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Blue Jays Hot Stove Thread

Nik Bethune said:
All of the guys you list as impact guys they got via trade and free agency(and none were free agents, they were all traded for) were guys they got after they had rebuilt themselves internally. Nobody is saying you never make trades or add free agents just that you first need to draft guys like Correa and Bregman which you can't do unless you rebuild and are bad for a while.

Because, aside from everything else, you need to build up your system so that you're able to put the pieces in a trade that land you guys like Cole/Verlander/Greinke.
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Actually Altuve was not drafted he was signed as an Amateur Free Agent.

Point is they are active on all fronts to improve the team.  Shatkins narrative up until now, has been patience and build through the draft but I believe the pressure to field a winning team forced their hand a bit and they went out and got Ryu.
 
It's probably also worth mentioning that the team you're saying is evidence of the way the Astros were built for Championships is the 2019 Astros who didn't win the title and not the 2017 Astros who did. They didnt have Cole or Greinke or Osuna and only had Verlander for the second half of the season and the playoffs.

The 2017 Astros were much more about guys they developed internally and not very exciting guys like Mike Fiers, Charlie Morton and Brian McCann.
 
Also, I don't think Shapiro or Atkins have ever specified the draft as the only way to add amateur talent into the farm system. I'm pretty sure they know about and appreciate the value of signing amateur free agents as they signed more than 30 international guys this summer.
 
Apparently with the Ryu deal done, Scott Boras has now negotiated more than a billion dollars worth of deals for his Clients this off-season between Cole, Strasburg, Rendon, Keuchel, Moustakas and some others.
 
I kind of like what they've done, but I liked what they did in abut 2013 when they brought in Dickey, Cabrera etc and that didn't really pay off so let's hope this one goes a bit better.

The rotation has gone from a load of bit parts to potentially fairly decent. If the kids can kick on there's potential to be only a few games back of a wild card berth. The team now should definitely go a few games above 500 though barring injuries etc
 
The Empire said:
Honestly, as the 3rd largest city in NA we should be trying to win the WS every single season.
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Just to quickly say that this is both A) untrue and B) largely meaningless. It's untrue because Mexico is in North America and it's meaningless because the population of the city itself isn't really relevant when talking about how much money a team is generating. Chicago, by any meaningful measurement, is bigger than Toronto as are the cities in Texas with baseball teams. Ranked by Metro area Toronto ranks 6th in the US and Canada with 6-9 being separated by around 100,000 people(or roughly 1.6%).

Sure, ok, Toronto is still within the group of larger cities in Baseball but they are also taking in dollars worth 75% of their competitors while still having to pay US salaries.

So if you really try to get a sense of where the Jays "should" be in terms of payroll it's probably closer to 10-15 then it is the top 3.
 
I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised by the Ryu signing.  The Jays will be a more interesting team to watch now.  They could still use more pitching, but at the same time they have plenty of guys who could use development at the MLB level.

I'm kind of intrigued by the David Price talk.  My guess is that ship has sailed now that they have Ryu.  But who knows.  The Jays could certainly use at least one more solid pitcher for the rotation if they have any aspirations of competing this season.
 
sickbeast said:
I'm kind of intrigued by the David Price talk.  My guess is that ship has sailed now that they have Ryu.  But who knows.  The Jays could certainly use at least one more solid pitcher for the rotation if they have any aspirations of competing this season.
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I think the Price talk was the Jays pressuring the Ryu camp into making a decision, especially since the rumours have really died down now that Ryu signed. I'd still be interested too, but if you have to give up assets AND take a huge chunk of that salary I'm not sure it makes that much sense.
 
Andy said:
sickbeast said:
I'm kind of intrigued by the David Price talk.  My guess is that ship has sailed now that they have Ryu.  But who knows.  The Jays could certainly use at least one more solid pitcher for the rotation if they have any aspirations of competing this season.
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I think the Price talk was the Jays pressuring the Ryu camp into making a decision, especially since the rumours have really died down now that Ryu signed. I'd still be interested too, but if you have to give up assets AND take a huge chunk of that salary I'm not sure it makes that much sense.
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I sort of feel it was the other way around. That the Jays were hedging their bets a bit on Ryu and would have been genuinely interested in taking Price and even paying him a decent sized chunk of his salary in the event that Ryu went elsewhere. With Ryu on board, whether by necessity or just self-interest, I think the Jays are probably less willing to take on a big chunk of Price's money and there's a point at which trading Price and not shedding enough of his salary just doesn't make sense for the Red Sox.

