No excuse for Rogers not to give Jays a $100m Payroll

[Skin Blues]

He was a good player 3 years ago. Unfortunately that doesn't mean anything for 2012. He's been absolutely terrible for 2 seasons. Maybe if we trade him to the Diamondbacks he'll figure things out. I don't want him as a 1B or DH this season, there are much cheaper and better (and internal, ie: E5) options.

[StringerBell]

Never said it was about his homers and rbi totals (guess I should of been more specific). But at the sametime he's still a young player with upside and has shown he can be a very good player.

He ain't no spring chicken anymore. He is what he is at this point in his career...Also FWIW he's older than both E5 AND Prince.

[J-Roc]

As long as fans cheer the team for shrewd moves and retaining longterm flexibility, there's no need for Rogers to actually try to win. And there's no need for CBA changes since most teams in baseball aren't affected by the AL East.

[Lateral Quicks]

I get the impression that the money is there if AA can make a good argument on a value basis. Bautista, for example, was a good value proposition at the time of the contract, and looks even better now. The problem with free agency, as AA has noted many times, is the value is rarely there. The majority of free agents are overpaid.

I believe AA will spend on short-term deals in free agency to put the team over the top, when the time comes. But don't look for any long-term, low value free agent signings. And really, I'm OK with this. Even if you have the money now, the fact is that with a young team your payroll can expand quickly if you intend to keep your young star players long term. I don't want to throw money around recklessly right now that likely will come back to haunt us down the road.

[CapeCrusader]

I'll just leave it like this. Adam Lind....

Amazing player? No.....Great player? No ....Good player? Maybe (still has time to prove otherwise)...I'd say he falls in between decent and good.

Last year to me he showed flashes of his 09 season. Was he as good as his 09 season...HELL NO!. But realistically, the guy isn't even making 5 mill a year (he's worth that contract). I could see him improving from what he did last year. I'll just leave it at that.

[CapeCrusader]

He was a good player 3 years ago. Unfortunately that doesn't mean anything for 2012. He's been absolutely terrible for 2 seasons. Maybe if we trade him to the Diamondbacks he'll figure things out. I don't want him as a 1B or DH this season, there are much cheaper and better (and internal, ie: E5) options.

Better and cheaper? they are pretty much making the same money dude. As for talent, Encarnacion had a great end to the season, but where was he before that?

[PimpHandStrong]

Amazing player? No.....Great player? No ....Good player? Maybe (still has time to prove otherwise)...I'd say he falls in between decent and good.

He was 22nd out of 24 qualified first basemen in wOBA per fangraphs this past season. He wasn't decent, he was just plain bad.

[Skin Blues]

He was a good player 3 years ago. Unfortunately that doesn't mean anything for 2012. He's been absolutely terrible for 2 seasons. Maybe if we trade him to the Diamondbacks he'll figure things out. I don't want him as a 1B or DH this season, there are much cheaper and better (and internal, ie: E5) options.

Better and cheaper? they are pretty much making the same money dude. As for talent, Encarnacion had a great end to the season, but where was he before that?

Encarnacion had a great end to the season, and a good season overall. .344 wOBA and .787 OPS.

And Lind makes $12M over the next 2 seasons. Edwin makes $3.5M in 2011 and then he's a FA again. Anyway... regardless of how much he makes, Lind should not be in an MLB starting lineup. So what if he showed flashes of his 2009 season? Every single MLB player shows "flashes of brilliance" for short spurts. Unfortunately Lind had way too many flashes of 2010 last season, as well. He has a .311 wOBA and .723 OPS since his good 2009 season. That's a pretty big sample size. Even for a good centerfielder or SS that's not good, yet he's a poor fielding 1B/DH. Maybe a team will take a shot at him repeating his 2009 season... Aaron Hill seemed to respond well to a new environment. We can use that as a selling point for Lind. "He might not suck so bad if you trade for him!"

[UN-Owen]

I was not expecting much out of Lind when he first entered the league

He looks more like a softball player than someone that should be on an MLB roster

[Lateral Quicks]

When Lind is on, he's lights out. I won't soon forget that stretch when he returned from his "core building" minor league odyssey to be an absolute beast. He was hitting everything hard. The fact his year-end stats were so horrible points to just how bad the rest of his season was.

I think with Lind it's a combination of lack of stamina and lack of focus. He needs to take greater personal responsibility over his performance, and his coaches/management need to hold his feet to the fire. AA is loathe to sell low on anyone, so Lind probably gets another shot at a full-time gig this year. I think you'll see him splitting time with Encarnacion at 1B and DH. All assuming, of course, the Jays don't get Votto

[flatjacket1]

He was a good player 3 years ago. Unfortunately that doesn't mean anything for 2012. He's been absolutely terrible for 2 seasons. Maybe if we trade him to the Diamondbacks he'll figure things out. I don't want him as a 1B or DH this season, there are much cheaper and better (and internal, ie: E5) options.

Better and cheaper? they are pretty much making the same money dude. As for talent, Encarnacion had a great end to the season, but where was he before that?

Actually Edwin makes half as much and has 0.3 higher WAR. And Edwin can play 3 positions.

[baulderdash77]

Yes Edwin can play 3 positions. Kinda like Mike McCoy was a lights out pitcher for us last year.

Edwin is about the worst defender at any position in the entire league. They had to pull him from 3B in favour of Jason Nix because he was on pace to set all time records for error rate last year!

.892 Fielding %
UZR of -7 (not to mention he has back to back -13,-12 seasons- how is that even possible)

His fielding won't cut it in A ball and if you remember actually cost us games. Romero, Morrow and Camp just about had a revolt last year when he was starting. Pitchers look terrible with Edwin behind them.

[Kurtz]

Yes Edwin can play 3 positions. Kinda like Mike McCoy was a lights out pitcher for us last year.

Edwin is about the worst defender at any position in the entire league. They had to pull him from 3B in favour of Jason Nix because he was on pace to set all time records for error rate last year!

.892 Fielding %
UZR of -7 (not to mention he has back to back -13,-12 seasons- how is that even possible)

His fielding won't cut it in A ball and if you remember actually cost us games. Romero, Morrow and Camp just about had a revolt last year when he was starting. Pitchers look terrible with Edwin behind them.

He is the worst 3b imaginable, agreed. But at 1B he actually looked pretty good, better than Lind I'd say.

[baulderdash77]

Not even close. Edwin's UZR/150 (because he's part time) at 1B is a career -13.2. Just brutal. Adam Lind's is a manageable -1.7. Basically average.

I didn't think of UZR/150 for 3B for Edwin. But last year he was an ridiculous -37 and an also crazy -12.7 for his career.

Encarnacion can't field anywhere with anything that resembles proficiency. He's a DH or out of the league.

[Modern_epic]

Edwin has played 27 games at first. UZR/150 is only useful for condensing the stat, not extrapolating, as UZR only becomes more signal than noise after around 400 games.I'm not saying he is a Lyle Overbay 1B, but it is quite, quite soon to say one way or another.

[flatjacket1]

Edwin has played 27 games at first. UZR/150 is only useful for condensing the stat, not extrapolating, as UZR only becomes more signal than noise after around 400 games.I'm not saying he is a Lyle Overbay 1B, but it is quite, quite soon to say one way or another.

This.