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Not a bad deal at all. If the Jays signed O'Neill to that, wouldn't complain. Orioles found their Santander replacement.

Ironic how when advanced metrics don't fit your narrative, you toss them aside. Though in every other case, advanced metrics when used to evaluate players are considered the Bible around here. Yes Berrios outperformed his FIP to a large degree in 2024, but to expect him to continue to outperform his FIP as he ages and other numbers like K/9 dip, looks to be a recipe for disaster. Look I'm a Berrios fan. I do agree he's a valuable arm since he's durable and can provide innings, and there is value in that despite the non flashy numbers. Kind of the same when RA Dickey and Mark Buehrle were here from 2013 to 2015. You could rely on them to take the ball every fifth day and give you innings. If Berrios can return to his 2023 form, the better it is for the Jays and for the outlook of his contract. If we see Berrios where he barely cracks a 7 K/9, I'm concerned. Better hope he continues to outperform his FIP or else.

Best non-arbitration asset the Jays have? Gausman probably is still IMO. Agree that the Berrios contract doesn't look that bad if we see the 2023 Berrios moving forward. Last season's version of Berrios however posted a 4.72 FIP, career low 7.16 K/9 and only 1 WAR which is concerning. Still would be open to moving him if another team absorbed his entire contract. There might be a possibility given the expensive price tag for starting pitching. The hope is he bounces back to being a 2-3 WAR arm like he was in 2023. If we see the 2022 and 2024 version which barely cracks 1 WAR, those latter years are going to be tough to swallow.

Yeah that's the possibility as well. Holmes only has made 4 career MLB starts. Gotta go back to the 2016 and 2017 seasons when he was in the minors the last time he had full seasons of starting under his belt. Hicks started to tire in June and was awful in July. Started to pitch well out of the pen in August but then got injured and shut down in September. I guess the Mets are hoping for outcomes like Lugo and Lopez.

Interesting signing with Clay Holmes. Maybe the Mets squeeze 2-3 WAR out of him as a starter. $12.6M AAV isn't that bad even for a high leverage BP arm. Worst case scenario, they move him to the BP and he becomes a setup guy for Edwin Diaz. Mets rotation: Senga Peterson Montas Holmes Megill/Blackburn The Mets still gotta add another front of the rotation arm IMO.

Yeah he took a hometown discount for sure. Like I said, Jays probably would have had to go $18-20M.

Didn't I say one year + an option ya dingleberry lol. $14M AAV is nice. I would have went to $18-20M if he's returning May and his medicals checked out.

