Oakland A’s acquired outfield prospect Ramon Laureano from the Astros for a 23-year 6th round pick A-ball pitcher named Brandon Bailey who has some upside but is short and has had injury issues and projects to more of a reliever. Laureano is a guy who I think would have been a great buy-low opportunity for the Jays to help OF depth. While he struggled this year at the plate, seeing a huge spike in infield flys and ultimately posting an 87 wRC+ in AA. What makes him interesting is that he is a year removed from a .319/.428/.528 line with 15 homers and 43 steals, leading the entire minors in on-base percentage between A+ and AA plus a very impressive Arizona Fall league including an AFL player of the week award. His breakout happened in CAL league which is a notorious hitters league and that dampened the hype a bit. He was able to be even better at AA, cutting his K% while still hitting for power and running like a man on fire, ultimately posting a 184 wRC+ in 36 games and that's what caught my attention last year. He's a guy that Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs is on record saying he Laureano has 15+ HR potential at the majors, that along with great speed and an on-base heavy game (led the minors in OBP in 2016 among full-season players) thanks to patience and an all-fields approach (Longenhagen gave him a future 60 grade hit tool saying he makes lots of loud, all-fields contact) which should allow him to take advantage of his speed often. He was lost in the crowded Astros outfield plans and likely could have been had for cheap (needed to be on a 40 man roster this year, unfortunately) while having the upside of an average everyday player with ideal leadoff hitter qualities capable of playing all 3 OF positions. Would have been a decent gamble in my opinion.
