There was a lot of talk at the trade deadline and particularly at the end of the season last year that a lot of the new faces acquired shouldn't get too comfortable as it was proposed that a number of them would be flipped in the offseason to acquire MLB talent to fill other holes on the roster. Or simply to consolidate a crowded depth chart at some positions and clean up the 40-man.

That really hasn't come to pass 2/3 of the way through the offseason.

Horwitz was flipped to Cleveland in a surprising salary dump trade for Gimenez that no one saw coming. But Horwitz was actually an in-house overage prospect who came up late in the spring, tore the cover off the ball for 4-6 weeks, then went stone cold like a lot of the rest of vets and new faces.

I haven't seen that much lamenting over Horwitz' loss. Likely because of so much preoccupation over the uncertainty over Vlad. And the fact that Horwitz was a league average type without a position given the hope to sign Guerrero into perpetuity.

But what of the Joey Loperfidos, the Will Wagners, the Nathan Lukes (though another internal guy), the bevy of mid-to-low Top 30 prospects that the Jays acquired.

Why haven't we seen more roster churning on the margins for a team that for all intents and purposes is all-in for Vlad and Bo's walk year?

Are the Jays playing both sides, trying to sneak into the playoffs while also hording marginal assets to retool in 2026 when both stars may be gone? Is the team too close to their budget ceiling that they can't exchange youth for pricier contracts? Are they keeping their powder dry with lots of budget room allocated for the few straggler FAs out there and Vlad's potential extension?

Is the league so unimpressed with the pool of prospects they acquired last year by purging all the walk-year veterans that the FO has been unable to convert anything but Horwitz into a 2025 MLB asset?

I think it’s a bit of both.
I wouldn’t rule out them going the trade route for pitching and using a couple of those guys acquired at the deadline last summer in a package if the Sasaki thing doesn’t work out. Addison Barger wasn’t part of that, but showed some promise in the bigs last year, he could also be used. I keep coming back to Steven Matz, whom the Jays are familiar with as a possible stopgap. He’s a free agent after next year and needs to prove himself to get another contract in the bigs last year. Ross Atkins has dealt with St Louis a lot in his tenure. It’s an injury risk but the upside is a good mid rotation starter with no commitment and wouldn’t cost much in trade.

The money they have is to go after free agents.
The trade potential is more along the line of trading 2 guys for 1 to fill a position of need.
Good young starters are at a premium, so out of reach. 
Horwitz would have been the DH and the thought was to upgrade there with whoever is available on the market.
For now, that's Santander.

The projection for Profar isn't good and he's not the guy I want hitting behind Vlad. Not at all.
Bregman says he's not interested in a short contract. I think the best offer he has is from Detroit but it's not as good as what he was offered by Houston. So he pouts.
Santander is willing to take a short contract with higher AAV but who wants to lose a draft pick to sign him for a single year at 25M or more?
Chapman signed for a short contract that paid him 18M in 24 and he turned that into 6 more years at 25M but he did that with a 7WAR season.
Santander's best year is 3WAR.
It seems to be like the Encarnation situation. The Jays have the best offer out and don't want to bid against themselves. So we wait.

I think some marginal prospects close to majors will likely be traded but doesn't really make sense at this point unless something amazing presents itself. Free agent avenue is still wide open and trading players just to trade them doesn't make sense.

Apparently, Padres are out on Sasaki. They will start signing their IFAs today. This is excruciating!!!!

Francys Romero and Will Sammon are decent media types so it does appear to be down to LAD (and TOR).

Oh man. The burden. Thanks for the updates I didnt see any. Fingers crossed!

I will say this, though. Sasaki has apparently been in LA since visiting SD/LAD... his agent has an office there. But, if the Padres are convinced enough that they're out - and are signing their international FAs today, then Sasaki has probably already had and passed a physical with his new team. Toronto does their physicals in Dunedin... The Dodgers do them in LA.

Crazy stuff. I had no hope at the start but now it is 50-50. The question is does he want to be a small part of a monster or a bigger part of something that could be his own.

Whoa. Another Ohtani-type situation. This is stressful and exciting!

The trick is to never get your hopes up!

I think it was always the Dodgers, just like with Ohtani.

But hey, at least the media is getting lots of clicks!

