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Jays Roster Discussion

Update on team re-signings:

Darwin Barney  1 yr. @ $2.88M
Ezequiel Carrera 1 yr. @ $1.16
Aaron Loup 1 yr. @ $1.1M


Of the Edwin situarion:
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports argues that the Blue Jays may have misread the market for power bats this winter. In the case of Toronto, he suggests, the team ought to have been more patient with Edwin Encarnacion. By moving quickly to give a three-year deal to Kendrys Morales after Encarnacion declined to take the team?s early-offseason offer, the Jays may have spent much more than necessary to land a player of Morales?s quality while also tying their hands on Encarnacion, who ended up signing for one year and $20MM less than Toronto had reportedly offered.

As for Bautista:
Speculation about Jose Bautista ultimately signing a one-year deal is growing throughout the industry, writes Sportsnet?s Ben Nicholson-Smith. The Blue Jays were recently said to be in active talks with Bautista, and Nicholson-Smith notes that he spoke with execs from two other clubs that considered Bautista the exact type of player that could end up as a significant bargain if he?s had on a one-year pact. Nicholson-Smith adds that there?s still a belief in the industry that Toronto would be perfectly happy to let Bautista depart, sign elsewhere, and collect a compensatory draft pick. However, the Jays do still need two corner outfielders, and Bautista is a known commodity among the fans, in the clubhouse and on the field for Toronto.

All here:
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/toronto-blue-jays
 
According to reports, Michael Saunders has signed a 1 year, $9 million deal with the Phillies with an option for a 2nd year worth $11 million, that can escalate to $14 million if he reaches certain performance goals.
 
Josh Thole has signed a minor league deal with the D-Backs. I wouldn't think there are very many Jays fans sad to see him go, although it was pretty well known that when Dickey wasn't coming back that Thole wouldn't be either. Rumour has it the Jays are looking at Salty to possibly fill the backup catcher role.
 
Looks like the Jays found a replacement for Cecil (and finally signed a pitcher to a major league deal this off-season).

Lefty reliever J.P. Howell has reportedly signed a 1 year deal with the Jays.



 
Jays have signed Mat Latos to a minor league deal. He was a real pitcher as recently as 2014.
 
Getting hyped with these two articles:
https://theathletic.com/42192/2017/03/06/into-the-woods-how-lourdes-gurriel-jr-escaped-on-his-zig-zag-journey-from-cuba-to-the-blue-jays/

http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/03/07/the-art-of-pitch-calling-a-masters-in-communication/
 
More hype, where Donaldson articulates a lot of my issues with the lineup the past two seasons.

Blue Jays' Josh Donaldson on hitting in the No. 2 spot, his plate approach and avoiding double plays
https://theathletic.com/42333/2017/03/07/blue-jays-josh-donaldson-on-hitting-in-the-no-2-spot-his-plate-approach-and-avoiding-double-plays/
 
The Blue Jays sign pitcher Aaron Sanchez to league minimum @$535,000.  Sanchez will be eligible for arbitration at end of 2017 and eligible for Free Agency at end of 2020.

Sanchez's agent Scott Boras blasts Jays in handling of contract:

Under a policy in place for the past 10 years, the Blue Jays renew contracts at the major-league minimum if players don?t accept the raises offered to them.

"They offered him a very small raise above the minimum, which is not commensurate to his performance peers," Boras said in an interview with Sportsnet. "Some teams have very low payment standards but they say if you renew we understand, but you still keep the money we?re giving you. Toronto is so rigid, they not only have a very antiquated or substandard policy compared to the other teams for extraordinary performance, but if you don?t accept what that low standard is, they then have the poison pill of saying, you get paid the minimum. It?s the harshest treatment in baseball that any club could provide for a player. That?s why few teams have such a policy."


Full story:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/scott-boras-rips-blue-jays-handling-sanchez-salary/
 
hockeyfan1 said:
The Blue Jays sign pitcher Aaron Sanchez to league minimum @$535,000.  Sanchez will be eligible for arbitration at end of 2017 and eligible for Free Agency at end of 2020.

