Offseason Roster Thread 2025-26

[glory]

Barring a Bieber extension, the Jays 2027 rotation right now is Yesavage and Jose Berrios in the Tanner Roark phase of his career. They should still probably add one of the FA SP’s, or trade for a SP with team control. 

[Spanky__99]

1 hour ago, jmomcc said:

The athletic has contract projections out. 
 

- Bichette 8/212

- Bieber 3/63 

- Bassitt 2/46 

- Seranthony 2/17

- Max 1/14

 

I'd take that contract for Bo in a minute, Bassitt, Seranthony and Max are far too high.

[hanton]

1 hour ago, Olerud363.354 said:

Yes to SHUT DOWN CLOSER.  Whether somone new or getting Hoffman back to 2024 form (if that is possible).  Ideally want a closer with below .300 slugging against.

Mistake to get married to any philosophy.  LA didn't have extreme low whiff philosophy and beat us with solo homers in 3 of their 4 wins. 

Anthony Santander is younger than Nathan Lukes by 3 months (hard to believe).   They are close to the same fWAR/162 but Santander can do it without a platoon mate.  Healthy Santander could provide for one Roster spot what a Lukes / Platoon Partner does for 2.  We are already owe Satander the money. 

Do you guys think Santander is permanently broken?   If he could get back to 2023 level need to play him and probably trade Lukes.  If he is broken beyond repair then keep Lukes,.  

Dodgers hitting philosophy

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/robert-van-scoyoc-talks-hitting/

You can bet Popkins (ex Dodger) brought in some new ideas, consistency is key.  Call it what you want

[Eat My Shatkins]

Does Nimmala, Tiedemann, King get you Skubal?

[ComeTogether]

5 minutes ago, glory said:

Barring a Bieber extension, the Jays 2027 rotation right now is Yesavage and Jose Berrios in the Tanner Roark phase of his career. They should still probably add one of the FA SP’s, or trade for a SP with team control. 

 

 

[Jonn]

5 minutes ago, Eat My Shatkins said:

Does Nimmala, Tiedemann, King get you Skubal?

They do not. Nimmala value took a massive hit.

[hanton]

Just now, Jonn said:

They do not. Nimmala value took a massive hit.

and could get worse if his performance dips furth in AA.  Sell high, he's still #42 on BA's top 100

[John_Havok]

5 minutes ago, Jonn said:

They do not. Nimmala value took a massive hit.

I don't think that's true at all about Nimmala. 

Did it rise? Probably not, but not a massive hit either. More of a treading water scenario.

[Spanky__99]

10 minutes ago, Jonn said:

They do not. Nimmala value took a massive hit.

We'll see about massive hit, but he's jumped this past season overall, so in saying that, it's kind of a stretch.

[Spanky__99]

5 minutes ago, John_Havok said:

I don't think that's true at all about Nimmala. 

Did it rise? Probably not, but not a massive hit either. More of a treading water scenario.

Yeah, that's worded wrong. 

[Jonn]

7 minutes ago, John_Havok said:

I don't think that's true at all about Nimmala. 

Did it rise? Probably not, but not a massive hit either. More of a treading water scenario.

Well he's likely going to repeat A Ball and has fallen on a lot of prospect charts. But sure he can rebound and get himself to New Hampshire by mid Season with a strong start.

[jmomcc]

1 hour ago, Spanky__99 said:

I'd take that contract for Bo in a minute, Bassitt, Seranthony and Max are far too high.

They are based on historical comps mostly. My feeling is that bassitt could probably get 2/40 but the others are not realistic. 

[jmomcc]

That Bieber news gives them a lot of comfort to figure out what they want to do vis a vis a 5th starter. 

Maybe take a chance on someone like Woodruff? Or mostly stand pat (bring back bassitt maybe) and plan to make a big trade at the deadline. 

[Spanky__99]

18 minutes ago, jmomcc said:

They are based on historical comps mostly. My feeling is that bassitt could probably get 2/40 but the others are not realistic. 

Bieber >>> Bassitt that's too high for a 37 year old junk-baller, I'm even okay with him signing but I'd rather your suggestion of Woodruff over Bassitt at the moment. Jays saved a lot of money with Shane opting in. 1/25 for Woodruff, lets go.

[Spanky__99]

BA's write up of Mr. Woodruff...

 

6. Brandon Woodruff, RHP

Projected Contract: 1 Year, $27.5M

If we could successfully petition the baseball gods to turn injuries off, Woodruff would be at the very top of this list. Since he became a full-time starter in 2019, Woodruff’s 2.96 ERA is the fifth-best among starting pitchers in baseball. He’s 11th by FIP, 15th by xFIP and 10th by SIERA. No matter how you slice it, when Woodruff has been on the mound, he’s been one of the very best starters in the league.

