2023/24 Blue Jays Off Season Thread

[bluejays]

Not a fan of Joc. Again, happy that management isn’t screwing the team over for years to come with long term deals for mediocre players but this philosophy of multi position players who are defense first, with little offense upside, is a complete mistake. Good defence is necessary but minimum average bats to get you around .260, is needed. Peterson? IKF? We have enough of those bums. Get guys who get get on base. Pay a little extra and get people who can do more than play defense. Such a flawed approach.

[flames_fan_down_under]

Joc îs not a defense first player, he is a lefty bat who has a career .800 OPS. He definitely doesn't move the needle much but is still a somewhat productive bat that does get on base.

[KelVarnsen]

He’s got a career .237 batting average. It’s better than Varsho but still not good enough

[flames_fan_down_under]

Yep lefties eat him up, he has a career 125 WRC+ and .834 OPS vs. righties.

[Underdog]

Joc is a good Lefty off the bench, he's a bad starter. I don't see the fit at all.

[Jiggy_12]

Jays have enough platoon players, but Joc has good power which we do need.

I don’t hate it but it’s far down my list of preferences

[bluejays]

I was a little unclear with my comments about Joc. Knowing he's not an allround player - I'm more annoyed with the Jays pushing position versatility and defence, while more or less ignoring BA/OBP in their decisions to sign guys. We've heard players in the past say they like to know what position they're playing game in and out, so it's nice to have defined positions, with certain exceptions like 2nd where you may want to try a couple guys. But playing IKF as your potential day to day third, just doesn't cut it. I don't care how good his defence is, if he can't get on base he's a wasted roster spot. This team lacks guys getting on base. Sign those guys at dedicated positions, and keep people like IKF for the bench or select days off.

[flames_fan_down_under]

I agree they need more impactful signings than IKF and potentially Joc. Where I disagree is the issue of BA or OBP.

The issue with this team is lack of power.

They lack the doubles and home runs to make teams pay for all those guys getting on base. I want a guy who can hit home runs. Luis Robert, Pete Alonso. Someone who teams have to fear when he comes to the plate. Thought Vladdy could be that guy but it's getting pretty apparent he has a major weakness that can be exploited.

They were 16th in home runs last year.

Trade Manoah, or Barriera, package with Orelvis for a guy who can hit bombs.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by flames_fan_down_under

I agree they need more impactful signings than IKF and potentially Joc. Where I disagree is the issue of BA or OBP.

The issue with this team is lack of power.

They lack the doubles and home runs to make teams pay for all those guys getting on base. I want a guy who can hit home runs. Luis Robert, Pete Alonso. Someone who teams have to fear when he comes to the plate. Thought Vladdy could be that guy but it's getting pretty apparent he has a major weakness that can be exploited.

They were 16th in home runs last year.

Trade Manoah, or Barriera, package with Orelvis for a guy who can hit bombs.

OPS is probably a better metric than batting average or OBP for this team's needs.

I think they are probably one top tier bat away from being a contender. I was hopeful they could find someone for the outfield or DH hole that would bring that, but it looks like the outfield is coming back the same and the DH position might be platooned/used to rest starters.

[Parallex]

I wonder what it would cost to pry Isaac Paradis out of Tampa?... Wouldn't be cheap but with the Franco situation I wager they could use a legit shortstop until that's sorted out and Espinal could be part of the package.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by Parallex

I wonder what it would cost to pry Isaac Paradis out of Tampa?... Wouldn't be cheap but with the Franco situation I wager they could use a legit shortstop until that's sorted out and Espinal could be part of the package.

Yeah, he'd be nice but seems like a huge stretch as he has 4 years of control left and is estimated to make only $3.2m in arb this coming season.


I'm still on the Machado train. He's projected for the 7th most fWAR for third basemen this coming season according to fangraphs, and because of his contract could probably be had for a song. Although I'm not sure what kind of trade protection he may have, if any.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Yeah, he'd be nice but seems like a huge stretch as he has 4 years of control left and is estimated to make only $3.2m in arb this coming season.

Yeah, it's two/three years short of when TBR like to move on from guys... they'd be reluctant to do it for sure... just thought that maybe with Caminero making the majors at the end of last year and with Franco in jail they might be willing to part with him since he's now merely "cheap" as opposed to "dirt cheap".

[Roof-Daddy]

This won't make folks happy lol

https://twitter.com/user/status/1742568643462824283

If true, clearly banking on Vlad, Kirk, Springer and Varsho to return closer to career norms with their bats.

[GirlySports]

so who is playing third?

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

so who is playing third?

As of right now IKF mostly. He's a very good 3B so that's not the issue, his bat isn't great though.

[Roof-Daddy]

I would take anything Ross says to the media with a grain of salt though.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

As of right now IKF mostly. He's a very good 3B so that's not the issue, his bat isn't great though.

so

Springer RF
Bichette SS
Vladdy 1B
Who DH
I don't know LF
Kirk C
What 2B
IKF 3B
Varsho CF

That's alot of holes. Are we going to run Biggio, IKF, Varsho out there some nights?

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

so

Springer RF
Bichette SS
Vladdy 1B
Who DH
I don't know LF
Kirk C
What 2B
IKF 3B
Varsho CF

That's alot of holes. Are we going to run Biggio, IKF, Varsho out there some nights?

They brought back KK, he's CF and Varsho likely LF mostly.

Apparently they still plan to sign a DH/OF type bat. Probably Pederson, JDM or someone like that.

2B will be filled mostly by Biggio I would guess.

[Roof-Daddy]

If all they do now is sign an OF/DH we better hope the pitching and defense hold up from last season, and also that they hit better with RISP. I will say that.

[Roof-Daddy]

As of now, what I see:

C - Kirk/Jansen
1B - Vladdy
2B - Biggio
3B - IKF
SS - Bo
LF - Varsho
CF - KK
RF - Springer
DH -

BE - Kirk / Jansen
BE - Schneider
BE - Espinal
BE - Horwitz

SP - Gausman
SP - Berrios
SP - Bassitt
SP - Kikuchi
SP - Manoah

CL - Romano
SU - Green
SU - Mayza
RP - Swanson
RP - Cabrera
RP - Richards
RP - White
RP - Garcia