glory

My knees hurt just watching Romano do those squats/bends before every pitch. Not surprised at all.

Another thing to keep in mind is expanded playoffs is almost certainly going to happen (either 12 teams or 14 teams). In the normal 10 team format, maybe going for a grand slam trade to build a short term monster (especially in the AL East) would have made some sense, but I don't think it will after the CBA is finalized. It's going to be a bit easier to build a sustainable contender with more playoff spots, and the only time to really worry about going "all in" in a 12-14 team playoff format would be at the trade deadline when adding incremental wins to avoid a WC round would make a huge difference (assuming top seed gets a bye to the DS). Trading for Ramirez is fine. Don't have to do an Alomar/Carter redux though. Trade for Ramirez, sign a LHB like Brad Miller to DH against RHP, and they are likely set offensively while still having money left over to sign another SP.

I don't know if that's true or not, but if they add another big FA contract that extends past 2025, then you might be on to something. Right now, the combo of Gausman, Springer, and Berrios will make $63.5m combined in 2026. Of course, Gausman and Springer come off the books right after that, and Berrios has a player option after that, but tack on another $25m AAV deal on top of that (ex. Bryant), and you're looking at nearly $90m for 4 players in their 30's in 2026 without even factoring anyone else. I think they are fine after Gausman, but one more big FA deal, and it gets a bit tight financially, depending on what the CBA looks like.

Matz wasn't given the QO because he isn't a $18m a year starter. He's more in the $10-12m AAV range and the Jays likely knew he was going to accept the QO for that reason. Rodon is the type of SP you give the QO to. The fact that he didn't get one is the part that teams should be very careful about.

The White Sox not offering the QO is definitely something to watch out for with Rodon. Since he's repped by Boras, he likely would have declined it, so the White Sox didn't even want to risk a 1/18 deal on the off chance that he accepted. That's a huge red flag. If the Sox were shedding payroll or rebuilding/tanking, then it would have made more sense, but they just made the playoffs and look to be on the verge of a decent sized run. I'd double and triple check Rodon's medicals before even offering him anything. He's probably a real possibility given that teams are likely to be scared off a bit by his injury history, so his price may fall, but you don't want a more expensive Kirby Yates situation next year. I think Kikuchi is a strong possibility.

If I'm remembering correctly, I believe MLB's proposal was a floor of $100m and the luxury tax threshold at $180m, which was effectively a salary cap without calling it one by name, and MLBPA for some reason would rather the sport die than accept a salary cap. Free agency at age 29.5 is nice for college draft picks who come up at age 24-25, or late bloomers, but someone like Vlad would be a free agent after the 2028 season, which would give the Jays 10 years of control over him. I would imagine the arbitration years in that scenario would be the equivalent to FA money anyway, but no chance players are going to agree to a deal where teams get more than the 6 years of control they already get. My guess is owners won't budge on 6 years of control, and the players won't accept a floor with a low CBT threshold, which means they'll have to figure out a way for players to make more during years 0-6 within the current framework. Increase the minimum, arb after year 2, and bonuses/incentives for minimum earners who perform at a high level seems to be the only real solutions. I would imagine that's what the next CBA will look like for the most part.

If the Jays were to sign Suzuki (I'm dubious of that source but whatever, hypothetically) then I think they would keep Gurriel and Hernandez, and just use DH as a bit of a revolving door. If the team didn't trade Gurriel the past two years when his value (due to years of control) was much higher, then I think they view him as a core piece. Suzuki doesn't really fit the team's needs, though. A RH corner OF with unclear performance expectations in a season when the team intends to seriously contend seems unlikely unless they really, really like him and think he's going to be a star right away. I guess it's possible they feel that way. There doesn't appear to be a cost effective LH bat that could be signed in free agency, so going for the best available RH (assuming that's how they view him) would make sense. Damn stupid lockout means we have to wait a long time before we find out.

Grichuk for JBJ made a lot of sense, and was just about salary neutral. Even if you hate JBJ, he's LH, can play CF at a high level, and is likely going to bounce back offensively after this s*** season. A much better 4th OF fit for this roster, although Charlie would have found a way to play him everyday, I'm sure.

