OT: 2016 Blue Jays/MLB thread v2.0

[Lunatik]

It's as much Edwin's mistake as the Jays. Edwin and his agent were extremely confident they would be getting a huge contract on the open market, and thus rejected what ended up being the best offer they received from the Jays. As soon as that happened, Edwin effectively closed the book on the Jays, and Atkins had to act.

This is exactly why the NHL has their negotiation period prior to July 1st. To prevent things like this.

It was completely Edwin's mistake, after he rejected the Jays offer they had no choice but to move on.

 

[GAMO1992]

Yeah I was hoping to bring EE back and let Joey go. our lineup next year unless we do bring back Joey will be kinda.... lacklustre

only positive will be it'll force more collective scoring via hits small ball etc. which this team has never been relatively strong in(at least in a loooooong time)

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

Yeah I was hoping to bring EE back and let Joey go. our lineup next year unless we do bring back Joey will be kinda.... lacklustre

only positive will be it'll force more collective scoring via hits small ball etc. which this team has never been relatively strong in(at least in a loooooong time)

I said the same thing last year... Who's going to play small ball? It certainly isn't Pearce or Morales. The Blue Jays have almost no speed or contact hitters. We will live and die by the long ball ( with 2/3 of the top HR hitters over the last 5 years out of the lineup...) we're screwed. Baltimore is still good. Boston is stacked. The Yankees have oodles of young talent. Don't count out the Rays either, they have a hell of a pitching staff.

 

[The Gnome]

I said the same thing last year... Who's going to play small ball? It certainly isn't Pearce or Morales. The Blue Jays have almost no speed or contact hitters. We will live and die by the long ball ( with 2/3 of the top HR hitters over the last 5 years out of the lineup...) we're screwed. Baltimore is still good. Boston is stacked. The Yankees have oodles of young talent. Don't count out the Rays either, they have a hell of a pitching staff.

We'll live and die with our bullpen moving forward imo. We have slowly developed into a team that has solid starters and the bullpen started coming through later in the season. But yeah, we could use another body or two who can simply get on base.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

To be fair, I said the same thing last year when they lost Price. And they still have a really strong starting rotation this year. But I think they will be average offensively at best and they can only find magic in the bullpen so many times.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

The Jays will add another bat, guaranteed. Shapiro has done his homework and I know he is comfortable with how things have unfolded. He has several options for trades he can make.

I will almost guarantee that Jose is back as well.

 

[Volica]

Looks like Jose is coming back to Toronto.

Really, really wish it would have gone the other way with Edwin coming back and Jose leaving; but Jays get another power bat.

 

[Ynnek]

I wouldn't be surprised if Bautista has a better season than Edwin.

 

[Anglesmith]

I've said it before, but I'm expecting a big year from Jose if he can stay healthy. I think this off-season especially has shown him how much he has to prove, and he's a guy that thrives with that chip-on-the-shoulder mentality. I think he's run into injury trouble the last few years, and people have forgotten just how effective a player he is when healthy.

 

[The Gnome]

No Saunders

 

[Anglesmith]

No Saunders

Not the end of the world. Saunders kind of disappeared down the stretch when we needed him. To the extent that him vs. Upton was a coin flip, with neither being better than Carrera.

 

[Lunatik]

No Saunders

He's been missing since the all-star game

 

[MonyontheMoney]

Still unsure of what kind of expectations to put on this season.

As much as I can't stand Bautista, they needed him back. Losing Cecil, and Benoit is not ideal for the bullpen, but I definitely believe a bullpen can be built quite cheaply and easily.

Losing EE is huge, and his production hasn't been adequately replaced via Pearce and Morales, even though I like both additions.

Barring Tulo, Martin, Bautista and Morales finding the fountain of youth it's scary to think what a significant decline from one or two of them would mean.

The rotation was unusually healthy last year, I don't see how they can reasonably be expected to get that lucky again. Happ could also be in for a sizeable regression.

 

[Lunatik]

Morales's production will improve in Toronto. His production won't be much lower than Edwin's, he may not have the same pop but he's a better hitter and if guys can get on base in front of him, he will drive them home

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

I've said it before, but I'm expecting a big year from Jose if he can stay healthy. I think this off-season especially has shown him how much he has to prove, and he's a guy that thrives with that chip-on-the-shoulder mentality. I think he's run into injury trouble the last few years, and people have forgotten just how effective a player he is when healthy.

This is 100% how I feel, I'm actually happy about it and I love his attitude. I think the team feeds off of him when he's going and I think they would have less character had he left. All I care about is the players like him.

 

[MonyontheMoney]

Morales's production will improve in Toronto. His production won't be much lower than Edwin's, he may not have the same pop but he's a better hitter and if guys can get on base in front of him, he will drive them home

I definitely expect his numbers to improve in Toronto. But I think Edwin not only has more power but lots of stats point to Morales and Encarnacion being at least comparable hitters, if not giving the edge to Edwin.

What surprises me though, is Morales actually makes hard contact more often than EE, which is promising. But the FB% is a fair bit lower than EE.

 

[Anglesmith]

I definitely expect his numbers to improve in Toronto. But I think Edwin not only has more power but lots of stats point to Morales and Encarnacion being at least comparable hitters, if not giving the edge to Edwin.

What surprises me though, is Morales actually makes hard contact more often than EE, which is promising. But the FB% is a fair bit lower than EE.

I wonder if that's a strategic thing playing in Kauffman Stadium. Less likely to hit pay dirt swinging for the fences.

 

[MonyontheMoney]

I wonder if that's a strategic thing playing in Kauffman Stadium. Less likely to hit pay dirt swinging for the fences.

Could be. He's always played at pitchers parks too. Whether it be in Anaheim, Seattle or Kansas City, which is interesting. He had 3 consecutive seasons at over 40% FB rate earlier on.

I mean, it's certainly plausible, given a ground ball is more likely to squeak through for a base hit than a fly ball is.

 

[Anglesmith]

It's official. And after turning down the $17.2M qualifying offer, Bautista's new contract is $18M for the first year, with mutual options for the next two years after. Sounds like the value ramps up modestly over the three potential years such that the total value would be $60M. Mutual options are kind of stupid to me, but I guess the team has to pay something in order to decline the option on their side.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

I think it's great! Stroman, Pillar and Donaldson have shown public support of bringing him back. The guys in the room seem to love him, he can still produce and that's good enough for me.

 

[Anglesmith]

Do we want to think about whether he's able to play defence anymore or hit above .230?

OR DO WE WANT TO WATCH HIM SOCK A FEW DINGERS!

 

[Lunatik]

Do we want to think about whether he's able to play defence anymore or hit above .230?

OR DO WE WANT TO WATCH HIM SOCK A FEW DINGERS!

I want defense and a higher average more than a few dingers. I hope they put him in LF and find someone to play RF

 

[Anglesmith]

I want defense and a higher average more than a few dingers. I hope they put him in LF and find someone to play RF

They aren't going to find anyone else, I don't think, unless they are planning to have Carrera in right.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

Were they not getting Fowler?

 

[Lunatik]

Were they not getting Fowler?

Who?