Blue Jays Discussion: 2024-25 Off-season: The free agent watch begins (and sometimes old baseball radio broadcasts)

[Roo]

I think there's a path to being better then .500 if they add a couple of impact players, i.e a front line starter and a bat.

Bichette returning to form: 3-4 WAR?
Giménez: 3-4 WAR?
SP1: 3-4 WAR?
Bat: 2-3 WAR?
Bullpen can't be any worse.

I think they can get back to that 87-90 win range. But as I said before, I'm willing to go full rebuild if they can't bring in these pieces.

Basically, we're at a crossroads. The depth is starting to thin out a bit, and they either need to spend money to get themselves out of this problem or rebuild. There's no in-between.

I just don’t trust the front office to get it done. They are brutal.

 

[landy92mack29]

I get things can always be better but not sure this FO success on getting good FAs should be the main point of anger. For me it's the awful drafting+development they've had since taking over plus the only 2 stars they produced they've walked straight to ufa while all the competent GMs sign their own guys long term well before they get 5 years of service time. It's not like they sold the farm like AA did before he left, no excuse to have it be as bad as is. Sure you can't expect someone like Manoah to fall off a cliff like that(I mean kinda with his conditioning) but seems like our prospects especially the pitchers always underperform or get hurt. Imagine if we could even come close to the Rays in terms of development with the budget the Jays have

 

[kb]

I have never seen a front office office be so relieved about missing out on talent so they can run out their platitudes and excuses, all with looks of visible relief on their faces.

 

[hockeywiz542]

 

[aingefan]

Is that the first time a pick has actually been traded?

 

[ChuckNorris4Cup]

It was the Berrios one.

On Springer, it could be he had no other good option, it could be that it was political (the agent who reps Springer might rep a player the Jays wanted to sign in the offseason, so the GM didn't want to burn bridges), could be they felt Springer was not far off from breaking out, could be favoritism, could be loyalty, could be a hundred other reasons.

I've coached for multiple decades, when I coached at the higher rep levels, I've never subscribed to the just leave them in there it's better for the team in the long run, IMO you play based off performance, the hot player gets to play, the slumping player gets to sit. The game is not a place to figure your shit out, that is what practice is for. You should always practice harder than you play and you should always play hard. If a pitcher is wild, has no control, is missing spots, I dont give them the chance to work it out during the game. In Springers case, I'd have told him to go spend the next few hours under the bleachers and figure it out his swing, rinse wash repeat every day until he is ready to perform. When I coached House League, I let everyone play regardless of your skill level and used game time to teach.

Honestly I was more upset with the Gausman one than I was with the Berrios one tbh, and reason why the offense under the Berrios one was so bad it didn't matter how long he pitched the team couldn't score runs anyways, but agree still was stupid to put a short leash on him when he was doing well.

For Springer I have a hard time believing no one else was available, heck Kirk would of been a better option imo, not saying Kirk should be, but that's just how bad Springer was, anyone would of been a better option. Springer was batting like .189 at one point and still leading off, that's the last guy you want coming up to the plate the most in games.

I've played at higher levels, I went to college to play ball as well, so I'm well aware of when your struggling the last place you'll be in the lineup is anywhere near the top of the lineup, until you start showing signs of breaking out of the slump you're in. A good manager/coach will run his hot bats in the top of the lineup, because he wants to win and knows those guys come to the plate the most, and knows they give you the best chance to win games.

Edit: Regarding my college days of playing I can actually say in my life I got a hit off of a MLB player, I got a base hit off Jeff Francis when he was playing for UBC, and I was the only one in the lineup to hit off him 1st for my team.

 

[ChuckNorris4Cup]

I’ll probably get killed for this but Vlad isn’t worth $500+ mill. If the Jays had the Dodgers, Yankees, Mets payroll then I wouldn’t care what they paid him but they don’t.

If it's for a 15 year contract then yes I think that's fair, if that's for a 10 year contract then no it's not.

 

[ChuckNorris4Cup]

I kind of still have a problem with the Romano handling, like Atkins said he felt there was no health risk with Romano so why not sign him? Instead they chose not to sign him to try and save a buck or two, when they had another year of control. I still prefer a different closer, but seeing how there was actual interest in Romano, the Jays could of signed him to the $7.75M and then traded him for something, Phillies were obviously interested to give him $8.5M, more than what the Jays would of had to spend. These Shatkins clowns are a joke.

Not sure if this was posted yet but just saw this.

Jordan Romano calls out the Toronto Blue Jays front office on Vladimir Guerrero Jr negotiations

«Vladdy deserves to get paid,» Romano said. «Ever since I started with him in high-A, that guy is the best hitter I've ever played with and it's not even close. The stuff I've seen him do like in Double-A, I would never miss a pitch that was thrown to him because I thought I'd see something I'd never see again.-Romano

«He loves it there. I think he needs to get what he deserves. He's such an incredible player, such an incredible guy, too. The guy is an absolute rock star, a phenom. And he's the coolest, most down to earth, been the same way since I met him. Vladdy is the man.» -Romano

Jordan Romano calls out the Toronto Blue Jays front office on Vladimir Guerrero Jr negotiations

 

[Woodman19]

Again if Jordan Romano was from Toledo Ohio no one gives 2 shits that we let him walk

 

[Killer Orcas]

Again if Jordan Romano was from Toledo Ohio no one gives 2 shits that we let him walk

Though I agree we seem to be having a problem getting guys to pick Toronto over other options. Maybe when someone wants to be here like Romano did maybe they need to adjust their thinking for those times instead of thinking they have another option.

 

[ChuckNorris4Cup]

Again if Jordan Romano was from Toledo Ohio no one gives 2 shits that we let him walk

So letting a guy walk for free is better than trading a guy for maybe a prospect.... Great logic there.

 

[aingefan]

Again if Jordan Romano was from Toledo Ohio no one gives 2 shits that we let him walk

Well, not sure about that….overall his body of work *was* very good.
The part that doesn’t make sense to me is walking away if he’s now healthy, which the general manager admitted he was.
With the state of the bullpen, letting a healthy 2ish war closer is tricky to understand.

 

[Ale Brew]

Well, not sure about that….overall his body of work *was* very good.
The part that doesn’t make sense to me is walking away if he’s now healthy, which the general manager admitted he was.
With the state of the bullpen, letting a healthy 2ish war closer is tricky to understand.

I’m not sold that they 100% believe he’s healthy. It’s not like the GM would cave his FA value by suggesting there are medical issues.

They re-routed that money to Garcia, someone they are also pretty familiar with, so they were clearly more comfortable or confident in Jimi. Time will tell if they were right.