Laika

Corey Seager for 10/$325 from Texas. He was a FA entering his age 28 season. An offense first SS without an amazing defensive reputation (many thought he was too big for the position, breaking in) and some injury history. I am not saying that Bo Bichette is worth 10/$300M but why should Bo Bichette do anything other than try to have a 5 WAR year and target that kind of deal? I wonder what the Jays would even have to offer right now for him to come to the table...

ZIPS TOP 100 was good to the Blue Jays. Tied for 4th place both in top 100 prospects and top 500 prospects. This confirms suspicions that Ross Atkins does nothing but pull up Fangraphs and look at projected fWAR. ZiPS Top Prospects by Team – 2025 Organization Top 50 Top 100 ▴ Top 200 Top 500 Chicago Cubs 2 6 9 19 Cleveland Guardians 2 6 9 20 Chicago White Sox 4 6 10 21 New York Mets 1 5 7 14 Detroit Tigers 5 5 9 15 Seattle Mariners 2 5 8 15 Boston Red Sox 3 5 9 18 Toronto Blue Jays 1 5 6 20 Washington Nationals 3 4 4 16 Los Angeles Dodgers 3 4 9 17 Miami Marlins 0 4 7 20 Tampa Bay Rays 3 4 10 24 Philadelphia Phillies 2 3 6 12 Atlanta Braves 1 3 4 13 New York Yankees 1 3 5 14 St. Louis Cardinals 1 3 8 16 Milwaukee Brewers 1 3 7 17 Baltimore Orioles 2 3 8 19 Minnesota Twins 3 3 7 19 San Diego Padres 2 2 2 10 Athletics 1 2 6 14 Pittsburgh Pirates 2 2 8 14 San Francisco Giants 2 2 3 14 Texas Rangers 1 2 5 16 Arizona Diamondbacks 1 2 8 18 Houston Astros 0 2 4 18 Colorado Rockies 0 2 6 20 Cincinnati Reds 0 2 8 21 Los Angeles Angels 1 1 5 10 Kansas City Royals 0 1 3 16 ZiPS Top 100 Prospects – 2025 ZiPS Player Pos. Organization FanGraphs Rank 1 Roki Sasaki P Los Angeles Dodgers 1 2 Carson Williams SS Tampa Bay Rays 10 3 Samuel Basallo C Baltimore Orioles 5 4 Roman Anthony CF Boston Red Sox 2 5 Dylan Crews CF Washington Nationals 3 6 Bryce Eldridge 1B San Francisco Giants 26 7 Cole Young SS Seattle Mariners 76 8 Emmanuel Rodriguez CF Minnesota Twins 20 9 Jordan Lawlar SS Arizona Diamondbacks 14 10 Kristian Campbell 2B Boston Red Sox 7 11 Coby Mayo 3B Baltimore Orioles 45 12 Max Clark CF Detroit Tigers 34 13 Jasson Domínguez CF New York Yankees 16 14 Xavier Isaac 1B Tampa Bay Rays 98 15 Matt Shaw 3B Chicago Cubs 13 16 Leodalis De Vries SS San Diego Padres 37 17 Aidan Miller SS Philadelphia Phillies 15 18 Colt Emerson SS Seattle Mariners 41 19 Owen Caissie RF Chicago Cubs Unranked 20 Jace Jung 3B Detroit Tigers Unranked 21 Cooper Pratt SS Milwaukee Brewers Unranked 22 Marcelo Mayer SS Boston Red Sox 57 23 Nacho Alvarez Jr. SS Atlanta Braves Unranked 24 Travis Bazzana 2B Cleveland Guardians 36 25 Kyle Teel C Chicago White Sox 49 26 Kevin McGonigle SS Detroit Tigers 54 27 Noah Schultz P Chicago White Sox 18 28 Colson Montgomery SS Chicago White Sox 58 29 Ethan Salas C San Diego Padres 21 30 Andrew Painter P Philadelphia Phillies 6 31 Jett Williams SS New York Mets 62 32 Brady House 3B Washington Nationals Unranked 33 Thayron Liranzo C Detroit Tigers 44 34 Brayden Taylor 3B Tampa Bay Rays Unranked 35 Jacob Wilson SS Athletics 