Your 3 moves to get this team into the playoffs next year

[Double Helix]

If AA had to follow 3 of your suggestions heading into next season with the goal of the team competing in the post season, what 3 moves would you suggest under the following criteria:

- The team's salary can't exceed 140 million dollars and likely wouldn't top 130 unless the player was an absolute stud
- Try to keep your trades involving players on the block (if known) and reasonable given your trading partner's goals for the future.
- Try to keep your 2014 free agent signing ideas within the market value of similar players paid last year.

Here's a list of 2014 free agents:
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/eye-o ... s-for-2014

What 3 moves would you suggest to turn things around for next year?

[galacticos2]

Trade Lawrie
Trade Arencibia
Fire Gibbons.

Playoff team instantly.

[s e n s i]

Trade Lawrie
Trade Arencibia
Fire Gibbons.

Playoff team instantly.

yes that'll shore up our pitching for sure. and don't forget to amnesty bautista too

[tecumseh18]

Tank.

Oops, sorry I have a macro that automatically replies to all of DH's threads with the same post. But I see this is the Jays' board. OK, let me think about this for a minute ...





Aha! The answer is: Tank.

This division is too strong right now. Rays, Sox and O's have too much young talent. Then the Yankees are always going to be there. Let's just fold up our tents, trade everyone over 28 (JB and EE included) for prospects, pay a ton of Buerhle's salary to unload him on the Dodgers or whatever, and target 2017 or so.

[galacticos2]

Trade Lawrie
Trade Arencibia
Fire Gibbons.

Playoff team instantly.

yes that'll shore up our pitching for sure. and don't forget to amnesty bautista too

if gibbons keeps putting him in the 2hole, then sure we can amnesty him.

[Schad]

Yeah, Bautista's OPS of around .850 hitting second is definitely what ails us.

You also don't seem to understand what the amnesty does in basketball...you still pay them, ffs.

[galacticos2]

Yeah, Bautista's OPS of around .850 hitting second is definitely what ails us.

You also don't seem to understand what the amnesty does in basketball...you still pay them, ffs.

sarcasm? ffs

[s e n s i]

Aha! The answer is: Tank.

This division is too strong right now. Rays, Sox and O's have too much young talent. Then the Yankees are always going to be there. Let's just fold up our tents, trade everyone over 28 (JB and EE included) for prospects, pay a ton of Buerhle's salary to unload him on the Dodgers or whatever, and target 2017 or so.

your plan to make the playoffs NEXT season is...to tank? can't say i've heard that one before, but then again, i support the same team that's trying to convert brett lawrie into a second basemen so who knows what attempting to tank might do to improve our win output.

anyhow. the move that gets this team into the playoffs is one that none of us could possibly conjure up. realistically, it would be a trade involving more severe depletion of our farm system for another decent starter. 2B needs to be upgraded clearly, maybe texas would be a good trade partner for that, seeing as one of kinsler, andrus, and profar should be available, with reyes moving over if one of the latter two were somehow acquired. maybe give mike rizzo a ring and see what it would cost to get rendon and one of their pitchers -- an arm and a leg, literally, most certainly.

our free agency expenditures will involve picking up some has-been pitcher. standing pat and praying for improvement from our current starters seems like the most probable move, sadly.

[Mehar]

1) Sign Robinson Cano to a 10 year 200 M deal. The Yankees do not want to give him more than 7 years right now the last i heard a couple of days back, and Cano wants 10. I would give it to him to shore up Second Base.
2) Trade Beuhrle and his 39 M owed the next two years- it frees up salary to target Cano. The return does not matter to me- it would be a strict salary dump. Romero would take his spot in the rotation for better or worse.
3) Trade JPA and sign Carlos Ruiz as Catcher.

These 3 moves would go a long way to make this team compete for the Playoffs in 2014.

[galacticos2]

if you seriously think cano would even CONSIDER coming to Toronto, you need a reality check. you think jayz would let him go to Toronto?

also you need to realize nobody is gonna take burhle unless the jays eat some of his contract. this is basketball or hockey, there is no salary cap. so trading for salaries is a bit different.

[gp2015]

Send Dickey's ass back to NY for D'Arnaud. We'll even let them keep Syndergaard.

