Dick_Pole

Glad to see that your crazy is spreading to areas outside of UFO theories posted to people's PMs.

This off-season is turning out well. I think we were all resigned to getting one of the two big bats back. None of us expected the team to commit to less than $50M in doing so. The crybabies crying over this off-season can think of it this way. The way the FO has played the hand it was dealt over the past couple of months significantly increases the chance that the team can extend Donaldson. Whether they want to do that or not is another story. But the ability to do so has gone way up. Fielding a competitive team with far less money committed than expected.

The Jays have options to go either way (go for it or retool) and have the right people in the FO to do it. This team is in a pretty good spot. - the farm isn't great. Bottom half of the league, but it isn't miserably bad like some other teams. - only two 30+ guys are signed long term and both play scarce positions. The biggest risk is hoping Martin's defense holds for the life of his contract. - one of the most efficient and cheap starting pitching staffs in the league with no long term commitments. - all scarce positions are covered with everyday players - C, 3B, SS, 2B, CF. Unlike every year basically up until the end of 2014, this team actually has reasonable depth in the MIF for the foreseeable future. - in terms of trade value (just imo, not getting this off an official list or anything): Donaldson, Travis and Sanchez crack the top 50. Stroman and Osuna are borderline top 50 and definitely crack the top 100. Happ and Pillar are borderline top 100. Estrada and Liriano could also bring in something useful in a robust seller's market. There are a lot of trade chips on this team at the FO's disposal. - the weaknesses on this team are generally the easiest to fill, if not on the remaining FA market, a surprise breakout candidate. Corner OF, 1B, bullpen. - still lots of salary flexibility and despite all the s*** Rogers takes, this team will continue to have salary in the top half of the league in a market that was tops in attendance last year and one of the most stable owners you could ask for. Rogers isn't going bankrupt any time soon and needs the Jays for Sportsnet. If the salary is low and it appears Rogers is being "cheap", I'm sure it's more about the FO not needing any more salary to complete their vision of this roster and using it as a rainy day fund to keep options wide open, like with the Liriano trade last year. Not blowing their wads trading for the first FA contracts they see like a certain someone did. Overall this team is in a pretty good spot. It's not the Red Sox, but it's a hell of a lot closer to being the Red Sox than being the Angels. Whatever direction the FO chooses I think it'll be the right one and it'll be after two months of the regular season to get a feel of where this team is headed. No need to get so worked up a month before ST reporting.

He could have just as easily misread it a year ago and Bautista might be heading into his first of a four year $100M+ contract....

I'm still not sure why people are complaining so much about this Morales signing. If the one-dimensional slugger market has caved in, that can only help the Jays in the future even if there was a short-term overpay with Morales. If Shapiro builds the offense a similar way he did in Cleveland, he can then compliment it with a bunch of cheap power hitters who tend to do disproportionately well here. Even a guy like Smoak who has been a complete dud his whole career to this point has 32 home runs and 93 RBI in a season's worth of plate appearances over two years here even if the rest of his numbers are a complete throwaway.

And you're assuming that's not top dollar? Unless the controllable pitcher is Jo-Jo Reyes and I'd rather not have him back.

Not if you use a cheese grater it's not. You are forgiven for misunderstanding what I was trying to say.

I don't mean to be the grammar Nazi but that type of s*** makes me grate my teeth. It's just never.

...because absolutely nobody in the league will recognize the injury risk and pay top dollar for him now.

To any of the naysayers, I would be shocked if any major piece of this club gets sold off for prospects before the start of the season. To any of the people saying to blow it up now, f*** off. The Jays have a perfectly legitimate shot at a playoff spot in 2017 and full effort should be used to filling holes on the MLB roster efficiently until it's determined by June/July that this team has no real shot. The prospect haul for Donaldson/Happ/Estrada/Grilli won't decline that much after the first three months of baseball and may actually be better depending on how robust the seller's market would be and how well those players have played.

Shapiro is a lot like Ricciardi except with more tact and (hopefully) an ability to draft and develop a strong farm system.

14 months into the job and we are debating if Chavez or Smoak has been the worse move. Conclusion: He's done a pretty good job so far. I still think Smoak can be a diamond in the rough.

Affirmative action.

If Stroman is jealous for whatever reason, then maybe he should pitch better in 2017. If there are two people you want feuding on the team, it's two starting pitchers. They will never be on the field at the same time and will never have to work as a team, at least on the field where things matter. No trade necessary. I'd be more concerned if Donaldson was mad at Tulowitzki for usurping his video game buddy's (Goins) job or something.

Or you could have just let things lie, because you know Jimcanuck is just going to twist things until its his interpretation of him being "right". So your effort was futile.

This story never gets old: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-19/devastated-trader-crushed-soaring-biotech-starts-onling-begging-campaign-fund-106000 "Martin Shkreli gave the kid $5... he does have a heart!" https://twitter.com/jwctrek "$KBIO...Delisted and worthless. Can't help but feel a little defeated here. Timing is everything." "My wife laughed at me today when I told her $KBIO went bk, I'm glad she at least sees the irony in this lol. What else can we do but laugh."

So why would Sanchez hire him?

I get the feeling that there is a lot of fat kids posting in this thread. If I was a scout, I'd only go for the kids that looked like Brett Lawrie or better....while wolfing down my stadium dog.

People like to complain a lot. A minimum of three wins in a six game Western Conference road trip where two of the teams are Golden State and San Antonio. That's pretty damn good. The Raptors have the world's cushiest schedule after Tuesday, with three, maybe four games in which they would be the underdog for the rest of the year.

Ok, now you're just drunk.

They already did the best "extension" type of contract you could ever want. Locking up the Cuban kid. I'd rather the team spend $21M over 7 years to try to catch lightning in a bottle from him than extending anyone on the current roster for that long. I hate to say it, but the guys who the Jays have for 3+ years all look like pretty good candidates for injury risk or decline 5 years out. No point in extending any of them. Sanchez would be the best candidate imo and I'm not exactly convinced he wouldn't Ricky Romero that contract.

I am considering the same. Cavs -500. I've never seen odds like that (except maybe last year lol). No one is scary, but the Bulls are scary to the Raptors. They haven't faced them yet this year and Butler and Wade have been traditional Raptors-killers. Hope they miss the playoffs again then I see a clear path to the Conference finals for the Raptors. Unlike previous seasons, this team has proven it can dismantle mediocre teams night in and night out.

Ugh. Plenty of people on this forum and everywhere else were still hopeful that the Jays were going to sign EE even after Morales was signed. This "they signed Morales so that guaranteed EE was out the door" narrative hasn't really shown up until after the Cleveland deal was announced. EE 1B, Morales DH, Pearce LF, Upton/Carrera 4th/5th OF, Smoak benchwarmer was my hopeful roster configuration.

It's reasonable, pragmatic and rational posts like this which makes you have a constant target on your back by the "outsider" crowd of this forum. I hope you know this and will try to cut down on doing such things in the future.

0 out of 10 was a very cruel rating for this excellent article. Just be happy that I'm not a prison guard.