52 36 Termarr Johnson 2B Pittsburgh Pirates Unranked 37 Caden Dana P Los Angeles Angels 25 38 Chase Meidroth SS Chicago White Sox Unranked 39 Bubba Chandler P Pittsburgh Pirates 23 40 Jackson Jobe P Detroit Tigers 9 41 Walker Jenkins DH Minnesota Twins 17 42 Welbyn Francisca SS Cleveland Guardians 88 43 Luke Keaschall DH Minnesota Twins 56 44 Alex Freeland SS Los Angeles Dodgers 35 45 Sebastian Walcott SS Texas Rangers 4 46 Carson Whisenhunt P San Francisco Giants 95 47 Orelvis Martinez 2B Toronto Blue Jays Unranked 48 Dalton Rushing C Los Angeles Dodgers 8 49 Tink Hence P St. Louis Cardinals 64 50 Jarlin Susana P Washington Nationals 19 51 Arjun Nimmala SS Toronto Blue Jays 82 52 AJ Smith-Shawver P Atlanta Braves 40 53 Alejandro Rosario P Texas Rangers 39 54 Luis Morales P Athletics 96 55 Rhett Lowder P Cincinnati Reds 51 56 Kevin Alcántara CF Chicago Cubs 46 57 Quinn Mathews P St. Louis Cardinals 32 58 Moises Ballesteros C Chicago Cubs Unranked 59 Chase DeLauter RF Cleveland Guardians 55 60 Jake Bloss P Toronto Blue Jays 66 61 Agustin Ramirez C Miami Marlins 43 62 Brandon Sproat P New York Mets 24 63 Michael Arroyo 2B Seattle Mariners Unranked 64 Thomas Saggese SS St. Louis Cardinals Unranked 65 Chase Dollander P Colorado Rockies 12 66 Ryan Clifford 1B New York Mets Unranked 67 Bryan Ramos 3B Chicago White Sox Unranked 68 Juan Brito 2B Cleveland Guardians 78 69 Angel Genao SS Cleveland Guardians 33 70 Luke Adams 3B Milwaukee Brewers Unranked 71 Jhostynxon Garcia CF Boston Red Sox Unranked 72 Lazaro Montes RF Seattle Mariners Unranked 73 Harry Ford C Seattle Mariners Unranked 74 Jacob Melton CF Houston Astros Unranked 75 Mikey Romero SS Boston Red Sox Unranked 76 Enrique Bradfield Jr. CF Baltimore Orioles Unranked 77 Spencer Jones CF New York Yankees Unranked 78 Jared Serna SS Miami Marlins Unranked 79 Cade Cavalli P Washington Nationals Unranked 80 Will Wagner 2B Toronto Blue Jays Unranked 81 Carter Jensen C Kansas City Royals 68 82 Noble Meyer P Miami Marlins 97 83 River Ryan P Los Angeles Dodgers 101 84 Ricky Tiedemann P Toronto Blue Jays 102 85 Tommy Troy SS Arizona Diamondbacks Unranked 86 Drew Gilbert CF New York Mets Unranked 87 Everson Pereira CF New York Yankees Unranked 88 Jefferson Rojas SS Chicago Cubs 81 89 Hurston Waldrep P Atlanta Braves Unranked 90 Jesus Baez SS New York Mets Unranked 91 Robert Calaz RF Colorado Rockies Unranked 92 Eric Bitonti 3B Milwaukee Brewers Unranked 92 Edwin Arroyo SS Cincinnati Reds Unranked 94 Eduardo Tait C Philadelphia Phillies Unranked 95 Dylan Lesko P Tampa Bay Rays Unranked 96 Edgar Quero C Chicago White Sox 90 97 Brice Matthews SS Houston Astros Unranked 98 Cade Horton P Chicago Cubs 79 99 Johnathan Rodriguez RF Cleveland Guardians Unranked 100 Joe Mack C Miami Marlins 69

Probably missed the offseason window to trade him. Go for it, sell at deadline if they suck. If they are on the bubble at the deadline some tough decisions will need to be made. Worst case scenario could unfold, where they keep everyone and miss the postseason.

