Terminator

Johan Simon is who we gave up. He doesn’t look like much.

Sidearmer who only throws 89 mph. Fastball sucks but his sweeper gets a Stuff+ grade of 120 Graduated as the Tigers #33 prospect in 2025. 2 options left.

Yeah we can't worry about them too much. You'd rather they load up over AL East teams.

When teams do this you almost wonder if they should just sign one big FA and then dumpster dive for the rest in February. Bo for 26 mil AAV to start at SS Hand out guaranteed MLB deals to some relievers and bench players OR Iglesias - very mid Suarez - good but old Yaz - old platoon bat Still need to add others, possibly Kim? The first group of players is probably better and the AAV will be much lower.

Yep, lots at play here. Mets could go hard after our targets, but if they don't they will go after guys like Bregman and Bellinger. If the Mets get Bellinger, the Yanks could pivot toward Tucker or maybe even Bo? Red Sox missed out on Pete so this pushes them further into Bregman or Bo territory as it is. If the Mets sign Bregman, then you figure the Sox would be in fairly hard on Bo. Lots at play here but if this were musical chairs, the Orioles scooping up Alonso in a surprise is going to leave one less chair (aka FA bat) for everyone else. Whatever pipe dreams I had of getting both Tucker and Bo are probably gone, and getting even one is going to prove difficult if the Mets feel any desperation at all. Jays could pivot to trades or perhaps one of the Japanese bats and relievers in FA.

Yeah I wonder if the O's signing Pete is going to have a negative cascading effect on the Jays in their pursuit of Tucker or Bo. The Mets have to get some bats now and Tucker is a great fit, though you wonder if the Mets will want to commit over a billion dollars on corner OFers for the next decade. Bo probably isn't as good of a fit for them since they traded for Semien, but if they go HAM on the other FAs, that could push a big market team to then go in on Bo.

Also, I can only assume that this means that the Orioles oscillating left field fence will move in this year since they signed a right handed power bat.

Have we heard if there are any deferrals in Pete Alonso's deal? If it's a true 5/155M it makes Cease's 7/176M deal look like a steal.

They just made it to the ALDS, they've got a solid young team, clean books (outside of Baez being under contract the next two years), a really good farm system and the best pitcher in baseball. Extend the man and they'll win that sh1thole division a guaranteed 5 times out of the next 10 years.

Nice to hear but this is the classic fluff you hear from Boras after you sign one of his clients lol

I’m out on Suarez.* He throws hard but doesn’t miss enough bats, and a three-year deal takes him through age 37. Not the end of the world for a reliever, but he’s almost completely dependent on velocity and is starting off at 98.5 mph. If he loses a couple of ticks that would be pretty concerning for him. You could get Tyler Rogers for about half the AAV. Yes, you pay a premium for velo, but there’s a very real chance Rogers out-WARs Suarez over the life of the deal. *If the Jays sign him, please ignore everything about this post as I will immediately pivot to praising the move.

The lowly Pirates made the Phillies pony up but the sorry ass Mets couldn't be bothered to price enforce the Dodgers? Pathetic Usually we are the price enforcers but we are going after the big fish

That's a pretty good deal for the Dodgers. But even so, I'm cool with them spending big on relievers. It blew up in their face last year and it's a good way to tie up some money to prevent them from getting Tucker, Bo, etc.

There's gotta be some deferrals in that Schwarber deal but even so that contract is nuts. 30 mil a year for a DH entering his Age 33 season. By the end of the contract he will be lucky to be cracking the mendoza line.

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