Laika

KL Just missed Johnny King, LHP, Toronto Blue Jays Height: 6-3 | Weight: 210 | Bats: L | Throws: L | Age: 19 The Jays’ third-round pick in 2024 out of a Florida high school, King debuted in the Florida Complex League last year and was outstanding in seven short outings, throwing 24 innings where he walked seven and struck out 41 of 98 batters. He struggled with control after a promotion to Low A, walking 17.8 percent of batters he faced there in 37 2/3 innings, which is why he’s not on the top-100 list. The stuff is there, for sure; he sits 92-94 with a four- and two-seamer, throws a two-plane curveball that got a 61.5 percent whiff rate in Low A, spins an above-average slider and has the rudiments of a changeup, although it’s by far his weakest pitch. His delivery is wildly inconsistent, leading to the issues with control, and he has a tendency to release the ball too early and too high. He also has a stiff landing where he can spin off his front heel or hop off the ground entirely. (He does come back down eventually.) His arm swing is fine, and it’s not unreasonable to think that the Jays can help him fix those lower-half issues, especially since he’s still 19 and pretty athletic. If they do that so that he can at least get into the zone more consistently and stop missing up so often, he’ll be on the top-100 list a year from now.

It's a huge longshot Romano and Yates were awful last year and are old. Stephendon is made of glass.

I don't even want to give him that 5th year Just not a comforting skill set - dude could be a true talent .180 hitter in 3 or 4 years

Bader gets 2/$20.5m from the Giants I know it's a very imperfect comp but he is largely why I don't think a Varsho extension would break the bank Yes Varsho is better...

Keith Law did too. Yesavage #25 2025 Ranking: 96 I don’t want to overrate Yesavage on the basis of a few incredible starts in September and October, but I don’t want to ignore them, either, as at the very least it looks like he’s ready to step right into a big-league rotation thanks to an improved slider and a ton of confidence in his stuff. Yesavage was Toronto’s 2024 first-round pick out of East Carolina, where he dominated with a plus splitter and a mid-90s fastball with good carry, throwing both from a very high slot that gives the fastball more riding life and more generally makes it harder for hitters to pick the ball up out of his hand. The Blue Jays have leaned into this, raising his arm slot a little more and giving him the highest release point of any current MLB starter, while also helping him improve his slider by throwing it much harder, over 2 mph faster than it was in college. That meant that in one playoff start against Seattle where he didn’t have his splitter, he had another weapon as a fallback option rather than just throwing fastball after fastball. The separating factor for Yesavage will be his command; he’s succeeding much more with stuff than location or even control right now, and that arm slot generally (but not always) makes it hard to repeat a delivery. If he’s healthy, he should be at least a solid No. 3/above-average starter, with further upside a function of whether and how he improves his command. JoJo Parker #60 2025 Ranking: N/A The No. 8 pick in the 2025 draft, Parker is an outstanding hitter for contact who barely swung and missed on the showcase circuit in 2024, when he was facing some of the best prep arms in the country. He controls the strike zone well, has excellent hand-eye coordination, and takes a short path to the ball that ensures he’ll put it in play at a high rate. He can drift over his front side through contact, losing some potential power there, although that’s a correctable issue and also doesn’t have to happen right away. He’s a shortstop now and has very good hands for the infield, but he’s not going to have plus range and probably gets pushed to third base. I’d be shocked if he doesn’t at least hit for high averages right out of the gate in pro ball; if you were looking for someone to be the next Kevin McGonigle from the 2025 draft class, it would be Parker. Arjun #89 2025 Ranking: 71 Nimmala tore out of the gate to start 2025, hitting .289/.372/.528 when the sun rose on June 1 with just an 18 percent strikeout rate, but it didn’t last, leading to a very mixed second full year in pro ball. A combination of some nagging injuries he played through, some fatigue and pitchers adjusting to him without him adjusting back in turn led to a collapse in his production. He hit just .184/.277/.290 the rest of the year, with a 24 percent strikeout rate that was still a huge reduction from the prior year. Toronto’s 2024 first-round pick, Nimmala was only 17 on draft day, and spent all of 2025 in High A at age 19, making him the fourth-youngest regular at that level — and two of the younger players ahead of him are on this list (Leo De Vries and Franklin Arias). He still has plus power, improved his contact rate while moving up a level and still projects to stick at shortstop. He’ll play all of 2026 at age 20, probably in Double A, and I expect him to continue to progress after an offseason of recovery. If he hits enough to get to his power, his profile is 25-plus homers with plus defense at short.

