Terminator

Yeah I don't really like him and think he could have handled some things a lot better but his overall legacy will be a net positive: Astros Sign Stealing Scandal: Didn't punish the players, handled poorly Covid: got the players to play, probably a net positive here Relocating the All-Star Game: This was really, really stupid 2021 Lockout- Got a full season in and this has been forgotten, good job World Baseball Classic: he pushed this and I think it was good Oakland A's: He gets hammered for this one and he handled it poorly but ultimately moving the A's to Vegas will be good Rules Changes: Awesome

Mashes lefties, versatile defender, switch hitter, vetrin presents. We got our guy. Great signing.

We are going to Frankenstein the living hell out of 3B on our way to an AL East title

^I think IKF is a huge part of what this whole 2nd threshold argument/payroll discussion is about. Atkins haters want to pile on Atkins for signing IKF because they think it ate up payroll and is precluding the team from making better and more impactful moves. The Atkins lovers want to protect their boy Atkins by saying that the IKF signing isn't stopping the team from doing what they want otherwise. I lean more toward the latter as we have spent more money than people think this offseason (2nd most amount of money spent in the AL after the Royals lol). It's just a weak FA class and the team isn't that high on giving big deals to Chapman or Bellinger. I can't say I really blame them. They project to be 2.5 WAR players next year and want to get paid Springer money who was projecting as a 4-WAR player at the time we signed him. No matter how you slice it though, it's been an uninspiring offseason. (Though it's not over yet!)

Ok I haven't exactly been following this discussion that closely but I see what you are saying and you are probably technically right. But it's kind of splitting hairs as: 1) The Jays could still authorize the second threshold for a certain player but Chapman or Belly don't fit that criteria. Heck, we know this is true because they approved the 700M Ohtani deal. 2) Trading Espinal and Richards (the last guy on the bench and bullpen) isn't exactly that hard or that big of a deal to do. And that would allow us to add Chapman or Bellinger and be under the 2nd threshold, right? Plus, you have to take everything Atkins says with a grain of salt because he is probably actively trying to get bottom dollar prices on remaining free agents. He'll never say something like, "Oh yeah we can go above the 2nd threshold it's no problem." In addition, is not going above the 2nd threshold a hard rule? I believe going above the 2nd threshold only increases the amount of payroll that is actually ABOVE the 2nd threshold right? So if Atkins signals we aren't going above the 2nd threshold does he mean we aren't going "materially" above the second threshold? And being 1 or 2 mil over is no big deal? Or does he literally mean we aren't going above the 2nd threshold by one penny? There's a difference there.

Isn't trading some of Yimi Garcia, Richards, Espinal and Biggio the "break in case of emergency piggy bank"?

I had to read that 4 times to understand what he was talking about. At first I thought he was simply talking about trades. Well no s*** you have to add and subtract when trading. But he's talking about if we make an addition by signing someone of significance then we will have to make a subtraction by trading someone else.

Yeah one day of Spring Training and I'm already tempted to start chugging the Kool-Aid. If Manoah can put up a big season, the entire staff falls into place and can handle an injury or two with ease. If he sucks again we have to quickly pivot to Plan B and the depth looks shaky.

Maybe in powerlifting that works but this is baseball which relies on the functional strength necessary to perform baseball moves. This includes a lot of various factors like proper mechanics, flexibility, general athleticism, etc. Gaining 40+ pounds is going to affect all of that stuff negatively. Also, let's not pretend like Manoah lost so much weight that he's now skinny. The dude is still very chunky. Probably even considered obese on the BMI scale. He's just not shockingly fat anymore. And finally, we saw what the all-powerful fat f*** version of Manoah could do and it was abysmal. He might as well try a season while having shed significant weight.

Loving the mod edit on this one lol

This one sucks too.

They all suck. If I had to pick one I do think Colorado's might be okay. But it really is kind of shocking that they couldn't do better than this.

Here are this year's FA signings so far. Taken from Reddit: I'm just eyeballing this but it looks like we've spent the 2nd most amount of money in the AL after the Royals lol.

These jerseys are going to suck. I guarantee it.

Both the Giants and Cubs have 3B trade options. So if they sign Chapman something could shake loose there. The Giants have JD Davis and Wilmer Flores. The Cubs have Miles Mastrobuoni who bats left and projects for 96 wRC+. He seems like a decent defender at 3B. He and Kinder-Falafel could form the most uninspiring and mediocre 3 WAR platoon in baseball history.

Steamer adjusted IKF's projections recently, likely due to him playing mostly 3B this year instead of mostly corner OF last year. His WAR went up to 1.1 in 112 games played and his Steamer600 is 1.4 now. I believe it was 0.8 and 1.1 last time I checked. Jays are going to squeeze 2+ WAR out of this *******. Watch.

Shulman's son is going to be the radio PBP guy. Chris Leroux will do color commentary. Doesn't seem like they will be traveling for road games.

Assuming Soler would have signed with the Jays for 3 years and 42 mil I probably would have talked myself into it. But if we had the choice between Turner and Soler, I'd probably lean Turner at his price. Turner can play 1B and can stand at 3B and 2B. The one year deal is nice. His consistency is excellent. He's old though. Soler has huge power potential but he has less defensive utility and he's been very hit or miss. That hit or miss seems like an increasing risk as he enters his mid 30s. Fans tend to be more optimistic with their projections so the thought of plugging Soler in and getting 3 years of 35+ homers is tantalizing. But the reality is that he probably doesn't come anywhere close to that. I also hate the idea of locking up this amount of money/years into a DH when good ones are available every year for 10 mil. Some years we may not even need a DH at which point that 14 mil could be spent elsewhere on a position of need.

I'm thinking maybe he can be JP Crawford prior to his power outbreak.

The casual fans would love it I'm sure. And then in Year 3 of a 6 or 7 year deal when he's an albatross and his contract has stopped us from making any moves that offseason they'll have diminished excitement and lowered confidence again.

110 exit velo on Jimenez is very encouraging. Always thought this guy was slap hitter with a good glove but he's progressing very well as he moves through the ranks. Everything I read on Kendry Rojas suggests that he's developing very well and has a chance to be a pretty good starter if it continues. Jace Bohrofen could be something. He was BA's #48 high school draft prospect and chose college. He didn't really play much until his junior year when he finally started and he raked. Law suggests that he's a legit CF. I thought he was more of a corner guy but that could raise his profile as well.

Lol oof