There’s a little bit of procedural news today. First, it was the deadline for players to officially accept or reject the qualifying offer. As expected, Bo Bichette has rejected the Jays’ offer. Bo is going to make a lot more than $22.025 million over a lot more than one year, so accepting the QO was […]
21 days ago | 0 reads
2024 was George Springer’s fourth season with the Blue Jays, after signing a six-year $150 million contract. And, ummm, it wasn’t a very good season. Since 2022 his bWAR had been falling, from 4.2 to 2.0 to 1.1. I’m probably wasn’t alone in thinking that he was aging out of where he could be a […]
21 days ago | 1 read
About 16 months ago, I wrote a post arguing that the current Blue Jays roster had likely hit the end of its road, and that they needed at least a soft reboot. Specifically, I argued that that would involve punting the 2025 season and retooling with an eye on 2026, and that in order to […]
22 days ago | 1 read
Programing note off the top, there might not be the usual level of content over the next few days. One of our cats is not well. I ended up taking him to the pet hospital in the early hours this morning. The cat is going to be staying there for, likely, three days. I should […]
22 days ago | 0 reads
Ernie Clement was picked up as a free agent signing in March of 2023, after his release by the A’s earlier that month. I wasn’t thrilled with taking a castoff of the A’s (one who only played 6 games for one of the worst teams in baseball). It wasn’t like we didn’t already have a […]
23 days ago | 0 reads
We’ve been doing this for several years now. We reviewed some of the top free agents, as rated by Keith Law in The Athletic and Ben Clemens at FanGraphs, using the contracts FanGraphs suggests they will receive, and asked if we should sign them. Today’s subject is Cody Bellinger. Keith Law has Bellinger as his […]
24 days ago | 1 read
Addison Barger played in 69 games for the Blue Jays last year. It wasn’t totally successful, hitting .197/.250/.351 with 7 home runs. Before the season, he was number three on our top prospect list. Tom wrote: Barger is listed at 6’0” and 210lbs, and looks as physical as that suggests. He’s added over 50lbs since […]
25 days ago | 1 read
We’ve been doing this for several years now. We reviewed some of the top free agents, as rated by Keith Law in The Athletic and Ben Clemens at FanGraphs, using the contracts FanGraphs suggests they will receive, and asked if we should sign them. I’m skipping a few to get to Edwin Diaz, because, when […]
25 days ago | 1 read
We’ve been doing this for several years now. We reviewed some of the top free agents, as rated by Keith Law in The Athletic and Ben Clemens at FanGraphs, using the contracts FanGraphs suggests they will receive, and asked if we should sign them. Ben Clemens (no “t”) has Framber Valdez his number 4 free […]
26 days ago | 2 reads
It is Pat Hentgen’s 57th birthday today. Pat will always be one of my favourite Blue Jays. He was the Cy Young winner (the first Jay to win the award) in 1996, going 20-10 with a 3.22 ERA and pitching an outstanding 265.2 innings. He won the prize on this day in 1996, a terrific […]
26 days ago | 3 reads
There isn’t all that much for Jays’ news, which isn’t a surprise. John Schneider came in second for the Manager of the Year award. A lot of us figured he would win, because he took the Jays from last to first in the AL East. Of course, he was the manager when they finished last […]
27 days ago | 1 read
We’ve been doing this for several years now. We reviewed some of the top free agents, as rated by Keith Law in The Athletic and Ben Clemens at FanGraphs, using the contracts FanGraphs suggests they will receive, and asked if we should sign them. Number 3 on Ben Clemens’ list and number 9 on Keith […]
27 days ago | 0 reads
Homer Bush turns 53 today. Bush came to us from the Yankees, along with David Wells and Graeme Lloyd, for Roger Clemens. Clemens wanted out of Toronto after winning two Cy Youngs in a row for a poor Blue Jays team (we finished 5th in 1997, then moved up to third in 1998 (we finished […]
27 days ago | 3 reads
Coming into 2025, Bo Bichette had spent seven seasons with the Blue Jays (one of them was a Covid-shortened season). All of them were good, until 2024. He had received MVP votes in 2021, 22 and 23. He led the league in hits. Then came 2024. He went from a 4.8 bWAR in 2023 to […]
28 days ago | 4 reads
Last year, my wife and I helped put candles at each of the 3500 crosses at Calgary’s Field of Crosses. With many other volunteers, we placed candles and said a little thank you to each person represented by a cross. It was a sobering thing. The men and women listed on the crosses were mostly […]
28 days ago | 1 read
We’ve been doing this for several years now. We reviewed some of the top free agents, as rated by Keith Law in The Athletic and Ben Clement at FanGraphs, using the contracts FanGraphs suggests they will receive, and asked if we should sign them. Free Agent number two on Ben’s list and number four on […]
29 days ago | 0 reads
Coming off an excellent 2024 season, and six seasons into his career, with free agency a possibility after the 2025 season, we were all wondering what 2025 would bring. We knew he was going to get a big payday at some point this year. Either from the Blue Jays or from someone else after the […]
29 days ago | 1 read
Coming into 2025, José Berríos was three seasons into a seven-year, $131,000,000 contract. He does have an opt-out after next season, but then he has $6 million salary bump after next season, which I think will keep him satisfied. 2022 wasn’t good, but 2023 and 2024 were quite good, with a 2.5 bWAR and a […]
about 1 month ago | 0 reads
We’ve been doing this for several years now. We got through some of the top free agents, use the contract the FanGraphs suggests they will get and ask have a poll asking should we sign him. Both Keith Law and Ben Clements have Kyle Tucker as the number one free agent this year. He’s been […]
about 1 month ago | 4 reads
It is hard to believe that it has been eight years (yesterday, I thought I had scheduled this for yesterday) since Roy Halladay died in that plane crash. Few deaths have affected me as much. Talking about another friend who died a few years ago, a friend said, ‘Time flies when you are dead.’ It […]
about 1 month ago | 2 reads
There were bits of Jays’ news yesterday that I missed. Not that it was news, but the Jays game Bo Bichette a Qualifying Offer. $22.025, which sounds like a lot of money. Bo will be looking for a contract for around ten years. That’s a longer contract than I’d want to give him, but if […]
about 1 month ago | 2 reads
Everybody’s favourite baseball analyst, Buck Martinez, turns 77 today. Buck had a 17-season career as a catcher in the major leagues. 6 of those seasons were with the Blue Jays. He worked as the right-handed half of a very successful platoon pairing with Ernie Whitt. Buck was a good glove/bad bat, serving as a backup […]
about 1 month ago | 2 reads
My wife is treating me like I had a serious illness I’m recovering from and a relapse is imminent. Honestly, it’s not that bad. I saw My Boys play an amazing season. They had an epic, life affirming run through The Godless Yankees, then crushed The WaterBoarMen beneath their sandalled feet. Man, did we hear […]
about 1 month ago | 0 reads
Jon Heyman, in the New York Post, tells us that Don Mattingly is leaving the Blue Jays. The story says that he is not retiring, but ‘looking for new opportunities’. Mattingly isn’t loved around here, getting, likely, too much blame for their terrible 2024 season (and no credit for the excellent 2025 season). I was […]
about 1 month ago | 3 reads
Coming into 2025, Chris Bassitt had played two of the three years on his big $63 million free agent contract. Chris was a late bloomer, he didn’t make the majors until he was 25 and had pitched in only 40 MLB games before his 30th birthday. Guys that don’t pitch a lot of innings in […]
about 1 month ago | 1 read