General Blue Jays Thread

[Duffman100]

We were 12th in ops so average to slightly above average. Below average on defense and pitching. Five years into a rebuild with a gm who has never won a World Series and made the playoffs with his own team twice in 20 years.

What Shatkins is good at is selling snake oil. The promise of something better in the future yet offering a giant stinker in the present. He was able to dupe cleveland for years on this.

Any gm would do a better job.

Stating that we're "five years into a rebuild" is absurd on its face. The first year of that 'rebuild' involved a trip to the ALCS.

Know who did spend five years rebuilding with the Jays without a playoff appearance? Alex Anthopolous!

Come on pal - you know you're not being intellectually honest. You know Shapiro didn't build the 2016 team and was already effing it over slowly in that year. You also know that despite a slew of flexibility, he has given 65 mn to Randall and Tanner

You also know that Alex took over from possibly the most hated GM in Toronto Baseball history right? And a guy who never was GM ever again in JP Ricciardi.

We are potentially starting year six of the Shapiro experiment. Please god lets end this nonsense!

We went from having a pretty bare cupboard in terms of a farm system to now having one of the most highly touted system of young players?

What were your expectations?

[Michael Bradley]

The A's most definitely do not have MLB-quality clubhouses. They've had a literal river of **** running through them on multiple occasions. Dangerously high levels of e. coli were found in the clubhouses on another occasion. It's overrun with rodents. The field itself was often a chewed-up mess thanks to Raiders games.

But if they were good and waved money at free agents, people would sign there. Especially if it was only a temporary nuisance.

MLB quality meaning it’s not a minor league facility. If you asked the MLBPA whether they’d want to play in Oakland’s stadium (warts and all) or a AAA stadium, it would unanimous in one direction. That’s going to be relevant to significant big league free agents who have options on where to play and likely prefer both a stable home field/city and MLB-sized clubhouses, fields, facilities, etc. The A’s barely sign free agents, at least those of any consequence, so it’s hard to use them as a comparison point. Maybe their stadium being **** is a deterrent.

If the Jays are trying to get Trevor Bauer, then not knowing what field or country the team is going to play in is going to be a consideration for him. It won’t necessarily prevent the Jays from signing him but it will be an obstacle they’ll have to overcome. This isn’t a Canada/US thing. There are even more layers added into it.

[polo007]

Watch on YouTube

According to Toronto Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins:

• "We need to be thinking about how we can improve [the outfield] and taking it to another level."

• They haven't closed the door on Vladimir Guerrero Jr. playing third next year.

• "The ideal is that we're adding another versatile defender/athlete or two that can impact the game in more than one way."

• "We'll look to add to [the rotation], hopefully it's in the middle part of the rotation and higher and we're hoping for it to be someone of significant impact and not just stabilizing but that's not easy to do so we'll have to be creative and open-minded and we'll be in on obviously every pitcher that could be contributing at the top of a rotation."

[TR50]

Any chance we make a run at a guy like Springer?

[anj]

• They haven't closed the door on Vladimir Guerrero Jr. playing third next year.

He could barely play first this year.

[bluerap23]

• They haven't closed the door on Vladimir Guerrero Jr. playing third next year.

He could barely play first this year.

He’s saying all the right things. Vlad needs to be motivated. If they can add a top starter and two players that will improve the defence while not subtracting from the offence I will be pretty happy.

[Brinbe]

Reading Keith Law's top 30 FAs (yes, I know not everyone loves him as an analyst lol) in The Athletic got me really thinking about our off-season. What do people think?

Right off the bat, Paxton screams out as a good buy-lowish (compared to what he'd make with a good season) possible 2/3 guy to pair with Pearson/Ryu right? And big maple plays right into what Rogers likes to do with the team, which is extend the interest of the brand across the entire nation. Pax would certainly do that.

Other than that, I think bringing back Walker as a secondary rotation signing wouldn't hurt, though I know his peripherals weren't amazing and we already have a Stripling signed. But I think he liked it here and the fans took to him in his short time here. I hope they look into it if the price is right (which it should since a lot of teams will cry poor depressing the rest of the market a bit)

I know the last thing we need is another middle infielder but does adding a Simmons make sense on a prove-me one year to shore up defense at short? I know he's mostly all glove but what a glove, right? We really need to improve our D and a stable vet like him in the middle would help an inconsistent young squad, right?