*comp picks baby

But why would any of those teams have evaluations of Vlad that differ from Toronto's?

Trade for Bryan Reynolds!

fWAR since Vlad debuted in MLB. C'mon my dudes. Relax. We have been there his entire career, we should all know how frustrating he has been for large swathes of that. # Name Team G PA HR R RBI SB BB% K% ISO BABIP AVG OBP SLG wOBA xwOBA wRC+ BsR Off Def WAR 1 Aaron Judge NYY 679 2963 227 508 514 36 15.8% 26.4% .330 .339 .294 .409 .624 .428 181 -2.2 278.7 -18.4 36.7 2 Juan Soto 3 Tms 797 3492 175 565 505 50 19.2% 16.3% .252 .300 .285 .424 .537 .407 161 -10.9 249.6 -46.9 32.1 3 Francisco Lindor 2 Tms 796 3504 149 514 458 114 8.8% 17.9% .205 .284 .264 .337 .469 .344 121 7.0 94.3 94.8 31.5 4 Mookie Betts 2 Tms 711 3236 157 574 429 77 11.9% 14.7% .244 .294 .287 .376 .531 .385 145 9.0 190.2 -1.7 30.2 5 José Ramírez CLE 786 3388 166 503 547 143 10.1% 12.6% .246 .273 .277 .352 .523 .364 136 23.0 168.4 13.0 30.1 6 Freddie Freeman 2 Tms 820 3614 151 592 533 61 12.0% 15.9% .222 .337 .309 .399 .532 .392 149 4.3 224.4 -47.4 29.9 7 Trea Turner 3 Tms 761 3397 125 536 409 151 6.5% 18.6% .192 .339 .299 .349 .491 .358 126 34.9 145.8 24.1 28.4 8 Marcus Semien 3 Tms 832 3786 159 569 458 75 9.4% 16.4% .206 .273 .258 .330 .465 .340 118 11.9 95.9 38.4 26.5 9 Shohei Ohtani 2 Tms 761 3235 203 503 506 135 12.2% 25.2% .295 .325 .281 .372 .576 .393 153 15.5 220.6 -75.9 25.8 10 Alex Bregman HOU 727 3185 129 458 443 11 12.4% 12.6% .206 .269 .267 .364 .473 .359 133 -12.3 114.0 23.3 24.7 11 Corey Seager 2 Tms 647 2809 144 404 431 9 9.1% 16.6% .240 .297 .285 .353 .525 .369 138 -5.5 121.9 24.9 24.2 12 Jose Altuve HOU 677 3025 123 497 328 66 9.0% 15.5% .198 .312 .290 .360 .489 .364 136 1.3 131.3 3.7 24.1 13 Xander Bogaerts 2 Tms 746 3179 108 436 385 57 9.0% 17.7% .178 .331 .295 .361 .472 .357 126 9.8 109.8 19.8 23.7 14 Nolan Arenado 2 Tms 780 3276 151 404 499 14 7.8% 14.2% .212 .283 .278 .336 .490 .348 118 -4.4 68.7 54.5 23.6 15 Rafael Devers BOS 775 3384 169 510 535 21 8.6% 20.7% .244 .318 .285 .352 .529 .368 132 -5.8 122.8 -2.2 23.6 16 Manny Machado SDP 785 3345 163 457 527 45 9.0% 18.2% .217 .295 .276 .341 .493 .352 127 -4.2 104.4 14.1 23.4 17 Yordan Alvarez HOU 629 2668 164 412 466 8 11.9% 20.0% .285 .322 .298 .390 .583 .406 166 -10.7 198.0 -59.0 23.3 18 Bryce Harper PHI 701 3016 147 457 440 64 14.3% 22.0% .249 .331 .286 .391 .535 .388 145 -1.8 167.8 -36.6 23.2 19 Ronald Acuña Jr. ATL 587 2660 133 487 337 178 11.5% 21.5% .231 .330 .288 .380 .518 .382 140 25.2 158.8 -17.6 22.8 20 J.T. Realmuto PHI 674 2739 106 369 365 65 7.3% 23.3% .198 .316 .266 .330 .464 .339 113 12.6 55.6 76.7 22.5 21 Dansby Swanson 2 Tms 781 3294 112 453 409 68 8.6% 24.9% .171 .313 .254 .322 .426 .323 103 16.3 28.6 83.1 22.4 22 Matt Olson 2 Tms 827 3563 206 492 584 6 11.8% 23.4% .260 .283 .257 .351 .517 .365 134 -8.9 140.9 -49.4 21.5 23 Ketel Marte ARI 677 2882 115 411 367 31 9.6% 16.0% .218 .314 .291 .363 .509 .370 133 4.2 122.6 -6.7 21.4 24 Matt Chapman 3 Tms 766 3185 136 432 378 25 10.7% 27.8% .213 .287 .233 .322 .446 .330 113 2.7 53.8 46.7 21.1 25 Paul Goldschmidt STL 812 3474 144 476 458 45 11.0% 22.8% .202 .330 .278 .359 .480 .360 130 0.9 128.8 -47.2 20.3 26 Willy Adames 2 Tms 771 3197 139 412 434 45 9.7% 26.9% .205 .301 .246 .320 .451 .331 110 2.3 43.4 45.5 19.9 27 Austin Riley ATL 719 3042 153 426 429 5 7.8% 25.7% .230 .324 .272 .338 .502 .357 124 -2.9 86.9 -6.0 18.5 28 Brandon Nimmo NYM 648 2799 84 383 289 29 12.3% 20.8% .174 .313 .263 .366 .437 .352 127 2.5 96.3 -7.4 18.4 29 Bryan Reynolds PIT 790 3334 122 432 411 38 9.2% 21.9% .194 .326 .276 .351 .469 .351 120 -0.5 82.9 -26.7 17.1 30 Vladimir Guerrero Jr. TOR 819 3540 160 475 507 20 9.9% 15.6% .213 .304 .288 .363 .500 .367 137 -14.8 139.8 -91.5 17.0

