jaysblue

I think having six teams from each league make the postseason is better than the older formats, whether it was three division winners plus one Wild Card, or the era of the one-game Wild Card. I’d prefer the Wild Card round to be best-of-five, but I understand why that’s difficult. It would make an already tight playoff schedule even longer, while also leaving the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds sitting around for quite a while. The NPB playoff format is interesting in that regard. In the final stage of the Climax Series, the first-place team starts with an automatic 1–0 advantage, meaning they only need three actual wins to advance while the challenger needs four. It’s definitely unconventional, but I can see the logic if you want to put more emphasis on winning the division and give lower-seeded teams a legitimate disadvantage. I wouldn’t necessarily want MLB to copy it exactly, but I do like the idea of rewarding the best regular-season teams more than they currently do.

Yeah, back in the 2000s, even if the Jays were hovering above .500 at this point in the season, they were usually already pretty much out of playoff contention. Now they’re 59–64, only 2.0 games back of a playoff spot, and we’re still talking about meaningful baseball in mid-August. Considering how much this team has underperformed, along with all the injuries they dealt with earlier in the season, it’s pretty remarkable that postseason baseball is still a very realistic possibility.

It's all about the money at the end of the day when it comes to sports. Expanded playoffs in MLB and other leagues means more money. FIFA wants to expand the World Cup in 2030 to 64 teams now as well lol.

Some potential trade candidates before 2027: CJ Abrams Zach Neto Steven Kwan Jarren Duran Trevor Larnach Jake McCarthy Oneil Cruz Not sure the Jays would have enough to acquire Neto or Abrams, but either one would allow you to move Gimenez back to 2B and keep Ernie in that super-utility role where he can move around the diamond. Kwan could bounce back, but he offers very little power, and this lineup already has too many guys like that. Larnach doesn’t really move the needle for me either, he’s not much different from Lukes. Duran has an intriguing power/speed combination, but he’s been a dumpster fire this season. I also don’t really trust McCarthy’s production outside of Coors. Oneil Cruz is probably the most intriguing of that group if he can stay healthy. There’s still plenty of offensive upside there, although the defense is pretty meh. Not sure the Twins shop Buxton. Seems like he's destined to be in Minneapolis forever.

Randy probably gets a four- or five-year deal based on the season he’s having, especially since the power/speed combination is still pretty intriguing. If you can get Suzuki or Happ on a three-year deal, though, I think that makes a lot of sense. I just wouldn’t want to go four or five years on either of them at this stage.

Teruaki Sato will likely be available this offseason. Won the 2025 Central League MVP honors with the Hanshin Tigers and is only 27. Plays third base mostly, so that would mean either Okamoto has to move to DH, or you convince Sato to play a corner OF spot, which he has earlier in his career and has played some RF a bit this season and last. Not sure how he grades out defensively at either position. Dodgers, Phillies, Mets, Yankees all rumoured to be in on him. Went to a Hanshin Tiger game last summer and wanted to get a Sato jersey, but they were mostly sold out or either had limited sizes haha.

I said yes.

Yeah, he’s doing his job, arguably even better than he did last season. The problem is that too many of the other guys in the lineup aren’t doing theirs.

Defensively, Gimenez is a wizard, and he’s actually having an even better season in the field than he did last year. He’s already up to 2.1 WAR and should probably finish somewhere around 3 WAR. Offensively, if he ends up around .250 with 10–12 HR, 20 SB and an 80–90 wRC+, I can live with that considering everything he gives you defensively. He's a solid player and the Jays could do a lot worse at shortstop. The bigger issue is that the Jays simply have too many noodle bats in the lineup at the same time: Clement (98 wRC+), Lukes (96), Straw (70), Bateman (83), Kirk (95), Vladdy (97) and Springer (100). Obviously, Kirk, Vladdy and Springer regressing this badly has hurt them tremendously. But even coming into the season, the Jays were still planning on regularly running out Gimenez, Clement and Lukes. That worked last year because they had Vladdy, Kirk, Springer, Bo and a healthy Barger producing at a high level, along with Varsho when he was healthy. That’s why the priority this offseason has to be adding as much offense as possible, regardless of where it comes from. If Gimenez and Clement are both going to be everyday players again, you need to compensate for that elsewhere in the lineup and if the plan is also to give Bateman or Straw significant everyday ABs in CF, then yikes. At that point, adding a legitimate bat in LF becomes even more important.

It's not all doom and gloom if the other teams ahead of the Jays have an easy schedule. Like we've seen teams before struggle against teams who are supposed to be easy opponents. Heck even look at the Jays in early April. Just have to keep winning ball games and series if you're the Jays and the rest will take care of itself. Control what you can control. If you told me at the start of the week that the Jays would win 3 of 4 against Boston and the Rangers got swept by the Angels, would definitely have thought you were crazy.

Walbert Urena has been really good this season. We don't hear much about him. Needs to figure out the BB/9 rate moving forward but he's only 22.

He's going the Alek Manoah route.

Solid outing by Mad Max. If he can give us 5 innings each time the rest of the way, how sweet would that be.

