intentional wok

I can't stop cackling at the idea that national media guys all share the same ass. Poor Shi!

It's not a rumour. A tweet came out about McCutchen and we're bored, so we're imagining scenarios on what deal might make sense from both sides' views. Killing time before opening presents.

That hinges on the Pirates being completely in love with Stroman. I think they might just prefer to use Cutch to restock the farm with impact prospects, keep Bell at 1B, use their magic dust on Glasnow, and put Meadows in the OF. Again, that depends on how much they like having Stroman slot with Cole, Nova, and Taillon in the rotation. That might really appeal to them, who knows.

If the team wins, there will be good will. Good will means s*** in the offseason. Let people whine. Having JB and EE didn't exactly fill the house each night before 2015.

Two of the Blue Jays' better prospects came straight from the Pirate system four months ago so they could dump Liriano. I really don't think there's a sexy enough package among the remaining pieces on the farm that gets McCutchen. Definitely would need to subtract from the MLB roster, probably starting with Stroman.

^ Morales is neither here nor there at this point, and it was a fairly shrewd move at the time. But I'd flip Smoak for EE yesterday. Thing is, that 20mil AAV for a 1B/DH probably became Morales+Pearce. The rest has probably always been OF, RP, and backup C.

I never planned to die on that hill anyway. It was just a passing thought about how Bautista could try to market himself as a versatile IF slugger considering no one has confidence in his ability to be a conventional slugging OF anymore.

They haven't crapped on my good books yet. They also certainly have an opportunity to reallocate the cash to make the team better in other ways, so I don't think this represents a fail grade for the FO. But I don't think it can be argued that not signing EE was a risk evasion move. They already threw the money at him. BTS pointed out that there's no concrete evidence that the original Blue Jay offer was 4/80, so maybe he's right and we're all misled about the FO's interest. But let's grant for a moment that they did offer 80mil. That means they sure did see EE as a good investment, and if that's the case then they've let him walk for a lesser deal because... a superfluous roster piece (Smoak) makes a logjam, and now they have to upgrade elsewhere when they had a solid one staring them right in the face and who left for less money than they offered to keep him. Again, I'm also assuming nothing personal went down that begrudged EE against his old bosses. Assuming it was all strictly business, I think they let a huge piece get away for flimsy reasons. Of course it's all in a vacuum and we still don't know their plans moving forward. They're clearly willing to spend the cash, so I'm still confident they'll make some moves to put those wins back on the board.

Don't count out Seattle either, IMO. I'd say reasonable to see them as around the same talent level as the Jays overall. I think I'd put them over New York too.

FWIW I'm skeptical that EE showed up with his tail between his legs anyway. Though, on the other hand, there's that thing about him not accepting a huge Oakland deal. So who knows. EE certainly did not come out on top, though. Perhaps the Indians like him enough in three years to spend $15M more with the year-4 option, but he'd have had that guaranteed already with Toronto.

Yeah, what would they have done if EE accepted the original 4/80? Psyched him out and pulled it off the table? Clearly they were interested in his services and didn't think he'd hit anything close to a wall yet. And, though I'm not in the know whatsoever, I doubt it's standard practice to play chicken with 80 million dollars. If it's true that EE went back to the team and got turned away for a lesser deal than the one he just signed for, then that's a big thumbs down for the FO from me. No way is a Pearce/Morales/Smoak arrangement worth passing up EE. They'd be saying 'no' to a big upgrade to maintain the commitment to a slightly above average set-up. Cut Smoak, stick Pearce in left, let EE mash for a couple more years.

I don't know. That's why I said I wonder if he has the chops.

Well he used to cover 3B until he went to the OF. Stranger things have happened, and his suitors seem pretty much non-existent with his OF play seemingly being a factor. Could be a right-handed Valbuena situation, but obviously the better bat (and more age). He doesn't have a lot of time to re-direct his career though, admittedly.

