Ultimate

I am not making a case for anything. I am simply saying that the case that's been presented is not strong enough and I am asking for a stronger case to be presented.

It all depends on what they are able to add offensively. I'd like to think they can sign one more 10-16 million dollar hitter and one more 6-8 million dollar hitter. But if they are having trouble finding a good match offensively there might be some sense to looking at a big bullpen signing like Melancon instead. My preference would be to address the offense first and try to build a bullpen out of what we have and reclamation projects. ALthough it might be smart to spend a bit of money on one lefty (Boone Logan). Osuna, Grilli, Barnes, Schultz, Tepera etc. isn't a bad starting point at all.

The overwhelming opinion among Jays fans and so called Jays experts is that Morales is only a DH and can only play 1B occasionally. While this may be true or somewhat true the evidence that these people keep using is extremely lacking. Everyone cites the number of games Morales played in the field the last 2 years as clear evidence that he is only a DH now. People seem to think that if he were to play in the field any more than 10-15 games a year he will either get hurt or that his D will significantly hurt the team. Lets think about this for a second. Just because Kendrys only played a handful of games defensively in KC does not mean that he wasn't capable of playing more or even a lot more. It may have just made sense for the Royals to DH him based on their specific situation. The Royals had 1B in Eric Hosmer who is A) very good defensively and Young and healthy enough that he doesn't need a lot of time off and C) a good bat you want to keep in the lineup. There was no reason or need for the Royals to turn to Morales for defense. But maybe if there had been a need he could have handled it just fine. Ross Atkins comments about playing Morales possibly a great deal at 1B seem to be consistent with this thinking. Either way if you want to make the argument that he should only be a DH you need to bring more than simply "He only played X games in the field the last 2 years". I am wondering if he could handle 40-80 games at 1B just fine which could theoretically allow the possibility of an Edwin resigning (although I don't think that will happen) or could still allow for Donaldson, Tulo, Martin to still get some DH days throughout the year.

Why in the world would Navarro make 7 million a year coming off a horrible season?? He's been at about 4 mil per year the last 3 years coming off decent seasons. If he gets an MLB contract it will surely be for less than 4 mill.

Britton should win it in a landslide. There has not been a dominant starter this year, no starter has accomplished close to what Britton has this year.

I'd say more than a bit better.

I think you meant 2015 or 2013. I see your logic, I just don't agree with it. I was very on board with bringing him in for 2015 at 1 Million, I just thought that the potential payoff would be that he should be able to hit another level beyond any of his past production. Moving from an extreme pitchers park to a hitters park should on its own lead to a significant increase. I could maybe see the logic that he's slightly more valuable than he was a year ago, but can't see any justification for a significant increase in value that would cause his market value to quadruple. If the Jays had let him go, someone would have picked him up, but not for anywhere close to 3.9 mil.

One year ago, he only got a Major league deal because the assumption was that the real Smoak was closer to the 2013 Smoak than the 2014 Smoak. If anyone actually believed the 2014 Smoak was the real Smoak, than the most he gets is a Minor League contract and he spends the whole year at AAA. He was a Free Agent and any interest he received was based on that assumption.

Going into last year he was moving from a pitchers park to a hitters park, the minimum expectation for him should have been to repeat his best season of 2 years prior. He really should have been able to do better than that. He did nothing last season to indicate that he has any more value than he did 1 year ago.

The debate shouldn't be about how the arbitration system works and whether Smoak would have got the same amount or more in arbitration. The debate should be about whether the Jays should have kept him or not. At 2 million I thought it was a 50.50 debate. At 4 million its a no brainer, let him go. Colabello is a step up offensively and while Smoak is solid on D, he's not the elite defender that the TO media paints him as. Only a slight defensive upgrade over CC.

Umm Cap?

I said he repeated 2013 not 2014.

I never thought he would be a bonafide starter. But I did figure he would go somewhere where he could compete for the job or have a 50/50ish split which is what I see happening here. Anyone know how much money he got?

Also, he should be a backup. And a HR/Strikeout guy isn't a great fit for a bench role. You want a good bench, but you can't have a 4 million dollar bench player with a 140 million dollar payroll. Hague would have played for the league minimum, been able to backup at 3B too and could come in for base hit situations. Much better bench option than Smoak.

A year ago the market for Smoak was 1 Million dollars. He has done nothing in the last year to justify an increase from that number. He basically repeated his 2013 season, which should have been the bare minimum expectation moving from Safeco to the Rogers Centre. When I heard they had signed him to a 3.9 million dollar deal, I assumed it was over 2 years (1.8 per year) and I still didn't like it.

If the payroll is 140 M. There is no way that they have Jesse Chavez at 4.7 slotted as the 6 starter. If they add starters it will be flyers who can slot in at 6 or 7 behind Chavez at 5. Brandon Morrow types. IF the number is 140, they have about 5 million to spend. But that can be increased by tendering Thole and I expect they will either non tender Saunders or trade Revere. I would have thought about non tendering Smoak too (he did nothing to increase his value from what it was a year ago at 1 million), but letting Hague go makes me think the team is not considering that.

Wilner left out Colabello, Travis, Martin as being better hitters than Pillar. Hell even Smoak if he were in the lineup. In a healthy lineup Pillar should be hitting 9th.

It should be noted that Pittsburgh has stayed at a high level without Martin. I do agree, he has been good. Worth the contract so far, hopefully we can still say that in a few years.

Pillar has failed to hit MLB pitching at an average level (in 2 chances). This is his 3rd chances and even though its a ridiculously small sample size he is again not meeting that production level. He is good defensively and may be able to hit lefties and be a platoon guy. But aside from his minor league stats I haven't seen anything to suggest he can be an every day guy at the MLB level. It is worth noting that he is the only every day player on the team that has not yet earned a walk yet this season. That was a huge issue for him the last 2 seasons in the bigs as well.

Starting to remind me of all the old Jays boards I stopped reading. Too many 14 year olds whining.

Do we still think we won the Rasmus deal?

I do actually have that option, its just unfortunate that its necessary.

IT would be like Leafs TV and the regular Jays games would still be on other channels.

I have seen that out here as well. The bars turn their nose down at MLB and NFL.

Davis Cup is not even Canada, and I don't know if its even live.