This is not an endorsement of the idea, more of a stray thought, but: is that the path to adding the power bat this roster so desperately needs involve trading Bo before the season starts?
(I will repeat that I do not WANT this to happen - extend him, you dopes! - I'm just beginning to wonder if it will.)
I made an offhand joke on a recent article of yours about Brandon Belt returning to the Jays. While I do not think that is going to happen, if we don't sign Santander or Bregman or Alonso (likely in my opinion) who do you think might be out there on the fringes available via FA or trade that could provide us with some much needed low hanging power fruit?
Joey Gallo, Robbie Grossman, J.D. Martinez. I think this is a likely top 4 if we fail to land anyone of significance. That's not an awe-inspiring list is it...
Hi Stoeten, what do you think happened in this year's free agency. Are Jays too limited in their targets? Does "sticking with their valuations" make them noncompetitive money wise? Do FAs see the uncertainty with the front office and want to stay away? Or is there something else that is making FAs not want to come to Toronto?
Hey Stoeten, trying to retain some perspective on the Jays offseason but hard to avoid the conclusion that the number of free agent options to fill the gaps in the roster has almost gone. Seems like they need to sign Santander or are going to have to trade for a good bat, obviously hard to do, especially as fleecing the A’s for Rooker is off the table.
Is there a credible scenario where they don’t do one of those things and are still successful without hoping everyone is healthy and hits / exceeds their projections?
Also a useful reminder (as if one were needed) that you need to extend the guys already in the building as Free Agents won’t always take your money
When you ask people in Tampa 'Why don't you go out and support your wonderful baseball team by attending a game in person?' they reply that the Stadium is really in Saint Petersburg and the commute is bad. So how big is Steinbrenner stadium, and if it fills up can we conclude that the Trop is a really bad location? The Lightning and the Buccaneers seem much better attended.
Talk me off the ledge, sensei. Here's my read of the tea leaves. The front office has tried to extend Vlad and Bo. They know the cost to do so is too much for what they believe the market will ultimately reward them in free agency. That leaves four options: 1) Roll with them and trade them at the deadline if out of contention, 2) Trade them now, 3) Keep them all year and try to sign them in free agency when they learn their true value or lose them to draft pick compensation, or 4) Pay them what they want now even if it means you are hamstrung to build around them in the future because of it. How would you handle it as GM if these were the options you were looking at? GM hat, please, not what you would do as a fan. Of course, all the other facts that exist today are true. Their farm system is weak, with seemingly no blue chipper in the org. They just renovated their stadium. They appear behind all other teams in the AL East on the major league and minor league sides. They are up against luxury tax penalties now. They have a lot of money coming off books in the next couple of years. I would love to see how you would move the chess pieces as you try to best position them for the present, short-term, and mid-term realities.
Hey Stoet!! Hope you’re having a restful offseason! Can you speak at all to how negotiations for free agents work? Do teams know what other teams are bidding? And if the agents share what other teams are bidding, how do GMs know if that’s not just a negotiation tactic? Do they call up rival GMs and ask if that is actually their bid? I’m curious because I recently read that teams that were in on Soto were blind bidding (at least at the beginning of the process - according to this one article). It got me thinking how these negotiations actually work.
This is not an endorsement of the idea, more of a stray thought, but: is that the path to adding the power bat this roster so desperately needs involve trading Bo before the season starts?
(I will repeat that I do not WANT this to happen - extend him, you dopes! - I'm just beginning to wonder if it will.)
I made an offhand joke on a recent article of yours about Brandon Belt returning to the Jays. While I do not think that is going to happen, if we don't sign Santander or Bregman or Alonso (likely in my opinion) who do you think might be out there on the fringes available via FA or trade that could provide us with some much needed low hanging power fruit?
Rowdy Tellez, c'mon home!!!
Joey Gallo, Robbie Grossman, J.D. Martinez. I think this is a likely top 4 if we fail to land anyone of significance. That's not an awe-inspiring list is it...
Hi Stoeten, what do you think happened in this year's free agency. Are Jays too limited in their targets? Does "sticking with their valuations" make them noncompetitive money wise? Do FAs see the uncertainty with the front office and want to stay away? Or is there something else that is making FAs not want to come to Toronto?
Hey Stoeten, trying to retain some perspective on the Jays offseason but hard to avoid the conclusion that the number of free agent options to fill the gaps in the roster has almost gone. Seems like they need to sign Santander or are going to have to trade for a good bat, obviously hard to do, especially as fleecing the A’s for Rooker is off the table.
Is there a credible scenario where they don’t do one of those things and are still successful without hoping everyone is healthy and hits / exceeds their projections?
Also a useful reminder (as if one were needed) that you need to extend the guys already in the building as Free Agents won’t always take your money
When you ask people in Tampa 'Why don't you go out and support your wonderful baseball team by attending a game in person?' they reply that the Stadium is really in Saint Petersburg and the commute is bad. So how big is Steinbrenner stadium, and if it fills up can we conclude that the Trop is a really bad location? The Lightning and the Buccaneers seem much better attended.
Talk me off the ledge, sensei. Here's my read of the tea leaves. The front office has tried to extend Vlad and Bo. They know the cost to do so is too much for what they believe the market will ultimately reward them in free agency. That leaves four options: 1) Roll with them and trade them at the deadline if out of contention, 2) Trade them now, 3) Keep them all year and try to sign them in free agency when they learn their true value or lose them to draft pick compensation, or 4) Pay them what they want now even if it means you are hamstrung to build around them in the future because of it. How would you handle it as GM if these were the options you were looking at? GM hat, please, not what you would do as a fan. Of course, all the other facts that exist today are true. Their farm system is weak, with seemingly no blue chipper in the org. They just renovated their stadium. They appear behind all other teams in the AL East on the major league and minor league sides. They are up against luxury tax penalties now. They have a lot of money coming off books in the next couple of years. I would love to see how you would move the chess pieces as you try to best position them for the present, short-term, and mid-term realities.
Hey Stoet!! Hope you’re having a restful offseason! Can you speak at all to how negotiations for free agents work? Do teams know what other teams are bidding? And if the agents share what other teams are bidding, how do GMs know if that’s not just a negotiation tactic? Do they call up rival GMs and ask if that is actually their bid? I’m curious because I recently read that teams that were in on Soto were blind bidding (at least at the beginning of the process - according to this one article). It got me thinking how these negotiations actually work.