Eat My Shatkins

Hmm. I wonder if that means the Mets and Diaz are not reuniting, or will Williams just be another late inning bullpen piece?

I'm not familiar with him either but hopefully he is a very well connected fellow. Apparently Justin's brother.

If we're being totally honest, at this point the Jays don't really have any clear needs. Anything they add at this point is merely piling on luxuries. Don't get me wrong, I hope they keep piling on until they've rocketed into the top luxury tax bracket, it's not my money and it would be fun and exciting. But the team is projected around 90 wins now with the addition Cease I think? 2nd or 3rd best projection in MLB at this point right? Team doesnt really have any gaping holes to fill.

Yeah maybe a bit much, I dunno. I could see him taking a hair cut and a reduced role as a depth guy just to come back. Seems like he just wants a shot at another WS and to be in a good environment for him and his family. I guess we'll see what happens, but the way he talks it just seems like him and the team have already agreed to something in principal.

Whoops, quoted the wrong guy. Meant to quote glory. I tend to agree, but things can change pretty quick on that front if a guy like RJ Schreck bursts onto the scene in 2026 the same way Barger did in 2025.

Yeah, if he signed right now he'd be the 6th starter. I'd be fine with that for about $10 million. They have a durable rotation but they will need depth and he'd be fantastic as depth. Injuries will happen and he'd be good insurance. Also great to have around as a mentor for anyone on the pitching staff. Guys like Yesavage and even Cease who both have good enough stuff to be aces could learn a lot from a guy like Scherzer being around him all year. It'd actually be nice to have 6 or 7 quality starters around, even if they are all healthy they can keep guys fresh by sprinkling in spot starts and occasionally going with 6 man rotation when the schedule gets heavy. This should be a playoff team, and keeping the big arms fresh for the post season should be a priority if possible.

Anyone heard any snippets from Scherzer doing interviews lately? He sure doesnt sound like a guy that's going anywhere else but back to Toronto.

If we had a hole at 3B maybe, but we don't so I'd pass if it were me.

I'm still hoping they go ape s*** this off season too. They don't have to, team is already really good. But it sure would be fun to add Bo, Tucker and then stack the bullpen too. Go for broke with maximum luxury tax for one season.

Fangraphs has both Fairbanks and Seranthony at 2/$16. Seems light, but could really start to build a legit shut down pen by adding those two for even as high as $25 million AAV combined. Probably not really necessary though. I always say relievers are volatile and I don't want to see the Jays spend a ton of money there, but then every off season I look at the RP arms available and I want, want, want because it looks so good on paper. CL - Fairbanks SU8 - Hoffman SU7 - Yimi MR - Seranthony MR - Varland MR - Fluharty MR - little LR - Lauer Fisher, Rodriguez, Nance, Bruihl, etc I don't think we'd see many leads given up with that group. It'll be interesting to see what the FO does with guys like Francis, Bastardo and Tiedemann. Bastardo has to be on the MLB roster or he gets returned, but apparently he didn't even pitch in the AFL I read somewhere. Francis is probably better being converted back to a reliever, but his historic stretch as a starter in 2024 was very tantalizing. Tiedemann will have very limited innings in 2026, but you want to see him starting in AAA at least for a bit, probably ends up an MLB reliever later in the season if he hasn't completely lost what he used to have.

Hopefully Bo returns. You'd basically be running the same offense and defense as last year, both of which were top 5 in MLB, arguably #1. But then you've probably improved the rotation from bottom 3rd to top 3rd in MLB with Cease and full seasons of Bieber and Yesavage. Even the bullpen could be improved over last year with full seasons of Varland, Yimi and then by adding a closer. Gimme Bo and gimme a closer please. 95+ wins will be easy to make.

I wonder if Seranthony and the Jays have any appetite for a reunion? He seemed to fit in well. Would still love to see a closer added, and they could probably get both Fairbanks and Seranthony for about $20-25 million combined i would think.

$123 million payroll last year and $136 million projected this year. The AAV on the Dodgers big 4 starting pitchers is $130 million haha

I wonder if Arizona is a good fit for Berrios, if the Jays try to move him. Their rotation is a mess, especially with Burnes out with TJS. This is of course assuming that they strike out via free agency. I'm fine keeping Berrios as the #5 though, as long as his price tag isn't keeping the Jays from adding some more pieces, like a good hitter and a high leverage reliever or closer.

The guy literally said Cease "is not good anymore" word for word.

Haha. There always has to be a contrarian kicking around. I'd imagine the next 6 pages of this thread will consist of the contrarian arguing with 20 different people about how much Cease sucks despite him averaging 4+ fWAR the last 5 seasons, having 200+ Ks per season and 32 starts per season for the last 5 seasons all because he had 4.55 ERA and an 8-12 record in 2025 lol He suxxxxx

Pumped! This is awesome. Boss Atkins flexing right now.

There is a chance we see Tiedemann, Schreck, Bloss, Stanifer and maybe even Perez get at least a taste of MLB in 2026. "Waves of talent...." - Boss Atkins

Nice to see Nimmala rated high for his arm and defense. Gives you hope that he could be useful even if the bat isn't elite, especially since he does have power.

He's a secret weapon out there.

Marte and then Tucker with deferred money to lower the luxury tax hit. Would leave plenty of money to sign a good SP and leverage BP arm, like Imai and Suarez. DH - Springer (R) 2B - Marte (S) 1B - Vlad (R) RF - Tucker (L) C - Kirk (R) CF - Varsho (L) LF Santander (S) 3B - Barger (L) SS - Giminez (L) Bench - Heineman, Clement, Lukes, Straw SP1 - Gausman SP2 - Bieber SP3 - Yesavage SP4 - Imai SP5 - Berrios Depth - Francis, Tiedemann, Macko, Estrada, Bloss (eventually) CL - Suarez SU - Hoffman SU - Garcia MR - Varland MR - Fluharty MR - Fisher MR - Little LR - Lauer Depth - Nance, Bruihl, Rodriguez, Schultz, etc

If the Jays are checking on Marte it's just a baseball FO doing it's due diligence. Doesn't neccessarily mean Bo is gone, just means they aren't sure yet and need to have other options available to them if he does leave. Or yeah, it could also mean they know he's gone and are searching for replacements.

If/when they sign or trade for another starter you just move Lauer to the pen again as the long man and 6th starter. Easy peasy. Berrios contract sucks but performance wise his floor is basically a 1 WAR #5 starter and if you get a bounce back it's gravy. If they trade for Marte, I'd rather land Tucker than retain Bo. DH Springer (R) 2B - Marte (S) 1B - Vlad (R) RF - Tucker (L) C - Kirk (R) LF - Santander (S) CF - Varsho (L) 3B - Clement (R) / Barger (L) SS - Giminez (L) nom nom nom nom nom nom