2024 Toronto Blue Jays Season Thread

[JTech780]

Again nobody is going to sign with a team that has no future.

[Inferno]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1880407758094372926

[cross16]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

I've seen people giving them crap for that online and i don't agree with that.

They tried to make a move they were comfortable with to put more pressure on Sasaki to take their offer. I like that they were aggressive with that.

They were always the underdog position to try to get this done and tried to do something to put some pressure on the whole thing by being able to up their deal.

They get in crap for being passive and not trying to close deals, and then when they tried to be aggressive they get crapped on for that too.

Ill repeat the problem isn't them being involved in these things (Soto, Ohtani, Sasaki), getting close, and then failing. I'd rather they take those big swings. The problem is they don't have a plan B when it hasn't worked.

I blame the Phillies for doing anything to help an NL rival add Sasaki.

I would go 1 further. The problem is that their whole franchise now requires big FA moves because they haven't drafted well, they've developed poorly and they haven't taken care of their own. I have no issues with the Jays being aggressive, but the fact that their franchise success resides on it so much is extremely troubling.

I get they were trying to be aggressive but I have a hard time seeing how that was going to change the outcome. Could have waited on the deal as the Dodgers did.

I'm also not even convinced that trade was all about bonus money. As other posters have pointed out, he's a profile they like at a position they likely wanted to fill and it still doesn't look smart from that angle either.

[bluejays]

This may be an all time low as a Jays fan. We're all being sold a bs bag of goods. I can hardly wait for the season ticket question period from fans to rip this leadership team apart. If they have a direction they are clearly great at hiding what it is.

[browna]

We'll never know, but always interesting in the dynamics of the deals from the Jays. For this deal and other free agent deals with this regime.

Did they know from the start or midway through they weren't going to get the player, probably, but, in case something goes sideways, they make sure it's known they are interested and can offer a lot and tag along to the end?

Shopping in the scratch and dent section with Hoffman suggests this.

Additionally or alternatively, for PR purposes both for other agents/players, and, the fans and season ticket holders, do they stay in these races to the end to show the commitment and conviction they have?

Or, in all these cases, are they truly convinced they will get the players and are sadly beaten out at the end?

Again, this isn't new, the Jays always have trouble luring players to Canada, no matter how well they and their family are treated or compensated. It's why acquiring talent through trades is something that should've been a bigger part of the strategy these last few years.

Which makes in perplexing why the ones they have developed, and guys that want to be in Toronto, they have, and continue, to seemingly take for granted and undervalue in Bo and Vlad.

A rebuild isn't on the cards with the Skydome extensive renos and subsequent large STH price increases.

The next Atkins PC (Shapiro will stay in the shadows) should be a doozy, but, a lot of corporate "speak without saying anything" will continue to be the modus operendi for this executive group.

[Fire]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

Cap wouldn’t even help this - Dodgers are paying him less then Straw

They wouldn't have been able to pay him anything since they would have been way over a reasonable cap limit already.

They also need to have a draft that covers every country.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Fire

They wouldn't have been able to pay him anything since they would have been way over a reasonable cap limit already.

They also need to have a draft that covers every country.

Yeah. Just draft everyone, and if Sasaki or anyone else wants to come over early there's a team that has their rights.

[Roof-Daddy]

Even though everyone knew from the start where Sasaki was going, it's incredibly frustrating.

I mean, look at the Dodgers rotation. They didn't even ####ing need Sasaki. They've got like 4 or 5 aces for #### sakes.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Even though everyone knew from the start where Sasaki was going, it's incredibly frustrating.

I mean, look at the Dodgers rotation. They didn't even ####ing need Sasaki. They've got like 4 or 5 aces for #### sakes.

It really just makes the league less and less and legitimate with each new signing by the big 3. They think it means "whoa, who's gonna be the best of the big 3, I need to watch MLB every night!!!!!", but what it really means is everyone going "LOL, MLB is a joke, who can spend the most in a US top 3 city to buy a championship?".

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Even though everyone knew from the start where Sasaki was going, it's incredibly frustrating.

I mean, look at the Dodgers rotation. They didn't even ####ing need Sasaki. They've got like 4 or 5 aces for #### sakes.

