2022 Blue Jays Off-Season Thread - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

bluejays · 11-08-2021, 08:06 PM

I figure with Semien declining the qualifying offer, good time to start a thread to what posters think the Jays will ultimately do.

Personally, I can totally seeing them pursue a veteran pitcher for starters. With today the organization looking at the open practice at Verlander, I'm sure they would like that rock veteran to calm the nerves. I don't think he'll sign up north but it would be good. I'd like to see Joe Kelly as the set up man, especially considering LA declined to give him a qualifying offer.

Fielding, I have no idea where they look towards. Too many pieces rumored. Ultimately I'm hoping they load up on pitching as I'm pretty happy with the lineup even if Semien is gone.

Side note: today I got tickets for the opening day. Ticketmaster advance code: "pitch".

flames_fan_down_under · 11-08-2021, 08:58 PM

Thanks for starting this thread!

It will be a very interesting off-season for the Jays. I am encouraged by what Shapiro and Atkins are saying, that this season was encouraging but they are still disappointed and will get better. Very exciting time to be a Jays fan.

DoubleK · 11-08-2021, 09:48 PM

I'd love to see Joe Kelly in a Blue Jays uniform.

Roof-Daddy · 11-09-2021, 01:48 AM

I don't think the Jays will fork out a big contract to a position player over the age of 30, and I kind of don't want them to either. Big risk in tying up huge money to 30+ year old position players when you have the core inching close and closer to massive pay days.

I could however see them kicking tires on Corey Seager and Carlos Correa though. Still young enough, but they'd have to be willing to move to 3B unless Bo is OK doing it. If there is interest from them in signing with TO then they probably table a massive offer. Seager would be amazing given his left hand bat. Very unlikely though IMO.

I do think they will gun hard for a stud starting pitcher. Scherzer on a short term deal, Verlander if he looks good in his showcases, also on a short term deal. Plus Gausman is a guy I see them chasing hard. I'd also love to see them go after Syndergaard on a 1 or 2 year show me deal.

I hope they hold onto their prospect capital. I can seem them using Biggio at 2B, and Espinal/Smith/cheaper UFA like Escobar at 3B. I can also see Moreno coming up and playing some 3B too. He's been playing a bit there in the AFL.

Last but not least they need to bolster the bullpen. It's a crap shoot, but there are a lot of solid FA bullpen arms available. Hoping to see 2 or 3 of them brought in. Iglesias, Neris, Jansen, Hudson, Mchugh, Tepera, Givens, Graveman, Loup, Kelly etc. The list goes on and on.

Personally, my picks would be Iglesias, Mchugh and I would also like Yates back for about $2 million. I'd also like the Jays to trade for Taylor Rogers from the Twins, he and Mayza would be a solid 1-2 lefty bullpen punch. You put that all together and it has potential to be a devastating bullpen.

Iglesias
Romano
Mchugh
Merryweather
Yates
Mayza
Rogers
Cimber
Richards

Probably a pipe dream though.

I'm just chomping at the bit to see what happens.

KootenayFlamesFan · 11-09-2021, 05:09 PM

https://twitter.com/user/status/1458221532824616963

KootenayFlamesFan · 11-09-2021, 07:40 PM

https://twitter.com/user/status/1458240535353778181

Roof-Daddy · 11-09-2021, 09:01 PM

Yeah Moreno taking starts at 3B until guys like Groshans and Martinez are ready makes so much sense in so many ways. One of which is that it doesn't force their hands into having to trade one of the catchers if they don't want to. Especially with no full time DH on the roster.

If they don't trade one, I can see at some point this season all three of Jansen, Kirk and Moreno being in the line up at the same time.

C - Jansen
3B - Moreno
DH - Kirk

That's some serious "bang for the buck" potential.

Jays should really just steer clear of the position player FA market and divert the money this off season to pitching. Go get a couple high end starters and a couple high end relievers.

KootenayFlamesFan · 11-10-2021, 08:38 AM

https://twitter.com/user/status/1458458674859372550

KootenayFlamesFan · 11-10-2021, 08:59 AM

https://twitter.com/user/status/1458461582468415488

https://twitter.com/user/status/1458462357655474183

Jiggy · 11-10-2021, 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Yeah Moreno taking starts at 3B until guys like Groshans and Martinez are ready makes so much sense in so many ways. One of which is that it doesn't force their hands into having to trade one of the catchers if they don't want to. Especially with no full time DH on the roster.

If they don't trade one, I can see at some point this season all three of Jansen, Kirk and Moreno being in the line up at the same time.

C - Jansen
3B - Moreno
DH - Kirk

That's some serious "bang for the buck" potential.