For the Dodgers, adding Sasaki is like putting another Lambo in the warehouse. For the Jays, it's existential when the team is at a crossroads and the GM is fighting for his job. This take probably won't age well, but I'm starting to wonder if we might just win this one.

Bregman would be a much better signing than Alonso or Santander imo.

He's actually one of the very few position players available this offseason who i'd be happy to pay for.

"Why would they come to our concert just to boo us?"

To quote from The Hold Steady: Stay Positive.

All signs point to the Dodgers. How often do we have to be the Charlie Brown of MLB ?

It's obviously the Dodgers, right? A couple of their IFA commits have already defected, they're trying to trade for more room, and they're the Dodgers. I want this as much as anybody but all signs are pointing that way.

"Bregman would be a much better signing than Alonso or Santander imo."

Agreed. Higher ceiling and higher floor and fits the team well. Steamer has Bregman at 4.1 WAR for next season and Alonso and Santander at 2.4 WAR. It's a significant difference.

At this point, if I had to guess, I would say Dodgers for the reasons mentioned. It could well be that the Blue Jays are the backup in case there are any late-breaking problems in closing the deal with LA.

But — you never know.

Emily Dickinson: “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers.” Blue Jays feathers, we hope.

Dodgers are favourites but lets give credit to Toronto for creating an organization that would be a powerhouse with Ohtani, Sasaki and possibly others in a different universe without the Dodgers.

Really a bit spooky to have zero posts from reputable sources on the interwebs for what, the past 48 hours at least? I suppose they all learned a hard lesson from JP Morosi.

No news about the jays signing their committed prospects - good news - would be a double whammy if the jays prospective prospects sign elsewhere and then Sasaki goes to the dodgers. Though given this FO record with IFA (sans Cuba), it's probably much ado about nothing.

don't read the tea leaves.

do not read them.

Hearing the Blue Jays are working to acquire additional international bonus pool room as they await Roki Sasaki’s decision. Doesn’t mean a decision has been made. To be expected from all finalists for the right-hander, so they’re ready for all possibilities.

— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) January 17, 2025

What if it’s Japanese tea — is that allowed?

Is this tweet the 2025 version of the airplane tweet from last winter?

Shi Davidi got his information from the guy who is on Shark Tank.

Nah, a tweet saying Sasaki is on his way, or that the Jays have an 8 PM media notice up would be more comparable. I keep going to MLBTR to see if anything new has happened, then checking Twitter due to so many MLB rumor mongers still being there (even though I'm trying to avoid it, I like Blue Sky far more).

Feels like our Blue Jays fandom for the next 5+ years is teetering on the brink. Coulld go either way

Jays just acquired Int'l Pool $ from Cleveland per Blake Murphy

Jays received $2m in international pool money in exchange for eating Myles Straw's contract ($6.5 x 2yrs, plus buyout).

So it wasn't cheap to get that pool money.

And they're eating ~$14M of Myles Straw's contract to get it. That....sorta seems significant?

Its Dodgers.

we were THIS close!

Who's reporting the deal?

The Jays could either scoop up some of the Dodgers' IFAs or negotiate a trade with the Dodgers for someone off their 40 man roster.

Taking Straw’s contract for international money is incredibly risky unless Sasaki has given them some indication that he’s coming over. That’s a lot of money to eat up on a bad player if it’s a Hail Mary attempt.

Fake account. Ignore...

Well, that makes things more interesting. $2 mil of cap space and it is done without the Dodgers officially doing anything yet. Straw is, well, a typical Atkins guy - insanely good defense, lifetime 76 OPS+. He has played a bit at SS and 2B as well as all 3 OF positions, but clearly is most useful in CF. So he will cover for Varsho while he is hurt, will they move Varsho to LF again or move this guy to LF when Varsho is healthy? Guess we'll see.

$2 mil puts the Jays IFA money at $8,261,600, plus anything else they can get. Dodgers max out at $8,223,920 if they get everything they possible can. Jays can potentially get to $10,018,560. So the Jays now can bid more than the Dodgers can even without any more trades. Another trade though and the Jays can shatter the Dodgers limit. So if cash is any factor the Jays now have the advantage.

That’s a lot of money to eat up on a bad player if it’s a Hail Mary attempt.

On the other hand, if the Dodgers get Sasaki, there will be a bunch of IFAs looking for a new home.

I thought you could only accumulate 250k in extra intl cap space per trade.

