glory

Kimbrel would probably cost less than Chapman to acquire. I'd go that route.

That's a pleasant change from Alex "my god look at dat ERA!" Anthopoulos.

I'd rather go with Chavez than a long-term deal with Estrada.

An approach where they limit him but improvise how they use him over the full season (like skipping starts once in a while, limit him when he shows signs of fatigue, etc) would be a good approach. I just don't know how many innings you can realistically expect out of him next season when he spent an entire year in the pen throwing primarily a fastball and has a career high 78 innings. You're right I was probably being overly cautious with the innings, though.

Osuna's innings per year 2011: 19.2 (MEX) 2012: 43.2 2013: 42.1 2014: 35.1 (minors and AZFL) 2015: 78.0 (reg and post season) If they stretch him out, he'll have to be on a 100-120 inning limit, or thereabouts. I'd ignore the critics and just put him in AAA next season. They burned an option on him already, but regardless, let him work on his secondary stuff while being in an environment where his innings/pitch count can be controlled. Expecting John Gibbons to show any type of restraint with a young pitcher would be like putting a loaded gun in the hands of a monkey and expecting no one to get shot. Keep Osuna away from Gibby in 2016 if you plan to stretch him out. Stretching him out in the Majors when he spent an entire year throwing fastballs in the pen would be foolish. I'm not sure about Hendriks in the rotation. He's a great reliever regardless of how the manager uses him. Just give him more of a role in the pen next season and see what happens. But if they want to see if his velocity spike can be somewhat sustained in longer outings, then give it a shot.

Not surprising. We'll probably see more AA guys jumping ship.

What can the Jays offer for Carrasco at this point? Cleveland is too smart to like Sanchez, and Osuna needs about two years of stretching out to be a SP option and the Jays already started his service clock and wasted an option year on him. That leaves Pompey, Alford, and pitchers in A-ball. I think that rumored package was the best the Jays could have offered, but without a Norris or Hoffman to trade it will be damn difficult.

Unless there's a clear upgrade available, I'd probably just roll with Smoak/Cola again. Thats going to be a dirt cheap platoon again and there's still enough upside there with Smoak to make it a worthwhile gamble. If you can add a win or two by getting another first baseman, then that's a different story.

Stewart traded Wade Miley for no gosh darn reason and actually coveted Jeremy Hellickson, so why not? Aaron Sanchez for Corbin and Delgado. Don't let me down, Shapiro!

Man this thread is reminding me why I was rooting for AA and Gibbons to leave for good. Half way there.

Saunders would need to prove his knee is healthy first. Revere > Saunders post knee injury. I could see the Jays moving Revere to make room for Pompey (mix in some youth with the aging ones), but for Saunders I think it's time to non tender and re-sign to a minor league deal. If not, see ya later.

If you're not signing the big dogs and the mid tier guys are unattractive because of the QO, then what's left? Trading is kind of hard to do without a farm system, and the prospects the Jays can trade they probably don't want to. Unless the Padres are willing to do Ross for Sanchez like some posters seem to think.

Depends on who they get to fill rotation spots and whether Gibbons can tell who his best relievers are this time.

When the Jays signed Martin last winter, they lost their 1st round pick, but gained a comp pick when Melky signed with the White Sox. It will be the same situation here if Estrada declines the QO and the Jays sign a qualified FA.

Wouldn't be surprised if most of the good 2nd tier SP starters (Kuma, Shark, Kennedy, etc) get qualified by their teams. If the Jays want to seriously improve the 2016 rotation without trading prospects, they may have to bite the bullet and lose a pick for one of those guys.

Yeah don't let his defensive rating in 2015 fool you. The Mariners play every infielder they have in the outfield for some reason so that messed up his defensive numbers. He's fine at short. If his bat improves, then he's a very solid starting SS.

It will take two seasons of stretching out for Osuna to be anywhere near ready to handle a starter's workload, and I don't think they'd demote him to accomplish that after the season he had in 2015. I don't want to trade Osuna, but if they've made him a reliever long-term, then I'd be open to it. That's why you don't promote 20 year old's from A-ball to the Majors and give them 70 innings of workload when they should be in the minors developing. Thanks Alex.

I think Shapiro will go after Iwakuma. He's 34 so he won't get a long deal and he projects to be very good in 2016. I don't see Shapiro going after really long deals like Price or Heyward will command.

Career 118 wRC+ and projected at 122 for next season. He can hit and still has some upside with the bat. I agree that if you go for a long contract with him to include a player opt out after 4 years. Chances are he'll opt out unless he really crashes and burns, and at that point you'd get four seasons of his prime before he bolts for another 7-8 year deal.

If you can sign Heyward, then just go short-term as hell with the rotation. I know people are going to hate the lack of a "true ace", but the defense, offense, and bullpen should be excellent in that scenario to the point where you can probably survive with filling the rotation with short-term options as long as they are league average or better.

Pompey-Pillar-Heyward left to right would be a great outfield defense. Then if/when Alford becomes a realistic option to push one of them out, you can decide between Pompey and Pillar from there (preferably Pompey). Damn you guys, you got me thinking we have a shot at Heyward and I know it's not going to happen. Surprise me, Shapiro.

Heyward in RF with Bautista at 1B would be excellent, but I doubt the Jays would go to 10 years on any player. Would be a great move, though. Go short-term with pitchers and sign a cornerstone talent long-term.

Iwakuma at that price would be amazing. Even a bit more money than that would be fine since it might take some incentive to get him out of Seattle. Keep the contracts short, especially for starters.

Osuna as a starter in the minors > Osuna producing a 1 WAR out of the pen in the Majors when a free agent could have done that.

Kratz would be a solid backup. If you want a starting calibre catcher as the backup then give Navarro money to Iannetta, but that might be excessive given the team's pitching needs.