glory

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.

Yeah, Donaldson won't be giving any hometown discount. If the Jays sign him, it will be a huge contract. Either way, it's hard to see a downside. If they lock him up, great. If not, they have him for three more seasons regardless.

McCown made an uninformed suggestion to Shapiro during the radio interview. Shapiro gave a diplomatic answer instead of outright dismissing it. The next day it's a "rumor". Definitely clickbait. I doubt the Jays are even considering it.

Subbing Gallardo for Dickey and losing a pick in the process would be terrible. There's no way Dickey will be able to fetch the equivalent of a first round pick in a trade, and Gallardo over Dickey is an insignificant roster change. Makes no sense.

Apparently the Jays did not want to go over what Chris Davis got in arbitration ($7.05M), which is a record, but damn that's a small amount to fight over. Chavez wants $4m and the Jays offered $3.6m. Either way that's way below MLBTR's projection.

They beat Storen's projection but they get reimbursed the difference between Storen and Revere anyway. So far, they have lost a little under $700k between actual and projected figures for Cecil, Saunders, Delabar, and Loup. I won't count Smoak since they may have been factoring his projected arb total from 2015 before he got non-tendered into the equation, in which case MLBTR would have lowballed that.

$1.05m for Loup. Jays have gone over MLBTR's projection on nearly everyone so far (Saunders got the same as projected).

Cecil probably sees where the market is and wants his turn next winter. If he has a typical Cecil season, he's going to get paid.

Delabar signs for 835k, per Heyman.

Keep Dickey and keep the pick instead of signing Gallardo. I mean, the difference between the two next season likely won't be significant, but the difference between the return for Dickey and the draft pick might be. Unless the team is getting a good player for Dickey (doesn't seem likely), it wouldn't make much sense to make that swap.

I wasn't judging the quality of the team, just the amount of time they had left to make up a lot of ground.

Shapiro mentioning the lack of young SP's in AAA could mean Sanchez starting in AAA is an option. That would certainly be the smart thing to do for his development as a SP, as long as they feel comfortable with whoever is replacing him in the pen.

The Jays were much better than their record at the time, but it was still 60 games remaining in the season and 7-8 games to make up. That wasn't a whole lot of time. They needed to play .750 ball to make it and they did. That doesn't mean it wasn't a huge leap of faith to make that deal(s). If they were going to make a trade, it should have been something like the Fiers/Gomez trade the Astros pulled off. At least they would have gotten more seasons out of the players they received. A Hail mary for a 2 month rental when you're staring at a 7-8 game deficit with 2 months to go isn't exactly a safe move, regardless of run differential. Also, making that trade for a 1st/2nd WC game would have been horrendous. YOu don't make that trade for a coin flip game. It was likely part desperation (knowing he was out the door and trying to make a run) and part hoping the 13 head to head games remaining with the Yankees could mean the division was still in play. He guessed right in hindsight, but still wasn't a high percentage move in terms of the division.

The Jays were .500 with 60 games to go and 7 games back of the division (or somewhere around that) when they traded for Price. It was a Hail Mary that worked.

Gallardo plus losing a pick? Not happening.

Exactly. You don't have to draft every player you develop. Kluber, Carrasco, and Bauer (among others) were essentially prospects when they were acquired. They turned into what they are now in the Indians org. As the Jays have proven, you can have great scouts who make great picks but those players may not be developed properly or traded. The key is being able to identify talent, acquire it, and then put them in the best position to pan out. Drafting it would be the best way but it's not the only way.

The Donaldson trade was an outlier. He wasn't going to make those types of trades consistently, if ever again (Beane had one of the biggest brainfarts in recent memory). In that case, you have to look at the things he's more likely to do on a consistent basis, and that's where you evaluate his ability to develop talent, to give players the best chance to succeed, to factor in service time/options for the betterment of the team long-term, to acquire talent in general (does he look at WAR now, framing, defense, etc), and so on. Unless he had a trade lined up for Mike Trout or something (equivalent of Donaldson trade), he's not a guy I'd want to have around to build on 2015 and help them bridge to 2017-beyond in the best way possible. Shapiro/Atkins at least have the right mindset.

Shapiro/Atkins + top 10 payroll is going to be fun to watch.

Let's see if Shapiro can win with what Gillick left him before drawing any conclusions one way or the other.

He signed Martin and the clueless Toronto media started parroting the values of framing immediately afterwards so it's possible he wasn't the same imbecile he was the previous five years when he valued HR, ERA, and track teams. Still, there was enough wrong with what he did last season (starting the year with 6 rookies, trading more prospects for vets, ending the season with 3 starters in MLB and AAA combined, etc) that I'm glad he left before it got worse. He will forever be respected for getting Donaldson but I'll be damned if I retcon five years of mediocrity just because of the final two months of 2015.

I be hatin', yo. Players never age or decline. Teams never win with prospectz. Depth don't matter. Why develop prospects when you can burn options, start their service clock, and stunt their development at an early age? Cheers to short-term success! I miss AA already.

Rogers wanted to get rid of AA in January of last year when they tampered in an attempt to get Kenny Williams and Dan Duquette. The writing was already on the wall at that point. I think it's possible AA's beef wasn't with Shapiro at all, but rather with Rogers. Shapiro was the replacement that was going to come in regardless. If it wasn't him, it would have been someone else that had no connection to AA. I think Shapiro prefers having Atkins rather than Alex. THat's just common sense. He's familiar with Atkins and knows he can work with him and they have the same ideas on how to build an organization. He may have been able to live with AA as the GM, but AA wasn't exactly saber-friendly nor did he care about important things like options, service time, development, etc. It was a poor match. In the end, I think the real beef was AA and Rogers. Not that I care. I'm happy with Shapiro/Atkins, and thought AA was a year away from pulling an Amaro, so he left at the right time. Everyone is better off.

Re-signing Bautista and Edwin becomes way more realistic if you move one or both of Tulo and Martin. That's really the only way. I'm not saying whether it's smart or not, but you can't fit five $20m players on a $140m payroll. Even $150m is pushing it.

I don't mind bringing them back, although you would have to factor a decline towards the end of each deal. The issue is fitting them into a "modest" payroll and mitigating any decline from them (and Martin/Tulo) by adding talent around them. Bringing them back and expecting them to perform like they did in their primes is asking for disappointment. They will fall off. That's what happens to most players in their late 30's. Maybe it will be gradual, it might be injury related, etc, but it will happen. Shapiro/Atkins are smart, they'll make the right call and offer what they think is fair. I just don't want to be in a situation where the Jays are so front loaded on contracts to players in their 30's that it prevents them from improving. Spending $130m on seven players in 2017 runs that risk. But I do agree that with the way free agency has gone this season, and the team's refusal (rightfully) to trade prospects that it will be hard for the Jays to replace those guys for the same cost. I was going to say maybe they can sign someone like Josh Reddick to a smaller deal in lieu of signing one of them but in this market what the hell is a smaller deal? It's a tough spot to be in. I still think the Jays end up losing one or both. We will see.