Remember when the New York Yankees let Aaron Judge go to free agency and then brought him back? Pepperidge farm remembers Was that a massive fumble by New York? Teams with big payrolls aren't typically as scared about "losing the player for nothing." Desperate tiny payroll teams are the ones who feel like they have to churn players via trade and always turn them into controllable assets.

Fantasy baseball player update telling me that Kevin Gausman got beefy on purpose Latest News Feb 17, 2025 8:39 PM EST Blue Jays manager John Schneider said that Gausman looks "sturdier" in spring training after the right-hander deliberately put on added weight over the offseason, Keegan Matheson of MLB.com reports. "I've never really pitched an entire season at over 200 pounds, but I think that might be a possibility for me this year," Gausman said. "We'll see what happens. I usually always lose a good amount of weight during the season, so that's why I try to gain as much as I can, knowing I'll lose some of it." Analysis Gausman is listed at 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds on the Blue Jays' official roster, and he's hopeful that by bulking up during the offseason through both his diet and strength training, he'll be able to maintain that weight over the course of the long season. The 34-year-old righty is also optimistic that a sturdier build will boost his odds of staying healthy and having something closer to a normal spring training in 2025. While he didn't go on the injured list at any point in 2024, a bout with shoulder fatigue early in camp slowed his ramp-up process and may have played a part in the steep drop in both his ERA (3.83) and strikeout rate (21.4 percent) compared to his first two seasons in Toronto (3.25 ERA, 29.7 K%).

