2015-2016 Blue Jays Off-Season Thread

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

Sanchez says he's put on 25 pounds of mass in an interview on sportsnet this morning. Hopefully that improves his stamina and he can take the reigns as a starter.

While the extra 25 pounds couldn't hurt, his ability to be a starter basically comes down entirely as to whether he brings his walks down and his strikeouts up (Particularly against lefties).

It's nice that him and Stro were hitting the gym... it'd be nicer if Stro showed him how to throw his Cutter and encouraged him to use his Curve/Slider more.

[Jason14h]

Rogers has only owned the team since 2000.

My mistake, let me correct myself

'Whatever they have been doing for the past 15 years, sure hasn't worked'

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

My mistake, let me correct myself

'Whatever they have been doing for the past 15 years, sure hasn't worked'

The Jays actually had a pretty good run from 97 through 2000 before Rogers bought them. A very good team that unfortunately played in the AL East and needed 100 wins to make the playoffs. People were quite pumped when Rogers bought the team as they felt with a big corporation behind them now they would be put in a position to spend some money and beat out one of the perennial powerhouses. That never happened, the dark days started (despite one off year where they overachieved), and payroll was slashed. Public pressure forced Rogers to put some money back into the team and dip intro free agency around 2006/2007, but as we've seen develop into a pattern, only enough was spent to field a good team with some glaring holes and they could never get past the annual AL East powerhouse. After a couple years of disappointment, payroll was slashed again, and second brutal period began and prospects began to be stockpiled. The public started to pressure Rogers again on the Jays back in about 2011 which resulted in the moves ahead of the 2013 season and an increased payroll and started the process all over again.

[Jason14h]

Think about this: The Jays pulled off two of the biggest rip off trades in history, essentially getting Bautista and EE for FREE.

We have never been able to develop 1 other star during their tenure or make the playoffs.....

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

Think about this: The Jays pulled off two of the biggest rip off trades in history, essentially getting Bautista and EE for FREE.

We have never been able to develop 1 other star during their tenure or make the playoffs.....

The Jays traded one of the best 3rd basemen in the league for EE.

[Jiggy_12]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

The Jays traded one of the best 3rd basemen in the league for EE.

This incarnation of Edwin we got for free.
In 2010 the Athletics claimed him off waivers from us, then was non-tendered shortly thereafter - making him a free agent. We then signed him back for cheap to a 1 year deal with a club option for a 2nd year which was picked up for the 2012 season.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by Jiggy_12

This incarnation of Edwin we got for free.
In 2010 the Athletics claimed him off waivers from us, then was non-tendered shortly thereafter - making him a free agent. We then signed him back for cheap to a 1 year deal with a club option for a 2nd year which was picked up for the 2012 season.

I had forgot about that. We originally traded Scott Rolen for him to Cincinnati.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Gavin Floyd, eh? That's a name I haven't heard of much lately. No wonder, he's always hurt.

Right-hander Gavin Floyd “appears headed for [a] deal with [the] Blue Jays,” Jon Heyman reports (on Twitter). SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets that the Moye Sports client is indeed in agreement with the Jays, pending a physical.

Floyd, who turned 33 just last week, would serve as a back-of-the-rotation option for the Blue Jays, though it’s tough to imagine he’d be promised a spot in the starting five after throwing just 92 Major League innings across the past three seasons. The longtime White Sox righty underwent Tommy John surgery early in the 2013 season and returned with a flourish with the Braves in 2014 (2.65 ERA in 54 1/3 innings) before missing the remainder of the season due to a fractured olecranon bone in his right elbow. Somewhat astoundingly, Floyd suffered the exact same injury in Spring Training with the Indians last year. He was thought to be lost for the season, although he did return to toss 13 1/3 effective innings of relief late in the year. Given the lengthy list of recent injuries, Floyd seemed like a candidate for a minor league deal, though details on his agreement with Toronto remain unclear.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/0...vin-floyd.html

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Toronto slugger Jose Bautista would like to be a Blue Jay for life. It appears to be up to the team’s new front office to make the next move.

Bautista, who is entering the final year of his contract, is coming off one of his best seasons and helped the Blue Jays end their long playoff drought last year. He made it clear in a phone interview Thursday that he would like to finish his career with Toronto.

Bautista said he recently had a positive meeting with Atkins and Shapiro at his Florida home.

“I think it [went] well,” he said. “They’ve spoken about how they want to get to know us, at least referring to myself and Edwin. They’ve been the ones vocal about the fact that they’re considering extending us, which would be an honour for us if we get considered.

The right-fielder is still very much in his prime at 35 and feels he can play at a high level for several years to come.

“I have to go by how I feel, and I feel great,” Bautista said. “I feel like I could play for another 10 [years]. Whether that’s realistic or not, again time will tell. But I have no set number of years that I would like to play moving forward.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sport...ticle28564884/

[bluejays]

Gavin Floyd. Name that I used to like and a name that I personally think would be good for the BP, but man, I see the excuses when things don't work out once he gets injured. The Jays have used such a tactic for years. Signing injury prone players in hopes that they won't get hurt, but when they inevitably do, it's used as an excuse for not making it. This off-season has been an off-season of looking for those diamond in the roughs. Maybe 1 will pay off.

