Brad Lincoln
Four score in an inning-plus
In the middle of a night game in Seattle, Travis Snider’s Blue Jays career came to a close. Manager John Farrell motioned for him to come in to the dugout from his position in left field. After a few words with teammates and dapping up Brian Butterfield in the dugout, Lunch Box Hero disappeared down the tunnel for good.
As a fan, this moment had become inevitable. You hoped Snider would be a big part of the team’s future but things hadn’t gone the way everyone had wished and now, his departure was playing out live on TV. In a time before the explosion of social media and Aaron Ward being an idiot, news of the return trickled in on the broadcast. The trade is with Pittsburgh. For Brad Lincoln.
In this blast from the past with Mike Wilner, the trade was not received well by Jays fans. They had been under a wild assumption (aren’t they always) that Snider was going to bring back something substantial (Matt Garza?) in a swap. “A well-known major league player” was the expectation per Wilner; which Brad Lincoln was not, leaving fans with feelings of, as the Tao of Stieb put in this 2013 piece, “sadness and recriminations.”
If you were upset at the trade and later laughed and fumed at Yankees fans trying to acquire every superstar under the sun for Clint Frazier, you have to take it back. Snider was not going to return anything substantial. Yes, he had once been a top hitting prospect in all of baseball; but getting fucked around by Cito Gaston, inconsistent play, and getting fucked around more by Cito Gaston had derailed his career. Without any ability for Toronto to send him to the minors the following season, Snider’s roster spot was in peril leading up to the trade.
Either way, Lincoln was not being excitedly received by fans due to how it was he had become a Blue Jay. He had been drafted six years earlier in the same draft as Snider, going with the fourth overall pick to the Pirates (Snider went 14) and he had eventually found a home in Pittsburgh bullpen. The similar mix of pedigree and results earned him the moniker “Pittsburgh’s Travis Snider” after the deal by Kevin Goldstein and it was apt.
The bullpen is where Farrell indicated the Jays intended to keep using Lincoln. The Jays were pushing to acquire controllable arms in their bullpen and Lincoln was added the same day the Jays acquired future all-star reliever Steve Delabar for Marcus Thames. The Blue Jays used 31 different pitchers in 2013 and Lincoln, along with Delabar, were being added in an effort to provide the Jays some right-handed stability in the bullpen now and into the future.
Lincoln pitched in 24 games in 2013 for the Jays after the trade, posting a 5.85 ERA. That was inflamed largely by a September 22 outing in Tampa. Lincoln entered the game in the fifth inning and he was taken out two outs later, having given up six runs. Overall, Lincoln’s numbers had declined with Toronto. His strikeout rate per nine innings dropped over a full point after the trade, which never settled with anyone. Every time Lincoln entered a game, he was the guy we got for the loveable, once-promising Snider.
*Snider in Pittsburgh wasn’t setting the world ablaze either. He had a below league average .652 OPS in 145 plate appearances as a Pirate after the trade.
Entering 2013, the temperature on Lincoln was mid at best. He had a role to be determined and his spot on the depth chart was not guaranteed in the majors. Lincoln was viewed as someone who could play himself out of a roster spot. The Jays considered using him as a starter but after he failed to pitch out of the first inning in his first spring start, that idea was kiboshed and Lincoln would eventually start the year in Triple-A Buffalo.
He was recalled in late April, the first of three separate stints Lincoln had in Toronto that year. Lincoln would pitch well in Triple-A, having success as Buffalo’s closer at one point, but he failed to make much impact in any of his call up appearances. His major league season was highlighted by four scoreless innings against Texas in June but his numbers were again down across the board. He walked 22 in contrast to 25 strikeouts in 31.2 major league innings and the stuff just was not good enough. He was sent down to Buffalo on August 24 after giving up runs in three straight games.
The outlook for Lincoln to return in 2014 was not good. The team no longer had the ability to send him to the minors and he had hardly justified a spot on the major league roster. While the thought was Lincoln would be non-tendered and let go, Alex Anthopoulos was able to turn him into a trade return.
Lincoln went to Philly for right hander Rob Rasmussen (11 appearances for Toronto) and...Erik Kratz! It feels like Kratz had more than 81 at-bats as a Blue Jay but one of them was this home run, so that could be why. Lincoln pitched for the Phillies that season, his final in the majors. Today, we remember Brad Lincoln and as was sometimes unfairly the case for Lincoln during his Jays career, we mostly just remember the Travis Snider trade.