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

[jetsforever]

Who needs Burnes!

 

[jetsforever]

I like Bo and hope he gets to play in a “baseball town” sooner, rather than later, if that’s his preference.

I like Bo and hope he plays in Toronto actually

 

[habamillions]

Who needs Burnes!

Id rather have hagen danner

 

[Ale Brew]

Id rather have hagen danner

Yeah, Danner had the velocity, really thought he had potential to step up.

Admittedly I only heard of Walker 30 minutes ago. He’s a lefty and apparently a two way player to some extent. Lots of swing and miss in the minors, hopefully it will translate.

 

[hockeywiz542]

 

[Dr.Funk]

Who needs Burnes!

Not us.

Burnes is going to end up being the biggest free agent regret this offseason.

 

[BertCorbeau]

Not us.

Burnes is going to end up being the biggest free agent regret this offseason.

Are you suggesting he might burn some team?

 

[TheTotalPackage]

Are you suggesting he might burn some team?

Boo-urnes to your joke.

 

[hockeywiz542]

 

[BehindTheTimes]

Vlad isn't signing here management f***ed that up.
They don't seem to have a read on the market.

I don’t think so either,

 

[Discoverer]

Id rather have hagen danner

Me too. Either one is likely just optionable bullpen depth, but I don't see a whole lot that's particularly interesting about Walker to justify giving up a high velocity young guy.

I doubt it'll make a difference either way in the end, at least.

 

[Blitzkrug]

Are you suggesting he might burn some team?

There was some pretty concerning data in Burnes back half of the season that suggested his cutter, by far his best (and one of the most devastating pitches in baseball as a whole) might be showing signs of decline. Specifically, a pretty significant drop in the amount of whiffs it was generating which led to a jump in opposing batting average, exit velo and so forth as seen here. This on top of a pretty blah second half in general had people having cold feet.

I would be remised, as i had pointed out to me last time i posted this that it might not be all bad. A lot of the other peripheries on Burnes' cutter actually got better, namely the spin rate and velo, which makes everything else a lot more confusing/harder to explain. Could legit just be rotten luck or guys are keying in on it more knowing the rest of his arsenal is kinda...eh. As evidenced by him throwing his curveball more and getting smacked for it.

Savant paints a similar story; Everything else looks fantastic (on top of being stupidly durable) outside of a not insignificant drop in K% and xBA, which is again reflected in his pitch data

I personally wouldn't sign him. This is a factor but i'm of the mindset that throwing a 200+ million dollar contract at a position, that in my opinion is pretty likely to fix itself with just a simple bounceback when this team is screaming for bats would be putting yourself in the same situation as 2023 at best and malpractice at worst.

Disclaimer: It should also be noted the last time i got on my soapbox here and cried about signing a pitcher being a mirage after a jekell and hyde season, it happened to be Kevin Gausman after what i thought was a one hit 2021 season. Suffice to say, i was pretty wrong on that one so yeah.

 

[MK78]

Breaking news, the Blue Jays have signed another journeyman.

 

[TheMadHatTrick]

Bo + for Heliot Ramos.

 

[shaner8989]

f***ing joke. To busy signing trash off waivers then doing anything to better the team.

These idiots should have been canned so long ago.

Fraud franchise

 

[Dr.Funk]

 

[Puckstuff]

I really hope in their view, Gimenez would be a bigger addition then Teo/Santander…

 

[Cloned]

I really hope in their view, Gimenez would be a bigger addition then Teo/Santander…

It’s like Shatkins is actively trying to piss the fanbase off.

 

[EpochLink]

This offseason is turning out well isn’t it?

Ownership and management with the ‘ah f*** it, let’s put out something from 1992 and 1993 on social media when we were champs’.

Or the dubious ‘2015 and 2016 were great right! Let’s put that Bautista home run on social media again so our fans can think of the good old days!’

While we are at it, let’s put out Frank Thomas hitting his 500th home run! That’ll get the fans interested.


I swear to f***ing god this team can’t do shit right…

 

[jetsforever]

How are the Yankees seemingly getting everyone?! They already made the WS, then lost one pretty good guy and added about 10 replacements.

 

[Blitzkrug]

I really hope in their view, Gimenez would be a bigger addition then Teo/Santander…

Annnd this is exactly what i was afraid of.

 

[Discoverer]

I know we're all mad at the front office, but that's no reason to suddenly start trusting the opinions of the Sportsnet reporters.

Also, for context, they called Burnes, Bregman, and Sasaki the moves that would be more impactful than Gimenez in terms of 2025 WAR.

 

[Discoverer]

The Jays could use a guy like Cruz, but let's not pretend that's a difficult question to answer: Cruz has struggled to keep his ERA under 5 the last two years because he has major issues with control and contact quality. Four years of control is great until you realize the guy is already 35.

 

[TheTotalPackage]

I know we're all mad at the front office, but that's no reason to suddenly start trusting the opinions of the Sportsnet reporters.

How pathetic is it that the reporters covering the team for a media outlet that is owned by the same owners of the team can't be trusted.

I have always found the SportsNet reporters to be soulless and would put out puff pieces about the team. I suppose I shouldn't expect anything different when the owners can control the narrative.

 

[Ale Brew]

How pathetic is it that the reporters covering the team for a media outlet that is owned by the same owners of the team can't be trusted.

I have always found the SportsNet reporters to be soulless and would put out puff pieces about the team. I suppose I shouldn't expect anything different when the owners can control the narrative.

I see them a little differently. BNS and Shi seem to poor cold water on all the rumors. They’re the one’s telling us there’s no budget left, while the US scoop breakers insist we’re throwing money around at anyone that’ll take it. If the team is controlling the narrative with them it’s not to appease the fan base, it’s to temper expectations.

I think the truth of what’s happening is probably somewhere in between. The Jays have money to spend, but are sticking to their valuations and waiting for the market to come to them. Honestly that’s probably the best approach, especially long term. That said, it sucks for the fan base that desperately wants a big move (myself included).

Ultimately the MLB offseason is long and slow to develop, and we probably shouldn’t judge until it gets close to Spring Training. For me personally that’s going to be difficult, as the frustration grows, particularly when pieces that might’ve helped dropping off the board. Still lots of times and lots of players that can help.