General Blue Jays Thread: 2024 Off-Season

[Duffman100]

3 solid relievers ( Sandlin, Garcia and Hoffman), a platinum glove winning 2B who can run, a future HOF SP, and a 40 HR potential switch hitter. The only things left this off season are locking up Vladdy and maybe a left handed reliever. A 3B would have been nice, but they can fill that position right now.

Unless Bo bounces back massively, our lineup is still really light on hitting and our SP rotation depth is very thin.

I see this team as a 78-84 win team right now.

[dagger]

3 solid relievers ( Sandlin, Garcia and Hoffman), a platinum glove winning 2B who can run, a future HOF SP, and a 40 HR potential switch hitter. The only things left this off season are locking up Vladdy and maybe a left handed reliever. A 3B would have been nice, but they can fill that position right now.

Unless Bo bounces back massively, our lineup is still really light on hitting and our SP rotation depth is very thin.

I see this team as a 78-84 win team right now.

I'd like to know which AL teams got weaker. None really except the White Sox, I suppose? So I don;t see how we get to the high end of your range.

[Cyrus]

3 solid relievers ( Sandlin, Garcia and Hoffman), a platinum glove winning 2B who can run, a future HOF SP, and a 40 HR potential switch hitter. The only things left this off season are locking up Vladdy and maybe a left handed reliever. A 3B would have been nice, but they can fill that position right now.

Unless Bo bounces back massively, our lineup is still really light on hitting and our SP rotation depth is very thin.

I see this team as a 78-84 win team right now.

Not to mention our starting rotation is old, and likely to decline further from last year, with the exception of Jose B/Francis.

[Hottie McShotty]

So apparently, Bichette says he's had no talks with Jays on extension. How is this even possible?

Bo has only had one bad season of his 6 so far. He's one of the better SS in the majors when healthy and hitting to his potential. It's mind-boggling as to why this management group hasn't had any talks with him on an extension.

[dagger]

So apparently, Bichette says he's had no talks with Jays on extension. How is this even possible?

Bo has only had one bad season of his 6 so far. He's one of the better SS in the majors when healthy and hitting to his potential. It's mind-boggling as to why this management group hasn't had any talks with him on an extension.

I think he's in a bet-on-himself situation. I don't know what you would offer him that he would accept. And I don;t think a competent management would pay him the money he would accept. And would he play 2B, because Gimenez is the better glove?

[Michael Bradley]

Bichette isn't in good bargaining position right now. He's coming off a bad injury plagued season and was awful the final 2 months of 2023 as well. The Jays have no reason to pay him big money until he proves he's back to normal, and Bo can't maximize his value unless he rebounds on the field. Literally neither sides benefit from talking extension right now unless Bo is willing to take a team friendly deal, which he won't.

I think the front office has already moved on from Bo either way. They got his 2026 replacement in Gimenez already. Bo might have been traded last deadline if he were healthy, but I guess we will never know.

[COY0607]

So apparently, Bichette says he's had no talks with Jays on extension. How is this even possible?

Bo has only had one bad season of his 6 so far. He's one of the better SS in the majors when healthy and hitting to his potential. It's mind-boggling as to why this management group hasn't had any talks with him on an extension.

I think he's in a bet-on-himself situation. I don't know what you would offer him that he would accept. And I don;t think a competent management would pay him the money he would accept. And would he play 2B, because Gimenez is the better glove?

I would be more comfortable giving Bichette $250M than giving Vladdy $500M

Would Bichette take a 8-year / $250M contract right now? I think so

Bichette has been an extremely consistent hitter, and is still very young. He should be a a super productive hitter for 7-9 more years, and there’s probably more power he can unlock.

As for defence, a move to 2B is inevitable, regardless of the team he’s out on. It’s just a matter of when it happens. Once he’s signed, I think you can sell him on playing 2B

[polo007]

Read on Twitter

"Well I think he knows he was born in Montreal and he's Canadian. The fans love him there I want to see that happen I'm confident they'll figure it out. When you have a whole country following you its different. Imagine how different it is when you have a whole New York Yankees fanbase following you across the world compared to other teams, and the Blue Jays are the only other team that have that size of a following. Its a blessing, I know he understands what that means, and he is definitely weighing that in in his decision making. They're all trying to make an extension happen and I really hope that it does."

[bartron_44]

I think this team is better than people think. Are they the deepest, no. But the only places it sucks is behind the plate and in the bullpen. If they can stay in it long enough go be buyers at the deadline, they can improve both for the stretch run. Their infield defense should be off the charts, and the OF should be solid too as long as Springer and Santander aren’t both out there.

They should have better balance, more speed and more power than last year on offense, and have made the leagues best defense even better with Gimenez and Straw.

Not a big fan of having 0 lefties in the rotation, especially without several in the bullpen….but at least Gaus and Francis arent fastball+slider types.

[JN]

3 solid relievers ( Sandlin, Garcia and Hoffman), a platinum glove winning 2B who can run, a future HOF SP, and a 40 HR potential switch hitter. The only things left this off season are locking up Vladdy and maybe a left handed reliever. A 3B would have been nice, but they can fill that position right now.

Unless Bo bounces back massively, our lineup is still really light on hitting and our SP rotation depth is very thin.

I see this team as a 78-84 win team right now.

I'd like to know which AL teams got weaker. None really except the White Sox, I suppose? So I don;t see how we get to the high end of your range.

Cleveland, Houston, Minnesota took steps back this offseason
Seattle stuck to their staff, and did nothing to improve their offence so they flatlined at best.

In the East, Boston took a huge jump. But other than that???
Yanks flatlined but did a decent effort to reboot from Soto -- but there offence could be in for a big fall as they are relying on Bellinger + Goldschmidt who took big declines last year.

Orioles are wasting what should have been a window for not only being good but being historically good. New owners let their team get no better because of their cheapness. Baltimore is still going to be good, but if you asked me in 2023 when they got new owners who would "spend" if they are a 100-105 win team in 2025, I would have said very likely. They seem to be more in that 89-94 win range right now.

Tampa is always hard to read.

As for the Jays, the bullpen should be way better than last year. Everything that could have gone wrong with their pen did last year.

Back to Bo (or even Average Bo) + Gimenez + Santander
is way better
than Bad Bo + Horwitz

Personally I have the Jays as an 81 to 84 win team, that could get to the 88 win range with some close game luck. Its also that scary territory that the Jays as a semi-contender, hold on for the playoffs, miss and get nothing for prospective free agents.

I hope the season goes well beyond expectations, or poorly. Would rather be 51-58 at the deadline instead of 57-52. Going 84-78 and 85-77, and holding on to our upcoming free agents would be a disaster.

[bluerap23]

I think this team is better than people think. Are they the deepest, no. But the only places it sucks is behind the plate and in the bullpen. If they can stay in it long enough go be buyers at the deadline, they can improve both for the stretch run. Their infield defense should be off the charts, and the OF should be solid too as long as Springer and Santander aren’t both out there.

They should have better balance, more speed and more power than last year on offense, and have made the leagues best defense even better with Gimenez and Straw.

Not a big fan of having 0 lefties in the rotation, especially without several in the bullpen….but at least Gaus and Francis arent fastball+slider types.

Biggest issue continues to be the weak lineup. Not enough offence. At this point I'm really just hoping Orelvis is given a chance for a couple months to see if he can hit for power in the bigs.

[JaysRule15]

Locking this thread as we've reached the 100 page mark and there's a Spring Training thread. Please use that for discussions.