Terminator

Well for starters the two metrics you just linked to are pretty average LOL. A -4 DRS and UZR/150 of 0.1 are definitely playable and better than guys like Mike Trout, Christian Pache, Brett Phillips, and even Jackie Bradley Jr. But if you look at his statcast page his OAA, Outfielder Jump and Arm Strength all grade out as above average. His OAA, probably the overall most important of the three, puts him in the 70th percentile. That's not just average, that's good! I don't know what CFer you have in mind but there are zero starting caliber players in FA last I looked. It would take a pretty significant trade to improve upon a Gurriel-Springer-Teoscar OF, not to mention that you'd need to find a Gurriel trade on top of it. If something falls into our laps I'd definitely be interested. And if there is some way to prove that RF would keep him healthier I'd listen as well. But the team has much bigger needs than CF defense right now.

Vlad's season was 3.5 WAR worse this year than it was last year. Berrios dropped by 2.9 WAR and Kikuchi dropped by 1.8.

A lot of talk about moving Springer from CF but he seems to be about average there and the metrics back it up. I suppose a lot of that talk comes from trying to keep him healthy and his age but I'm not entirely sure if a move to RF would make that much of a difference. If a move falls into our lap I'd be all for it but I'm not too concerned about him in CF for another year. If Teoscar leaves after the year, that's when I think moving Springer to RF makes more sense. Bo, on the other hand, had some of the worst metrics I've ever seen this year. Moving him to 2B might be the more prudent move. Switching him with Espinal who has great defensive metrics could be an in-house option but it looks like Espinal's arm strength rates really poor. He also doesn't really *seem* like he'd be a good defensive SS but I just don't know enough about their defense to say one way or the other.

I wouldn't fire Atkins. He hasn't been perfect but the process has been pretty sound and I think the org is in good shape moving forward. Entering the year the projections had us a hair better than the Yankees and I think entering next year it will be about the same. Atkins seems to be as good of a bet moving forward as some no name within the industry. That said, this is a tough and competitive business though so I would consider replacing him if a proven GM from a small market team wanted to make the jump to a team with a bigger payroll.

Seemingly everyone wants to move Springer to a corner OF spot but I think he probably needs to stay in CF for a year. There are zero starting CF options in FA this year unless you consider Kiermaier's broken body and if Teoscar walks we can move him over then.

One guy they should absolutely be shopping is Craig Biggio's son. The team clearly hates him and we appear to have a younger version of him in Barger who is at AAA anyway. I'm not saying he's worth a lot, but perhaps with the ban on the shift there is a team out there that would give up an interesting hard throwing reliever for him. A s***** team with a hole at 2B or even a contending team who wants a versatile left handed bench bat could be interested.

Perfect. We have 4 more years of team control on him through his age 27 season.

Tbh I like when BTS starts these threads because he lists out the roster, the salaries, and then keeps it updated throughout the offseason.

What exactly makes Joc Pederson a more serious player than Teoscar?

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/10/mlb-projected-arbitration-salaries-2023.html MLB Trade Rumors has released it's projected arbitration salaries for 2023. Teo and Vlad coming in with some big numbers. If you non-tender Tapia, Zimmer and Thornton we are up to $177.4M on opening day with no moves. Payroll this year was $171M.

A .300 average with 15 homers and decent fielding in LF isn't all that special. A .300 average with 15 homers and good defense at C is pretty awesome. I get it if we keep all 3, we'll need to find him some PT but the better move would be to trade someone.

I hate the idea of playing Moreno elsewhere. His offense isn't elite, he's more of a well rounded package that projects to play good defense at C and that's what makes him good. Playing him anywhere other than C is a waste of his talent unless he can also play SS, 3B or CF at an above average level but even then I'm not sure that the juice is worth the squeeze? Catcher is as high on the defensive spectrum as any of those positions.

I'm not sure how to look this up but I saw that Gurriel was one of the better hitters in baseball on 95+ velocity. I think the Jays team struggles with high velocity as well. If that's the case I'd keep him.

Schneider is the Bill Buckner or Mitch Williams of managers. It doesn't matter that Buckner had a good year at the plate or that Mitch Williams had 43 saves that year, they are known as failures because they screwed up when it mattered most. Same with Schneider.

