Blue Jays Discussion: It's still the off-season (Ray: Cy Young, Berrios: 7yr ext, Semien: to TEX, Gausman: signs 5y/$110m)

[as Pure as Evil]

lol let the speculation run rampant until he signs somewhere

edit - research
vid was from 2 years ago

 

[Blitzkrug]

Sign Baez to play catcher, banish Mcguire to the shadow realm, trade Moreno for DeGrom, laugh all the way to world series, repeat step 4 until bored.

 

[djdev]

Con: Baez can't hit water if he fell out of a boat

Pro: Elite defense at a premium position, good speed, turns himself into a twizzler every time he attempts to hit the ball, which will never be not funny.

I don't think i'd hate it if it's on a shorter team deal as a couple here have already said. Long term though and that deal probably ages horrendously.

im confused, didnt he hit .265 with 31 HRs and 88 rbis last year?? lol i mean sure he strikes alottttt but depending on the contract he could really be good here in toronto

 

[phillipmike]

If you exclude Ray, last year the Jays first MLB signing was Kirby Yates. They next day they signed Chatwood. The next day they trade Hector Perez. And the next day they signed Springer.

Hopefully history repeats itself. Except with better players.

So i was right, after Yimi Garcia, the Jays did bring in a free agent the next day in Gausman. So unless they sign a FA in the next 4 minutes, i was wrong - no signings today.

Maybe this is the calm from last year (Hector Perez) and then a big move tomorrow (Springer), Baez or Story?

 

[djdev]

So i was right, after Yimi Garcia, the Jays did bring in a free agent the next day in Gausman. So unless they sign a FA in the next 4 minutes, i was wrong - no signings today.

Maybe this is the calm from last year (Hector Perez) and then a big move tomorrow (Springer), Baez or Story?

story is intriguing, but mannnn i still have tulo related trust issues about rockies players.

 

[CherryToke]

im confused, didnt he hit .265 with 31 HRs and 88 rbis last year?? lol i mean sure he strikes alottttt but depending on the contract he could really be good here in toronto

Career .307 OBP is a bit concerning. Not much better than the hated man Grichuk.

 

[SDig14]

 

[djdev]

Career .307 OBP is a bit concerning. Not much better than the hated man Grichuk.

ye the strikeout to walk ratio is not good at all either. personally im sticking with biggio at 2nd and getting ramirez if i was running the jays.

 

[phillipmike]

Steve Phillips confirmed that the Jays offered both Ray and Gausman $110M - 5 Year deals.

Ray's camp said they werent going to take the offer because they were waiting to meet with the Angels (truth) and they werent going to sign before December 1st (truth at the time). However, Ray's preference was to stay with the Jays unless a team was offering a lot more, which was unlikely. Ray's camp just wanted to squeeze more money out of the Jays.

Jays didnt want to let Gausman go and potentially lose Ray after December 1st if he got a better deal so they got an agreement with Gausman.

Ray wanted to stay with the Jays, was very disappointed not to come back and his agent advised him to "pivot" and take the best deal he could BEFORE December 1st because the other offers werent going to be better. Ray reluctantly took the Mariners offer.

So stupid, the 2 things the Ray camp said was they were waiting on the Angels and they werent going to sign before December 1st turned out to not be true. They played roulette and lost.

 

[djdev]

Steve Phillips confirmed that the Jays offered both Ray and Gausman $110M - 5 Year deals.

Ray's camp said they werent going to take the offer because they were waiting to meet with the Angels (truth) and they werent going to sign before December 1st (truth at the time). However, Ray's preference was to stay with the Jays unless a team was offering a lot more, which was unlikely. Ray's camp just wanted to squeeze more money out of the Jays.

Jays didnt want to let Gausman go and potentially lose Ray after December 1st if he got a better deal so they got an agreement with Gausman.

Ray wanted to stay with the Jays, was very disappointed not to come back and his agent advised him to "pivot" and take the best deal he could BEFORE December 1st because the other offers werent going to be better. Ray reluctantly took the Mariners offer.

So stupid, the 2 things the Ray camp said was they were waiting on the Angels and they werent going to sign before December 1st turned out to not be true. They played roulette and lost.

ye its a shame really

 

[canucksfan]

Steve Phillips confirmed that the Jays offered both Ray and Gausman $110M - 5 Year deals.

Ray's camp said they werent going to take the offer because they were waiting to meet with the Angels (truth) and they werent going to sign before December 1st (truth at the time). However, Ray's preference was to stay with the Jays unless a team was offering a lot more, which was unlikely. Ray's camp just wanted to squeeze more money out of the Jays.

Jays didnt want to let Gausman go and potentially lose Ray after December 1st if he got a better deal so they got an agreement with Gausman.

Ray wanted to stay with the Jays, was very disappointed not to come back and his agent advised him to "pivot" and take the best deal he could BEFORE December 1st because the other offers werent going to be better. Ray reluctantly took the Mariners offer.

So stupid, the 2 things the Ray camp said was they were waiting on the Angels and they werent going to sign before December 1st turned out to not be true. They played roulette and lost.

Regardless of his contract he was going to make a over a hundred million dollars. He will never have any financial problems. He could have stayed with the team he loved playing for and also a winning team. Now, he’s playing with a crap team he does t really want to play for.

I like Ray but what a dumb decision.

 

[Maestro84]

Ray needs to clean house with his team lol that was so dumb on their behalf if the goal was to resign in Toronto

As I said, good on the Jays for not playing roulette with Ray’s agent. They took Gausman before they had the chance to lose both

 

[phillipmike]

Regardless of his contract he was going to make a over a hundred million dollars. He will never have any financial problems. He could have stayed with the team he loved playing for and also a winning team. Now, he’s playing with a crap team he does t really want to play for.

