Offseason Roster Thread 2025-26

[abola2121]

Just now, Spanky__99 said:

6 fWAR pitcher - Easy Peasy!

Difficult, but not impossible. Roger Clemens had an 8.8 WAR in 1986 - at 23.

[SeranthonySantander]

14 minutes ago, G-Snarls said:

My favorite thing with Yesavage was they he played pretty much only against good teams 

BOS

NYY

SEA

LAD

And morlt kicked their asses 

Want to see him carve up the A's and Twins and Rockies 

Those were all bad teams excluding Boston.  You could make the argument if Roman Anthony doesn't get hurt, that we wouldn't have ever made it past the wild card round because we would have lost the division 

Pretty sure he never played Boston though

[Eat My Shatkins]

I think Yesavage has good enough stuff that it won't matter too much what the hitters know or don't know, if he's got his A game going on any give night he will shut teams down. It just remains to be seen if he can stay healthy and consistently bring his best stuff and locate when he pitches.

I could see 4-5 fWAR next season.

6+ is certainly a stretch, but I love the optimism.

[Spanky__99]

3 hours ago, abola2121 said:

Difficult, but not impossible. Roger Clemens had an 8.8 WAR in 1986 - at 23.

Hit the brakes, my dude, I'll take ROY, Jays would get a 1st round comp pick, that'd be a solid start to his already meteoric rise. You're comping arguably the best SP of all time.

[Jonn]

1 hour ago, Spanky__99 said:

Hit the brakes, my dude, I'll take ROY, Jays would get a 1st round comp pick, that'd be a solid start to his already meteoric rise.

Is he still eligible for the comp pick despite still being classified as a rookie? It says the rookie has to begin the Season on the roster and spend the entire year there. But we haven't seen this scenario with this in place yet.

[Spanky__99]

1 hour ago, Jonn said:

Is he still eligible for the comp pick despite still being classified as a rookie? It says the rookie has to begin the Season on the roster and spend the entire year there. But we haven't seen this scenario with this in place yet.

Yes we have, any player that plays after August 15th are eligible the following season.

J-Rod, Gunnar and Carroll got their teams a compensatory pick in the 1st round, the latter of Gunnar and Carroll played after August 15th and won their teams a comp pick the next season, hence Yesavage. <--- eligible for ROY.

Paul Skenes and Gil didn't earn compensatory picks as they were both brought up in May, IIRC.

 

[jmomcc]

2 hours ago, Spanky__99 said:

Hit the brakes, my dude, I'll take ROY, Jays would get a 1st round comp pick, that'd be a solid start to his already meteoric rise.

Yea that would be fantastic. That would be achieveable with a lot less than 6 WAR as well, 

Especially with a guy like Yesavage who is a weird look, we really need to see how he does when everyone has seem him. There is still a real chance he ends up a reliever. Of course, also a chance he is an ace. 

[Spanky__99]

2 minutes ago, jmomcc said:

Yea that would be fantastic. That would be achieveable with a lot less than 6 WAR as well, 

Especially with a guy like Yesavage who is a weird look, we really need to see how he does when everyone has seem him. There is still a real chance he ends up a reliever. Of course, also a chance he is an ace. 

Yeah, there's several paths it could take, TOR starter is all good with me, an Ace would be fantastic, we'll see. Here's to hoping good health and a banger of a year next season, a first round comp would be massive for this Org. 

[Jays24]

Cant believe we got a prime Roger Clemens on our team... world series will be easy to win next year lol

[Pinkfloid]

Off-topic, but are the post-season mega threads archived anywhere on this site? There are so many nonsense threads still here but I don't see the WS Game 7 thread anymore, as an example. Sorry to ask if this is obvious, lol :p

[bronson44]

31 minutes ago, Pinkfloid said:

Off-topic, but are the post-season mega threads archived anywhere on this site? There are so many nonsense threads still here but I don't see the WS Game 7 thread anymore, as an example. Sorry to ask if this is obvious, lol :p

If you go to forums at the top and scroll down you will find the archive forum.

https://jayscentre.com/forums/forum/87-jays-centre-game-thread-archive/

[mphenhef]

7 hours ago, jmomcc said:

Yea that would be fantastic. That would be achieveable with a lot less than 6 WAR as well, 

Especially with a guy like Yesavage who is a weird look, we really need to see how he does when everyone has seem him. There is still a real chance he ends up a reliever. Of course, also a chance he is an ace. 

This is where an Imai or Murakami signing in the AL could get interesting.  One would have to believe Trey is the early favourite for ROTY but one of those guys could change the situation quickly.

