John_Havok

Agreed. Him opting out was a bit of a shocker. He would be the exact type of guy people would be trying to sign to be this year's Steven Matz.

Oh yeah Taylor is lightyears better with the bat, but defensive versatility is only so valuable if he's not good at the defense part. Taylor really isn't good at defense. You can put him in many places to be below average sure. Quite honestly, the Jays have enough defensive versatility with regards to guys capable of playing multiple positions, they just need the guys to be better defensively at the positions they get put in.

Espinal and smith should not be starters, whoever advocates as such is kinda... nutty. Espinal is a bench guy, everything you want in your bench IF backup. Defensive versatility, actually good at each position, and doesn't suck with the bat. 0 power, but has a good eye and doesn't embarrass himself. Smith is AAA depth that comes up in case of injury for now, but clearly they hope he can still take another step forward. Who is advocating for these guys to be starters?

Bonus structures like this are hilarious. They know they'll never have to pay it out ... no chance Vlad would ever get that kind of deal in any contract he signs.

Espinal is already Chris Taylor. Doesn't have the power, but is far better defensively.

For the life of me I can't figure out how the Braves are balking at Freeman. Absolute beast that's been your franchise cornerstone his entire career and projects to still be an amazing hitter for at least the next 4 years. I get it to a point, you know he wont be worth it the entire length of the deal, but you just figuratively stole money from Acuna and Albies, in order to ensure you can pay other great players. FREEMAN IS THAT GREAT PLAYER! In the words of Teddy KGB ... "Pay that man his money"

That could very well be what happens, but then where's the depth that every team needs when injury hits? all they have left are minor leaguers with 0 big league experience at that point. Sure there will some last minute minor league signings with invite's to spring training, but I don't think that's what they team should be shooting for. If anything, they should be looking to add at least 1 big league arm, with Pearson starting the year at AAA (along with Logue and Francis), in his last option year to get stretched out, and he be the first man up when injury hits, assuming his health and command are good. Kay and Hatch are probably also 5th man rotation options but to me it would be better if they were the depth, not the 1st option. I think Hatch still has options, but Kay might be out as he's been up and down for 3 seasons. Kay might have the inside track on #5 as it stands right now and that's probably not ideal.

Possibly, but you know what the owners really want is a hard cap rather than a luxury tax, which means the players would then also want a salary floor.... so raising the luxury tax threshold is what the players propose as some middle ground.

I know the Jays are still probably an IF short, but at least they have some internal options there. The rotation still goes 1-4 and then.... hope. need another starter also. The internal options for starter in the minors are nothing to be thrilled with, and even Pearson is a prayer at this point. Stripling will get his reps for sure due to injury, but this rotation is still not ready at all.

Bill Bergen says hi.

The system in place discourages tanking to get #1 since the top talent doesn't always go as the # 1 pick. In the NBA, NHL etc, the top talent always goes #1 with very few exceptions. To make a draft lottery as an effective tool against tanking in MLB they'd have to change how the draft works entirely to make tanking useful, and THEN put in a lottery to discourage it. There are any number of years where the teams with the #1 pick takes guys that are NOT the top talent, because they know they can pay them less than slot in order to sign other guys in later rounds above slot. So a draft lottery doesn't impact that at all. Makes no sense. Teams sell players at trade dealines because of 2 reasons. A) they know they aren't making the playoffs so they try to sell any players they can to save money, or because they know they're pretty sure they aren't making the playoffs and want to trade any talent they can that will net them assets at lower cost... to save money. The best way to discourage tanking in the MLB is with expanded playoffs and a hard salary floor.

I think they're still 1 SP short also. Someone in the 3-4 range would be nice. If Pearson makes the rotation, there's certainly going to be innings limits on him. Even Manoah will have some starts skipped likely to ensure he doesnt push too far past 140 IP. Yeah, Striploin can make some spot starts throughout the year and cover for some inevitable injuries, but ideally we need 8-9 starters ready to go and by my count right now... Berrios, Gausman, Manoah, Ryu as written in stone, then in pencil... Pearson, Stripling... and in virtually invisible ink you have guys like Logue, Francis, Kay, Hatch.

Yeah, but ... why would a draft lottery be needed? The MLB draft is totally different than the other sports that use them.

Did you take care of the spam in the other side of the forum?

"A more recent addition to the negotiations is an NBA-style lottery system for the draft. The league believes it will at least partly address players' tanking concerns. Right now, the team with the worst record in baseball gets the No. 1 pick in the amateur draft the following summer. It's created a "race to the bottom," as agent Scott Boras put it earlier this month. The league is offering a system where all non-playoff teams would have a chance at the No. 1 pick -- not just the team with the worst record. The worst team would still have better odds than the second-worst team, and so on and so forth, but in theory, any non-playoff team could end up with a top-three pick. The lottery would only be for picks No. 1 through No. 3, then the draft would continue as it has in the past, based on regular-season record. The playoff teams would pick according to how they finished in the postseason. The World Series winner would pick last." I don't see the point of a lottery system in the MLB draft in it's current format with draft slot values and draft pools and the ability to spend more than a slot value. The top talents still have relatively decent chances of not being taken #1.

I find it difficult to believe you know of books.

It's fine not to care what people think. What's not fine is sounding like a rambling idiot if you want people to actually respond to your opinions and engage in competent discourse.

Yeah Texas is a stars + scrubs lineup right now. Those just don't work.

I'm just glad you found the question mark key.

2 things. 1. Gausman arguably pitched better than Ray last year, so if anything the Jays are likely ahead there. 2. Punctuation. Learn it. Live it. Love it.

Eppler: I'm gonna outspend everyone and give at least 1 ludicrous deal this offseason. Daniels: Hold my beer.

Yeah he accepted the QO after the 2020 season from San Fran so he wasn't eligible to receive one again.

Yeah that could be an approach thing rather than a bat-speed issue. Getting his brain to start his swing slightly later would be what they are looking for in that scenario.

Maybe, it's hard to know the whole process that he went through with the Jays and other teams, like timing, when they talked, what was on the table when... once Gausman signed it was pretty obvious he wasn't coming back here, but for all we know that ship might have sailed a week ago.

Opt out after 3 years, first 2 years full no trade clause and a trade bonus if he gets moved after the no trade clause expires.