Terminator

I'm not either but that's why it's a key! I think there is a big difference between an overpaid player who can still contribute versus an overpaid player who contributes nothing or even hurts you. Using Vlad as an example, if he's DHing and chipping in with a wRC+ of 115, even if he can't field or run the bases, will put the team in a much better spot than if he is hitting wRC+ 90. The 90 wRC+ version either requires another roster addition while you bury 38 year old Vlad on the bench or play him and have to overcome his negative WAR. The former you just plug into the DH spot and bat him 5th or 6th and can live with it.

There are three keys to making this contract a win for the Jays: Key #1: unlock more launch angle out of Vlad which can get him to a .300 BA with 45 homers statline and 6+ WAR seasons. Probably a pipe dream but it's always going to be a goal so long as his batted ball data is so strong. Key #2: Keep him healthy and hitting until his mid 30s. Essentially, extend the "prime years" for as long as possible. Some dudes can just flat out hit forever and hopefully he's one of them. Even if he never gets back to 6 WAR, if we can get him to rack up 4ish WAR seasons for the next 8 years that's going to help make this deal better. Key #3: Soften the inevitable downfall of the latter years by getting serviceable DH years out of him in his late 30s. He ain't going to be worth 35M a year at that point but there's a big difference between a DH who is able to hit #5 or 6 in a decent lineup and one who is a total waste of a roster spot. If they can do 2 of these 3 then the contract should turn out fine. 2 of these 3 might get him into the Hall of Fame too and it would be pretty damn cool to have a one-franchise Hall of Famer.

As we all know I like to do what we call a little trolling from time to time....and one added benefit to this Vlad signing is that it has provided plenty of ammo to use against the worst people on the internet (aka New Yorkers) So fire up your burner accounts and start wrecking Mets and Yankee fans folks. Doesn't even matter that the Mets just swept us they are shook by this Vlad signing.

Ed Rogers never stood a chance...

Yeah the 35 AAV isn't that bad. He's probably the best player at his position and is only 26 on top of it? The 14 years is pretty nutty but they did that to lower the AAV. This probably isn't going to be a long term winner on a WAR per dollar amount but let's all pray he can make the HoF. His induction ceremony would be about 20 years from now lol (1 year left on current deal, 14 year deals starts next year, his first ballot will be 5 years after that). If I'm alive I'll see you guys there for a BJMB meetup.

Yeah on one hand it's an insane overpay. On the other hand it signals that Ed Rogers has committed to writing blank checks for the next decade so the overpay doesn't matter that much

I was wondering where all the Romano fanboys were. They were pretty loud this offseason after we cut him loose but you don't hear too much from them anymore.

Yeah this seems like the plan. They've had a top payroll for a little while now and it seems like with this Vlad extension they don't plan on stopping the spending anytime soon.

Scott Boras wishes he could negotiate a contract like Marc Antony did on behalf of Vlad Jr. I don't know how the hell this guy does it. Superb songwriting, music, dancing, womanizing, etc. but the guy is also an expert negotiator of baseball contracts on top of it?? Some guys really do have it all

Vlad and his team (lead by international music superstar Marc Antony) absolutely tarred and feathered Ed Rogers, Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins in these negotiations Aaron Judge had to hit 62 homers in his walk year to get the Yankees to pay him what he wanted, even then he took a discount compared to what other teams were offering All Vlad had to do was drop a couple of instagram likes that he'd consider signing with the Yankees and had had Ed Rogers s***ing his pants Just an absolute masterclass in a player squeezing every last drop out of a team during extension talks

Our season literally hinges on Easton Lucas tonight

Yeah Zips was saying he’d offer 9 for 450 but I like the extra years stretching it out. Will save tens of millions in tax each year.

Feels like tomorrow is a must win after todays stinker

What's going to happen is Gimenez will end up hitting 107 wRC+ with 4 WAR like we are all predicting and then we will get tarred and feathered for calling him Babe Ruth when we did no such thing

We need to pound the Mets this series. Their fans have been talking a lot of smack on us this offseason during the Soto and especially Alonso rumors that were flying around

Yeah it doesn't really have anything to do with sample size. When you're the best defensive infielder in baseball it doesn't take a whole lot of offense to start racking up the WAR. If he merely hits his 50th percentile projections he's going to end up with 4 to 5 WAR this season.

this home run by Volpe had an xBA of .060

Wow he couldn't even get through the inning!

Wow I am getting tarred and feathered for using the term "building blocks" lmao Call them whatever you'd like but they project for close to 8 WAR a season moving forward on team friendly contracts that have them locked up through their 20s. These are 2 of the only long term commitments that we have on our books moving forward and as we build out the other ~90% of our payroll in the coming years it seemed apt to refer them as a good start on that process

The Gimenez and Kirk tandem are great building blocks. 26.8 million on the books and you can expect close to 8 WAR out of them.

I'm not super confident he can keep producing whiffs like that on his 93 mph fastball. Stuff+ was 99 yesterday but his Location+ was 109. As Davy said, pitching against the Nats helped. And I suppose that's all you can ask from a #5 anyway is to pitch well against bad teams. Hopefully he can stick.

Can someone who has a subscription to that garbage MLBtradevalues website please punch in the following trade: Gimenez Kylometers Straw a good reliever Cash International Pool Money for a slap hitting first baseman with a bum wrist I can only assume the calculation would serve as the equivalent of a DDoS attack and crash the site, hopefully forever

Will be interesting to see @TJStats write up on Lucas Lucas got a CSW% of 34 on his fastball today

This road trip will be a good test Mets x3, Red Sox x4, and Orioles x3 I like the pitching matchups vs. the Mets Gausman vs. Megill Bassitt vs. Canning Francis vs. Peterson