BB17

If he cared about money he'd probably just wait 2-3 years and then sign when there is no restrictions. My guess is the Jays are centering their presentation around how they've had SP at the major league level have success over the last few years. And maybe how Toronto would be a good spot for marketing purposes as the number 1 guy on the team. If he was a Dodger he'd be in Ohtani and Yam's shadow.

As nice as this stuff is to hear I don't think anyone is getting their hopes up on this one. We've been down this road a few times now. I'll only believe it if the signing is completed. In this situation at least you can't say the Jays are just being used as leverage to drive the price up since there's a max he can sign for.

I agree with lots of your points, but paying all those FA could just cause you a black hole down the road that would be tough to get out of. At least the current strategy leaves the team with lots of payroll flexibility down the road for a new regime to start fresh. Even just trading Bo this offseason would seem to make a lot of sense and you wouldn't have to punt on the year. Shifting Giminez to SS and moving Wagner to 2nd while signing say Alonso at DH doesn't hurt the team much this year and you'd also get assets back in the trade. Unless the offers for Bo are just really bad, but we really don't know what conversation they've had. The best we can really hope for is a bunch of the young position players take a huge step and look like they can be regulars for the next 5 years and the pitching in the minors gets healthy and churn out a couple SP who can be in the rotation. Even if the team goes out, wins 90 games and say makes it to the ALCS, Vladdy and Bo leave as FA, well the team's future still looks pretty bleak if the success was coming from guys like Springer, Berrios, Bassit etc..

Big W for Nick Taylor at the Sony. Guy is as clutch as they come in a playoff.

Yeah I agree I think Springer would be better off selling out for more power even if the strikeouts rise. It certainly seemed like their was a change last year to hitting the ball on the ground the other way more often. The lineup needs more power anyways given they already have a lot of lower K/low power guys like Kirk, Wagner, Clement etc..

Yes that is literally Zips projections.. Also that was FIP which removes defense, basically what a pitcher can control. It stands to reason their ERA would be better if the Jays are plus defensively. But when I was saying the Jays pitching was weak I meant their actual pitching not run prevention including defense.

Zips has: Gauseman- 2.6 WAR, 3.70 FIP Berrios- 2.0 WAR, 4.35FIP Bassit 1.9WAR, 4.25 FIP Francis 1.2 WAR, 4.27 FIP Rodriguez 1.1 WAR 4.04 FIP Jays SP value is more about quantity of innings than actually being all that great quality wise at least Bassit and Berrios. With the Jays good defence its fine having dependable SP who can throw 170-200IP, especially if you have a good bullpen.

Yeah it certainly seems that way as it stands right now. Given his height, he's not an ideal fit at 1B either. I wonder if Gimenez would play SS on Bo off days or if he were to hit the IL at any point. Wagner's bat is great at 2nd but DH kind of kills his value.

I agree.. lots of tweeners (high end bench players/low end regulars). Ernie fits into that category too. They need a middle of the order bat pretty badly. You don't want it to be May and have Varsho/Kirk hitting in the top 4 with Springer leading off.

I like Yates a lot but not at the expense of 2 hitters or a 5th SP.

Grichuk would be a solid signing although not sure if he wants to comeback to Toronto. He mashes LHP and with all the platoon type LHH Toronto has (Wagner, Barger, Roden, even Varsho) they need a guy who can hit lefties. I'd still prefer Santander in LF on a 3-4 year deal though. Its nice that he's a switch hitter and he'd be a middle of the lineup bat the team desperately needs. Jays depth on the position player side actually is decent the problem is a lot of them have a limitation. Guys like Wagner, Schnieder, Barger and in the minors Martinez and Roden. They can hit pretty well from one side of the plate but are bad/limited defensively.

