Rajai a Blue Jay??

Sounds like a good name for miss Germany

And he seemed like a genuine nice guy. But he’s a fourth OF and headed for a raise. The A’s already have two bench players making multi-millions (Jackson, E5). Plus, a RF upgrade would make Sweeney an ideal backup.

Might as well acquire a reasonable reliever with an awesome name. Add Magnuson to FDLS as rookie relievers who might make the pen next year.

Send that damn communist name-spelling where it belongs— Canada!

and I doubt the non-headline prospect is going to cure things. Magnuson looks like garbage roster filler to me.

Davis is bad as a starter, but he’s a good bench player.

I know nothing about him, but he’s a tiny pitcher with control problems. Sounds very Scutaro trade 2.0-esque.

First, I never have to watch Rajai bat again, which may have no WAR value, but it definitely makes the thoughts of watching A’s baseball more exciting to me as a fan.

Second, I find it impossible not to be happy that we now have Farquhar, who will forever be known to be as Lord Farquhar. He’s even a little guy, so it works even better.

Third, not having Rajai and having additional bullpen depth may encourage Beane to seriously address RF, and open up the possibility of using Bailey as bait. I was having nightmares of Beane/Geren deciding that Rajai as a possible solution to any inadequacies in our OF caused by the inevitable injuries to the likes of DeJesus, Sweeney, Coco, Jackson, etc.

Whatever his faults, Raj was a valuable player. 90 OPS+ with plus defense in CF and value on the base paths makes Raj worth more than we were paying him, even if he only is getting 350 ABs. I know you can never have too much pitching, but it seems like this was a money saving move for me.

that have been thrown around on this site in recent weeks have inflated people’s expectations for what we could get for some of our lesser players. Sorry guys, Rajai Davis was never going to be the centerpiece of a Matt Kemp deal.

The Marlins just traded Cameron Maybin for two relievers. Admittedly, those are MLB relievers, and nobody should be rejoicing about doing better in trades than the Marlins right now. But seriously, we’re talking about Rajai Davis. We got a couple of AA guys whose stats look pretty good to me (though I’ll admit I’m fuzzy on the bust rate for AA relievers). I think we did well enough for a guy who was completely expendable.

Same goes for people slamming the DeJesus trade. We gave up an A-ball pitcher who is about to turn 23, and Vin Mazzaro. Vin Mazzaro! I’m surprised we got anything for the guy, never mind an all-around quality outfielder who is a significant upgrade!

And finally, I really don’t understand the unbridled hate being showered on Conor Jackson. How about everyone wait and see how much he’s actually going to cost. He’s a quality player who has had some pretty amazingly terrible luck with his health the last couple of seasons. If I were going to pick one of Davis or Jackson to keep, I’d keep Jackson. Getting rid of Raj now is selling high. Dumping Jackson would be selling low.

I have absolutely no problem with the A’s holding onto Jackson for 2-3 million and seeing what he can do as a 4th outfielder/injury fill-in.

Toronto worked out on getting Scutaro a great pay day and some how made Fred Lewis look ok at the beginning of 2010. So maybe you’ll be somewhere in between the two.

Favorite Rajai moment was at spring training in 09, getting autographs.

A fan said, “Ra… Ra… um. Mister Davis. Can I get an autograph?”

He was apparently on of the hardest workers on the team, and seemed a good guy all round. Will miss Run Rajai Run – it was about the only exciting thing about our offense last season.

Hope he does well in Toronto; will get a cheer from me when he comes back next season to play us.

I don’t really like this. The relievers might be decent to good, but they’re relievers. I guess I like the not paying Arb part, but I just have a feeling we could have gotten more. This also means we’re relying on Sweekneey and to play the backup outfield position, when it’s not immediately clear he’s that healthy. But it’s minor enough to the point where I don’t hate it. Just not a fan.

BUT where Beane lost me on this one is in major league depth.

Who plays CF when Crisp gets hurt? Sweeney? Well he’ll be hurt before Crisp!

I am a fan of Rajay. I still will be a fan of his in Toronto. WHEN HE STARTED PLAYING REGULARLY IN 2009 we started winning , but, more importantly we were fun to watch.
I will miss him and I wish that someday we might keep "my favorite " player for more
than a season or two.

The more I think about this trade, the more I dislike it. Davis is a league average player who’s team/cost controlled for three more years, which has a lot of surplus value. They didn’t get equal talent back in the trade, they aren’t opening a spot for a prospect or a better player, and they didn’t save much money.

Davis is a league average offensive player. He has a career 103 wRC+, which was also his mark in 2010. That’s 3% better than a league average offensive player. His 2010 batting line was pretty much exactly as projected, and he should be able to repeat that going forward. He struggled defensively last year, but I would still project him as a league average defensive CF going forward given his great glovework prior to 2010. Overall, that makes him a league average player.

A league average position player is worth 2 WAR, and each win is worth about $3.5M—which means Rajai projects to be worth about $7M in 2011. He’ll get paid about $2.5M in arbitration, which means his contract has a surplus worth of $4.5M in 2011. Would you buy these two pitching prospects for $4.5M, the way the A’s bought Rosales and Fox last year? I wouldn’t. That’s essentially giving them both first round bonus money.

But Rajai isn’t just under contract for one year—he’s under team/cost control for three years. Given his consistent healthiness, Rajai projects to produce about 6 WAR over the 3 years he’s still under team control, which is worth about $21M. Let’s say he gets $2.5M in arbitration this year, $4.5M in 2012, and $7M in 2013. That would mean Rajai projects to be worth $21M and cost $14M over the next three years, giving him $7M of surplus value. That’s far more than I would pay for these relief prospects.

The A’s not only lose the trade on value, it also makes them worse on the field. Rajai’s playing time will go to Jackson, who is inferior with both the bat and glove. Worse, we know that Crisp/Sweeney/Jackson will miss time with injury, meaning someone from AAA will get a lot of playing time.

It’s always nice to have bullpen depth, but neither of the prospects projects to be worth pitching in high leverage situations. One has a very mediocre K rate for AA, while the other has a poor walk rate.

It’s not an awful trade, because Davis isn’t good enough to make them really regret it. But it’s a step back after the two steps forward they took with the DeJesus and (hopefully) Iwakuma acquisitions.