General 2018 Blue Jays Discussion Thread

[Terminator]

Dermody is an easy guy to take off. The only other options are Ngoepe because we will have Urena and Gurriel as the extended depth in AA/AAA. Or they can move one of Pompey or Dwight Smith Jr. they are both kind of redundant right now.

 

Dermody and then DSJ would be my choices.

[THANOS]

If we're not going to DFA him, Morales should be used strictly as a bench bat/PH.

[Spanky99]

We should DFA Morales and sign Neil Walker. Walker is a better hitter than Travis and a 2-3 WAR contributor. We can then use Travis at DH and have him share time at 2nd.

 

This would also mean having a decent asset to trade at the trade deadline. Morales is sunk Cost. If only for a few million more we can get a superior hitter who can contribute above average time in the field we should do it

 

That's a good idea. If we don't release him then Pearce should start at DH.

 

I totally agree.

 

First, I hate Morales.

 

Second, Gibby said yesterday (essentially) that Morales will not get as much playing time as last year, since there plan is to use the DH spot to rest position players, yet still keep their offense in play.

 

Third, FA prices will probably not continue to be this historically low. Jump now! On as many as we can! If eating Morales' salary is the penalty, it's still a great buy. In terms of WAR for bucks spent.

 

Fourth, I hate Morales.

 

In this climate, small market teams that have had a hard time attracting FAs historically should be starting to spend like drunken sailors.

 

You guys must be higher then me, smarten up.

[Spanky99]

If we're not going to DFA him, Morales should be used strictly as a bench bat/PH.

 

lol

[Spanky99]

You guys are playing a video game, stop it, and see the forest.

[Daniel Labude]

Wow has our offense been awful already in Spring. Old age not being kind imo lol

[Jonn]

The big problem with this offence is that outside of Donaldson and Martin nobody really gets on base. So if they aren't hitting homeruns they are going to struggle to score runs.

[Spanky99]

Wow has our offense been awful already in Spring. Old age not being kind imo lol

 

Mostly... say 70% or more have been kids... great observation...

[Spanky99]

The big problem with this offence is that outside of Donaldson and Martin nobody really gets on base. So if they aren't hitting homeruns they are going to struggle to score runs.

 

Yer dumn.

[jaysguy44]

We've signed RHP Tyler Clippard to a Minor League deal with an invite to Major League #SpringTraining.

 

Clippard owns a 3.11 ERA over 11 MLB seasons. https://t.co/tmXZJ3tozu

[burlingtonbandit]

Pretty damn good minor league deal. Gives up a lot of walks and homers but can strike guys out.

 

Jays bullpen looks pretty thin after the first few guys so should have a good shot to make the team.

[Jonn]

No such thing as a bad minor league deal but this one can be really nice even tho Clippard wasn't very good last year.

[LGBJ29]

No such thing as a bad minor league deal but this one can be really nice even tho Clippard wasn't very good last year.

 

He hasn't been very good the last 3 seasons amassing only 1.0 fWAR over that time. That being said, I like the no risk signing as well

[KingKat]

He hasn't been very good the last 3 seasons amassing only 1.0 fWAR over that time. That being said, I like the no risk signing as well

 

Interestingly his strikeout rates have remained consistent (and quite high) even when his overall performance hasn't. This fits the front office m.o. to a T. Always bet on K.

[LGBJ29]

Interestingly his strikeout rates have remained consistent (and quite high) even when his overall performance hasn't. This fits the front office m.o. to a T. Always bet on K.

 

Yeah if he can keep his K rate and get his BB /9 back to below 4 then he'll creep back closer to 1 WAR and be a useful piece

[jerb]

 

Travis MacKenzie

@TAMacKenzie

 

This #BlueJays pronunciation guide will come in handy.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DXxnlRRXUAMGwYF.jpg

[Deadpool]

 

Travis MacKenzie

@TAMacKenzie

 

This #BlueJays pronunciation guide will come in handy.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DXxnlRRXUAMGwYF.jpg

 

Somewhere, Buck is shedding a silent tear and drinking heavily...

[Bobthe4th]

 

The end of an era /s

[saskjayfan]

 

The end of an era /s

 

zeke has done everything you could ask out a 4th outfielder, and outperformed many other teams 4th outfielders. We just have so many outfielders and prospects knocking at the door in the outfield. Zeke truly does deserve to get an opportunity with another team. I hope he catches on somewhere.

[vdubmvp]

 

The end of an era /s

 

[TheHurl]

zeke has done everything you could ask out a 4th outfielder, and outperformed many other teams 4th outfielders. We just have so many outfielders and prospects knocking at the door in the outfield. Zeke truly does deserve to get an opportunity with another team. I hope he catches on somewhere.

