pickoff22

Ok fine, he signed for apparently the same amount that we offered. But no, AA doesn't get a free pass on this one. Waiting until mid March to address your biggest need is a failure all in itself. We never should have been in this position to begin with.

Ok fine, he signed for apparently the same amount. But no, AA doesn't get a free pass on this one. Waiting until mid March to address your biggest need is a failure all in itself.

I was trying to find this letter yesterday as I stared at my signed Kawasaki ball. Words with no substance.

nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnope!

The argument that signing Santana wouldn't have made us favourites to win the world series therefore it wasn't worth it is ridiculous. Ownership has constantly said they think we have enough talent to field a competitive team. Your job as a GM is to field the best team you can with the resources provided. Santana would have made us better. If you want to say Santana would only have added a couple wins, you can't ignore the fact that teams miss the playoffs by only a couple games all the time. Bottom line is he would have made us better and would have been a clear upgrade in an area that needs upgrades. At this stage we're counting on a minimum of two surprise pitchers coming in and killing it this year. Even if Santana didn't perform like he did last year the value that a guy who throws 200 innings provides is tremendous. Heck, give me a 4.00 era and I'm still ok with it especially considering the lack of durable arms we have. They talked about the 3 year window last year and this offseason they've acted like those words were never spoken. Observing the situation rationally the only explanation for their lack of activity this offseason is that they had financial constraints they were working with. And since front office constantly lies to us about injuries I have no doubt that they aren't exactly honest about the fact that ownership has never restricted their use of resources.

In no way is it "spending for the sake of spending", it's spending to address a glaring hole. I firmly believe our offense is perfectly capable of producing at a competitive level. Our starters are the question mark. Add an arm like Santana's and we're more competitivein that area, that's the bottom line.

The most embarrassing part of this whole fiasco is the stark differences between the Jays and Braves in this scenario. The Jays admit they need lots of help in terms of starting pitching at the end of the season and then do NOTHING over 5 months while FAs sign for less than expected. The Braves develop a need based on sudden injuries and do something within a couple days.

Although I do believe there's merit to him wanting to choose an NL team if he received equal offers, AA had 5 months to sign him before the Braves developed a need based on injuries. AA should have acted long ago AND he still could have outbid the Braves. Complete failure.

Still don't understand how any Jays fan couldn't want him on a one year contract. Clear upgrade over what we have. If we think we're getting 200 innings out of Hutch, Stroman or Happ then we're all on crack. Just a pathetic offseason. I love what Hutch has shown but he's not going to give us a full season. Instead we have 2 spots that are completely up in the air and a 3rd that is a big question mark in Morrow. Ugly. Can't imagine the players are happy about this either. There's been a number of articles with guys making it clear we needed another reliable starter.

According to David O'Brien And yet another slap in the face for us Jays fan. Sad.

amen.

Won't go out and say that he avoids the DL, but I suspect the numbers he puts up when on the mound are slightly above average. Think it was well worth the gamble for SD.

Shocked by how many fans are anti-Santana or growing "sick" of his act. Guess it's part of being a disgruntled Toronto sports fan, but my god people. A rumour comes out that he has set a deadline without any verification that he indeed did do this and now all of a sudden he's a jack-ass because he hasn't signed yet? Fact is that most tweets or reports that come out these days are half-truths or no-truths. Who knows what he has been offered and it sure doesn't sound like he ever set a 5pm deadline. It's not a game to him it's a big career choice. So forgive me if I can understand why he would want to wait more than 12 hours to sign a contract after it comes out that he would be willing to entertain the idea of a 1 year contract. Either way he would be a big help for the 2014 Jays. Hope they can make it happen and apparently the veteran players are making it clear they feel the same way.

Hard to believe this is true, but Jeff Blair claims the Jays made the same offer to Burnett as the Phillies: "This is an organization that has already struck out with A.J. Burnett – although they matched the Philadelphia Phillies offer – and fellow free agent Ubaldo Jimenez" Now if true that seems quite shocking, especially if it included the same team and player options. Even more shocking is that Blair throws this in without going into any detail and that it hasn't been reported anywhere else. Seems very suspect. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/baseball/blair-despite-his-warts-jays-need-innings-eater-like-santana/article17388689/