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

[Discoverer]

Losers make excuses and winners make it happen. And that’s why the Yankees are winners and the Blue Jays are losers.

This is the equivalent to the Jays signing Turner last year.

 

[Blitzkrug]

Rickey, man. One of the biggest characters of his day and to me, is in that inner circle of the greatest players of all time. One of my dad's favorite players too. Baseball lost a real one.

He's best known for being an absolute demon on the basepaths but he was also unintentionally hilarious with his personality that appeared to be a combo of ego, being incredibly aloof and self-confidence. Some of the stories/ancedotes about him are absolutely hilarious.

• Rickey once asked a teammate how long it would take to drive to the Dominican Republic, which he thought was a clothing store.
• He once got frost bite after falling asleep with an ice pack strapped to his ankle and had to miss three games.
• One time, while he was on the Yankees, Rickey bragged about how awesome his new condo was because apparently it had a view of the "Entire State Building".
• In the last week of his lone season with the Red Sox, Chairman Tom Werner asked Henderson what he would like for his ‘going-away’ gift. Henderson said he wasn’t going anywhere, but he would like owner John Henry’s Mercedes. Werner said it would be tough to get the same make and model in less than a week and Henderson said, “No, I want his car.” Turns out the Sox got Henderson a Red Thunderbird and when he saw it on the field before the last game of the season, Rickey said, “Whose ugly car is on the field?”
• For his entire career, before every single game Rickey would stand butt-naked in front of his locker and chant, "Rickey is the best" over and over for several minutes. (this one has been confirmed by multiple teammates)
• to further the above, Rickey struck out and as the next batter was walking past him, he heard Henderson say, “Don’t worry, Rickey, you’re still the best.”
• Rickey once caused a bit of a kerfuffle in the A's front office when they had an accounting error of 1 million dollars that appeared to have been given out as a check. They couldn't figure out why the error was there. As it turns out, instead of cashing it (which i believe was for a bonus of some type), Rickey framed the f***ing thing and hung it on his wall lmao. He was very proud of it.
• In Henderson’s first season with San Diego, he boarded the team bus and was looking for a seat. Steve Finley said, “You have tenure, sit wherever you want.” Henderson looked at Finley and said, “Ten years? Ricky’s been playing at least 16, 17 years.”
• San Diego GM Kevin Towers was trying to contact Rickey at a nearby hotel. He knew Henderson always used fake names to avoid the press, fans, etc. He was trying to think like Rickey and after several attempts; he was able to get Henderson on the phone. Rickey had checked in under Richard Pryor.
• On being Nolan Ryan’s 5,000th career strikeout: “It gave me no chance. He (Ryan) just blew it by me. But it’s an honor. I’ll have another paragraph in all the baseball books. I’m already in the books three or four times.”
• Rickey was asked if he had the Garth Brooks album with Friends in Low Places and Henderson said, “Rickey doesn’t have albums. Rickey has CDs.”
• A reporter asked Henderson if Ken Caminiti’s estimate that 50 percent of Major League players were taking steroids was accurate. His response was, “Well, Rickey’s not one of them, so that’s 49 percent right there.”
• Henderson broke Ty Cobb’s career record for runs scored with a home run. After taking his usual 45 seconds or so around the bases, Rickey slid into home plate.

He legit reads like a character straight out of something like Major League.

 

[Discoverer]

Rickey, man. One of the biggest characters of his day and to me, is in that inner circle of the greatest players of all time. One of my dad's favorite players too. Baseball lost a real one.

He's best known for being an absolute demon on the basepaths but he was also unintentionally hilarious with his personality that appeared to be a combo of ego, being incredibly aloof and self-confidence. Some of the stories/ancedotes about him are absolutely hilarious.

