Ray

I echo most everyone's sentiments on here. I'm confident enough in the hitting core of Vlad, Bichette, Biggio, and Gurriel Jr. at this point. I still have faith that Jansen will turn it around offensively, and given the tremendous strides he's made defensively, he's looking like an incredibly valuable piece if/when he puts it together. This is exactly why I think we should go ahead and supplement this core with some premium free agent talent this offseason. I can definitely envision a scenario where if we add 1-2 good hitters in that lineup via free agency and/or trade, we might actually be an above average hitting team next season. As for the Teoscars, Drurys, McKinneys, Tellez's, and Alfords of the world, I would proceed ahead with the notion that they are what they are, even though it doesn't quite make sense to write them off just yet. But you shouldn't be counting on them to break out and become viable everyday players. It should end up being a happy surprise if it does. The pitching in this system is a bit of an enigma to me. There's a ton of young controllable arms that are going to be coming up/ready relatively soon. It's to the point where I think we'd be terrible unlucky if we don't end up getting 1-2 league average starters and a couple solid bullpen pieces from the following group: AAA: Zeuch, Merryweather, Paulino, Pannone, Reid-Foley, Sopko, Waguespack, AA: Nate Pearson, Hector Perez, Patrick Murphy, Zach Logue, Yennsy Diaz, A+: Allgeyer, Joey Murray, Josh Winckowski Not counting whoever we end up getting from the Giles and Stroman trades. Again, I would still try to supplement the major league rotation with 1 or 2 free agents or trade acquisitions as well. In a perfect world, all those guys will still be starting in the minors next season and will force your hand instead of you having to count on them to break out.

Why on earth would we pay Stroman $80M when comparable guys like Sonny Gray are getting $40M, and better pitchers like Kyle Hendricks are also getting around $60M. The valuation gap between Stroman and the front office is probably far too large to overcome at this point. He likely wants far too much than what the front office is willing to give and what the market dictates he should get.

It may be time to give Anthony Alford an extended look. Since May 1st (42 games): .308/.392/.465, 123 wRC+ He's also turning 25 this July. It's basically as close as it can be to now or never.

I'm thinking he could even be Top 100 as early as this offseason if he has a good debut. He wasn't that far off as it is, atleast on the Fangraphs Board last I checked.

Jhon Solarte also seems somewhat interesting. Switch hitting CF coming off a good season. Went 2-for-4 today.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Alek Manoah be a Top 100 guy next season if he has a strong debut.

Michael Smith (Canada): Hey Ben the Jays seem very quiet this international signing period! They usually always get at least one of the top 10 guys. Any idea why they seem so quiet this year ? Thank you Ben Badler: They're going to be very active. Rikelvin de Castro, Robert Robertis, Estiven Machado, just to name a few, and there's more.

His expected statistics don't really post that rosy of a picture for him either. .293 xWOBA, .227 xBA. He's getting unlucky, but even if he wasn't, he still wouldn't be league average.

Moreno and Kirk have to be on the cusp of Top 100 talk. Hard to ignore younger for the league catchers hitting as well as they've been.

Jansen looking better. Hope this is a turning point for him offensively.

Borucki: 3 perfect innings with 6K Pardinho: 4IP 1H 3BB 5K

He got all his hits on bad pitches, they really don't count.

I wanted to use an instance of an actual semi-competent front office doing it, but yeah that would be an example. Anther example would be Aroldis Chapman to the Yankees pre-2017. Again, we could end up spending $25M-$30M on an actual elite player (i.e. Gerrit Cole or Anthony Rendon) and still be hovering around a ~$75M payroll. It's very likely not going to happen, but it's what some teams have done in the past to varying degrees of success.

Max Scherzer is absurd

I could see being a little hesitant to spend this past offseason due to wanting to see what you had in internal options + there were still some bloated contracts on the books, but I do think it makes sense to at least supplement a little bit this offseason. Obviously I'm not saying to go all out and spend $170M on payroll like in years past, but adding 1 long term piece that will help you in your eventual run wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. The Cubs might've been a year away from truly competing in 2015 but still went out and got their guy in Jon Lester. You could still end up spending $25M on a player and come out having less of a payroll than this season.

I was just thinking about this the other day, but we'll likely have a ton of payroll flexibility next season. The Morales + Martin contracts will be completely off the books, and the amount owed to Tulo will decrease by $6M to $14M. That's $38M off the books right there. Assuming Stroman and Giles are gone too, our highest priced arbitration guys will be either Aaron Sanchez or Matt Shoemaker, both of whom will likely be making less than $5M given their lack of performance or injuries. Travis will likely be non-tendered at this point. Smoak will be off the books too. Currently RosterResource has us at $30M guaranteed commitments for next season: https://www.rosterresource.com/mlb-toronto-blue-jays-info/ Even with arb guys and the Galvis/Phelps options picked up, I can see hovering around a $50M heading into the offseason. All this to say, I hope we finally supplement the core with some major league good talent this offseason. Either with free agency or trades. Imagine Anthony Rendon alongside Vlad, Bichette, Biggio, Gurriel.

You do realize that Marcus Stroman is not the same as half a season of a 35 year old JA Happ

I really don’t think we’d be looking at a Merryweather/Thornton return for Sogard. Merrweather was traded for a former MVP, and Thornton was traded for 2 WAR shortstop with 4 years of control. We’d probably be looking at a Forrest Wall/Harold Ramirez/Santiago Espinal/Andrew Sopko AA lottery ticket type.

Thornton looks like he’s gonna stick. Fill up those 3-5 rotation spots with cheap younger types like him and Borucki, trade/sign for 2 top of the rotation guys. There’s your championship rotation.

Atkins said that Ryan Borucki was throwing 95-96 mph in bullpen sessions and is close to returning.

I've uploaded it here for anyone without a subscription: https://gofile.io/?c=GAtLDh You can listen to it on that link or download it and listen to it at your own leisure.

Depends mostly on the what prospect returns you're looking at, but I would look to move relievers as quickly as possible given their volatility. Ken Giles is in the midst of a career year by every measurable metric, so you'd be selling at probably the highest point of his career. He's yo-yo'd between having elite seasons and having underwhelming ones. Sell him while he's legitimately one of the best relievers in baseball. The Twins might actually be the best target here. If we can convince them that they're an elite reliever away from being legitimate World Series contenders (which they very well might be given their historically great hitting right now), a small market team like them might be willing to overpay in prospect capital to get over the top.

I’m now wondering how much of Biggios K-rate% in the minors could actually be attributed to taking close pitches that were outside the zone. A little aggression might help him.

Biggio and Vlad are getting f***ed by these umps.

Meanwhile Roberto Osuna blew a save the other night.