glory

Yeah I don't think either player will sign an extension prior to the season. These guys are in their mid-30's or close to it in Edwin's case. This will be their last chance at a monster contract. Unless the Jays give Bautista and/or Edwin a fair market value contract (whatever they interpret that as), I think they'll test the market. Of course, that doesn't mean they won't re-sign, as we saw with Alex Gordon, maybe the grass isn't greener on the other side even after testing the market. I've said before, I don't mind bringing neither of them back, as you'd be paying them for their declining years after five plus years of getting enormous surplus value. However, I'd be fine with bringing Bautista back. It's hard to say, but I think he'll be the one that ages more gracefully than EE, and for sentimental purposes he's far more valuable to the organization than EE is. Bringing both back is a pipe dream, and bringing neither back is my guess as to what actually happens. A lot will depend on how the 2016 season plays out and what the payroll is going forward.

@GideonTurk Source: Blue Jays sign Gavin Floyd to Major League deal. $1M base salary + $1M in potential bonuses based on active days on roster. I'll wait until a more reliable source reports this, but if it is in fact a MLB deal, then you'd have to think he's being converted into a reliever. Maybe a long man.

Good move.

I wish they panned to Shapiro's face when the idea of Pillar leading off came up.

I don't know what's more painful; the idea of Pillar leading off or listening to Buck try to read a sentence.

Standing ovation for John Gibbons. Yikes. At least Shapiro and Atkins didn't get booed.

Storen with Cecil in the 8th. Let Osuna be a multi inning reliever.

Yep, trading either Tulo or Martin is the only way I can see bringing both (JB/EE) back. You can't fit all five (those four + JD) on a payroll that isn't top 5 in baseball.

Signing them might be the best value/dollar, but the issue will always be whether Rogers will increase payroll to accommodate two extensions + still provide enough money to improve the team around them. If the payroll remains around $140-150m, then they better be prepared to run out a ton of league minimum talent in other positions, because that's probably all they'd have left to spend if they re-signed both.

He's minor league filler.

My post was an attempt to appease the Baseball God's by emulating Ned Yost. I don't actually think Tulo should be batting 8th or Pillar should be leading off.

Maybe Pillar hitting 1st will have the same impact on the Jays as Escobar leading off had for the Royals. Bat Tulo 8th.

Yeah I think one is the best case scenario. No chance both are back, and I'd guess the chances of losing both are greater than the chances of signing one. It's just too much money for a payroll that won't have enough room to fit them in.

Navarro's clutch profressional hitting was worth a lot more than a reliever, and was definitely worth beating up the $82m investment all season. Did I mention how glad I am that Shapiro and Atkins are here? If I haven't, I am.

Yeah I don't see anything about a roster move happening today. Plus, it's not Friday, so there can't be a move today.

If Jackson signed here he'd probably start in LF (and lead off because "speed"). Saunders is such an uncertainty.

Add wins wherever you can. I just don't think the Jays have the money.

Shapiro will handle Bautista and Encarnacion differently in terms of PR. In the case of those two, they are long time Blue Jays and realistic (in terms of years/dollars) to sign. Maybe not probable, but realistic. With Price, he was a two month rental that the Jays had no chance of signing given the type of deal everyone knew he was going to sign. If Shapiro said "we want to bring him back and plan to offer him a contract", only to see Price predictably sign elsewhere, what possible impact would it have had on attendance or interest? The fans that are whining on social media will be there when the team makes the playoffs, or disappear when they don't. It's that simple. You don't cater to fans. You put a consistent winner on the field and fans will show up.

I think Bautista and Encarnacion will both get four years. Age 36 (Bautista) and age 34 (EE) is old to hit free agency. I doubt either one gets more than four years. AAV for both somewhere between $20-23M, assuming they have typical seasons in 2016. Neither one will re-sign with Toronto, is my guess. The free agent market is crazy, and the moment those two hit the open market and the Jays have to compete with other teams with contract offers (looking at you, Dombrowski), it's going to get very rich. I'm interested to see how Shapiro/Atkins go about replacing those two in 2017 if they both leave. That's about 8 or 9 wins for $24m combined that they'll need to replace. The Jays had it really good with those two on those contracts. Too bad they only have it for one more season.

Shapiro should have at least made an effort to bring him back.

What if he made an insulting offer and Price's agent made that public, too? Not saying he would have but my point is who cares what the agent says? If the Jays had no chance to sign him (and if they weren't going to go above $200m, they had no chance), then I just don't see what benefit there would have been to pretending there was a chance. Shapiro could have been more optic friendly with his approach this winter but this scenario had no real benefit to the Jays. Estrada, Happ, and Chavez combined make less than Price and the Jays still lack depth. It was never going to happen.

If Shapiro came out and said "we want to bring him back", what exactly would have happened? Would fan reaction have been kinder to him? I'm not sure what purpose that would have served other than outright lying to the fans for no reason. Price was not going to sign for less than $200m so your point about negotiating a reasonable price makes no sense. There was never a chance to sign him for a reasonable price. That was the whole point. If Shapiro came out and said he's after Cespedes right now, and then Cespedes signs with another team, who's going to care that Shapiro expressed interest? It's a meaningless exercise. There are better ways to improve optics.

I don't think anyone would disagree with having him develop more in the minors. Putting him in the MLB rotation when they have six guys that are clearly better than him is the issue. If it's either Sanchez in the big league rotation or Sanchez in the big league pen, then you'd have to pick bullpen because unless he turns into a completely different pitcher in spring training, chances are he'll hurt the team as a SP.

Typically using bad starters in the rotation, even if they're young and cheap, doesn't help in building sustainable winners. With that said, putting Sanchez in AAA as a starter would be the ideal situation. If AA's regime was still around, then I'd just stick him in the pen and not worry about it, but Atkins/Shapiro have a history of developing SP's. See if they can work some Cleveland SP magic on him in AAA. If not, then put him in the pen long-term. With his current skillset, he's a reliever. If they work on him and maybe help him develop a swing and miss pitch, then the chances of him becoming an MLB starter increase.

If the money is there, then they should sign Cespedes regardless of what it means for Bautista. Unfortunately, the money probably isn't there.