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Jays Roster Discussion

I'm sorry but I think this conversation has sort of reached a pretty ridiculous threshold when "inheriting" Osuna is seen as some sort of piece of extraordinary good luck.
 
I?m trying to be patient with Shapiro and Atkins, but man, they do not inspire confidence.

I?ll give them a pass on osuna, not much they could have done, but this is pure garbage. There is no way they got anything of substance from Cleveland.
 
I really don?t want to get into a back and forth but I feel there was a chance for a reset and a second chance next season. If he plays well he has trade value, if he doesn?t or can?t play the season all it cost them was one season of salary.

But his mad scramble to get rid of him just looks like amateur hour.
 
If anything they probably had a hard sell getting the budget for Donaldson knowing that the team was probably going to be garbage next year and still having big useless contracts on the books.

Sometimes you just have to cut your losses.
 
Joe S. said:
TML fan said:
They weren't going to get anything for him anyway.

Then qualify him and keep him.

There's a pretty good chance he wouldn't have signed a QO. In which case the return for him is just FA compensation so whatever return they got from Cleveland should probably be measured against that.
 
I don?t disagree with you - but it seems like optics at this point. If it comes to the same in terms of perceived value why  do you take the option where it looks like you?re desperate to throw out the trash rather than maybe giving some respect to the player that resurrected the franchise.

I know, I know, there?s no real thing as loyalty in sports.
 
Nik the Trik said:
Joe S. said:
TML fan said:
They weren't going to get anything for him anyway.

Then qualify him and keep him.

There's a pretty good chance he wouldn't have signed a QO. In which case the return for him is just FA compensation so whatever return they got from Cleveland should probably be measured against that.

QO compensation would be a pick in the 80 range.
 
Joe S. said:
I don?t disagree with you - but it seems like optics at this point. If it comes to the same in terms of perceived value why  do you take the option where it looks like you?re desperate to throw out the trash rather than maybe giving some respect to the player that resurrected the franchise.

I know, I know, there?s no real thing as loyalty in sports.

Actually what I was going to say was that maybe the way they showed Donaldson respect was in asking him whether he'd rather be kept around or if he'd like to go somewhere that he could maybe build a little free agency value by means of playing some postseason baseball.
 
That?s a fair point actually.

I?m not sure I?d give this management team that much credit, but what you?re saying makes sense.
 
Joe S. said:
That?s a fair point actually.

I?m not sure I?d give this management team that much credit, but what you?re saying makes sense.

Obviously I have no idea what conversations took place between the Jays and Donaldson but given that this is a situation where what's best for the Jays(given that, as Deebo points out, FA compensation is pretty minimal) and what's best for Donaldson line up fairly closely it seems like this was the right move regardless.

Sure, it stinks that a player as good as Donaldson who very likely could still be a good player is going to leave without much return but unless the Jays were going to make a real attempt to sign him next year(and even if, it's hard to imagine him wanting to come back outside of them offering him the most money) then this was probably inevitable.
 
Ideally the Jays would have traded a healthy Donaldson at the July deadline for a decent return. With that not being an option it was essentially trade him at the August deadline for next to nothing or hold onto him and extend him a qualifying offer for roughly $18 million in the off-season. Management didn't want to risk the qualifying offer because they believe he would have taken it.

Why would that have been bad? In part because it would block Vlad Jr.'s path to the majors. The Jays only need someone to plug in at 3B for a few weeks at the start of next season to avoid burning a year off Vlad Jr.'s contract. They have players on the roster currently to fill that short-term void without bringing Josh back.
Another factor is all the large contracts on the books for next season in Martin, Morales and Tulo. We are already seeing the team have to get creative with Martin because Jansen is ready to be the #1 catcher. This log jam in the infield could potentially affect how quickly guys like Bichette and Biggio reach the majors.

I'm grateful for all that Josh Donaldson did for the Jays, but at the end of the day also looking forward to having the 3B position free for Vlad Jr. to step in. It sounds like things unfortunately soured at the end between Josh and the Jays, but that's likely more to do with him being one of AA's guys and Shapiro and Atkins wanting to take the team in another direction by committing to the rebuild.
 
Nik the Trik said:
Granderson to the Brewers now too, apparently.

All the best to the Grandy Man, one of the classiest guys in MLB.
Opens up more playing time for Billy McKinney in the 4th OF spot. He's also a LH bat and has looked good thus far.

Jays get A ball OF Demi Orimoloye from Milwaukee in the deal. Interesting background, born in Nigeria and grew up in the Ottawa area.
 
Best of luck to Donaldson & Granderson.

Up until this season, Donaldson remained among the best in baseball:

Donaldson, 32, was the 2015 American League MVP and one of the most productive players over the previous five years. From 2013 through 2017, Mike Trout was the only position player with a higher cumulative fWAR than Donaldson?s 34.1.

https://www.tsn.ca/statistically-speaking-jays-get-little-return-in-donaldson-deal-1.1166045


For the Blue Jays, up until last season, he remained among their most impactful player:

In 2015 and 2016, he produced 16.1 WAR in 2015 and 2016 ? more than his world-class teammates Bautista and Encarnaci?n combined.

Donaldson had a down year in 2017 by his own standards, but an incredible one by just about anybody else?s. According to Fangraphs he was worth 5.1 WAR in just 113 games for the season ? good enough for 20th in the league among position players, even though all but four of the players ahead of him played in 145 games or more. What?s easy to forget about Donaldson?s 2017 season, though, is that a tremendous amount of his value was produced late in the year.


https://theathletic.com/490692/2018/08/28/stoeten-if-this-is-the-end-of-the-josh-donaldson-era-he-will-go-down-as-one-of-the-best-to-suit-up-for-the-blue-jays/[/color]
 

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