G-Snarls

Well here's the thing. If we release him we owe him 5.2M for this year and 200k (I think) to buy out his option for next year. So 5.4M. After we release him, there probably would be a few teams that would sign him on a 1 year deal. But they have no motivation to pay much (released players by definition tend to be desperate fringe guys), nor does Happ really care how much the new team pays him because we still have to pay the difference. Say the Rangers sign him. Whether they pay him 500k or 2.0M, it deosn't matter to him, he gets paid the same total amount either way. It's just a matter of how much of it the Jays pay vs how much the Rangers pay. And he JUST MIGHT want to f*** his old team over by signing for as little as he can. (no expert in the area, but I reserached this 2 years ago when I thought they should release Adam Lind. Which I'm glad they didn't LOL)

Well you can always release any player, any time you want. But you still have to pay their salary. If another team then signs him for X dollars, you pay (contract salary - X)

If he were only making 2M it would be easier to swallow. Someone else would sign him for 1M, cutting the Jays loss to 1M. His contract extension was dumb.

He has enough major league service time that he can't be optioned without his consent. That's the problem.

Nice. I hadn't considered how long you can keep Hall on rehab assignment. That helps buy time to see how McGowan and Morrow hold up. My Sierra/Gose flip idea can be done at any time obviously. But it feels inevitable.

That's all you need! Jack Z school of asset management FTW.

Me too, that spot helps

Can't do that either. Out of options. This is the whole problem that AA has made for himself, by hoarding fringe BP guys with no options.

Reliever Vin Mazzaro could be a useful reliever for a lot of teams, but he cleared waivers Tuesday, and a couple of executives speculated that part of the reason for that is Mazzaro makes more than minimum wage -- $950,000. "Once you go to spring training, you’ve spent almost all the money you’re going to spend," said one GM. "There aren’t many teams with a lot of extra money lying around." Maybe the Dodgers have a big budget, or the Yankees. But most teams have little wriggle room in their budget. Which brings us to Stephen Drew and Kendrys Morales, two veteran free agents who remain unemployed. To review: Both players -- represented by agent Scott Boras -- rejected $14.1 million qualifying offers from the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners, respectively, and continue to wait. And wait. And wait. There might be one small upside to waiting this long: Now that the season has started, neither can be given another qualifying offer by the next team they sign with, which means they could be free agents without restriction after the 2014 season. And if they don't sign until after the draft (June 5), the team that signs them won't have to forfeit a draft pick. On the other hand, a qualifying offer would bring far more money than either player figures to get whenever they sign in the days or weeks ahead. The overwhelming sentiment within the industry is that both players made enormous mistakes in rejecting the qualifying offers -- mistakes that will cost each millions of dollars. Based on the estimates presented by club officials Tuesday -- what they would offer Drew or Morales -- both players will have to settle for a lot less than $14.1 million annually. The questions presented to the club executives: 1. If your team had a need for Drew or Morales, what would you offer them? 2. Would the fact that they haven’t had a spring training and would need time to get game-ready factor into your offer? Executive No. 1, from the NL: "For Morales, I’d offer between $6 million to $8 million, and for Drew, $7 million to $8 million. At this point, why would you give them more? The whole market passed on them during the winter, and at some point, there has to be some kind of a discount for a player who has held out and sat out. "With those guys missing so much time, when they’re trying to get ready, there’s a pretty good chance they’re going to get hurt. They’ve got to get 50 at-bats or so to get ready, and they’ll try to speed up the timetable to get back in the majors and get paid, and they’ll be at greater risk." The NL executive said that because of how the negotiations have played out with both players, there would be question about their emotional investment. "Let’s say Drew waits until after the draft to sign, so that he isn’t tied to draft-pick compensation for this year," the executive explained, "and let’s say he signed a one-year deal. Would he be playing for you at that point, for the team, or would he be playing for himself? If he had a minor injury late in the season, would he push through it for you, or would he sit out (to protect his free agency). That would be a factor for me. "For me, at some point, it comes down to, 'Do you want to play [or not]?’ At some point, you swallow your pride and say [rejecting the qualifying offer] didn’t work, and you get back on the field and get back to work." Another NL official: "I think most teams would still view the draft as the most relevant date. As with many scenarios, teams [in this age of parity] are hesitant to forfeit talent and money in transactions. There is a reason [David] Price and [Jeff] Samardzija were not traded." (In other words: A team would not to give up a draft pick and dollars for Drew or Morales.) He continued: "If a team viewed either player as a mid-season acquisition, they might value the player on a longer horizon (maybe a contract through 2016 for Drew and through 2015 for Morales). I would probably value Drew as a $10-12 million player on a multi-year deal and Morales in the $8-10 million range. Time of year affects many teams with respect to budgets. "The layoff and need for a modified spring training is a real issue. If a team signed the player in early June, there would still be a 10-14 day period to prepare him for activation." An AL executive: "You are definitely concerned how long they’ve been away. You’d have to get them their 50 plate appearances in the minors before calling them up. You’d have to get these guys under contract and give them three weeks of preparation. For Drew, I’d go $8 million to $12 million, maybe on a multi-year deal -- you wouldn’t want to sign him for one-year deal and give up a draft pick, and for Morales, I’d go $8 million to $10 million, prorated." A second AL official: "I’d go $5 million for Morales, maybe $6 million to $8 million for Drew. The injury history for both guys scares me." A third NL official: "The salary level I would be comfortable for both Drew and Morales is in the $7-8 million range. Both are limited players -- Drew just isn't an impact offensive player and Morales is so limited by his body, injuries, and poor defense -- which for me are similar to Nelson Cruz." (Cruz signed with Baltimore for $8 million.) "Frankly, Cruz may be a better player than Drew and Morales; you know he's going to hit more than Drew and hitting is what pays while you know that he will hit similar to Morales and is more versatile defensively. "I would have concerns about signing both now, but I think Morales can adjust easier than Drew. Morales is basically a bat; nobody expects anything out of him defensively and even if he plays the field he won't be put into too many situations where he can hurt himself. Drew is much more of a risk to sign now, not only because of the injuries more common to up-the-middle players, but also because he needs to learn his other infielders or, specifically to him, his double play partners. I think the adjustment will be harder for Drew and the upside will be much less." AL talent evaluator: "I’d go $5 million to $6 million for Morales -- he has almost nowhere to go -- and $7 million for Drew. That’s after we get past the draft and you don’t surrender a pick." AL exec: "Two years and $8-9 million for Drew, two years at $7 million or $8 million for Morales. I wouldn’t want to go to a third year for either guy." An AL evaluator: "We are two months from the draft, and most teams that might be interested would just hold off so they keep their draft pick. I don’t think we have many teams that can just add millions to the payroll in midseason. It becomes an issue before the trade deadline. I think both these guys will sign after the draft and get ready to start playing at the major league level by July 1, a half season. Go out and have a good second half of the season and go back into free agency. Incentives in the contracts will probably be a must, as both guys will be getting ready to play in a shorter period of time." "Both guys have missed time in recent years. Maybe you’ll see a situation in which team loses a high priced player and has insurance cover a chunk of his salary which one of these guys could fit right into. I’d give either guy $3 million to $6 million base salary for three months, plus incentives. You will be getting close to the deadline once the summer hits and you can get these guys without giving anything up. "Their layoff is a factor but not that big of a factor. By mid-June, 10 teams might be looking to sell, and not buy, so the options for Drew and Morales will be limited. We’ve got to see how the Detroit and Boston infield situations play out for Drew."

