On trade deadline day of the
2015 season (July 31), Alex Anthopoulos—the Toronto Blue Jays’ general manager
at the time—capped off a week of trades by sending two minor leaguers to the
Philadelphia Phillies for outfielder Ben Revere. Revere would prove to be
valuable to the team as they chased down, and caught, their first division
title and playoff appearance in more than two decades.
In 56 games for the Jays, Revere
would collect 72 hits in 226 at bats, earning a .319 batting average, hit one
home run, drove in 19, stole seven bases and scored 35 runs. He was the
lead-off batter the team needed after the trading of shortstop Jose Reyes to
Colorado for Troy Tulowitzki. Revere was a key contributor to the division
championship and would play exceptionally well in the ALDS against the Texas
Rangers.
After Anthopoulos was not
offered a contract extension after the season, the Jays’ management, under the
direction of team president Mark Shapiro and new general manager Ross Atkins,
looked to address one of the weaknesses of the Toronto team last season: the
bullpen. On January 8th, of this year, they traded Revere to the
Washington Nationals for relief pitcher Drew Storen.
On the surface, it looked like a
good trade: the Jays had an abundance of outfielders and Storen was a former closer
with the Nats. However, it has been a complete disaster of a trade for Toronto as
Storen has done nothing to improve the bullpen thus far into the season, and if
anything has made it worse.
When Spring Training started, it
was speculated that Storen would challenge for Toronto’s closer role, last year
held at season’s end by Roberto Osuna after Osuna had been given the job when
Brett Cecil was unable to perform at a respectable level as the closer.
(Cecil’s pitiful performance so far this year, won’t be discussed here. That’s
a story for another day.)
When Osuna won the job before
the season started, Storen was not happy, figuring he should have gotten the
nod. I remember thinking at the time that if he wants it, he should go out and
prove he deserves it. And he has done anything but.
Yesterday’s performance in the
eighth inning of a 4-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers has all but confirmed
that the Jays wasted an above-average lead-off hitter for a dud of a relief
pitcher. Storen has been horrible all year and Sunday’s two earned runs allowed
without recording an out (earning the loss, mind you) means that he has now
allowed 11 earned runs in 11 innings pitched, for a sky-high ERA of 9.00 (worse
than Cecil’s).
And he very nearly coughed up
the game on Friday night as well. This sure doesn’t look like a pitcher who
deserves, or even belongs, in the closer’s role. He might be better suited to
AAA the way he’s been pitching. I think it would be best for Toronto management
to admit their mistake and cut him loose as soon as they can so he doesn’t
cause any more damage.
But even that won’t bring Revere
back, someone they could probably use right about now when looking at some of
the low batting averages in the starting line-up. Now granted, Revere hasn’t
played that much for the Nationals since straining an oblique muscle in the
Nats’ season opener. But by the time the season plays out, his numbers will
most likely be on par with what he had last year.
Now it’s still early as we’re
only six weeks, and perhaps Storen will turn it around (here’s hoping) but as
of right now, this has to go down as one of the worst trades in recent team
history. And letting Alex Anthopoulos go was not one of the smartest decisions
either (and that story for another day as well).
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