Bargain bin shopping can be fun. Reminds me of the days when JPR was the GM here in his early years haha. I do believe the Jays will still be spending money, but won't be for the Tier 1 or 2 guys unfortunately since their prices have inflated. They might have to bargain hunt for other spots on the roster. My bargain bin shopping list: First two guys aren't really bargain FA signings, but if the Jays were to spend money, would sign these guys based on needs, cost and upside they offer. - OF Tyler O'Neill (3 years/$42M): need to add thump to this lineup and when healthy O'Neill offers that. He's also still just 29 and offers some decent upside, which the Jays need to take a gamble on. Doubt he returns to being a 5 WAR player like he was in 2021, but out of all the outfielders/DH's not named Soto, he offers that kind of upside. All we need O'Neill is to be a 3-4 WAR guy and hit 30+ HR's. I've warmed up about signing him to a 3 year deal since Vladdy and Bo are both impending FA's after 2025, so at least the Jays would have a bat with some thump in 2026 at a decent cost. Jeff Hoffman (4 years/$48M): need to add a high leverage reliever and Hoffman has been really darn good the past two seasons (1.5 and 2 WAR seasons). Would automatically make him the closer and at $12M AAV wouldn't be a bad price at all. He might cost more, so Jays might have to add an extra year maybe or up his salary by 1-2M. If Severino is getting paid $22M to barely crack 2 WAR, would rather sign Hoffman at around $12M AAV who can provide the same WAR possibly. A.J. Minter (1 year/$8M): another high leverage arm who is a lefty, Minter would be a nice fit. Maybe at most he gets a second year tacked on. Has closing experience as well in case Hoffman can't handle the role from the start. Previous years had seasons of 1.3, 2 and 1.4 WAR. Might be a cheap way to add some WAR given the inflated prices of starters so far. - Yoán Moncada (1 year/$5M): still only 29 and has some prior seasons where he was really solid. Worth rolling the dice on if he comes cheap and might get lucky he has a rejuvenated season. If he doesn't pan out, always have Clement who can start at 3B for an extended period if need be. - SP Griffin Canning (1 year/$4M): I think the starting rotation is really down on their list right now, especially after seeing what arms like Severino and Boyd got as FA's. Rotation is actually fine as is if everyone is healthy, but depth is an issue. Atkins has always loved to target durable arms who can stay healthy and Canning fits that bill. He's still only 28 and posted a 1.8 WAR season in 2023. Maybe Pete Walker unlocks some more potential with him. Sign Canning to be the No. 5 starter and use Y-Rod in the bullpen to start the season and see if he can carve out a high leverage role. Kinda like filling two holes with one move. If Canning struggles, can always move Y-Rod into the rotation. So far all those moves would cost the Jays around $43M with some extra bucks left over to sign a backup C and maybe another reliever on the cheap. If Jays want to spoil themselves, sign Carson Kelly or bring back Dany Jansen on a one-year deal. Or just sign Reese McGuire for $1-2M. If the Jays wanted to go cheaper on adding an outfielder, Conforto (2 years/$18-20M) instead of O'Neill. Horwitz I'm assuming will DH still with Wagner at 2B. Lineup: C Kirk/Kelly 1B Guerrero 2B Wagner 3B Moncada SS Bichette LF O'Neill CF Varsho RF Springer DH Horwitz BN Clement BN Loperfido BN Schneider/Jimenez/Barger Rotation: 1) Gausman 2) Berrios 3) Bassitt 4) Francis 5) Canning Bullpen: RHP Hoffman LHP Minter RHP Swanson RHP Y-Rodriguez RHP Green RHP Burr LHP Little Another FA reliever As the Term would say, WC3 will be easy to make!

Glad to see I'm no longer Brownie's No. 1 target haha.

When you think about it, last offseason was the time to be shopping the FA market. So many great FA deals and all short term. Snell: 2 years/$62M Lugo: 3 years/$45M Wacha: 2 years/$32M Stroman: 2 years/$37M Manaea: 2 years/$28M Flaherty: 1 year/$14M Teo: 1 year/$23M Pederson: 1 year/$12.5M Santana: 1 year/$5.2M

Would have thought with the abundance of FA arms available, adding a mid-rotation starter wouldn't have been that expensive. Though when Matt Boyd is getting $14.5M AAV and Luis Severino is getting $22M AAV, just yikes! Might as well roll with Francis and Y-Rod in the #4-5 spots and use that money elsewhere like upgrading the BP and adding two power bats to the lineups which are the biggest needs. If they want to add another starter, might have to be via trade. Trading for Matz and his $11M AAV for next season doesn't look that bad now actually. As for FA arms, might have to look at someone like Griffin Canning or Spencer Turnbull if they sign around $5M on a one-year deal. Canning is durable, put up a 1.8 WAR season in 2023 and is still under 30. Turnbull looked impressive in Philly last season when he was on the mound.

Would definitely be a huge blow. Boston has a lot of other great supporting bats in their lineup and all they would need to do is add another arm or two. Never count Boston out. They always have the money and resources to make big splashes and retool quickly. They won 81 games last season, and could easily become a 90+ win team the following year or two.

Will see how much Teo signs with the Dodgers for. Maybe he accepts a discount to sign back there. Regardless, with Teo off the board, benefits Santander and he'll use Teo's deal as a benchmark. If Teo get close to $100M, Santander asks for more. Jays might have to pivot to Plan B or C and start looking at guys like Tyler O'Neill or Joc Pederson. That's the reality if guys like Santander are going to get $100M or so. Would rather spend extra money signing someone like Bregman or Adames before handing Santander $100M.

