Carlos Danger

It took 10 posts for someone to bring up Springer's location in the batting order. The Blue Jays saw the metrics with Springer to start the season last year but failed to adapt quickly enough and move him down in the batting order. This was due to a lack of Team first approach and internal politics giving deference to the name on the back of the jersey and the big contract. One of the biggest reasons last season for the Jays getting in a hole to start the season was having one of the worst hitters on the team and even the league at the time getting the most amount of bats per game. This led to the consecutive innings without a run scored in the 1st inning record and contributed to the bullpen pressures and resultant implosions. John has admitted this and it took waaaayy too fnnn long for the Jays to drop Springer down in the batting order and out of the lead off spot. We have seen other teams drop their stars who weren't performing down in the batting order because they had more cajones and weren't scared about wining or " needing approval" from their biggest FA ever. If John didn't have balls to do it, it should have come from the top sooner or vice versa. Springer had his healthiest season as a Blue Jay yet regressed. Springer is in the regression glide path and his value to this team is solely going to be correlated to him hitting 6 or 7th, NOT lead-off. Value as a 6-7 guy who plays solid D. Like an anvil to this team if hitting leadoff...

Cubs signing Colin Rea is a sneaky good pick-up. Cubs are looking good this year with a great farm system!

I guess the Jays had to wait until they were both done at the all you can eat buffet before they would accept their offers.

I guess since the hard deadline is 8 pm ET there is technically still time. However, if there is no agreement with Vlad by now with months to prepare/discuss.. I am not holding my breadth. My gut tells me Jays are at high $29/$30 mil and Vlad is asking for $33/$34. Regardless, if the Jays go to arb this year, I just can’t see them signing Vlad. It says to me there is too far a gap in overall value assessment.

I was literally thinking that before I read your post. Some weight challenged person discrimination going on from Mark and Ross. ;)

At work checking in on the mobile? Arb deadline come and gone? We are going to Arb with Vladdy again?

On May 15th the Jays were 9 games out, last in the East and had a worst record of everyone in the East and Central with the exception of the White Sox. Not sure where they were in the WC but 85% of the Teams were ahead of them. Vladdy had 2 HRs in May, vs 3 HRs in April. He had 5 doubles in both April and May. Vladdy started getting more hits and RBIs in May but we still debating on the board if we want to pay $250-$300 million (wow) at the time to a Luis Arreaz type. Vlad really didn't take off with power until June. It's somewhat semantics and just one data point in the totality of evaluating Vlad's value. However I recall when we thought Vladdy had turned into a high propensity singles hitter.

As mentioned in my post though, he had Semien there. He wasn’t the grand poo ba. All the burden and expectations weren’t on him. Springer, Semien, Bo tearing it up, Teo, Chapman. Vlad could relax and do his thing. Start of 2024 it was all about the “Core” and Springer and Bo were MIA leaving poor Vlad as the one and only “core”.

For me too many Red Flags with Vlad to go 10, 12, 16 Years!!?? Many in the industry think the Yankees are now better as a whole after the pivot from Soto. I think we have the opportunity to do the same. One other RED FLAG- From former MLB players, so don't shoot the messenger. As soon as the it was clear the Jays were out of it in 2024. i,e the pressure was off is the same time Vladdy got hot. There are questions as to how Vladdy handles the pressure and being the "Core" . My opinion now: Vlad definitely likes being considered the top dog and the "Core" and things like HR derbies etc.. However, I have not really seen much sustainable when there is direct pressure on him and I certainly saw bone head base running etc at key moments in the playoffs. In 2021 he had Semien and others, 2022, 2023 he was meh, sucked to start 2024, then when Team out of it, he went on a tear. Just one consideration in totality.

You are correct. However, in addition to the lack of run support there were comments by Bo, Berrios and even the FO that basically there were communication issues and there also needed to be improvement on how information is communicated from everything to game prep to the Berrios situation. Then, there was the question if John really made that decision with insiders across the board saying the FO created the environment that basically put his back up against the wall. The cherry on top and my last straw with Atkins when he lacked integrity, leadership and professionalism and thew John under the bus in the press conference. Ross was dead to me from that point on.

I thought Canadians are supposed to be an inclusive cultural mosaic….

Close enough… I used to say I have a 12” cock when it is really only 11.5”. That doesn’t make me a bad person….

If they do sign him, it gives me Tanner Roark vibes. Anyone who has been around here a while knows what I thought about that signing… I guess no harm in more depth and he has shown some bright spots. However, only if the spend on him does not preclude other additions.

.393 WS OBP. You said he sucked, the other poster said he underperformed. Words matter.

The OP’s comment was who would have known Ricky would have sucked when he came over in the trade. My contention is that this is a comment from someone who was probably in the single digit age range at the time looking at stat sheet. Ironically while using an advanced stat on one hand, he also used batting average which we all know doesn’t mean s*** when a guy has .360 OBP during the regular season and a near .400 OBP ~ in the playoffs. Not sure we beat the Phillies in the WS without Ricky as part of the equation. Underperforming from his elite regular season stats to sucking is a HUGE divide.

Yea, you make a good point lol. I need to check this particular leagues draft, if it is June/July for 2025 FYPD or the 2024 FYPD. I have various leagues and they all do it different. For some reason I was thinking the 2025 crop…

How old were you in the 2nd half of 1993 and the playoffs?

Was there some illusion he ought to have known Rickey would suck in TO? If the Jays didn't win the World Series, would it have been fair to blame Gillick for adding Henderson? No - obviously not (or at least I don't think so). There was probably a 5% chance Rickey would play that bad for the Jays - but that's exactly what happened. The above is BS. Rickey was a huge part of and contributor to the Jays WS win in 93. f*** his wRC+ and batting average. Are you old enough to really remember the 93 season? Ricky had a .356 OBP for the Jays down the stretch with 22 stolen bases in 44 games. In the playoffs he got 8 hits, 3 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. He was the tying or winning run in the Carter HR. Most importantly apart from getting on base, Ricky was a disruptor. He would absolutely get in the pitcher’s heads as well as the catcher. This led to errors on pick off plays, rushed throws and errors etc by the catcher or MI. The pitch count would increase to hitters and they would take advantage of pitchers phased by Rickey. When the Blue Jays played the A’s in the ALCS a few years prior Ricky single handily forced Ernie Whitt’s retirement by making him look so bad.

Didn’t things get testy/contentious between the Jays and Donaldson his last year over the subject of his injury treatment/rehab?

I would probably go with Holliday with 1-1

I have an offer of 1-1 in the 2025 FYPD for Wyatt Langford. Full Dynasty league. What say you (irrespective of time to the show)? Thanks in advance

Bad link?

We have a number of board associated fantasy baseball leagues with each having its own thread. I think there are some hockey leagues and maybe another sport. Plus the Fantasy baseball advice thread. So in total I would estimate 6-7 Fantasy dedicated threads.

Ok, thanks. Where is the appropriate sub forum to start something like that?

I used to do the same thing when buying a car. Well, the dealer down the road will give me this… I need you to beat that etc. If he said he wasn’t interested it would be surrendering a negotiation position.