Late Innings

The Blue Jays and Padres made an interesting trade today:

The career of Matt Bush did not end with the Padres designating the righthander for assignment last week. Instead, the Blue Jays decided to give Bush a change of scenery Tuesday, acquiring the No. 1 overall pick in the 2004 draft for a player to be named.

The Blue Jays, coupled with payroll constraints and injuries, are hurt for pitching. Bush is an interesting flyer himself. The Padres back in 2004 signed Bush instead of players such as Jared Weaver and Stephen Drew, figuring that their signing bonuses would have gotten out of hand. Bush was drafted as a shortstop, however off the field issues got in the way. He was ultimately converted to a pitcher (since that was his natural position in high school) and then sat out all of 2008 recovering from surgery.

The Blue Jays need pitching, and I’m not sure where Bush will fit in. He’s years behind other top amateur starters (e.g. Brian Matusz, et al.), however the Jays grabbed him since he is a good talent. He could advance quickly, I’m not sure. Still, going by my count, this is the second top draft pick that they acquired. A few months back, they grabbed Bryan Bullington, the #1 overall pick in the 2002 draft. And if you consider the fact that they also signed Adam Loewen, who was drafted in the 2002 draft #4 as a pitcher, we can clearly start to see Toronto’s strategy of bringing in pitching talent (yes I know that Loewen is an OUTFIELDER.) They lost A.J. Burnett a few months back, and since the Yankees signed three Type A free agents this winter, the Jays won’t be getting the Yankees’ first round draft pick this summer.