- Jun 15, 2004
- 8,392
- 1,569
- 113
it is but the top talent is all attracted to term.
I guess the real question is if Guerrero is going to turn into David Ortiz or if he’s going to turn into Prince Fielder.
Philip
The 2025 Toronto Blue Jays
- Thread starter Toronto Passions
- Start date
I guess the real question is if Guerrero is going to turn into David Ortiz or if he’s going to turn into Prince Fielder.
Philip
Yankees will start the season without 3 of their proposed 5 starting pitchers.
Cole, Gill and Schmidt.
With their offence clearly behind last year I do not forecast them being in the hunt this year.
As a Yankee fan it saddens me to say this...
Cole, Gill and Schmidt.
With their offence clearly behind last year I do not forecast them being in the hunt this year.
As a Yankee fan it saddens me to say this...
Last edited:
That's a good call actually....I think they'd be happy with Fred McGriff.
A little less spectacular but consistently very good.
The contract will be bad at the end.
But Jays management is trying to win over the next 5 years. (Rightly or wrongly), and they are not trading him,
So for the next 5 years we either spend $40M on Vlad, or $40m on other guys. And its tough to get great value in free agency.
If the Jays are going to spend the best decision is probably sign Vlad, and hope we don't get bad Vlad of 2022 and 2023.
Trying to stay competitive via Free Agency is tough - we do need some players to start delivering on minimum level deals, because even at $250M payroll, a payroll based on all free agents is typically not enough. Cross fingers for a Manoah, Tiedemann, Yesevage breakthrough in 2026 in the rotation,.
- Jun 15, 2004
- 8,392
- 1,569
- 113
or even Carlos Delgado. If Guerrero can put up numbers like that holy cow he’s a superstar in today’s game.
Philip
Nate Garkow saw his first Grapefruit League action in the last game of the season, punching out four Pirates in 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.
Garkow is 27, with two months of minor league experience. Apparently he was 'lights out' for the Pasadena City College Lancers in 2018. The Jays signed him on July 1, 2024 from the Gateway Grizzlies, (Sauget, Illinois) of the Independent Frontier League.
Everything I know about him is in this link:
and today's box score.
Frontier League franchises:
Frontier League teams can't afford to travel by bus, so they're shipped by Amazon to road games, in a manner similar to the darling pet monkeys that kids used to be able to buy from ads in comic books.
Garkow is 27, with two months of minor league experience. Apparently he was 'lights out' for the Pasadena City College Lancers in 2018. The Jays signed him on July 1, 2024 from the Gateway Grizzlies, (Sauget, Illinois) of the Independent Frontier League.
Everything I know about him is in this link:
Former PCC Pitcher Nate Garkow Signs With Toronto Blue Jays
Nate Garkow, a starting pitcher on the 2018 Pasadena City College baseball team, signed a professional minor league contract with the Toronto Blue Jays last week. He is the first Lancer in 18 years to be signed by a Major League Baseball organization..
pcclancers.com
and today's box score.
Frontier League franchises:
Frontier League teams can't afford to travel by bus, so they're shipped by Amazon to road games, in a manner similar to the darling pet monkeys that kids used to be able to buy from ads in comic books.
Maybe the Jays realize that their 'window of opportunity' ends when the A's move to Vegas. Where will the money come from to buy a pitching staff when Max, Gausman and Bassitt's contracts expire, if Vlad is 'eating for two '?
Yeaterday the Jays put Ryan Yarbrough on waivers. This morning the Yankees picked him up.
https://www.tsn.ca/new-york-yankees-sign-ryan-yarbrough-after-toronto-blue-jays-release-1.2275988
https://www.tsn.ca/new-york-yankees-sign-ryan-yarbrough-after-toronto-blue-jays-release-1.2275988
Toronto Blue Jays 40 Man Roster
This link is from baseball-reference.com, so it should always be up to date.
Perhaps the Jays waived Yarbrough because they are hoping to 'dumpster dive' by adding one or more players cut by other teams. Spots on the 40 Man Roster can open if Erik Swanson, Zach Pop and/or Ryan Burr are added to the 60 day Injured list, otherwise someone will need to be dropped. For Swanson, Pop and Burr, the move can be made retroactively to the first day after they last played in Spring Training.
Blue Jays To Select Jacob Barnes, Alan Roden, Myles Straw
This link is from baseball-reference.com, so it should always be up to date.
Perhaps the Jays waived Yarbrough because they are hoping to 'dumpster dive' by adding one or more players cut by other teams. Spots on the 40 Man Roster can open if Erik Swanson, Zach Pop and/or Ryan Burr are added to the 60 day Injured list, otherwise someone will need to be dropped. For Swanson, Pop and Burr, the move can be made retroactively to the first day after they last played in Spring Training.
Blue Jays To Select Jacob Barnes, Alan Roden, Myles Straw
You could view it as a positive.
The fact that the Jays could not open up a roster spot for Yarbrough. must mean they had enough pitchers / relievers do well enough in spring training. (Or Yarborough was hideously bad -- I thought he was solid long reliever for the Jays in August and September). That being said he is certainly a fringe major leaguer at this point. A guy that could play for 4 or 5 different organizations this year.
Not sure if you picked two guys for productivity .... or both because they were a bit chunky. Could go either way.
Price's downfall wasn't even due to being so rotund, or injuries related to his weight. He had three neck surgeries that did in his productivity and forced him to retire.
It was more bad luck then him being in bad shape. (the bad shape may have certainly caught up to him at say 32-34). But the bad neck started to get to him 3 or 4 years earlier.
I'm not sure if we should expect a Vlad downfall much earlier because of his weight.... its more just the natural decline that many players (but not all) get after 32.
Delgado is not putting up those numbers in 2024 though (and not because he's 50 years old!). Late 90's / early 2000's stats were pretty bloated juice, juice balls, and expansion.
Adjusting for era via using OPS+, Vlad's 2 best years (2021 - 161 and 2024 - 168) were basically as good as Delgado's best years (2003 - 161 and 2000-181) and Vlad achieved them at a much younger age. Not quite as good as Delgado's 2000 which was beastly -- but both players have only had 2 seasons of 160+ with the Jays. And Carlos had them at age 28 and 31.
Carlos had 6 very good seasons back to back with the Jays between 26 and 31, (OPS+ of 151,138,181,146,147,161). So I think that's a reasonably goal for Vlad to strive for that I think is very achieivable given that he already had two 160+ season before age 25 (of course he also had a 133 and 116) in 2022 and 2023.
Last edited:
I've since heard on Sportsnet that Yarbrough asked out.
Asked out is sort of a relative term. Its not inaccurate.
He was on a minor league contract with the Jays (A Spring Training Invite really) - they often come with clauses or just an understanding that allow a player to ask out of the minor league deal, if they can secure a major league contract with another team.
I guess the Jays were just too slow to offer him a major league contract, or were not sure he would make the team. it's a bit surprisng.
The Tampa Rays will play home games this year at George M Steinbrenner Stadium, capacity 11,026, because Tropicana Field was severely damaged by Hurricane Milton.
I bet those games will look good on tv. Minor league atmosphere with major league talent.
Let's adjust Delgado's numbers because he was a natural player playing in the steroid era.
I know we can't do that but still...Love that guy..He would have mashed it in Yankee stadium.
