Morosi: Jays sign Justin Turner to 1-year deal

[glory]

I know they won't be as good defensively as IKF.. but his offence hurts my soul.

 

IKF career as a 3B according to Fangraphs: 2.6 WAR, 143 G, 559 PA, 85 wRC+

 

I think absolute best case scenario as a semi full time 3B, he's a 2 WAR player. I'd go with the under on that one as he will no doubt play other positions where he's not as good defensively, but I expect the bat to be around that. He seemed to change his approach last season to improve exit velocity so maybe they can squeeze a bit more juice of his bat hopefully, but I wouldn't want to count on that. I also don't expect Turner to play much 3B, if at all. I think we are all going to be praying that one of the prospects in AAA hits the crap out of the ball in ST and wins the job. Wishful thinking maybe, but that would salvage this off season a bit to me.

[Laika]

Josh Donaldson had a .115 BABIP in 2023. How is that even possible? Did he lose so much bat speed all he could do was make weak contact?

 

Bunch of that has to be bad luck. .115 is just not possible as a true talent BABIP, unless the player is a high school kid or small Japanese woman or something.

[Brownie19]

Unfortunately I have to agree with you. This team may be very versatile but it is in dire need of a bat. The idea that 4 of the bats will improve is an insult to the fan base. Right now I see this as an 83-87 win team.

 

Vlad, Springer, Kirk and Varsho all project to be significantly better offensively than they were last year. I don't think it's a stretch or an insult for the FO to expect at least 3, if not all 4 of them to be better offensively this year. Don't let recency bias take over man......

[Jimcanuck]

Bunch of that has to be bad luck. .115 is just not possible as a true talent BABIP, unless the player is a high school kid or small Japanese woman or something.

 

That is some s*** luck. Projections have him league average bat and defense. He's said 2024 will be his last season "no matter what".

 

Who do we prefer. Espinal or JD? JD retire a Blue Jay?

[The_DH]

Vlad, Springer, Kirk and Varsho all project to be significantly better offensively than they were last year. I don't think it's a stretch or an insult for the FO to expect at least 3, if not all 4 of them to be better offensively this year. Don't let recency bias take over man......

 

I'm not basing it on recency, rather I'm basing it on things like Vlad without somebody big batting behind him may not improve. Varsho while great defensively just doesn't seem to hit consistently, Springer may be breaking down and Kirk's build may get in the way of his production. The main thing is I don't thing Vlad can be the biggest hitter, he needs somebody else to lead. So without any changes, I'm expecting similar results to prior year. If we had the huge bat at DH that we all wanted I would have very high expectations for the year.

[Laika]

That is some s*** luck. Projections have him league average bat and defense. He's said 2024 will be his last season "no matter what".

 

Who do we prefer. Espinal or JD? JD retire a Blue Jay?

 

I believe Espinal and Biggio can both be optioned so there is this theoretical roster where someone like JD is the starting 3B out of spring, IKF is the bench infielder/LF, and Ernie Clement is on the bench because he is out of options, and both Biggio and Espinal are in AAA (lmao, eat s***).

 

But not sure if Biggio can be optioned. Seems weird. He might have enough service time to void his options.

[Terminator]

That is some s*** luck. Projections have him league average bat and defense. He's said 2024 will be his last season "no matter what".

 

Who do we prefer. Espinal or JD? JD retire a Blue Jay?

 

I believe Espinal and Biggio can both be optioned so there is this theoretical roster where someone like JD is the starting 3B out of spring, IKF is the bench infielder/LF, and Ernie Clement is on the bench because he is out of options, and both Biggio and Espinal are in AAA (lmao, eat s***).

 

But not sure if Biggio can be optioned. Seems weird. He might have enough service time to void his options.

 

I thought my JD dreams had died with the Turner signing but you guys are helping keep them alive. 15 homers in 80 games before his calves explode and then Turner and the slap hitting IKF can handle the other 80.

[Laika]

I thought my JD dreams had died with the Turner signing but you guys are helping keep them alive. 15 homers in 80 games before his calves explode and then Turner and the slap hitting IKF can handle the other 80.

 

Okay but in reality it's 100 games at third for IKF and maybe 40 for Turner (if we are lucky) then 22 for the lackeys.

 

They ain't paying IKF 2/$15 to be the utility man, lol.

[Brownie19]

I thought my JD dreams had died with the Turner signing but you guys are helping keep them alive. 15 homers in 80 games before his calves explode and then Turner and the slap hitting IKF can handle the other 80.

