Laika

Yeah. Can't fire the hitting coach because Vlad is low IQ.

zoom out. Martinez has been the hitting coach since 2019. 2019 - 92 (18th) 2020 - 104 (13th) 2021 - 112 (2nd) 2022 - 118 (2nd) 2023 - 107 (8th) If results are all that matters it's hard to let him go unless we are being very short sighted

Awkward. What Cashman probably wanted to say is something like "we aren't interested in giving a starting role to a player like Peraza who was a fringe-average hitter in AAA"

signal vs. noise it's possible that the hitting coach was not the problem. coaches are often scapegoats. there is a lot of luck involved in RISP results. coaching changes are a higher risk move than people think. there is a benefit to keeping groups of employees/staff/players together over the years. many of the Jays 2023 hitting problems can be individualized and the fix is just on the player. All the coaches can do is identify the problem and give the player drills or tips to fix it. It's on the player to gain comfort in the changes and implement them. So if Guillermo Martinez is on record telling Vlad to stop swinging at low strikes, Chapman to get out in front more, Kirk to get out in front more, Varsho to not be so flyball obsessed, etc., and he working with them and offering proper instruction and drills, and the players still fail... it might not be a coaching issue. they ARE making some minor coaching changes so it's not like the staff is all returning in identical functions and last, a portion of the Jays 2023 offensive issues are just personnel related. FO made a conscious effort to prioritize defense. (just supplying to other side of the coin as requested, don't tar and feather me bros)

Some of them are out to lunch but it's mostly fine The Bellinger one is wild The Jordan Montgomery money is insane to me but I dunno

His Fangraphs scouting grades are choice. 60 speed, 60 defense, 60 hit, 50 raw power. junghoolee51.com is funny. it immediately references Bo Bichette and Vlad ? https://junghoolee51.com/Scoutingreport Five KBO gold gloves in CF... hmmmm..... I am super interested Okay, Ha Seong Kim is the obvious comp. KBO: .294/.373/.493, ages 18 to 24, K and BB rates were about 11.5% with a ~.200 ISO in his last two years MLB: .245/.325/.383 Lee KBO: .340/.407/.491, ages 18 to 24, 11% BB rate with 6% K rate last two years and .226 and .136 ISOs Looks like he is Kim with better contact/avg and less pop. .275/.350 with 10-12 homers? He didn't have the KBO SB that Kim did. He's probably somewhere in between Kim and Steven Kwan as a hitter. It definitely plays if the defense and BsR are rock solid. Imagine Kwan with 45 power instead of 30 power. Or to put it another way, imagine Masataka Yoshida if he was a good athlete instead of a butcher DH.

Lee has a pretty swing. The homers look nice on the youtubes. I wonder if the lack of power, high contact is somewhat intentional based on approach and if he could hit more dingers if he wanted to.

please hire him

very excited for JP Morosi to use the Blue Jays as a fake rumor on literally every free agent just because Ross Atkins calls them all to say hi and kick the tires

Trent Thornton is the one!

It's possible I mean Seattle's motivation in trading for him is evidence towards this. Teams do overpay for this kind of player. They do it in trade, like Seattle did, and they do it in free agency, just see the contracts for guys like Schwarber and Castellanos and Bryant and Avisail Garcia and George Springer and others - all horrendously overpaid corner outfielders who ostensibly have pop.

Truly executed to perfection by Atkins

Man, I think the offense was so lame in 2023 that they will definitely sacrifice a bit of defense for thump. I don't think that means Justin Turner at 2B or Joc Pederson in LF but Teoscar isn't out of the question. You are right that Soler might be enough of a butcher to just be a DH option. I am really surprised at MLBTR's prediction for Teoscar. 1.8 fWAR with a 31% K rate = 4/$80? I think closer to the Mitch Haniger contract of 3 yr, $43.5M

yeah no good

I don't think the team has that on their priority list I mean if his market doesn't happen and Toronto signs no other OF and it's Feb 28th then maybe

He almost certainly can't. Just an emergency or third option there. He picked it up in fantasy with 10 appearances haha.

Stroman is a no-brainer. Bassitt money but only for 2 years? Nice. Soler 3/45 is palatable. Jung Ho Lee at 5/50 is kind of risky but maybe worth the gamble. He is only 25. Maybe he would PREFER a 3 or 4 year deal with a no arbitration clause so he can hit MLB free agency early. Imanaga 5/84 sign me up Sonny Gray 4/90 sign me up Yamamoto 9/225 sign me up Ohtani blank cheque sign me up Hoskins 2/36 sure Mahle 2/20 yes please Amed Rosario 2/18 I would do this, he is only 28 Justin Turner 1/16 sure, why not From the HM section: MAT, Ryu, Pham, Pederson, Paxton, Pagan, Miley, Kimbrel, Lynn, Gibson, Fedde, Duvall all have appeal to me on affordable 1 year deals...

I dunno. Most of these will be reasonably accurate. A few way off as usual. Who do we like at these prices? Assume any player in the HMs gets $10M

Trading Kikuchi and signing multiple SP6 types sounds good on paper but I dunno dudes. There is SOME value is not messing with things. Kikuchi just got comfortable after a very s***** first year in Toronto. Other teams probably see him as a flaky add and would be worried about him switching teams. He's set to produce actual surplus value on his reasonable $10M 2024 guarantee. There is also some major wishcasting from MikeM going on. You want Toronto to operate like SFG, but they probably don't have the front office chops of SFG. Playing with fire. If Toronto brought in a bunch of these SP6 type guys you'd probably end up with a bunch of Mitchy White clones.

that's the beauty of it when SFG signs guys like this, they are coming off injury or terrible seasons so they just take a role as SP6 and starting in their pen. some candidates in the current FA crop would be guys like Severino, Rich Hill, Erick Fedde (check his KBO stats), Weaver, Odorizzi, Fujinami, Keller, Boyd Toronto would need to do some musical chairs in the pen though and trade some traditional RP. Or non-tender a couple.

so..... hire David Ross?

wtf he did? every time I checked a box score this year he was getting destroyed

I had no idea that Craig Counsell was such a catch. His son, Cavan Counsell, is quite the prospect or so I hear.

Kind of want Toronto to come out of the offseason with some funky ass platoons all over the place. LF: Gallo and McCutchen s*** like that ^ Schneider, Hoskins, Biggio, Orelvis, Barger, Palmegiani all in house candidates for such platoons.

Moncada is owed $24.8M in 2024, and has a $5M buyout in the team option in 2025. So nearly $30M guaranteed. He projects for 2.2 WAR, I think. Hard to see that working. Ignoring salary, Moncada seems like a nice 2024 punt option though. I wonder if CHW would eat half the salary? That makes something like Pearson for Moncada an even swap.