Laika

inb4 "Vladimir Guerrero Jr. turned down more money from the Blue Jays in order to sign with the Yankees"

Blue Jays’ Shapiro On Guerrero Jr.: “I Think We’re Going To Extend Him” March 20th, 2025 at 11:03am CST • By Steve Adams Vladimir Guerrero Jr.‘s self-imposed deadline for an extension — the first full day of spring training — came and went more than a month ago, with no deal coming to fruition. Guerrero has left the door slightly cracked, indicating that while he doesn’t plan to negotiate any further, he’d be amenable to hearing the Jays out if they presented a new offer. That mindset is all the more notable now, given that Jays CEO Mark Shapiro flatly stated this morning that he expects to eventually agree to an extension with the team’s star first baseman (via Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi). Said Shapiro: “…I guess my overarching feeling is one of optimism. I think we’re going to sign him. I think we’re going to extend him. The reason I feel that way is because we have such a clear alignment on the desired outcome. Vlad wants to play his whole career as a Toronto Blue Jay. We want him to end his career in a Blue Jays uniform to be a true legacy player for the Toronto Blue Jays. … Could be before free agency, could be during free agency, but I’m optimistic we will sign him.” ..... Kind of a nothing burger, headline makes it seem like Shapiro said something more impactful. But read between the lines and this is Mark saying "Vlad, we are ready to let you test free agency and we are pretty confident the deal you are asking for won't be there"

Yeah I follow prospects at a deep level and even I only knew a few of the Twins prospects in the game. I don't think they used a single P prospect who would be in their top 30? Most of the Twins position prospects were "actual prospects" though so the Jays P gets some credit for dominating them. Even if guys like Bloss and Yesavage were just too advanced for most of the Twins sticks. I am pretty excited about Kendry Rojas.

Simply trade Demar DeRozan (Barrett) for Kawhi Leonard (insert current comp) again. Easy. Run it back.

Jesus. Minor league deal for Kimbrel.

Imagine if the Raptors go on a tear, sneak into the play-in group, and get Ingram back before the playoffs.

Apparently he thinks his thumb pain was a precursor to his shoulder and triceps injuries in 2024 and 2023. Who knows if true or not. Could be a kinetic chain thing, or he could just be old. There is 2024 reporting on his thumb. It basically says his rehab from his back injury was slowed by a thumb problem. Spanky is Patrick Starfish, confirmed. I don't recall seeing anything specific about his thumb ligament?

I think you are reading into his comments too specifically. He's almost 41. Everything hurts, all the time.

He's already on the Rays future minor league free agent shopping list

So does Yesavage have no breaking ball? Is this a Gausman clone?

It must have been the splitter

Jake Bloss - Nestico stuff numbers from the spring breakout game

Rainer Nunez

yeah it will nice when we get a baseline and trendline for bat speed. now we can compare 2025 to 2024, which will be nice to see trends. but it will still take a few more years to learn what the typical oscillation is in mean bat speed, maybe players lose and gain a tick or two every year kind of randomly or due to injuries or amphetamines

I kind of feel like he just can't get it up anymore Sometimes players lose bat speed and not being able to get it up is the dominant symptom. Hypothesis. But maybe aging isn't always higher K rates. Bat slows down, you can still make contact but you can't get out front and pull/lift the ball very much.

Heck, a 14 year deal for Vlad could have like NINE sunk years in it. I mean his up and down career looks as much like Cody Bellinger as it does Juan Soto. The GOAT Mike Trout has had one good season since he turned 28, and even in that one he only played 119 games. Age comes for everybody. Vlad still has 1-2 years until his "physical peak" based on the average player, then it's probably downhill. And it's not like he is a fitness freak... for all we know he might be post peak already.

That's actually a very interesting and relevant comparison. TULO 2014 COL MLB 29 91 375 21 71 52 1 13.3% 15.2% .263 .355 .340 .432 .603 .444 170 0.2 29.8 5.6 5.1 2015 2 Tms MLB 30 128 534 17 77 70 1 7.1% 21.3% .160 .331 .280 .337 .440 .335 .320 101 -3.2 -2.4 8.5 2.4 2016 TOR MLB 31 131 544 24 54 79 1 7.9% 18.6% .189 .272 .254 .318 .443 .327 .351 104 -3.0 -0.3 4.7 2.3 2017 TOR MLB 32 66 260 7 16 26 0 6.5% 15.4% .129 .272 .249 .300 .378 .292 .289 79 -2.2 -8.8 2.5 0.2 2019 NYY MLB 34 5 13 1 1 1 0 15.4% 30.8% .364 .167 .182 .308 .545 .349 .292 119 0.0 0.3 -0.3 0.0 GEORGE 2021 TOR MLB 31 78 342 22 59 50 4 10.8% 23.1% .291 .286 .264 .352 .555 .381 .361 140 0.5 17.3 -2.8 2.6 2022 TOR MLB 32 133 583 25 89 76 14 9.3% 17.2% .205 .285 .267 .342 .472 .352 .342 133 4.5 25.9 -5.1 4.1 2023 TOR MLB 33 154 683 21 87 72 20 8.8% 18.3% .147 .291 .258 .327 .405 .320 .332 104 -0.4 2.6 -8.0 1.8 2024 TOR MLB 34 145 614 19 74 56 16 9.8% 18.7% .150 .245 .220 .303 .371 .298 .322 95 3.5 -0.1 -8.9 1.2 Tulo had a big offensive decline at age 30. The indicators were down. He struggled with health. He had a replacement level and injury riddled 2017 and Toronto released him with 2/$38M remaining on his contract after a 2018 that was lost to injury. Tulo's xStats in 2017 were actually worse than his real stats. High chance of getting hurt again + decent chance of being cooked. George Springer isn't there yet though. He had an okay .322 xwOBA in 2024. He does not have the injury risks. He still projects for above replacement level production. HOWEVER if he has a 2025, or half of a 2025, that resembles Tulowitzki's 2017, things could change. But in 2024 the team clearly needs to be aggressive with role changes for him. He might reasonably end the season hitting in the bottom third of the order, or perhaps even as a bench or platoon player. If you re-frame your thoughts of him and pretend he's a prospect, it's easy to see how he can still help most MLB teams. He's a good baserunner, he can cover an outfield corner, he has a bit of pop and speed is a 15/15 talent over a full season. Quality bench/platoon guy and maybe a second division starter on a bad team. 45 FV.

Clarke Schmidt might have a shoulder issue Stroman has gone from trade candidate surplus to the Yankees' SP3 in like ten days

Yes. What's weird about that? There are like, ten prospects in baseball at any given time where teams should reasonably think hard about service time stuff. Roden is probably in a platoon if he makes the team anyway

Not a good enough prospect to bother thinking about service time optimization

Brock Boobchamp can merge your accounts if you care

Kendry Rojas touching 96/97 Uhhh do the Jays actually have some SP prospects now or what

Nimmala two singles over 100 mph in the prospects game Yesavage first look. Up to 96mph on the heater. Some lethal splitters the Twins prospects couldn't touch

Welcome!

9/$284m left to Devers Vlad wants 15/$500m Easy decision