I like Ray but what a dumb decision.

Yeah, either a dumb decision or the agents gave him bad advice like the Edwin situation.

For what it is worth, based on Gausman willing to sign before December 1st and Ray originally stating that he wasnt, Phillips says the Jays made the right business decision with the information they had at the time. Couldnt risk losing both when you had one in the bag already.

 

[Puckstuff]

Yeah, either a dumb decision or the agents gave him bad advice like the Edwin situation.

For what it is worth, based on Gausman willing to sign before December 1st and Ray originally stating that he wasnt, Phillips says the Jays made the right business decision with the information they had at the time. Couldnt risk losing both when you had one in the bag already.

It sounds like the Jays played this the right way. You have to take the for sure thing especially when the difference between them is so marginal. Maybe they even preferred Gausman.

 

[Man Bear Pig]

Good on the Jays for not waiting around while Rays camp was trying to squeeze every dime that they could. His agent should be fired.

 

[phillipmike]

 

[Man Bear Pig]

Seems like a pretty fair assessment. Maybe he could pull a Bautista and develop some patience at the plate in his late 20's but that's highly unlikely. Still a good defender but can be scary bad with the bat at times.

 

[Emerica]

Any smoke around Kris Bryant? Didn’t we have interest in trading for him last season?

 

[phillipmike]

Seems like a pretty fair assessment. Maybe he could pull a Bautista and develop some patience at the plate in his late 20's but that's highly unlikely. Still a good defender but can be scary bad with the bat at times.

Could be this year's Semien. Bautista had his break out at age 29 and Baez turns 29 on December 1st. In terms of upside, im not against signing Baez if we can get him for 4 years maybe at $100M. Play him and 2B and maybe use Gurriel, Biggio and prospects to get Ramirez for 3B? I dont think i would go over 4 years.

And when Teo and Ramirez need new deals you have $30M coming off the books in Ryu and Grichuk to sign one. If Orelvis is ready you let Ramirez walk.

 

[The Nemesis]

Seems like a pretty fair assessment. Maybe he could pull a Bautista and develop some patience at the plate in his late 20's but that's highly unlikely. Still a good defender but can be scary bad with the bat at times.

Bautista always had the eye and the patience. I believe he said at some point that his approach early in his career was by the design of teams who saw him as a high-contact-rate slap hitter and wanted him to more aggressively hunt balls to put in play. But when he got to Toronto they allowed him to sit back and be an ambush hitter. But even when he was with Baltimore/Pittsburgh/whoever he still showed signs of what he could be with very solid walk and strikeout rates.

 

[trellaine201]

im confused, didnt he hit .265 with 31 HRs and 88 rbis last year?? lol i mean sure he strikes alottttt but depending on the contract he could really be good here in toronto

OPS over .800

 

[Zero1]

Steve Phillips confirmed that the Jays offered both Ray and Gausman $110M - 5 Year deals.

Ray's camp said they werent going to take the offer because they were waiting to meet with the Angels (truth) and they werent going to sign before December 1st (truth at the time). However, Ray's preference was to stay with the Jays unless a team was offering a lot more, which was unlikely. Ray's camp just wanted to squeeze more money out of the Jays.

Jays didnt want to let Gausman go and potentially lose Ray after December 1st if he got a better deal so they got an agreement with Gausman.

Ray wanted to stay with the Jays, was very disappointed not to come back and his agent advised him to "pivot" and take the best deal he could BEFORE December 1st because the other offers werent going to be better. Ray reluctantly took the Mariners offer.

So stupid, the 2 things the Ray camp said was they were waiting on the Angels and they werent going to sign before December 1st turned out to not be true. They played roulette and lost.

Ray and his camp played themselves. Jays offered a very competitive offer right away.

Really surprised the Angels weren’t that interested.

It’s not realistic but if we dumped Ryu and signed Ray that would have given us a deadly rotation.

Ray-Gausman-Berrios-Manoah-Stripling/Pearson

 

[phillipmike]

 

[Puckstuff]

Ray and his camp played themselves. Jays offered a very competitive offer right away.

Really surprised the Angels weren’t that interested.

It’s not realistic but if we dumped Ryu and signed Ray that would have given us a deadly rotation.

Ray-Gausman-Berrios-Manoah-Stripling/Pearson

It’s hard to say he played him self when he will net an extra 10 million ish after factoring in taxes and contract, play for a border line contender and live in his home country. Seattle won 90 games. Jays are an attractive spot but I don’t think Ray is in a bad situation here when he will be making more money, still play for a contender and live in the U.S. If he really wanted to be here over Seattle it would have got done, talk is cheap.

 

[phillipmike]

Free-agency grades: Blue Jays look to Gausman to complete rotation

We'll get back to Ray in a moment, but bringing in Gausman in combination with the seven-year, $131 million extension given to Jose Berrios earlier this offseason, the Blue Jays have locked up what should be a stellar rotation for the foreseeable future:

1. Berrios: signed through 2028
2. Gausman: signed through 2026
3. Hyun-Jin Ryu: signed through 2023
4. Alek Manoah: under team control through 2027 (assuming service time rules don't change in a new collective bargaining agreement)

That's as good a top four as there is in baseball, even if Berrios and Gausman are more strong No. 2s rather than aces -- although Gausman pitched at an ace level in 2021 and Manoah has No. 1 potential based on a strong rookie season. The Blue Jays are still hopeful that Nate Pearson will stay healthy and put it all together, creating a fearsome fivesome. Even if Ross Stripling or Trevor Richards end up taking most of the starts at the back of the rotation, it's a great foundation alongside the powerful young offense for getting the Blue Jays back into the postseason for the first time in a full season since 2016.