jays76

I think some people might be misconstruing my concerns. For me personally my criticism lies more with the organization than it does with AA. Although I did find his spin doctoring annoying last year with all his "the money is there if we need it" proclamations what else could he say really? I think it was obvious he was financially neutered by the organization. He's done an outstanding job this off season and I just pray he doesn't get handcuffed again, that's my main concern. I get there's a fiscal responsibility and they may not have the flexibility of the Yankees or Red Sox but there's a limited window of opportunity in baseball when you're competitive and last year was a mess on so many levels imo (from the pathetic salary deferral rumors, to AA continuously blowing smoke up everybody's ass, to the clubhouse publicly calling out management for being cheap, to management doing absolutely nothing the entire year, and more importantly when we were in the midst of a playoff drive). It was an embarrassment of riches to say the least and I'm just hoping this year won't be a repeat of that when push comes to shove.

Pretty sobering and realistic assessment, obviously we're hoping everyone plays up to their ability or even exceeds expectations but this could be our team. Regardless we need help and need to plug holes even if everybody performed up to snuff.

Kudos to AA, he really has done an amazing job this off season. Believe me no one wants me to be wrong more than me, I'll be cautiously optimistic and hoping for the best going forward. Are we in limbo now? It's definitely to early to make a judgment and that's not what I was saying, what I was getting at is I hope we don't end up in the same predicament as last year come the AS break where the team's competitive but they refuse to cough up dough.

Great point, I'm sure AA really is going for it to the best of his ability. I guess this is geared more towards the ownership, when the time comes will they drop the leash off of him and allow him the extra 15Mil to take a shot at the playoffs when we can almost taste it? Will they have the foresight to take a risk to invest on the team when it could pay massive dividends in merchandise and playoff ratings/revenue like other competitive teams do that time of year? I hope they will when the time comes this year unlike last season.

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying I'm not over the moon about the moves AA has made but let's just say I'm cautiously optimistic about the continuity he'll make going forward as our pitching staff needs 3 decent arms and we could use some infield and outfield depth. It's way to early for overreaction and I'm not trying to be a debbie downer with this post but I pray to the stars we don't have to go through another competitive year and hear about all the budget restrictions when we're only a piece or two away again and the city is in a baseball fervor..

Hey guys like everyone else I've loved all the moves AA has made this off season but the momentum seems to have come to a grounding halt. Not just because moves aren't being made at the same fap worthy pace but because the mood has changed in multiple articles I've read about the Jays not having as much budget left to work with as originally believed. Sure there's a ton of time left to make moves and I get the crying poor smokescreen to the other GM's & Agents so I'm still optimistic, but yet I still can't get that knot out of my stomach or shake the feeling of impending limbo like I had all of last year. Last year I had a feeling of perpetual frustration due to the Jays not making moves in the off season (which I however understood coming off the prior clusterf*** of a season). Like most people I was irritated they didn't sign Santana along with hearing the pathetic clubhouse salary defferal articles but I understood their position and gave management the benefit of the doubt, but what I couldn't forgive or understand was when the Jays had a tenuous grip on the wildcard and were still up 3 games at the AS break the fans, media, and even the players were pleading to management for reinforcements to no avail. It's hard to say now what would've came of it but it really felt like at the time we just needed a decent piece or two to capitalize on the momentum we'd built and make that final push to the playoffs. I remember all the Rogers is cheap and AA is a smokeblower backlash on here and for the most part I agreed, why not drop an extra 10-15mil and seize the momentum and cash in on the playoff ratings and drive. I mean ultimately if they failed the team could just shed payroll in the off season, personally I think most saw it as a lost opportunity. Now Bautista, EE, Reyes, Dickey, etc. are a year older and the window will be even tighter to go all in. AA came out like gangbusters and signed Martin and traded for Donaldson which indicated they might be maximizing this Bautista/EE window but not so fast, they trade for Saunders and pass on Melky which I think is a great cost saving move to spread out the salary and plug some holes but a myriad of useful free agents get signed and pass us by and now out come all the articles about budget restrictions. I'd hate to think I'm a mark for this line of thought but who knows maybe I am after being snakebit so hard last year, all I know is if we're in let's go for it and if we're not let's tear it down because having an identity crisis like last year is the absolute worst place you can be.

Waste of money throwing away that much on a reliever. Sign McCarthy or Liriano, leave Sanchez in the pen as an effective set up guy. Sign Jed Lowrie and bring back Casey Janssen for 4-5M on a 1yr contract, for all the s*** that gets heaped on him he was pretty damn effective minus the last few mths of last season. There will be no adjustment required coming in for him and it's not a huge risk on a cheap 1yr deal. If it blows up make a mid season adjustment..

