General 2018 Blue Jays Discussion Thread

[Spanky99]

Jays to sign Axford to a minor league deal...

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/02/blue-jays-sign-john-axford.html

[TBJ12]

I'm from the same town as Axford. Hopefully he rebounds and sticks with the big club.

[Brownie19]

Still throws hard just didn’t throw any strikes last year.

 

um...he's never thrown any strikes. Career 4.55 BB/9 is f***ing awful.

[Jonn]

um...he's never thrown any strikes. Career 4.55 BB/9 is f***ing awful.

 

True. Can’t argue with that.

[saskjayfan]

um...he's never thrown any strikes. Career 4.55 BB/9 is f***ing awful.

 

he also has a career 3.63 FIP. He strikes out a lot of batters. If he can get his walk rate just a tick lower than his career average he could provide a few innings in the bullpen while giving killer weekly movie reviews.

[AledmysDiaz]

Why would he be able to get his walks lower at this stage of his career. Seems like a nothing signing to me except for he is from around here and probably asked the team if he can have a nothing $$ minor league deal

 

There is an extremely low probability that he makes the club and an even lower probability that he is any good.

 

Best case scenerio for him is that we end up with multiple injuries and he ends up pitching a few innings of replacement level baseball.

[bones10]

Why would he be able to get his walks lower at this stage of his career. Seems like a nothing signing to me except for he is from around here and probably asked the team if he can have a nothing $$ minor league deal

 

There is an extremely low probability that he makes the club and an even lower probability that he is any good.

 

Best case scenerio for him is that we end up with multiple injuries and he ends up pitching a few innings of replacement level baseball.

 

not that low of a chance making the club, the bullpen is dog s*** as is.

[G-Snarls]

I've always liked Axford for no really good reason.

 

It's the stache... And it's OK to like him for it

 

http://larrybrownsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/john-axford-mustache2-260x279.jpg

[Terminator]

The score told me the Jays want Cashner or someone else on a 1 year deal. I think Heyman originally tweeted it.

[Brownie19]

The score told me the Jays want Cashner or someone else on a 1 year deal. I think Heyman originally tweeted it.

 

I remember watching Cashner in 2015 and thinking how he looked dominant. He's been super underwhelming ever since.

[Ehjays]

Blue Jays Reportedly Interested In Andrew Cashner

By Steve Adams | February 9, 2018 at 10:45am CDT

The Blue Jays are showing “continued interest” in free-agent righty Andrew Cashner, tweets MLB.com’s Jon Morosi, though he’s one of several starters they’re eyeing. The Jays have a need for a fifth starter to round out their rotation, and Morosi suggests that they’re hoping to fill that vacancy on a one-year deal. It’s not a surprise to see the Jays (or any team, for that matter) preferring a one-year term on the free-agent market, but Cashner reportedly entered the offseason in hopes of securing a three-year pact.

It’s possible that the crawling pace of the offseason has lessened his demands to an extent, but there’s been no indication that Cashner is willing to jump on a one-year offer to date. The 31-year-old made 28 starts for the Rangers last season and posted a 3.40 ERA, albeit one that looks to be largely smoke and mirrors. Cashner’s 4.64 K/9 rate was the second-lowest in the Majors, and his 3.46 BB/9 rate was worse than the league average. Overall, his K%-BB% of just 3.1 percent was the worst of any qualified pitcher in baseball, leading fielding-independent metrics like xFIP (5.30) and SIERA (5.52) to paint an unflattering picture of his work.

The said, Cashner’s fastball averaged better than 93 mph, his 48.6 percent ground-ball rate was comfortably above the league average, and he demonstrated the home-run suppression skills he’s shown for much of his career despite a move to a hitter-friendly setting in Arlington (0.81 HR/9). Cashner did rely less on his four-seam fastball with the Ranges than he ever has in previous seasons, instead favoring more cutters/sinkers. Some clubs may believe that altering that pitch selection a bit could restore some his strikeout prowess.

The Blue Jays currently project to have Aaron Sanchez, Marcus Stroman, J.A. Happ and Marco Estrada in the top four spots of their rotation. Joe Biagini was their most frequent fifth starter in 2017, though he struggled in a move to the rotation after enjoying success as a reliever in his 2016 rookie season, when he was a Rule 5 pick. Prospect Ryan Borucki is close to big league ready and could conceivably step into the mix, though it stands to reason that the Jays would prefer to ease him into a big league job rather than throw him directly into the fire in the season’s first couple of weeks (without much of a veteran fallback option in place, should he struggle).

[Dick_Pole]

This doesn't make a lot of sense to me. The market efficiency this year looks like pitchers on shorter term contract. The Jays could use a guy for three years given the lack of commitments to anyone in the rotation. Why go after a guy like Cashner who was looking for three years and might have to settle for one when you could go after Lynn or Cobb who might have been looking for five years but might have to settle for three?

 

Aim higher first. Of course I could just be completely out of the loop on these things and the Jays' FO may have already exhausted their efforts for Lynn or Cobb by now thus the Cashner rumours.

[Terminator]

Bring Dickey home.

[z3r0s]

its really not that crazy. He won't command much and gives you innings every damn year.

I'd be totally open to it if other options dry up.

[Brownie19]

This doesn't make a lot of sense to me. The market efficiency this year looks like pitchers on shorter term contract. The Jays could use a guy for three years given the lack of commitments to anyone in the rotation. Why go after a guy like Cashner who was looking for three years and might have to settle for one when you could go after Lynn or Cobb who might have been looking for five years but might have to settle for three?

 

Aim higher first. Of course I could just be completely out of the loop on these things and the Jays' FO may have already exhausted their efforts for Lynn or Cobb by now thus the Cashner rumours.

