General Blue Jays Discussion Thread (2025)

[BB17]

32 minutes ago, Jays24 said:

Jays need to show some damn balls and move him to 2B.  You don't trade for Gimenez who has like 106M over 6 years left on his contract and let a much inferior defender play SS.  They had no problem moving Vlad off 3B so treat Bo the same way.  

Yeah if he struggles defensively it’s just going to get louder. Not sure any team that signs him in FA is going to play him at SS anyways so not sure why he would be so against it.

[Jays24]

5 minutes ago, BB17 said:

Yeah if he struggles defensively it’s just going to get louder. Not sure any team that signs him in FA is going to play him at SS anyways so not sure why he would be so against it.

Personally I wouldn't even give him an inning there unless we have injuries or scheduled days off.  The fact the Jays have never taken him off SS ever will probably make it hard to do during a contract year.  Hope an extension can be reached, which would make it much easier to do without the bad optics.  

[Spanky99]

10 hours ago, wilko said:

He might be a sneaky fantasy pickup!

No doubt.

 

[Spanky99]

1 hour ago, Vancouverite said:

You guys Mason Flubarty has a chance to crack the roster as a lefty arm?

Curious on opinions from the folks here that keep closer tabs on our prospects

Also what about Eric Pardhino? I see he had a really strong finish in AAA to close up the year and was lights out in AA. Any future left here with this kid? Seems like ages ago he joined the organization 

I doubt Mason cracks the lineup, but he's decent depth.

 

Quote

Scouting Report: Fluharty did not start a game in college and is locked into a relief role in pro ball. He mixes three pitches. Fluharty’s primary pitch is a nasty mid-80s sweeper with ride and on average a foot of sweep. He shows excellent command of the pitch and drives a high rate of swings-and-misses. Fluharty’s second pitch is a cutter at 89-91 mph that functions like a fastball. With good command of the pitch, he misses bats in and out of the zone. He throws a four-seam fastball that sits 90-92 mph, but it’s a clear third pitch. Fluharty is a funky relief prospect with good command of his arsenal.

The Future: Fluharty is a slider-first reliever who could handle middle-inning relief or situational usage.

Scouting Grades Fastball: 30 | Slider: 60 | Cutter: 50 | Control: 55

And as you mention Pardinho had a big dead cat bounce back season last year...

 

Quote

Scouting Report: After five years of injuries and inconsistent performance, Pardinho has found success as a power reliever in 2024. He mixes four different pitches in a fastball, slider, curveball and changeup. Pardinho’s fastball sits 93-95 mph and has been up to 98 mph this year, showing above-average ride and run from a low release height. His primary secondary is a mid-80s cut-slider that’s seen nearly one-to-one usage with his fastball. Pardinho’s changeup has been his best swing-and-miss pitch, getting his highest rates of swings, whiffs and chase swings. Pardinho also throws a curveball, but it’s rarely used. Overall, Pardinho shows fringe-average command of his arsenal.

The Future: Pardinho is a one-inning power reliever who could make his debut later in 2024.

Scouting Grades: Fastball: 55 | Slider: 50 | Changeup: 55 | Control: 45

 

[Spanky99]

1 hour ago, BB17 said:

Yeah if he struggles defensively it’s just going to get louder. Not sure any team that signs him in FA is going to play him at SS anyways so not sure why he would be so against it.

Is he against it, ST hasn't even started yet, lets see what happens? He's said in the past he'd move off the position if need be.

[Maahfaace]

Anyone else get the vibe from Ross' comments the other day that the vlad extension is not happening? Felt like save face comment from him.

[Laika]

Kirk looks a bit better 

[max silver]

13 hours ago, Jays24 said:

Personally I wouldn't even give him an inning there unless we have injuries or scheduled days off.  The fact the Jays have never taken him off SS ever will probably make it hard to do during a contract year.  Hope an extension can be reached, which would make it much easier to do without the bad optics.  

That would do nothing but serve to piss off Bichette and basically guarantee he's leaving in free agency. Bo isn't nearly that bad that he can't play a single inning at short stop. It isn't even guaranteed that swapping Giminez and Bo would offer a massive defensive improvement as Bo hasn't played a single inning at second base in his major league career and we don't know what kind of defense he can offer at the position. 

Up until now the team simply hasn't had a better full time short stop option on the roster instead of Bichette so there really wasn't a full time option that would make shifting Bo off of the position full time. Don't bother trying to mention Semien as an option because his short stop metrics were very poor before he signed as a Blue Jay, and were also far worse than Bichette's in the year that they were both employed by the team.