The question as I see it is at what point does Price have real value. Right now he's got 3 years at 32 million a year left and I think we'd all agree he's nowhere near that kind of pitcher and wouldn't get close to that as a free agent. But if the Red Sox ate money so that he was, say, 3 years and 17 per? 15? 12? I think somewhere in there is where he starts to have value.
 
Sure, or it could have been a mixture of the two. Certainly Price has some potential value and fits a hole so obviously it would have been a avenue to explore but I think that Ryu was easily target #1 and I wouldn't be surprised if some of that Price interest was leaked to pressure Ryu into making a quicker decision. I'm just spit-balling a bit here anyway.

I think taking Price at half of the remaining salary is where his value comes into play but that also means you're probably giving up some kind of meaningful prospect (or two) and I'm not so sure that's worth it at this stage.
 
Andy said:
I think taking Price at half of the remaining salary is where his value comes into play but that also means you're probably giving up some kind of meaningful prospect (or two) and I'm not so sure that's worth it at this stage.
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I think that's more or less right but I think the ultimate issue will be how desperate Boston is to cut payroll and what other teams might be willing to take a chance on Price. If there is another team willing to give up real prospects to pay Price 16 million per then I'd probably be with you that I wouldn't be on board with the Jays trying to match that.

If Boston doesn't move Betts or Martinez though and it would only take some fringe prospects? That's where there'd be a real upshot to being involved.
 
Without signing Ryu I'm on board with Price, but yeah, I don't think that there is a great price point where his value is going to be worth the salary.  The Red Sox either eat the majority of his contract and then want stuff in return or you take on too much salary and it affects the internal cap.
 
Andy said:
sickbeast said:
I'm kind of intrigued by the David Price talk.  My guess is that ship has sailed now that they have Ryu.  But who knows.  The Jays could certainly use at least one more solid pitcher for the rotation if they have any aspirations of competing this season.
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I think the Price talk was the Jays pressuring the Ryu camp into making a decision, especially since the rumours have really died down now that Ryu signed. I'd still be interested too, but if you have to give up assets AND take a huge chunk of that salary I'm not sure it makes that much sense.
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Atkins leaked the rumor and it worked.  The training wheels have come off
 
[tweet]1210697041262862336[/tweet]

Ryu is no stranger to Toronto, well, kind of...this is where he wants to be:

?I came here in 2013 and experienced some of the Korean fervour of the fans. So I am asking for the Korean fans in Toronto to come out and support me even more now that I?m a Toronto Blue Jay.?

The Korean journo complement wanted to know: Where are you going to live, where will you eat?

?There?s some time for me to get adjusted,? he demurred. Albeit added the customary observation: ?It?s an incredibly clean city and it?s a joy for me to be here.?
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https://www.thestar.com/sports/bluejays/opinion/2019/12/27/blue-jays-ace-and-joker-hyun-jin-ryu-makes-himself-at-home-in-incredibly-clean-toronto.html


About him wearing #99...his agent quipped:

Given Ryu will wear No. 99, one reporter made a point to ask about Wayne Gretzky during the half-hour media availability. A grinning Boras, well-versed in the seismic Gretzky trade between the Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings in 1988, took the lead on the reply.

"Canada lent No. 99 to LA," Boras said. "So with Hyun-Jin, we thought we would return it back to Canada."
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https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/hello-canada-ace-left-hander-hyun-jin-ryu-signs-with-toronto-blue-jays-1.4744844
 
Dappleganger said:
Frank E said:
Who's this Yamaguchi fellow?  Is he likely to be in the rotation?
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He'll be fighting for one of the back of the rotation spots.
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Thank you for that.  Wasn't sure if he was specifically acquired as a reliever. 
 
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