Tag Archives: John Jaso

January 10, 2015

Z to A’s

Oakland and Tampa Bay executed a trade as the Rays continue to stockpile for the future:

The Oakland Athletics have acquired infielder Ben Zobrist and shortstop Yunel Escobar from the Tampa Bay Rays for catcher John Jaso and a pair of minor league players.

The Rays also received top shortstop prospect Daniel Robertson, minor league outfielder Boog Powell and cash considerations.

Zobrist may be the definition of a Moneyball player. He posted fWARs over five during his last four seasons, and in five of the last six. He hits and fields, and can play a large number of positions. The Athletics will pay just $14.5 million for two years of that type of service.

While Boog Powell is not related to the famous Orioles first baseman, I look forward to broadcasters announcing, “They’re not saying boo.” Powell hasn’t produced power in the minors, but does a great job of getting on base. Robertson is similar.

The Athletics get someone who can help them compete this year, while the Rays stock their minors and get a catcher with some offensive value (and an old friend).

June 8, 2014

Slamming

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Ubaldo Jimenez tried hard to give up a grand slam to the Orioles in the top of the third inning. After three walks to start the inning, John Jaso launched a fly ball to deep center that hit the top of the wall and bounced back. It was initially called a home run, but on review it was clear it did not leave the ballpark. The call was reversed to a two-run double. Jimenez walks another batter, gets a force at the plate, then Brandon Moss left no doubt as he hit a homer well over the fence for a grand slam. Control eluded Jimenez again, and he’s out of the game having allowed six runs in 2 1/3 innings. Oakland leads Baltimore 6-0.

January 16, 2013

Another Nats Move

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Michael Morse finds a new home, as the Mariners serve as the middle man in what amounts to trading Morse for prospects:

The Nationals, according to multiple people with knowledge of the situation, sent slugger Michael Morse to the Seattle Mariners in a three-way trade that netted them right-hander A.J. Cole, the pitching prospect who last winter served as the centerpiece of the trade that brought Gio Gonzalez from the Oakland A’s to the Nationals. The Mariners sent catcher John Jaso to the Oakland to complete the deal.

The Mariners get the slugger they wanted, the Athletics get a Moneyball catcher, and the Nationals get back a pitcher they liked, who struggled a bit for Oakland.

Via Hardball Talk, and notes the Nats are getting two more prospects:

Nationals will get 2 more prospects in deal in addition to Cole

It doesn’t say where the prospects are coming from. If they are coming from Seattle, the deal looks even worse for the Mariners:

This is Bavasi-esque. This is an awful decision, trading a good player for an older, worse, more expensive, less healthy player with two fewer years of team control. This is what happens you focus intently on acquiring a type of thing — in this case, a “power bat” — and don’t understand the value of the assets you have. This is what happens when you have a manager who doesn’t know how to evaluate talent, and sees John Jaso as nothing more than a backup catcher.

Stay tuned.

November 28, 2011

Finding Value

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The Tampa Bay Rays signed Jose Molina to a one-year contract for $1.8 million, with an option for that price on a second season. The buy out is $300,000, so the Rays committed to Molina for $2.1 million. FanGraphs and Baseball Reference differ slightly on Molina’s WAR, FG cominging in at 1.3 WAR, BR at 1.0. If we take the average of the two as a composite measure of Jose’s worth, that 1.15 WAR should be worth about $5.3 million. So Molina’s production could be cut in half this year, and the Rays will still get their money’s worth.

The interesting thing is that the Rays traded away John Jaso, whom they controlled for a few more years to sign Molina. They brought in a pitcher whose ERA was way out of line with his FIP. Since Tampa Bay tends to field a very good defensive team, Josh Lueke may look like a real bargain at the end of next season, and the Rays will control him for two more years than Jaso.

Let’s say that both Lueke and Molina turn out to be 1.0 WAR players each of the next two seasons. The Rays will have then gotten about $20 million in value for about $3 million. If Jaso ends up returning to his 2010 levels, he’ll get around $5 million in arbitration next year. In other words, not trading Jason gives the Mariners a little over five WAR for two years at $5.5 million (assuming Jason makes $500,000 in 2012). With Jaso alone, the Rays would have paid just under $1,000,000 per his WAR. With Molina and Lueke, they’re paying $750,000 per WAR, and that’s being somewhat conservative in estimates for Lueke and generous in estimate for Jaso. This is why the Rays, a small market club with poor attendance, have made the playoffs three of the last four years despite having to compete against the Yankees and the Red Sox.

November 27, 2011

Mariners Trade Lueke

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The Mariners got rid of a an embarrassing player:

The Rays announced Sunday night that they had acquired right-handed pitcher Josh Lueke and a player to be named or cash considerations from the Mariners in exchange for catcher John Jaso.

The Mariners acquired Lueke in the Justin Smoak deal without apparent knowledge of Lueke’s criminal past. They don’t have to worry about that any more.

Lueke has a lot of upside as a reliever, with high strikeout and low walk numbers in the minors. Jaso, too, has a lot of upside as his 2011 OBP seems like an outlier given his major and minor league career before that. This could be a trade that helps both clubs.

June 6, 2010

Everything’s Bigger in Texas

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Matt Treanor hit two home runs for the Rangers in a losing cause as Texas fell to Tampa Bay 9-5. That gives Matt five on the season, the most he ever hit in a single year. Overall, he’s not hitting all that well, but it’s still a nice comeback after missing almost all of 2009.

The Rays experiment of batting John Jaso first and B.J. Upton ninth seems to be working, as the pair combined to go six for nine with two walks. Upton scored three runs and Jaso drove in six. The Day by Day Database has lineup information back to 1974, and Jaso is only the 31st leadoff man in that time to drive in at least six runs. Ronnie Belliard drove in eight on 9/23/2003, the most in that era.

Update: I don’t know if they changed a scoring play or if the box I looked at originally had a mistake, but Jaso is now credited with five RBI, not six.