[max silver]

14 hours ago, Jays24 said:

Jays need to show some damn balls and move him to 2B.  You don't trade for Gimenez who has like 106M over 6 years left on his contract and let a much inferior defender play SS.  They had no problem moving Vlad off 3B so treat Bo the same way.  

Why do you hate Bo Bichette so much? When he's hitting up to his capabilities he's a top 5 overall short stop in all of MLB. Gimenez can move to short stop full time next season if Bo moves on, there doesn't need to be some sort of massive rush to do so.

[Brownie19]

Bo isn't a good defensive SS, but I'm not convinced Gimenez is going to be light years ahead of him.  If that were true, why didn't Cleveland play Gimenez at SS over Roserio?  Roserio's always been a worse defender at SS than Bo is.

[Laika]

It would be very bold to ask two players to change positions. Probably more trouble than it's worth for 2025. 

[max silver]

6 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

Bo isn't a good defensive SS, but I'm not convinced Gimenez is going to be light years ahead of him.  If that were true, why didn't Cleveland play Gimenez at SS over Roserio?  Roserio's always been a worse defender at SS than Bo is.

I believe Gimenez is likely a plus defender at short stop. He's produced a combined 7 DRS/8 OAA in about a half season's worth of innings at the position. It remains to be seen what type of numbers he can produce in a full season at the position, but I believe there's a very good chance we will find out in the 2026 season if Bo moves on.

[Jays24]

19 minutes ago, max silver said:

Why do you hate Bo Bichette so much? When he's hitting up to his capabilities he's a top 5 overall short stop in all of MLB. Gimenez can move to short stop full time next season if Bo moves on, there doesn't need to be some sort of massive rush to do so.

I actually love Bo as an offensive player even if his plate discipline can be hilarious at times.  I want that man re-signed and it sucks no one is talking about him potentially leaving in the offseason.  A year ago it was we must keep Bo and trade Vlad for whatever lol.  

My point was that we have committed long term to Gimenez whose main skill in his defense, so why would you not do your best to maximize what he does best and minimize what Bo does worst? It would be similar to the Jays putting Varsho in LF this year and using an average CF at best there, youre just not maximizing your teams defensive potential.

Spring Training is the perfect time to give that a look and if it doesn't work then you make the switch, we'll see what the plan is shortly.

[max silver]

3 minutes ago, Jays24 said:

I actually love Bo as an offensive player even if his plate discipline can be hilarious at times.  I want that man re-signed and it sucks no one is talking about him potentially leaving in the offseason.  A year ago it was we must keep Bo and trade Vlad for whatever lol.  

My point was that we have committed long term to Gimenez whose main skill in his defense, so why would you not do your best to maximize what he does best and minimize what Bo does worst? It would be similar to the Jays putting Varsho in LF this year and using an average CF at best there, youre just not maximizing your teams defensive potential.

Spring Training is the perfect time to give that a look and if it doesn't work then you make the switch, we'll see what the plan is shortly.

I simply don't see why the team needs to rush to make this switch. Bo produced above average OAA metrics. Gimenez is already one of the sport's most valuable defenders at second base so I don't think there needs to be some sort of rush to move him off of second base. He's so elite at second base that shifting him to short stop may be more of a sideways move in terms of overall defensive value.

[Jays24]

13 minutes ago, max silver said:

I simply don't see why the team needs to rush to make this switch. Bo produced above average OAA metrics. Gimenez is already one of the sport's most valuable defenders at second base so I don't think there needs to be some sort of rush to move him off of second base. He's so elite at second base that shifting him to short stop may be more of a sideways move in terms of overall defensive value.

We're all being told that Gimenez is the Varsho of the infield so I'm going off this notion here.  If he's that great defensively then making the switch shouldnt be an issue.  Varsho also didn't have many reps in CF as he was playing other spots with Arizona and even with the Jays but is now considered the one of the best defensive OFer in the game period 

SS is a much more important position defensively than 2B so that's why I'd want my best defender there. I'm probably going to get eaten alive for this on this board but the "eye test" just doesn't hold up for Bo being anything but an average SS at best defensively.  He reportedly got bigger this offseason so I truly question his range on top of other areas as a SS but we can agree to disagree.  

