John_Havok

Bieber would be interesting for sure, but yes he's probably missing a month or two in 2025. Had TJ sometime around April 10 this year. Burnes would be my #1 choice. I suspect Bieber will sign another 1 year deal with Cleveland, probably with options added on Trade market...f***ed if I know really. I'm not sure the Jays have the pieces to even trade for a #1 type SP. I think they could land a top tier reliever or two though.

I agree that having the best 4 and 5 is nice, but i do that by getting another top arm which pushes 3 and 4 to 4 and 5. And the previous 5, ideally someone young with less than 3 years of service time, to be the first man up when injury happens.

I don't do politics. Religion on the other hand....

I think his last game action was July 23. Easing him back in is probably a decent plan

It's the top of the rotation that needs improvement, not the bottom.

yeah. Pitching was on point on both sides today. Extremely boring.

Vlad just got destroyed by Miller. f*** that kid that throw

may as well. open roster spots, hope 1 works out. What else they gonna do at this point of the season? the only guys with real talent that might appear on waivers will be old and/or expensive, which they don't want.

The Blue Jays have claimed Luis Frías off of waivers from the Diamondbacks, according to both teams. Arizona designated the right-hander for assignment on Thursday to make room for catcher Andrew Knizner on the 40-man roster. Toronto has optioned Frías to Triple-A Buffalo, reports Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. The Blue Jays had two open spots on their 40-man roster, so no additional roster moves will be necessary. He throws a hard sinker, thats about all I know. It's a "throw s*** at the wall and see if it sticks" move for the pen

Damn, 1 bad pitch all game and Rooker just squeaked it out.

*crickets*

Good stuff for Yariel getting out of the 2nd inning jam with 2 on and nobody out. well done. Vlad extends his hitting streak with a single in the first.

If the Dodgers get Soto, there's no real point in playing anymore. Top 4 of the lineup would be all future HOF hitters.

Even the walk rate... less than 1% below career average with the most feared power hitter in the game hitting right behind him. You'd think pitchers would rather take their chances with Soto... doesn't seem that way.

Yeah hard to say, but really Ohtani sets the bar. Jays point to him and say listen, the Jesus of baseball was willing to defer in order to keep competitive so the Dodgers can keep guys like Freeman and Betts around. It's not even like What Would Jesus Do, it's now Look What Jesus Did.

For sure. Even if we assume he gets 40m, same as judge, that's 2 40 million dudes, a 36m Cole, a 32m Stanton and a 27m Rodon right behind. 175m per season for just 5 players with none of them being FAs until 2029 when Rodon, Cole and Stanton are up. That's kinda nutty to think about, but yeah, could very well happen. I dont think Soto will only end up with 40 though, i'm betting it goes higher.

At the risk of sounding sarcastic, yeah, usually when contracts are signed both parties need to agree on the terms.

Unless deferrals take centre stage on both Vlad and Soto's hypothetical deals. Maybe they can talk them into that using the very obvious need to do so in order to keep them surrounded with talent. I know lots of people are talking about the Yankees re-signing him but ... with their payroll now and heading into the 4th straight year of penalties... the taxes alone on signing Soto would be immense. But then again... deferrals are an option for them too.

And with properly structure deferred money, that 300m wouldn't even be 300m, it would just look like it on paper.

What political bait? Even in sports, first offense is a light suspension, 2nd one is longer, 3rd one longer still, etc.

Good questions, because with Romano (TBD, lets say 10M just guessing?- 2025) , Swanson (4m? - 2025) Bo (11.2m 2025) Bassit (21m 2025), Gausman(23m - 2026), Green (10.5m - 2026) and Springer(25m - 2026) coming off the books, that's 105 million coming off by the end of 2026, 46m alone heading into 2026. Yes, there will be some guys in there needing arb raises in there, but as of now, nobody really prohibitive. Maybe Manoah if he rights the ship between now and then as he's Arb 2 and 3 for 2026 and 2027. Varsho, not exactly looking overly expensive at the moment. Ditto Kirk. Here's how it looks for 2025 as it stands now: 2025 Arb needs: Arb 1 - Pop, Clement, Manoah (all should be cheap, Manoah will get a bit more for his big 2022) Arb 2 - Kirk (gonna guess 4m) Arb 3 - Romano (im guessing 10M), Cabrera (2.5), Varsho (7-8 maybe? -arb 4 in 2026), Arb 4 - Vlad (lets just say 30) THe rest are all league minimum pre-arb. With the roughly 105m in tax space... the above eats up around 55-60. Add in at least 40 for Soto (hypothetically) and there's still the need for at least 1 starter, some pen arms, and a 3B. I think if the Jays are going after Soto, and i believe they should, they're very much going to be a tax team for 2025 without some pretty shrewd trades.

I agree ... assuming its not ludicrous. Like, i would love the Jays to go get Soto and lock up Vlad at the same time. They're it for the next 10 years. Bo comes back next year, and if he has a more typical Bo season, I don't see how they don;t make noise in the playoffs with a competant starting staff and pen. Then you let Bo walk, take the 4th round comp pick, and figure out how to surround Vlad and Soto with talent for the remainder of their contracts.

How about Baserunning and defense? I mean, if you told me right now Vlad was going to put up 45.6 fWAR over the next 9 seasons, i'd give him his 10 year deal at 350 million without blinking. I don't think he will though... bat might be great, baserunning and D will not be.

I'm presenting information, not taking a position. but if youre referring to the Vlad > Freeman post from before, ... no. Freeman is right now, a better overall player than Vlad is. My posts are just comparing the two players from their own debut's through their age 25 season. One could reasonably argue that Vlad has been as valuable as Freeman over that stretch, given that they're basically a push. What remains to be seen is what Vlad does from 26-34. Freeman has put up 45.6 fWAR over that stretch... gotten better defensively than he was from 20-25, and has been basically a neutral baserunner, while putting up a 149 wRC+. Do you think Vlad is going to do that from 26-34?

Lets just look at that then! Guerrero Freeman