Oh, the Rays ZiPS data is up now and they have 6 2 WAR regulars, 3 sub 2's (LF/CF/DH), 4 starters 2+ (2 in the 3+ area) and a decent 3.4 pen. On the surface the Jays are in better shape, and if this Sasaki stuff works out in a lot better shape. It'll be interesting to see how playing in the Yankees spring training park affects them - it isn't like they ever had many fans in the first place, maybe this way they'll get sellouts.

"I thought you could only accumulate 250k in extra intl cap space per trade."

It is in increments of 250k. i.e. 250, 500, 750, etc.

"I thought you could only accumulate 250k in extra intl cap space per trade"

It has to be in increments of 250K so 250/500/750, etc...can't be 373K or anything. This move tells me Jays think they have a shot and it's worth it to go all in for it. Straw's contract is terrible (not in a major way, just useless player for $13M) you get Sasaki, it doesn't matter at all.

"Cleveland is covering $3.75 million of the remaining $15.5 million owed to Myles Straw"

A little relief I guess but contract still terrible. Go get Sasaki!

Straw actually isn't useless - he was a 2-3 WAR player in 21 and 22. He just is a pure glove guy who has value even with a 78 OPS+. Poor Lukes though - this pretty much locks in that he won't get his shot in 2025 as Straw will be the backup OF now. High end defense, 20-30 SB speed. Ideal for a backup really and at under $7 mil per year not a terrible deal. If he can get up to a 100 OPS+ he'd be very valuable (unlikely). For Cleveland that is too much for a backup, for the Jays with a $200+ million payroll it is a 'so what'.

Cleveland is covering $3.75 million of the remaining $15.5 million owed to Myles Straw, source tells me & @ShiDavidi.

Also worth noting: Straw's money counts towards the Blue Jays' CBT calculations regardless of whether he's on their 40-man.

— Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) January 17, 2025

needless to say, this would be a very bad move if they don't land Roki.

Even with $1M off each year (and cash to cover the buyout), that's a lot of cash for an OF with a 72 wRC+ in AAA last year. With implications to the CBT, you'd have to think the Jays were pretty darn confident something was happening... especially with the Dodgers not yet making any trades.

For what it's worth, I've also seen that Cristopher Polanco was informed that the Jays won't be signing him and he's met with other teams. However the source is not necessarily credible. More just curious smoke than anything.

If Sasaki choose LA,the front office will get roasted for again coming in second, and for the Straw trade but I have to give them credit for doing everything they should do to acquire superstars/uber-prospects.

One thing the Blue Jays can do that the Dodgers can't is offer Sasaki a higher signing bonus https://t.co/N4NGunnt5g

— Brandon Wile (@Brandon_N_Wile) January 17, 2025

If you assume Straw's nominal value is about $2m - hey, with Varsho's surgery, he does have a bit of an opening - that probably puts the ratio to buy the IFA dollars at 5:1 (6:1 if you put no value on Straw). I wonder how that compares with previous year trades. Also, I'm wondering if any of the other teams affected by the RSN bankruptcy (e.g. Minnesota) has any IFA money they want to use for some savings. Christian Vazquez or Chris Paddack might make useful targets, for example. Of course, my inclination towards pessimism also has me wondering what happens if-when the Dodgers sign Sasaki. If they're still out there, would the arranged signees honor their previous agreements, or would you have to enter a bidding war for them?

I'm also wondering if I've described something as indescribable, haven't I already described it? These are just some of the things I ponder on a Friday afternoon winding down a wintery work-week.

Myles Straw will be great for those of us who enjoyed watching Bradley Zimmer, but wished he could be paid more money.

With the acquisition of Straw, does that put the Blue Jays over the first CBT tax bracket? Do they lose money from their IFA pool now?

Straw is entirely on brand for this roster.

IMO this off season had a lot of complaints as follows:

1) Does anyone know what this FO is doing? This is fair because they told us nothing.

2) No Vlad extension and no FA signings except Yimi and Hoffman. True and a fair enough complaint.

3) The trades & FA signings surprised everyone. I was not surprised by the Yimi signing. To analyze/evaluate the activities. The pen has been improved and so has the team D. But more O is definitely needed.

I am no longer concerned that these done deals have broken through the Luxury tax level. There does seem to be a plan.