 

JD might be a spring training invite at this point. Tim Anderson could be too.

[Abomination]

Biggio can just f*** off too. Dude has been getting the STRONG SIDE PLATOON ADVANTAGE for most of his career and he hits like 7 dingers a season.

 

In his career, he has a 102 wRC+ vs lefties and a 106 wRC+ vs righties. I'm sure that would drop a bit if he was consistently facing the nasty lefties, but he's not as bad as people are making him out to be. He also has 41 home runs in 1200 PA. We're basically talking about a league average bat that plays roughly league average defense (if you keep him out of the outfield) and has 20hr pop.

[G-Snarls]

In his career, he has a 102 wRC+ vs lefties and a 106 wRC+ vs righties. I'm sure that would drop a bit if he was consistently facing the nasty lefties, but he's not as bad as people are making him out to be. He also has 41 home runs in 1200 PA. We're basically talking about a league average bat that plays roughly league average defense (if you keep him out of the outfield) and has 20hr pop.

 

Good player to have on the bench, play 2B/LF intermittently and fill in for 7-10 days if someone else is hurt. Nothing more, nothing less.

[Laika]

In his career, he has a 102 wRC+ vs lefties and a 106 wRC+ vs righties. I'm sure that would drop a bit if he was consistently facing the nasty lefties, but he's not as bad as people are making him out to be. He also has 41 home runs in 1200 PA. We're basically talking about a league average bat that plays roughly league average defense (if you keep him out of the outfield) and has 20hr pop.

 

Okay Mr. Biggio

 

why don't you tell your skinny ass kid to hit 20 homers before you tell me he has 20 HR pop???

[L54]

A WAR is a WAR

 

And Cavan and Isaiah are both projected for one of them

 

They both suck

[Jonn]

The Biggio hate here is wild. He’s literally a very good extra player. And paying IKF wss f***ing dumb.

[Jimcanuck]

The Biggio hate here is wild. He’s literally a very good extra player. And paying IKF wss f***ing dumb.

 

IKF basically is the Whit replacement

 

Barger is going to be Gruber reincarnated

[Omar]

The Biggio hate here is wild. He’s literally a very good extra player. And paying IKF wss f***ing dumb.

 

Terminator's self discipline here by refraining from commenting on Craig Biggio's son is a thing to behold. He can sit back now that Laika has taken up the Biggio hate banner.

[Terminator]

The thing I'd like to know about IKF is how did the Yankees playing him in the OF last year affect his WAR last year? And how does it affect his projections for this coming year?

 

IKF has hit exactly 82 wRC+ in 2021 and he put up 1.6 WAR. He hit exactly the same in 2023 while playing mostly the OF (where his bat doesn't play AT ALL) and he put up 0.2 WAR.

 

Does his 2024 projection think he's playing the OF again? It kind of seems like it as his Defense score is 0.5.

 

If you adjust his projection so he's playing mostly at 3B (where his defensive metrics are elite), some SS (where he gets a huge positional boost) and 2B (mix of both), his projection would be much better right?

 

2023 was a really funky year for him so it makes him look a lot worse than he is. I'm hoping he could put up a 2 WAR Maikel Garcia-like season this year.

[burlingtonbandit]

The IKF signing looked terrible at the time and looks even worse now. To blow that much of the budget on a utility infielder who can't hit (not to mention gave him a f***ing 2nd year) is a waste of resources.

 

Espinal at 2.7M is better value FFS, at least he can somewhat hit lefties. He was bad defensively last season but was really good the years prior.

 

When you combine what IKF and Chad Green are making (18M) I would much rather take a FA bat over them.

[Jonn]

IKF basically is the Whit replacement

 

Barger is going to be Gruber reincarnated

 

Whit could actually hit. IKF sucks a metric f*** ton of dick at the plate.

 

Barger is a wild card at this point to impact a Major League roster. He must first accomplish staying healthy. But he’s basically a higher ceiling Biggio, He can play all the Infield positions and corner OF spots,

[Jonn]

The IKF signing looked terrible at the time and looks even worse now. To blow that much of the budget on a utility infielder who can't hit (not to mention gave him a f***ing 2nd year) is a waste of resources.

 

Espinal at 2.7M is better value FFS, at least he can somewhat hit lefties. He was bad defensively last season but was really good the years prior.

 

When you combine what IKF and Chad Green are making (18M) I would much rather take a FA bat over them.

