2025 Toronto Blue Jays Season Thread

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by flambers

Nope, Jays I would think expected this outcome,

Would be curious what are their short term plans

I dunno, I see a lot of panic in this thread.

It's pretty clear the Jays don't value Bo and Vlad the way they seem to value themselves.

I'd be very hesitant to give either of these two monster contracts as well. Haven't been able to build a championship team around them while they're young and relatively cheap, imagine trying to do it as they age and have bloated contracts attached to them.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

I dunno, I see a lot of panic in this thread.

It's pretty clear the Jays don't value Bo and Vlad the way they seem to value themselves.

I'd be very hesitant to give either of these two monster contracts as well. Haven't been able to build a championship team around them while they're young and relatively cheap, imagine trying to do it as they age and have bloated contracts attached to them.

With Bo, players comments last week basically said the Jays have not reached out.

As for Vladdy, sounds like there is a large gap between the request and offer

As for panic, Jays need to take the next step, there is no way they can let the player walk at the end of his contract.

[Strange Brew]

Jays already have the 5th highest payroll and well into the first CBT apron. Hard to imagine them remaining competitive if those two players have gigantic salaries attached to them unless they carry a Mets or Dodgers level of payroll.

I don't really know the answer but I can respect not going down the path of writing a blank check to those two players.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by bluejays

Vlad’s body language was pissed at the presser. From the sounds of it they weren’t close.

I do still think too, there is time to get a deal done. It was self imposed deadline. If they come back with a deal you think he’ll say no dice? Doubtful. Give it a few weeks I bet they’ll come crawling back to him. Anyway, if they truly are far in their offers I hope they deal him. It would be a sizeable return and could set the future up nicely.

TBH Vlad's body language was annoying to me at that press conference.

Because it came more as petulant than "pissed off" to me.

I think part of him felt like the Jays would just come to him with an open chequebook like they did Soto, and he might be a bit offended that they aren't willing to offer him the same.

One unsubstantiated rumour I've heard is Jay were willing to do $500 x 12 ($42M per year) but he wanted $600 x 12 now ($50M per year) and some frustration as his ask seems to raise as the Jays get closer to meeting it.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by flambers

With Bo, players comments last week basically said the Jays have not reached out.

As for Vladdy, sounds like there is a large gap between the request and offer

As for panic, Jays need to take the next step, there is no way they can let the player walk at the end of his contract.

Sure they can let them walk, this is baseball. It happens all the time. The Jays are trying to win this year so they aren't going to trade two of their top projected players for a handful of lottery tickets. If they were projected as a basement team you bet they'd probably be trading them now, and if they fall apart this year like they did last year you can also bet they'll be trading them. But they sure as heck aren't likely to trade them now or if they are in the playoff picture at the deadline.

[Strange Brew]

Yeah "letting them walk" is part of the game. World Series champions aren't built by selling off players, I can't think of a single champion that was built that way.

[flamingred89]

This whole thing is frustrating to me. But I'm not surprised. I've just become numb to the notion that my teams will always flounder in mediocrity at best.

Vlad and his camp sure are betting on themselves. Another big year and it will be the Vlad sweepstakes with him going to the Mets. Another mediocre year and he will end up going to the Mets lol. Vladdy likes his latin buddies. The Jays had a bunch and traded them all away. The Mets have Lindor and Soto already greasing the wheels.

Sad that nothing could be done. Love him or hate him he was a homegrown superstar. Which the Jays have had few and far between of over the years. I still love the guy. He's a big dummy at times. But he's our big dummy. And he can hit the baseball very very hard.

[JTech780]

They were never going to get any value for Bo, because of what a disaster his year was last year.

At this point they aren’t going to get anything of value for Vladdy. Unless they start a bidding war for him, but I don’t see that happening.

It’s going to be awesome when he signs in Boston, and lights it up hitting in Fenway.

Shapiro and Atkins are a joke, they have no plan. They still think they can get top end free agents to come to Toronto. They were never close to signing Ohtani, Soto or Sasaki, they were just being used to drive up the price. This is what they were saying on MLB radio this morning.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Sure they can let them walk, this is baseball. It happens all the time. The Jays are trying to win this year so they aren't going to trade two of their top projected players for a handful of lottery tickets. If they were projected as a basement team you bet they'd probably be trading them now, and if they fall apart this year like they did last year you can also bet they'll be trading them. But they sure as heck aren't likely to trade them now or if they are in the playoff picture at the deadline.

