Brownie19

George refused to be taken out of the leadoff spot last year? That's news to me.

Yeah - the Red Sox are shaping up to be a good team for the next while...

That's a pretty good comp right there. Willy Adames isn't a bad one either. He reached free agency a year older than Bo (29 v. 28), but they have had similar results to date (albeit they do it in different ways) and he can actually stick at SS. I think that's a clear sign the market has dropped and I don't think Bo gets anything close to $300M.

Don't kink shame me Term. So rude.

I think it's seen obvious to most that Bo wants to test free agency and most here share legit concerns about his ability to sustain his offensive abilities past his early 30's. He relies too much on skills that erode with age. I've really enjoyed watching and cheering for Bo over the years, but I think his time with the Jays is coming to an end.

I'm sorry Megan, but this is a bunch of nonsense. It looks like it's meant for Facebook to feed the clickbait casuals. Why give a blank cheque to Soto, but not Vlad? C'mon - that's obvious.

That number sounds believable to me. I was actually thinking Vlad's # started with a 6...

I'm just joking around with you (couldn't resist). Welcome aboard. This is a sabr heavy board and although most of us use a combination of stats and our eyes/experience as baseball fans to form opinions, there is one thing that nearly everyone on this board agrees with - and it's that Vlad's defense and base running are dog sh*t.

It would have been GREAT if the Jays and Vlad could have sat down in October 2024 and nailed down whether they could come to an agreement or not on an extension. But that comes with issues over leverage and a willingness to decide at that point. True negotiation typically doesn't happen until there's a legit deadline looming. I think it's obvious to say Vlad wasn't going to have any serious talks until Soto signed. Then once he signed (December 11, 2024), the goal posts moved and both parties needed to re-group. Even if they agreed to reconvene in early January, the issue is there's still no reason for Vlad to truly negotiate. He can just stick to his guns and ask for the moon. The only way to pull the plug on extending Vlad was to make that decision on their own - without any true negotiations with him. They'd never know what the true number for Vlad was - all they'd have to go off is his "ask for the moon" offer. The other option was to give him the moon right after the Soto signing. They've chosen to negotiate with him against his self imposed deadline - which should be taken as an act of good faith and now have chosen to head into the season without a deal. This could certainly all blow up in their faces - but we shouldn't pretend it was as easy as negotiation with him early on and then making that decision with all that good information in hand. They'd have been making those decisions blindly - without true information.

Welcome to the board. You should get your eyes checked.

I think this is a viable option as well. Like how Detroit dealt Flaherty at the deadline last year (only at a much larger scale).

There's a good possibility that Vlad already values himself as if he the repeated 2021 season for the past 3 years (man it would be great to know the truth). If he does repeat 2021/2024 again, than yes, his valuation may climb. Maybe that's what the Jays need to see to commit the extra money. They'll certainly have more competition at that point, but you really can't afford to "miss" on some 10-12 year $450M deal. More information helps Toronto (and others). If he isn't as good this year - let's say he repeats 2022, then he's humbled a bit and there's still a chance he resigns with the Jays, or perhaps he was never worth that type of mega deal and he leaves for a comp pick. If he's not a "special" hitter worth a mega deal, then he's a lot more replaceable and the only "miss" we have is what he would have fetched via trade early this offseason. Of course the Jays and the FO seemed fully committed to competing in 2025, so that was probably never a real option anyway (whether you like it or not - and I do not).

It will be fascinating to see if this passive approach to defer the major decision (while using that time to continue collecting information) is going to pay off or not. I think to date, it's been pretty effective, but that time may soon come to an end.

Could also provide us with an opportunity for a long playoff run, which would be awesome. Then once Vlad realizes MLB doesn't pay for bat only players, he can re-sign here in the offseason after being humbled that he isn't worth half of what Soto is.

I'm not convinced the value you get for Vlad today is "much" higher than what you'd get for him at the deadline - so I think they do go for it. I doubt it works though and they'll sell Vlad and Bo (amongst several others) at the deadline. It will get dicey if we're actually good this year and in a playoff spot at the deadline...

He was the worst baserunner in MLB last year. I'm not sure what you want us to get ready for. It's also really stupid of him to not go out and play his very best if he wants to justify a $600-700M contract.

Best of luck with this. Idiots is one of the nicer things they'll call Shatkins.

Because this isn't the deadline to get "that number". Vlad can ask for the moon all he wants in hopes that someone is stupid enough to give it to him. The only time he has to "settle" for less than the moon would be about this time next year, when he may need to compromise if nobody will pay up. The criticism is probably that the FO didn't pull the plug on extending Vlad sooner and didn't pull the trigger to trade him at the start of the offseason. That will certainly be the narrative if we don't make the playoffs this year. I suspect the FO thought there would be more mutual interest in compromising and finding a number they could both accept (which doesn't appear to be true) and/or they simple were committed to trying to win this year, which may have been a influenced by Rogers (win to keep your job boys).

There's a point where that simply isn't the right call anymore.

Perfect. He's an easy 4 year extension at $10M - $12M AAV

My 9 year old is starting to freak out as the hours pass today. I feel so bad for him.

Last day to sign Vlad? Crazy we're at this point (whether it's good or bad). What happens?

I don't hate the idea of extending Kirk.

No comments on the 4 Nations? Weak boys