Jays Reportedly Scouting Angels: What Does It Mean?

Reports broke on August 25th that the Blue Jays have been interested in, and are scouting several Los Angeles Angels. The most commonly reported players of interest to the team include Dylan Bundy, Jason Castro, and Tommy LaStella. How would a trade for these players affect the team for the rest of the year, as well as a long term?

Dylan Bundy is likely of the highest interest of the three players. The Jays have made it obvious that they are pursuing starting pitching, to which he fits the script. In his fifth full season, the 27 year old has posted several career bests thus far, including his 2.58 ERA, 0.887 WHIP, 5.50 K/BB, and also has career bests in several other categories. Bundy might be familiar to many Blue Jays fans after spending the past four years as an everyday rotation member of the Orioles. He came up as a top prospect with the team, but never quite panned out in Baltimore, holding a career 4.67 ERA with the team. After being non-tendered in the 2019 offseason, he broke out with the Angels in his first year with the team, and has since become available.

Bundy could be a solid pick up for Toronto, as he is one of the best pitchers available statistically speaking, and being only 27 years old, he fits into the young Blue Jays roster very well compared to other potential trade options (ie. Lance Lynn, Danny Duffy, and Nathan Eovaldi who are all 31+). Being non tendered early on by the Orioles, Bundy will maintain team control until 2022 as well, which could be a huge factor into the decision of a trade. Also important to Toronto, Bundy has been able to work himself deep into games, something the current rotation has seriously struggled to do. He is currently averaging over 6 innings per outing, and has even tossed a complete game.

Despite all the upside in favour of Bundy, many concerns come alongside him in a potential trade. First off, considering how well he is doing, his remaining years of control, his cheap contract ($5 million), and his dominant performance, he could have a very high price tag, especially since he could be a long term option for the Angels if they aren’t happy with incoming offers. Secondly, Bundy was unable to find his groove until his fifth major league season. Baseball is a strange sport, and there is no guarantee that he will be able to stick to form. Baseball Savant is an advanced stats application, which can also use all kinds of in depth stats to find similarities between players. From pitch usage rates, to average exit velocities and barrel up rates, to common pitch locations, they consider all kinds of factors. When combining all of this for Bundy, his performance this year most similarly compared to the 2019 performances of Dan Straily, Trevor Richards, and Daniel Mengden, all of whom had an ERA over 4.00 in the season compared. Bundy could have a huge price tag, and he could be at risk of going back to his past form.

The second player mentioned from the Angels was Jason Castro, a 33 year old left handed catcher. Despite 2 high potential young catchers, the Jays have had a hard time finding production from either player, Jansen or McGuire. Both Jansen and McGuire have a negative WAR (-1.1 and -0.2), and both have batting averages under .170 and 3 home runs combined in 90 at-bats. Defensively Jansen has struggled, racking up -4 defensive runs saved above average compared to +17 in 2019, all while throwing out only 13% of runners. Mcguire has managed to hold his ground defensively however with 1 DRS while throwing out 40% of runners.

Offensively both of Toronto's catchers have struggled, presenting the team with a short term catching need. This is where Castro comes into the picture. Historically speaking, Castro has been known as a solid offensive catcher his whole career. Although he never held a high batting average, he has a career .313 OBP, and is primarily known for power hitting. He is on a one year deal, and would likely wouldn’t remain with Toronto past the 2020 season. If acquired, this could mean that either McGuire or Jansen could be optioned to the alternate player camp (McGuire has 2 options remaining, Jansen has 3), or the team could trade one in an attempt to acquire pitching. McGuire seems to be the more likely trade candidate of the two, as Toronto seems to highly favour Jansen, hardly giving McGuire a chance to play in 2020 despite Jansen underperforming. McGuire has started less than 30% of Toronto’s games.

Tommy LaStella was the final player rumored to have interest from Toronto. The 2019 all-star second baseman is in his age 31 season. He will be a free agent at year's end, and is currently making $3.25 million ($1.2 million in the shortened season). After spending four years as a solid bench option for the Cubs, he broke out in 2019 with the Angels, hitting .295 with 16 home runs on his way to a .832 slugging percentage (career high). LaStella comes as a surprise to many, as the Blue Jays have a crowded infield with Vogelbach, Tellez, Guerrero, Biggio, Drury, Espinal, Panik, and Shaw. However, it seems likely that LaStella comes instead as an outfield solution. He would likely cover second base, while Biggio moves to the outfield in a more permanent role. The team has recently been rumored to be shopping either Lourdes Gurriel Jr., or the red hot Teoscar Hernandez in an attempt to acquire pitching help, and moving Biggio to the outfield might allow them to do so.

Other than Bundy, this potential Angels trade would primarily be to band aid short term issues, and two of the three players are on expiring contracts. Bundy could be a big help to a team in desperate need of pitching, but the asking price for Bundy has yet to be uncovered. It remains unclear if there is any traction between the teams, but this would certainly be a big move to shake up both rosters, especially if the Angels find a way to acquire both Gurriel, and McGuire in the process. With Bichette, Shoemaker, Pearson, and Thornton all at risk of missing most of the remaining games, Toronto could instead consider less expensive and longer term options in what they might just consider a lost season. The thought of the constantly hurt 2014 Blue Jays frequently comes to mind, but fans just have to hope that the 2015 success is soon to follow.