Don't think the Mets will even go for that unfortunately.

[galacticos2]

the only team that can save us from burlhe and dickey from eating our pockets are the dodgers and angels.

[Lateral Quicks]

1. Trim the starting rotation fat. You can't go into next year spending $47M+ on 4th-5th starter types (Buerhle, Johnson, Happ, Romero). He can probably free up $10M+ by trading Buerhle, and non-tendering Johnson would yield another $10M or so.
2. Don't be afraid of children. It's a fallacy that only veteran-laden teams are successful. Infuse the team with some promising youth. In - Pillar, Out - Davis. In - Hutch, Out - Buerhle.
2. Fix catcher. For me it's the most glaring position player hole on the team. As a bonus, you avoid having two rally-killing K-machines in Rasmus and Arencibia stacked in the bottom of the lineup.

[dagger]

I can't even think of three moves to keep this ship from sinking. Frankly, I think four questions have to be asked

1. Can we win with this core of Bautista/Reyes/Encarnacion or should we throw in the towel and rebuild, trading stars for high level prospects while our stars have value?

2. Has home run hitting been over-emphasized to the point where the team, like a heroin addict, cant live without it and can't get enough of it.

3. Why is a large, likely talented front office failing on all fronts, whether it's major league talent analysis, drafting of signable young talents or minor league player development?

4. How do the Jays create a winning culture, where winning is expected of the players, not assumed by the players to be their due?

Let me explain the last one. There was no sense of urgency in spring training. The organization let eight guys play in the WBC, and that was disruptive. Since the start of the season, AA has shown a great deal of reluctance to rock the boat. The only DFAs have been awful fill-in pitchers and a 41 year old catcher. The players are running the asylum. Some of them, ahem JPA, insist their approach is right in the face of massive evidence to the contrary. And Bautista is not above criticism as Zaun rightly dished it out today. "I'm doing my thing" is the mantra on this team, and it's a loser's mentality. There are no repercussions for failure.

I think AA runs a nice draft, except, of course, when he botches the signing of our first rounder. But otherwise, we have a junior general manager and a second rate field manager. AA has not given the organization a philosophy or gravitas that you would get from a senior, esteemed GM like Gillick did. I'm not saying fire AA, but I would like a president who can give this organization something called stature, and in a division where all the field managers are better than Gibbons, I'd like to see us find a manager who can compete with the Girardis and Maddons and Showalters as both an in game strategist and a motivator.

[galacticos2]

Lawrie's move to 3rd today really shows that AA has no idea what he's doing. He stated the same with Romero earlier. Honestly, JP/AA ruined Snider confidence and traded him for garbage. Development is a huge problem.

[Randle McMurphy]

I'm not saying fire AA, but I would like a president who can give this organization something called stature, and in a division where all the field managers are better than Gibbons, I'd like to see us find a manager who can compete with the Girardis and Maddons and Showalters as both an in game strategist and a motivator.

Beeston is the team's president. Did he suddenly lose his stature in the last 20 years or did he never have it even when they were winning titles?

Also, it's both funny and convenient that you didn't include the manager of the best team in the division in that little irrational rant about Gibbons. Or does Farrell just have less than to do with his team's success than the other three?

[s e n s i]

Let me explain the last one. There was no sense of urgency in spring training. The organization let eight guys play in the WBC, and that was disruptive.

8 guys?! more like 5 (sierra doesn't count since he hasn't played a single game at the MLB level this season). three have performed just as expected (reyes, encarnacion, arencibia), one sufferred an injury that could've happened at spring training (lawrie), and unless you think an extra two weeks of "team bonding" and bullpen sessions would have prevented dickey from posting a 4.7 ERA, 4.91 FIP this season, then the WBC is just a convenient excuse to support an anti-AA, anti-gibbons agenda.

[Randle McMurphy]

I'm surprised Dickey hasn't thought up the WBC excuse yet himself (or maybe he has?).

[dagger]

I'm not saying fire AA, but I would like a president who can give this organization something called stature, and in a division where all the field managers are better than Gibbons, I'd like to see us find a manager who can compete with the Girardis and Maddons and Showalters as both an in game strategist and a motivator.