It's not a necessity to move him, but they could balance the roster out better if they moved him for someone who fills an org need (ex. 3B, SP). The only other option would be to start him at DH and let him catch on the days when they want to use the DH spot for one of the on field regulars. That could work, and it's probably a decent option considering how good of a hitter Kirk projects to be, but it comes down to whether that scenario has more value to the team than whatever Kirk could bring back in a trade.

I really wish there was a way for some bored billionaire to legally create a competing league so we could watch competitive baseball without Manfred and Clark involved. As long as no games are lost, this is just a temporary annoyance, but I have no faith that either side cares about the game or the fans at all to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Yeah they are not going to "lock themselves in a room and not leave without an agreement" until there is a real threat of losing games, and that's not going to be there until the first week of February. So the next two months are going to suck for baseball fans.

Wow, that's a lot less than I thought he'd get in this market. Nice contract for the Cubs.

Agreed. Kyle Seager is a 2017-18 Atkins move. Not a 2020-21 Atkins move. I think a Ramirez trade happens after the lockout. Otherwise I am stumped on which infielder they bring in, but I don't think it's going to be a 1-2 WAR vetrin placeholder.

I completely forgot Trent Thornton existed, and he was somehow tendered. Why? I mean he's only projected to make about $900k, but he's been pretty bad. I guess they are banking on his high spin rates turning into something eventually.

2 divisions, both division winners get a bye to the DS, and 4 wild card teams. I actually like that better. It will lead to one uneven division in each league until expansion, and they'll need to adjust the schedule in 2023 to accommodate, but I'd be fine with that. A compromise to that would be keeping the 3 divisions, having the 2 division winners with the best records get a bye, and then having the 3rd division winner get to choose their opponent between 3 WC teams.

If the Jays signed Freeman, then Vlad is definitely playing 3B. They won't put him at DH even part time given how young he is and how solid he looked on the field in 2021. I don't see the logic in getting Freeman unless they want to move Vlad to 3B, and I don't think they do. Although maybe Fit Vlad would be average at third, who knows. A more likely scenario is something like signing Taylor and then trading Kirk, Biggio, and prospects for Ramirez (something like that). Adding Freeman and Ramirez is a video game set of transactions.

I'm pretty sure Baerga broke the Semien signing. I'm equally sure that there's no chance the Jays are signing Freeman, but Baerga seems like an actual source. Probably just trolling.

Biggio at 3B is not a good option, although I guess if it's short term until Moreno comes up, then it's doable.

Chris Taylor makes more sense between the two. I don't think the Jays can really afford too many more big FA contracts that run beyond 2025 if they want to extend existing young players. Taylor shouldn't get a huge commitment and he can play all over the field which will come in handy throughout the season. Although he hasn't played much 3B and that's where the Jays would need him to play for the most part.

I'm curious where Correa goes at this point. I was sure he was going to get that $300+ million deal from the Tigers. Who else needs a SS? The Yankees won't be giving out that type of contract to a SS when they want to lock up Judge and have a top prospect at SS (Volpe). I doubt the Astros want to go that high. The Dodgers have Turner who they can put at short, plus I doubt Correa would be too popular in LA for obvious reasons. Maybe I'm missing a team.

If Story decides to take a 1 year deal, then I think he does it with the Yankees or Astros where he can stay at SS. He'd be a great target on a one year deal, though. Still see him getting a long term deal somewhere.

They are going to expand the playoffs right when the Jays are probably good enough to make it without it.

Not surprised. Lefty who can throw in the mid 90s and misses bats at a decent clip. Pretty much the definition of the type of pitcher Atkins would give to Pete Walker for fixing.

Possibly. Atkins tried to sign Gausman last season, and could have been trying to acquire him longer than that for all we know. He may have just preferred Gausman to Ray, or maybe Ray wanted more from the Jays than he took from the Mariners. Either way, I think the Jays made the right call here. Ray just has too much potential volatility in performance for me.

The 3B free agent market sucks, and the trade market is basically gut your farm (Ramirez) or a good flawed player who is not the best fit since he K's a ton and is RH (Chapman). I legit have no idea where the Jays go to fix that hole. Alpha Atkins doesn't shop in the stop gap aisle anymore, so I don't think he's going spend money on Seager. My guess is he either blows his load for Ramirez in a trade, or sticks with internal options (depending on what the actual plan is for Moreno) and spends big on a LH bat like Conforto or Schwarber.