Miguel Batista signs with the Blue Jays

[Gee!]

NEW ORLEANS - The Toronto Blue Jays kept revamping their rotation, agreeing with free agent Miguel Batista on a $13.1 million, three-year contract Friday.

The deal was the first one announced at the baseball winter meetings, which started earlier in the day and run through Monday.

Since the season ended, Toronto has signed free-agent starters Pat Hentgen and Batista and traded for Ted Lilly. The Blue Jays also lost Kelvim Escobar as a free agent to Anaheim.

Batista was 10-9 with a 3.54 ERA for Arizona last season. He pitched in 36 games, making 29 starts.

The 32-year-old right-hander joins a Toronto team that has finished third in the AL East for six straight years. The Blue Jays went 86-76 this season, led by Cy Young winner Roy Halladay.

Batista was 42-50 with a 4.39 ERA in nine seasons. He also has pitched for Pittsburgh, Florida, the Chicago Cubs, Montreal and Kansas City.

In seven career postseason games, all with the Diamondbacks in 2001-02, he is 3-1 with a 3.54 ERA.

Batista will make $3.6 million next season, $4.75 million in 2005 and $4.75 million in 2006.

The New York Mets were among the other teams interested in Batista, who has bounced back and forth between the rotation and bullpen throughout his career. Of his 254 games in the majors, 121 of them have been starts. Despite all those relief appearances, he has only one lifetime save.

Hentgen, the 1996 AL Cy Young winner with Toronto, signed a $2.2 million, one-year contract. Lilly was acquired from Oakland for outfielder Bobby Kielty.

The Blue Jays also signed lefty Bruce Chen to a minor league contract.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

Did Miguel's agent not say that he would have come back at a reduced rate? If we could have gotten him for around 3-4 million a year, which seems possible, Joe just seems to continue getting dumber. What a stupid move to let miguel go.

 

[KingLouieLouie]

I think it's too premature to criticize Jerry C and Co. at this time....
If someone approached any of us last season and said that the Dbacks would have been contention with Schilling and Johnson on the DL, that our best pitcher would be Brandon Webb.....we would have told that person to commit himself into an asylum....

Let's give Good, Villareal, Rosario, Patterson, Gosling, Fossum, etc a chance before we deem everything a complete failure.......

 

[CardsFan88]

The problem I have with letting Miguel go is that he was one of our most versatile pitchers.

Not to mention one of our most effective pitchers either way\

He could start, long relief, or be a regular reliever

Losing such versatility may hurt us.

Plus now we'll have Randy, Webb (pray a sophomore jinx doesn't happen), Elmer "Descends" Dessens, ??????, and ?????

I'm not laying judgement on the rotation, the gm, or anyone, but I just don't like how it stacks up and looks on paper.

Of course every year there are 10 teams who could win it based on what the team looks like 'on paper'

Hopefully one of our baby backs will come thru; fossum, gosling, O.villareal, good, maybe another one million dollar wonder.

You can look at the rotation and think it could lead potentially to 85-90 losses. There is just too much uncertainty in the rotation.

It may not be like that, I guess I'm just saying I'm not used to looking at our rotation and even coming close to thinking in such a way, and that realization sucks.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

Originally posted by KingLouieLouie
I think it's too premature to criticize Jerry C and Co. at this time....
If someone approached any of us last season and said that the Dbacks would have been contention with Schilling and Johnson on the DL, that our best pitcher would be Brandon Webb.....we would have told that person to commit himself into an asylum....

Let's give Good, Villareal, Rosario, Patterson, Gosling, Fossum, etc a chance before we deem everything a complete failure.......

I look at this as a matter of percentages. What are the odds that those players would have stepped in and played as well in Curt's and randy's absence? extremely low

looking at the team now, and with the fact that we have lost arguably our two best pitchers from last year, and have a bunch of nobody's to fill out the rotation, I believe that is a cause for worry. What are the odds that Good, Villareal, Rosario, Patterson, Gosling, Fossum, will perform as well as Miguel. I would rate that as very unlikely. What are the odds that without Curt or Miguel we will succeed? I also rate that as pretty low.

 

[KingLouieLouie]

Originally posted by ASUCHRIS
I look at this as a matter of percentages. What are the odds that those players would have stepped in and played as well in Curt's and randy's absence? extremely low

looking at the team now, and with the fact that we have lost arguably our two best pitchers from last year, and have a bunch of nobody's to fill out the rotation, I believe that is a cause for worry. What are the odds that Good, Villareal, Rosario, Patterson, Gosling, Fossum, will perform as well as Miguel. I would rate that as very unlikely. What are the odds that without Curt or Miguel we will succeed? I also rate that as pretty low.

I could honestly see where you're coming.... I'm just the type of person who is willing to give the benefit of the doubt (if/when) until proven otherwise..... I read that the Dbacks are considering Steve Sparks or Shane Reynolds for either the 4th or 5th spot of the rotation which isnt all too bad..... I'm not a Jerry C. apologist, but himself and the rest of the organization know what they're doing....They know their talent (and where they stand) better than any of us (or those so-called "experts") do..... I'll just resort to my await and see approach and just hope for the best...

 

[green machine]

Good luck Miggy! This guy wasn't even an average pitcher when he came here, and he left here as a solid one. I hope he continues his success in Toronto.

adam