Yeah agreed, unless he really convinces them over these next 1.5 months, since it is a thin market for outfielders but doubt it. It's the Mets so who know's. He was a 5 WAR player but yeah that was 3 years ago. Didn't realize how bad he's been geez. He's probably worth half of that $20M option if there is a team that wants to roll the dice on his upside.

Geez, just discussing baseball dude. Chill.

I wonder if the Mets pick up Luis Robert’s $20M option. I guess a lot of that depends on how he finishes over the next month and a half. I’m fine with finding a RHB to platoon with Lukes or Sanchez in LF, but this team still needs to add as much offense as possible even if that means upgrading left field. I’d have no issue signing someone like Happ or Suzuki to play LF because it raises the overall floor of the lineup, especially if injuries hit again or some of the current bats struggle. And if the plan is to give Bateman everyday ABs in CF while Gimenez plays every day at SS, then you have to make up that offense somewhere else in the lineup. Left field is one of the obvious places to do it.

Taking three of four already is huge. If they can finish it off by sweeping the Red Sox at home, that would make a pretty big statement. It would also give the Jays a little breathing room heading into the Yankees/Rays series coming up. If they then drop two of three to New York or Tampa, it wouldn’t be the end of the world because they’d have already banked a really strong series against Boston.

Not many OF free agents to choose from. Some of the solid options: Ian Happ - 108 wRC+ and 2.1 WAR Randy Arozarena - 141 wRC+ and 3.4 WAR Seiya Suzuki - 133 wRC+ and 3.2 WAR Jazz Chisholm - 94 wRC+ and 2.5 WAR (maybe on a one-year prove himself contract, but he's a clown). Daulton Varsho - 86 wRC+ and 1.0 WAR Most of the guys listed above are already over 30, so depending on how the market develops, you could probably get the first three listed on three-to-five-year deals. Arozarena is probably the top outfielder available and could command four or five years, although I’m not convinced he’ll remain this good offensively going forward. Happ or Suzuki would both be solid corner-OF options if you can get either on a three- or four-year deal. They would be nice upgrades over Lukes/Sanchez. If you can live with Chisholm’s personality, I’d also be open to a one-year, high-AAV deal for him to play LF and try to rebuild his value. As for Varsho, I’d have no issue bringing him back on a one-year deal to play CF again. At the very least, he raises the floor defensively and allows the Jays to keep Bateman in AAA until he’s fully ready.

I would be fine if they played Springer in the OF sometimes, especially if it meant keeping another bat in the lineup if they needed rest from the field. I don't think he would be a disaster like you said over who the Jays have been running out there like Sanchez or Pinango, but for some reason, they felt like only having Springer DH this season. In 2025, he made 67 appearances in the outfield (51 of them starts). Sure defensively he was a liability, but eh didn't really hurt them since they came in first place and were one of the best defensive teams overall in baseball lol. Plus, Springer had his best offensive season in years.

Okamoto is basically Matt Chapman offensively. He should give you around 30 HR with a wRC+ hopefully somewhere in the 110–120 range. Given the low BB% and average defense, he’s probably more of a 3-WAR player than anything beyond that. He’s not the superstar or elite bat this lineup still needs to pair with Vlad. But he’s a very good secondary piece, someone you can comfortably hit fifth or sixth who can give you 30 HR and provide some legitimate power in the middle of the order. Nothing wrong with that at all. I’d also add that Okamoto has already become a fan favourite here, so from a PR standpoint, trading him probably wouldn’t be ideal either. There’s also a bigger-picture benefit to keeping him around. Having Okamoto in Toronto helps strengthen the Jays’ presence in the Japanese market and could make the organization a more attractive destination for other Japanese players in the future. That’s not something you can just dismiss when evaluating his overall value to the franchise.

I should have got a Team Italy WBC Caglianone jersey instead of Pasquantino. Big regret.

When I woke up this morning, it was the first thing that popped up on my X feed. Really hope he’s alright. One of the greatest hitters of this era.

If Springer came back on a cheap one-year deal in the $4–5M range, similar to what the Yankees gave Goldschmidt last offseason, I’d be okay with it. The issue is that Springer still essentially clogs up the DH spot, whereas Goldschmidt could at least give you innings at a position. I’d rather use that roster spot on a veteran bat who can comfortably play 50–60 games in the field. That keeps the DH spot flexible for days when someone like Vladdy or Okamoto needs a break from playing the field without taking their bat out of the lineup. Plus, we'll see what's up with Santander. A lot depends on his health.

Well, for someone who is a numbers guy, weird post coming from you. Lukes against LHP this season: .128/.226/.149 As for wanting Lukes starting over Sanchez, well, both suck against lefties, but Sanchez this season overall has a .748 OPS and has hit extremely well at Rogers Centre (.901 OPS), whereas Lukes with a .689 OPS. Springer has been banged up as well, and only way to get Okamato's bat in the lineup, had to be from the DH spot. This is why re-signing Springer for next season is a bad idea. It's nice to use the DH spot like how the Jays did tonight for Okamoto.