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No actual good starters have signed yet, only guys who had ugly seasons or don't have enough of a track record to earn a larger contract. We simply don't have enough data to make conclusions as to what the top reliever on the market is going to sign for in comparison. Hendriks has been a 3.5+ win reliever for the last two seasons, the man is going to get paid. I'll make a guess myself and say he'll bring in 12/36.

If I were Hendriks I would fire my agent if I ended up signing for that amount before spring training starts. The guy has found another gear the last two seasons, although given that nobody wanted Brad Hand for free on waivers for only $10 million who even knows what Hendriks ends up receiving for offers.

Hendriks is far better, and wouldn't require giving up a draft pick either. I'm not so sure the free agents at the top of the food chain are going to end up seeing massive covid discounts.

Missing out on Kim throws a wrench in how I would have liked things to proceed. Under the $50 million payroll scenario I would have added Springer, Kim and either Sugano or Odorizzi.

That's a very good point. I've wondered perhaps if Groshans could be moved to the outfield if necessary if there's not room on the infield once he's ready for MLB. I think another potential reason is that it's a bit difficult to find players with the requisite tools to play plus defence in the outfield who are also capable of actually hitting a baseball. So many of the raw toolsy prospects who are drafted as outfielders end up fizzling out in the minors, or can't hack it as major league regulars. Just for Jays instances alone Socrates Brito is a recent example, Anthony Alford comes to mind, DJ Davis is another who couldn't hack it in the lower minors.

Take a gander at MLB Pipeline's Blue Jays top 30. If you assume Martin plays infield Conine was basically the Jays top rated outfield prospect, this makes what is the arguably the minor league system's greatest weakness even worse. I just really dislike the idea of dumping prospects before they've even had a decent chance to fail and then subsequently make the necessary adjustments to maximize their talents.

The Robbie Ray trade was a good example of a "lightning in a bottle" trade done right. Travis Bergen was the return, a 27 year old with mediocre stuff whose likely ceiling was middle reliever if everything clicked for him. You can argue Conine was a bit overage for A ball but if I'm not mistaken he was about 21 to start the season in Lansing in 2019, a little old but nothing crazy. He still managed to club 22 home runs in only 80 games and produced a 169 WRC+. With a profile that likely fits nicely in right field if he can get the strikeouts under control he can be a productive major league outfielder. This is in very short supply in the Jays system. For what it's worth MLB Pipeline views Conine as a 45 FV prospect. I would have been fine with giving up an actual prospect for a returning player who wasn't a short term rental and mired in a super deep slump.

Griffin Conine is the number 18 prospect on the Marlin's top 30 according to MLB pipeline. Not a top 10 can't miss prospect by any means, but a prospect nonetheless.

I'm familiar with the idea, but typically when you make a trade of that nature you aren't giving up an actual prospect, it's more of an org guy that gets shipped out. Maybe Conine ends up being an org guy in a few years, but I don't think it was necessary to throw him away in a trade with a high risk of completely failing. One of the major weaknesses in the Jays minor league system is the lack of good outfield prospects, sending out one of the few interesting players they had for a month of a backup shortstop seemed short sighted. If the front office thought Villar was a good fit for the club they could have had him for free at the waiver deadline the at the previous waiver deadline, they didn't need to give up an asset to acquire a month of a player having the worst season of his career up to that point. Reports out of Miami were that Marlins management was happy to be rid of Villar due to selfish play as he was making a lot of boneheaded forced mistakes on the field, and that continued after the trade. The Jays were working hard to clean up the unforced errors on the basepaths, and Villar came in and instantly started running into outs on the bases with reckless mistakes.

Villar really didn't do anything right in 2020, the trade just seemed doomed to fail. Villar put up career worst exit velocities and barrel percentage, as well as having suffered a rather substantial amount of sprint speed. Without producing value on the bases Villar loses much of his overall value on the baseball field. Combine a player who was having a far below average season at the plate and sprinkle in a smattering of defensive miscues and you are left with a terrible baseball player. Part of what bugs me so much is that I thought that Griffin Conine was one of the Jays more interesting outfield prospects, flawed for sure but still with some plus tools.

For the most part I was pretty happy with the moves that were made under the reasoning of pushing the club towards contention, and then obtaining reinforcements at the deadline. Walker and Ray were both very nice under the radar acquisitions, the only spot where I thought the club really struck out at last years trade deadline was with the Jonathan Villar pickup. It was a weird pickup as he was a player who was in the midst of a really bad season, and then he managed to play even worse with Toronto. His sloppy defensive play and haphazard baserunning actively decreased the club's chance of winning every time he saw the field. In only 78 total plate appearances he managed to accumulate a pukeworthy -0.3 WAR. The really scary fact was that Brandon Drury and Reese McGuire somehow managed to perform even worse.

Have a look at the fangraphs pitching WAR leaders for the last 3 seasons combined. Bauer is far from a one year wonder. https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=pit&lg=all&qual=y&type=8&season=2020&month=0&season1=2018&ind=0&team=&rost=&age=&filter=&players=&startdate=&enddate=

I say if it takes 6 years to sign Springer you hold your nose and get it done. Perhaps you can structure the contract so that the last year or 2 are a bit lower in salary to help fit arbitration raises for the youngsters into the budget. Springer has had the best two offensive seasons of his career (admittedly in a shorter than usual season in 2020) so he seems to have gotten better at the plate in his late 20's. The moment he were to sign with the Jays he becomes their best player, and would likely continue to be their best player for a year or two going forward.