• Rickey once asked a teammate how long it would take to drive to the Dominican Republic, which he thought was a clothing store.
• He once got frost bite after falling asleep with an ice pack strapped to his ankle and had to miss three games.
• One time, while he was on the Yankees, Rickey bragged about how awesome his new condo was because apparently it had a view of the "Entire State Building".
• In the last week of his lone season with the Red Sox, Chairman Tom Werner asked Henderson what he would like for his ‘going-away’ gift. Henderson said he wasn’t going anywhere, but he would like owner John Henry’s Mercedes. Werner said it would be tough to get the same make and model in less than a week and Henderson said, “No, I want his car.” Turns out the Sox got Henderson a Red Thunderbird and when he saw it on the field before the last game of the season, Rickey said, “Whose ugly car is on the field?”
• For his entire career, before every single game Rickey would stand butt-naked in front of his locker and chant, "Rickey is the best" over and over for several minutes. (this one has been confirmed by multiple teammates)
• to further the above, Rickey struck out and as the next batter was walking past him, he heard Henderson say, “Don’t worry, Rickey, you’re still the best.”
• Rickey once caused a bit of a kerfuffle in the A's front office when they had an accounting error of 1 million dollars that appeared to have been given out as a check. They couldn't figure out why the error was there. As it turns out, instead of cashing it (which i believe was for a bonus of some type), Rickey framed the f***ing thing and hung it on his wall lmao. He was very proud of it.
• In Henderson’s first season with San Diego, he boarded the team bus and was looking for a seat. Steve Finley said, “You have tenure, sit wherever you want.” Henderson looked at Finley and said, “Ten years? Ricky’s been playing at least 16, 17 years.”
• San Diego GM Kevin Towers was trying to contact Rickey at a nearby hotel. He knew Henderson always used fake names to avoid the press, fans, etc. He was trying to think like Rickey and after several attempts; he was able to get Henderson on the phone. Rickey had checked in under Richard Pryor.
• On being Nolan Ryan’s 5,000th career strikeout: “It gave me no chance. He (Ryan) just blew it by me. But it’s an honor. I’ll have another paragraph in all the baseball books. I’m already in the books three or four times.”
• Rickey was asked if he had the Garth Brooks album with Friends in Low Places and Henderson said, “Rickey doesn’t have albums. Rickey has CDs.”
• A reporter asked Henderson if Ken Caminiti’s estimate that 50 percent of Major League players were taking steroids was accurate. His response was, “Well, Rickey’s not one of them, so that’s 49 percent right there.”
• Henderson broke Ty Cobb’s career record for runs scored with a home run. After taking his usual 45 seconds or so around the bases, Rickey slid into home plate.

He legit reads like a character straight out of something like Major League.

He was such a legend. The PERFECT leadoff hitter.

 

[red devil]

 

[ChuckNorris4Cup]

Sucks to hear about Rickey, dude was a stud in his playing career, died way too early. RIP.

 

[Blitzkrug]

That's all they got for Naylor?!? What the hell are you doing, Cleveland?

A better question is why were the Jays not in on this.

 

[cyris]

Rickey, man. One of the biggest characters of his day and to me, is in that inner circle of the greatest players of all time. One of my dad's favorite players too. Baseball lost a real one.

He's best known for being an absolute demon on the basepaths but he was also unintentionally hilarious with his personality that appeared to be a combo of ego, being incredibly aloof and self-confidence. Some of the stories/ancedotes about him are absolutely hilarious.

• Rickey once asked a teammate how long it would take to drive to the Dominican Republic, which he thought was a clothing store.
• He once got frost bite after falling asleep with an ice pack strapped to his ankle and had to miss three games.
• One time, while he was on the Yankees, Rickey bragged about how awesome his new condo was because apparently it had a view of the "Entire State Building".
• In the last week of his lone season with the Red Sox, Chairman Tom Werner asked Henderson what he would like for his ‘going-away’ gift. Henderson said he wasn’t going anywhere, but he would like owner John Henry’s Mercedes. Werner said it would be tough to get the same make and model in less than a week and Henderson said, “No, I want his car.” Turns out the Sox got Henderson a Red Thunderbird and when he saw it on the field before the last game of the season, Rickey said, “Whose ugly car is on the field?”
• For his entire career, before every single game Rickey would stand butt-naked in front of his locker and chant, "Rickey is the best" over and over for several minutes. (this one has been confirmed by multiple teammates)
• to further the above, Rickey struck out and as the next batter was walking past him, he heard Henderson say, “Don’t worry, Rickey, you’re still the best.”
• Rickey once caused a bit of a kerfuffle in the A's front office when they had an accounting error of 1 million dollars that appeared to have been given out as a check. They couldn't figure out why the error was there. As it turns out, instead of cashing it (which i believe was for a bonus of some type), Rickey framed the f***ing thing and hung it on his wall lmao. He was very proud of it.
• In Henderson’s first season with San Diego, he boarded the team bus and was looking for a seat. Steve Finley said, “You have tenure, sit wherever you want.” Henderson looked at Finley and said, “Ten years? Ricky’s been playing at least 16, 17 years.”
• San Diego GM Kevin Towers was trying to contact Rickey at a nearby hotel. He knew Henderson always used fake names to avoid the press, fans, etc. He was trying to think like Rickey and after several attempts; he was able to get Henderson on the phone. Rickey had checked in under Richard Pryor.
• On being Nolan Ryan’s 5,000th career strikeout: “It gave me no chance. He (Ryan) just blew it by me. But it’s an honor. I’ll have another paragraph in all the baseball books. I’m already in the books three or four times.”
• Rickey was asked if he had the Garth Brooks album with Friends in Low Places and Henderson said, “Rickey doesn’t have albums. Rickey has CDs.”
• A reporter asked Henderson if Ken Caminiti’s estimate that 50 percent of Major League players were taking steroids was accurate. His response was, “Well, Rickey’s not one of them, so that’s 49 percent right there.”
• Henderson broke Ty Cobb’s career record for runs scored with a home run. After taking his usual 45 seconds or so around the bases, Rickey slid into home plate.

He legit reads like a character straight out of something like Major League.

