glory

I think Keys will be traded. His best position is probably 1B, and that position is taken until 2067 when Vlad's contract ends. This team values defense way too much to throw him in LF and hope he sticks, and they barely played him in September. So on this team he's really DH-mainly. That makes him a bit less valuable to the Jays and possibly more valuable in a trade as other teams could use him at 1B or possibly 3B depending on how he looks there. Davidi mentioned Abrams, Marte, and Neto as potential trade targets. I don't think the Jays have enough expendable prospect depth to get any of those players but Keys would probably be involved in a deal like that for someone. If Arizona hates Marte enough to sell low then maybe that's an option.

Robert has a career 137 wRC+ against LHP and 122 the last two seasons. As long as he's used as a platoon player, he's likely a more useful asset to the Jays than Straw would be aside from clubhouse vibez. Of course there's injury history to take into account, so that hurts Robert, but slap hitting Straw combined with slap hitting Bateman, combined with slap hitting Gimenez, combined with slap hitting Clement, etc, etc, is a bit overkill. Need to diversify that skill set a bit.

A Bateman/Robert platoon would be pretty interesting. I'd much rather they go that route than the more boring route of picking up Straw's option (or declining the option and bringing him back on a cheaper, but still probably around $5-6M a year, deal). Or go get Denzel Clarke from the A's now that Bolte is their everyday CF. At least you could look at bat speed, defense, and base running, and see a potentially useful backup making the minimum. I feel like Suzuki might be the team's main offensive target. They really need a RHB who can bat somewhere in the top 4 spots of a playoff lineup, and he's clearly in that category. Age is really the biggest issue there.

I think the Jays are going to make a big move (or two) prior to the lockout. November might be quiet for teams/owners who want to avoid any dollars spent before a work stoppage, but there are a handful a teams who DGAF about money and thankfully the Jays are one of them. The Dodgers have an owner going through major legal issues so that might open the market up if they are a bit more reserved in spending because of it. The Mets have a Dollar Store version of Peter Brand from Moneyball as their GM so how they spend will depend on Cohen. Should be interesting. Whatever this winter's version of Dylan Cease is, I think the Jays do it pretty early in the off season.

Was Donnie Baseball trying to get a 3 inning save from a closer who rarely pitches more than 1 inning? I originally thought he was brought in to face the top of the Braves order but then they brought him back for a 2nd inning, and who was going to pitch the 9th if the Phillies still had the lead? Just odd managing there. Last night’s SD crowd reaffirmed who I am rooting for in the NL. That crowd in a World Series would be incredible.

From Shi Davidi: "Still, since they always big-game hunt, they’re sure to at least check in with Tarik Skubal but they’ve also done lots of work on this year’s Japanese class, including starters Kaima Taira and Hiromi Itoh, and third baseman/outfielder Teruaki Sato". Ross Atkins this winter:

The Jays came off one of the more infuriating seasons that I can remember, but on the last game of a lost season the stadium was packed, and the fans gave departing players the type of send off that players dream about. One thing that is understated aside from the obvious financial advantage the Jays have is that they've built a culture that players want to play for (like Bieber above). Obviously without money that wouldn't mean much to free agents, but when you combine culture with deep pockets, that's a huge competitive advantage. Hopefully the MLBPA wins and we don't see a salary cap (and I don;'t think we will).

NL: Anyone but the Dodgers. Literally anyone. Don't care who, as long as LA is bounced in the DS. I'll probably root for the Padres, but wouldn't be against any of the non-LA teams making a run. AL: Picking a team here is impossible. Half of them don't even belong in the post season, and the other half are the AL East which I don't like for homer reasons. I refuse to root for the Rays at any point unless it helps the Jays, so won't root for them. I don't hate the Yankees like others here do, but my least favorite sports team just won a title (Knicks) and if the Yankees win in the same year, insufferable would be an understatement. Maybe the White Sox just due to how crazy their fans in the stadium are. I have Astros fatigue and the Guardians put me to sleep every year. TLDR, I guess Padres in the NL and White Sox in the AL.

Yeah Abrams is an option as well though after trading Nimmala I’m not sure the Jays have enough in the farm to make a trade like that. Some of the older more expensive options that could be traded (Seager, Lindor, Bo, etc) should cost a lot less due to their salaries. Arraez can’t be given the QO and his offensive profile is what Ross dreams about at night, so I could see that happening, but I’d shoot for more/higher impact if possible.

I wonder who the "significant middle infielder" the Jays were allegedly discussing at the deadline was. Aside from the FA class (Lowe, Chisholm, Arraez), there should be a few big money infielders potentially available in trades like Seager, Lindor, Bo, and possibly Marte.

Latest from Mitch Bannon:

Whoever was doing the Jays international signings in 2015-2016 hit a grand slam with Kirk, Moreno, and Otto Lopez in the same signing class/year. Haven’t had much success internationally since but that’s essentially three 5 WAR players in 2026 (Kirk prorated due to injury) from one class. Pretty damn impressive.

The 2021-25 Jays was a hell of a run, definitely by this franchise’s standards. Springer was a huge part of that and left his mark on the org.

Phillies starting Nola on 2 days rest apparently. Eight days ago they were tied for WC1 and were 5 up on the D-Backs. Crazy to think they might miss the playoffs entirely now.

The Jays had 3 catchers and Kirk was coming off a 4 WAR/129 wRC+ season at age 23. The only alternative was to move Moreno to 2B/3B. I honestly wouldn't have been against it, as the Jays signed KK that year anyway, so they didn't really need a CF for 2023 and could have just put Moreno at 2B and ran with it, but whether that was the best use of the catcher surplus would have been highly debatable. Varsho was probably the wrong guy to get in return. It was the ultimate buy high and they didn't even play him in CF for half of his remaining years of control.