Offseason Signings/Rumours Thread

[polo007]

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[BigLeagueChew]

Well with the players on this team and Gibby , he wont be able to mess around very long they will tell him if hes doing something they don't like, that being said all fringe starters signed this time of year have their problems. Hopefully his knee holds up if he pitches well enough to stay on the team.

Chris Cotillo (SB Nation) is saying that he has 2 opt outs in the contract. One at the end of ST and the other in season.

[polo007]

Well with the players on this team and Gibby , he wont be able to mess around very long they will tell him if hes doing something they don't like, that being said all fringe starters signed this time of year have their problems. Hopefully his knee holds up if he pitches well enough to stay on the team.

Chris Cotillo (SB Nation) is saying that he has 2 opt outs in the contract. One at the end of ST and the other in season.

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[vaff87]

I don't like Latos. The guy even looks like a giant douche.

[JaysRule15]

Latos is no longer a good enough pitcher for his douchey attitude to be tolerated in the locker room, especially by guys like JD, Tulo and Bautista. My guess is that he'll either be really humble, or he'll be cut really quickly.

Let's see if his knee has grown strong enough for his velocity to be higher than the 90mph it was at last year.

[wamco]

He'll be assigned to aaa then opt out at some point

[bluerap23]

Looks like insurance for ST injury.

[Skin Blues]

Top 10 Worst Transactions of the 2017 Offseason, by Dave Cameron at Fangraphs

Presented without comment:

#2: Blue Jays Jump a Non-Existent Line
Acquire: Kendrys Morales
Cost: Three years, $33 million

When Edwin Encarnacion wouldn’t take their money, the Blue Jays quickly pivoted to Plan B, not wanting to get outbid by whatever other team was super excited to give a three-year deal to a below-average (and aging) designated hitter. But while I don’t think we can judge the Blue Jays’ signing solely by the fact that the market for bat-only players immediately crashed after that move, I do think it’s fair to wonder why they were so anxious to lock up a mediocre player.

Sure, they wanted a left-handed bat to balance out the lineup, but it’s not like Morales was the only left-handed hitter out there. Or even the best left-handed hitter out there. If the Jays released him tomorrow, he still wouldn’t be the best left-handed DH available in free agency, since Pedro Alvarez remains unsigned even after spring training has begun.

Given what the market did to similar hitters this winter, Morales probably should have ended up with a one-year deal. He’s Brandon Moss without defensive value and less speed, and Moss got 2/$12M only by taking a back-loaded contract. Why the Jays felt the need to give Morales an early-market three-year deal with a host of alternatives sitting out there remains a bit unknown to me, and given what transpired after that decision, I would imagine they’d already take a mulligan if offered one.

The good news is that losing Encarnacion allowed them to retain Jose Bautista, so it worked out in the end, but had they played their cards a little better, perhaps they could have had Bautista and someone actually worthy of a three-year deal.

[JaysRule15]

We definitely overpaid for Morales, no denying that. That third year especially could look really ugly. But, hindsight is 20/20. No one predicted that the market for sluggers would crash so badly this winter. I think 99% of analysts predicted going into the off-season that EE was getting a $100+ million deal from someone. No one was shocked when EE didn't immediately accept our $80 million offer since they expected him to get bigger offers. That's probably why Shatkins offered EE $80 million in the first place. They thought that $80 million was below market value and that it would be a bargain if EE agreed to it. When he didn't agree, they payed what they thought was market value for Morales.

[bluerap23]

Surprised the link between Morales and Lourdes isn't talked about more. Same agent, one deal sealed the other. I will judge the Morales deal on how Lourdes turns out.

[phillipmike]

Seems a little premature and irresponsible for Dave Cameron to rate the Morales signing as the 2nd worst move of the off-season when Cameron himself and pretty much everyone predicted that Morales would get 9M-11M per year and likely 2 years. Morales got 11M per on a 3 year deal... not far fetched at all.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/2017-top-50-free-agents/

Morales is 29th on the list.

Morales isnt a steal on his current deal at all. He got market value plus another year - the 3rd year seems like overkill but we have 3 years to see how that works out.

Rest assure Jays fans Cameron isnt always right... Just look at his 2016 and 2015 lists. Less than a year later some of his predictions didnt come true.

2016 Best:
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-best-transactions-of-the-2016-off-season/
Was wrong on the Heyward and Gordon deals and the Brewers dealing Segura.

2016 Worst:
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-worst-transactions-of-the-2016-offseason/
Was wrong on Segura again. Although the Kennedy wasnt good he was wrong as Kennedy produced 1.7 WAR while making 14.5M on average.

2015 is even worse;

2015 Best:
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-best-transactions-of-the-2015-off-season/
Was wrong on McCarthy, Headley, and Justin Upton. Add Rollins and Lowrie from his HMs too.

2015 Worst:
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-worst-transactions-of-the-2015-off-season/
Was wrong on Ervin Santana, Volquez, Dee Gordon and Nelson Cruz.

These lists are fun to look at but nothing to read too much into.

[phillipmike]

6. Kendrys Morales will set a career high in home runs.
Poor Morales. Not only did he suffer a major injury in the middle of his career doing something that every player successfully does without injuring themselves, but he’s never called a hitter’s park home. At least when it comes to home runs, his home parks have averaged 5% worse than league average. He’s going to one that will average 6% more than league average in that regard. Oh, and with $33 million over the next three years. Not so poor Morales.

There’s also the fact that he wasn’t that bad last year. He hit .263/.327/.468 with 30 home runs in today’s juiced-ball era, and his launch angle and exit velocity suggest he could have hit .285/.343/.532 instead. Even at 33, he’s probably still good enough to get up there and try to wallop the ball four times a game. He only has to hit five more homers this year than last year to make this prediction true, too.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/ten-bold-predictions-for-the-coming-season/

[TR50]

http://www.tsn.ca/report-jays-interested-unlikely-to-sign-pagan-1.688162

Don't know if this is post-worthy, but I would totally try for Pagan, and dump Smoak wherever possible. Let Pearce play 1st with Elsmore or someone off the bench. Pagan could also hit lead off, right? Or has his time passed...

[JaysRule15]

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[polo007]

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[Schad]

Mostly, a team wouldn't be interested in Lawrie because this iteration of him isn't very good. The good 3B defense/near-average hitting was a workable combination; the high-strikeout, middling power and below-average 2B/3B defense version is not.

[Mehar]

I hope the Jays pass on Lawrie. That Donaldson for Lawrie plus prospects deal- has to rank in the top ten as one of the best deals in MLB history.

[Lew Alcindor]

So when Travis inevitably misses 70 games this season Lawrie would play 2B? But when Lawrie misses 55 of those 70 games I guess we're back to Goins?

[The_Hater]

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This is a little unfair as he's still an excellent defensive 3rd baseman and still young enough to find another level with that bat. But he's also not the right fit on the Jays roster. My guess is he needs to remake himself into a utility man to extend his career long enough to get a bunch more chances to prove himself.