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2 or more is fine and dandy but that's only an average major league regular. This comparison would be more useful if it were more granular with number of players projected above 3 WAR, 4 WAR etc.

That's just incredibly pessimistic thinking. Tiedemann is going to continue being developed as a starter until he proves that he can't handle the position. Pearson has only avoided missing major time due to injury in only 2 of his 6 professional seasons up to this point. Perhaps Tiedemann eventually will prove to be injury prone in a similar fashion but it's far from a given at this point of his career.

Belt was largely shielded from opposition left handers being deployed against him by the largely right handed makeup of the top of the Jays order. Unless there is another major acquisition of a quality left handed bat on top of a potential Pederson acquisition then this will continue to be the case. Belt faced left handed pitching in approximately 18% of his plate appearances compared to about 12% for guys like Vlad and Bo. Pederson was actually a fair bit better than Belt's 2023 as recently as 2022. Belt was actually quite a bit worse than Pederson against left handed pitching last season and struggled to a similar degree in 2022 as well so Pederson's splits won't be of any more concern than they were for Belt. The team has plenty of right handed players already on the roster that can spend time at DH to platoon with Pederson such as Vlad, Kirk, Jansen, Springer and Schneider. My only real issue with Pederson is how it skews the outfield as being overly left handed and there isn't really a good right handed outfielder on the roster to face tough righties in place of the likes of Kiermaier, Varsho and Pederson if he were acquired. The team largely employed Merrifield in that role with semi decent results, hopefully the plan isn't to use IKF in this type of role as well.

I actually liked the team's depth starters heading into the 2023 season but unfortunately most of the depth options ended up suffering injury. That's at least preferable to having the rotation members suffer from injury all things considered. As mentioned the depth heading into the season doesn't look too bad, but there is a lot of variability in this group and more depth options is never a bad thing. To my eyes the depth options at present look like White, Francis, Tiedemann and Chad Dallas at this point with fringe roster players like Parsons also set to return if I recall correctly.

The team had a crazy home/away split where they were clutch and very good overall on the road but decidedly unclutch and low scoring at home. The run differential on the road was somewhere in the 60-70 range but essentially even at home.

Belt was extremely fortunate in 2023. His results were better than Pederson's but the underlying numbers paint a completely different story. Pederson seems like a smart bet for a bounceback season. Belt rarely faced left handed pitching due to the extreme right handed makeup of the hitters surrounding him in the lineup the same could be expected for Pederson. Pederson 2022 .373 wOBA .367 xwOBA Pederson 2023 .331 wOBA .368 xwOBA Pederson 2024 projection .345 wOBA Belt 2023 .369 wOBA .337 xwOBA Belt 2024 projection .327 wOBA

It sounds like the club is one of the primary suitors for Yairel Rodriguez who they apparently view as a swing man type.

Sheeeeit this team could have a really hard time scoring without significant bounceback seasons from most of the roster if Atkins isn't merely posturing in this presser.

I've never heard of Cameo before this particularly instance so guilty as charged. It was obvious that Gibby was reading off of a script but I wasn't aware of the existence of paying celebrities to read scripts out loud on camera.

That doesn't feel like a particularly fair bet if each of you are receiving equal odds. For instance Josh Hader is only projected for 0.9 FWAR by Steamer.

Tatis and Kim are the two targets I like from the Padres, but Kim is a massive bargain and they are trying to win so it's hard to see them being particularly interested in trading him. Tatis has legitimate potential to be MLB's best player but he's signed basically forever and his deal is actually reasonable for a young superstar so the cost to attain him would be prohibitive.

This outlines exactly why I would never trade in the stock market as I would be exactly the type to get attached to certain stocks. I let my financial adviser steer me in the proper direction in terms of investment opportunities. At any rate Vlad is still projected for a 144 wRC+ and his quality of contact supported much better results than he obtained in 2023. I simply think it's a bad time to cut bait as the team would stand to gain far more value if he's kept and breaks out vs the value they would lose if he's traded and breaks out for a different team.

Despite how lost at the plate Vlad appeared to be for a good chunk of the season he still hit the s*** out of the baseball and his expected stats support something in the 130-140 wRC+ range. I don't think he's that far away from producing a monster season at the plate but that's certainly far from a certainty given his career trajectory. I thought that his 2022 season likely represented a "down" season for Vlad after the 2021 offensive explosion but unfortunately his floor was much worse.

I'm cool with trading Bo if the rumors are true and he isn't amenable to signing an extension before he reaches free agency. I'm incredibly hesitant to ship Vlad at this point given how young he is and the tremendous upside he still offers. I have serious doubts the eventual return would be close to the value Vlad will offer the team if he finally reaches his ceiling year in and year out. Everything he's said publicly makes it appear as though he wants to be a career Blue Jay but it's up to him to prove he's worth an extension in the next few seasons if this is to occur.

