The Blue Jays picked up the option on Adam Lind and traded him to the Brewers for Marco Estrada.
Estrada is a 31 year old, right-handed pitcher. He split time between the rotation and the bullpen last year, for the Brewers, pitching in 39 games, starting 18. He was 7-6 with a 4.36 ERA. In 150.2 innings he allowed 137 hits, 44 walks with 127 strikeouts. The troubling numver was the NL leading 29 home runs. A guy that gives up bunches of homers, moving to the AL East? The was better in 2013, starting 21 games, with a 3.87 ERA, allowing 19 home runs in 128 innings. The low walk rate and pretty high strikeout rate are good signs.
The Jays also announced that they have picked up the options on J.A. Happ ($6.7 million) and Josh Thole ($1.7 million) while declining options on Dustin McGowan, Brandon Morrow, Sergio Santos (Santos would still be under team controll but will be non-tendered) and Justin Smoak. Smoak is still under team control and is arbitration eligible. No real surprises there.
Also the Jays tell us that Melky Cabrera has been given a Qualifying Offer of $15.3 million.
I'm slightly disappointed at the return for Lind, I was hoping for a good second baseman, but Estrada could help out our bullpen, with a career 8.5 strikeouts per 9 and a healthy 10% swing and miss rate.