Great insight, Price was a serious missed opportunity considering his salary and the cost. He also would've galvanized us last yr and potentially got us the wildcard, that being said I guess we can't cry over spilled milk especially with this off season so far. Personally I'd rather spend the money on Liriano or McCarthy as many are suggesting plus Lowrie and a closer. It's a long season and there will be plenty of opportunities to make a trade for a front end starter if needed (Hamels, etc). Buerhle's expiring contract and a few decent prospects puts in a position of flexibility to do that and make other necessary tweaks if we're really going for it..

Yeah he was pretty bad and very inconsistent but he did have some nagging injuries, overall his body of work with the Jays has been pretty impressive. I'd only do it if he was 100% healthy and like I said on an extremely short & cheap contract.

Reyes, SS Cabrera, LF* Bautista, RF Encarnacion, 1B Donaldson, 3B Martin, C Smoak/Lind, DH* Goins, 2B* Pompey, CF *This lineup would've been my most fapworthy if we could've held onto Lind and resigned Melky (for lefty hitting purposes). With all the AB firepower I'd start the defensive wizard Goins at 2B (with Kawasaki) until Travis is ready then find a way to cut our losses with the useless Izturis and Tolleson. I'd keep Mayberry & Valencia around for depth and occasional platoon work and we'd also have Pillar who's defensively adequate in the outfield. At this point you'd be focusing on pitching, payroll would've been a little tighter with Lind but we'd still have some wiggle room plus a few trade piece options with Navarro, Happ, Sanchez/Norris (and potentially another prospect) plus a Izturis type depth player to rig up a package to attain a front of the rotation starter. For the closer as crazy as it sounds to start the season I'd consider resigning Casey Janssen, I think we could get him on a short contract for cheap as the market isn't in his favor and then just do some reshuffling mid season if we need to tweak our pen.

No I'd be hesitant, there's too big of a gap between Nolin and Sanchez's potential. I'm happy it never came to that

Yeah for sure, I'm happy we made this deal and it makes us that much better today. If we win now and the A's win later it was constructive for both teams, it will take so much time for the dust to settle anyways. I don't think either side will have too many regrets with this one..

Here's an article that backs what some are saying regarding Beane and the long term numbers crunching. Saying Beane got fleeced is a massive stretch! For the Jays making a push within this next 2 or 3yr window it's just what the doctor ordered, for the long term maybe not so much but kudos to AA. http://www.rantsports.com/mlb/2014/11/28/oakland-athletics-win-josh-donaldson-brett-lawrie-trade/

I don't know if it was solely attitude issues with Lind why AA would make that trade but Estrada seems like a brutal match for the RC with his style, hopefully AA knew something we didn't. Yeah for the right price Drew would be decent. I'd love Zobrist but I won't hold my breath on that one..

I would agree with you if we didn't sign Russell Martin, I get what you're saying with the value portion and spreading the money around but for me that signing signified we are going for it now. I realize there's a lot of critics with Melk's defense but I thought he played really well last year and it was a great bounce back after getting healthy. The length isn't bad at 3yrs and the money isn't outrageous, we're in a critical time right now to go for it with JB & EE in their prime.

Lot's of options with the Russell Martin signing, yeah it was a bit of an overpay and long in length but it was exactly what the doctor ordered for this team. His bat and defensive prowess are going to be immeasurable assets but more importantly it provides flexibility for AA. He could shop Navarro or Happ (maybe both together), he could shop the Dickey/Thole combo, we can resign Melky but less pressure to do so now (Markakis would be a great plan B, I'm less sold on Aoki). Heck because of this Martin signing I would even be content with starting Goins at 2B believe it or not*, the infield D (with the odd Reyes blunder) would be shored up and Martin's framing and arm is going to elevate this rotation, if we can add another front end starter we'll be laughing! *I know Goins AB's would be a problem but I think we can live with it if we resign Melk or get Markakis. I hated the Lind trade and losing some pop but this Martin signing has opened a lot of doors and options, hopefully AA will capitalize..

I got a feeling the Melkman will be back and 3yrs at $45mil (if it goes that high) wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Jays are going for it with this brief window it looks like..

This is disgraceful now Jays, thankfully the pitch count for Cy Karns is at 97.

Pull the trigger bats wtf.

Time to wake up already Jays.

Don't swing Pillar.

So long Longoria.

Lol look at the rope chain Pompey's styling.

Flaming ginger Hanigan crushed that.

Is it just me or have they been talking about Goins for the last 20mins straight?