glory

The front office was fooled by the exit velocity. Someone tinker with his damn swing so he stops hitting so many grounders, and maybe he'd actually be an above average hitter. The bat speed and the exit velocity is still there. But he's getting at an age where you can't expect too many bounce backs and he provides no value doing anything else. Save us, KC. Take the popular clubhouse guy who can help your young players during a rebuild. You know you want to.

Regardless of what the Jays have left to spend, I think it's more likely they spread it around than spend all of it on one guy. They also seem to like having some money left mid season to make additions (either improvements or using money to buy prospects). My guess is that they will get another OF, SP, and RP and then call it an off season (aside from minor league signings and waiver claims). Not sure how they can fit all three within $15m, if that's what they have left, but there will be players who sign cheaper than expected, I'm sure. They had time to work with Brett Anderson last year and he was actually quite decent in his time here so that's probably a cheap fall back. For the outfield they will need someone pretty cheap and could parade around as a starting LF at least for a couple of months. Austin Jackson might be a decent/cheap stop gap. Maybin will probably come cheap as well but there's a reason for that. Eh, I'm not really seeing a significant move being made here unless there is a trade. I'd love to see the Jays add McHugh in a trade and at least have a body for the 2019 rotation as opposed to just Stroman and pray for Sanchez to still be blister-free and actually good. Should have traded for Fiers before he was non tendered.

I believe it's a 2nd round pick and $500k international draft money. Not worth it for Cobb.

Isn't he qualified? I doubt he's an option.

Jaime Garcia might be a cheap(ish) starter on the market. MlbTR predicted 2/16 for him, which is reasonable.

Yeah, this looks like a 80-85 win team to me, with a lot more depth to overcome injuries than last season. FG has their projected win total at 83, maybe a little higher after the Grandy signing. I think that's reasonable.

Just took a look at the free agent list (holy s*** it sucks), and I’ll change my prediction of who the Jays sign next from Gomez to Maybin. Not because I want it but because it’s likely going to be a really cheap one year deal, while Gomez might be more expensive or more than one year (or both). I’ll take the cheapo off season over a Morales type signing any day.

Davidi is saying the Jays are still after another OF. It's starting to look like Hernandez and Diaz will both start in AAA, while the outfield is Granderson-Pillar-FA with Pearce/Zeke/Solarte/catcher on the bench. My guess is they end up with Gomez, but that's based on nothing.

Who is another cheap OF that won't cost much in years or dollars? CarGo? Gomez? I'd expect something like that and a Brett Anderson type to fill a rotation spot.

Word is the Jays want another OF. So Grandy in RF, platoons with Pearce (who is now a bench player), the other OF they acquire plays LF, Zeke makes $2m off the bench because we can't have nice things, and Teoscar/Diaz start in Buffalo?

Wow, nice deal. He needs a platoon mate though, and Zeke ain't it. Still, for $5m? Good clubhouse guy and still productive with the bat. Nicely done Shatkins.

I knew we should have kept Woodman. His K rate might have enticed the Pirates to do the deal 1 for 1.

Damn why didn't the Jays trade crap to the Pirates for Cutch?

When did the Pirates go derpy?

Yep, about $5m this year in arb and I think another year of control in 2019. Makes a ton of sense as long as he’s healthy.

I wonder if the Jays try to trade for one of Houston’s excess starters. Buy low on McHugh.

Seriously, time to get Cutch for nothing.

The issue is teams are starting to realize that the most valuable years of a player's career are their first six years. After that it becomes diminishing returns because they will start to be paid based on past performance and their future performance will likely dip, so there's not as much surplus value. That's why there are so many free agents left who are in their 30's. Teams, except for those run by Dombrowski, are not going to pay top dollar for a player's declining years anymore. Most players (unless they get called up very early) are free agents in the late 20's or 30's, so the first time they hit free agency will be when their prime is closer to being over (or already over) than it is to getting started. The time to get paid is during your prime because teams will be more likely to hand out bigger deals if they know they are getting more of the player's peak seasons. It won't hurt players like Machado and Harper next year, but it will hurt Donaldson. I don't mind rookie contracts and things like that, but there has to be adjustments made. Starting arb sooner and increasing the minimum salary might be the safest compromise as it will still give teams six years of control but will give the player more money during that time. Best of both worlds.

If Donaldson finishes the year with a typical great season (5-7 WAR), then what it will come down to is whether another team is willing to offer him more than four years. I think Shatkins will go four years (age 33-36), even factoring some decline in there. But anything beyond that and I doubt it. A Five year deal for a 33 year old is a huge risk. That one extra year makes a difference.

Three years of JD felt like a blur, while three years of Morales will feel like a damn eternity.

The CBA is definitely going to have to change next time. Maybe start arb sooner, or five years of team control instead of six, or higher minimum based salaries, etc. The players are getting screwed big time in MLB.

Dombrowski will give him a 6 or 7 year deal. Just a matter of when.

Whose price is going to drop enough for the Jays to sign him? Cain seems like a long shot, even though he’s probably looking at a four year deal now. JDM will get paid because Boras and because Dumbrowski. Not sure who else is worth it that’s out there. Lots of platoon bats and non difference makers.

Bruce will still be rumored to go to the Jays in a trade at least once a year for the next three years.

Teoscar struck out a metric ton amount of times last season. I don't mind giving him a spot but he has to get back to around 25% K% to be a decent outfielder. The Jays have to decide between Morales and Pearce. Can't keep both on the team. We all know who the better player is, but being better means he's an asset, while Kendrys has no value at all.