2 Rickeyisms that involve the Blue Jays.

Allegedly he went up to John Olerude when he was with the Mets and asked him about wearing a batting helmet all the time. Then told him he played with someone that did that in Toronto.

Another one later in his career he was with some teammates who were talking about where they were for some of baseball’s big moments and when Joe Carter’s walk off HR came up Rickey said I know where I was, I was on 2nd.

 

[Blitzkrug]

2 Rickeyisms that involve the Blue Jays.

Allegedly he went up to John Olerude when he was with the Mets and asked him about wearing a batting helmet all the time. Then told him he played with someone that did that in Toronto.

Another one later in his career he was with some teammates who were talking about where they were for some of baseball’s big moments and when Joe Carter’s walk off HR came up Rickey said I know where I was, I was on 2nd.

The Olerud one is unfortunately not true. Both Rickey and him came out and said that it never happened, but admitted they wished it did. Which in its own way is also pretty funny.

 

[canucksfan]

Obviously, there's still time, but I was hoping Vladdy would be signed by now.

 

[dredeye]

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.

View attachment 948854
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

View attachment 948859

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.

Yeah I'd prefer not to sign him either.

 

[phillipmike]

Seems like a lot for 1 year of an average 1B



And there is their replacement.

 

[EpochLink]

Run Rickey Run

 

[Blitzkrug]

Seems like a lot for 1 year of an average 1B



And there is their replacement.

With this context the prior trade actually makes a bit of sense.

They're not going to re-sign Naylor (who while good, isn't an all-star or anything) so they flip him for a guy who according to Guardians fans, projects to be a good project given he fits pretty much everything they look for in a pitcher while offsetting it by getting Santana to presumably platoon with Manzardo.

Just have to hope Slamtana doesn't fall off a cliff any time soon.

 

[trellaine201]

Anyone know where our power is going to come from?

 

[Discoverer]

Anyone know where our power is going to come from?

Currently Vladdy and TBD.

 

[GoonieFace]

Anyone know where our power is going to come from?

Either Hydro One or Alectra

 

[Kurtz]

Anyone know where our power is going to come from?

We'll just move our fences back 50 feet or so. We won't hit any homers regardless, but this way our opponent won't either. And our defense will really get a chance to shine. Maybe we even bring KK back for another year.

 

[cyris]

We'll just move our fences back 50 feet or so. We won't hit any homers regardless, but this way our opponent won't either. And our defense will really get a chance to shine. Maybe we even bring KK back for another year.

With our current relief pitching I don’t think 50 feet would be enough lol

 

[Brown Dog]

Currently Vladdy and TBD.

To that, I will respond the way my daughter did when she asked what was for dinner and I said TBD: "Well, it better be determined soon!"

 

[canucksfan]

Anyone know where our power is going to come from?

This post reminded me of the 2021 team. Such a fun team to watch. 7 players had 20+ homers. That team was also built by the same current management group. So strange how they seem to have gone away from power.

 

[kb]

This is the equivalent to the Jays signing Turner last year.

Shhhhh. No room for non over the top hyperbole here.

 

[mikeyz]

Shhhhh. No room for non over the top hyperbole here.

Nothing I said was over the top hyperbole. Lol

 

[The Nemesis]

That's all they got for Naylor?!? What the hell are you doing, Cleveland?

A better question is why were the Jays not in on this.

Because Naylor doesn't really fit. He's a 1B who doesn't play good defence at first, is not a great contact guy aside from his outlier 2023 season, and has decent power but not enough of it for how little else he brings to the table.

He's a career .767 OPS, 112 wRC+ guy who's hit 30 dingers exactly once and would almost certainly be stapled to the DH spot for the Jays given that Vladdy is his superior in every conceivable way.

Yes he adds another bat, but not one big enough to really move the needle, and would probably not get nearly the attention from this fanbase if he was not Canadian.

I like the guy. He's an OK, fun player. But he's a 2ish WAR 1B/DH only player on the last year of his contract and probably looking for a raise that wouldn't be smart for the team to give him. That's not something that should get anyone excited.

 

[Canada4Gold]

Surprised the Jays DFA'd Danner but I guess their non use of him last September after he came back from injury when they were using literally every arm they could find now makes sense. They just didn't value him much anymore.

Weird that they'd apply for the extra option year for him that they ended up getting if the plan was to just DFA him with 1 more addition. The extra option year makes him more valuable for someone else to claim on waivers. Without it perhaps he clears and the Jays can outright him off the 40 man and keep him.

 

[smitty10]

Anyone know where our power is going to come from?

Vladdy
Bo

And my guess is Teoscar + another acquisition.

The good thing about this year is that Shatkins is fighting for their jobs. They're going to have to be fairly active. If they can't convince free agents to sign, then it will be more via trade. Gimenez and Sandlin are a nice start. They'll be way more active than that though. They have to be.

Teoscar is the only big name I think will sign here this year. Maybe Pivetta.