glory

I could see them adding another reliever, maybe one with a starting background who can be more of a long man. They seem to really want to stack up Buffalo, so I could see them starting all their optionable relievers there and calling them up when a need arises. Other than that, I think they are done.

Yeah, Morrison was also a 30 year old 1b who had a huge season out of no where, much like Alonso. If those two got peanuts in free agency, then I doubt Smoak has much trade value. Still on a good contract, though.

The "Final Boss" is a great nickname, even though he's not going to be in that role over here. Big fan of this signing. He's probably not the beast he was in 2016, but as someone mentioned if he is somewhere in between 2016 and 2017, then he's big time surplus value.

I like that idea. Call Jansen up after the super 2 cut off. That should give him a couple of months of plate appearances in the minors, and then he can replace Maile mid-season, while McGuire moves up to AAA.

From behind, Vlad looks like a lunch lady.

Travis can't play everyday. Maybe try to get him on the field 4 days a week with Solarte playing the other days. The goal should be to keep him healthy and maximize the time he actually spends on the field. Same with Tulo.

Yeah, Dyson over Zeke on this roster would have been amazing. Pearce isn't a real OF so I don't even count him in that group, so that would have given the Jays four capable outfielders on the big league roster. Man, that Morales deal really is the drizzling shits. $11mm in this market could have gotten like 2-3 players that are better than Morales.

Agree. Granderson is a genuine good guy and fills a need. I'm fine with him over Gomez at the same price.

Grandy brings that vetrin presentz though, unlike Gomez, so between that and his ability to hit RHP, he probably made more sense for this team. Dyson would have looked great at centre with Pillar on another team, though.

Red Sox have signed JD Martinez. Hopefully Dumbrowski bid against himself and gave him a s*** ton of years.

Under. Possibly way under.

Sounds like JD thinks he can defy traditional aging curves. Where have we heard that before?

You keep Biagini in AAA because there's a pretty good chance you'll need a starter during the season (if not in April), and the other depth options have barely pitched above A+. Having him stretched out and working on his repertoire as a starter seems a hell of a lot smarter than restricting to a 7th inning role where he'll throw an inning at a time, and then having to stretch him out slowly after that. If he was out of options, then that's a different story, but he's not. We also saw how his performance suffered last season when he kept changing roles. He couldn't get outs as a reliever after his starting stint. The Jays still have time to sign someone to pitch out of the pen (Oh!). They also have a s*** ton of options who might be able to win spots out of spring training. We are not looking to replace Osuna, we are looking to replace a rule 5 pick with one good year out of the pen two years ago. Wouldn't shock me at all if some of the internal options or minor league signings can come in and take his spot in the pen. If AAA had more starting options then I would agree to just keep him in long relief and stretch him out when needed. But depth is a huge issue for this team, and even though I agree the only chance this team has to contend is if 4 of the 5 starters stay healthy, that doesn't mean you short change the depth.

Can't expect the starting 5 to stay healthy all season, and bouncing between roles might impact performance negatively. Keeping him in one role won't guarantee success, but at least they'd have him stretched out and ready to go in case he is needed. Put someone like Guerrieri in Biagini's bullpen spot and I doubt we even notice the difference. Relievers can come out of no where and turn to s*** very quickly. Rather Biagini develop into a back end starter.

Man, I do not miss the days when Lawrie was one of the faces of the franchise. Turning him and pieces into Donaldson was a stroke of damn genius by AA.

It definitely sounds like the front office wants Biagini in AAA with Gibby wanting him in the pen. Makes more sense to have him in AAA. Finding a reliever is a lot easier than finding a depth starter, even if you don't think he is much of a starter. Not like he's a lights out reliever either.

Odorizzi wasn't good last year and even in his prime was a solid, but nothing special starter. Surprised, I actually thought he was better than he was. Getting out of the AL East should help him though.

Agreed but why did his deal with Texas fall through?

Anderson on a minor league deal would be nice, especially if Biagini is going to the pen.

Well if he used advanced stats which show that Archer is better than his record/ERA indicates then he wouldn’t be able to throw shots.

I was going to bring up Lawrie as well. Dude was insufferable and more annoying than Stroman, and his white ass got called out for it. Not sure what race has to do with anything here.

Grandy/Pearce is the type of platoon a team runs when they are waiting for a prospect to come up. It's two old dudes who can hold the fort down until someone better comes up. Alford could probably use some more rips in AAA. It's really Hernandez who got screwed since he is what he is, although his K% after the trade was bad enough to not have complete faith in him.

The jays front office seems more collaborative. According to Atkins, Cherington worked with Garcia's agent on this deal. I'm sure Atkins, Cherington, LaCava, Tinnish, etc, do a lot of grunt work, and maybe Shapiro too, to get deals done, just that Shapiro has the final say. A random homeless man has probably done more work in the past year than Beeston did in his last tenure with the Jays.

Wish the Jays still had Papa Buehrle to keep him in check. Maybe that was a reason in their interest in CC. O Then again it is possible that Stro ('s personality) is beyond fixable.