Beeston is the team's president. Did he suddenly lose his stature in the last 20 years or did he never have it even when they were winning titles?

Also, it's both funny and convenient that you didn't include the manager of the best team in the division in that little irrational rant about Gibbons. Or does Farrell just have less than to do with his team's success than the other three?

Farrell went back to an organization where he had a pre-existing relationship with key players that he has been able to leverage. And his over the top enthusiasm for his "dream job" certainly was contagious, especially at the beginning.

If the full-time excuse makers think all of the under-performers on this roster are going to revert to "form", which may not be possible with many of them because of age, injuries, then you fit Einstein's definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

[FrankGrimes]

This team is built with a window to win now. After the 2015 season the payroll drop down to the 20-30 million range and that is mostly because Jose Reyes will take in 22 million which he deserves as far as I'm concerned. On to the 3 moves...

1. Sign Robinson Cano. He'll command upwards of 30 million a year. It's not my money. Rogers is a profitable beast of a corporation. Cano will give the Blue Jays the most potent 1-5 since WAMCO and best of all, IT WILL PISS OFF THE YANKEES SOMETHING FIERCE. Have Bats, Reyes, Encarnacion fly down to Cano's place in the winter and they can use their Dominican roots to convince Robinson to join them in a quest to win a World Series for the DR. The Jays are saving money will all the shrewd contracts AA has drummed up. Now it's time to use that extra cash!

There is no reason why payroll can't go up for an ELITE player like Cano. Forbes has the Blue Jays pulling in money hand over fist. Increased gate receipts and greater national tv coverage cannot be ignored. The Jays have 2 years to win. Make it happen Beeston and watch the ol' Dome fill up.

2. Sign Carlos Ruiz. Here's an overpay but the Blue Jays desperately need a solid presence behind the plate. Ruiz calls a good game and his defense is still top notch. JPA can suck it and be a backup or the Jays can trade him as there will always be a market for a power hitting catcher even if he can't do anything else well except for tweeting and boozing it up at RealSports. I'll take Buck over JPA in 2014 as well. Hell, I'll take Kawasaki if he'll use the offseason to learn catching.

3. Re-sign Johnson. Here's the key third move imo. Colon has likely priced himself out of a lot of teams plans with a stellar year. If the Jays are going for broke, get the fatman to shore up the rotation for 2 years. I imagine the Jays will be happy with one solid year before Colon eats that fateful 6 double cheeseburger meal when he will actually blow up. Ervin Santana and Matt Garza are lookers but again will command long term deals which I don't think the Jays want to have moving past 2015 with an army of young arms ready by then. So why Johnson? He could be signed at a discount for the security that the Jays could offer him plus there is good in him. I can feel it.

Reyes
Cano
Bautista
Encarnacion
Lind
Melky
Rasmus
Ruiz
Lawrie

Dickey
Johnson
Morrow
Buerhle
Happ/Romero/Drabek/Hutch/blah blah blah

Work with what you have AA. The pitching will be a question mark next year and beyond. You can't overhaul the rotation so just shore it up. The depth Drabek and Hutch will bring will help next year. Stroman and Nolin are close to at least eating up innings as well. If the Jays believe in their young arms, then after 2015 they should see kids like Sanchez and Osuna getting their shots.

So...load up the lineup. I mean simply STACK it. Make the lineup play on strength. It's longball or nothing with this team. Add a career slash line like Robinson to the lineup and you just went from Bruce Banner to the Freaking Hulk. Cano is the key to winning and it's not rocket science to see that.

The Blue Jays f'd up bad not going out and getting big names before. Too expensive? Maybe. Not the right time? Questionable. The truth is, the Blue Jays would have looked downright terrifying if they went stupid and got Fielder, Darvish, Cespedes, and/or Chapman. They were in the mix for Chapman and Darvish (well, not really). For whatever reason, the Jays have a free agent phobia. That needs to end with the biggest signing since Roger Clemens came to the Jays.

Nothing less will be acceptable to me personally. I'll never stop following the Jays but anything less than the 3 moves I have outlined will simply mean I'm going to golf more and git drunk on patios in 2014.