intentional wok

Yeah I agreed with you. It's probably correct to expect EE to have a lower asking price, but half?

Sorry -- I'm not seeing the rationale that Edwin would conceivably ask for less AAV. Why would he do that if he could help it? Did I miss some interview or something?

I wouldn't mind checking out Angels spring training either. At least there's Trout.

"How do you want it, baby?" Same as last month, hun.

At the risk of being a pedantic butthole, I wouldn't call it average. They did a decent job complementing a squad that has fewer cracks than most other teams, and they did it without sacrificing too much of anything. It was average in the sense that no huge names got thrown around, but in context I'd say most things were pretty well considered and well handled. This is the benefit of having such a strong starting point, I guess.

I voted good. Nothing outstanding but hardly mediocre. "Good" seems the closest to the "shrewd" I was thinking. Only real sticking point for me is the Chavez-Hendriks swap. If someone else gets the SP5 out of the gate, I don't think one year of swingman Chavez is worth all that Hendriks time. Not that I'm advocating a sunk-cost decision to get Chavez in the rotation over a better candidate, but it's not like this situation wouldn't have been foreseeable. In the FO's defense, the Chavez move was done before the Happ deal. Not sure if they were being negotiated concurrently but Chavez had a clearer path to more innings at the time of the swap. I'm less ambivalent about Storen-Revere than some, but I'm also (probably foolishly) optimistic that Saunders will be decent. I'm still mostly reserving judgment, but I'm on the optimistic side of the line. I like the chance on Floyd. All the other moves seem obvious. Barney getting a MLB deal is meh for me, but if Travis struggles to recover it's probably good depth. You didn't list any minor league moves, but there's a decent amount in the bucket now too, which is good.

EE is just doing the bog standard media stuff but it looks "refreshing" compared to Bautista's statements. Not long ago his agent was allegedly saying the contract extension deadline was the end of ST. Probably good PR for EE whether or not he plans to stay in Toronto, positioning himself as the less baggage-laden FA slugger (not that he ever struck me as anything but humble anyway).

Are those uniforms actually what the D-backs will be wearing this year? Good lord. I haven't played a baseball video game in a while. Maybe The Show 06 for a short time? The last one I really got into was MVP 2005. Might be time I hop into a new one. The incremental changes won't really bother me since I've been away for so long.

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It's not a simple case of $26M for Bautista. It's the case of $26 per year for the next four years of a 37-40 year old Bautista. This is a significant gamble. Moreover, the season hasn't started yet. If Bautista struggles early, that could bring down his asking price -- or something. My point is, Bautista is not nearly the constant you might think he is. No player is. As for using that prospect for a reliever: I still don't think the RP return for whatever C-level prospect is worth passing up Bruce, tarnished as he is. A full year of Bruce is still probably more valuable than the 20 innings of whatever middle reliever you believe the Blue Jays will get at the deadline. And even though it hasn't been said yet, if Bruce should collapse spectacularly or get hurt then the team still has Pompey. This is functionally the same if/when Pompey should need to fill in for Saunders. Again, if the cost is offset and becomes negligible, this isn't a bad deal. If details come out that obviously skew this away from the Jays' favour then you'll see a lot of people disagreeing with you start agreeing with you. Until then, the information about this deal seems to suggest a reasonable risk and trade off. You're jumping to too many conclusions with your talk of picking up options, just handing Bautista a huge contract, and assuming Pompey will flourish if he gets the chance to learn at the major league level.

Bautista's annual salary will probably be at least 50% higher than Bruce's option, not to mention that Bautista is 36 years old and is (probably) looking for a 4+ year commitment. I don't think the FO is looking at Bruce's option in a "we should pick this up" sort of way. The option is good because it allows the team to retain him should he show some resurgence. If not, no biggy. Move on. It's entirely possible they don't intend to pick up the option either way, too. I think you're assuming too much in favour of this option. As for Pompey developing, I don't think he's any likelier to provide good value than Bruce is to have a half-decent year in 2016. Maybe I'm being optimistic with Bruce, but if 2016 is the last year of the elite lineup Blue Jays I'd prefer to take the gamble on Bruce hitting 30 home runs and getting on at a .320 clip than Pompey learning how to hit and stealing bases. But, again, you don't know what the exchange was or will be. It's possible most of gets offset, which means there isn't extra money to spend and that the FO found a creative way to address an injury-and-performance risk in LF by simply turning it into a performance risk.

This is all contingent on what the return with Bruce was/is. If enough cash exchanged hands to offset a large share of Bruce's salary then I'd be happy with the upgrade over Saunders. I'm not keen on the idea that Pompey should get a roster spot for hitting lessons, but your point about defence is good. If you could guarantee a bit of a breakout for Pompey then I'd say don't bother with Bruce. But that can't be guaranteed and neither can Saunders's health. It's entirely possible that Saunders sees a lot of time on the DL and then you end up with Pompey in LF and AAAA players rotating as the fourth OF. Bruce is probably pretty good insurance for that sort of situation -- and, frankly, I think it's more likely that Bruce puts up an adequate year than Pompey can be relied upon to breakout and take a major league starting job. If the cost becomes a relative wash, Bruce is probably the safer bet than Saunders/Pompey/Carrera/Lake. As far as options go, is Bruce's '17 option not a team option? They could just let him walk. He'd effectively be a low-risk gamble/upgrade over Saunders for this year.

But now you're asking for 60+ innings of middle relief pitching instead of an everyday LF with power. The FO has done a pretty decent job filling the bucket with bullpen arms. Could one more make a difference? Wouldn't you prefer a guy who is probably at least as good as your current starting LF, but actually durable?

There's probably an argument to be made that the Jays shouldn't touch Bruce, but if the Reds or Angels send some wallet over then that really mitigates the cost. It could have ended up being a negligible bump in salary. There's also an argument that the Blue Jays already have top-of-the-order bats (Tulo, for instance). Spending more on someone who is better than Jose, Edwin, Josh, Troy, etc., will cost a lot. This player certainly isn't available on the market, and any trade cost would be pretty hefty. And how good of a reliever do you think the Jays can still just pluck off the market? Assuming the Jays were willing to just pay Bruce outright, that means they have 10M to play with. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable splurging 10M on a reliever when there's already a pretty decent pen starring Osuna, Storen, Cecil, et al. Bruce could very well be an upgrade over Saunders, who seemed to be injury prone even before the sprinkler incident. If the costs smooth over and the prospect capital isn't too much, then I'd totally take Bruce over Michael who-knows-what-you're-getting Saunders.

Minor league deal with KC.

Kinda sucks, I agree. It's still possible the medical issue is with one of LA's prospects. Probably not likely, but possible.

This is not what I kneeded to read tonight.

Professional writer annoyed that his baseless, unclear tweets are baseless and unclear.

He receives money for this.

http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/0a/0a79bf6cf9b484b49b802f7e7dfb86bd825132f8793439685aaaa5974ea11d4b.jpg

Angels beat writer saying it's almost finished, whatever it is:

Best of all for Jose is that if he does indeed walk, fans will turn on Rogers. He'll get to leave for greener pastures, 20M per year, and a PR shitpile for his former employer while remaining a hero for the city. Every employee's dream.

"Jose is a bitch," said the clerk, frustrated in his cubicle, as he formulated yet another argument in his head for why he should get that .25 cent raise on his next review cycle.

I wonder if he's had any particular conversations that may have set him off a bit -- hints but not yet confirmation that they can't meet his price. He's probably been stewing for years over this too. Not to mention his demonstrable frustration with not putting a competitive team together in years past (2014 deadline when he and Janssen both had words to the media).