The plan could be V good if R Sasaki signs with us because our pitching should be vastly improved and Bassitt can be traded without hurting the rotation. I think M Straw has good D value and hopefully has not put us above the luxury tax. The extra Int'l money helps sign Sasaki. If he does not sign then we can sign our own Int'l prospects and add LAD prospects.

The IFA pool is set for this year, with the Jays able to add but cannot have it shrunk unless they trade it away. Next winters will be affected should they be over the CBT.

In fantasy baseball, Bregman would be great.
In real baseball, he's a 4 WAR player who has always been surrounded by great left bats and he's a pull hitter in a ballpark with a box in left field that pull hitters can hit into.
When the Jays signed Springer he was a 6 WAR player about to turn 31.
That's the same age Bregman will be and the last time he was worth 5 WAR was in 2019.
The Jays already got 3.4 War out of clement and he's not blocking a prospect from hitting his way to third base.

Santander in LF is a 3 WAR improvement from last year. Bregman at 3B is less than 1 WAR and several years of negative value.

I totally agree with the idea of letting Clement play. Have Vlad as a backup plan if Clement totally falls apart? Isn't he trying to play more 3B anyway?

Spend that money on true upgrades, not "replace a player who was good with one who was better in the past, but is now older and will cost 3x as much and will only bring marginal upgrades".

I wonder if Springer is strongly advocating for Bregman?

"In fantasy baseball, Bregman would be great.
In real baseball, he's a 4 WAR player who has always been surrounded by great left bats and he's a pull hitter in a ballpark with a box in left field that pull hitters can hit into."

He has a career 137 WRC+ at home and 132 on the road. He isn't a product of his home park. I don't think Bregman will be a superstar for years or anything but he's a much better player than Alonso or Santander.

Love Clement and everything, especially at his price point, but going with him as your starting 3B almost certainly locks a below average hitter into your starting lineup fulltime.

Whereas we have a number of OF options that could potentially give us above average hitting. Heck, Clement could probably play a decent enough OF.

"I totally agree with the idea of letting Clement play. Have Vlad as a backup plan if Clement totally falls apart? Isn't he trying to play more 3B anyway?"

Steamer has Clement as 1.5 WAR and Bregman at 4 WAR. That is an upgrade of 2.5 WAR which is massive. I like Clement, Seems like a great guy but I think he is a 90-95 WRC+ with good to very good defense kind of guy. That's not a guy I want starting at 3B for a team competing. Great as a utility guy (although Jimenez certainly has more upside) but easy place for Jays to upgrade.

What the FO does is pay but without overpaying.
The previous FOs were not spending at all. This FO is going over the luxury tax.  
Thanks to Boras, free agents can wait forever if they don't get what they want.
That wouldn't change with a different FO.

Vlad has always had demands in excess of his valuation.
The biggest contracts for a 1B are Freddie Freeman 6/162M and Matt Olson's 8/168M.
Christian Walker signed 3/60M with Houston. Alonso is still unsigned.
They offered Vlad over 300M but he wants close to 500M.
The Yankees missed on Soto but spread the money on improving several positions.
That's the option if the Mets want to overpay Vlad.

if we average Steamer and Zips wRC+/OPS+

* Bregman 122
* Santander 119


Jays with Bregman

* 1B Guerrero 151
* 3B Bregman 122
* SS Bichette 115
* C Kirk 113
* RF Springer 106
* 2B Giminez 105
* CF Varsho 101
* DH Wagner 114 / Roden 108 / Schneider 105 / Lukes 105 / Barger 104 / Loperfido 90
* LF Roden 108 / Schneider 105 / Lukes 105 / Barger 104 / Loperfido 90

* IF Clement 97 / Jimenez 99 / Stefanic 108



Jays with Santander

* 1B Guerrero 151
* LF/DH Santander 118
* SS Bichette 115
* C Kirk 113
* RF Springer 106
* 2B Giminez 105
* CF Varsho 101
* 3B Clement 97
* DH/LF Wagner 114 / Roden 108 / Schneider 105 / Lukes 105 / Barger 104 / Loperfido 90

* IF Jimenez 99 / Stefanic 108 / Kasevich 83



So likely not as good a lineup offensively with Santander, and probably worse defensively as well.

Of course, projections are not facts - How many projections had Clement being as productive as he was last year?

kinda all of them tbh.

for example, Zips had him at 95ops+ last year.

he finished at 95ops+.