Not referencing Bo, my guess he is around right to the deadline, if the Jays are out of it. He is traded.

As for Vladdy, that's a different case. Jays can not afford to lose a player of this magnitude without any assets in return, (he definitely should be moved)

Jays in my view are not a contender, best case they might be a wild card team

[Wastedyouth]

Welp, this season is already a wash for me.

What a sad and pathetic start to the season. I can't imagine I am the only fan who probably will barely be paying attention to this gongshow all year.

[KelVarnsen]

Well I guess this means the only thing I can look forward to this season is the news that Schneider, Atkins and Shapiro have been thrown off the CN Tower. Or at least fired.

[calculoso]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

I see we're in full panic mode are we?

Don’t think it is panic, more annoyance and anger

[Jason14h]

I just want someone on the management team to tell fans what the plan is going forward !

Is it go for it this year and completely tear it down this offseason selling off anyone not bolted to the ground and getting the comp picks for vlad and bo and just starting over ?

[Jiri Hrdina]

I struggle with this one. I’m not a big Vlad fan. And maybe that’s my bias. I just don’t think he’s serious about the game.
I long thought between the two, Bo would be the one that I commit to, but that obviously is not happening.
I’m not sure signing Vlad to a massive contract leads to any team level success. It’s easy for him to say he wants to be here – but at what price?
It feels like, more than ever, MLB is concentrating talent into a small number of major markets. It’s quite discouraging from a fan POV. From time to time a small team will squeak in and win something, but it’s hard not to ignore the distinct advantages that certain markets hold.

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by zukes

I so badly want the next piece of Blue Jays news to read that Atkins and Shapiro are fired.

I've been waiting for that news for years. It's long overdue.

[Tyler]

This seems like really tough news, but I think this is actually a godsend.

Vladdy is a fun player but he doesn't win you championships. He never struck me as a real leader-type. I hoped/thought that would be Bo, but I don't see him returning to his former self after these injuries.

I think we end up dodging a major financial burden here. Hopefully we can retool and move on from these two in a non-devastating way.

[Roof-Daddy]

I dunno, I'm excited to see how this season goes. Definitely not high expectations, but Bo and Vlad will both be highly motivated going into their FA seasons without extensions.

Hopefully they finally carry this team where it needs to be. Especially Vlad. If he can't continue his second half output from last season, he isn't going to get the offers he was hoping for.

[Roof-Daddy]

Also, if the team fails they will probably sell and we'll likely see some new blood in the FO and they'll be able to start fairly fresh without a boatload of dead money on the books, like for instance $500 million committed to a bad bodied 1B who can't play defense, can't run bases, makes really boneheaded mistakes and hits the hardest groundballs you've ever seen.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I struggle with this one. I’m not a big Vlad fan. And maybe that’s my bias. I just don’t think he’s serious about the game.
I long thought between the two, Bo would be the one that I commit to, but that obviously is not happening.
I’m not sure signing Vlad to a massive contract leads to any team level success. It’s easy for him to say he wants to be here – but at what price?
It feels like, more than ever, MLB is concentrating talent into a small number of major markets. It’s quite discouraging from a fan POV. From time to time a small team will squeak in and win something, but it’s hard not to ignore the distinct advantages that certain markets hold.

I don't think this is a fair complaint from a Jays fan point of view. The Jays payroll is "major-market" level, imo. They aren't the As or Marlins or something, they're spending well into CBT.

Are they doing a great job with that money, well, that's a different question altogether...

[JTech780]

Vladdy is a top 10 offensive player in baseball, does he have warts, sure, so does Soto who just got $760m. Vladdy’s defense is not that bad, he was a -1 DRS, would you like it to be better of course, but that’s not horrible.

Is he worth $500m, no, Soto isn’t worth $760m either, but they don’t have anyone in the system that is remotely close to Vladdy and they aren’t going to be able to sign or trade for one either. You have to be willing to pay up if you want to win. This team will never be a winning franchise as long as Shapiro is around, and he isn’t going anywhere any time soon.

The last player that the Jays developed at Vladdy’s level was probably Delgado. Are we ready to wait another 20+ years to get another Vladdy? That’s where this team is at.