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

[Dr.Funk]

 

[hockeywiz542]

 

[hockeywiz542]

 

[hockeywiz542]

 

[Lightsol]

Be good if the MLB wanted to massively increase the number of HR's that are hit...

 

[phillipmike]

Personally sounds like the team as is will be the one that goes to camp minus minor additions. I doubt he waives but if the Jays had $30M and a 3 year offer on the table for Alonso, i wonder if there is any appetite for Nolan Arenado. Doesnt have as good as a bat and is older plus regressing but you lean into the elite defense. He is owed $27M, $22M and $15M.

Good guy to have around our internal 3B options to teach them 3B defense. I would ask for the Cards throw in around $20M to make Arenado as $15M player per each year and put Heasley in the deal to shore up our pen.

Would be;

C: Kirk (L)
1B: Guerrero Jr. (R)
2B: Gimenez (L)
SS: Bichette (R)
3B: Arenado (R)
RF: Springer (R)
CF: Varsho (L)
LF: Satander (S)
DH: Wagner (L)

 

[phillipmike]

Cubs spend first day of spring camp addressing Alex Bregman-sized elephant in the room

The Cubs enter spring training with plenty of hype to end their postseason drought. But that's not the biggest storyline as camp begins.

www.usatoday.com

Yet, while the Cubs continue to talk to agent Scott Boras about Bregman, there’s no indication that the Cubs would be willing to offer more than a three-year contract. There’s also no sign that Bregman would dramatically lower his asking price when he already has at least one six-year offer on the table.

The Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox and the Houston Astros have all made offers of at least four years to Bregman, but no one has been willing to meet his asking price.

Clear he doesnt want the Jays 6 year offer so i hope we pulled it. And so much for the Astros increasing their offer of $158M over 6 years. These reports contradict themselves.

 

[Discoverer]

Personally sounds like the team as is will be the one that goes to camp minus minor additions. I doubt he waives but if the Jays had $30M and a 3 year offer on the table for Alonso, i wonder if there is any appetite for Nolan Arenado. Doesnt have as good as a bat and is older plus regressing but you lean into the elite defense. He is owed $27M, $22M and $15M.

Good guy to have around our internal 3B options to teach them 3B defense. I would ask for the Cards throw in around $20M to make Arenado as $15M player per each year and put Heasley in the deal to shore up our pen.

Would be;

C: Kirk (L)
1B: Guerrero Jr. (R)
2B: Gimenez (L)
SS: Bichette (R)
3B: Arenado (R)
RF: Springer (R)
CF: Varsho (L)
LF: Satander (S)
DH: Wagner (L)

Helsley makes it kind of tempting, but I would rather just stick with Clement and bring in a secondary reliever.

 

[Dr.Funk]

So top 5 payroll, great, but you have to squint really hard to see them in the playoffs. We need someone to breakout. Or maybe Springer having one last great season?

I see a roster that should be solidly in the wildcard mix.

 

[Suntouchable13]

I see a roster that should be solidly in the wildcard mix.

Hopefully you're right

 

[The Iceman]

He wanted a long term deal with the Mets and only the Mets. Instead he received a record AAV for a 1B... that is still a victory for him and Boras.

isn't Vladdy almost $29M/season?

 

[The Iceman]

I give Orelvis Martinez every chance to get starting or platoon job at 3B in spring training. Wonder what the plan for regular DH is.

Maybe a Wagner-Martinez platoon at DH

 

[Canada4Gold]

Well...they did plan on it hence going after Alonso.

I just think that trade was enough of a loss it's not something you do hoping to then backfill the role to make it work. You only do it once you know you will backfill the role. Of course maybe the Guardians had other plans and that offer wouldn't have been on the table in February

The Gimenez trade is a huge risk.

23.5 million per starting from 2027 all the way until 2029 will be too high if his bat doesn’t rebound.

To make that contract worth it, he’ll need to post something like a .700 OPS, 30 stolen bases, and continue to provide elite defense.

I assume they must really love Gimenez and think they can fix the issues with the bat. If they can it might look like a huge win. It's not like Horwitz was any kind of sure thing either. Last year most of us hated the IKF signing. He played well for us and then got us a decent prospect via trade. Management was right there, albeit with a lot less risk. Hopefully this one works out too.

To me, that deal was in part about having an experienced MI locked up, at predictable value, to hedge against whatever happens with Bo.
Even give some leverage for negotiations, part of why I thought they went hard after Alonso.
Interesting to think what else might have happened with that extra ~20 mil? Or Horwitz the asset. Anything?
Would it have changed their approach or the outcome with Fried or Snell? Prolly not, they picked really good situations. Burnes was a family decision, so prolly not. Soto was ‘special money’.

I can see this side of it. If Bo walks and you don't make that move then you go into 2026 with Jimenez at short and Orelvis at 2nd I guess? I kind of think there's a decent chance that 2026 is the start of a rebuild anyway, whether they do it on purpose or end up just being bad so I'm not sure it matters. But I guess in that case theres little money coming in to replace the assets that walk so an extra 20 million for Gimenez might not matter much. I think it's kind of short sighted to just ask what they would have done with that money this year though. They have a lot of arms coming off the books soon. That money might be needed in future years as well if they don't end up rebuilding.