KingKat

Hammel seems to have some of persistent stamina issue. ERA climbs up a full run in the second half for his career. OPS against goes up 80 points. BABIP goes up 20 points. Whip goes up by 0.17.

He would push Pearce into an OF/2B role and Smoak right out of a job. I don't know if either of those things are all that bad.

It's fine in a vacuum but do you really want to trade a guy with Vlad's upside at this juncture? I think that's more likely to set the franchise back than pay off.

Yeah good read. A good survey of the current landscape. One thing I hadn't considered before is owners becoming less meddlesome. We've definitely heard stories in the past about splashy owners playing a factor in contracts (Arte Moreno, Tom Hicks, Mike Ilitch, etc.). I wish the article had speculated a bit about why that's changed. Simply learning from past mistakes? Turnover in the owner's group changing the overall dynamic? Front offices learning doing a better job of communicating with owners in such a way to protect them from their worst instincts? I suppose all that could play a role.

Hell freezes over.

I don't think the hit on infield depth is all that significant. He's not that good and the Jays some good backups in place and some good depth through the system and with Pearse they have a guy who can shift between the OF and IF if needed and that really helps lengthen the bench.

If that's the case, shouldn't they insure themselves a bit against the possibility of Bautista going elsewhere? Angel Pagan is nobody's idea of a big signing but he can actually play the OF unlike Bautista these days. Pagan's a fit and he's just sitting there. Is it worth it to lift your nose at him just to wait out the possibility of signing Bautista?

You're reaching... Blair's own ideas can be dumb as f*** but I'm pretty sure he's capable of relaying a rumor.

I doubt negotiations are starting. I like McCutchen and if this was 2016 and the Jays were still riding those excellent Bautista and EE deals, I'd say go for it but sadly I don't think it makes sense now. Tulo and Martin will be a year further from their primes and the Red Sox stars will be deeper into theirs. Relatively smaller signings like Pearse and Morales and crossing your fingers makes a hell of a lot more sense for this team right now than going all Marlins/Dickey trade AA mode to try to prop open a window that may have already closed. The later cold haunt the team for years. If the team performs better than expected, you can always make a win now move at the deadline but it's way too risky right now. Obviously prospects never are sure thing and you never know which ones you'll regret trading but Vlad looks pretty excellent right now. It's not that hard to imagine him being to Atkins what Syndergaard was to AA.

Yes but that's kind of irrelevant to his ability to relay what he's heard.

This is the phrasing: The contract of a Player with ten or more years of Major League service, the last five of which have been with one Club, shall not be assignable to another Major League Club without the Player’s written consent... So it's whoever you played for over the last five years. Yes Bautista's contract is up at the moment but unless he plays for a different team in between his Blue Jays contracts, it's all moot. The phrasing is the way it is presumably because that's what the player's union wanted and ultimately obtained. MLB would have a fight on your hand if you tried to change something that's so established now.

If none of the other teams are willing to sign Jose until June than the draft is for all practical purposes already lost and shouldn't factor in the decision making process.

Smoak and Bruce are so similar right now. Both guys were signed as overpaid security blankets and both contracts turned into a complete waste when the market on bat first players completely cratered. Chris Carter and Jose Bautista are much better players and neither even has a job.

Chatwood's road/home splits were insane even for a Rockies pitcher. He had the same K/BB across the board but with an over .100 difference in babip. I'm not sure what tells us about him (if anything).

My post was not sarcastic.

Oh... I honestly had no idea that was what this is about.

Easy line to draw based on what? Am I missing something? What in the world would indicate that it's about Sanchez. Seems like the so called Junior High Drama is completely manufactured by this board.

Inside her? I don't even know her? (In before Gary)

More veterans and by extension more off speed stuff. It's a good test but it's not as significant as the jump to AA.

There's no way the Jays wanted to be in this position. They like to have contingencies in place. When EE turned them down, they locked up Morales and made a push for Fowler. They must have felt that had a real shot at Fowler and this is was better to go hard after him than hope EE came back to them. A reasonable decision to make at the time since it does seem like they got real close with Fowler and Morales is decent but off-seasons are tricky. Last year everything fell into place pretty easily. They got the pitchers they needed early and the rest of the offseason was mostly just lateral moves. This year they kind of got caught with their dick in their hands. That happens. Bautista would help salvage things but it's hardly a foregone conclusion. I doubt that they are going to make a 25 million offer like Cameron says. I think Bautista takes that in a heartbeat now. More likely the Jays are trying to reach a compromise at a lower cost. Another team could still shark its way into the picture and leave the Jays scrambling again.

Have to admit I completely missed the news when it happened but Sam Spence died in 2016. I love those old NFL Films scores he composed and I think he played a huge role in the utter watch-ability of that stuff and by extension in giving the NFL some gravitas that helped give it the cultural resonance it has today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x--nCW8YtYs&list=PLs-UKMZ-8ay6GXaH7rOZZ2jWsbJiWCEC8&index=8

I am running with McCann but I think I have the space to run two catchers past the cut and sort it out later and I do like Mesoraco. If you don't get any bites once we're closer to the deadline, hit me up.

He's probably right or not too far off. Impossible to say whether he actually knows something or is just making the same kind of educated guess some of our posters would.

There's a huge financial incentive to get under the threshold and reset the clock. Penalties get worse if you're over for multiple years but all it takes is a single season to reset that clock.

Seems like I misread board sentiment.