Yep, I wanted it to be Toronto but atleast be someone who actually needs him. LA is just being greedy now.

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by jayswin

It really just makes the league less and less and legitimate with each new signing by the big 3. They think it means "whoa, who's gonna be the best of the big 3, I need to watch MLB every night!!!!!", but what it really means is everyone going "LOL, MLB is a joke, who can spend the most in a US top 3 city to buy a championship?".

They don’t even need to buy it anymore - apparently they just have the Japanese league as their minor leagues now and can acquire established superstars for team friendly deals because of the mlbs international signing rules

And I’m suuurrreee there’s no pre set up endorsement deals waiting on his arrival

[Caged Great]

I have all but stopped watching the past couple seasons and my interest has dropped to zero. Who cares which of the richest teams win.

[ben voyonsdonc]

Maybe the fans don’t deserve this treatment (except the idiots who tracked Ohtani’s “flight”) but the front office deserves every single ounce of this pain.

Atkins and Shapiro are basically the kind of guy who neglects his own family to try to chase down an unattainable supermodel. Sign your own players. Draft and develop effectively. Sign mid tier free agents who will help fill gaps. Instead, we get off seasons full of moon shots that allow the team to be used as leverage by players who never intend to sign here. Getting publicly rejected over and over only further damages the brand.

It’s amazing that Atkins and Shapiro think that they can insinuate that they don’t want to pay Guerrero like Soto because he isn’t Soto and yet demand a return on a trade that would be equal to the Soto deal. Do they really think that other GMs are idiots? Shapiro has regularly balked at showing any real love to Guerrero publicly. Blair and Barker regularly question if the front office really wants him at all. They have essentially walked him to free agency…why on earth would Guerrero sign any deal at this point? He knows that in a few months teams will be throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at him.

The Jays have squandered his arb years by putting scrubs like Belt, Turner, Varsho, and Schneider behind him. They needed to load up in the last three years of team control. That was the window. Instead we got run prevention on a team whose core players simply don’t fit that philosophy. They needed to build around the core’s strengths.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

I have all but stopped watching the past couple seasons and my interest has dropped to zero. Who cares which of the richest teams win.

Its crazy, most of the league are just farm teams for the big handful...not sure how its sustainable. I was almost done with hockey before they fixed it.

[Senator Clay Davis]

The thing is MLB absolutely loves this. It is desperate for a team that you actually care about, whether it's love or hate doesn't matter, as long as you watch and have an interest. I don't think the MLB has ever really cared about competitive balance, and it especially doesn't in an era where national interest in the sport basically doesn't exist until the World Series. Hard cap will never happen cause the players would also have to agree to it, and that won't happen. And smaller market owners are happy to collect the revenue sharing cheques. Even though the long term looks grim for baseball, it's making good money now and that's all anyone in the present cares about.

[Roof-Daddy]

Why did the jays take on Straws contract to get more international money? There is nobody to use it on now.

It looks very incompetent from the outside.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Why did the jays take on Straws contract to get more international money? There is nobody to use it on now.

It looks very incompetent from the outside.

Even worse, sounds like the Jays knew signing the player was a long shot...

I sure they will use the international money on other players etc...

Could be lots of empty seats next season,

Not sure, Jays could have had a worse off season if they tried.

[calculoso]

Originally Posted by flambers

Could be lots of empty seats next season,

Not sure, Jays could have had a worse off season if they tried.

Guerrero and Bichette are still with the Jays. There is still time to have a worse one

[Inferno]

You know things are bad when Jon "Ohtani going to the Dodgers is what's best for baseball because Jackie Robinson played for them" Heyman writes an article about how it's bad for baseball.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1880633716655165758

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by flambers

Even worse, sounds like the Jays knew signing the player was a long shot...

I sure they will use the international money on other players etc...

Could be lots of empty seats next season,

Not sure, Jays could have had a worse off season if they tried.

It should be the final straw(literally) that gets management fired if things go as expected this season. The deal should have never been finalized until Sasaki committed.

It's just incompetence like Feaster signing O'Reilly not knowing he would have to go on waivers if Colorado didn't match.