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Is speaking English a requirement for marketing athletes? The most marketable athlete in the sport speaks nearly no English in interviews either, but maybe you missed that somehow. Vlad speaks English with a very heavy accent and is far more comfortable giving interviews in his native tongue as he's words have been taken out of context and used against him in the past. What matters is that he can communicate with his teammates, which hasn't been an issue from what I can gather. Stating that Vlad is almost universally hated by the fanbase is not a fact. There was zero evidence provided to support this statement, and as such this is nothing more than an opinion. Given how you seem to be exactly the type to believe in alternative facts I'm not overly surprised you would take that statement as fact.

The comment I was referring to specifically stated that Vlad spoke almost no English and was reviled by the fanbase. Do you think that post was somehow advocating that Vlad had any marketability whatsoever?

Betts was reportedly lowballed by Red Sox ownership and potentially didn't want to stay. If there was actually a realistic avenue to getting him signed long term letting him go was a massive mistake on the part of the Red Sox. The Astros had ready made inexpensive replacements in Tucker and Pena so it made sense to let Correa and Springer walk. The Nationals tried to extend Soto and he refused to sign long term, and the Padres couldn't afford to sign him given the likely requirements and the fact they already had so many long term deals on the ledger. I suspect the Dodgers were always planning to make a massive splash when Ohtani became a free agent, as they dipped below the luxury tax to allow for this to happen with lesser penalties. DeGrom is the best starter on the planet when he's healthy, but that is happening less and less. It was by far the more prudent decision to let someone else pay him to primarily preside on the injured list. Trea Turner reportedly was unable to agree to terms with the Dodgers and seemed destined to test free agency.

They operate a giant media conglomerate. Having marketable players is valuable to allow them to fully leverage the full strength of the media monster that they operate. They need to offer hope and entertainment value to get people into the seats and watching on television, if Vlad continues to perform on the field he offers both.

You are doing this in the opposite direction by attempting to present Vlad as a guy who offers no marketability whatsoever. Nobody is advocating for Vlad to be offered a blank check, that's an obvious straw man argument.

I think there is a chance that ownership steps in to get this deal done. This will almost certainly lead to the type of a deal that leads to a relative overpay compared to typical market rate for 1B/DH types but Vlad is the team's franchise player and there really isn't anyone else in the organization at this point to build around in his place.

Fans don't decide who gets paid like a superstar, but having said this it seems possible that the ownership group steps in to ensure something gets done with Vlad. This could very well end up being a mistake, but Vlad is a player who is very marketable to the fanbase, has repeatedly stated he wants to remain long term, and is well on his way to finally fulfilling the type of potential he's featured since he started destroying pitching in the lower levels of the minors. It seems you missed the point I was trying to make. I simply said Vlad isn't a superstar yet, but he already checks a lot of of the boxes and has potentially reached the point where he's going to produce superstar levels of offensive output moving forward. If he ends this season on a similar note to his last 3 months that will suddenly give him 2 out of 4 seasons performing at superstar level with the bat. If he does that next season as well that makes 2 consecutive years at that level and 3 of 5. He's absolutely correct to bet on himself and shoot for the moon in his contract asks. There aren't really recent player extensions that are directly comparable to Vlad, as the 1B/DH types who have signed extensions in recent years were several years older than Vlad.

What percentage of baseball fans are casual vs the hardcore types? If it's a higher percentage of casuals vs the hardcore types, then where do you go about ranking the importance of what the perception is? Becoming a superstar is largely a function of name brand value, and Vlad has reached that status already at this point of his career. He had massive levels of prospect hype, is the son of a hall of fame player, has some impressive performances in his career including a near MVP level season, a gold glove on his resume, impressive displays at the all star game including home run derby, and has a run personality that leads to him being very marketable. Vlad has checked a lot of the boxes towards attaining superstar status, but hasn't been able to reliably reach that level based on actual field level performance. He's well on his way to another top 10 in MLB level of offensive season and possibly higher than that depending on his finish. He has superstar offensive potential based on the elite level of talent and very well may be in the midst of establishing himself as a superstar both on and off of the field.

