Blue Jays Discussion: Off-season Edition II - Winter Meeting Madness

[weems]

There's a real chance early in the season the question will be if Barger is the best option at 2B.

He still needs to have a good spring training and start to AAA to consolidate the hype but his season last year was seriously impressive and he has by far the most power and offensive upside of Merrifield/Espinal/Biggio.

His defence is apparently decent with a excellent arm.

ZiPs actually has him projected to have very close to the same WAR as Espinal next season

 

[Beaumaris]

I wonder if they think that Otto Lopez might be able to handle the Espinal role. Possibly more pop too, it will depend on his D.

We should be holding on to Espinal imo.

 

[Discoverer]

Soto isn't good. His near 100 MPH sinker covers up the fact he couldn't hit his spot if his life depended on it.

Call me crazy, but i wouldn't want a reliever with a bb/9 over 5. Though in Philly's case they didn't give up much to acquire him so whatever i guess.

That being said i wouldn't mind taking a flier on Reyes. Very similar to Soto; nasty stuff but control issues.

Yeah, if a reliever walks that many I want to see the strikeouts to help balance them out. Soto took a huge step back to under 9 K/9 last year. I think there's a pretty decent chance he's not very good anymore.

 

[Dr.Funk]

 

[Ale Brew]

That M’s OF will murder lefties.

Not so great defensively or against righties though.

 

[canucksfan]

Seems reasonable. Wished the Jays would have nabbed him.

 

[trellaine201]

Seattle is looking really good/solid.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

Mariners are cornering the market on bad defensive outfielders.

 

[phillipmike]

Mariners are corning the market on bad defensive outfielders.

They show how it worked for the Jays last year and decided to replicate it.

 

[Dr.Funk]

 

[kb]

Wonder how fixable Trevor Rogers is......a buy low candidate who has upside and many years of control. Southpaw too,

 

[Dr.Funk]

 

[dredeye]

Best of luck to him in his battle.

 

[TheTotalPackage]

These guys seem so immortal that you don't think this could happen to them, and then you see this and realize in the end they are just like one of us.

Wishing him all the best in his battle.

 

[TheTotalPackage]

Didn't know if I should put this in here or in the Toronto Sports Media Thread, but since it pertains to the Jays, figured this would be better suited. I'm not a podcast guy, at all, and hate listening to them, but I decided to hear Shapiro out on Bob McCown's podcast (Bobcat is still #1 by far in the country) from just before Christmas.

Thought it was a very excellent interview with lots of quality insight provided by Shapiro regarding both the construction of the ballpark and the team. For a guy who came in 7 years ago and came across as completely tone deaf to the market, he has done an excellent job from a business aspect along with the long-term build for the team. I was annoyed when he came in and was too hands on with the team conflicting with AA, and thought he should have focused solely on the business aspect, but now that he has his guy in Atkins puppeteering in conjunction with him, all's good.

Between the new facility in Dunedin, along with the more fan friendly Dome, it's exciting times for the franchise both from a fan and player perspective. The undertaking next offseason of the lower bowl and re-shifting the seats to actually face towards home plate as opposed to the outfield will provide a much better in-game experience. I liked the tidbit that the focus is now to make it a baseball-centric stadium than a multi-purpose stadium where the seats were built to face outwards for things like concerts.

Exciting times ahead down at the Dome.

 

[trellaine201]

Isn’t it odd that Mattingly works for two teams? Advisor for some apparent new franchise or to be new and the Jays.

 

[rojac]

Isn’t it odd that Mattingly works for two teams? Advisor for some apparent new franchise or to be new and the Jays.

Well, he works for the Jays and a group hoping to land an expansion franchise in Nashville. I think it only becomes a conflict if the Nashville group actually succeeds. I'd be surprised if he didn't check with the Jays about whether this advisor role would be a problem before taking it.

Toronto Blue Jays' Don Mattingly joins Nashville expansion effort as advisor | TSN

Toronto Blue Jays bench coach Don Mattingly will serve as an advisor to the Nashville Stars, a group headed by Dave Stewart that seeks to become MLB's next expansion franchise, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today.

www.tsn.ca

 

[Discoverer]

Isn’t it odd that Mattingly works for two teams? Advisor for some apparent new franchise or to be new and the Jays.

Not really, since the other team he works for doesn't exist and won't for at least a few more years. Right now it's just a group of baseball people trying to bring a team to Nashville.

Also, Dave Stewart is leading the group, so count me a skeptical that it'll ever get off the ground.

 

[Habsfan18]

 

[GreytWun]

Possible underrated signing. I like this.

 

[Anthrax442]

ok, dish

 

[canucksfan]

9.3 million

 

[habamillions]

Cant complain. 1 year deal. Not the best season last year. But great 2021 season

 

[jetsforever]

Is Belt for when Vladdy is DHing?

 

[ryno23]

Belt signing keeps Biggio off the field when Vlad DH's