Jays should really just steer clear of the position player FA market and divert the money this off season to pitching. Go get a couple high end starters and a couple high end relievers.

I'm worried about second base. Defensively Bo and Sems were great last year. If Cavan moves over full time I would be a bit worried. But I do agree they should be aggressive on the pitching front this off season.

bluejays · 11-10-2021, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jiggy

I'm worried about second base. Defensively Bo and Sems were great last year. If Cavan moves over full time I would be a bit worried. But I do agree they should be aggressive on the pitching front this off season.

If there's one hole in the lineup I don't think it'll make that much of a difference. I don't think Cavan will be significantly under average if he busts. The benefits of upping pitching are significant.

KootenayFlamesFan · 11-11-2021, 04:35 PM

Maybe Bo will get one next year.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1458940024959946758

flames_fan_down_under · 11-12-2021, 11:01 AM

Anyone else diving head first into the Gabriel Moreno hype? "Best prospect in the AFL", i have no idea where BA has him ranked in the top 100 but I would love to find out.

Blaster86 · 11-12-2021, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flames_fan_down_under

Anyone else diving head first into the Gabriel Moreno hype? "Best prospect in the AFL", i have no idea where BA has him ranked in the top 100 but I would love to find out.

Hard not to get hyped. Even before the Fall league the guy was the only untouchable in the system.

Roof-Daddy · 11-12-2021, 10:42 PM

Imagine being able to maintain long term financial flexibility by going out and signing the two old boys.

Scherzer for 2-3 years
Verlander for 1-2 years

Scherzer
Berrios
Verlander
Manoah
Ryu

Probably no way in the world that happens, but I'd be on board with it. Verlander obviously a risk coming off TJS and being 40 but what the hell, you'd only need him to be a solid 4-5 starter with that group, anything else would just be gravy.

bluejays · 11-13-2021, 07:41 AM

TSN has an interesting article up for the top 50 MLB free agents, which I think everyone should read. Gives a breakdown of each player from the point of view of Steve Phillips for MLB as a whole, and Scott Mitchell for the Jays on where players will sign and for the term. Again, it's an opinion, but Phillips projects the Jays to sign:

Kenley Jansen (24th ranked) - 3 year/$49.5M
Steven Matz (26th ranked) - 4 years/$60M
Anthony DeScalfani (27th ranked) - 3 year/$39M

Kenley would be really intriguing to me specifically. I think Jordan Romano would be the perfect set up man ideally this early in his career. Only thing that I'd be concerned about here is this being seen as a demotion given his solid year. DeScalfani I don't know anything about as far as I remember. Bringing back Matz makes too much sense and appropriate at $15M per season. I still think they'd be an ace away from contention if the above becomes true.

KootenayFlamesFan · 11-13-2021, 06:30 PM

So he's got speed too.............Really interested to see where his career goes. Tons of hype around him right now.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1459694457184473088

Roof-Daddy · 11-13-2021, 08:18 PM

Five tool phenom

transplant99 · 11-15-2021, 03:19 PM

So for those that believe Vladdy should be AL MVP, just absorb this...

Quote:

Really, the only question here is whether Ohtani will become the first unanimous AL MVP since Angels teammate Mike Trout won in 2014. His historic two-way season was one for the ages, something we haven't seen since Babe Ruth more than 100 years ago. He was one of the best hitters and one of the best pitchers in the league and that's no exaggeration. He hit .257/.372/.965 with 46 home runs, ranking third in home runs, second in OPS and slugging percentage, first in triples and fifth in stolen bases. As a pitcher he went 9-2 with a 3.18 ERA and 156 strikeouts in 130⅓ innings. Among AL pitchers with at least 100 innings he ranked ninth in ERA, sixth in strikeout rate and sixth in lowest batting average allowed. Add it up and Ohtani easily led the AL with 9.0 WAR.

Any other season, Vlad likely wins in a runaway, but voters simply cannot ignore what Ohtani accomplished.

Ray on the other had, wins the Cy Young IMO.

bluejays · 11-15-2021, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by transplant99

So for those that believe Vladdy should be AL MVP, just absorb this...

Any other season, Vlad likely wins in a runaway, but voters simply cannot ignore what Ohtani accomplished.

Ray on the other had, wins the Cy Young IMO.

Statistics can sometimes be misleading. It's not to argue that he doesn't deserve it, but in batting Vlad was better. Does this ultimately mean Ohtani wins every year because he can pitch too? It's unique, that's for sure, but as many have pointed out, the definition of most valuable player is value to the team. The Jays were pretty damn close to the playoffs based on Vlad and others killing it. It's a debate, it's not a runaway vote for either.