Projections seem to really like Wagner. Just wondering where he's going to play next season since Giminez is at 2B. He's never played the outfield and his arm is pretty weak so likely can't play 3rd. Once Bo leaves it opens the door for Giminez to slide to SS and Wagner could then play 2nd. On the pitching side, surprised to see Burr has the lowest FIP projection of any pitcher. He really was elite vs RHH last season. The pitching as a whole looks rather weak though, only 4 guys projected for a FIP under 4.

Wonder if the Jays will make an offer with a lot of potential bonuses etc to make the deal worth up to what Vladdy is asking for so he can at least say "I got my record breaking contract etc".. but in reality the deal is more or less valued closer to the 350 the Jays were offering before. Having an opt out when Vladdy is 31-32 might not be a bad thing.

Not to mention Varsho could miss the first month of the season or more if he has any setbacks in rehab. Also fair to wonder how effective he will be coming back after a major shoulder surgery. Jays really need to add an OF over any other position imo.

CRA is a joke. Not only do the harass high end earners but they'll come after you for a few thousand bucks even if its complete BS just because they think you won't notice or won't try to fight it. Complete scum of the earth.

Lol and you know that he wouldn't have? Thats not true either.. My point wasn't even so much about Vladdy as it was offseason planning as a whole. Last year they failed and so far this year on paper they look pretty mediocre. Good thing for them is there are still lots of players available.

Problem with the going "ALL IN" approach to Ohatni, Soto, Saski etc.. is its fine if you have a backup plan in place but it better not take energy away from improving the club. Last year the Jays spent all their resources in going for Ohtani and then when they didn't get him they signed the wrong players. This year if they spent their resources in trying to sign Vladdy before Soto, you likely could have had him signed for the amount they are offering now. Instead his price went way up and now you're stuck in the situation you've created. Obviously easy to say all of this in hindsight but these guys are getting paid the big bucks to make these decisions so when it blows up in their faces its deserved criticism

Varsho and Kirk are set to become FA after 2026 so unless they sign extensions I'm not really sure you would count them as "core" players. Looking at just the roster situation and the reality of the AL east, it seems like a retool with trades would be the way to go. You'd get a really solid haul for Vladdy, Bo, Gauseman, Bassit, Berrios etc.. and you'd like to think some of those prosects would be making their debut this year/at the very least next year. You could then play all the Barger, Loperfido, Martinez, Wagner etc young guys and really see what you have. Then going into next offseason or 2027 you'd have a ton of cash to spend and hopefully a few of those young players have made the jump to being counted on as regulars. Its not like it would be a 4 year teardown and with the Jays falling in the lottery this year they still could get a top pick. To me that path seems a lot more favourable and likely to produce 90+ win true contenders from 2027-2031 than if you go half-ass in with a 83 win team on paper this year. Sure you might make the postseason this year if you get lucky but its going to be tougher to win in the years after.

I'm sure the Jays are doing everything they can to entice the player. I also don't think the Jays would be in in top 3 or top 5 destinations and there would be a less than 5% chance he comes here. And to be honest why the hell would he come to Toronto instead of LA or San Diego?

He said he knows Pelley is there already but the rumour is still kicking FWIW.

Apparently there is a rumour Shapiro will become the president of MLSE. If that happens the media/city will jump all over him and there will be a ton of complaining lol. I don't know how true the rumour is but @YYZsportsmedia tweeted it a week or so ago. In terms of purely the business side of things he's done a pretty good job with the Blue jays. No one really knows how much of the blame is his when it comes to the baseball operations side. Have to wonder if he would try to meddle with the Raptors/Leafs or just leave the operation completely as is.

I mean if they are in 5 games out of the wildcard at the deadline they likely fire sale the team and ship out Vladdy, Bo, Gauseman, Bassit, Berrios and more. In that scenario they very likely finish below 75 wins just like last season. I mean the team right now looks considerably worse than it did last offseason.

I'll take the under on 85 wins if this is the current roster. Pretty sure Vegas has them at 76.5 or something. The outfield really could be improved.