2022 Blue Jays

[L K]

It doesn't seem like this front office likes to have a full time DH.

No, which is maybe the Chris Taylor thinking as a guy who can play everyday at a bunch of positions and let you rotate guys in the DH spot the way they've been doing. I always just feel that come playoff time you want your 9 guys who you like going with every day and you don't want to just throw your best bench bat in there.

Yeah I don't really want to lock up the DH spot with a guy who can't play in the field.  I like the concept of Cruz if he was 2-3 years younger but I don't want to lock in a DH only player who could potentially be facing the sands of the time.

I do like the idea of Kikuchi as a reclamation kind of guy.  His peripherals weren't the best last year but he can eat some innings.

I like Taylor over Bryant if we are conceding to an inferior offence compared to last season.  I don't like his defense though we are considerably worse on the infield if Taylor is getting every day at bats.

 

[Kin]

So I just did some reading and it's expected Marcus Stroman should get around Ray money. I don't recall Stroman being that good with the Jays?

Stroman has never had a year as good as Ray just had but what he has over Ray is consistency. If Ray was seen as a guy who was guaranteed to be at or near the level of his season last year he'd probably be closer to 5/150. Stroman probably won't be an upper echelon guy but he's basically a sure thing 2/3 which is more or less the kind of money Ray and Gausman got.

 

[L K]

So I just did some reading and it's expected Marcus Stroman should get around Ray money. I don't recall Stroman being that good with the Jays?

Stroman has never had a year as good as Ray just had but what he has over Ray is consistency. If Ray was seen as a guy who was guaranteed to be at or near the level of his season last year he'd probably be closer to 5/150. Stroman probably won't be an upper echelon guy but he's basically a sure thing 2/3 which is more or less the kind of money Ray and Gausman got.

If Stroman volunteered to hand his twitter feed over to the team I wouldn't hate him back with the team.  He's a really good pitcher.  I don't want him for the character cloud he creates around himself but he is a solid pitcher at the front end of a rotation.

 

[Kin]

So I just did some reading and it's expected Marcus Stroman should get around Ray money. I don't recall Stroman being that good with the Jays?

Stroman has never had a year as good as Ray just had but what he has over Ray is consistency. If Ray was seen as a guy who was guaranteed to be at or near the level of his season last year he'd probably be closer to 5/150. Stroman probably won't be an upper echelon guy but he's basically a sure thing 2/3 which is more or less the kind of money Ray and Gausman got.

If Stroman volunteered to hand his twitter feed over to the team I wouldn't hate him back with the team.  He's a really good pitcher.  I don't want him for the character cloud he creates around himself but he is a solid pitcher at the front end of a rotation.

Eh. I think with the money they already have in the rotation + Manoah + the hope that Pearson straightens things out(which may be wishful at this point) I almost feel like Stroman would be the wrong way to invest the 20+ million it'd take even if such a 2nd marriage were amenable to the parties involved.

Also, and I think this should be taken with a mountain of salt, but Carlos Baerga is saying the Jays are in the running for Freddie Freeman? On the surface it makes no sense whatsoever because of Vladdy but, like, there's maybe something in the way Freeman plays his international ball for Canada that makes him want to sign here?  It's 8 shades of crazy but Baerga has broken stuff before so...?

A slightly less crazy Freddy-related idea is if you're looking for a short term guy at 2nd, maybe Freddy Galvis comes back? I always liked him.

 

[dappleganger]

I?m still in shock over the scherzer contract. That?s just lunacy.

I was pushing the Jays sign Scherzer 2 years/$80m which I thought was high enough to get him.  ;D

 

[bustaheims]

Also, and I think this should be taken with a mountain of salt, but Carlos Baerga is saying the Jays are in the running for Freddie Freeman? On the surface it makes no sense whatsoever because of Vladdy but, like, there's maybe something in the way Freeman plays his international ball for Canada that makes him want to sign here?  It's 8 shades of crazy but Baerga has broken stuff before so...?

Freeman would be a huge addition, but, how do they work with him and Vladdy? Rotating between 1B and DH? Does Vladdy move back to 3B (which I know he's expressed interest in doing in the past, but, feel like a bad idea)? Would be a good problem to have, though.

 

[L K]

So I just did some reading and it's expected Marcus Stroman should get around Ray money. I don't recall Stroman being that good with the Jays?

Stroman has never had a year as good as Ray just had but what he has over Ray is consistency. If Ray was seen as a guy who was guaranteed to be at or near the level of his season last year he'd probably be closer to 5/150. Stroman probably won't be an upper echelon guy but he's basically a sure thing 2/3 which is more or less the kind of money Ray and Gausman got.