I do wonder if the Jays are willing to open the wallet to this degree in one offseason. What does it take to sign 3 of these guys? 8-10 for Kim, 25 for Springer, and then another 10-12 or thereabouts for Tanaka/Sugano? That's a lot of dough for an administration that's typically been pretty conservative, but at the same time they've never been fully on board with pushing to contention until now.

Or disappointed. I'm feeling shades of the Darvish posting here.

Thames offered little to no value defensively, and was much older than Kim by the time he returned to MLB from Korea. He was a flawed player in his initial stint in MLB which was a big part of why he ended up oversees in the first place. Upon his return he remained a limited defender with the same issue with strikeouts at the plate. One less than stellar return to MLB by an older player who is a poor defender at baseballs easiest positions doesn't automatically rule out success by a much younger middle infielder. Kim has been projected to have nearly 4 win upside if he can hit major league pitching. Kim certainly has potential to be a bit of an overpay if the bat doesn't work out, but he and Eric Thames aren't even remotely similar as players. Directly comparing the two is a complete apples to oranges scenario. This is pretty similar to suggesting that Sugano will not have MLB success because Yamaguchi has struggled initially. In each example they are different players with different skill sets.

I recall that Glaus dealt with chronic plantar fasciitis which greatly reduced his mobility.

Not to mention Scott Rolen a little further back. He was just so amazing in the field, I doubt we'll ever see another third baseman that is as consistent throwing strikes across the infield. He hit the first baseman right in the chest every single time, no matter how difficult the play was fielding the ball in the first place.

A good chunk of Vlad's errors at third come when he initially flubs up fielding the ball cleanly initially and then ends up rushing/airmailing the throw the first. He really needs to clean up the initial glovework if he's to take advantage of the strong throwing arm.

The Jays absolutely need an infielder. I get the impression you are unaware of what an immense black hole of suck the third base position has been the last 2 years for the Jays. In 2020 the Jays received exactly 0 FWAR from the third base position. Add in 2019 and it's barely better, totalling a horrific 0.1 FWAR from third base for the 2 years combined. The addition doesn't need to be splashy like a Lemahieu or Lindor, but there is a wide selection of mid range free agent and trade targets available that will upgrade the club to a large degree.

Would demoting the teams best pitching prospect in many years to bulk pitcher be the best thing for his confidence though? I'm not so sure I see things from that perspective. A guy like Trent Thornton should absolutely be used in this type of manner, but Pearson is on a completely different plane talent wise.

Pearson wasn't healthy early in the year when he was struggling early in games. I'd give him a chance to perform while not dealing with an elbow injury before doing something drastic like converting him to a bulk pitcher.

Instead of pointless snarky responses why don't you try actually outlining why Jackie Bradley Jr. would be a worthwhile upgrade for the club? I won't hold my breath that you are capable of actual debate though. I'm anxiously awaiting a completely unrelated gif for you to put me in my place Spanky.

Why am I not surprised you take the lazy response here by totally ignoring the facts I've provided that show that beyond good defence Jackie Bradley Jr. is not that great of a baseball player. Obviously in a vacuum Jackie Bradley Jr. is a better player than Jonathan Davis. But the key difference is Jonathan Davis makes league minimum, whereas Jackie Bradley Jr. is going to require actual money to sign. The Jays already have 3 outfielders that will likely provide as much if not more value to the club than Bradley, there are multiple avenues to spend the money with more tangible impact. The club has a need for back of the bullpen relievers, still needs several more starters and has a very serious hole in the infield at third base. If the Jays strike out on Springer I see no sense in making a sideways move with Bradley Jr. Why pay two players each $10 million a year who are basically both 4th outfielder quality players (Bradley and Grichuk), that's just wasteful.

I'm not particularly enamored with Jackie Bradley Jr. as a center field solution for the Blue Jays. What can we realistically expect him to add to the roster beyond what is already there? Maybe 1 win or so? There should be far better value to be had with the available money than paying 10 million a year for several years for this type of production. He certainly had a nice season with the bat in 2020, but his batted ball numbers don't support the likelihood of him repeating that success. His .343 BABIP looks to have led to much of his WRC+ improvement compared to his previous 3 seasons, but without a corresponding increase in exit velocity, hard hit rate or barrel % he's super unlikely to have that type of success going forward. He has never been a burner in the outfield relying more on great jumps and instincts, but his sprint speeds have been trending downwards for the last 3 seasons, so it's no sure bet that he continues to provide plus defense for much longer. I'd like to see what Jonathan Davis can do with more playing time. He's shown to be a very adept fielder in center field in his limited action, and in his small sample of playing time in 2020 he absolutely pounded the snot out of the baseball with a hard hit rate of nearly 65% and exit velocity approaching 96 MPH. His strikeout numbers were a bit concerning, but that very well may be a blip as he didn't have that much of an issue in his previous major league callups.