Sanchez's agent Scott Boras blasts Jays in handling of contract:

Under a policy in place for the past 10 years, the Blue Jays renew contracts at the major-league minimum if players don?t accept the raises offered to them.

"They offered him a very small raise above the minimum, which is not commensurate to his performance peers," Boras said in an interview with Sportsnet. "Some teams have very low payment standards but they say if you renew we understand, but you still keep the money we?re giving you. Toronto is so rigid, they not only have a very antiquated or substandard policy compared to the other teams for extraordinary performance, but if you don?t accept what that low standard is, they then have the poison pill of saying, you get paid the minimum. It?s the harshest treatment in baseball that any club could provide for a player. That?s why few teams have such a policy."


Full story:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/scott-boras-rips-blue-jays-handling-sanchez-salary/

Scott Boras is bad for baseball.
 
I can't speak to Boras' overall influence on Baseball, although it seems as though whoever the biggest agent has been has always been deemed a danger to the game as long as the game has had agents, but I think there's a fair point to be made that the policy here is a bad one that seems to risk antagonizing players over relatively small sums of money.
 
Heroic Shrimp said:
So Marcus Stroman is pitching a pretty good game right now vs. Puerto Rico..
.
-

He finished with a one-hitter and a walk through to seven innings.  He simply impressed.


http://www.tmlfans.ca/community/index.php?topic=4372.msg291755#msg291755
 
http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/03/23/if-you-didnt-know-now-you-know/

Really looking forward to the Stro-Show 2017.
 
http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/03/29/how-kevin-pillar-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-plate-discipline/

At last...

In a total of 36 plate appearances tracked, Pillar has swung at just 16.7 percent of pitches he has seen outside the zone, or over 13 percentage points below league average and over 22 percentage points below his career average. That?s a change of over four standard deviations! On pitches in the zone, Pillar has swung at 55.2 percent of them, about 10 points below the league average and eight percentage points below his career average. I spoke to him about the change before the Blue Jays headed to Clearwater on Tuesday afternoon for their tilt with the Phillies, and he said that ?[he?s] been doing the same thing for a couple of years, and [hasn?t] gotten results, so [he] needed to make a change.?

This was all Pillar?s doing, as well. He did some ?research and self-evaluation through the internet?, which showed him that he ?made a lot of soft contact, and also a lot of hard contact.? He interpreted this data in the following way.

?When I stayed in the zone and I got my pitch, I hit it well, and if I expanded the zone, I didn?t make hard contact. That led me to a lot of soft outs.?
 
Jays signed OF/INF Chris Coghlan to a minor league deal and will send him to AAA Buffalo to start the season.

Not a bad depth signing, plays mostly corner outfield, but can fill in at several infield positions if need be.

Should be interesting to see who the final cuts are at tomorrow's roster deadline. I could see the Jays dealing Goins rather than losing him for nothing on waivers if there is no spot for him on the team.
Upton Jr. is the other guy being mentioned on the bubble to make the team and there are a lot of rumblings that he won't be a part of the team and will likely be dealt.
 
There goes Upton.
I Osuna in the DL as well to start the season. We are going to see what this new look pen is capable of very early.

Sent from my F3113 using Tapatalk

 
Your 25 Man Opening Day Roster

Starters:  Estrada, Happ, Stroman, Liriano, Sanchez
Relief:  Biaggini, Loup, Howell, Tepera, Grilli, Smith, Leone
DL:  Osuna

Starting Lineup:
1.  Travis (2B)
2.  Donaldson (3B)
3.  Bautista (RF)
4.  Morales (DH)
5.  Tulowitzki (SS)
6.  Martin (C)
7.  Pearce (1B)
8.  Pillar (CF)
9.  Carrera (LF)

Extras:  Smoak, Barney, Goins, Saltalamacchia

I think that's everyone - 12 P and 13 Position players with 1 on the DL.  No Smoak at 1B for today.
 
Pearce and Carrera both in the starting lineup scares me a little. And replacing Pearce with Smoak doesn't make me feel any better.
 

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