Blue Jays Sign Jose Bautista

[FrozenRopes]

 

Surprising to see Stro break the news officially.

[West Texas Forever]

Glad to have Jose back, he will hit 35HR and 110 RBI's this year.

[HERPDERP]

Must be a done deal

 

Bautista prob texted all his teammates

 

Bautista to Edwin "im resigning with to. can i have ur parrot"

[Dr. Dinger]

Should be 90%:

 

Morales DH

Pearce RF

Bautista 1B

 

Pearce at 1B if Bautista needs days off from playing in the field

 

Put me down for DH Morales, LF Bautista, 1B Pearce, RF Moss/Upton/Bruce. Or possibly Morales at 1B and Bautista DH, depending on how they're performing defensively and how Bautista's arm is looking.

[jerb]

 

Jeff Passan Verified account 

‏@JeffPassan

Jose Bautista is in the Dominican Republic now, and his deal with the Blue Jays seems all but a certainty. Things are in finishing stages.

[Governator]

I'm glad this is getting done, could you imagine if he waited until June and signed with the Red Sox?

[JaysAllMighty]

Happy to have him, he's a bomb threat at every at bat. Our chances to make the playoffs just got so much better imo.

[Gary]

So Shartkins misread the market on EE, but played it perfectly with Jose. Considering we got Morales to replace EE, I'd say it was overall well-played by Shartkins.

 

Now the just need to address the bullpen...

[jays4life19]

If it is 2 years 36 million with a vesting option i much prefer that over 3 years 60 million with a 5 million buy out for Edwin.

 

Well played Jays.

[BigCecil]

I'm glad this is getting done, could you imagine if he waited until June and signed with the Red Sox?

 

This is the right move the way this off season has played out. 2015 was a 4.5 WAR season for Jose. I can see him having a 3+ WAR year. I was ready to see the guy walk, even thought I've been a big Jose fan. But his show was tired even for me. At this point though I'll be very glad to see him back, and that stick in the order.

[Gary]

Reports are 2 years and $37 million.

[Frenchsoup]

What show have you been watching? All I've seen is the media slur his name, really unfair imo.

[TholesWeirdEye]

[fatcowxlive]

You still consider it a weak offseason if this is true?

- Bautista on a 2-year deal that's apparently lower than anyone would have expected entering the offseason

- Pearce on a very cheap 2-year deal

- Gurriel on a cheap 7-year deal

- Morales on maybe a 1-year overcommitment

 

Still two months to add a backup catcher and a pen arm or two. I think that 90+% of the forum would have approved if asked on November 1st if they'd be happy with these moves as of January 16th.

 

Personally, I think so far it's been kinda weak

 

HOWEVER, Shapiro did go on the air saying then next 5 weeks are going to be busy for us. People are acting like the offseason is done next week

[RealAccountant]

IMO Bautista is a better hitter than Edwin and will out perform Edwin with the bat for the next three years. People might think this is crazy but they just don't understand how good this guy's eye really is.

 

They could both have big years to come, but its just my opinion. Edwin has all the makings of a power hitter who will struggle big time due to loss of bat speed, where as Bautista's has a great eye at the plate,

 

f*** we could have kept Edwin too.

[Governator]

Personally, I think so far it's been kinda weak

 

HOWEVER, Shapiro did go on the air saying then next 5 weeks are going to be busy for us. People are acting like the offseason is done next week

 

 

The only thing I've been disappointed about this offseason was missing out on Fowler but it sounds like they gave him a solid offer.

[RealAccountant]

To make the offseason a good one we need a platoon LF (there are so many cheap options) and a lefty reliever. With those two additions I would be comfortable with saying that we will be in talks to be a playoffs team. Lot of variables, but we will have an exciting year either making the wild card, or competing and coming close to one. You never know what can happen. If both Sanchez and Stroman take a step forward at the same time we can win the division too,.

[Orgfiller]

Personally, I think so far it's been kinda weak

 

HOWEVER, Shapiro did go on the air saying then next 5 weeks are going to be busy for us. People are acting like the offseason is done next week

 

What would you have done differently? The team made what ultimately ended up being Edwin's highest offer, maybe they could have waited for longer and then they might've had a chance, but no one could have predicted what happened and maybe we would have neither EE nor Morales. You can't force Fowler or Reddick to sign here, and for their price with a pick attached it might be for the best not to have them. Chapman or Kenley? Lol at that being a possibility. Beltran came at a hefty price IMO, Holliday was better but we don't know how much he would've wanted to play here, if he even considered Toronto an option.