[L54]

If he hasn’t moved by now it’s not happening 

Seems silly to ask to players to flip flop and play positions they are unfamiliar with even if they’re pretty close in nature 

It’s not going to make a difference in 2025 

[Orgfiller]

2 hours ago, Laika said:

Kirk looks a bit better 

Kirk always looks better in ST. If he wasn't so short and stubby he would look a lot more athletic. In the vids of him working out in the offseason and stuff he always looks to be in decent shape, he's just not particularly fit for a professional athlete.

[BatFlip]

10 minutes ago, Orgfiller said:

Kirk always looks better in ST. If he wasn't so short and stubby he would look a lot more athletic. In the vids of him working out in the offseason and stuff he always looks to be in decent shape, he's just not particularly fit for a professional athlete.

Kirky looking svelte.... relatively speaking.

 

[Jays24]

3 hours ago, Laika said:

Kirk looks a bit better 

Now show him from the other angle to truly judge lol

[Terminator]

Still some decent relievers out there. Find out which ones live in Florida in the offseason and see if they want a job starting out in Dunedin for the next month and a half.
 

Someone like Chafin, Kimbrel, etc. 

[Jays24]

Bichette: 'Haven't had any talks' with Blue Jays about contract extension
https://thescore.com/mlb/news/3218330

What are we doing here?  After 2023, everyone wanted Bo back and wanted Vlad punted. 

Not enough is being made of the lack of traction on keeping Bo, he is massively important to this team. 

[Brownie19]

4 minutes ago, Jays24 said:

Bichette: 'Haven't had any talks' with Blue Jays about contract extension
https://thescore.com/mlb/news/3218330

What are we doing here?  

I suspect we're not resigning him?  Seems pretty obvious he doesn't want to stay here long term.  If we're good this year, we'll probably keep him and lose him for nothing like the Astros just lost Bregman. If we suck, he's traded at the deadline - hopefully after restoring his value.

[Jays24]

8 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

I suspect we're not resigning him?  Seems pretty obvious he doesn't want to stay here long term.  If we're good this year, we'll probably keep him and lose him for nothing like the Astros just lost Bregman. If we suck, he's traded at the deadline - hopefully after restoring his value.

That hurts to hear... hope it's not true.  His comments are making it seem it's the front office who hasn't even approach him.  

I don't want to put too much stock into Bo showing up for Toronto during a Sasaki pitch but part of me was hoping people were reading the situation wrong.  He rarely speaks so it's impossible to know where he truly stands. 

[BB17]

Bo probably wants to test FA, nothing wrong with that its his right.. 

For all we know the Jays have talked trades with other teams about him but if the offers are crap you may as well hold on to him. Not sure I'd want to sign him long term anways, I feel that skill set could age poorly since his swing his built on being so athletic. Once his bat speed slows down he could really fall off a cliff, not to mention the defense. 

[Omar]

I think Bo gets moved this season. The only thing to prevent that would be this team exceeding expectations which would mean hanging on to him for the playoff stretch. Either way the next seven months are the last we will see if him in a BJ uniform.  Too bad really, we expected so much. 

[L54]

I really don’t care if Bo is re signed or not. He is a player who lacks a true plus skill other than his bat to ball ones but that’s not enough to warrant some mega extension 

and he’s not signing long term without testing free agency unless it’s player friendly. Not point in it honestly 

Let the market dictate his worth. Maybe he ends up back in Toronto because everyone else values him similarly 

[Stangstag]

7 hours ago, Maahfaace said:

Anyone else get the vibe from Ross' comments the other day that the vlad extension is not happening? Felt like save face comment from him.

FWIW Davis Samson said the same on his podcast today. Says Vlad will go to free agency and realize no team is giving him 400m as an inconsistent, concerning body, 1B.

But also said the self-imposed deadline is bogus and if they Jays offer him a good deal mid-season he would still take it.

[G-Snarls]

1 hour ago, L54 said:

I really don’t care if Bo is re signed or not. He is a player who lacks a true plus skill other than his bat to ball ones but that’s not enough to warrant some mega extension 

and he’s not signing long term without testing free agency unless it’s player friendly. Not point in it honestly 

Let the market dictate his worth. Maybe he ends up back in Toronto because everyone else values him similarly 

Would any team give him a Lindor/Correa/Seager/Boegarts contract if he had a big bounce back year?  I can't see it because of his defensive reputation but timing/supply/demand may be in his favour to get something pretty decent. 

[Laika]

A bounce back year and Bo gets the Willy Adames deal easy 

[Jays24]

2 minutes ago, Laika said:

A bounce back year and Bo gets the Willy Adames deal easy 

Ya I think that's his ceiling tbh.  I'm sure most will see him as a 2B longterm and will give him a contract as such.