Over at Sportsnet.ca, our friend, Dirk Hayhurst tells us that the Blue Jays should trade Casey Janssen now.
Being honest, I'm never really a fan of posts saying player X should be traded because none of us know what is being offered for the player. I think any player can be traded if you are offered more that you feel he is worth. So sure if you can get something good for him, go ahead. The trouble is that you and I and Dirk have no idea what is or would be offered for Casey.
Dirk is right, saves are overrated. The A's made a game of getting someone a bunch of saves and then trading him, year after year. I don't think GM's over rate the save as much as they once did, but you could likely find someone that would pay a bunch for Casey.
Dirk suggests that both Brett Cecil and Steve Delabar could step into the closer. They could, I'll admit I'd rather they stay in a setup role because I think they are more valuable in that spot. I'd rather they give Neil Wagner or, when/if he comes back, Sergio Santos.
He also suggests that three teams that would love to trade for Casey: the Tigers, the Cardinals and the Diamondbacks. And suggests that maybe they would be able to fill the back hole that is second base with the trade.
Now I don't see that the Tigers would trade us a second basemen. They have a good one, Omar Inante, but they don't have a obvious replacement for him, if you were the Tigers would you open a hole at second to fill the closer spot? No, I didn't think so.
The Diamondbacks have Aaron Hill, I don't think they'll give us him back and Willie Bloomquist, who I wouldn't want. But then they do have Chris Owings in Triple-A, he is playing SS there but I'm sure we could move him over. He's hitting .348/.369/.481 in the PCL.
The Cardinals have Matt Carpenter at second, a pretty great 2B and they have Daniel Descalso backing him up. More interesting they have Kolten Wong in the PCL at Memphis, hitting .303/.358/.465.
Yeah they would have to be pretty desperate to give up that much for Casey but then mid season is the time to take advantage of desperate teams. So sure, if you could use Casey to fill the void at second base, do it quick. If not, hang on to him until you can use him to get something you really need. But then I'd trade anything to fix that hole at second, unless it opened another gaping wound on the team.
Personally, Janssen has always been a favorite of mine. I'd being really sad if he wasn't on the team anymore, but if he can be part of a trade that would help the team, you'd have to let him go.
Anyway, what do you think? Will the Jays try to trade Casey? Should they?