 

Don’t forget Yimi making 6m. Could have been the difference in giving Chapman a big one year deal to retest the market next year

[Jimcanuck]

Whit could actually hit. IKF sucks a metric f*** ton of dick at the plate.

 

Barger is a wild card at this point to impact a Major League roster. He must first accomplish staying healthy. But he’s basically a higher ceiling Biggio, He can play all the Infield positions and corner OF spots,

 

Whit and IKF have roughly the same offensive projections in 2024, and IKF is the far superior defender. IKF is 28, Whit is 35.

 

IKF >> Whit

[G-Snarls]

The thing I'd like to know about IKF is how did the Yankees playing him in the OF last year affect his WAR last year? And how does it affect his projections for this coming year?

 

IKF has hit exactly 82 wRC+ in 2021 and he put up 1.6 WAR. He hit exactly the same in 2023 while playing mostly the OF (where his bat doesn't play AT ALL) and he put up 0.2 WAR.

 

Does his 2024 projection think he's playing the OF again? It kind of seems like it as his Defense score is 0.5.

 

If you adjust his projection so he's playing mostly at 3B (where his defensive metrics are elite), some SS (where he gets a huge positional boost) and 2B (mix of both), his projection would be much better right?

 

2023 was a really funky year for him so it makes him look a lot worse than he is. I'm hoping he could put up a 2 WAR Maikel Garcia-like season this year.

 

I don't even care

 

He can pay good defense at 3B.

 

But we'll never use him in the OF and he won't hit. Not happy at all that we even signed him because I worry he'll get 400-500 PA's in the 8 spot and be a black hole.

[Jonn]

Whit and IKF have roughly the same offensive projections in 2024, and IKF is the far superior defender. IKF is 28, Whit is 35.

 

IKF >> Whit

 

This isn't even about Whit. I didn't want them to bring back Whit. I wanted a better player in general. IKF being better than Whit is irrelevant. Cause him playing 3B everyday and getting guaranteed money for 2 years sucks in general.

[jaysblue]

The IKF signing looked terrible at the time and looks even worse now. To blow that much of the budget on a utility infielder who can't hit (not to mention gave him a f***ing 2nd year) is a waste of resources.

 

Espinal at 2.7M is better value FFS, at least he can somewhat hit lefties. He was bad defensively last season but was really good the years prior.

 

When you combine what IKF and Chad Green are making (18M) I would much rather take a FA bat over them.

 

This.

[G-Snarls]

Whit could actually hit. IKF sucks a metric f*** ton of dick at the plate.

 

Barger is a wild card at this point to impact a Major League roster. He must first accomplish staying healthy. But he’s basically a higher ceiling Biggio, He can play all the Infield positions and corner OF spots,

 

Literally why I call him "Kiner-Fluffer"

[saskjayfan]

JD might be a spring training invite at this point. Tim Anderson could be too.

 

There's no reason not to sign JD on a minor leauge contract and see how he looks. He could be healthy after hardly playing. I think he's been in Dad mode the last few years and not particularly motivated. He want to play in Toronto. His wife is from Toronto. Happy wife, happy life. He might just have an .800+ OPS season left in the bat. No minor league deal is a bad deal.

[Spanky99]

This thread is Aids.

[saskjayfan]

Josh Donaldson had a .115 BABIP in 2023. How is that even possible? Did he lose so much bat speed all he could do was make weak contact?

 

modern day record for more than 100 PA and no his hard hit percentage was 51.3%, which is almost top 10th percentile. His xwoba was still .325 last year.

[Eat My Shatkins]

I get not being happy with the off season, and wanting better options than IKF and Turner brought in, but please tell me what the "better options" were exactly. You can't fault the Jays for not being able to conjure up better options out of thin air, and you certainly can't blame for not wanting to fork out massive contracts to players like Bellinger and Chapman who are clearly not worth what Boras is asking.

 

After missing Ohtani (who they were clearly never going to land, it was always going to be the Dodgers) I think the Jays have done about as good as you could hope for in an off season where the options were extremely limited. They still have a competitive team with a f***ton of depth, and they aren't saddled with even a single long term albatross contract going forward.

 

The whining is extremely tiresome, to be honest. Hopefully the Jays have a good year or this place will be hard to visit because the "I told you so" brigade will be out in full force.

[saskjayfan]

Turner makes this team better, but there were so many other choices. I think we're pretty much done now. Sad off season really.