Almost certainly 4 won't.

[REDVAN]

Really looking in the bargain bin these days... wow

[zukes]

The Jays have long been linked to Gavin Floyd, even pre bad string of injuries. The thing is Tommy John happens and the freak bone breaks in his elbow seem just that. Each time he has come back and looked fine. I don't mind this signing at all, even if he is guaranteed a small salary plus incentives rather than a minor league deal.

The injuries are so freak in nature, plus the Tommy John that is pretty much 50/50 that a pitcher is going to have it seems. This is a smart signing, while sure, also being bargain bin. But I'd rather bargain bin then give a big bag of cash to a %$^$bag like Gallardo.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by zukes

But I'd rather bargain bin then give a big bag of cash to a %$^$bag like Gallardo.

And a draft pick (Gallardo has a QO hanging over him).

On Floyd: This is most excellent news!... in 2011. I have to imagine this is a MILB deal with incentives akin to what the Jays signed with Johan Santana. I dunno, the way I see it we have a spot in the pen that's currently going to go to one of Schultz/Delabar/Venditte/Tepera so not something that'll be hard to improve upon (either by Floyd himself or the guy that he pushes out of the rotation). So, Yay?

I like having quality depth so provided he doesn't have a largish guarantee I approve the signing.

[Jiggy_12]

Originally Posted by REDVAN

Really looking in the bargain bin these days... wow

Again, every team makes these signings. Every one of them, if you aren't acquiring as many darts as you can for cheap in hopes a couple stick, you aren't doing your job.

We were also scraping the barrel when we got Colabello and Estrada, and when we drafted Pillar. How did these turn out?

[ben voyonsdonc]

Originally Posted by Jiggy_12

Again, every team makes these signings. Every one of them, if you aren't acquiring as many darts as you can for cheap in hopes a couple stick, you aren't doing your job.

We were also scraping the barrel when we got Colabello and Estrada, and when we drafted Pillar. How did these turn out?

Estrada wasn't really scraping the barrel - he wasn't producing a tremendous amount - but he had enough value that we gave up Adam Lind for him.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by Jiggy_12

Again, every team makes these signings. Every one of them, if you aren't acquiring as many darts as you can for cheap in hopes a couple stick, you aren't doing your job.

We were also scraping the barrel when we got Colabello and Estrada, and when we drafted Pillar. How did these turn out?

That's a weak argument. Sure every team makes these signings at an attempt to strike gold, but not every team routinely does this to fill legitimate holes on their every day major league roster like Toronto does, and certainly not teams that are in contention and playing in one of the largest markets in sports. This team is legitimately 1 maybe 2 players away from being a World Series team and rather than just going out and getting those players (and they can afford it despite the bull#### Rogers feeds people), they've spent the off-season dumpster diving.

You are a pretty off base on Estrada. The Jays traded Adam Lind for him. He wasn't dumpster diving at all. Estrada was a decent reliever with starter potential. They were getting a bonafide major league player to fill a hole. He wasn't some garbage they were picking off the top of the scrap bin to see if they could squeeze some life out of.

That said, I'm a pretty big fan of the Floyd signing. Could turn out great. If it doesn't, whatever.

[SuperMatt18]

Don't forget that Encarnacion and Bautista were bottom of the barrel acquisitions at one point in time too.

It's likely none of these guys turn into anything special, but you never know when you are going to strike gold.

[Jiggy_12]

The fact the Jays got anything of value for Lind was huge. They were already going to walk away (as per AA) from his 7.5 million option, so finding any piece to supplant him was a bonus.

Estrada's numbers had been very mediocre over his years with the Brewers, and that's in the NL where pitching numbers are grossly inflated.

Nobody was excited about that trade was my point. Just as nobody was excited by the waiver claim of Colabello, or the 32nd round pick of Pillar.

These moves have to happen in order to build a franchise, you have to find hidden gems.

The inevitable complaints every single time we do this just gets really old.

Edit: I also agree that the bigger splashes need to be made. See Martin, Donaldson, Price, Tilowitzki etc. to say the Jays don't make these moves is just incorrect. Look at recent history. Under the current regime I would agree they haven't made a huge splash yet, but the sample size is very small.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

That's a weak argument. Sure every team makes these signings at an attempt to strike gold, but not every team routinely does this to fill legitimate holes on their every day major league roster like Toronto does

Who pray tell has Toronto "routinely" made these signing for.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Don't forget that Encarnacion and Bautista were bottom of the barrel acquisitions at one point in time too.

Edwin wasn't. He'd established himself as roughly an average MLB'er (albeit solely on the basis of his bat) with the Reds. But you happily send a roughly average MLB'er the other way when you're getting a still productive likely future hall of famer at the same position back as part of the trade.

That's not to say he was great but I wouldn't classify him as "bottom of the barrel" unless you're talking just about his D... in which case he's still bottom of the barrel.