It's still not a cemented failure. Look at all of the possible scenarios: They fall out of it and trade him at the deadline, for a good return They fall out of it and trade him at the deadline, for a poor return They fall out of it and don't trade him and he doesn't sign back They fall out of it and don't trade him and he signs back They compete, don't trade him, miss the playoffs, and he doesn't sign back They compete, don't trade him, miss the playoffs, but he signs back here They compete, don't trade him, make the playoffs, flame out again, and he doesn't sign back They compete, don't trade him, make the playoffs, flame out again, but he signs back here They compete, don't trade him, make the playoffs, win it all, and he leaves They compete, don't trade him, make the playoffs, win it all, and he returns Only the 4/10 bolded scenarios are obvious flops. We still have to wait and see it all unfold. For all we know his demands are completely unrealistic and he will hit free agency after a decent but not phenomenal 4 WAR year and be humbled. There is also a further scenario where his contract ends up being a disaster, which would colour all of the "he leaves" outcomes differently.

Kirk or Gimenez. Two way season built on elite D. I don't think Varsho or Springer can get there. Varsho has too many holes in the swing. Could also be Gausman

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

Round Pick Ov Pick Pos Player 1 1 1 SP Roki Sasaki 1 2 2 SS Kristian Campbell 1 3 3 2B Travis Bazzana 1 4 4 SS JJ Wetherholt 1 5 5 1B Nick Kurtz 1 6 6 3B Cam Smith 1 7 7 2B Christian Moore 1 8 8 SS Jesus Made 1 9 9 OF Zyhir Hope 1 10 10 1B Jac Caglianone 1 11 11 SP Chase Burns 1 12 12 OF Braden Montgomery 1 13 13 OF Charlie Condon 1 14 14 SP Quinn Mathews 1 15 15 SS Konnor Griffin 1 16 16 SP Brandon Sproat 1 17 17 SP Hagen Smith 1 18 18 SS Emil Morales 1 19 19 SP Alejandro Rosario 1 20 20 SS Franklin Arias 2 1 21 2B Luke Keaschall 2 2 22 SS Bryce Rainer 2 3 23 2B Demetrio Crisantes 2 4 24 SS Cooper Pratt 2 5 25 SS Angel Genao 2 6 26 OF Robert Calaz 2 7 27 CF Carson Benge 2 8 28 SP Trey Yesavage 2 9 29 OF Griffin Burkholder 2 10 30 2B Michael Arroyo 2 11 31 1B Deyvison De Los Santos 2 12 32 SS Welbyn Francisca 2 13 33 SS Alex Freeland 2 14 34 C Agustin Ramirez 2 15 35 2B Payton Eeles 2 16 36 OF Ryan Waldschmidt 2 17 37 SP Moises Chace 2 18 38 OF Colby Thomas 2 19 39 CF Aidan Smith 2 20 40 C Drake Baldwin 3 1 41 SP George Klassen 3 2 42 SS Elian Pena 3 3 43 OF Eduardo Beltre 3 4 44 3B Eric Bitonti 3 5 45 SS Yairo Padilla 3 6 46 1B Tre' Morgan 3 7 47 SS Josuar De Jesus Gonzalez 3 8 48 SP Cam Caminiti 3 9 49 1B C.J. Kayfus 3 10 50 SP Braxton Ashcraft 3 11 51 SP Jonah Tong 3 12 52 SP Brody Hopkins 3 13 53 SS Yoeilin Cespedes 3 14 54 SP Tomoyuki Sugano 3 15 55 SP Winston Santos 3 16 56 SP Jackson Baumeister 3 17 57 SP Logan Henderson 3 18 58 CF Brandon Winokur 3 19 59 SS Seaver King 3 20 60 CF Braylon Payne 4 1 61 C Blake Mitchell 4 2 62 SS Jefferson Rojas 4 3 63 OF Brailer Guerrero 4 4 64 2B Hyeseong Kim 4 5 65 SS Luis Pena 4 6 66 C Rainiel Rodriguez 4 7 67 SP Brandon Young 4 8 68 SP Braylon Doughty 4 9 69 SP Yoniel Curet 4 10 70 2B Caleb Durbin 4 11 71 SP Drue Hackenberg 4 12 72 SP Nolan McLean 4 13 73 SP Matt Wilkinson 4 14 74 CF Theo Gillen 4 15 75 SS Caleb Bonemer 4 16 76 CF Chandler Simpson 4 17 77 C Eduardo Tait 4 18 78 SP Luis Perales 4 19 79 CF Jhostynxon Garcia 4 20 80 SS Tyson Lewis 5 1 81 SP Gary Gill Hill 5 2 82 SP Ryan Sloan 5 3 83 CF Cris Rodriguez 5 4 84 OF Henry Bolte 5 5 85 SS Jesus Baez 5 6 86 SP Michael Forret 5 7 87 SP K.C. Hunt 5 8 88 SP Charlee Soto 5 9 89 3B Eddie Rynders 5 10 90 SP Trevor Harrison 5 11 91 SP Emiliano Teodo 5 12 92 C Carter Jensen 5 13 93 RP Craig Yoho 5 14 94 SP Noah Cameron 5 15 95 SP Parker Messick 5 16 96 SP Andrew Morris 5 17 97 5 18 98 SS Chase Meidroth 5 19 99 UT Dustin Harris 5 20 100 CF Yorger Bautista 6 1 101 SP Jaden Hamm 6 2 102 OF James Tibbs 6 3 103 SS JD Dix 6 4 104 2B Ryan Bliss 6 5 105 6 6 106 SP Jurrangelo Cijntje 6 7 107 6 8 108 SS Josh Adamczewski 6 9 109 3B Kale Fountain 6 10 110 OF Alan Roden 6 11 111 SP Logan Evans 6 12 112 OF Tirso Ornelas 6 13 113 1B Jack Costello 6 14 114 1B Will Simpson 6 15 115 SP Owen Wild 6 16 116 3B Kyle Karros 6 17 117 CF Dante Nori 6 18 118 6 19 119 1B Jonathon Long 6 20 120 CF Slade Caldwell