I don't think we make run at the top of the market with a Springer signing but there's not many great options in center, which is where we need the most help. Everyone else are mostly corner guys and Teo/Lourdes are the guys as of now. Is there an upgrade on Randy out there? Remains to be seen. Maybe they're content using Grich as a stopgap till Austin gets his shot at it (assuming he even sticks there).

Anyway, I'm probably missing a ton. I'm just jotting this down on my lunch break.

We have a real opportunity to add to and strengthen our young core (especially now in their pre-arb years) I hope we don't waste it. There's lots of room to add short-term (Rogers as a telecom wasn't exactly hurt too badly in the COVID economy) and I'm expecting big things from Shatkins this coming winter. They bought themselves some good capital after the surprise playoff run. Keep on it.

[polo007]

As Blue Jays begin off-season, Walker intrigued by potential reunion - Sportsnet.ca

TORONTO – Long before he actually pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays, Taijuan Walker learned first-hand just how far the team’s fanbase reaches.

In 2016, when the Blue Jays were coming off their first playoff appearance in decades, Walker was in the midst of his second full season with the Seattle Mariners. Late that year, when Toronto visited Seattle, so many Jays fans flocked to Safeco Field that it became a de facto home game for the visitors.

“It was all Blue Jays fans,” Walker recalled in a recent interview. “I remember getting booed for picking off in my home stadium. It was so loud. I’m like, ‘OK, these fans are getting on me like that in my home park?’”

Four years later, that’s still the most vivid memory Walker has of Blue Jays fans. Even though he spent the second half of the 2020 season with the Jays, they played their home games in Buffalo this year and no fans were able to attend. Still, he describes his virtual interactions with Blue Jays fans as “amazing” and says he enjoyed his brief time with the team.

With all of that in mind, Walker will be in high demand once the quiet period ends following the World Series. The Blue Jays could use him, and so could a long list of other teams. As such, there’s certainly no guarantee of a reunion, but after an enjoyable finish to the season, Walker is intrigued by the possibility.

“Look, the team is really good,” he said from his off-season home in Arizona. “They’re going to be good for a long time, man. Right away I connected with everyone. I had a good time and, obviously, I had success there. Being in Buffalo, they did such a great job of making us comfortable in Buffalo and I heard that Toronto was 20 times better than that. So myself being in Buffalo, I can’t imagine what Toronto’s like."

“They have really good staff, coaches, training staff,” he continued. “For me, it’s all about comfort and people. Being connected and having that family, and that’s what it felt like.”

[polo007]

What are the Blue Jays' main off-season priorities? - Sportsnet.ca

Alex Seixeiro is joined by MLB Insiders Ben Nicholson-Smith and Arden Zwelling to discuss what the Blue Jays can do this offseason to continue to improve their roster and make another run at the postseason.

[dagger]

Read on Twitter

[polo007]

Blue Jays should be checking in with top free agents - Sportsnet.ca

6:13 | October 29, 2020

Ken Reid is joined by Ben Nicholson-Smith and Shi Davidi to discuss the outlook of the MLB’s upcoming free agency and how active the Toronto Blue Jays should be.

[Metallikid]

The thing that AA didn't do properly when he was GM was adding payroll year over year. If you want to compete in the MLB you have to keep adding a free agent or two every offseason to build up talent. We have to retain Taijuan Walker and Matt Shoemaker just to stay even, but this would really be the year to strike in the free agent market given that next season may not be 162 games again and you can save some money that way. If I were Shatkins I would pay Trevor Bauer and DJ LeMahieu. We desperately need a veteran bat who we can rely on, it directly hurts our competitors, and we need another top line pitcher as well. You want to be winning the World Series before you're paying Bichette, Vlad, Biggio, Hernandez big money. Now's the time.

[polo007]

Few teams will strike in weakened MLB free agency - New York Post

Free agents can begin signing with new teams at 5 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday. In the agent community there is hope that Steve Cohen’s new money will make the Mets big players, and that a few other clubs — such as the Blue Jays, Padres, Giants, Dodgers, White Sox and Twins — are showing at least an inclination to seize opportunity and strike, though most clubs intend to slash payroll.

But the general anticipation is this will not be a fast-moving market.

That already was trending the past few years, as analytics-driven organizations have become more comfortable flooding the market and, particularly for non-stars, seeing if the supply of talent drives down prices, especially as the clock ticks toward spring training.

