John_Havok

What a weird statement.... "overcoming privilege to achieve success"

That's a BP fastball right down the middle for "your mom" jokes

Bottom of the lineup would also be neutralized rather easily from the 6th inning onwards.

He should choose free agency... but then again, Bieber should have too. Theres a non-zero chance he decides to stay, but I dont expect him to.

It's entirely possible they are. Regressing his HR rate to even well above average(in a bad way) and hes very effective. Theres no reason to expect that HR rate to carry over to 2026 jast because it happened in 2025.

I dont think they'd be trading varsho, but if they dont extend him, I could see them trading for plan B like they did for Gimenez a year prior to Bo's free agency. Getting ahead of that potential scenario where Bo walks and you already have a capable SS in house paid off big time with his injury... and will lessen he blow if he does leave to a blockbuster offer. They could do the same thing with CF, just not sure who they would be targeting.

I know you know.... I just reply to your statement because it was the last one dealing with that topic

Yes, but he'd probably sign a 4/40 deal in a heartbeat. Lots of guys decline their 1 year deals of x amount and end up signing multi-year deals for a lower AAV. They value the longer term security more.

Why would it change your thoughts on being libertarian? Just because it's now impacting a sport that you enjoy rather than other issues that don't come up in your day-to-day?

How many people post under this account? Your sentence structure, verbiage and logical train of thought change from post to post in a very noticeable way

All long term deals turn into albatross deals down the road. Every single one. You know that going in. Yiu sign them to extra years to keep the AAV down earlier on

This is my train of thought also. Adding a 4/5 is easy, they fall off trees in the offseason and at the deadline. Add at the top, push other down and have guys at AAA to fill in the short-term injury gaps. The Jays are really close to having that type of situation as a reality. Not quite yet though

Would be a pretty terrible look for an org to not extend the Manager immediately following a WS run.

Anyone with the last name of Ponce is absolutely necessary to sign in my books.

Never mind that he may not want to be a reliever, but lets say he does... What pay cut is he going to take to be one? What's the market on swingmen these days? I don't see him suddenly being a closer and earning that level of paycheck.

Were you having a stroke when you were posting this?

They should be doing that already.

I'm in that camp too, though I think 200ish might be too low. He's more than a Miles Straw late inning defensive replacement on a team. The problem is... the LHH/Switch heavy nature of the OF and DH spots on the Jays make his spot precarious. The trouble (or non-issues depending on perspective) is Springer and Santander will be covering 1 corner OF spot and the DH spot. So, That means Barger likely plays the other corner OF spot most days against RHP and having a LH Lukes as an alternative to 2 LHH OF, a switch hitter and Springer... that makes him functionally useless off the bench, except as a pure pinch-hitter for someone else. He doesn't run well, (average speed but below average value as a runner) so yeah he could run for Kirk or something, I guess? Alternatively... maybe they stick Barger at 3b more often than not and then Lukes would be the perfect platoon for Schneider in the corner OF. But then he's the strong side member of the platoon, so he's going to be 400-500 PAs just like this year, and as you said, any regression makes that situation less than ideal. That, and Loperfido could probably do the same job as Lukes and is what , 5 years younger? Feels like the prudent thing to do would be to trade Lukes and run with Loperfido as the 2026 version of Lukes IF you keep a LHH OF on the bench. Lukes won't land a significant asset via trade, but he would land something useful. I'd probably target a reliever or an upper minors starter that looks stalled out and maybe looks like a backend piece but has that 1 wipeout pitch that might play up in the pen? That might be understating his value a bit, but ... i don't see the likelihood of getting much more than that.

Basically, yes. HRs, batting average, runs, RBI, and winning awards or placing in the top 2 or 3 of awards cause massive jumps in arb numbers, and when your first arb deal is higher than most other 1st arb deals, everything builds on that first deal even if your numbers slow down a bit. See Vlad Guerrero Jr as the poster child for this

I don't think that's true at all about Nimmala. Did it rise? Probably not, but not a massive hit either. More of a treading water scenario.

Bieber: Man, i feel so s***** about giving up that HR, what can I do to make it up to you guys? Atkins: Well, there is that 16million dollar option you have to stay here another year.... Bieber: Ya..ok, cool. Honestly this is pretty shocking. He's giving up a lot of money and certainty to try running it back. While I wouldn't truly call him an ace, I think it seals the deal on Bassitt for sure, but doesnt exclude the possibilty of another top-end arm. Pushing Lauer to the swing role/spot starter is even better.

I'm not advocating for it, just discussing the possibility and identifying the best sell-high candidates. Clement and Lukes are the two best. Lauer would be too honestly, but they kinda need people to throw baseballs towards the plate next year.

Thats the sh*t part of the offseason. All the emotion wears off and it's back to realizing that some pieces inevitably have to go. I'm rather okay with moving Lukes as I think he's in a bit of an over-achiever category who's likely to take a step backwards. Sell high on that kind of guy for sure if you can. Can you parlay him into a potential backend reliever? If so... do it. If not, he's a great bench guy. Clement I'd have more trouble parting with just from his defensive flexibility in the infield, but... yeah he and Lukes are so identical in their overall profiles it's kinda scary. Both are high contact, lower power hitters (lukes with more power though than Clement for sure), both play very well defensively in multiple positions in the OF and IF respectively..., Clement better on the bases. Both are quite obvious sell-high candidates, but I'd rather keep Ernie over Lukes. Ernie Lukes

I think a more pressing question for the FO is centered around Barger rather than Bassitt; not a question of whether he'll be there or not, but whether his emergence would pump the brakes on signing a guy like Kyle Tucker for the OF. Does Barger check enough boxes to forgo a serious push to sign Tucker? Hypothetically... chasing down Tucker would be great, BUT if they do, they likely don't have money for Bo plus a front line pitcher. I think their target splashes are going to be either Bo or Tucker plus a top-end pitcher. So it's like... Barger + Bo at, lets say around 25 million AAV, plus front line pitcher at 25-30 million AAV... is that better than Barger + Tucker at 30ish million AAV and front line pitcher at 25-30 AAV? There's lots of domino effects that would happen if they signed Tucker instead of Bo regarding Springer, Santander and the DH spot, not to mention Lukes and Clement, since signing Tucker would put barger at 3rd most days, pushing Clement to 2b, and making Lukes LH bench bet kinda ... not overly useful backing up 2 LHH, a switch hitter and Springer, the RH backup OF would be more in play (aka Schneider/Straw). Keeping Bo at 2b, stickong barger in RF and Clement at 3rd would be doable, creates fewer issues for Lukes, but really Lukes' role shouldnt be a factor in whether or not you sign a guy like Tucker. There's so many moving parts and what-ifs and this-is-what-happens-if-X-guy-signs that it's hard to discuss it all in a single post.

Barring injury/off-season trades, it would have to be a pen debut or spot start most likely. Gausman, Trey and Berrios are locks for the rotation, Lauer will have every chance at it, as will Bowden Francis if his shoulder is recovered. of course there will be the usual dumpster dives/minor league signings too. There's also no way they don't sign or trade for 1 top-ish of the rotation arm because if they don't, they're dumn. That doesn't leave much space for Ricky T or Stanifer really at any point except for fill-ins or injury-replacement, and that's actually a really good place to be.