However, Woodruff has never thrown 180 innings in a season and really struggled to stay healthy this year after missing all of 2024 with a shoulder injury. Tyler Glasnow had never thrown more than 120 innings in a season, yet the Dodgers gave him five years and $136 million. Woodruff may want to bet on himself and sign a one-year deal in hopes he can pull a Blake Snell and come out on the other side with a huge contract.

[jmomcc]

35 minutes ago, Spanky__99 said:

Bieber >>> Bassitt that's too high for a 37 year old junk-baller, I'm even okay with him signing but I'd rather your suggestion of Woodruff over Bassitt at the moment. Jays saved a lot of money with Shane opting in. 1/25 for Woodruff, lets go.

I think the bieber one was based basically entirely on him just being back from TJ and i would assume have options in there. 

Bassitt is a real innings eater who just doesn't get iniured which does have value. 5 years in a row of at least 150 innings. 

We kind of have that with gausman or berrios but i could see another team wanting that. 

[Eat My Shatkins]

The only starters under control for 2027 are Berrios and Yesavage.

Have to think the Jays will be gunning hard for one of Cease/Saurez/Valdez.

[Spanky__99]

5 hours ago, Jonn said:

Well he's likely going to repeat A Ball and has fallen on a lot of prospect charts. But sure he can rebound and get himself to New Hampshire by mid Season with a strong start.

What prospect charts has he fallen from? FG's EOS Top 100 had him at 37 moving up 4 spots from 41 on the pre-deadline listing, that was updated under a week ago. Baseball America had him at 99 preseason and at 42 on August 13th EOS Top 100. This doesn't compute, dude.

[Olerud363.354]

6 hours ago, hanton said:

You can bet Popkins (ex Dodger) brought in some new ideas, consistency is key.  Call it what you want

Dodgers strike out way more than the Jays and employ Teoscar Hernandez.    If it came down to a healthy Lukes vs a healthy Santander Dodgers wouldn't make the decision based on any philosophy just on maximizing wins.

Just don't want to see the Jays get to attached to the 'contact first' philosophy at the expense of making poor roster decisions.    Santander is already signed for 5 years, and if he can provide 2 or 3 WAR for a couple more years need to take advantage of that.   I could also see him being done.  Lot of injuries.  Just want the team to make the Santander/Lukes decision on health, not get married to Lukes because he is a contact hitter. 

[jaysblue]

Is Woodruff expected to miss the start of 2026?

If I signed Woodruff, would hold him back in the first half and get him built up starting in June. You want him healthy for the Postseason. If you could get 15-20 starts out of Woodruff during the regular season + 4-5 starts in the Postseason, would take that.  

Don't care about him making starts in April or May if I'm a team. Can fill the void with other junk ballers.

Look at what the Dodgers did: guys like Glasnow (18 starts), Snell (11 starts) and Ohtani (14 starts) weren't exhausted and burnt out during the regular season. Yes some guys were on the IL early and they were working Ohtani back slowly, but these guys were all back to full strength when it mattered - down the stretch and in October. As we saw, you don't need these guys making 30+ starts each during the regular season. The goal is to have them healthy and fresh for the Postseason. 

 

 

[jaysblue]

7 hours ago, Spanky__99 said:

I already posted my apology above, bub. 

It doesn't make you any less a gluebag huffer... when YOU think he'd accepted that do to performance.

Never really chimed in on the topic. 

Sure there was a chance he could have accepted based on his performance and based on his experience in Toronto. He probably figures Toronto's staff can keep him healthy over a full season, which results in a bigger payday after the 2026 season. Plus with Toronto's defense behind him, definitely helps. Also, he did leave some money on the table by opting in. Sure he could have got $20+ AAV on a short term deal with player options attached. 

[jaysblue]

6 hours ago, Spanky__99 said:

It's better than league average?

It's nothing special. When I rave about someone's OBP skills especially someone with no power, I think of a guy at least with a .360-.370 OBP and high BB%. 

Any regression from Lukes results in a lower OBP and his low BB% is concerning. 

[jaysblue]

9 hours ago, Eat My Shatkins said:

Why not just keep Lukes for the bench and knock his PA's down from 400+ to 200+ ?

Assuming everyone else is healthy anyways.

He's cheap, still has an option and obviously is a positive in the room.

Nothing wrong with that at all. That's his best role. I've stated that numerous times, even throughout the season. 

If an injury happens, you can start/platoon him with someone for a couple weeks and won't hurt. I don't want to see Lukes getting 500 PA's however. 

 

[jmomcc]

16 minutes ago, jaysblue said:

Is Woodruff expected to miss the start of 2026?

If I signed Woodruff, would hold him back in the first half and get him built up starting in June. You want him healthy for the Postseason. If you could get 15-20 starts out of Woodruff during the regular season + 4-5 starts in the Postseason, would take that.  

Don't care about him making starts in April or May if I'm a team. Can fill the void with other junk ballers.

