August 1, 2019

By Mike DiStefano

Canadian Baseball Network

The MLB Trade Deadline is a time for contending teams to load up for the back-half of the year to propel themselves into the post-season. But for the others, it’s a chance to part ways with the old core and usher some younger talent into the organization.

The Blue Jays were in the latter group for this year’s deadline and had many pieces to sell. The quality of players Toronto had on the trading block brought lots of promise to the fan base of the kind of top-level prospects the team could add at the deadline.

Quality over quantity was preached when discussing the criteria for a successful Blue Jays trade deadline. Apparently, though, general manager Ross Atkins is still concerned about quantity and establishing positional depth over adding impact players to the system.

After getting criticized heavily for the Marcus Stroman return, Atkins outdid himself by selling low on a package of Aaron Sanchez, Joe Biagini, and prospect Cal Stevenson in exchange for outfielder Derek Fisher.

The soon to be 26-year-old outfielder has spent the last three seasons taxied between triple-A and the big leagues. In 312 career-plate-appearances in the majors, Fisher is batting just above the Mendoza line with a discouraging .649 OPS. But apparently his offence wasn’t the selling feature that led to Atkins pulling the trigger.

“Adding that amount of control, the handedness, the speed, the ability to play [centre field], the success he’s had in the minor leagues— Everything about his track record suggests he’s a great fit for us,” Atkins told reporters in a call-in press conference following the deadline.

Fisher has 14 home runs with 36 RBI while hitting .286 with an encouraging .924 OPS in triple-A Round Rock this season. Those numbers drop off drastically once he hits the big leagues with one homer and five RBI while batting .226 and a much lower .675 OPS.

In other words, the production thus far is fairly uninspiring. So what else attracted Atkins to Fisher?

“For us it came down to the opportunity to acquire a potential everyday centre fielder that we feel matches up— from a control standpoint— well with this core,” Atkins said.

Control. Oh yes, the word that makes baseball fans shiver. Adding controllable players turned out to be a major focal point throughout the deadline for the Blue Jays.

“The control of Derek Fisher now relative to the control of Aaron Sanchez was really the biggest difference,” Atkins said. “We have turned six or seven years of major league control— if you add in Cal Stevenson into that [it’s] 14-years— into 42-years of control.”

That is true. The team turned talented major leaguers like Stroman, Sanchez, Daniel Hudson, Biagini and Eric Sogard into a bunch of lottery tickets— none with extremely high chances of being impactful.

So the question has to be asked. Was it worth it? Does having 42 years worth of control equate to the skill level that went out the door? Early indications would say no.

One other thing that seems worrisome is how adamant Atkins seemed about adding controllable players. Did the Jays turn down better quality offers in order to secure a quantity of controllable assets? Hopefully that isn’t the case, but odds are we’ll never know.

What does seem evident, however, is that the 2019 trade deadline was a big swing and a miss for the Blue Jays front office.