Love the idea of nabbing Valbuena. NJH made a good case in one of his idea threads too. One more lineup involves getting Donaldson off hos feet too: Donaldson - DH Morales - 1B Valbuena - 3B Pearce - LF I think that's a really nice little loop, and minimizes how many below average hitters get a full game's worth of ABs when the team inevitably needs to give the best player a breather. I do still wonder if Bautista has the chops to play 3B? He might want to consider a short term deal and show the league he can be a corner-utility type (+ the great bat obvs).

I was using ESPN's free agent tracker. He must have been listed under 1Bs or something. Yes I like him too.

Now that EE is officially off the table, and with the infield completely set, here are some FA outfielders/versatiles that might not be terrible in blue next year: Jose Bautista - obvious, and I would absolutely advocate giving him and Pearce an OF/1B rotation while leaving Smoak in a forest Chris Coghlan (corner OF, can fill in some 2B/3B allegedly too) - coming off a shitpile injury year, but had two very solid seasons for the Cubbies prior. Austin Jackson - only one of his last three seasons is something worth looking at, but before that he was very solid. Not sure if I like him that much, and might even prefer Pompey. Angel Pagan - not bad and still might have something left in the tank. Played decent D in a spacious park too. I think he might be worth it for a 1-year cheapy. Colby Rasmus - I can only stomach so many ugly strikeouts, but Colby might connect on one of those good years he's prone to alternating with his awful years. Imagine the strikeout record he and Upton could make in a platoon over 162 games. Would he even come back to play under Gibby? Michael Saunders - I'd still give him a couple of affordable years. His second half was abysmal, but he's a good hitter. Brutal in the field though. Mark Trumbo - is he actually even an outfielder? Still, some good power, but no way I'd pay what he probably wants.

Toronto had the better deal. I'd be pissed at my agent if I were Edwin. Definitely want an extra guaranteed $15M. I think the Blue Jays still should have matched it now if they were willing to pay 80 then. This is really stupid.

Are there seriously not boards for other teams with the same traffic and activity as this one?

I don't think his interest in Canada is relevant when he knowingly starts his little rumour fires about the Jays. He hashtags Blue Jays 50 times per winter in hopes of getting as many eyes as possible on his work. That's what he gets paid for.

I like Grandy a lot as a target. Thing is... I'm really skeptical about how much meat is on Morosi's rumours. He's the sort who throws out ideas and "things that make sense" probably knowing it'll get picked up as a legit leak or rumour. Kenny Ken is still my main man.

http://elia.jootamam.net/kuvat/random/asdd/approval_nod.gif

Why not just cut out a step and use the pieces for a Kinsler trade to get a corner OF? Added benefit is not having to worry about Puig smartening up. I'd prefer the low cost Travis as a DL risk vs. Puig's big money prayer.

Exactly. I don't think the unbalanced schedule really reduces travel at all from a larger division set-up. You're traveling just as much except to varying places. eg., Instead of flying to Baltimore for the third time in a season, you fly a second time to Cleveland or Chicago instead. But I will say that I totally get wanting to keep cross-country trips down. I don't think a single division AL would be very good for travel fatigue, if Toronto is doubling its number of trips to the west coast and vice versa (and it's probably even worse on West teams since most other franchises are located considerably east of them). I just think a division of Toronto, Tampa, Boston, Baltimore, New York, Detroit, Cleveland is reasonable, for example. Of course to condense the divisions you'd also need to expand two franchises to keep it all equal. Six divisions are just a necessary evil at the moment.

Wasn't a big selling point for the new AL West the rivalry between the two Texas teams. Man, the three division thing is such a bummer for me. Let's just go back to AL and NL Easts and Wests. I'm tired of there being ~50% chance that a game I'm free to go to is going to be against an East team. Add a few more rivals into the mix! This was only the first year in half a decade when I didn't run into the Orioles live.

I'm still holding out that they're trying to dump Smoak and that talking up a bench role makes him less valuable...? I seriously just do not want to see him hit again. I'm as tired of him as I was of Colby before he left.