I can counter with how many predicted a 3.4 WAR (baseball reference) - It's all playing around with stats. - I'm comfortable with Clement @ 3B at his price than paying Bregman especially the years he wants.

There is another option - Vlad to 3B, sign Alonso for 1B, give both lots of DH time. Wagner could be the DH vs most RHP, vs LHP you put Clement in at 3B and decide who to DH between Vlad & Alonso. Not perfect, but not bad either.

Alonso projected at 125 wRC+ (Steamer), or 126 OPS+ (ZiPS). So that could work - would be a bit scary on defense but this team has more than enough 'wow' on defense to sacrifice 3B defense. Plus Clement is a near GG 3B (finalist last year) so he easily covers when needed (Berrios starting for example, or vs a RH hitting team that tends to pull a lot of ground balls).

2025 will be interesting. Sasaki or not.

ZIPS doesn't factor in hitting in an all right bat lineup with the ump calling strikes into the opposite hitter box.

Bregman just had a 118 OPS+ and Santander a 134.
Bregman is older, why would he decline less?
It seems the projection relies too much on data from before 2020.
Bregman is not going to play like he's 25.

Shapiro/Atkins cleaning up Cleveland mistakes - they must have intel on them.

I don't even know how projections even try to project defensive value for guys with very limited mlb playing time like Clement tbh. I don't even really look at those parts of the projections - I do care about the offensive projections for sure, and then try to factor in the consensus on the player's defensive ability on top of that. I'm not even sure that Clement's partial season defensive war last year is reliable, tbh.

But offensively, Clement's performance was no surprise, and it was projected.


I'm also "fine" with Clement at 3B, but it's still true that we're likely locking ourselves into a below average bat playing fulltime.

Bregman's about 7 months older than Santander. I don't think age is an issue in the comparison tbh.

Bregman's career 135wrc+ is better than Santander's career year 129 last year. Last year is the first year in their careers when Santander has ever been the better hitter.

"Shapiro/Atkins cleaning up Cleveland mistakes - they must have intel on them."

Definitely the people that used to work for Shapiro have intel on him and are able to force him to clean up their messes. It has nothing to do with a large market team taking advantage of a smaller market team to try to improve themselves.

Nice fairly intelligent questions and comments. 2 important questions still left unanswered is where are we concerning the luxury tax and the Vlad extension situation. Lots of off season left.

With the luxury tax the Jays are on the edge of it right now. Pre-Straw they were at $234,854,239, $6,145,761 of space left. Straw is a $5 mil hit (Cot's) less $1 mil paid by Cleveland so the Jays are close but not over yet, emphasis on yet. Another signing and they are very clearly over, $20 mil to the next bracket, $20 mil more to the one after that, etc. Basically they aren't worried about going over if they can contend. If they cannot then expect some trades of guys like Bassitt who are at the end of their contracts.

year Bregman Santander
2020 117 135 (OPS+)
2021 113 94
2022 133 120
2023 124 121
2024 118 134
Santander had a much better 2020.
Santander is a natural low ball hitter who eventually figured out how to hit the high fastball.
So his early numbers aren't as good.
Bregman is showing a lot of decline over his early career.

In the end, Santander is a switch hitter who plays a position of need and requires a shorter contract than Bregman.
Bregman has a good chance of ending in Boston with Devers moving to first.

Santander had 165pa in 2020.

There is no better without qualifications.

What's happens to our international funds if we don't get Sasaki and all of the good prospects are signed? Can we carry it over?

Bregman has accumulated some injuries I think. And he’s been in decline the last couple of years. His walk rate really fell off in 2024. He might rebound (like Chapman in 2024), or he might end up being a bad signing pretty fast. Probably he would be valuable for at least a year or two.

Paging Glevin and Marc

Sasaki to dodgers. Just so bad for baseball and it feels like we were strung along again.

Damn what a shame for Mark and Ross and all of baseball unless you like the whole "money buys happiness" thing.

This is starting to get embarrassing.

I do credit them for trying. I think it's good to not just concede these players.

I have no idea what the hell Myles Straw is good for now.

This is terrible for MLB - if he went to SD I'd have been fine, but LA? They were rumored for months to have a pre-agreement in place, and this just makes it obvious they must have. Jays obviously with the trade today felt strung along and were put in a no-win situation. They could offer more cash than LA. In the end it was pre-determined. Luckily none of the Jays prospects appeared to sign elsewhere. Jays should now swoop in on any high end IFA and 'steal' them from whoever they were committed to with that extra $2 mil.