http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/buster-olney/post/_/id/5692 Will post article in a moment

LOL Redmond out of options and no way we could get him through waivers though. He makes a great long man/swing man and I'd like to keep him. Again, trading a another reliever seemed a necessity this off season and didn't happen.

What I would do, unless someone's performance changes drastically or someone else gets injured: - Activate Janssen, but keep using Santos as closer - Assign Happ to AAA Buffalo, release him if he refuses - Activate Reyes and pray to the hamstring Gods - Option Goins to AAA Buffalo to work on hitting and reducing K rates, recognizing it probably won't happen. He or Kawasaki gets called back up if a MIG gets hurt again. - Keep Diaz on the team, and use a mix of Diaz and Izturis at 2B and maybe rest Reyes sometimes using Diaz at short - Option Sierra to Buffalo and call up the Gose. I don't know if he'll stick either but Sierra is useless and Gose has been getting on base nicely in Buffalo. Plus it would finally give us some speed off the bench. Also, unless Rasmus starts hitting Gose might get some starts. - Option Thole to Buffalo and tell Dickey that Kratz is here to stay and he might as well get used to it There. I feel better.

LOL, best one

To quote AA there are lots of balls in the air Reyes, Janssen and Happ may come off DL over next week or two. There are too many catchers and MIF's on the big league squad Obviously some changes will be made. Tell us what you think SHOULD happen, and what you think WILL happen

I wonder if MLB rules wouold allow?

Get your PED's from professional, discreet MD who looks after you and you alone, not from sleazy bargain bin mega-supplier guy in south Florida

Just noticed it!

True New haircut not helping, aparently

Lind better dresser and hitter than Rasmus (Though Lind's suite doesn't appear all that well fitted)

Would re-name this thread to "CHP vs Moogy battle royale", but I don't know if anyone but jippidy is reading what they're typing so probably not worth it

Griffin thinks Dickey is selfish, is not a good leader, and that Gibbons' manipulation of the starting rotation is a bad idea. Read at your own peril: http://www.thestar.com/sports/bluejays/2014/04/09/blue_jays_rotation_revolves_around_whats_best_for_ra_dickey_griffin.html

Who did we end up drafting/signing instead of him?

http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/8878994/v31931059/detlad-tigers-late-rally-falls-short-in-10th/?c_id=det Yuck Camera misses it live but they replay shows it. Ugly. Of course, it probably doesn't matter that the ball got by him. Had he stopped it, he likely would have airmailed the ball over everyone's head at home plate anyway.