If Stroman volunteered to hand his twitter feed over to the team I wouldn't hate him back with the team.  He's a really good pitcher.  I don't want him for the character cloud he creates around himself but he is a solid pitcher at the front end of a rotation.

Eh. I think with the money they already have in the rotation + Manoah + the hope that Pearson straightens things out(which may be wishful at this point) I almost feel like Stroman would be the wrong way to invest the 20+ million it'd take even if such a 2nd marriage were amenable to the parties involved.

Also, and I think this should be taken with a mountain of salt, but Carlos Baerga is saying the Jays are in the running for Freddie Freeman? On the surface it makes no sense whatsoever because of Vladdy but, like, there's maybe something in the way Freeman plays his international ball for Canada that makes him want to sign here?  It's 8 shades of crazy but Baerga has broken stuff before so...?

A slightly less crazy Freddy-related idea is if you're looking for a short term guy at 2nd, maybe Freddy Galvis comes back? I always liked him.

Yeah I saw that Freedman tweet and Baerga doesn't seem to just throw stuff at the walls. That would be a ridiculous addition to the line.  I guess the argument would be you platoon them at 1B/DH and maybe give Vlad some games at 3B.  If they don't think they can pull a big name corner INF and want to replace the offence they are losing with Semien this would be a home run addition.

 

[bustaheims]

I?m still in shock over the scherzer contract. That?s just lunacy.

I was pushing the Jays sign Scherzer 2 years/$80m which I thought was high enough to get him.  ;D

Yeah. The AAV doesn't seem too shocking. He's been the best pitcher in MLB over the past decade. What caught me off guard was the 3rd year for a guy who is already 37 (and will turn 38 midway through next season) and has started to show some durability issues (albeit, minor ones so far).

 

[dappleganger]

So I just did some reading and it's expected Marcus Stroman should get around Ray money. I don't recall Stroman being that good with the Jays?

Stroman is an elite pitcher. Same age as Robbie Ray, lower career ERA and higher career WAR than Robbie. Gotta keep in mind, no one expected this kind of year out of Robbie Ray, so that will drop his value a bit. Stoman has been pretty consistant throughout his career. As others have pointed out, he's a bit of a distraction.

 

[Kin]

Cruz you will be 42 in July. I?m not sure he makes sense as a target.

The tailing off he did at the end of the year is for sure a concern but, I mean, he still hit pretty well at 41.

I?ve had a bit of a change of heart on 1 dimensional players lately. I watched this video on what a liability a player like puljols is on the bases. Even if he can hit he?s a black hole around the diamond.

https://youtu.be/OCiUaNIqmS4

Have a watch - I really like this channel, great informational baseball content.

So I finally got to watch this and you're right. It's a very good video that highlights the importance of something simple like running to 1st that we don't think much about.

The only thing I'd say is that I think the point being made about Pujols is that his lack of foot speed hurts his effectiveness, yes, but it's effectively captured by his stats. It's why his bWAR and wRC+ starts nosediving right around the time of those surgeries. That doesn't so much apply to Cruz, at least not yet. He's not the player he was but he's also not like Pujols who was effectively reduced to a replacement level player. Cruz has been at roughly 2 wins above replacement the last two seasons. Obviously there's a chance this is the year he hits the wall and becomes ineffective but it's also a pretty low-risk investment as you'd only be giving him a year.

 

[Kin]

Stroman is a Cub, which is a surprise. I wasn't expecting them to spend any sort of big money in free agency as they really looked like they wanted to rebuild.

 

[Deebo]

Stroman is a Cub, which is a surprise. I wasn't expecting them to spend any sort of big money in free agency as they really looked like they wanted to rebuild.

https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/1466213633923289093

 

[L K]

And thus we enter the lockout.  Battle of the greedy millionaire players and the poor innocent owners

 

[Kin]

And thus we enter the lockout.  Battle of the greedy millionaire players and the poor innocent owners

What's crazy to me is that one of the big issues for the players is ending service time manipulation which is basically just getting owners to actually try to win games and that probably won't gain any traction among fans with GM brain who think keeping players in the minors when they could be helping the team is "smart".

 

[Kin]

Teams have literally taken all mention of current players off their websites:

https://www.mlb.com/bluejays

By the way, nobody anywhere is claiming that MLB is anything other than incredibly profitable and that franchise values are exploding.

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

https://twitter.com/alek_manoah6/status/1466840425629687812

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

https://twitter.com/jon_bois/status/1491827863154302978

 

[Deebo]

We have a CBA!

https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/1502015630966415361

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/realstevepaine/status/1501993543950381061
;D

 

[bustaheims]

Next couple weeks gonna be crazy.