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So your argument against trying to acquire some proven bats is the existence of several below average bats?

I think Stroman was likely an actual clubhouse cancer as he seemed like he possessed a lot of narcissistic traits that went above and beyond the typical overconfident type of athlete. I recall that he often treated members of the media with outright disdain and I recall at least one major clubhouse incident where he blew up and trashed the clubhouse after not getting his wish of being traded to the Yankees at the deadline. I also recall that he clashed with at least one teammate as well so there's a lot of evidence with this player that goes well beyond simply having an overinflated ego. This could be nothing more than my personal bias against Stroman as his Napoleon routine grew old in a hurry but I think this dude is likely a straight up A-hole. I'd hate to hazard a guess what kind of deal Arraez ends up with. I don't believe major league front office's are going to buy into the overall profile as being worth an expensive longer term deal and Lowe is old enough with an inconsistent historical typically falling in the 2-3 win range that I suspect his offers will also be a little more on the conservative side. Both of Arraez and Lowe produced remarkably better defensive metrics at second base last season and I view both of these with a lot of suspicion with how repeatable they will prove to be. At the end of the day any of the 3 of Chisolm/Arraez/Lowe would likely improve the Blue Jays middle infield situation for a year or two but they all carry question marks.

I see no indication that Rogers intends to pull back on the spending. Mark Shapiro did state that he expects the payroll budget to be similar next season and the club didn't end up spending their entire budget as they were involved in big budget plays such as Kyle Tucker.

I do wonder how Chisolm's teammates view him. To me he just comes across as being overconfident and would be more annoying than an actual disruption to a clubhouse but that's just a guess. There is some risk of this acquisition as the team has likely lost a huge part of the clubhouse leadership in guys like Springer/Straw/Gausman/Scherzer etc. and I don't know who else would be able to step in to fill the void if Chisolm does end up causing waves.

I'm more convinced that Chisolm would provide value vs Arraez on those deals. At the end of the day I'd prefer to see Chisolm added given the speed/power potential he possesses and I expect his defensive value to be more durable as well.

I think Santander will receive an opportunity for nearly everyday playing time if he's sufficiently healthy but he'll have to prove he deserves to keep it through performance.

Yeah my post was half in jest as there does need to be playing time available for Barger and/or Santander next season in case of sufficient health and performance. It remains to be seen how Barger returns from Tommy John but I did some light research and 90% of position players make it back to MLB afterwards. Recent examples such as Bryce Harper and Corey Seager saw their arm strength eventually fully return to normal so hopefully Barger maintains most of the outfield cannon as that was his strongest defensive attribute. I have a really hard time seeing this front office being willing to trade for Bo as they were perfectly willing to let him go in free agency due to not agreeing on his relative contract value. I don't have a feel for what the dysfunctional Mets plan to do this offseason but I have a really hard time envisioning them finding a willing trade partner to take on Bichette's inflated contract even if they eat a portion of the cost.

I do see early rumblings that the Blue Jays intend to be very aggressive in the Suzuki market this offseason. I think he's a perfect fit for the roster as he can be inserted into a starting role in right field and hit near the top of the lineup as well. I expect there to be quite a bit of competition for his services given how bereft of talent the free agent market is this offseason so fingers crossed the front office can get a deal done.

I'd love for the club to acquire Suzuki and Sato and go all in on Japanese sluggers. I've seen it suggested that Sato may be athletic enough to play some outfield in the future.

3 years for Suzuki feels light given how terrible the free agent market is this offseason.

Maybe but I don't know how durable his results against right handed pitching will prove to be. His .296 xwOBA against RHP doesn't lead to a lot of confidence as primary platoon option vs more of a utility player who can play vs more favorable matchups.

With the rumblings out of New York that Lindor and Soto aren't getting along I wonder if Lindor may eventually become available through trade and whether the Blue Jays front office would still be interested in acquiring him. I believe a good deal of his tough 2026 season was due to injury and he played at about a 4 win full season pace over the final 3 months of the season. There are plenty of complicating factors including the fact that Lindor has a full no trade clause and has stated that he intends to finish his contract in New York.