[Angrioter]

On 11/8/2025 at 1:52 PM, Terminator said:

Starting to come around on Murakami. He’s got 80 grade power and he’s young. Let’s stack the team and sign both him and Bo. 

Barger in RF and Clement becomes the top bench option who can spell Murakami and Gimenez against lefties.

Then sign a starter and a reliever and the World Series will be easy to make.

Ernie bench player? 

 

After the playoffs hits record I don't think so. 

. but is a good idea 

[glory]

Sounds like Imai is going to be posted and hired Boras as his agent. I’m not sure how likely it is that the Jays sign him but strangely Boras being involved might help the Jays chances (highest bidder vs location). Of course he might already be a Dodger regardless.

[Olerud363.354]

12 hours ago, abola2121 said:

Difficult, but not impossible. Roger Clemens had an 8.8 WAR in 1986 - at 23.

Clemens had 10.7 fWAR (11 bWAR) with Jays in 1997, then around 8 in 1998.

Then he was traded for fWAR pennies on the dollar.  Gord Ash man.  Did that twice with Shawn Green too.  Tried to replace the player, not the value.  

People should keep expectations for Yesavage in check.  It would be great if he stays healthy and becomes a good 3.   If he's more that's great too.    

Pitching fWAR is interesting because pitchers aren't pitching as much as they used two.  Clemens got his 10+ fWAR in 264 innings.  Yesavage might be 2/3 of that next year.  The best pitchers in baseball might be 2/3 of that.  

So if position players are still doing full workloads, but Pitchers are doing 2/3 what they used to how to evaluate that?  The best pitchers 180 innings of 5-6 fWAR might all be in leverage (because every game they keep the team in it), while Fernando Tatis has some fWAR in not leverage.  

[L54]

I wonder if Imai throwing the same arm side slider as Yesavage is a good thing or a bad thing when it comes to building the rotation from the front office’s perspective 

[Jonn]

2 hours ago, glory said:

Sounds like Imai is going to be posted and hired Boras as his agent. I’m not sure how likely it is that the Jays sign him but strangely Boras being involved might help the Jays chances (highest bidder vs location). Of course he might already be a Dodger regardless.

Massive advantage for the Blue Jays because they just have to outbid which they often do. Boras speaks highly of the Toronto market to his clients. And since he’s being posted he only gets 45 days max. He can’t use his normal tactics to hold out. He’s gotta get his best deal by that date and that’s it. Amai may have his own preferences but he hasn’t been as vocal as the other Japanese free agents about them.

[Terminator]

3 hours ago, Angrioter said:

Ernie bench player? 

 

After the playoffs hits record I don't think so. 

. but is a good idea 

Yeah it's probably unlikely Clement is on the bench next year but if we added someone like Murakami I think the path to 400 ABs is still there for Ernie.

Clement would start against lefties (for ethier Murakami or Gimenez) and could also pinch hit and be a defensive replacement. He'd play pretty much every day and if there was a major injury he would be on his way to 500+.

He's coming off a 3.2 WAR season though so adding another 3B might not be the best use of our resources.

This all hinges on whether the Jays think Murakami is a 40 homer bat or not. They may not.

[bronson44]

22 minutes ago, L54 said:

I wonder if Imai throwing the same arm side slider as Yesavage is a good thing or a bad thing when it comes to building the rotation from the front office’s perspective 

Not sure. He also has a really low release point and Yesavage has the highest so it might be enough to differentiate them. 

[L54]

24 minutes ago, bronson44 said:

Not sure. He also has a really low release point and Yesavage has the highest so it might be enough to differentiate them. 

Ya that is true. I also wonder how much the Jays aided in Yesavage’s development of that pitch as that might be a selling point for Imai along with a clear understanding of the splitter in the org 

Is having 60% of your rotation throwing a splitter and 40% a gyro slider giving teams too many looks at the same profiles? Might make Cease the better fit, I dunno! 

[glory]

1 hour ago, Jonn said:

Massive advantage for the Blue Jays because they just have to outbid which they often do. Boras speaks highly of the Toronto market to his clients. And since he’s being posted he only gets 45 days max. He can’t use his normal tactics to hold out. He’s gotta get his best deal by that date and that’s it. Amai may have his own preferences but he hasn’t been as vocal as the other Japanese free agents about them.

Another benefit might (stressing the word "might") be that the Dodgers have so many SP's, especially on big money deals, that they may not be as involved in this one. Of course the Dodgers don't care about money, so if they wanted a 7th or 8th starter on the roster making $20-25M a year, then they could certainly afford it. If the Dodgers are not as involved, and Boras advises him to take the best deal, then the Jays certainly have a shot if they are interested/willing to overpay. My guess is they end up with one of the MLB SP FA's though (Suarez, Cease, King, etc).