Hopefully he doesn't sign with the same team that Ha-Seong Kim signs with.

He's never winning a Championship.

Yeah also sucks to have star players sit out one game of a back-to-back. Imagine you're a die hard NBA fan and bought tickets to see that certain player, and they're a healthy scratch. NBA should do a better job at scheduling where teams aren't playing back-to-back games. I don't get it, but seems like there already have been a ton of back-to-back games for the Raps and other NBA teams. Like even the Celtics played in Cleveland on Sunday and then hosted Miami last night back in Boston. Like seriously.

Manfred needs to just chill. He can't be making changes to the game every year, especially radical ones like a golden bat. Their next change should be to try and lengthen the Postseason like making the DS a best of 7 series rather than a best of 5. If anything the MLB needs to take a couple of tips from the NBA playbook when it comes down to the offseason. Make the MLB offseason more entertaining. The pace really moves too slow. If this was the NBA, all the stars would be locked up by now haha.

Yeah probably is, but the market for catchers is starting to become thin. Probably will be really slim pickings come end of January. Would be a cheap way at adding an extra 1-2 WAR. If you can sign Carson Kelly now for like $5M or so, wouldn't hesitate. Would rather spend the extra couple of million now rather than trying to sign a scrub for $1-2M at the end of January.

Backup C is likely last on their list, though like said before on here it could be a great and cheap way at adding extra WAR. If an opportunity comes up where they can add someone now for a couple of million, should probably do it considering the catching market right now is thinning out. Carson Kelly would be a perfect fit though he likely gets something similar or a bit less than Higashioka. Grandal could likely be had on a one year deal worth a couple of million. The rest of the options suck. Jansen at $5 or $6M on a one year deal wouldn't be too bad. Familiar with the pitchers within the organization and does have a comfort level here. Hedges re-signed with Cleveland at $4M and Jacob Stalling went back to Colorado for $2.5M.

Yeah those two signings make the Kikuchi deal look even better. Will be interesting to see what guys like Eovaldi, Severino, Manaea, and Pivetta get now.

Montas at $17M AAV is a lot especially after the season he was coming off of. In 2021, he did post 4 WAR with Oakland but that was when he was 28. Boyd only made 8 starts during the regular season and 3 starts in the Postseason, though pitched very well. Still surprised to see him get 2 years/$29M. Was expecting him to sign a one year deal. If back end rotation starters are getting around $15-17M AAV like Montas and Boyd, eww. Makes Steven Matz look like a bargain now especially if the Cards eat $4-5M of his contract haha.

What depth arm do you suggest they sign? The guys I listed earlier are likely going to cost $7 to $8M anyways and aren't really any better than Matz. As well, at least Matz could have use in the bullpen if he doesn't pan out in the rotation, whereas someone like Quantrill wouldn't. Given the Jays BP needs, I think using Yariel out of the BP to start the season would actually be a smart move. I think he can be a valuable multiple inning reliever and even move into some high leverage. He could be one of the missing BP pieces this team needs. I'm all for getting a solid No. 2/3 starter, but even someone like Eovaldi or Severino or Pivetta are likely going to cost close to $20M AAV over 2-3 years. So that's why Matz isn't a bad gamble if he costs nothing to acquire and the Cards eat $4-5M off his salary. Again it's just discussion. I was responding to Grant who mentioned Matz as a trade candidate and also agreed it wasn't a bad idea if the Jays want to save some money in adding a rotation piece and using that money elsewhere like adding a power bat to the lineup or in the pen. Also, there is the possibility the Jays could acquire Nolan Arenado and Ryan Helsley in a deal with the Cards who are looking to shed some contracts. Could fill 3 holes on the roster all in one trade, without having to trade any real assets other than taking on Arenado's contract.

I swear it feels like my entire team just hit the IL last week like WTF? haha Missing the great power of Dick on my squad. My team without him doesn't have the same length and energy. Not playing hard enough.