I wouldn't make this trade either. I think it's just trading one potential problem for two of them. Turner may already been in the midst of a steep decline on both sides of the ball although I wouldn't rule a bounceback season with the bat. I wouldn't want to trade for the 34+ age seasons for two aging players earning a combined $52 million AAV for the next 6-7 years as that would lessen the roster flexibility and lead to two expensive aging veterans vs only one that hopefully won't happen until later on. One thing I wonder about is whether Edward Rogers would sign off on a deal like this as he was likely directly involved in the hostage style "negotiation" where Vlad held the organization to the fire.

I've seen plenty of online images with Vlad wearing glasses so I think chances are better than not that he was wearing contact lenses in game.

I'd guess something close to his 120 wRC+ from the second half could be possible over a full season but the defensive decline is pretty concerning as well.

Sure it's possible Keys is more of a platoon DH/poor defensive IB type but I believe Keys possesses far higher offensive upside. Tellez produced a 115 wRC+ in his age 23 season in AAA vs Keys who mashed on the way to a 171 wRC+ at the same age. Keys has displayed far more ability to get to his raw power in competition. I hope the club gives him a legitimate chance to be a primary/platoon DH in the upcoming season as he's fully earned a shot with elite performance against minor league pitching.

The Blue Jays employed Matt Chapman at third base at the time when Moreno first came up so they didn't have an open spot for Moreno. The front office also wanted to keep Chapman long term as well although they weren't able to agree on terms for an extension or contract in free agency as it appeared as though Chapman wasn't interested in staying long term.

Yeah Moreno was never in the same league as Carrol in terms of prospect value. The fact that it took Gurriel as a sweetener tells you everything you need to know. I am interested which players were offered up for the Blue Jays catchers in trade at the time as I do recall it was reported the Blue Jays front office valued their catchers more than opposition GM's.

Yeah the catching situation was the least of the Blue Jays worries this season. Once Kirk regained full strength in the broken thumb he was a key driving factor behind the club's run up the wildcard standings.

The importance of framing has barely been reduced by the ABS system. Kirk and Valenzuela stole a ton of strikes for their pitchers and as teams only receive two ABS challenges per game they are very cautious about wasting them on borderline calls and as such framing has continued to be a huge part of the game.

Nope but it will help him hit those balls a bit harder so they die at the warning track instead of 10 feet away from the warning track. 🤪

If you are going to assign 10 years to Atkins then the 2016 season was still successful. I am all but sure you are going to give credit to AA for that season as you should, but then if you apply a shred of consistency AA should get the blame for how poorly the 2017-2019 seasons went as that was largely the holdovers from his team that aged out over time. And of course you are incapable of applying any nuance to this discussion as the Blue Jays had one of the more successful regular season runs in club history from 2020-2025 including 4 seasons of post season appearances while narrowly missing by a single game in one of the seasons where they missed. It's been a mixed bag tenure of success and failures but simple minded folks tend to think in black and white terms and aren't capable of treating sports or even life as anything more than a binary discussion. Who is the one prospect you are speaking of? The team produced a nice crop of prospects in their rebuild period that formed a large part of the eventual core.

Gee someone who supposedly wants to talk baseball sure got his panties in a knot in a hurry when someone else simply presented a different opinion.

Why would the Mariners be interested in this swap? J-Rod's contract is exactly the type you would want long term as a management group as he only gets PAID if he produces MVP caliber seasons along the way so they are largely sheltered if he ends up being just good vs great or elite.

Umm sorry to burst your bubble but trading Michael Pineda for Jesus Montero isn't remotely close to trading a player struggling on a long term contract for a player struggling on a dramatically worse long term contract. With J-Rod I believe he's a far better bet to provide at least decent value on his deal as he possesses a dramatically higher floor than Vlad, and his guaranteed money is less than half of what Vlad is owed as well. I see no conceivable way the Mariners would even begin to entertain making this type of trade given the landmine potential (if not almost certainty) in Vlad's deal.