Governator

Oh thank God you're alive! Yeah I think it's pretty much destined to happen at this point.

I guess either way works but I really didn't get my point across; Smoak sucks balls and having either Bautista or Pearce play 1B with Pompey in the OF would squeeze more value out of our roster. I'd also argue that if we end up signing Bautista over 3 years I'd rather him transition to 1B sooner than later considering Morales is here for 3 years so he won't be getting much DH time.

I'm basically saying by using Bautista at 1B and keeping Smoak off the roster, we might be able to get more value out of this team, even the way it's currently structured, than we did last year with our positional players.

This might sound crazy (and extremely optimistic) but hear me out, this is my thought before my 3rd cup of coffee post. Considering Pompey projects to be a about win more than Smoak it might be worth exploring using him everyday in the OF and keeping Smoak on a 1 way ticket to Mars. Fowler would have been such a great pick up but Pearce+Pompey might not be a bad combo either. If we sign Bautista to 1B and use Pearce/Pompey/Upton for LF/RF then what is the collective value lost by swapping Encarnacion & Smoak with Bautista & Morales? Bautista projects as a more valuable bat in 2017 than Edwin and steamer still views him as a 2.8 WAR player. Meanwhile, Pearce + Pompey could bring in more value than what Bautista brought us last year with speed on the bases at the end of our line up. Now a lot has to happen for Bautista to be on par with Edwin or Smoak when it comes to 1B defense but it's not improbable for a former corner infielder to transition there rather quickly. I really don't think we should be so against bringing Bautista back, he is a bounce back candidate available on yet another budget friendly contract.

By the time summer rolls in I'll be qualified for an anger management counselor job.

ftfy(me). My resume will really stand out now.

Yeah I mean, with my new mod status now I'll be able to add like 20 hours per week of babysitt... err volunteer hours on my Linkedin profile anyway.

I'd probably turn in to a productive worker, or something.

Why don't you just use projections to get these numbers?

I don't know... I guess my thought is this team could go in to rebuild mode as early as next off season (Josh Donaldson's future as a Blue Jay being the driving force along with our season's result). JB could still help bring in talent from any team needing a power bat at a deadline.

Man that makes him so much less desirable.

If we sign Bautista, he still keeps 10/5 rights correct?

Compared to the initial offers of $60MM and the fact that his agent was reportedly chasing $72MM... I'd say it's about the max bid any team would go, not to mention surrendering their first pick of next year's draft in the process and giving a full no trade clause which only adds to their total investment. How much bigger would the Jays have had to go to land him and when is it considered an overpay?

The Jays must have played hard for Fowler to force the Cards to go that high to land him and have to include a full NTC.

Travis is iffy for opening day? I thought they expect him to be ready for Spring Training at full strength

The period after the winter meetings feels so much less exciting.

2018 is our year

Welp

I feel like if there's ever a time for Shapiro to test his trust with Rogers, now would be a pretty damn good time. Do what it takes to land Fowler and if it means they won't give you an extra couple milly to land Chris Iannetta.. oh well. Pick up scraps for our remaining pieces or worry about making trades later like you did with Grilli/Benoit. Maybe I'm being narrow-minded but I'd rather have the larger piece of our problem solved before worrying about our 2nd catcher & back end of the BP.

Yes I think Atkins said it on the air, about $25MM to spend on OF, Back up catcher, BP

I think it's fair to assume he'd still be a depth option in the event we have two or three downed starters. We'd probably be pretty f***ed if it things came to that though, I think our success against Bos/NY is going to rest heavily on the health of our rotation.

Not to mention he is most likely average at worst in the corners. I don't know how good is arm is but at least he'd have the range that pylons like Bautista/Saunders don't. Be nice to hear less "Little Looooper, thatsch gonna drop" from Buck.

I think that's a pretty ideal strategy, however I would have preferred Bautista over Morales to replace Edwin to be honest. A solid DH bat that can be put in to the OF or 1B in a pinch. Even though he's a player in decline he still comes with the versatility by comparison and his OBP is still top of the line worthy. I guess by waiting him out, his value has plummeted to an all-time low and the Jays have the upper hand now in any negotiations but he seemed like a great option for DH and backup outfielder. I'm less of a fan if he's plugged in as the starting RF, borderline gag worthy.

I don't disagree.

bump