Joe Smith’s Going to Cleveland!

Here’s something that makes sense: Joe Smith is going to Cleveland.

Why does it make sense? Cleveland is in a go-for-it mode that’s not typical around those parts — think last year’s Andrew Miller trade, or last winter’s acquisition of some guy with a parrot — and, although he’s a rental reliever, Smith has been ridiculously good this season, and is cheap. He makes just $3 million this year, and in 35.2 innings over 38 appearances he’s struck out 51, walked 10, and allowed 30 hits. One blown save to 13 holds. His FIP, and xFIP, and SIERA have all been better than his ERA — good defence, Jays! — plus he e’s kept the ball in the ballpark, he’s had 19 shutdowns to 2 meltdowns, he’s 13th of 166 relievers in WPA, and in the top third by WPA/LI and RE24.

I wrote all of that last night, but it all holds true! (Not mentioned, his suddenly sparkling 12.5% swinging strike rate).

Plus, Smith pitched for Cleveland for years, so they know him well — albeit not the high strikeout monster he’s become this year — and I think there’s a decent chance that the Jays front office has some familiarity with Cleveland’s system, too.

And here we have it:

Smith is a better chip than Francisco Liriano, and that deal went really well! The return might not be as immediate, though. To wit:

Aaaaaand cue morons:

Of course the howls about giving Smith away have already started in my Twitter feed, which… jesus. If Nightengale is right — and I must admit, at the moment I’m writing this I’m kinda hoping that he’s seen Passan’s tweet and is freewheeling from there (it’s Nightengale after all) — this is the correct take (i.e. mine):

Buuuuuut as I go back to Twitter to paste that in, I see that Nightengale indeed looks correct, and that they’re names not a whole lot of people are going to be familiar with — even prospect watchers.

But “not well known” obviously doesn’t mean nothing. And as tough as it is for the fucking clowns of the world to trust this front office (or to, y’know, miss an opportunity to clownishly act like Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro are bumbling fucking dumbfucks screwing up transactions at every turn — or worse, in this case, trying to help their buddies in Cleveland), we probably should on this.

Not as exciting as the haul for Liriano, I don’t think. But certainly a lot better than letting Smith walk for nothing at the end of the season. And, y’know, let’s evaluate this one in a couple years. (Though… getting something for a pending free agent means it’s already a win, of course. I just mean, let’s not flip out about SCAWY NON-TOP THIWTY PWOSPECTS just because.)