MLB Free Agent Season
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If the Jays acquire a gay 'pitcher', he could be instrumental in some come-from-behind wince.
Alex Bregman, Red Sox finalize $120 million, three-year contract
It's official: The Boston Red Sox and infielder Alex Bregman agreed to a three-year contract on Saturday.
I guess Shatkins figures that there's still lots of time to get a deal done with Vlady.
It seems these guys love playing the gamesmanship game. Maybe they can save a few hundred thousand. Vlady holds all the cards. the Jays need him more than he needs the Jays,
It seems these guys love playing the gamesmanship game. Maybe they can save a few hundred thousand. Vlady holds all the cards. the Jays need him more than he needs the Jays,
Ironically, if Vladdy has a bad year it's beneficial to the Jays management.
This guard stole my home run ball and laughed at me
Yeah, this was annoying, but I still had a GREAT time at the MLB Series at the Tokyo Dome in Japan. Unfortunately this home run ball was hit by Ichiro Suzuki...
www.youtube.com
I didn't know this about Japanese baseball...Home run balls have to be given back...Weird but true.
2025 MLB Season Preview: Toronto Blue Jays
Once again, the great enigma of the AL East.
You can kinda pin down every other team in the division. The Yankees and Orioles should both be atop the table, the Red Sox aren’t there quite yet ... and then there’s the Blue Jays. For five years or so we’ve expected them to slug their way through the AL East, and they end up stagnant, except for last year. In 2024, the Jays took a major step back.
Now, they’ve got one year left with Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette. George Springer finally showed his age last season, and new signee Max Scherzer will eventually be called by Father Time. This feels like the final act of a heist film — but I’m not sure the cast is up to the challenge.
Toronto Blue Jays
2024 record: 74-88 (5th AL East)
2025 FanGraphs projection: 82-80 (5th AL East)
Remember how 2022 felt, with Aaron Judge in his last season of team control? So much of that year was tense, with every one of those 62 home runs driving up his asking price. Ditto for last year with Juan Soto, and now the Jays get to experience that with Vlad. It hasn’t always been linear with the big first baseman, who followed an MVP-caliber 2021 with a fine but not special 2022, and had a serious setback in 2023.
Then last year he was one of the very best hitters in baseball again, with a .323 average and 165 wRC+. We’ve seen so much of Vlad as Yankee fans that we forget he won’t be 26 until next December, and while he won’t touch the contract that Soto just signed, he will almost certainly land a deal bigger than Judge’s — $450 million isn’t out of the question.
He’s projected to be the fifth-best hitter in the game in 2025, a 152 wRC+ that the Jays would take every single time. For the man that came up alongside Vlad, shortstop Bo Bichette, he’s also hoping to hit his projections; a 116 wRC+ and three and a half win season.
That’s in stark contrast to what was a lost year for Bo, who spent half the season on the IL with a calf injury and broken finger, had a career-worst offensive line and was half a win worse in 81 games than he was in 29 games in 2020. Bichette’s a year older than Guerrero, and doesn’t quite boast Best Hitter in Baseball upside, and while an extension with the Jays seems unlikely, he needs to have a big contract year to get the Jays up the table in the division.
The good news for Jays fans is that rotation should be something fun. Whenever Mad Max is the third or maybe fourth-best pitcher in your corps, you’re probably doing it right. Kevin Gausman and Chris Bassitt give the club a high pitching floor, and if Bowden Francis can replicate his 3.30 ERA from last year, he brings the upside. While you pencil in some IL time for Scherzer, he’s projected to improve on his 2024 numbers.
All in all though, the Jays probably don’t have enough to compete for the division. That 82-80 FanGraphs projection is baking in some rebounds from guys like Bichette and Springer, but there’s just not a ton of upside on the roster. Maybe a lucky break or two gets them up to 86ish wins and sniffing a Wild Card run, but if you’re trying to convince Vlad the team is built for long-term success, there’s a lot of work left to do.
www.pinstripealley.com
A view of the Jays from Yankee land...
Once again, the great enigma of the AL East.
You can kinda pin down every other team in the division. The Yankees and Orioles should both be atop the table, the Red Sox aren’t there quite yet ... and then there’s the Blue Jays. For five years or so we’ve expected them to slug their way through the AL East, and they end up stagnant, except for last year. In 2024, the Jays took a major step back.
Now, they’ve got one year left with Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette. George Springer finally showed his age last season, and new signee Max Scherzer will eventually be called by Father Time. This feels like the final act of a heist film — but I’m not sure the cast is up to the challenge.
Toronto Blue Jays
2024 record: 74-88 (5th AL East)
2025 FanGraphs projection: 82-80 (5th AL East)
Remember how 2022 felt, with Aaron Judge in his last season of team control? So much of that year was tense, with every one of those 62 home runs driving up his asking price. Ditto for last year with Juan Soto, and now the Jays get to experience that with Vlad. It hasn’t always been linear with the big first baseman, who followed an MVP-caliber 2021 with a fine but not special 2022, and had a serious setback in 2023.
Then last year he was one of the very best hitters in baseball again, with a .323 average and 165 wRC+. We’ve seen so much of Vlad as Yankee fans that we forget he won’t be 26 until next December, and while he won’t touch the contract that Soto just signed, he will almost certainly land a deal bigger than Judge’s — $450 million isn’t out of the question.
