Terminator

Bo to Boston

Also known as the Dodgers yearly pitching plan

The Bieber stuff is interesting. It's hard to decipher Ross' corporate gobbledygook. Could mean he is hurt. Could mean he's fine they are just being cautious with workload coming off TJS. It's probably the latter.

It was today and there is BNS's summary in tweet form

These two are close enough that you could go either way: Hernandez also has the “greatest defensive 1B” case. Whether he was the best or not, his highlights make it clear he was elite. He moved like a shortstop, and if he did not throw lefty he probably would have played on the left side of the infield. He should be in. Olerud should be in if Hernandez is, but I see why his case is weaker due to the hardware. But it's not his fault idiot writers (and front offices) didn't evaluate him properly when he played. He still has some accolades (3x GG, 2 x AS, Batting Title, 2x WS winner). He also has two 8 WAR seasons, nobody else being mentioned had any. These two aren't there for me: Mattingly isn't a HoFer to me. He was great for 4 seasons but in the other 10 or so he only put up about 15 WAR. It's unfortunate because it was probably due to injuries but if he wasn't a Yankee he wouldn't even be on the HoF radar. If he was a better manager on top of his player status, I could see making a better case for him. Delgado is not a Hall of Famer to me. His talent and counting stats were close, but as a first baseman in the steroid era you either needed to be a bit better or last a bit longer. His career wRC+ was only slightly higher than the others being discussed, and his defense was much worse. If the Jays had moved him off catcher earlier in the minors, he probably would have reached the majors sooner, and that extra production might have pushed him over the line. Another one or two effective seasons at the end of his career might have done it too. He is close but not quite there, though if he gets in I will still celebrate. There are worse Hall of Famers, and it would be nice to see more Jays added. I also do not factor steroids into my HoF evaluations at all really. That probably leads me to penalize the supposedly clean guys like Delgado and not punishing the others enough.

Saw some scuttle about the Jays being in on Riley Thompson. He’s a former fringe prospect who had a decent year in Korea. Could be another opportunity to add some depth by taking advantage of his IFA status. It’s really hard to add depth guys with options during the offseason but you will need them when the season starts.

He has one option left so I think he’s a starter in AAA. Instead of Easton Lucas, Spencer Turnbull and Jose Urethra we will have better depth down there next year with Francis, Yariel, etc.

So one question I have is what happens if he is traded now? I assume that the same rules would apply so his new team wouldn't have to add him to the 40-man either. If his velocity looks good in Spring Training, and the acquiring team wouldn't have to add him to the 40-man right away, I could see the Jays possibly finding a trade partner. Anthony Kay just got 2 years, 6 mil AAV after all. But I suppose we wouldn't have to trade him in that scenario either. If he's looking good we could just keep him as a depth starter.

So I think he's now on Buffalo and can be called up one time. He doesn't have options (as Spanky pointed out he was an IFA and signed with options for 2024 only) so if he's DFA'd again, he can elect FA (even though he doesn't have 3 years service time). So if I have this right, then this is a nifty little move. Either way, it frees up a 40-man spot and: If he gets claimed, then his money is off the books. If he doesn't get claimed, you can stash him in Buffalo for one call-up only. We could stretch him out and have him as a depth starter or he could be depth for the pen as well. He wasn't claimed, so we are operating under bullet point #2. He's now some decent depth.

Based on BNS's tweets it seems like Yariel will remain in the org and cannot elect FA. But if he makes the team eventually and then gets outrighted again, he can elect FA, even if he doesn't have 3 years service time because previously outrighted players are given the option to elect FA. https://www.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/designate-for-assignment

When it comes to Yariel's contract status after the DFA

Jim, take a breath buddy. You’re starting from the wrong baselines (their projections differ by only 5 percent). You don't understand regression and how to apply it (no idea where you get the 90-110 numbers from, read the article Laika posted). You are ignoring all extrinsic factors (like Davis' numbers being inflated against RHP because the team is very careful in how they deploy him). And you’re just making things up (“it’s a skill thing”). To correct each of your false points I’d have to write a full Fangraphs article, but if you just reflect on the bullet points above you’ll get the gist.

F@ck me I just checked mine out and I visited Dillon Tate's player page 16 times this year 🤦‍♂️

https://www.mlb.com/news/bo-bichette-defensive-position-in-future Good article on Bo and his value depending on what he provides at SS vs. 2B.

I agree with the sentiment as Ernie is a damn good player but this team is friggin' stacked. As a result, really good players who would start for the majority of teams might find themselves in reduced roles here.

Yeah with Barger and Gimenez both being lefties there would be plenty of opportunities to play Clement, even if everyone is healthy. And Barger can mix in the OF to spell Taters, who frankly should be the odd man out anyway, not Clement.

The book was still out on whether Barger could hit in the bigs, so it made sense to move him around the infield and outfield to boost his versatility and his chances of sticking as a bench or platoon guy. He took a big step forward last year with the stick, so keeping him at one spot might make sense now. But the roster is so stacked that there’s still a good argument for having him play both.

That's pretty wild. They must plan on starting him. ChiSox might know a few things about pitching. Maybe he can stick.

I think a lot of the criticism of Barger’s defense comes from his rookie year when he looked overwhelmed. But he settled in during Year 2 and his defense was totally fine at both spots. His overall Run Value was 0 (-4 range, +4 arm). So I don't think it's fair to say that our corner outfield defense would be bad if it's Taters/Barger out there. It's more accurate to say that our LF defense would be bad (but Taters is better in the field than you think!).

I could see the Jays hanging on to all of our starters, Berrios included. He ain’t worth s*** in a trade right now anyway so you can’t move his contract but on the other hand he’s a fine #5 starter and you can never have enough pitching. Might as well keep him. Also, that playoff run was a gauntlet for guys like Gausman who ended up throwing over 220 innings when it was all said and done. Just keep them all and limit everyone’s innings by using phantom IL stints like the Dodgers. Let’s make sure everyone is ready to go for the playoffs so the World Series will be easy to make.

Me exactly one week ago = who the hell is Cody Ponce? Pass. Me today = Cody Ponce is getting down ballot Cy Young votes this year

Ross added 3 starting pitchers before Cashman got out of his sleeping bag this offseason lmao

I could see Scherzer coming back on the Kershaw plan. Sign for a discount at 1 year, 8 mil. He and his wife love it here and he doesn’t need the money. He can take the first couple of months off and then we can figure it out from there. We are contenders so he’ll get another crack at a ring. Bassitt is probably a little tougher to add as he’s looking at bigger contracts and a more guaranteed rotation spot. Would probably need to trade Berrios but that feels like we are spinning our tires a bit.