It's so bad for baseball because Sasaki would have been transformational for a number of franchises and for the Dodgers is like their #4 starter. They didn't need Sasaki at all but Japanese players seem only want to go LA. I don't know where Jays go from here but I think trying to contend makes less sense. Hopefully they can use extra international room to sign some extra players at least.

Atkins must now be fired for doing the Straw trade today. How can that not be the final straw?

Yes, credit to Shapiro and Atkins for putting on the full court press for Ohtani, Soto and Sasaki.

Just keep trying to creatively make the team better.

"This is starting to get embarrassing."

For MLB and the LAD, yes. Definitely not for the TBJ. Glad they are conducting themselves like an elite franchise when it comes to free agents.

Just read at FanGraphs that the Jays were down to just $1 mil left in IFA money if you factor in the guys they were linked to so that $2 mil might be to sign someone who is available who wasn't supposed to be.

Is it petty of me to hope Sasaki needs TJ surgery sometime this year? The Dodgers seem to have guys go down like flies all the time (3 TJ's and 2 major shoulder surgery guys right now).

I also credit them for trying. I don't love the FO, but the fact we've been near the finish line with the biggest names in the sport is still a philosophical improvement. Even if in the end, it nets nothing more.

Now we will see what happens. Will Alonso, Santander and Bregman all spurn Toronto like Burnes and Sasaki and Bichette? Vlad?

This FO has gotta be feeling terrible with their rotten luck while Friedman must feel like the center of the universe.

I don't hope for injuries to the LAD but I do hope MLB or someone else discovers lots of illegal deals and money under the table and strips the Dodgers of picks and $$$.

It’s frustrating because the Blue Jays need to get a toehold in the Japanese elite player market. There have been so many good players from there (Ichiro, Darvish, Tanaka, Ohtani, Yamamoto, Sasaki, to name a few). If players like Ohtani and Sasaki had real interest in Toronto, then the Blue Jays should keep trying hard to acquire Japanese players. Eventually they will break through.

Hopefully they can use the extra pool money to boost their IFA talent acquisition this off-season. It’s a consolation prize, but it could still have significant value to the organization.

Unfortunately, failure begets failure. They are being punished over and over again for their horrendous minor league development and useless last several offseasons.

But I will say that Sasaki was a much, much more worthwhile effort than Soto which cost the team so much leverage and was never going to succeed.

I also think it was disgraceful for Wolfe to let the Jays get to the point of a Straw trade without making intentions clearer sooner. Either you want the Dodgers or you don’t. This was a joke. And he should have known better.

"Is it petty of me to hope Sasaki needs TJ surgery sometime this year?"

Petty is not the word I'd use.

Actually, I think the Straw trade might have come *after* the Blue Jays were informed they were out on Sasaki. They might have wanted to execute the trade quickly so that they could grab a quality IFA player or two (maybe one of the Dodgers IFA players) before other teams pounce on them. The front office urgently needs to improve the farm system, and this is one way to do
It.

And they may need a center fielder anyway while Varsho is rehabbing. Straw can fill that role and maybe there is a slight chance he can become a modestly valuable player again.

The FO has had awful luck lately. Ohtani, Soto, Sasaki, Burnes…can’t get valuable FAs to sign with them…can’t get Japanese players to sign with them…and also the relatively crappy 2025 Rule 4 draft pick they ended up with after a poor 2024 season.

It was always going to be LA. Just like Ohtani last winter. Just wish we hadn't gotten strung alone, again. Oh and made that Straw trade this time.

Yeah the stringing along is what gets me. Just sign with the Dodgers and stop pretending. Why announce finalists? This I think will increase support for international draft. I was meh on it before but it would absolutely stop this garbage.

The Blue Jays have a lot of payroll room after 2025. The financial obligation to Straw was less important to the organization than was the $2m in pool money, due to the need to restock the farm system.

Let’s hope for a Blue Jays-Dodgers 2025 World Series for some payback.

There needs to be some acknowledgement that Toronto has been competing the past two years with what, one of the greatest front offices and teams in MLB history with unlimited payroll?

