Blue Jays acquire Carlos Villanueva

The Jays have just acquired Carlos Villanueva from the Milwaukee Brewers for a a player to be named later, in what is one of the more boring moves of the offseason, however one that could be very effective.

With the likely departure of Scott Downs, and the (thank-fucking-god) departure of Brian Tallet, the Jays were in desperate need for a long reliever and/or setup man; and depending on how Villanueva pitches next year he could very well fill either of those roles.

At first glance, Villanueva's numbers from last year don't look amazing. He finished the year with a 4.61 ERA and a 3.8BB/9. But he also managed a 11.8K/9 which is well above league average, and his defense independent stats show that the 4.61 ERA was greatly inflated last year. Basically what I'm saying is that this acquisition is a crap shoot. The guy obviously has strike-out ability, but his WHIP over the past few years coupled with his tendency to allow more fly balls than ground balls doesn't bode well in the Rogers Centre.

When it's all said and done, though, AA once again has acquired an asset for next to nothing. Villanueva could turn out to be a fucking steal, or he could turn out to be shit. But betting with house money makes it a win-win either way.