AdamGreenwood

I'd rather have five solid pitchers and 3 slightly below average arms ready to take over in the event of injury/fatigue. We don't need any thirty-year-olds signed to $100 million contracts that take us into 2019. Reyes and Martin will weigh us down enough then.

Is there a way to sign low quality MLB players to a guaranteed contract, but maintain the right to shuffle them back and forth between MLB and AAA, without letting anyone else poach them? '

I think Aoki would be a good pickup. We need another outfielder, and he's a left-handed bat with good OBP, which is what our homer-happy team needs. Would only have to give him three years max, and might even be able to get him for two years.

Some GM's trade players for some pretty stupid reasons. Look at us: 1) Gave Rios away for nothing after his 'altercation' with a fan. 2) Made Escobar a 'throw-in' after a juvenile prank. 3) Gave Lind away for nothing after criticising management.

I think this is what Lawrie needed. The Jays put too much pressure on a 20-year-old kid to be the face of the franchise. Being Canadian only puts more pressure on him. Being in a calm, small-market city where his Canadianness won't thrust him into the spotlight will be good for him. Now, he won't feel as if he has to carry the franchise on his back anymore. He can just be a regular member of the team.

Sorry guys, but this Jays team is not competing. We're at the stretching point when it comes to salary, and we have two stars, a few decent players, and a whole lot of average of below average players (including the entire pitching staff.) And what do you think happens when injury strikes? You think we have a ton of talented guys just waiting for their shot? Nope. We had Dan Johnson as our backup. If you like finishing 3rd or 4th every year, without whiffing the playoffs, then by all means, continue with this illusion. But eventually, the Jays will get serious enough about making the post-season that they'll realize that sometimes you have to take a step back before you take two steps forward. Impatience is not helping us, but fans can actually get excited about prospects. If we have a bunch of really, talented hot prospects, the fans will come out. The reason we should rebuild now is because we can actually get some pretty good stuff for Bautista and Encarnacion. There are three teams in particular that are filled with talent, and don't know where to put it all: Chicago Cubs, LA Dodgers and Boston Red Sox. We could trade our two big bats, and our old starters for a boatload of young talent and the payroll flexibility to land some Japanese/Cuban free agents.

I was crushed when the Dodgers bailed them out. $250 million has been earmarked for Beckett, Crawford and Gonzalez, and they LAD just handed them a get-out-of-stupid free card. Hopefully, they haven't learned their lesson, and will load up with more bad contracts. I would seriously love it, if we traded them Buehrle and Dickey, and got some great prospects in return, even if it signalled a rebuilding phase for us.

I just find Hayhurst incredibly annoying. He lacks any sense of humility, and has no qualms about absolutely trashing players he doesn't deem as valuable. As for Dickey, he's a grown up, and probably isn't all that keen on participating in the hunting and whoring discussions which comprise the majority of player convos. But we all know how thin-skinned Rogers is. Anyone who criticizes the organization or the team will get shipped out for about 10% of their value.

A couple years ago the Raptors spoke out against bullying. Then, they go and do this to poor Milwaukee. Hypocrites.

Price is total class. I remember the game when Bautista hit his second home run of the game off him. Price just admired it, grinned, and shook his head, with a 'how the heck did he hit that pitch' kind of expression.

JFaS is likely one of those poster types that just can't analyze pitchers, but can be pretty good in an admin role.

Bruce is projected to provide 1.4 WAR next year, for the low cost of only $12.5 million, and the best prospect in our system. Hmmmm, that sounds great.

There may be no limit to Bob Mccown's stupidity.

So excited the Jays are going to dig a hole so friggin' deep, we won't climb out of it for ten years. Maybe we can have $100 million locked up for 2019 on four players. That would be awesome.

Oh, I thought he was way older, and was too lazy to look him up on BR.

AA doesn't have to worry about funds in 2019, because he won't be around. The next GM can take over a team with 3 ~35+ players getting paid $60 million combined.

Imagine 30 guys in a fantasy baseball pool all chipping in $50, and getting the thing bronzed for the ultimate baseball trophy.

I'm sorry. What I meant to say was: OMG, we have Russil Martins. That's so awsome. We are going to be the champions of all the baseball. That was the one piece we were missing. Now we're unstoppable. Go Blue Jays!!!!!!!!!!

Why do you say that? Is it because I'm black? You think black people can't afford nice things?

Me: Hey honey, I bought a new Porsche. Wife: What the f***? How are we going to pay for that? Me: Don't worry. I set it up so that we only make payments of $300 a month this year. Wife: And what about next year? Me: Then they jump up to $2000 a month for a year, and then $10,000 a month, but that's two years away. Pfffftt! Wife: That's a brilliant master stroke. I love the flexibility you've give us with our budget. I love you. Me: I love you too.

In theory, you save some NPV, but the Jays always seem to add an extra 10% to the contract in exchange for the player accepting the back-loaded deal. We were talking 3/39. I just don't see anyway we could have failed to sign him for 5/65 if we didn't do this back-loaded nonsense. And even though that's terrible value, practically usury, AA doesn't care because if he makes the playoffs all is forgiven, and if he doesn't, that's somebody else's problem to deal with. While logic would dictate that it would be much harder to move the contracts of aging players with back-loaded contracts, LA teams continue to contradict me.

The recent Martin signing represents a return to the back-loaded contract. Martin will be paid just $7 million in 2015 (what a deal!). But in 2017, he goes up to 20 million for the next three years. So in 2019, the Jays will be paying $20 million for a 36-year-old catcher. But AA doesn't have to worry about that. Because if he doesn't make the playoffs, he's out of a job anyway. That $20 million will be somebody else's problem. In other words, he's essentially taking a loan from a future GM, so that he can risk everything now. Allowing a GM to trade away everyone on the farm, and cripple the team with bad future contracts digs a giant hole for future GM's. Do we really have to wait until EE and Bautista sign somewhere else, our farm is empty, and we're loaded down with horrendous contracts to make a change. Jays President should ban back-loaded contracts.

Exactly. That's the problem. JP did the same thing in the last few years. Made a lot of really bad decisions to try and salvage his job.

I'm pretty sure we could have picked up a pitching coach a lot cheaper than $82 million. Sure, Martin will help them more than JPA, but mentoring is not why we paid the big money. I think our starting pitching will be good in a couple of years, but we're not there yet. By the time these guys mature, we won't be able to hang on to EE or Bautista. You know that money that you don't care about? There's a limit. If we spend $82 million on a 32 year old catcher, we don't renew Bautista/EE, we don't chase after guys like Tanaka or Abreu. There's a fixed amount of money that Rogers is willing to spend, and if they spend it poorly, then there will be less money available for other purchases. Plus, I have stock in Rogers.

Well, that's 8% of the roster taken care of.