Snell
Glasnow
Ohtani
Yamamoto
Kershaw
Sasaki

If cover for Varsho in CF was part of the logic behind the Straw trade, there are still a lot of basically free and superior alternatives on the market. Dylan Carlson, Roman Laureano, Manny Margot, etc. The only justification for taking on all that salary was that it was the last step to cinch the Sasaki deal.

If there was already an agreement with the LAD, as was likely, it makes sense for everyone involved to play this farce out as long as possible to avoid confirming suspicions.

That said, I have zero faith that MLB would do anything to what has become their flagship franchise. This is an organization that in its recent past, has covered up physical and sexual assaults by minor leaguers in its system, has been investigated by the US DOJ on RICO violations (human trafficking) and there has been nary a peep from MLB.

Yeah, up until a week ago roughly I had the Jays as a 0-1% odds of getting Sasaki then with the trade today I was so excited, figuring that was it, they got him. Sigh. At least it wasn't dragged out like Ohtani was. Yeah, the TJ thing was a bit much - more said in frustration, and after looking at the Dodgers IL list (3 TJ's in progress right now). Maybe better to hope the Dodgers have everything go wrong this year and fail to make the playoffs is more appropriate, then have bad luck going forward and fail to get another title while Sasaki is there, meanwhile the Jays put it all together and win a title - hey, a guy can dream.

So, now what? Lots of IFA signing I'm assuming. Do the Jays do the Vlad at 3B, Alonso at 1B thing? Seems very out of character but it'd be fun. What about LF? Loperfido/Lukes/Schneider/Clase/Straw fighting it out (Straw & Lukes in CF to start 2025 until Varsho back). Straw (76) and Schneider (105) are RH, Loperfido (96) & Lukes (103) LH, Clase (85) switch. Lots of mix/match possible there (ZiPS OPS+ projection in brackets). Clase & Straw are speedsters (30+ SB ability), Lukes reasonably fast, Loperfido & Schneider average I think. Might the Jays go for Jack Flaherty or sign another top reliever? Next signing puts them into the luxury tax area (just 1 mil or so of space).

It’s pretty embarrassing that NOW the Dodgers are acquiring international bonus money.

It was either malpractice or - and I would have sympathy for this - they were unprofessionally played.

Gate 14 podcast is live streaming and their source is telling them to standby and "just wait." Something is about to happen. I'm pretty sure their source is either Ernie Clement or Chris Bassitt.

I'm guessing an Alonso, Bregman or Santander deal is about to happen. Hoping Soto and Sasaki have been holding up the Jays...

The jays are in this predicament because of their abysmal record in acquiring and developing young talent and until that changes I see no pathway to a championship contender. Acquiring the $2m IFA money is great if I had any confidence in this regime ability to use it wisely but I don’t.

I don't blame the FO for the Straw trade. To me, it appears to have been a calculated risk. It presented an opportunity to hopefully close the Sasaki deal, or as greenfrog already implied, pivot and use the extra pool to pursue several more IFAs that are now available. Of course, with all the extra IFA money this season, I also hope that means they are about to blow by the CBT threshold, extend Vlad, sign Bregman, and find a way to mend the fences and extend Bo. If signing Straw limits what they can now do, I reserve the right to change my mind.

I’m reading all these harsh nasty posts about the Dodgers and I don’t get it - should the Dodgers not put their best foot forward ? Are the Dodgers doing something illegal? Criticize your team for not doing better rather than throwing stones at the Dodgers for doing great.

I don't think Sasaki has a longterm career ahead of him anyway, because the velocity is too high. His arm will fall off at some point.

"The jays are in this predicament because of their abysmal record in acquiring and developing young talent and until that changes I see no pathway to a championship contender. Acquiring the $2m IFA money is great if I had any confidence in this regime ability to use it wisely but I don’t."

If you feel this strongly against this team then why are you only posting these types of comments after they miss out on a free agent? If you don't see them able to develop young talent and see no chance for success otherwise then you're basically going to have to wait 2 years at least to see them try to redevelop young players. No sense lambasting the FO in this Roku reaction thread since it shouldn't have any effect anyways. I guess i'm wondering if you're actually just a bit down that they missed on another FA.

welcome to the Myles Straw Era.

Sasaki is reportedly signing for a $6.5M bonus.

"Unfortunately, failure begets failure."

yep, the not-so-hidden-but-almost-always-ignored cost of premising a rebuild on sucking for years and then nickel and diming all the products of that rebuild to boot.

