Morneau and the Toronto Blue Jays

Jon Paul Morosi wrote a story this week about Justin Morneau's status with the Twins. First, it noted that Morneau is open to a contract discussion during the season, which I thought was a reversal of what he said this week. But then there was also a lot of talk about the Blue Jays:

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At this point, we might as well acknowledge something that’s bound to surface this season: The Toronto Blue Jays — the lone major league franchise in Morneau’s native Canada — reportedly had interest in trading for him in recent months. The Blue Jays, as evidenced by their offseason makeover, are trying to win now. The Twins, who traded center fielders Denard Span and Ben Revere during the winter, are rebuilding.


Asked about the possibility of playing for the Blue Jays at some point in his career, Morneau said: “That was my favorite team growing up, so that would be very cool. … If I have to leave here — where I have grown up, the only organization I’ve known — then hopefully it’s (with) a chance to win. … I would prefer it to be here, with us making the trades to add guys. But (Toronto is) one of those intriguing places, where if you win you have the whole country behind you. I grew up in Vancouver, and I was a Blue Jays fan. It’s nationwide. … It would be cool, but like I said: I would rather win here.”

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The Blue Jays have Adam Lind playing either first base or DH regularly, and he's fallen quite a bit since his breakout season. FWIW, Morneau asked that Twins fans don't read too much into that comment, per Phil Miller.

Don't worry, I'm not. At this point, I think both sides need to have their options open and see what happens. I think we'll all understand either way.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: if the Twins are going to trade Morneau, I hope they'll at least consider eating some of his salary for better prospects. I don't know if that would be appealing to the Blue Jays or not, but it's a good way to invest some of this extra money into the future of the franchise.

Morneau will have to go at some point this year. He is too spendy for a rebuilding team with a bunch of decent options at 1B (besides Justin). yes, eat the salary and get better prospects in return. They have to spend some money somehow, right?

There farm system has been depleted by two HUGE trades this offseason. They have a stud pitcher but he has been off the table. I'm not too familar with their farm system as of late (see sentence one), but I'm pretty sure Twinsdaily posters would not be too excited about the return we would get.

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Originally Posted by Twins Twerp

There farm system has been depleted by two HUGE trades this offseason. They have a stud pitcher but he has been off the table. I'm not too familar with their farm system as of late (see sentence one), but I'm pretty sure Twinsdaily posters would not be too excited about the return we would get.

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Huh? So you actually do know what their farm looks like or you don't?

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Originally Posted by Twins Twerp

There farm system has been depleted by two HUGE trades this offseason. They have a stud pitcher but he has been off the table. I'm not too familar with their farm system as of late (see sentence one), but I'm pretty sure Twinsdaily posters would not be too excited about the return we would get.

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it's depleted, but not barren. The return would depend on If the Jays are in the race, what kind of 1st half of the season Morneau has had, what the Jays are willing to offer for 1/2 a season, and if that's more than the supplemental pick the Twins would get for offering a contract (assuming he's worth offering one to). Sean Nollin is a left handed starter who made it to AA last year, Daniel Norris is another Lefty with #2 upside and a mid 90's fast ball that would move up with Sano and Rosario. Marcus Stroman was a righty the Twins liked in last year's draft. He could be a power reliever or he has 4 good pitches so maybe he could be a starter too. He would be available to trade for in late June/ July. I'd rather the Twins trade him for a couple high upside guys in A ball that few of us have heard of yet, but the Twins have a lot of good info on.

Toronto has a lot of nice pitchers worth snagging, though they do not have much in regards to middle infield help.

I'd be interested in Syndergaard or Nicolino, both would be starting high A or maybe AA this year and could complement Meyer and May. Norris may have some upside, but thus far hasn't shown much and should be repeating low A for his 19/20 year old season. I wouldn't mind Hechavarria either, but I'm guessing he will be at the major league level and not available, though his minor league career is pretty suspect. His only good years at the plate were in the PCL.

Toronto has pieces to get Morneau if they need him. Whether they want to do it or not is a totally different issue.

Let's keep this in perspective, the Jays are not going to make a deal for Morneau based on him being Canadian. If he's playing well and he fills a need then (which it is right now but may not be by the deadline) I'm sure he will be one of a few players they may consider,sentiment will be far down the list of reasons to get him.

As a Canadian myself, Morneau playing for the Jays means nothing , I'd far rather see him as a Twin......Lawrie too for tha matter.

Not sure what the return will be for a rental player, if Justin gets off to a great start wouldnt it be better to sign him for a 2 or 3 year extention and wait and see if Parmele struggles? If Chis steps up then trading a player whos under contract should bring a better return, or if a team has interest allow them to talk extention before the trade.

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Originally Posted by maxisagod

it's depleted, but not barren. The return would depend on If the Jays are in the race, what kind of 1st half of the season Morneau has had, what the Jays are willing to offer for 1/2 a season, and if that's more than the supplemental pick the Twins would get for offering a contract (assuming he's worth offering one to). Sean Nollin is a left handed starter who made it to AA last year, Daniel Norris is another Lefty with #2 upside and a mid 90's fast ball that would move up with Sano and Rosario. Marcus Stroman was a righty the Twins liked in last year's draft. He could be a power reliever or he has 4 good pitches so maybe he could be a starter too. He would be available to trade for in late June/ July. I'd rather the Twins trade him for a couple high upside guys in A ball that few of us have heard of yet, but the Twins have a lot of good info on.

