Tag: Jesse Chavez

Jesse Chavez to Dodgers: Latest Trade Details, Comments, Reaction

A source told Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal that the Los Angeles Dodgers have acquired reliever Jesse Chavez from the Toronto Blue Jays with less than 30 minutes remaining in Major League Baseball’s Monday trade deadline. 

Per Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the Dodgers have sent starter Mike Bolsinger in return for Chavez.  

The Dodgers have brought in Chavez to provide depth to a bullpen that has worked a lot this season. 

Los Angeles’ bullpen hasn’t been bad, as it has allowed an average of 3.71 runs per game, which is fourth-best in the majors. But the bullpen has appeared in a combined 371 games in relief, second-most in baseball behind the lowly Atlanta Braves.

As a middle reliever, Chavez has never been a shutdown arm coming out of the bullpen. In each of his eight-plus seasons in the majors with five different teams, the 32-year-old has had an ERA under 4.00 twice. 

This season, which was his first with the Blue Jays after coming over from the Oakland Athletics, Chavez is 1-2 with a 4.57 ERA. In 41.1 innings, he’s allowed 22 runs on 43 hits. 

With the Dodgers, Chavez could appear in the fifth or sixth to eat innings if a starter doesn’t have a quality outing. That way, they wouldn’t have to burn one of their more productive bullpen arms—Adam Liberatore and Pedro Baez, pitchers who pave the way for closer Kenley Jansen.

As the season winds into the dog days of August, Chavez allows the bullpen to stay a bit fresher as the Dodgers chase the San Francisco Giants in the National League West and lead the NL wild-card standings. 

The Blue Jays will get a pitcher in Bolsinger who was a struggling low-end starter in Los Angeles. After starting the 2016 season 1-4 with a 6.83 ERA, he was demoted to Triple-A on June 19 and hasn’t seen the majors since. 

   

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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Jesse Chavez to Blue Jays: Latest Trade Details, Comments, Reaction

Needing to upgrade their pitching staff this offseason, the Toronto Blue Jays reportedly struck a deal with the Oakland Athletics for veteran right-hander Jesse Chavez

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports first reported the deal, adding that the Athletics will receive Liam Hendriks in return. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle confirmed the trade. 

Chavez is actually returning to Toronto, as he played with the Blue Jays for a brief period in 2012 with an 8.44 ERA in nine games before being traded to Oakland. The 32-year-old made a career-high 26 starts last season, posting a 4.18 ERA with 136 strikeouts in 157 innings. 

Rosenthal also speculated that Chavez could serve a similar function as a player the Blue Jays acquired last year:

Marco Estrada parlayed that trade to Toronto into a two-year extension after posting a career-low 3.13 ERA in 181 innings, so Chavez certainly has a high standard to live up to for the Blue Jays. 

However, the big picture is also important. The Blue Jays face the strong possibility of losing David Price to free agency, Mark Buehrle is a free agent who has teased retirement and Drew Hutchison had a 5.57 ERA in 30 games last year. 

While Chavez isn’t the answer to all of Toronto’s pitching questions this offseason, he does give manager John Gibbons another arm to plug into the back of his starting rotation who can eat innings or possibly serve as a swingman out of the bullpen. 

 

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