jaysblue

I agree. I'm okay with him as the starting 3B next season if the Jays spend money elsewhere on the roster. Need to add at least two big bats to the lineup hopefully in LF and at DH. At worst, Clement and his glove provide 2 WAR over a full season.

Definitely listen to the part when Caleb Joseph speaks. He brings up a lot of great points.

Chris Bassitt also said Vladdy should play 75% of the time at 3B and thinks he prefers playing at the hot corner. Said he doubted him playing 3B this season, but that he looked really good. He thinks Vladdy does want to stay here. Interesting.

Great interview. Laika wears blinders and can't think critically.

It's a weak SS market this offseason. Outside of Adames and Kim, there aren't really any solid options in the next tier below them. Maybe DeJong and Rosario, but that's it! Jays might be able to capitalize on the weak SS market and if they could, definitely open to trading him during the offseason. Atlanta would be a great fit for Bo.

Yup. Smoak had that one really good year in 2017. Adam Lind in 2009 and 2013. Michael Saunders in 2016 was solid.

As a kid growing up, Delgado was one of my favourites. Class act player here! Sucks he was never able to sniff the Postseason with the Jays.

I wouldn't call them solid middle of the rotation options just yet, especially after only 3 great starts for Francis and Yariel who has only pitched 6+ innings twice in his 13 starts. Heading into the 2025 season, would hope they're both competing for one spot only in the rotation, and that the Jays brought in another arm to solidify the #1-4 spots. I agree that I think Burnes and Snell might be too expensive and could limit what the Jays spend on elsewhere. Brownie brought this up the other day and made a good point that there are plenty of solid arms available in the second tier who likely could be had on shorter term deals and less money such as Nathan Eovaldi, Luis Severino, Alex Cobb, Nick Pivetta or even bring back Kikuchi.

As much as I love Bowden Francis, some of you guys need to temper you expectations. He's 28-years-old and has just ONLY put together a string of 3 great starts in row. Lets see what he does over the final 6 or so weeks. Heading into 2025, ideally he should be competing for one of the final rotation spots during ST.

If the Jays need to save some payroll space this offseason in order to make upgrades in other areas, 3B is a place they can save some money if they roll with Clement. If you can squeeze out 15 HR's along with a 2-3 WAR season from Clement, would take that from third base in 2025.

Keep taking that blue pill Laika!

If Bo comes back September 1st and goes on a tear over the final month, definitely helps restore some of his trade value in the offseason. If he continues to struggles or just looks average, you can still try to shop him in the offseason, though best thing would be to hope he's extra motivated in a contract year and you get big seasons from both him and Vladdy, which at least would help the Jays have another run at a WC spot in 2025.

Habs acquired Patrick Laine.

He definitely knows he's close to a big payday lol.

You're so insufferable. Arden Zwelling from Rogers Sportsnet goes and interviews Bassitt after to clarify some comments he made on the podcast. Obviously he's going to walk back on some things and say things in a way not to make the organization look bad. He's not going to bad mouth the organization, ownership or his teammates on Rogers Sportsnet lol. Yes it's obvious this group is an aging core. He even acknowledged himself being 36, Gausman being 34 and Berrios having a lot of innings already on his arm. It's not fixable because these guys are under contract, expensive and there are no top young arms in the system that could help/compliment the big league club. Who do we blame for that? As for the Ohtani "pivot" comment, he definitely walked that one back lol. It was obvious in his interview with Chris Rose what he meant. Otherwise he would have said on the podcast something along the lines "we tried to get Ohtani, who was the very best available, but after him there was nobody else available on the free agent market so that made it tough for the front office." Why did he say there was "no pivot" after Ohtani?

Geez another big blow for the Braves this season. Talk about bad luck. Acuna, Albies, Harris (missed a lot of time earlier), Murphy (missed a lot of time earlier), Strider, Minter and now Riley gone for 6-8 weeks. It's remarkable how they're 66-58 and holding down the #3 Wildcard spot. Soler has been out of the lineup for a couple days as well with an injury.

The front office side of things isn't fixable overnight. Its easier to sign and trade for players every offseason than it is to hire a new team President or GM every offseason.

Yeah but the part where he mentions how teams need 3-4 elite players and how the Jays never had a "pivot" after failing to sign Ohtani seems like he was alluding to the failures of the FO. Of course he probably "loves the guys he plays with" whether they're good or bad players and he's not going to say they suck and aren't good enough in public.

Seems like its more directed at the front office. He specifically brought up Ohtani and how the Jays were willing to dangle $700M to sign him, but they never had a "pivot." For him to say that. Seems like he was frustrated and probably some other players in the clubhouse might have been frustrated that the FO never went out and made the upgrades necessary to the ball club that were needed. There was no backup plan really. He mentioned how competitive teams need 3-4 elite players and how someone like Vlad needs protection/help whatever that means. But yeah he mentioned he didn't want to throw any players under the bus or disrespect any of his teammates. So yes he probably knows the team isn't or wasn't good enough, but instead of placing blame on his teammates & coaches, it's more directed at the front office.

Given the bullpen struggles this season, how do you think Yariel would fare as a multi-inning reliever out of the pen? Eventually he works himself into higher leverage situations if he's pitching well. I think they're keeping Bassitt. Would have made sense to trade him at the deadline. He doesn't hurt to have around as an innings eater.

Nick Martinez has a 2.4 fWAR in 34 games and 8 starts this season. WTF? Is he that good? 0.93 BB/9 is quite impressive in 97 innings!

Yeah they really have no choice. At least Bassitt only has one-year remaining and Gausman's salary is still very reasonable. Berrios contract though ugh. Sign someone from the second tier of FA arms (Eovaldi, Severino, Kikuchi, Pivetta) on a shorter term deal as a No 2/3 and the rotation should be fine. Hopefully Gausman returns to elite form and Bassitt/Berrios just continue to eat innings. I think they have enough depth/arms for the No. 5 spot or if injuries occur. Also, can always sign a swing-man like Nick Martinez or Jake Junis who can either start or pitch multiple innings out of the pen.

Yeah one of those other arms on shorter term deals would be solid pickups as well if they decide not to spend big on someone like Burnes or Snell. Eovaldi would be really nice or bringing back Kikuchi.

Nice to have some competition and depth for the No. 5 spot during Spring Training. Looks like Bowden Francis, Alek Manoah (if he's healthy), Yariel Rodriguez, Adam Macko, Jake Bloss might all compete for the last spot in the rotation. Whoever loses out is depth at Buffalo which is nice to have. Let's hope the Jays do sign a #1/2 starter this offseason.

So its become the new Petco Park?