Miguel Olivo Was A Blue Jay For An Hour And A Half
by Jeff Sullivan on Nov 5, 2010 12:19 PM PDT
in Seattle Mariners Transactions
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PrintThis doesn't really have anything to do with the Mariners*, but in case you missed it, Miguel Olivo had a busy Thursday evening. The Rockies were running up against a midnight deadline to pick up or decline his 2011 option. Rather than sort it out for themselves, though, the Rockies traded Olivo to the Blue Jays at 10:14pm ET. That made Olivo Jays property until the Jays declined his option at 11:47pm ET, making him a free agent. Two teams, two countries, 93 minutes. And now he gets to sign wherever he wants.
The Rockies did it so they wouldn't have to pay Olivo's $500k buyout. The Blue Jays did it so they could get a draft pick for the Type B free agent. It's completely sensible for both teams, but also completely ridiculous for the player involved, who must've had a world of trouble trying to figure out what was happening to him.
O'Dowd: Hey, Miguel!
O'Dowd: Miguel Miguel Miguel
Olivo: hey
O'Dowd: Miguelllll
O'Dowd: So I've got someone I'd like you to talk to
O'Dowd: He'll be calling you in a minute, that ok?
Olivo: sure
Olivo: who
O'Dowd: Your new boss!
Olivo: what
O'Dowd: :hangs up:
Phone: :rings:
Olivo: hello
Anthopoulos: Hey Mr. Olivo, this is Alex Anthopoulos.
Olivo: alex an
Olivo: alex ag
Olivo: alex acropolis
Olivo: mr alex
Anthopoulos: I'm the general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays. I would like to personally welcome you aboard!
Olivo: oh ok
Anthopoulos: The Rockies have traded you to us. We have big plans for you.
Olivo: this is exciting for me
Anthopoulos: Our first big plan is that we have declined your option and you are a free agent now. Toodles!
Olivo: you know i don't like curveballs
* as a Mariners tie-in, it's sometimes easy to forget that Olivo spent a year in Seattle after coming over in the Freddy Garcia trade. Over that year, he batted .176 with a .218 OBP and 14 walks. That would be twice as many walks as he drew with the Royals in 2008. Additionally, with the Marlins in 2006, Olivo drew nine walks in 127 games, four of which were intentional. He also struck out 103 times. That strikeout-to-unintentional-walk ratio of 20.6 is the worst of all time, with Shawon Dunston's 13.5 from 1997 sitting in second place.
(It is also the worst K/BB ever even without subtracting the intentional walks.)
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I interviewed him during his rehab stint in Everett!
How high our hopes were for that short period of time.
"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett Mariners Minors
by JY on Nov 5, 2010 4:37 PM PDT up reply actions
This almost seems like collusion to me....
Or at least a way to play the system. I suppose it didn’t truly affect the player, so collusion is out the window. Still won’t MLB question this?
"Pine cones go in here, party liquors comes out here"
I thought this story was intriguing for the same reason
Alex Anthopoulos has, assuming things work out the way he planned, found a way to trade for a draft pick.
by JLC on Nov 5, 2010 1:59 PM PDT up reply actions
Except that it only works at the end of the season
They're not just hitting home runs. They're doing the little things, like hitting doubles.
Still, it seems like a loophole.
"Pine cones go in here, party liquors comes out here"
If you are saying that Anthopoulos cannot trade for a draft pick in the middle of the season, then yes, that is true.
But this trade is significant because draft picks cannot be traded for anything in MLB, period.
by JLC on Nov 5, 2010 3:18 PM PDT up reply actions
but they can be, essentially
by trading for any player that is due to be a free agent, you also get his potential draft picks if he signs somewhere else.
Brian Sabean: Greatest GM in the history of history
-------
PARPG- Indy post-apocalyptic roleplaying game totally stalled and basically dead at this point
Yes
But the probability of that occurring, at least to the Blue Jays, is remote. It’s clear that the purpose of trading for Olivo was solely for the possibility of the pick. The Jays have 4 catchers now including Olivo and they declined his relatively inexpensive option.
The interesting part is that Olivo was traded for cash considerations or a PTBNL. I’m curious if the quality of the PTBNL is contingent on whether or not the Jays get the supplemental pick.
by JLC on Nov 5, 2010 4:11 PM PDT up reply actions
I liked Miguel Olivo
Sure he was horrid and sure he never helped us, but that year we had him he was the best hitter on the team in the xbox baseball game I had.