 

[Nexii]

Yesavage projected by Steamer for 2.1 WAR in just 146 IP. Kinda funny he started so low last year that it's creating a sort of injury expectation

His pace in limited play was closer to 3.5-4 WAR territory I'd say. Excellent but not quite elite consistently

[jmomcc]

22 minutes ago, glory said:

Another benefit might (stressing the word "might") be that the Dodgers have so many SP's, especially on big money deals, that they may not be as involved in this one. Of course the Dodgers don't care about money, so if they wanted a 7th or 8th starter on the roster making $20-25M a year, then they could certainly afford it. If the Dodgers are not as involved, and Boras advises him to take the best deal, then the Jays certainly have a shot if they are interested/willing to overpay. My guess is they end up with one of the MLB SP FA's though (Suarez, Cease, King, etc).

 

At some point they just run out of space. Like they can play the homegrown guys out of the pen to some extent, but you can't have tons of starters without options. 

[Spanky__99]

33 minutes ago, Nexii said:

Yesavage projected by Steamer for 2.1 WAR in just 146 IP. Kinda funny he started so low last year that it's creating a sort of injury expectation

His pace in limited play was closer to 3.5-4 WAR territory I'd say. Excellent but not quite elite consistently

Yes, that's what I expect of him going forward, anything better is gravy. Steamer's usually very conservative in there projections.

[Spanky__99]

1 hour ago, L54 said:

Ya that is true. I also wonder how much the Jays aided in Yesavage’s development of that pitch as that might be a selling point for Imai along with a clear understanding of the splitter in the org 

Is having 60% of your rotation throwing a splitter and 40% a gyro slider giving teams too many looks at the same profiles? Might make Cease the better fit, I dunno! 

I'm guessing you're not a fan of Ranger? I want him cause of his consistency and floor, continues putting out 4 WIN seasons as a lefty, different look.

[Spanky__99]

12 hours ago, Jays24 said:

Cant believe we got a prime Roger Clemens on our team... world series will be easy to win next year lol

Well played, Mauer! 
 

 

[L54]

1 hour ago, Spanky__99 said:

I'm guessing you're not a fan of Ranger? I want him cause of his consistency and floor, continues putting out 4 WIN seasons as a lefty, different look.

Not really sure what to make of him. I think I’m just velocityist where I don’t love committing to a guy with a velocity decline throwing 92 

Id rather bring try and get one of these Temu aces than Ranger Suarez. If unsuccessful just do like 2 years for Merrill Kelly as a stability play instead of 5 for Suarez 

 

[Orgfiller]

47 minutes ago, L54 said:

Not really sure what to make of him. I think I’m just velocityist where I don’t love committing to a guy with a velocity decline throwing 92 

Id rather bring try and get one of these Temu aces than Ranger Suarez. If unsuccessful just do like 2 years for Merrill Kelly as a stability play instead of 5 for Suarez 

 

With Suarez I'm definitely most concerned with the durability and declining velo than I am his velo in a vacuum. I think the stuff is good enough and the command is excellent, but he's never broken the 30 GS mark, and the velo just keeps tanking even though he's getting better as a pitcher overall. If the velo stays where it currently is, I still think he's a very good pitcher who will start playoff games. But there's the injury history, now on the wrong side of 30, and notable declining velo three seasons in a row. Those are the kind of things that certainly don't get better with age.

If I had a crystal ball that told me he's guaranteed to give you 150+ IP, always be available for the playoffs, and his velo didn't decline any further, I wouldn't hesitate to bank on him as a middle-low tier TOR arm.

[max silver]

19 minutes ago, Orgfiller said:

With Suarez I'm definitely most concerned with the durability and declining velo than I am his velo in a vacuum. I think the stuff is good enough and the command is excellent, but he's never broken the 30 GS mark, and the velo just keeps tanking even though he's getting better as a pitcher overall. If the velo stays where it currently is, I still think he's a very good pitcher who will start playoff games. But there's the injury history, now on the wrong side of 30, and notable declining velo three seasons in a row. Those are the kind of things that certainly don't get better with age.

If I had a crystal ball that told me he's guaranteed to give you 150+ IP, always be available for the playoffs, and his velo didn't decline any further, I wouldn't hesitate to bank on him as a middle-low tier TOR arm.

Suarez feels a lot like Ryu 2.0 and he carries a lot of the same concerns on a potential long term deal.

[The_DH]

A nice big power bat behind Vladdy might be a real good thing.  If Bo comes back and bats second then we have something.  Add a starter and a stopper and we have a contender.  I'm still not counting on Santander existing next season.