress, and veterans looking for one last kick at the can, [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>With exhibition games starting up and the stars we know and love finally starting to take the field, fans are ready to embrace the optimism that comes around this time of year. With camps full of players from the 40-man roster, prospects hoping to impress, and veterans looking for one last kick at the can, the long winter shuffle is officially over.</p>
<p>I’m sure it wasn’t exactly the way Ross Atkins imagined his first offseason as a general manager was going to go. By the time he took his place on the hotseat, most of the heavy lifting had already been done. While acting as interim GM, Tony LaCava had added/re-signed J.A. Happ, Jesse Chavez, and Marco Estrada, addressing the one true area of weakness: the rotation. The big splash, the franchise-changing move&#8230;those doors were already closed to Mr. Atkins. But that doesn’t mean there was nothing left for him to do. In fact, the new head honcho had one very clear, public mandate: Add depth.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s often difficult for the common fan to care about what lies beyond the 25-man roster on Opening Day. Nobody wants to imagine a world where their star players aren&#8217;t on the field. Alas, that&#8217;s not how it usually plays out once the games begin. Players get hurt or under perform and need to be replaced. Just last year the AL East champion Blue Jays saw Chris Colabello play 46 games in left field, and Danny Valencia was out there for another 31. Neither of those men is an outfielder. In fact, when the season started, they were probably 7th and 8th on the outfield depth chart. Yet, there they were, stumbling around after fly balls.</p>
<p>Interestingly enough, depth was supposed to be Alex Anthopoulos&#8217; specialty. He was always known as the man who would make a waiver claim on just about anybody, hoping to find a diamond in the rough. He certainly had some successes last season; Colabello turned in an incredible season at the plate, and Bo Schultz helped the bullpen before the trade deadline. Although, in spite of those successes, depth was still a problem for the 2015 Blue Jays. Prior to the David Price trade the rotation was in shambles, and the middle infield needed some external help.</p>
<p>Up until January, it didn’t look like this year’s group was going to be any different. There seemed to be a couple of options for the fifth starter position, but beyond that there were serious concerns around the diamond. Then, starting with the Revere for Storen swap, all of that began to change.</p>
<p>The Storen move opened up options for the Blue Jays. By adding another late inning reliever, Aaron Sanchez was officially put back into the mix for a role in the starting rotation. In turn, that left seven men whom could be reasonably counted on for solid or better work as starting pitchers. For the beginning of the season, that&#8217;s not an awful mark, but it isn&#8217;t enough. Nothing happened for a few more weeks until just before Spring Training. At this point, GM Ross Atkins made a flurry of moves that have drastically improved this club’s chances of surviving injury.</p>
<p>The first notable move was the signing of Gavin Floyd to a one year, $1 million contract. Coming off of his second broken pitching elbow in as many years, Floyd was thought to be done. Floyd may have his warts, but there is tremendous upside in the deal, especially if Floyd can continue to pitch the way he did last September.</p>
<p>The aforementioned upside is a common thread that joined every move that followed it. On the same day as the Floyd pickup, Atkins added David Aardsma (the guest on yesterday’s <a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/03/07/artficial-turf-wars-ep-1-david-aardsma-debuts-and-dingers/">Artificial Turf Wars podcast</a>), then in the following weeks picked up Domonic Brown, Tony Sanchez, and Rafael Soriano.</p>
<p>With the exception of Floyd, all of those players have minor league deals. This makes sense, given that all of these players have flaws, as can be seen in their PECOTA projections.</p>
<p><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Pecota-real.jpg"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-108 size-full" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Pecota-real.jpg" alt="Pecota real" width="406" height="171" /></a></p>
<p>However, the depth advantage is that these players all have real upside. If any of them hits their 80th percentile projection, things look totally different.</p>
<p><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Pecota1.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-166" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Pecota1.png" alt="Pecota" width="406" height="171" /></a></p>
<p>As you can see, PECOTA says that every one of the recent additions has the potential for a very solid season. The reason the projections see this upside is simple: all of these players have done it before. This is the biggest departure from the Alex Anthopoulos moves of year’s past. In recent years, the Blue Jays depth moves included more AAA fodder than anything else. The &#8220;depth&#8221; comprised of the guys like Mauro Gomez, Brad Glenn, Cole Gillespie and Steve Tolleson. They&#8217;d never grabbed many guys who had previously shown the ability to play at an above major league average level.</p>
<p>What changed?</p>
<p>Well, under the last regime, the Jays had an anti-contract-incentives policy. Anthopoulos famously refused to offer them; almost certainly because he was often right up against the ceiling of his budget. In fact, the only time that he deviated from this policy was for Johan Santana, in a situation where he was recovering from injury. In that case, if Santana hadn&#8217;t rebounded, the Jays would have been on the hook for nothing, but if he had, he&#8217;d almost certainly be worth the money.</p>
<p>Until Floyd, it had been a long time since a “healthy” Blue Jay had potential to earn more money simply by staying on the field. If you’re not willing to offer a player the chance to earn extra cash, you’re never going to be able to get high end depth. It’s a simple truth: players will always bet on themselves. They wouldn’t be professional athletes if they didn’t.</p>
<p>With those pickups, the Jays now have at least one major league quality backup at every position, along with solid depth in both the rotation and the bullpen.</p>
<h4>Position Player Backups</h4>
<p>C: Tony Sanchez, Josh Thole<br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5">1B: Justin Smoak/Chris Colabello (whoever isn&#8217;t starting)<br />
</span><span style="line-height: 1.5">2B/SS: Darwin Barney (then Ryan Goins with Devon Travis returns)<br />
</span><span style="line-height: 1.5">3B: Matt Dominguez<br />
</span><span style="line-height: 1.5">OF: Domonic Brown, Dalton Pompey, Junior Lake, Ezequiel Carrera</span></p>
<h4>Pitching Depth</h4>
<p>SP: Marcus Stroman, R.A. Dickey, Marco Estrada, J.A. Happ, Jesse Chavez, Aaron Sanchez, Gavin Floyd, Drew Hutchison<br />
RP: Drew Storen, Roberto Osuna, Brett Cecil, Aaron Loup, Jesse Chavez, Aaron Sanchez, Gavin Floyd, Bo Schultz, David Aardsma, Steve Delabar</p>
<p>Every single one of those position players has spent at least some time as a regular in the big leagues. Then when you a<span style="line-height: 1.5">dd in guys like Pat Venditte, Chad Jenkins, Rule V draft pick Joe Biagini, and prospects Connor Greene and Chad Girodo, the Blue Jays have an awful lot of pitching depth. </span>In fact, a couple of the other players are already showing value. Ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte and submariner Chad Girodo are ready to step in as the second lefty in the pen for the first few weeks of the season while Aaron Loup recovers from a forearm strain. In an admittedly small sample size, Venditte held lefties to a paltry .116/.191/.256 line in 2015, and Girodo has dominated lefties in the minors.</p>
<p>This 2016 Blue Jays roster is so talented that the only thing that could&#8217;ve sunk them completely would have been injury. Now that they have depth, one of their stars can go down and someone will be ready to step in. As a result, it&#8217;s a real stretch to imagine this team not being contenders in the American League East&#8230;unless the Baseball Gods simply decide to smite the city of Toronto.</p>
<p>The offseason was a job well done, Mr. Atkins. I look forward to seeing what you can do next.</p>
<p><em>Lead photo: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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