 

I've been preaching this for awhile now. I trust they've done their due diligence. Cashner is pretty underwhelming though unless they think they can tweak his approach and turn back to the clock to 2015.

[Brownie19]

its really not that crazy. He won't command much and gives you innings every damn year.

I'd be totally open to it if other options dry up.

 

F that. Aim higher. You want someone who has the upside to net you something of value at the trade deadline. You're looking for someone who's good, but always hurt. You pray they hold together for the year. Jaime Garcia might fit the mold.

[AledmysDiaz]

Bring Dickey home.

 

Dickey + Thole >>>> Cashner

[glory]

Garcia or Vargas would make sense. Dickey would as well but dammit I don't want to see him pitch for the Jays again.

[G-Snarls]

Garcia or Vargas would make sense. Dickey would as well but dammit I don't want to see him pitch for the Jays again.

 

Same

 

Lynn, Cobb or bust

[glory]

Interesting that the Jays are either going for one year deals to older players (Estrada extension, Grandy, possibly the fifth starter) or trading for players with many years of pre-FA$ control left (Diaz, Solarte, Grichuk). No in between. They are also stacking up the AAA team with near ready prospects. This seems like the type of set up where the front office is bracing itself for a mid season sell off and don't want to commit to too many older players, while at the same time having cheap fill ins to take over positions in 2019, 2020, etc. They may not even want a free agent starter on a three year deal. Maybe the Morales deal has made them scared.

[G-Snarls]

Interesting that the Jays are either going for one year deals to older players (Estrada extension, Grandy, possibly the fifth starter) or trading for players with many years of pre-FA$ control left (Diaz, Solarte, Grichuk). No in between. They are also stacking up the AAA team with near ready prospects. This seems like the type of set up where the front office is bracing itself for a mid season sell off and don't want to commit to too many older players, while at the same time having cheap fill ins to take over positions in 2019, 2020, etc. They may not even want a free agent starter on a three year deal. Maybe the Morales deal has made them scared.

 

I think it's just being realistic

 

They're not trying to catch the Yankees

 

They're trying to field a better-than-500 team for 2018, a team with a (perhaps small) chance of competing for a wild card. They don't want to trade any top prospects because they know they'll be in good shape in 2-3 years if they keep them, and they don't want to hand out any bad contracts. So they're filling spots via smaller trades (Eg. Grichuck) and 1 year vetarean free agent deals (Eg. Granderson). It's a fairly "safe" plan I suppose.

[Bobthe4th]

I think it's just being realistic

 

They're not trying to catch the Yankees

 

They're trying to field a better-than-500 team for 2018, a team with a (perhaps small) chance of competing for a wild card. They don't want to trade any top prospects because they know they'll be in good shape in 2-3 years if they keep them, and they don't want to hand out any bad contracts. So they're filling spots via smaller trades (Eg. Grichuck) and 1 year vetarean free agent deals (Eg. Granderson). It's a fairly "safe" plan I suppose.

 

It also means that if everything goes wrong a rebuild can be done fairly easily without being too controversial, but also if everything goes right there’s capacity to upgrade the team without too much disruption.

[G-Snarls]

It also means that if everything goes wrong a rebuild can be done fairly easily without being too controversial, but also if everything goes right there’s capacity to upgrade the team without too much disruption.

 

Agreed

 

If you sign JD Martinez for 6 years 150M you're a lot less flexible that's for sure

 

Right now Tulo is our only really bad contract

 

Martin is still good at a critical position and Morales is only 2/26 left

[glory]

I think it's just being realistic

 

They're not trying to catch the Yankees

 

They're trying to field a better-than-500 team for 2018, a team with a (perhaps small) chance of competing for a wild card. They don't want to trade any top prospects because they know they'll be in good shape in 2-3 years if they keep them, and they don't want to hand out any bad contracts. So they're filling spots via smaller trades (Eg. Grichuck) and 1 year vetarean free agent deals (Eg. Granderson). It's a fairly "safe" plan I suppose.

 

I think it's a good plan, but they still need someone to throw innings in 2019 aside from Stroman (and I'm not assuming anything about Sanchez until he throws a full season after that blister issue). If there is some rotation option available at a depressed cost on a 2-3 year deal, it's still worth pursuing even if the team wants to avoid long term deals.

 

Of course, they could have pursued it and got shot down, so in that case a one year stop gap would make sense. Unless they can find a suitable trade, like for McHugh or someone like that.

[Abomination]

Agreed

 

If you sign JD Martinez for 6 years 150M you're a lot less flexible that's for sure

 

Right now Tulo is our only really bad contract

 

Martin is still good at a critical position and Morales is only 2/26 left

 

If Tulo bounces back to his predictions for next year (2.5 WAR assuming reasonable health), even his contract is probably break even.

[Bobthe4th]

If Tulo bounces back to his predictions for next year (2.5 WAR assuming reasonable health), even his contract is probably break even.

 

In a rebuild we’ll have tons of payroll space and can afford to carry Tulo. In a developing contender team he can provide veteran leadership to the young infield of Bichette and Gurriel. His contract reduces to $14m in 2020 too.

[G-Snarls]

If Tulo bounces back to his predictions for next year (2.5 WAR assuming reasonable health), even his contract is probably break even.

 

Am I foolish to think he might still have another 130-140 wRC+ season left in him???

[Captain Adama]

Am I foolish to think he might still have another 130-140 wRC+ season left in him???

 

Yes.

[Sammy225]

Am I foolish to think he might still have another 130-140 wRC+ season left in him???

 

http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/orca-yes.gif

[G-Snarls]

Yes.

 

Thank you

 

Lol

 

I'll happily accept 100 with above average defense