Terminator

Just running through last year's standings and it seems like a good number of teams should be interested. The Jays are probably the least likely. Corporate owners who don't like offending anyone, a history of discarding "problematic" players (Yunel Escobar, Bass, Osuna) and an extremely anti-Bauer fanbase (this is my way of pointing out our fanbase's politics without getting political). The Giants are probably right up there with us and maybe surpass us bc Bauer is an ex-Dodger. The Dodgers are also a team that couldn't sign him, obvi. Maybe the Padres because the false accuser is from there so maybe that takes them out of it? Couldn't see Seattle either. Almost any other team in the league I could squint and see it as a possibility. But even then they would either need an owner with the balls to deal with the blowback, a fanbase that's not going to care and/or be desperate for pitching. The Rangers seem to check the most boxes. Could also see the Astros but not sure they need him. And then any of the Central teams finally spending money also make sense (KC, Detroit, Cincy, Pitt). Rays would normally make a lot of sense as well but given the Wander fiasco they probably want to hold off on guys like this right now.

It depends on how you grade it. On a curve with the understanding that both the FA market and trade market both suck I don't think it will end up being that bad. There are few teams that have had good offseasons. The Dodgers shoved a billion dollars at players and are considered one. The Yankees are another but it relies almost solely on trading for one year of a player, so how good of an offseason is it? Other teams that have had good offseason are smaller market teams spending nominal amounts on FAs for the first time in forever. But I suppose if you had high expectations, which got even higher after that fateful Ohtani Friday night, then yeah at best this offseason will be an emotional letdown. But after that there just wasn't much else to do which would stave off a letdown except trading Tiedemann and others for Soto or signing Bellinger to a 7 year deal.

We aren't the only ones being patient. It's an extremely slow moving market. 4 of the Top 10 FAs are still unsigned. Can't even think of a single significant trade other than Soto? I think we'll still see some action from the Jays.

Yeah I agree but Bauer is even more of a hot potato (for very stupid reasons). We would never sign either. The Oriole should definitely sign one or both of them though.

We aren't signing Eddie Rosario lol

Yeah he would. If we signed him then we'd actually have some good SP depth. 1. Gausman 2. Berrios 3. Bassitt 4. Kikuchi 5. German LR- White AAA- Manoah AAA- Yariel (or maybe he's a multi-inning reliever) AAA- Francis AAA- Tiedemann AAA- Dallas

Ok it makes complete sense then. I didn't look at the individual accolades just the overall numbers and saw his BA was high.

It is interesting to see how little WAR the Twins HoF crew accumulated. Fernandez, Delgado and Stieb are comparable players. Puckett's career at least was cut a little short but Oliva just flat out stinks. Has to be one of the worst HoFers. No glove and no base running hitter with 220 career homers. If his career BA is .298 instead of .304 he probably doesn't get in.

I can see the argument for labeling the offseason as being pretty mediocre or even disappointing but impressively bad? Impressively bad for me would have to consist of some sort of spending spree to sign some "top FAs" (in name only due to the weak FA class) to long term deals which handcuff the franchise for years moving forward. And given the lack of movement on the trade market, the same would apply there and impressively bad would have to be trading our top prospects for mediocre talent. Sometimes the best strategy is to be patient. Or to even do nothing.

Soler or Martinez are good fits. Martinez' K-Rate is concerning so I'd prefer Soler or Joc. Sounds like maybe Joc wants the west coast though. Votto doesn't really make much sense unless he's willing to play a bench role and Ross wants the vetrin presents. But I hope it happens. Rosario makes zero sense.

He looked fine to me out there as well. I know errors are a bad way to determine defensive value but I remember that Semien was able to turn himself into a good defender by cutting his errors down to an extreme minimum. Schneider doesn't have the speed of Semien but perhaps he can turn himself into an average defender with a similar strategy. In fact, Schneider seems to have rarely made errors at 2B. Only 10 in his career now for a .984 FP% at 2B. And 4 of those came in 6 starts in rookie ball when he was 19 and errors are aplenty.

A one year deal for Chapman or Bellinger would be something like: 2024: 28 mil plus performance bonuses 2025: Player Option for 28 mil with a 4 mil team buyout if declined Even then they aren't taking it. It's a weak FA class and there are enough teams with money interested in them. They'll get their 5 year deals it's just taking a while (as it often does in MLB).

Molina is definitely getting in. In the past 20+ years, the writers have had a bigger hard on for him outside of any player not named Ortiz or Jeter. Posey will also get in. I don't think Martin or McCann will get even close.

Wow even the haters have to admit that he's slimming down.

Sorry Brownie I stole your thunder a bit by starting a HoF thread but post this there to get some discussion going if you don't mind

That was Sheffield's last year. I think he should have gotten in. Seems like he's better than Helton and Mauer but he's got some steroid stuff I think and he didn't kiss the writers' asses enough during his career.

Beltre, Helton and Mauer were elected.

Yeah the 40 man plays a role too. So do the options and then you've obviously got 25 man issues. If Yimi Garcia or Richards gets you something in a trade then Pearson (or perhaps some spring training standout) can be on the 25 man. Who knows maybe the Giants sign Matt Chapman so the Jays could trade Espinal and Garcia for JD Davis or something along those lines.

The thing to remember about whether we should trade a reliever or not is that not all of them have options. So if we keep everyone, then we may lose Mitch White, for example. Depending on how he looks in ST that may not be a big deal but he looked great to end the year in Buffalo. So it might make sense to trade Yimi or Richards when factoring that in.

I don’t really care as long as it’s one year and it should be

We won’t have to overpay. The number of teams who will pay 10 mil for a DH is limited and there are quite a few guys like that out there.

Compare Espinal at his salary to the FA infield options and you’ll quickly realize that not only could he be traded but he could probably get you something decent. Same goes for Biggio and even Clement is worth a little bit. Yimi Garcia is a 7th inning guy and has value too. With a stacked bullpen and IKF in the fold we could trade all of the above for salary relief and diff stuff if we need too.

Hmm is Erik Kratz right? Is your average Jays fan less informed than other fan bases? I think that definitely used to be the case. Seems like baseball is just integrated into American culture more than it is in Canada. But the team has been more successful over the past 10 years so I think that maybe your average Jays fan is paying more attention these days.

Yeah if he's your 6th best reliever then you know your pen is in a pretty good spot. Could easily be a 7th inning guy on a bad team.

That's what I figured. Freddy Peralta is another dicey proposition.