Kirk's body issues are overblown, especially considering the fact that he will be paired with another good defensive C in either Jansen or Moreno and will DH a fair bit of the time. We have 4 years of control left on Kirk and it's through his age 24-27 seasons. He'll be fine. Jansen, the guy who supposedly doesn't have body issues, has missed significant time in every season he's been a regular. He's also older than Kirk yet despite all of this no one ever considers his body breaking down like they constantly do with Kirk.

Jansen or Moreno make the most sense. If the team is all in the next two years then I'd trade Moreno. If they are going for sustainable longterm contention I think I'd trade Jansen. If you really want to get into the nitty gritty then I'd look to see which of them hit high velocity the best because the team isn't that great at it overall. I think Jansen in particular really struggles with velocity.

It's also time to make a decision on our catching situation. We've got about 2 years left of this core team being intact (perhaps longer with some extensions) and Jansen (2 years of control left), Kirk (4 years) and Moreno (6 years) are all deserving of being on the big league team. One of them needs to be traded and it's a waste of resources otherwise.

I'd sign or trade for a 5th starter and then fix Mitch White (to the extent he even needs to be fixed he had a 3.76 FIP for us) to be the long man/6th starter. Zulu and Tiedemann in AAA.

I'd strongly consider leaving Kikuchi in the bullpen. SSS but he had a 16.2 K/9, 4.42 BB/9 and a 2.28 xFIP. He can live with a BB/9 that high as a reliever.

I'm still so freaking pissed off at Schneider. From pulling Gausman, to ignoring the splits against Santana, to putting in Tapia when the game called for a defensive sub...he completely screwed up the biggest game of the season. You could even make the case that he screwed up one of the biggest games in franchise history. I thought he did a good job taking over for Montoyo but this completely stains his managerial career IMO. My guess is he gets retained and I do think he can learn from this and get better but it's almost like nothing he does from here on out, short of the team winning a WS, will ever make up for the fact that he screwed up an 8-1 lead in an elimination game. I hope he gets canned. He definitely deserves it.

No idea why Schneider went with Tapia. If he goes with JBJ we win.

Were the Mariner bloop hits falling (1) bad luck bad (2) bad fielding or (3) bad managing? Probably a mix of all 3. Tapia let a fly ball drop in the 6th that had a 55% catch rate and another one in the 8th that had a 30% catch rate. Springer's collision ball had a 75% catch rate. If any of those three balls are caught the Jays likely win the game. JBJ was riding pine this entire time, even after one of our OF left the game with an injury.

I just got back to my hotel after attending the game. Not even really sure what to say but I think it would be therapeutic to at least share something. 1. Atkins traded for Bass at the deadline and the Mariners traded for Luis Castillo. Gabriel Moreno didn't log any playing time during the series while Jansen and Kirk, two talented Catchers in their prime, both played well. 2. Schneider rode Mayza like he was Munoz or something. Puzzling decision to turn Santana around like that. At this point in his career he's basically a platoon bat that should only face lefties. It put them right back in the game. 3. A lot of this was just dumb luck by the Mariners as their bloop hits fell but I feel like the Jays OFers could have caught some of them and they didn't. Both Tapia and Springer had a shot on some flyballs and they both failed. JBJ rode pine up until the point the game was tied at which point we needed his bat. He should have went into the game for Merrifield. If he does we probably win. Another odd choice by Schneider. 4. I'm blaming Schneider a lot and it's mostly the fault of the relievers (even Romano who let Adam Frazier and his .311 SLG line a double off him) but he did make some bad decisions and his post game comments were infuriating. He looks more no-nonsense than Montoyo but it's barely the case. He's another laid back player's manager. I think we should pay for a veteran manager with playoff experience. We have a talented core but we keep pissing away our chances. 5. I'm not really sure what the team sees in Tapia. He logged a ton of playing time this year and continued to do so in the playoffs. As much as they play him it seems like offering him arb is a possibility but I really hope they don't. He's a jack of no trades who does everything below average which makes him a terrible bench player.

Not sure. They usually like to stick us with the early games but are they really going to make Seattle fans watch this game at 9 am their time? I think we might get early evening.

I will also be making my home playoff debut. Hoping to sit close enough to the Jays dugout so I can give Schneider some tips.