But this is something greater.

Commissioner Rob Manfred has said the 30 teams collectively lost about $3 billion during the pandemic-stricken 2020 season. There is no clear view yet how much COVID-19 will impact the 2021 campaign. Among other questions: Will fans be allowed back? At what numbers? Already clubs can see season-ticket and corporate-sponsorship dollars are down for next season. Also, most teams are going through layoffs or furloughs of employees, potentially making it harder to justify a splurge on players.

The playoffs will revert from 16 team to 10 teams but, again, all is on the table. Would a plan for 14 playoff teams in 2021 motivate more clubs to invest dollars to try to get into the postseason? A few agents, for example, noted that the Blue Jays — owned by a telecommunications giant that was not devastated in the pandemic — have begun free agency aggressively, reaching out to at least express interest in players. Since they are in the AL East with the Rays and Yankees, might Toronto push in more chips if the playoffs housed 14 teams?

“I do think a few teams are going to see this as an opportunity to act boldly while other clubs are sitting out,” another veteran agent said. “But is that boldly because they are offering 80 cents on the dollar when everyone else is offering 50? Or boldly to offer a fair price?”

[polo007]

The Blue Jays’ money might go a long way in this year’s free-agent market, and there are plenty of decent pitching options | The Star

Major League Baseball free agency is open for business and the Blue Jays are in a unique position to take advantage of a depressed market. If the resources are there, this is the off-season to augment a roster that could be on the cusp of something special.

Toronto has glaring needs in the starting rotation, where the club possesses depth but lacks the high-end talent to complement Hyun-Jin Ryu and Nate Pearson. There are similar question marks in the bullpen and the Jays will have to add at least one infielder and possibly an outfielder.

Money should be less of a concern for Toronto than it is for a lot of teams across the league. The Jays aren’t likely to go on a shopping spree that rivals the New York Mets, who just inherited billionaire owner Steve Cohen, but with proper support from Rogers Communications the club should be just a tick or two below.

Toronto currently has just five players with guaranteed contracts for next season: Ryu, at $20 million (U.S.), Randal Grichuk ($10.3 million), Tanner Roark ($12 million), Lourdes Gurriel Jr. ($3.9 million) and Shun Yamaguchi ($3.2 million). Arbitration cases remain low with infielder Travis Shaw likely to be non-tendered, which leaves first-year eligible Teoscar Hernandez as the club’s most expensive option. The remainder, including almost the entire young core, are on cheap pre-arbitration deals.

A rough estimate of the projections, including buyouts for Chase Anderson ($500,000) and the retired Troy Tulowitzki ($4 million), pegs the Jays’ payroll for 2021 around $70-million to $75 million, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts. That’s well below the $112 million allocated for 2020 prior to the pandemic and a far cry from 2018 when Toronto ranked eighth with a payroll in excess of $160 million.

Last off-season, Toronto added approximately $50 million in salaries for 2020 through free agency and trades. The aggressive approach taken by GM Ross Atkins led to the arrival of Ryu, Roark, Shaw, Yamaguchi, Anderson Joe Panik, Anthony Bass, and Rafael Dolis. If the Jays’ payroll isn’t cut next year, Toronto should have $40 million-plus to spend, a number that goes even higher if Rogers commits to additional resources.

[Brinbe]

Yep. Just as I said, weak market and the Jays have money. They could really help themselves here with the right signings. Maybe even go top-shelf which they usually don't venture towards. They're usually more into the top of the 2nd-tier.

But they gotta strike now before the all the young guys start getting real paydays and there's really not that many holes to fill. We still got quite a lot of prospects (especially pitching) arriving very soon.

[polo007]

Read on Twitter

[GoRapstheoriginal]

Ryu is finalist for AL Cy Young & Charlie is finalist for AL Manager of the Year.

[polo007]

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

[ratul]

Lol, shapiro pushing his mlb friends to include his terrible team on ‘finalist’ lists. Manager of the year for a basically 500 team that wouldn’t have made the playoffs in a normal year? Sure, why not.

[Fairview4Life]

Lol, shapiro pushing his mlb friends to include his terrible team on ‘finalist’ lists. Manager of the year for a basically 500 team that wouldn’t have made the playoffs in a normal year? Sure, why not.

They have made the playoffs in 40% of Shapiro’s seasons with the Blue Jays.