Quote:
Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy
Man, no offence but you're like a broken record in these off-season threads. It was the same last year. IIRC you liked the Happ signing, but it was nothing more than a depth signing and a typical cheapo Rogers move that was a terrible answer to not paying big money for Price. You were pretty sure they'd ruined Sanchez as a starter and that the bullpen and starting rotation were going to sink the 2016 season.
Granted, the bullpen blew a lot of games in the first couple months, but that was mostly due to Cecil's terrible start, and Storen completely blowing up as a reliever. To this management teams credit though, the rotation was absolutely stellar pretty much all year long, and they also ironed out the bullpen by acquiring Grilli and Benoit. They also added rule 5 draftee Biagini who nobody would have guessed would have had the season he did. The bullpen ended up actually being a strength of this team. Maybe they know what they're doing?
I dunno, I think the Jays FO should be given the benefit of the doubt for the time being after not overspending last off season but still building a team that went back to ALCS for a 2nd straight year.
You don't have to spend money on overpriced FA's to have a good baseball team, and overspending on FA's doesn't guarantee success either.
Also, it's not even December yet. There are other ways for them to fill holes in this roster besides overpaying a mediocre free agent crop.
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Not addressing the bullpen for the second straight year last year cost them close to 20 games in the first 3 months of the season. There's no way with the way the Yankees and Red Sox are improving that they can continue to piss games away until they decide in July to fix the problem. They don't have a single major league left-handed pitcher in their entire bullpen. Moving Liriano to fill that role would be a very poor decision in my mind. He's probably a 14-15 game winner on the Jays if he picks up where he left off. Jays are going to have to continue to rely on their great starting 5 even more as the offence continues to erode.
Are you suggesting we should be fine starting our season with Kevin Pillar, Melvin Upton, Dalton Pompey, and Justin Smoak in our outfield and 1st base positions? Not saying it's going to be that way just yet, but i'm not willing to give that lineup the benefit of the doubt as you are.
If not free agents, how do you suggest they fill these holes? The cupboards are bare. They aren't exactly flush with prospects to deal and I highly doubt they are willing to give up Guerrero or Gurriel which is what most teams would be looking for. At least I hope they are not. I haven't been as excited for a Jays prospect as much as I am with Guerrero since Carlos Delgado.