Rosenthal: Jays Sign Morales (3 Years, $33M) + Pursuing Pearce (p5)

[zilby]

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Could *gulp* spell the end of Edwin's Jays tenure and put Smoak at 1B full-time, assuming Kendrys stays at DH. Hoo boy.

UPDATE:

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[Wo1verine]

30 HR with a .795 OPS is underwhelming to say the least.

[zilby]

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See ya, Eddy.

[Santoki]

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See ya, Eddy.

Well maybe they sign Jose instead to play RF/1B.

[vaff87]

... why?

[Tigersrule]

Doesnt mean Edwin is gone...But this is a pretty decent signing.

[pingpongrac]

Hopefully this Morales has a better season for the Jays than the other Morales...

I like this move though. Switch hitter, decent power. If this is a substitute for Edwin, we still have ~9-14M to go towards other improvements.

[Raptors Realtor]

I don't think this impacts the signing of Encarnacion as they could both share 1B/dh duties... Left handed hitting was something we've been lacking for a while and something that was going to be a target for them this offseason, regardless.

[TR50]

I like this signing a lot actually.

[tempests_dawn]

Actually, I think this means Bautista is more likely to leave

[nabbs]

What's the outlook of this team hitting wise if we can somehow resign EE??

[Santoki]

What's the outlook of this team hitting wise if we can somehow resign EE??

We still need two OFs, so no way to know until the roster is complete. Right now our outfield is Carrera, Pillar, Pompey, Upton.

[Tigersrule]

It would be nice if they can resign Edwin, sign J Reddick

[Skin Blues]

Left handed hitting was something we've been lacking for a while and something that was going to be a target for them this offseason, regardless.

I don't get this rationale. Even with a righty-heavy lineup, we hit better overall vs RHP than vs LHP in 2016; why does it matter what side of the plate we accomplish that with?

Anyway, I think this is an overpay and would rather have seen them go after Steven Pearce who is a slightly better hitter, more versatile defensively, and probably would have been half the price for the same term. It plugs a hole at least. And hey, it's early November and we've already spent $55M. This is a good sign of things to come, I think. We woudln't be throwing around that kind of money without addressing the bullpen or the outfield without having a fair chunk of change left in the budget. Right?

[pingpongrac]

It would be nice if they can resign Edwin, sign J Reddick

That would be one heck of an offseason, though that would likely put as at an additional $50M/year (compared to where we were an hour ago) and I don't see that happening, especially considering we still need another bullpen arm or two and some starting pitching depth.

[Dan2087]

I really like this signing. Cheap compared to what Edwin will get - let's us use money to fill other holes. He's still a very dangerous power hitter - looking forward to seeing how he does in Rogers centre more frequently

[Raptors Realtor]

Left handed hitting was something we've been lacking for a while and something that was going to be a target for them this offseason, regardless.

I don't get this rationale. Even with a righty-heavy lineup, we hit better overall vs RHP than vs LHP in 2016; why does it matter what side of the plate we accomplish that with?

Anyway, I think this is an overpay and would rather have seen them go after Steven Pearce who is a slightly better hitter, more versatile defensively, and probably would have been half the price for the same term. It plugs a hole at least. And hey, it's early November and we've already spent $55M. This is a good sign of things to come, I think. We woudln't be throwing around that kind of money without addressing the bullpen or the outfield without having a fair chunk of change left in the budget. Right?

Not saying I like/dislike this signing, just saying I'm not surprised by it. Both teams in the world series had more balance in their lineups and Joe Maddon has always been a big proponent of having versatile players who can play different positions and hitters who can switch hit. Our left handed hitting prior to this signing consisted of Carrera and Smoak, that's not ideal especially if you want to play the matchups.

[MavCarter]

I actually like this.

[Skin Blues]

Both teams in the world series had more balance in their lineups and Joe Maddon has always been a big proponent of having versatile players who can play different positions and hitters who can switch hit. Our left handed hitting prior to this signing consisted of Carrera and Smoak, that's not ideal especially if you want to play the matchups.

Again, you're not looking at this in a practical sense. The reason you want balance in the lineup is so you aren't vulnerable vs one specific handed pitcher. And we were also about as balanced in terms of production vs RHP and vs LHP as you could possibly get. Instead of looking at a very rough proxy of performance vs RHP and vs LHP we can look at actual performance vs those pitchers. No reason to use a proxy.

And as far as the balance that Maddon likes to have for versatility, Morales is the antithesis of that. He's a slow plodding DH. he can't do anything in the field at all, and he can't run the bases. It adds virtually no versatility at all that he's a switch hitter. Edwin had less of a platoon split than Kendrys, and he did it from only one side of the plate.

Anyway... I just like the fact that we're spending money. Keep that cheque book open.

[Kinger95]

Really like this. I'd rather have morales and a comp pick for 11 mill and 11 more million to spend than Edwin for 22 million