[browna]

Vlad in a vacuum it can be debated on how he and the contract are going to age..as can Soto, Ohtahni, even Trout 10+ years ago and Arod when he signed the $250M deal back when.

But the Jays don't work in a vacuum given their permanent market disadvantages. The money that they don't spend on Vlad or Bo isn't going to be instantly and easily used on someone else or a group of players that are potentially better, because those players simply don't have Toronto as their first or second choice.

The players that Shapiro and Atkins really do want instead of Vlad, and can pay and can overpay still may not want to come to Toronto. Saw that with SO and JS, but also Burnes, Bregman, Sasaski, probably JD Martinez.

They have a pair of very good players in Bo and Vlad that have come up through the system the right way and are good players. Most importantly they want to be part of the franchise, and choose this franchise, which many many players do not.

It was proven this offseason that no price can be put on that reluctance to move to Canada, when close to $1B CDN couldn't convince Soto to come to Canada.

Do Vlad and Bo want to get paid? Sure. And Shapiro could've paid them last year and saved a couple hundred million dollars vs today. But the disconnect between whatever mind warp Shapiro has his name drop in Moneyball as to what he values Vlad at, is not factoring in nearly enough the actual replacement cost premium for that same type of player to happily come to Toronto over somewhere in the US.