And talking down the players that he traded for in public isn't exactly the best way to endear himself to these players.

If 25 year old Vlad continues the type of offensive performance of the last 3 months he's the exciting young superstar to build the team around.

They played fine throughout the summer in all of their recent competitive seasons. They failed when the weather cooled off and the post season began.

The 2025 Blue Jays are going to be like a box of chocolates because you don't know what you are going to get. Is Gausman the ace with an effective splitter or is he more of a mid rotation piece? Does Berrios right the ship this season or is he a back of the rotation pitcher? Does Bo bounce back next season or has he turned into Tim Anderson? Are Romano and Swanson going to be effective leverage relievers or are they both cooked? Is Vlad an MVP caliber bat or is he going to revert to career averages? Is Springer the heavily declining player of the first few months of this season or has he unlocked himself at the plate with recent adjustments?

Alek was always a giant wildcard with regards to what version of him was going to show up. The command and conditioning were both obviously much better but his stuff was still rather pedestrian. I thought that Tiedemann was a high end depth piece but I've finally wizened up given the fact that he's essentially been vaporware up to this point and shouldn't be counted on for anything.

So what sort of anti-social behaviour were you actually banned for then?

Rodriguez has certainly had some nice moments but unfortunately we've all seen the endless cycle of injury that Tiedemann is caught in. I like that both of Yesavage and Bloss have been steadily building up their workloads while typically avoiding the injury bug.

Given how many times you've been repeatedly warned and even banned for using this type of language I am honestly questioning your mental faculties.

Bloss is close to major league ready, and I expect Yesavage to move very quickly through the system as well. Those are both the type of high end depth pieces the team was largely lacking recent seasons.

I think the organization's pitching depth stands to be dramatically better next season given the recent trade deadline and draft acquisitions, at least on the rotation side of the ledger. Hopefully the team can finally find a way to supplement the bullpen from some homegrown players for once vs needing to sign pricey free agents and scouring the waiver wires.

Are you honestly dumb enough to care about what the projections say before the team is even assembled? That's not exactly mensa level stuff bub.

IKF had a really similar stretch last season over 4 months so he's done this type of thing before. He just wasn't able to carry these types of results over the final 2 months of the season as his strikeout rate skyrocketed.

Who cares what the projections say as the offseason starts? Anyone can see the team is going to have a very busy offseason in free agency and trade attempting to fill the holes on the roster. The projections that matter are those that happen after the offseason moves are complete.

The team has a tough uphill battle to climb but your endless proclamations about how the team literally has zero chance to compete are no more worthwhile than those that think the club has a punchers chance at success with some prudent offseason moves. The preseason predictions saw this as a mid 80's win team and the worst case scenario unfolded in the bullpen and left this giant steaming mess. The club has essentially league average starting pitching and a very close to average offense since the calendar turned to April. With a more typical Bo Bichette season and some sensible position player additions the offense can be decent to even good again. The bullpen is going to be the hardest thing to fix given the amount of holes, but it's not like this team is completely starting from scratch the way so many of the naysayers are carrying on.

This is eye test stuff only but to me Vlad has a lot of trouble with routine grounders where he has to move his feet a bit. I can't say whether this is footwork related stuff or if he simply doesn't have the hands for the position but he regularly clanks pretty routine looking plays that a major league first baseman should be making with relative ease. Given how other posters have pointed out he's great at scooping bounced throws it seems he should have good enough hands to be more effective at first base but that's just spitballing on my part.

Are you able to provide the BA writeup for McAdoo? I'm curious to see their tools breakdown as they seem to be more forgiving compared to Fangraphs in particular.

Yeah he's put together a nice 3 month stretch after a tough April. He seems like a near lock to opt out of his deal at the end of the season but we shall see how the last few months turn out.