If you're gonna be toxic then be toxic. Going from toxic to positive to toxic because they missed on Sasaki is sore loser mentality.

you're not the boss of me!

What's happens to our international funds if we don't get Sasaki and all of the good prospects are signed? Can we carry it over?

The last time I recall the Jays ending up with some leftover IFA signing bucks very late in the cycle with everyone else already spoken for, they ended up getting creative by going to some non-traditional markets to sign Sem Robberse. And sign Yosver Zueleta out of Cuba.

Yeah I can't argue that. I just hope we can be more positive or at least have some toxic positivity. This place was a better place the be the past week or so.

This is called being a fanatic. We cheer for laundry, it doesn't have to be rational.

Santander rumours are heating up again. That’s something

There is no chance that this FO is so incompetent that they completed the Straw deal on the hope of winning this lottery. Whatever your view of this FO they simply aren’t that incompetent. They actively wanted Straw and the bonus pool money. Now why they would want that is open for debate.

Why anyone would criticize the Dodgers or the agent escapes me.

Héctor Gómez
@hgomez27
The #BlueJays had been scouting Roki Sasaki for about 3 years, built relationships within his camp and over the last 24hrs were confident that they would land him.

lol.

shatkins.

Taking Straw's contract on the hopes of a Hail Mary pass turning out in their favor would be a fireable offense. I hope that wasn't what happened here. This is one of the few FO's that would actually value Straw at $5M a year, sadly. Maybe they accepted this risk as either a way to get Sasaki or to reallocate the money to other prospects. If they made this trade without any sort of assurance from Sasaki, and the trade was made specifically to sign him, then wow. They would deserve every bit of criticism they are getting for that.

A Santander rumor from Toronto media has already surfaced, and the Jays are typically tight lipped, so damage control might be happening.

Maybe Sasaki was genuinely interested in playing in Toronto, but the current state of the organization (major-league roster plus farm system plus coaching staff) is so weak that he couldn’t justify choosing the Blue Jays over the powerhouse Dodgers.

Plus the country is also in a state thanks to generally poor governance at the federal level (sorry to be a bit political).

"Plus the country is also in a state thanks to generally poor governance at the federal level (sorry to be a bit political). "

Boy, if that is the case Sasaki is in for a surprise come January 20 ...

The US has lots of problems but they still set the standard for excellence in many fields and in attracting the best global talent. I think Canada generally has become more mediocre over the last decade and the Blue Jays (fairly or not) currently seem emblematic of that.

No *h*t lol good call

greenfrog that is a far far reach my friend. Really, attracting the best global talent? The Jays are emblematic of the Canadian country and the mediocrity that has only happens to Canada and no other country in the world since 2019. Okay then.

You can't carry over international funds so they have to be used before next December.

I would imagine now some of this international money will be used to soften the blow of signing one or two QO FAs (Santander and maybe someone else).

The Jays may have a 1 or 2 deals lined up that they didn't want to make until they knew what their international pool was going to be after the Sasaki decision.

Announcing Santander now will definitely be a little bit of damage control.

ugly,

I think we decided that that word combination for the front office is not to be used here. We try and keep it respectful.

Baseball America has just two players listed as being linked to the Dodgers. They are Francisco Rivera and Adrian Torres. We will see where they sign.

Rivera was #64 on the BA board which would mean a signing bonus of $600,000. Torres was not in the top 100 so his bonus would be less than $400,000.

I am not sure the Jays will need $2M in international money so it could be a waste.

I’m comparing Canada and the US only.

As just one example, compare the divergence in GDP per capita across the two countries. The Economist (30 Sept 2024): “Why is Canada’s economy falling behind America’s? The country was slightly richer than Montana in 2019. Now it is just poorer than Alabama.”

I think people, including professional baseball players, can pick up the general vibe of economic dynamism in the US and creeping mediocrity or stagnation in Canada. You can feel it and perceive it in myriad ways.

I’m a proud Canadian but I think it’s important to be honest about what is happening in our country.

Blaming this excellent market for our front office's failures is pretty fricken weak tbh.

last thing we need is excuse-making for this FO resulting in this board being dragged into some half-assed uninformed political discussion.

let's nip this in the bud and keep the focus on this FO.

One or more of the remaining FAs is going to extract a lot of money from the desperate Blue Jays in the coming days and weeks.