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

Kirk looks a bit better

Damn, that sucks. I was wondering why the whiffs were gone when the velo was 100% back. The bright side is that this might be fixable. It does look like it's just arm slot. Arm slot is one of those weird little injury nuances. A guy can be healthy, able to pitch, have his old velocity, but for some reason he can't come out of quite the same arm slot.

He can't even say one normal sentence. Anybody else: "Alan Roden. He's put himself in a position to contribute at the major league level" Boss Atkins “I’ll single out and put some pressure on Alan Roden. He’s done so much to put himself in a position to move through the system quickly and has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look”

Jim is right but my assumption would be that he gets $40M in salary and some portion of it is deferred and paid out on a schedule. So even if he opts out after 2025, Boston pays him $40M for 2025 eventually. I doubt the opt outs change the deferred money already earned.

Probably park preference.

To trade Bassitt for anything then get a deal like that on Pivetta later on, Atkins would have needed a crystal ball. Like, he would have needed to deal Bassitt back in November when the market was on fire then wait it out until now to replace him. Tough.

Fine. Good job Boston. You did it. Now what? Trading Casas? Benching Yoshida? Benching their elite defensive CF and making Durran the CF?

His comment provided about the same level of insight as your two, in much fewer words. I know the childish back and forth between posters is ugly and unattractive but when you come in and essentially just say "I don't like projection systems" in way more words, people are going to roll their eyes at you. This message board has never had a ton of patience for people who are aggressively anti-sabermetric and I don't think that is going to all of a sudden change.

Gross. That changes the calculus

My guess is that he doesn't opt out. He was the only viable 3B on the market this offseason. What is going to change in one year? Maybe if he is solid in 2025 and 2026 he can threaten to opt out so that Boston extends him. Taking 3/$120 is kind of a no-brainer if you have any confidence in yourself though, if the top alternative was something like 6/$170. If he is mediocre after this deal he can probably still get some $10M or $15M AAVs, and if he is good in 2027 he can probably tack a three year deal onto his career. Christian Walker just got one at 34.

I remember reading that he does not have the arm for the left side of the infield. Perhaps he is a 2B/LF/1B/DH this year and then in 2026, assuming he sticks, he is the 2B when Gimenez slides over to SS.