Look at what the Dodgers did: guys like Glasnow (18 starts), Snell (11 starts) and Ohtani (14 starts) weren't exhausted and burnt out during the regular season. Yes some guys were on the IL early and they were working Ohtani back slowly, but these guys were all back to full strength when it mattered - down the stretch and in October. As we saw, you don't need these guys making 30+ starts each during the regular season. The goal is to have them healthy and fresh for the Postseason. 

 

 

He has a lat strain and would prob be back start of season. 

His velo was down last year though which is a concern. 

[jaysblue]

3 hours ago, Eat My Shatkins said:

The only starters under control for 2027 are Berrios and Yesavage.

Have to think the Jays will be gunning hard for one of Cease/Saurez/Valdez.

Cease would be a nice guy to keep around post-2026. Walker and company could probably work their magic and unlock some untapped potential. Would be sweet if he returned to being a 4-5 WAR arm consistently. 

Suarez is interesting since he's a lefty and still 29, but not sure if he can be a consistent 4+ WAR pitcher moving forward or revert to being a 2-3 WAR guy. I remember a lot of prominent board members before weren't huge fans of him a couple years ago. ]

Framber is a workhorse, but seems like an *******. Jays FO would know more. Plus, he's already 31 and has a ton of mileage on that arm. 

A lefty for the rotation would be nice. Can dream Skubal haha. We've also seen Atkins always bringing back former players, and wonder if the Angels would trade Kikuchi. 

 

[Spanky__99]

29 minutes ago, jaysblue said:

It's nothing special. When I rave about someone's OBP skills especially someone with no power, I think of a guy at least with a .360-.370 OBP and high BB%. 

Any regression from Lukes results in a lower OBP and his low BB% is concerning. 

His BB% is also better than league average? He's going to be our 4th OF'er meathead, it's the reason why his name was brought up in a possible trade for a reliever or prospect or something... he has value and is cheap, this isn't hard?

[Spanky__99]

58 minutes ago, jaysblue said:

Never really chimed in on the topic. 

Sure there was a chance he could have accepted based on his performance and based on his experience in Toronto. He probably figures Toronto's staff can keep him healthy over a full season, which results in a bigger payday after the 2026 season. Plus with Toronto's defense behind him, definitely helps. Also, he did leave some money on the table by opting in. Sure he could have got $20+ AAV on a short term deal with player options attached. 

Okay...

 

Quote

or maybe Bieber accepts his player option after not looking that extremely dominant during the regular and Postseason, which I would be okay with. 

Stupid take... he did that for the org, dumn-dumn. *which I would be okay with* lmao

[Perfect Game]

9 hours ago, Eat My Shatkins said:

Does Nimmala, Tiedemann, King get you Skubal?

Probably not with the Dodgers, NYY & Red Sox competing for him too. Seems like a lot to give up for a year given that Boras will make sure he tests the market. I'd rather they add to that, a lot I know, but make a run at trading for Skenes.

[John_Havok]

2 hours ago, jaysblue said:

Nothing wrong with that at all. That's his best role. I've stated that numerous times, even throughout the season. 

If an injury happens, you can start/platoon him with someone for a couple weeks and won't hurt. I don't want to see Lukes getting 500 PA's however. 

 

I'm in that camp too, though I think 200ish might be too low. He's more than a Miles Straw late inning defensive replacement on a team. The problem is... the LHH/Switch heavy nature of the OF and DH spots on the Jays make his spot precarious. 

The trouble (or non-issues depending on perspective) is Springer and Santander will be covering 1 corner OF spot and the DH spot. So, That means Barger likely plays the other corner OF spot most days against RHP and having a LH Lukes as an alternative to 2 LHH OF, a switch hitter and Springer... that makes him functionally useless off the bench, except as a pure pinch-hitter for someone else. He doesn't run well, (average speed but below average value as a runner) so yeah he could run for Kirk or something, I guess?

Alternatively... maybe they stick Barger at 3b more often than not and then Lukes would be the perfect platoon for Schneider in the corner OF. But then he's the strong side member of the platoon, so he's going to be 400-500 PAs just like this year, and as you said, any regression makes that situation less than ideal. 

That, and Loperfido could probably do the same job as Lukes and is what , 5 years younger?  Feels like the prudent thing to do would be to trade Lukes and run with Loperfido as the 2026 version of Lukes IF you keep a LHH OF on the bench. 

Lukes won't land a significant asset via trade, but he would land something useful. I'd probably target a reliever or an upper minors starter that looks stalled out and maybe looks like a backend piece but has that 1 wipeout pitch that might play up in the pen? That might be understating his value a bit, but ... i don't see the likelihood of getting much more than that. 

[mphenhef]

43 minutes ago, Perfect Game said:

Probably not with the Dodgers, NYY & Red Sox competing for him too. Seems like a lot to give up for a year given that Boras will make sure he tests the market. I'd rather they add to that, a lot I know, but make a run at trading for Skenes.

If the Pirates trade Skenes rather than spend to build around him they should just fold the franchise or force the owner out.