 

He's 30 and has no options. Not a great combo for a part-time guy but he's been a top 100 OF each of the last two seasons and based on that alone he'll probably keep finding himself 25th man status on teams for the next couple years.

[Spanky99]

zeke has done everything you could ask out a 4th outfielder, and outperformed many other teams 4th outfielders. We just have so many outfielders and prospects knocking at the door in the outfield. Zeke truly does deserve to get an opportunity with another team. I hope he catches on somewhere.

 

Likely an NL team for sure.

[The Iceman]

Anyone else ready to cut Morales for Alford?

Makes the roster much better and more functional in my opinion.

The money being spent on Morales is already gone. No getting it back. I hope the Jays go with the best team rather than trying to save face on the KM contract.

[Abomination]

Anyone else ready to cut Morales for Alford?

Makes the roster much better and more functional in my opinion.

The money being spent on Morales is already gone. No getting it back. I hope the Jays go with the best team rather than trying to save face on the KM contract.

 

No, not yet. Alford has just over 300 PA above Dunedin. There's nothing wrong with giving him at least half a season more in the minors (and probably a full one). I would have been fine with cutting Morales and picking up Walker at 5M though.

[BTS]

Anyone else ready to cut Morales for Alford?

Makes the roster much better and more functional in my opinion.

The money being spent on Morales is already gone. No getting it back. I hope the Jays go with the best team rather than trying to save face on the KM contract.

 

I don't see why you don't give Morales a couple months. If he's a 110-120 wRC+ guy again, he's a fine DH and should be retained.

[Dr. Dinger]

Anyone else ready to cut Morales for Alford?

Makes the roster much better and more functional in my opinion.

The money being spent on Morales is already gone. No getting it back. I hope the Jays go with the best team rather than trying to save face on the KM contract.

 

At the very least the Jays needs to manipulate Alford's service time. Keep him down for the requisite two-ish weeks plus however much MLB service time he accrued last season, get the extra year of control. There's really no rush anyway at this point, the odds of him being the difference between the team being competitive or not are nil. Frankly I'd keep him in AAA most of the year unless he is absolutely demolishing it and we desperately need an OF.

[AledmysDiaz]

At the very least the Jays needs to manipulate Alford's service time. Keep him down for the requisite two-ish weeks plus however much MLB service time he accrued last season, get the extra year of control. There's really no rush anyway at this point, the odds of him being the difference between the team being competitive or not are nil. Frankly I'd keep him in AAA most of the year unless he is absolutely demolishing it and we desperately need an OF.

 

This is why Teoscar Hernandez will likely be the one that makes the roster in case of injuries. Right now its probably Granderson-Pillar-Grichuk-Pearce. If Pearce is hurt, then I think Hernandez opens the season with the Jays. This is great asset management. I also think they would like Alford to play everyday, while they would be okay with a limited playing time for Hernandez.

[Abomination]

At the very least the Jays needs to manipulate Alford's service time. Keep him down for the requisite two-ish weeks plus however much MLB service time he accrued last season, get the extra year of control. There's really no rush anyway at this point, the odds of him being the difference between the team being competitive or not are nil. Frankly I'd keep him in AAA most of the year unless he is absolutely demolishing it and we desperately need an OF.

 

He accrued MLB time while injured last year, didn't he? If so, that would have been about 1.5 months I think.

[glory]

I don't see why you don't give Morales a couple months. If he's a 110-120 wRC+ guy again, he's a fine DH and should be retained.

 

Yeah if the Jays were going to cut Morales, they would have done it a while ago, especially with so many bargain signings the past few months.

 

They liked him enough to sign him for three years to begin with, so we just have to hope he hits again.

[Ray]

I don't think they'll cut Morales unless they absolutely have to. Like if he's at a 80 OPS+ by June or something and shows no signs of getting better. This front office wants to maximize every dollar that they've spent on someone.

 

Also people on here tend to overstate how bad he actually was. The guy was worth -0.2 WAR. He's not Albert Pujols level of bad. Honestly if he was making $5M instead of $11M, I doubt people on here would even care. We have enough depth now that he doesn't even have to be one of our better hitters like we relied on him to be last year.

 

I say he bounces back. .265/.320/.460 with 30 homers. Still won't be worth much WAR since his baserunning sucks and zero defensive value, but I think he can give us a solid ~1 WAR season. And then maybe try to offload him to a rebuilding team eating some cash since there might be a roster crunch next year.