2023/24 Blue Jays Off Season Thread

[flames_fan_down_under]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Heyman apparently saying the Jays are the favorites for Soler as of now.

I think I should feel OK about that, but not 100% sure lol

Hopefully they use him as strictly a DH and he brings his 2023 bat with him if they do sign him

That’s positive. It at least improves their power. Hopefully he can build off his last season which was pretty impressive.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Excited to get Rodriguez.

96 MPH+, four useful pitches

That'd be amazing if they are able to stretch him out and he turned into a decent starter.

Apparently the plan is yes. Not this year though, they might give him some starts, but they want to ease him into it. But from what I read that's one of the reasons he signed with the Jays, to eventually be a starter.

Watched some of his videos, he's got a pretty nasty slider.

[Cheese]

Blue Jays top 25 list by Scott Mitchell.


3. SS/3B Arjun Nimmala



Last year’s ranking: NA 2022 rank: NA
Acquired: 2023 first round (20th overall)
2024 age: 18
Expected starting affiliate: Florida Complex League
YEAR IN REVIEW: Blessed with freaky power potential for a teenager as one of the youngest players available, Nimmala was sliding during the July draft before the Jays scooped him up at pick No. 20 and signed him for well below slot value at $3 million (slot was about $3.7 million). It’s a big time upside play by the Jays’ amateur scouting department, and you can dream on Nimmala being a big, rangy shortstop with high-end exit velocities and oodles of power. In his debut post-draft, Nimmala didn’t hit a homer, but did walk 14 times in nine games at the complex level.
OUTLOOK: As projectable as it gets, Nimmala being in the top three here speaks to both his immense upside and the lack of high-end prospect depth in the Blue Jays system. He’s their best chance at developing a star, and his full-season debut will be monitored closely by the entire industry as a fairly polarizing draft prospect last year. A hot start will have his name buzzing, while a slow one will confirm what most believe to be true today — he’s a long ways away. The highest-selected Indian-American player in draft history, the Tampa high school product’s focus will surround identifying spin and figuring out how to tap into all that raw power against professional breaking balls.
FUTURE ROLE: First-division starter
MLB ETA: 2028

[Inferno]

I guess I'm going to San Francisco in July to watch the Blue Jays play. It was less than $500 CDN for all three games and I'm sitting behind their dugout for the first game.

I was supposed to go there a few years ago for Metallica's 40th but with Covid and it being right before Christmas I decided to not take the chance of testing positive and being stuck their for the holidays.

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Maybe the Jays are planning to use a 6 man rotation to reduce the workload on the top 4 and also ease in other guys who have had limited injuries and/or performance issues this past year.

1. Gausman
2. Berrios
3. Bassitt
4. Kikuchi
5. Manoah/White/Rodriguez/Tiedemann

I know the numbers show the Jays top 4 performed a LOT better on an extra day of rest throughout last season.

FYP - Not sure if you can pencil in Manoah at this point. From my perspective he's on the same level as the other three and they have a major hole in the 5 spot. Need one of those 4 to step in and earn it.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Heyman apparently saying the Jays are the favorites for Soler as of now.

I think I should feel OK about that, but not 100% sure lol

Hopefully they use him as strictly a DH and he brings his 2023 bat with him if they do sign him

Everyone keep an eye on flights between Havana and Toronto!

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

FYP - Not sure if you can pencil in Manoah at this point. From my perspective he's on the same level as the other three and they have a major hole in the 5 spot. Need one of those 4 to step in and earn it.

Seems like the odds of one of the four being a serviceable starter are pretty good though. Individually there are questions about all of them, but like draft picks having four shots increases your overall chances of success by quite a bit.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

Seems like the odds of one of the four being a serviceable starter are pretty good though. Individually there are questions about all of them, but like draft picks having four shots increases your overall chances of success by quite a bit.

Agreed. To me you have to look at the characters though. If Manoah thinks he got shafted and doesn’t make the top five he’s going to sulk and his value will be in the ####s. Tiedmann, would understand his place in the pecking order. New Dominican guy was probably promised a spot. White could round out the six if he comes in strong. The odds are Manoah has to be dealt unless they’re monitoring him this offseason and have some insight into his resurgence.

[Roof-Daddy]

Hopefully Rodriguez has the chops be an effective starter. $8 million for a quality SP is a pretty serious bargain for 4 years.

[Samonadreau]

Originally Posted by flames_fan_down_under

Article failed to mention that AA inherited a roster with Acuna, Austin Riley, Ozzie Albies, Mike Soroka and Max Fried. AA is great, but he walked into a pretty nice situation.

Point still stands, AA walked into a good situation and made something of it. Shatkins walked into a good situation and have layed turds.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by Samonadreau

Point still stands, AA walked into a good situation and made something of it. Shatkins walked into a good situation and have layed turds.

Ridiculous statement.

Atkins walked into an old team at the ass end of it's window in Toronto and AA walked into a team in Atlanta that was just starting to crest.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by Parallex

Ridiculous statement.

Atkins walked into an old team at the ass end of it's window in Toronto and AA walked into a team in Atlanta that was just starting to crest.

Somewhat true. Atkins also didn’t trade Donaldson for a ransom at the time, with a few of the old asses. That’s on him. Their platform from day one was always that they wanted to develop talent internally to have a perennial contender. Their prospects have not been annually brought in as planned. AA, inherited or not, decided to keep his young guys, and they’ve developed nicely. Simple as that.

[flambers]

If I had to pick a between Atkins and AA,

It would be AA hands down,

[Jiggy_12]

I don't know who I would pick between the two, I think they are 2 of the better GM's in the league but both arent without their faults.

I did however (and still do) find it weird that they chose to part ways with AA, given he was the one mainly responsible for injecting life in to a franchise that had been relatively dead for 22 years

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Jiggy_12

I don't know who I would pick between the two, I think they are 2 of the better GM's in the league but both arent without their faults.

I did however (and still do) find it weird that they chose to part ways with AA, given he was the one mainly responsible for injecting life in to a franchise that had been relatively dead for 22 years

Didn't AA part ways with them?

[Jiggy_12]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

Didn't AA part ways with them?

Technically yes. But there was more to it

https://bluejayhunter.com/2017/11/wh...the-lines.html

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

Didn't AA part ways with them?

They hired someone above him (Shapiro) and that caused him to want to go. He was basically seeking more autonomy and they gave him less.

[flamingred89]

Yeah Shapiro was the Jays guy and they were going to do whatever it took to get him. Shapiro made it pretty well known he wanted to bring his own guys in. It really was a surreal situation in hindsight. Coming off a pretty magical run and then having that drama go down.

[bluejays]

Jays interested in Domingo German. Left last season to get help for alcohol addiction. Would certainly push someone out. If interested I’d have to think Manoah is on the block. Unless the Jays are contingency planning for if their other signing doesn’t go through.

[Roof-Daddy]

Joc Pederson signs with Arizona

That takes a potential DH off the market, but also takes a potential landing spot away from the DH bats remaining like Soler and JD Martinez