He’s projected to be the fifth-best hitter in the game in 2025, a 152 wRC+ that the Jays would take every single time. For the man that came up alongside Vlad, shortstop Bo Bichette, he’s also hoping to hit his projections; a 116 wRC+ and three and a half win season.
That’s in stark contrast to what was a lost year for Bo, who spent half the season on the IL with a calf injury and broken finger, had a career-worst offensive line and was half a win worse in 81 games than he was in 29 games in 2020. Bichette’s a year older than Guerrero, and doesn’t quite boast Best Hitter in Baseball upside, and while an extension with the Jays seems unlikely, he needs to have a big contract year to get the Jays up the table in the division.
The good news for Jays fans is that rotation should be something fun. Whenever Mad Max is the third or maybe fourth-best pitcher in your corps, you’re probably doing it right. Kevin Gausman and Chris Bassitt give the club a high pitching floor, and if Bowden Francis can replicate his 3.30 ERA from last year, he brings the upside. While you pencil in some IL time for Scherzer, he’s projected to improve on his 2024 numbers.
All in all though, the Jays probably don’t have enough to compete for the division. That 82-80 FanGraphs projection is baking in some rebounds from guys like Bichette and Springer, but there’s just not a ton of upside on the roster. Maybe a lucky break or two gets them up to 86ish wins and sniffing a Wild Card run, but if you’re trying to convince Vlad the team is built for long-term success, there’s a lot of work left to do.
2025 MLB Season Preview: Toronto Blue Jays
Once again, the great enigma of the AL East.
www.pinstripealley.com
A view of the Jays from Yankee land...
Vlad Guerrero 2024 game logs.
At May 4, 2024, Vlad had a .231 batting average, .675 OPS, 3 HR, 11 RBI. Slightly more than 20% of the season was complete, and the Jays were 6.5 games out of first in the AL East. At that point, they had perhaps a 20% chance or less of reaching the postseason with the then current roster.
This is a red flag for me. It was only after the season was effectively toast that he kicked it up a couple of gears. It's a lot easier to post big personal stats when winning games doesn't matter all that much. I wonder if the guy is too happy-go-lucky to be a winner.
At May 4, 2024, Vlad had a .231 batting average, .675 OPS, 3 HR, 11 RBI. Slightly more than 20% of the season was complete, and the Jays were 6.5 games out of first in the AL East. At that point, they had perhaps a 20% chance or less of reaching the postseason with the then current roster.
This is a red flag for me. It was only after the season was effectively toast that he kicked it up a couple of gears. It's a lot easier to post big personal stats when winning games doesn't matter all that much. I wonder if the guy is too happy-go-lucky to be a winner.
When did he cut his hair?...That's when he seemed to go into overdrive.
Trade Vlad now
Mets got a great farm system and need a great bat to be true contenders
No way are the jays true contenders
So, they get some top prospects and save half a billion in Vlads contract they can use on someone else next year
WTF is wrong with that trade?
Mets got a great farm system and need a great bat to be true contenders
No way are the jays true contenders
So, they get some top prospects and save half a billion in Vlads contract they can use on someone else next year
WTF is wrong with that trade?
In theory, your assessment is bang on.
The problem for the dummies in head office is that they are still trying to peddle the ridiculously unrealistic claim that they have a serious contender on their hands and the fans should come and cheer them on. If they trade Vladdy, even for some really good prospects NOW, they can't peddle that malarkey anymore. If they are giving up on this year by trading Vlad now, why should the fans come out? They'd only be cheering for a team that management admits are non-competitive.
But you're right. The sooner they trade him, the more they can get for him.
You hope to win with them while they're still cheap. Tampa and Houston do. a great job of this.
Houston has done a good job of drafting and developing players too. That's why they can let Alex Bregman go.
Teoscar Hernandez was like their 5th best outfield prospect when they traded him to Toronto. We won that trade but Houston didn't exactly lose it.
Santander will be a mistake
Like Teo he strikes out, has a low average and is a very mediocre defensive outfielder
His 44 homer season last year was an abberation as his average is 30
He is older so expect decline in power every year and in a couple of years we got another overpaid underperformer we cannot dump
I agree with 261252 in trading Vlad now but we should trade as much as possible , including Santander
Likely scenario we trade at dealine like last year, but if Bo and Vlad are hot
we will be buyers if they are not hot their value plumments so trade now as our best case scenario is they are hot and we are pretenders
Like Teo he strikes out, has a low average and is a very mediocre defensive outfielder
His 44 homer season last year was an abberation as his average is 30
He is older so expect decline in power every year and in a couple of years we got another overpaid underperformer we cannot dump
I agree with 261252 in trading Vlad now but we should trade as much as possible , including Santander
Likely scenario we trade at dealine like last year, but if Bo and Vlad are hot
we will be buyers if they are not hot their value plumments so trade now as our best case scenario is they are hot and we are pretenders
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Astros are a shrewdly ran team...They got out on both of these players at just the right time.
It's like they can see the future.
Oh and Springer...I wish him well this year. He plays hard. I always respected him.