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They also have Matt Smoral, who they drafted last year, and he is a lefty who throws a hard fastball/slider combo. He's young, but has huge upside. They have a catcher I really like too. Santiago Nessy. He just turned 20, has big raw power and might be able to stay behind the plate, despite his big size (6'2", 230 lb).

The Twins wouldn't even have to eat that much money. By July, Morneau would have like 5-6 million left on his deal. With the payroll so low, they better be willing to eat some of that money.

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Originally Posted by twinsnorth49

Let's keep this in perspective, the Jays are not going to make a deal for Morneau based on him being Canadian. If he's playing well and he fills a need then (which it is right now but may not be by the deadline) I'm sure he will be one of a few players they may consider,sentiment will be far down the list of reasons to get him.

As a Canadian myself, Morneau playing for the Jays means nothing , I'd far rather see him as a Twin......Lawrie too for tha matter.

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+1. They'll trade for him because he can help them not because he was born in the same country as the team is based in.

Personally, I've never had any interest in following the Jays just because it's a team based in Canada. I'm close enough to the US border that I grew up with the Twins on the radio.

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Originally Posted by GCTF

+1. They'll trade for him because he can help them not because he was born in the same country as the team is based in.

Personally, I've never had any interest in following the Jays just because it's a team based in Canada. I'm close enough to the US border that I grew up with the Twins on the radio.

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I never understand why people think Morneau would have this great interest in playing for the Jays because he's from Canada. His hometown and Toronto is about the same distance as Seattle and NYC.

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Originally Posted by notoriousgod71

I never understand why people think Morneau would have this great interest in playing for the Jays because he's from Canada. His hometown and Toronto is about the same distance as Seattle and NYC.

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Well, he said himself it would be pretty cool,seeing as they were his favourite team growing up and unlike the Seattle-NY comparison, there is no MLB team in BC.

I see it the other way around, not sure why a lot of people think the Jays would be interested in Morneau just because he's Canadian, good player, sure, place of birth, not so much.

I don't understand why we would let Justin go before we are certain that Parmelee is ready. Like months of evidence of certainty.
Other than Parmelee I don't see what prospects he's blocking, either. Colabello hit .284 in AA last year. Kennys Vargas was great last year, but that was in low A ball.
Who am I missing? This is a question, not a challenge. I really don't know who we have coming along at 1B to hold down the 'every day' role with Mauer & Doumit taking occasional games there.

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Originally Posted by Oldgoat_MN

Colabello hit .284 in AA last year.

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Yeah, but that was his first year in Organized ball. Let's give him 5 years to develop and see what he can do when he's not still a kid.

Colabello is 29 years old. He doesn't have 5 years to develop. IMO, his only chance in the bigs comes if he breaks out at AAA, Parmalee struggles, and/or Morneau is no longer a Twin. Colabello is a nice story. I just don't know how much hope we can put on a 29 year old man, who, as we know, basically just started seeing better pitching. I reeeally hope I'm wrong, and he's able to make a difference at a major league level.

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Originally Posted by Oldgoat_MN

I don't understand why we would let Justin go before we are certain that Parmelee is ready. Like months of evidence of certainty.
Other than Parmelee I don't see what prospects he's blocking, either. Colabello hit .284 in AA last year. Kennys Vargas was great last year, but that was in low A ball.
Who am I missing? This is a question, not a challenge. I really don't know who we have coming along at 1B to hold down the 'every day' role with Mauer & Doumit taking occasional games there.

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Agree. I want to see signs of persistent and consistent MLB success from Parm before we jettison Morneau -- as long as he's healthy and productive himself.

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Originally Posted by schalaky

Colabello is 29 years old. He doesn't have 5 years to develop. IMO, his only chance in the bigs comes if he breaks out at AAA, Parmalee struggles, and/or Morneau is no longer a Twin. Colabello is a nice story. I just don't know how much hope we can put on a 29 year old man, who, as we know, basically just started seeing better pitching. I reeeally hope I'm wrong, and he's able to make a difference at a major league level.

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Thank you for setting me straight.

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Originally Posted by johnnydakota

Not sure what the return will be for a rental player, if Justin gets off to a great start wouldnt it be better to sign him for a 2 or 3 year extention and wait and see if Parmele struggles? If Chis steps up then trading a player whos under contract should bring a better return, or if a team has interest allow them to talk extention before the trade.

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I'm on board with this. The Twins obviously have the money and if Gibson/May/Meyer all develop the team is not that far from contention in a year or two. A two year extension could lead to Morneau playing meaningful ball for the Twins.

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Originally Posted by Oldgoat_MN

I don't understand why we would let Justin go before we are certain that Parmelee is ready. Like months of evidence of certainty.
Other than Parmelee I don't see what prospects he's blocking, either. Colabello hit .284 in AA last year. Kennys Vargas was great last year, but that was in low A ball.
Who am I missing? This is a question, not a challenge. I really don't know who we have coming along at 1B to hold down the 'every day' role with Mauer & Doumit taking occasional games there.

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This is what I have been advocating for a long time. Parmelee is no sure thing. If he is questionable than extend Morneau(or tender him and get the draft pick). It only makes sense.