Bender said:
So basically there's no real way to blow up a team and get good assets back/our drafting has sucked? How do you do a rebuild in the MLB? I just don't get how a team with Vladdy and maybe Bo + pitching can be so much better next year.
If you're looking for an example of what a tear it down rebuild would have looked like for the Jays, on the optimistic end you could look at what the Orioles who have just been crushing the Jays have done.
Back in 2018, The Orioles were cratering. The record was awful, and it was not a fluke. For example, Chris Davis had turned from a 50 HR guy into one of the worst hitters in baseball. BUT, they still had a bunch of young, controllable talent which they'd been building around. Manny Machado was an All Star.
They traded off Machado, a young Kevin Gausman, Zach Britton, Jonathons Schoop. They got back a lot of players. However, if you're looking at the current Orioles roster, what they really did was really lean in to being terrible for 4 years. They wouldn't win more than 60 games until 2022, and when you look at the current rosters leaders, Rutschman, Henderson, Cowser, Mountcastle, Westberg, Rodriguez, were all Orioles draft picks.
So in the end, the level of risk in giving the Vladdy + Bo Jays 1 more year is not the same as it might be in an NHL context, where you'd be hoping for a Ready to go prospect, last years 1st rounder and next years 1st in return from someone. The return on the extra year of control will be flashy, but is not guaranteed to be a big part of the next contender.
If Vladdy hits like an All Star and not like he did in April/May. If Bo goes back to being Bo. If Springer and Kirk can go back to being at least average hitters. If the bullpen is a little healthier. If they do a better job of picking their next DH than Justin Turner.
A lot of Ifs.
If not, it could be 4 very painful years before - optimistically - we see whatever the next version looks like.
