2019 Blue Jays Season Thread

[Roof-Daddy]

Donaldson signs with the Twins for 4 years $92 million plus an option for a 5th and $100 million.

Makes sense coming back to the AL and the DH option with a longer term deal.

[bluejays]

I'm actually very surprised Donaldson got those numbers. In the past 2 seasons owners have closed the vault aside from a couple players in their primes. So for Donaldson to get that type of deal today is either an impressive job done by his agent, or a reasonable gamble done by Minnesota. I think Donaldson is more or less done after 3 years, and with a cost structure of the Twins those remaining dollars could be heavy on the club. I didn't expect Minnesota to land him, so perhaps the 5 year commitment was what it took.

[Roof-Daddy]

Correction, its 4 years $84 million with a club option for a 5th year at $16 million or an $8 million buy out.

Still wish he was a Jay for $21 million per season.

[flamingred89]

Good for him. That’s a nice contract to bring him into the twilight of his career. I wonder what happened with the talks between the Braves? It was odds on consensus that he’d return. One would have to think it would be that 4th year.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by flamingred89

Good for him. That’s a nice contract to bring him into the twilight of his career. I wonder what happened with the talks between the Braves? It was odds on consensus that he’d return. One would have to think it would be that 4th year.

Every team has various points of view and assessments of risk to reward. I'm sure AA wanted the guy as much as anyone, but in combination with his familiarity of the player to the various people he consults with, they probably thought it was too much risk for taking on a lengthy term. Donaldson isn't old, but he's had a couple injuries where he's been out for a bit of time. Those injuries creep up every now and then and when they start adding up, things like bat speed suddenly decrease, coordination goes at times haywire, and the internal mental games of self doubt creep up. It happens to every player and is natural. I'd take on Donaldson for three years, but the risk beyond that is not worthwhile for some teams.

[Cheese]

Blue Jays Top 50


Graduated (11): 3B Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (1), SS (2), C (3), RHP (8), 2B Cavan Biggio (10), OF (17), C (19), RHP Trent Thornton (20), LHP Thomas Pannone (21), 1B (35), RHP Jacob Waguespack (36).
Gone (5): RHP
(26; released), OF Cal Stevenson (32; traded to Houston Astros), OF Dwight Smith Jr. (40; traded to Baltimore Orioles), C Max Pentecost (48; retired), 1B Chad Spanberger (49; traded to Milwaukee Brewers).
Fell off (5): SS Ronny Brito (29), RHP Andrew Sopko (30), RHP Jon Harris (39), OF Brock Lundquist (41), C Hagen Danner (47).
Trending up: SS/OF Otto Lopez (from not ranked to 17), C Alejandro Kirk (from 43 to 7), C Gabriel Moreno (from 37 to 8).
Trending down: SS Kevin Smith (from 5 to 16), OF
(from 9 to 27), RHP (from 11 to 32).

[Parallex]

That's a pretty conventional list. The only surprise (for me) was putting Dasan Brown high at #15... but that's just because I've basically been conditioned to expect the Blue Jays Great White Whale, Uber-toolsy HS Outfielder, to fail (See: Gose, Anthony - Davis, DJ - Alford, Anthony).

[browna]

Baby blue alternates, to be worn at home and road.
Looks good with the update of the darker blue word mark and dark blue new hat vs the previous retros.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1218577163613589504

[TheScorpion]

Wow, those are beautiful.

[bluejays]

I think that’s the gold standard for retros. Kept the feel of a retro but updated it to modernize it. I think it looks incredible. Especially the combo with the dark socks. Great.

[Machiavelli]

Might be a strange way to describe a baseball uniform, but those are so pretty.

[flames_fan_down_under]

Anyone else on VladBodyWatch like me? Looks a little slimmer no?

[nixon45]

Originally Posted by flames_fan_down_under

Anyone else on VladBodyWatch like me? Looks a little slimmer no?

I am as well lol. There have been videos posted to his YouTube account over the last few weeks and I always watch them just to see if he is making progress on his fitness.

[Joborule]

Those jerseys are mint.

[flamingred89]

He looks great. He’s never going to be lean but definitely looks like he’s shed some pounds.

[Crown Royal]

Love the uniforms, but hate the socks. I'm really not a fan of socks with logos and designs. I feel like solid dark blue would look so much better.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by Crown Royal

Love the uniforms, but hate the socks. I'm really not a fan of socks with logos and designs. I feel like solid dark blue would look so much better.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, though I think the combo with the dark socks makes it look spectacular. Looks really sharp.

[Harry Lime]

Just finished reading an MLB blog that dropped in the reminder that the Red Sox still have to figure out their payroll situation, and David Price would still find Toronto a comfortable landing spot. He was one of the most positive and vocal guys in the clubhouse, which would be great for the young players to emulate.

It's gotten awful quiet.

[Parallex]

Three Blue Jays make Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects list.

7 – Nate Pearson
29 – Jordan Groshans
61 – Simeon Woods Richardson (Thus making a bunch of folk retroactively pleased with the return for Stroman I'm sure). Makes sense to me 19 year olds who can shove in Hi-A are rare.

Dunedin is gonna have a ballin' rotation.
Woods Richardson/Pardinho/Manoah/Luciano... fearsome.

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

Just finished reading an MLB blog that dropped in the reminder that the Red Sox still have to figure out their payroll situation, and David Price would still find Toronto a comfortable landing spot. He was one of the most positive and vocal guys in the clubhouse, which would be great for the young players to emulate.

Terrible contract. I mean I'll take Price... but Boston would have to pay through the nose to get me to do it. Zero interest in helping the M#######s sort out their payroll jam.

[Harry Lime]

The Red Sox are currently 13.4M over the luxury tax threshold, so they can retain half of Price's salary, making it 16M/3Y.

Rumor has it, that the original asking price for taking on this contract was Benintendi, but that was for shouldering the entire contract. (which Toronto is in a position to do, because of their low cost positional players)

That is likely why nothing has happened, because the Red Sox don't want to make that deal. The problem is, that they only have Betts and Martinez who would make the payroll impact needing to get under the threshold, if Price isn't dealt. The other two players with that much salary in play have full NTCs and won't waive them.

So, it's an impasse. Toronto is also one of the few teams capable of taking on the salary, over the three year span, and with a competitive window to want to. Ugly, ugly place for Boston to be in, but they made their own bed.

If I was more confident in the abilities of the front office, I would be happy with the state of affairs. As it stands, I'm not, and I think that Price will go to to a mystery team like Arizona on a horrible deal for the Diamondbacks.