 

So yeah, what exactly could the front office have done differently to have made this offseason stronger?

[fatcowxlive]

The only thing I've been disappointed about this offseason was missing out on Fowler but it sounds like they gave him a solid offer.

 

What I mean by weak isn't to criticize what they did or didn't do, I'm just speaking in general. Lots of holes still remain, and it will be hard to fill but it's not really their fault, the team they inherited is old with a meh farm and this is quite possibly one of the worst FA classes in the last few years. The next few weeks are gonna be really interesting

[fatcowxlive]

What would you have done differently? The team made what ultimately ended up being Edwin's highest offer, maybe they could have waited for longer and then they might've had a chance, but no one could have predicted what happened and maybe we would have neither EE nor Morales. You can't force Fowler or Reddick to sign here, and for their price with a pick attached it might be for the best not to have them. Chapman or Kenley? Lol at that being a possibility. Beltran came at a hefty price IMO, Holliday was better but we don't know how much he would've wanted to play here, if he even considered Toronto an option.

 

So yeah, what exactly could the front office have done differently to have made this offseason stronger?

 

I clarified my stance above. I agree about everything they did and I'm not blaming them, they were in a tough spot

[BlueJayWay]

This would be the best scenario

 

[BlueJayWay]

Passan has indicated that Bautista turned down more money/years from other teams, and really wants to be back in Toronto.

[Rusty_Savage]

Passan has indicated that Bautista turned down more money/years from other teams, and really wants to be back in Toronto.

 

That's good to hear. I like the rumoured deal. 2/37 is pretty good

[Orgfiller]

I clarified my stance above. I agree about everything they did and I'm not blaming them, they were in a tough spot

 

That's fine, but then how can you say it's been weak when factoring the context of the team's position entering the offseason? It's not like they've been idle and it appears as though they are aware of the holes, but there's only so much you can do. Say you trade Estrada for Dyson, then we're left with a hole in the rotation; spend a lot of prospect capital on acquiring older and expiring vets and we're back at square one. Sure it might be weak if you expected another Donaldson-esque fleecing, but that's not very realistic. Can you elaborate on why you believe it's been a weak offseason if you agree with their moves to date?

[Gary]

Passan has indicated that Bautista turned down more money/years from other teams, and really wants to be back in Toronto.

 

That's great to hear. Too bad EE didn't feel the same.

[RealAccountant]

If its 1 year Plus team option, then this is even better.

[Nafro]

This would be the best scenario

 

 

This is absolutely the best scenario. Any transaction that make's our team better, and make's the Accountant cry, I am 100 percent for.

[intentional wok]

Curious if anyone is interested in picking up an affordable Saunders deal in addition?

 

I think, if there are still deals to be made, that the FO is still looking for an OF. I think we can all agree that the OF is still too rickety, even with Bautista. I also think the FO is wary of putting too much weight on a recovering Pearce by sticking him in the OF. As much as I'd like Valbuena, 1B is adequately covered while one corner OF spot is still running with a low-WAR platoon.

[BTS]

Curious if anyone is interested in picking up an affordable Saunders deal in addition?

 

I think, if there are still deals to be made, that the FO is still looking for an OF. I think we can all agree that the OF is still too rickety, even with Bautista. I also think the FO is wary of putting too much weight on a recovering Pearce by sticking him in the OF. As much as I'd like Valbuena, 1B is adequately covered while one corner OF spot is still running with a low-WAR platoon.

 

I'd prefer Valbuena (for 1B and Pearce to OF), Pagan, or Moss.

[Laika]

Curious if anyone is interested in picking up an affordable Saunders deal in addition?

 

I think, if there are still deals to be made, that the FO is still looking for an OF. I think we can all agree that the OF is still too rickety, even with Bautista. I also think the FO is wary of putting too much weight on a recovering Pearce by sticking him in the OF. As much as I'd like Valbuena, 1B is adequately covered while one corner OF spot is still running with a low-WAR platoon.

 

Absolutely!

 

A Zeke/Upton platoon is f***ing disgusting. Ezequiel Carrera is a replacement level player and Upton is not much better. Jettison Zeke wherever, start with Saunders-Pillar-Bautista-Upton, Pompey waiting for a chance.

 

Pearce would probably still get 50 games in the OF.

 

Saunders works for me for like, $8M or whatever. But, there are a handful of other players that work.