Also, the trainers always said he was the strongest Mariner.
Why does it feel like Olivo played here a lot longer than ~1 year.
I feel like he was annoying for a lot longer than that.
I was thinking this too.
The Eric Byrnes post had me wondering which players were here for less than a year that we’ll never forget. Olivo is one of those guys too.
by Kenneth Arthur on Nov 5, 2010 1:28 PM PDT up reply actions
Greg Pirkl only played in 43 games, and he'll always be remembered.
Mark Whiten, Bucky Jacobsen, Glenallen Hill, Kevin Mitchell, Andy Benes, Griffey, Rich Aurilia, Josias Manzanillo, Wilson Valdez
=(
Ace of the future!
I hope Olivo accepts arbitration
In fact, I hope Buck does too. That would give the Blue Jays 4 catchers going into next season.
"Nice Goin' Jose. Forty homers, forty steals. But if I'd have known it was going to be such a damned big deal, I'd have done it three or four times." - Mickey Mantle toasting Jose Canseco
Roto Hardball / @michaelcbarr / Mariner Log
I'd take JP Arencibia
oh, man what a beautiful day that would be. We could finally make R Johnson a bat boy. Which, I guess would be ironic since he really can’t use a bat very well, but whatever.
"Nice Goin' Jose. Forty homers, forty steals. But if I'd have known it was going to be such a damned big deal, I'd have done it three or four times." - Mickey Mantle toasting Jose Canseco
Roto Hardball / @michaelcbarr / Mariner Log
This got me wondering
Who’s the definitive shitty-as-a-Mariner, awesome-somewhere-else player?
After looking at some of Olivo’s numbers, it’s probably not him – for some reason, I was thinking that his hitting was way more awesome than it actually is. Still, though, it’s an interesting question.
Carlos Guillen leaps to mind, although he wasn’t shitty so much as mediocre.
Griffey.
He was pretty darn good for the Reds all those years, but for some reason the Mariners had to go and get him for ’09 and ’10. Ugh.
He should have just stayed in Cincinnati and he could have retired saying he played for the same team his whole career. Would have been nice.
by Eyebrows on Nov 5, 2010 1:54 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Yeah, my brain just shut down trying to figure this out.
"Pine cones go in here, party liquors comes out here"
Joke I hope?
If it is, you suck at them. If it’s not, you are retarded.
by Patrick Stites on Nov 5, 2010 2:45 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions 1 recs
This is way past the no hostility rule.
Consider this a warning.
I apologize to Eyebrows and the LL community as a whole.
Temporary lapse in judgement, I’ll make sure to watch what I say from now on.
by Patrick Stites on Nov 5, 2010 11:49 PM PDT up reply actions
Maybe.
Lowe only played like half a season though. I was thinking more full-season guys. Ryan Franklin? Matt Thornton?
Jose Cruz Jr.
I as so pissed when he left, then he turned into nothing.
"Pine cones go in here, party liquors comes out here"
I looked up Cruz because of this.
2001: 4.0 oWAR, -2.2 dWAR.
2003: 1.5 oWAR, 3.8 dWAR.
What?
.
This got me wondering
Who’s the definitive shitty-as-a-Mariner, awesome-somewhere-else player?
by seattlebruin on Nov 5, 2010 3:52 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Jose Lopez
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
by Corco on Nov 5, 2010 3:41 PM PDT up reply actions 2 recs
Though he wasn't technically "awesome",
Jeff Cirillo was pretty darned good before the total suckfest he showed when he was here.
I like the AP report about this
Linked here
It doesn’t mention the Type B Free Agent / draft pick portion of this, so those who did not know that Olivo was a Type B Free Agent would be left wondering if Toronto is run by schizophrenics.
by Gihyou on Nov 5, 2010 2:24 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs
I wish I could forget Miguel Olivo as a Mariner.
When we got him I thought we had acquired a good defensive catcher with some pop. He turned out to be Rob Johnson long before there was a real Rob Johnson only with more passed balls. My lasting memory of Miguel Olivo is of him chasing balls to the backstop, much like my memory of Rob Johnson will be.
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