Embarrassing look for McCutchen and the Pirates He should just retire And they should have just told him no thanks back in November https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/01/pirates-open-to-re-signing-andrew-mccutchen.html

They'd never admit it but it's true Their careers also end early 30s, mostly, and people have kids so late now. Lots of time left to be a good dad, after baseball.

Reality is most guys just want to make the most money and probably like being away from their wife and brats for half the year so geography just isn't much of a preference

Yes Kevin Gray press conference at 9

*wants to be contractually restructured so he can retire

Yeah - mostly at CF. I'm not really a huge fan of Kwan. 99 wRC+ two of the last three years. Might be a very underwhelming player going forward. At least most of the relevant position player depth in the upper minors is from OFers. Schreck, Pinango, Arias, Loperfido, Clase. Pinto will be in AA this year. Not a lot to get excited about but Schreck or Pinango could always surprise this year. The team's two best hitting prospects are infielders as well. Acquiring a controllable CFer would be massive.

Or more run prevention, lol. Better pitchers should help. Jays got so lucky with certain P playoff performances.

seems like a lot of money for him! the White Sox have to pay more though, of course skyrockets his fantasy baseball value lol

Nats are probably shopping CJ Abrams. He'd be an interesting target, lol. Never would happen because of vibes though. I sort of agree that Clement/Gimenez are fine for 162 but you want punch in the playoffs, but they were both exactly what was needed for most (Gimenez) or all of (Clement) the 2025 playoffs so I don't agree entirely

Yeah every team in baseball would love a 2.5 WAR player as their 10th man. It's just not really an efficient use of resources, for most teams, other than the Dodgers. And if he is traded you will almost certainly get outbid by a team that has stronger motivations (is replacing a 1 WAR starter with Donovan).

"Facts don't care about your feelings" --- Taylor Swift

It's a great analogy

Cronenworth, Nootbaar, Nimmo

The five players are shortstop Gavin Fien, right-hander Alejandro Rosario, first baseman/outfielder Abimelec Ortiz, infielder Devin Fitz-Gerald and outfielder Yeremy Cabrera. Fein was their R1 12th overall in 2025 Rosario is/was a top 50 ish prospect. Did he have TJS? Ortiz is an interesting hitter but it's 5'10" 230 1B only I think I have nothing on the other two but Devin Fitz-Gerald should retire because he spells his name wrong and it really bugs me

Well that was not expected

seems possible he's a .240 hitter with 15 homers then the fantasy (roto) value hinges a lot on SB

Not sure you understand how hard it is to hit .280 with 20 Homers Judge Springer Yandy Diaz Bobby Witt Freeman Naylor (20 HR) Vlad Kurtz Acuna Jr. Stowers Geraldo Perdomo Ketel Marte (.283) Jose Ramirez (.283) Ohtani (.282) Ramon Laureano That's the entire list. The Jays already have two and the only other on this list who you might be able to acquire will never do it again (Laureano). And PROJECTIONS have an even smaller list. Yordan, Vlad, Yandy, Witt, Bichette (20), Acuna Jr, Judge, Marte. That's it!!!

Here is your post with the needless words removed. I hope I don't get tarred and feathered for this... the Blue Jays heading into 2026 are clearly a better team than they were last season.... but the AL East is still absolutely brutal. WHY WOULD YOU GET TARRED AND FEATHERED FOR THAT lmao

2.5 WAR guy with fringe power who played 20 games at shortstop (poorly) a few years ago... THE JAYS NEED THIS DUDE, REMEMBER BEN ZOBRIST!?