[JayP]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

That's quite the fabrication. I never once said the Jays payroll would be 70M. I said that they would keep their 2016 payroll practically the same as it was to finish the year in 2015 and really start to scale down in 2017 when all the big names are off the books because their below market options expired which were no-brainers to pick up. From there I said that the Jays would shift their payroll back down to mid to bottom third of the league where they've historically been. I'd still bet everything I own that will be the case come 2018. I never put any numbers on it, but 70M is far below what it will be.

I said for 2016 the Jays would pick up all the options on Bautista, Dickey, Encarnacion, resign Estrada, sign a mid-tier starter to shut people up, and make one last run for it before they shed salary. That is pretty much verbatim what has happened.

You do realize that AA and Paul Beeston don't set the budgets, right? Why exactly are you so sure they are slashing the budget (beyond hiring someone who worked for a small market team - which is evidence of nothing)?

There's multiple highly respected journalists in Canada (not with Rogers) and outside of Canada (MLB Network, Fox, SI) taking shots at the way the Jays do business and run their franchise. From AA taking his ball and going home to the Price debacle, to the "diving through the dumpster for bullpen arms" comments, to the Donaldson arbitration non-sense, yet because you went on Reddit "this isn't an issue". Give me a break. The Jays reputation is dirt around the league and when the spotlight was on them for the first time in two decades they didn't mend fences, they made it worse.

First of all, no one around the league cares about AA. Jays fans & the Canadian media treat him like some god now, but ask other fans and he's just another guy. The guy was basically on the edge of being canned and traded away the farm to make the playoffs to try and save his job- that's his reputation around the league. When he left, most people around the league didn't really blink.

There was never a Price debacle. That was invented by people who thought the Jays could somehow get Price if they offered him $30mil per season for 5 years instead of 7 - ignoring the fact that it's a $60million dollar difference and not even in the ballpark.

Looking for cheap bullpen arms is something every good team does. Again, you make this ridiculous deal of things like that and then the Jays acquire an elite reliever in Drew Storen. It's a long off-season and even though you over-react to everything, everyone else waits to see how the entire off-season plays out. The contracts handed out to relievers this off-season were ridiculous and to be disappointed the Jays didn't partake is just dumb.

Again, if the Donaldson "non-sense" (your word for taking a player to arbitration) is such a big deal, why is no one in a large baseball community even talking about it? The entire issue was created by someone (without any inside information) trying to create content when there isn't any in January. Basically, your argument is that the Jays should just pay him whatever he wants since it's only 450k. Setting that precedent sounds like a really good way to improve their alleged terrible reputation with other teams around the league - they all love inflating player salaries.

Your comment that the Jays don't put a baseball team on the field to please bandwagon fans is off base. The bandwagon fans aren't the ones complaining. They jumped back on in August last year and have nothing but positive memories. The ones who are complaining are the people who've been fans for 20+ years and have been subject to the clown show that has transpired who actually believed that if they showed Rogers with their wallet what a good team in Toronto would do, that seasons like last year wouldn't be the outlier in a constant string of futility. Rogers has basically spat in their face, not reinvested a dime of last year's profits, and all signs are pointing towards a return to mediocrity in 2017.

I would like to change my tune. I really would, but the ownership of this team hasn't given me one single reason to change it. One thing is for sure though, next season will be an interesting one. The Jays will either contend or we are going to witness #### show like we've never seen around a baseball team in Canada. Expectations are high, more people are invested in the success of the team than ever before, and there is already an underlying hatred for Rogers (especially in Toronto) before the first pitch is ever even thrown.

Basically it comes down to you wanting Rogers to open up the pocket books and spend like crazy because the team raked in cash for a couple months last season. Ignoring the fact that to spend that money, you have to get locked into 5+ year deals with very little assurance that revenues will be that high for the duration of those deals.

If the Jays keep winning, great - it works out for everyone. If the Jays don't win (which happens every year to championship favorites), then the attendance and viewership numbers drop back to mediocrity, but the owners are still committed to hundreds of millions of salary. It's pretty obvious to see the risk from Rogers perspective.

If the Jays make the playoffs for 3 straight seasons, you have a point. But basically you want a budget based off last year's revenues only and to ignore all the years before. It's nice to want this as a fan, but it has zero basis in the realities of business.