Gausman would have a lot of trade value as well but it's hard to imagine the team improving as a whole if he were moved in trade.

Awesome stuff as always man. It sounds like there could be some really exciting moves yet to come this offseason. I'll certainly make do if the front office decides to focus on short term sensible 1 or 2 year deals, but the idea of adding impact talent is always fun to dream about. These updates have me very hopeful for a big year from Vlad, although reports about him refusing to work with the team in season to address mechanical issues is a little disheartening. It was very apparent that something was off with Vlad's swing/timing this season given the frequency he was fouling off meatballs at the plate and often seemed a bit late starting his swing. The 2021 minor league park thing is interesting, but I finally determined how to pull the home away splits on a monthly basis and the narrative that Vlad could only hit in minor league parks in 2021 is largely borne out of a short 3 week slump that Vlad experienced, as he struggled upon returning home to Rogers Center and experienced a massive rebound to end the season. He didn't manage to hit home runs with the same regularity in Rogers Center when he heated up again but the overall numbers were still exemplary once he worked his way out of the slump. He never managed to reach the dizzying heights that he experienced in Dunedin but the overall Buffalo and Rogers Centers numbers are very comparable once Vlad got the bat going again. Vlad performed very well on the road in the first 4 months of 2021, but his home numbers are astonishing. Over the first 4 months or so Vlad produced an overall 185 wRC+. Dunedin 262 wRC+ Buffalo 203 wRC+ Home 46 G 202 PA .361/.465/.805/1.270 OPS 21 HR 226 wRC+ 15.8% BB 17.3% K Away 44 G 230 PA .298/.387/.525/.912 OPS 12 HR 148 wRC+ 11.7% BB 17.0% K Shortly after the team returned home to Canada Vlad hit the skids and experienced a short slump that lasted for about 3 weeks. 21 G 94 PA .220/.319/.305/.624 OPS 2HR 11.7% BB 18.1% K 69 wRC+ Vlad emerged from this slump and ended the season on a heater and displayed that he was able to mash at Rogers Center to levels approaching what he managed in the minor league ballparks. He ended the season producing a combined 169 wRC+ over the last 5 weeks or so. Home 20G 86 PA .351/.419/.701/1.120 OPS 7HR 9.3% BB 10.5% K 193 wRC+ Away 18G 81 PA .288/.358/.534/.892 OPS 5HR 9.9% BB 12.3% K 143 wRC+ I recall the explanation that was offered up at the time of the slump was that Vlad started to struggle, overworked himself in the cage trying to get himself right, and eventually backed off the extra work a bit and managed to regain his form. I am very excited about Roden, perhaps his potential impact not too far into the future is part of what has the club looking into shorter term deals for the outfield for the next year or so. Between Roden and Barger that's two potential outfield options although Barger had a bit of a rough season with the bat. I heard that he had some sort of elbow issue that could potentially require offseason surgery but haven't read any updates since the season ended.

He produced DRS/OAA at a pretty similar rate in 2023 to his gold glove season. I don't think there's much doubt he would provide tremendous defense at third base but he's in really tough to do enough with the bat to justify regular playing time.

I could see a world where Urshela bounces back to 2 win production. He's in tough after suffering a broken hip though. Prior to the injury it seems as though something was completely sapping his power production so rediscovering the power stroke would be key to bouncing back.

I have no idea how you pulled this off but hat tip for sure.

Damn that sounds like really easy money. I once had to provide a stool sample and it was pretty damn gross, but I poop every day anyway so it would be great to turn literal s*** into cash.

That's why I think it's complete folly to suggest that the team should trade Kikuchi and sign a free agent starter to take his place.

I don't know what's worse; the drunken Spanky posts of yore or this current stream of completely insane consciousness from Frenchsoup.

So now you are dramatically changing your tune. After carrying on about how Varsho was dogshit, had never hit in his career and was never going to hit in his career you are now claiming he's a touch below average as a hitter. Pick a lane dude.

Osuna absolutely needed to go, he's the only one of the mentioned players I fully supported jettisoning from the team. It's a semi miracle the team was able to acquire Giles in return. Escobar was reportedly a huge problem in the clubhouse due to lousy attitude/constant sulking but at least he was traded for something in return in the ill fated Marlins deal. What's his face essentially shot himself in the foot and forced the team to get rid of him due to intense public backlash after he simply couldn't keep his mouth shut. Pillar displayed what at least appeared to be genuine contrition and this appeared to be someone who was caught up in the heat of the moment and uttered a homophobic slur in a casual fashion without realizing how hurtful his actions were to certain people.

I would assume they haven't completed a formal investigation yet. That should be easy for you to surmise on your own.