As the Blue Jays opened Spring Training, general manager Ross Atkins met with reporters yesterday. The GM implied the bulk of the club’s offseason activity was complete, minimizing the chance of making an impactful free agent strike without offloading someone from the roster.
“At this point, additions that would be of significance would mean some level of subtraction,” Atkins said (link via Kaitlyn McGrath of the Athletic). “We feel good about the team that we have. Feel good about the work that’s been done over the last five offseasons, the last four trade deadlines and now coming into another trade deadline, we’ll have another opportunity, I hope, that we’re in a strong position to add to that team (and) I know that we will.”
It wasn’t quite as firm a declaration that the team was finished with notable acquisitions as executives with other clubs (i.e. Nationals, Rangers) have made. Atkins noted the Jays remain in contact with player representatives as a large number of free agents are still unsigned. It nevertheless downplays the chance of Toronto jumping in on anything more than depth additions.
That’s an apparent reflection of a franchise-high payroll. Roster Resource projects their 2024 spending in the $236MM range. Their competitive balance tax figure sits around $249MM, into the first tier of luxury tax penalization. Toronto paid the tax a year ago, so they’re subject to heightened penalties. They’re taxed at a 30% rate on spending up to $257MM and a 42% rate on the next $20MM, with higher penalties in the unlikely event they push past the $277MM mark.
On the one hand, the Jays have pushed their Opening Day spending past last year’s approximate $210MM figure. Team president Mark Shapiro suggested at the beginning of the offseason they anticipated keeping payroll steady. They have instead increased spending. Yet the Jays have also come up empty on their most significant free agent swings. They’d been linked to high-profile targets from Shohei Ohtani to Jorge Soler.
Their largest guarantee was a five-year, $32MM pact for Cuban swingman Yariel Rodríguez. They signed Isiah Kiner-Falefa to a two-year, $15MM deal and inked one-year pacts with Justin Turner ($13MM) and Kevin Kiermaier ($10.5MM).
While Atkins didn’t address any specific free agents — team personnel are prohibited from declaring themselves out of the market on individual players — his comments seem most notable with regards to Matt Chapman. The Jays appeared an on-paper fit to bring Chapman back. Their closest direct replacement at third base is Kiner-Falefa. Coming off a .242/.306/.340 platform showing that is broadly in line with his career numbers, Kiner-Falefa is better suited as a utility player for a team with playoff aspirations.
Toronto also allowed Whit Merrifield to hit free agency. He’s expected to make his signing decision within the coming days. While a return to Toronto isn’t out of the question, the Jays look content to allow a handful of multi-positional types to battle for playing time at second and third base.
Beyond Kiner-Falefa, the Jays have Cavan Biggio, Santiago Espinal, Davis Schneider, Ernie Clement and prospects Orelvis Martinez, Addison Barger and Leo Jimenez on the 40-man roster. None of Martinez, Jimenez or Barger has played in the majors. All three have reached Triple-A, although Jimenez struggled in a brief look there last year. They’re longer shots to make the Opening Day roster. Veteran Eduardo Escobar will also be in camp after agreeing to a minor league contract last night.
Biggio, Espinal and Schneider are virtual locks to make the team. They’ve all shown flashes in their careers but none is a clear everyday player. Biggio had a league average .235/.340/.370 line over 339 plate appearances a season ago. After posting solid offensive numbers in his first two seasons, he has been an average or slightly worse hitter three years running.
Espinal was a surprising All-Star selection amidst an impressive 2022 campaign. His production dropped precipitously last year, as he hit .248/.310/.335 over 254 plate appearances. Schneider had a scorching start to his MLB career after being called up last August. He raked at a .426/.526/.894 clip over his first few weeks before slumping to a .174/.321/.406 line while striking out a third of the time in September. It was still an extremely impressive debut showing in aggregate, yet he’ll have to make his own adjustments as he faces MLB pitching over a full season for the first time. Clement, meanwhile, has been a utility player throughout his career. He’s out of options, so he’d have to secure a spot on the Opening Day bench or be placed on waivers.
Manager John Schneider told reporters yesterday that Biggio is a bit delayed after battling tendinitis in his left shoulder this offseason (relayed by Keegan Matheson of MLB.com). He is not yet facing live pitching. Assuming he’s ready by Opening Day, he’s likely to compete with Kiner-Falefa and Espinal at third base. Davis Schneider has split his time in the minors fairly evenly between second and third. John Schneider said that Davis Schneider is focused on second base and left field as his main positions for the upcoming season (via Shi Davidi of Sportsnet).
Sounds like they are unlikely to sign any of the high priced remaining free agents.
If so the market for bellinger, Chapman, snell and Monty continues to shrink.
There is no market for any of them, its why they remain unsigned.
Scott Boras is part of the problem wanting $300 million for Snell, $250 million for Bellinger. Montgomery’s constant insistence that he wanted to stay in Texas even after never actually speaking with the Rangers hasn’t helped his case and even though Chapman won a Gold Glove last year (meaningless i know) his bat was unplayable most of the second half due to a shoulder issue. Any and all of these players will be lucky to get a more than a 2 or 3 year deal at most
He dropped some weights on his finger, not his shoulder.
I stand corrected however his bat was still unplayable even before the finger issue
Man’s doing his job. He doesn’t have to create a mass market for any of these guys – just find one team that is willing to pay something near the price he wants. It’s like selling your house. .You’re not trying to find a price point to create a large market. You just need one buyer to bite at the high price you ask..
I think he figured there’d be more desperation out of New York and Toronto. But the Yankees took Soto and can afford to sit back on Snell, while the Mets aren’t buying mad this year. Meanwhile Toronto seems to have decided to just bust.
I’m trying to think of a more disappointing Jays offseason. Nope, this has been the worst one.
There were years when they did literally nothing and worse when they made unwise signings. Expectations for this off-season were unreasonably high.
They had Ohtani on the plane to Toronto, bro. I agree with the OP. That had to be utterly devastating.
This. They were signing Ohtani and then suddenly they weren’t. Instead we got IKF and a 39-year-old DH. Re-signing KK instead of moving Varsho to CF and signing a good LF bat was perplexing to say the least.
Ohtani said “I couldn’t bring myself to actually sign with Toronto. I didn’t like the thought of drinking milk out a bag, getting paid in Monopoly money or making love to Moose.”
What did they really need though? They have a solid rotation and bullpen. Offensively Turner was better than Chapman and Belt and other than Ohtani who was out there for them to break the bank on?
Turner is a DH, meaning that he should be compared to their other DH’s, not Chapman. Chapman will be replaced at third by a below league average (in a good year) Biggio.
Although I agree the Jays only need to replace 17 homers and 54 RBIs out of the third base position and Kiner falefa at least replaces the gold glove defense part of the time at third base. I still wouldn’t mind signing Urshela to play more every day third base and use IKF as a utility guy
“Disappointing Jay’s off-season”…Securing the long-term future of Dante B. is of more importance than signing an up and down, overpriced player like Belli imo.
Personally, I’d prefer if they locked up Bo…
signing Dante Be long-term does sound like something Atkins would do LOL
Worse off season would be the one where they hired the two bozos running the show now. Need to clean house in the front office and send Shapiro and Atkins packing maybe Schneider too. Not like there isn’t a group waiting to replace them in Click and mattingly/hale
BJ Ryan deal still torments me.
BJ Ryan was only bad because he blew out his shoulder or elbow. If there were multiple wild cards back in those days there would have been some great memories from those teams. Solid rotation and great offence.
I’m old and still not over the Bill Caudill contract
You shocked?
Don’t forget the offseason 5 jays players were going to defer some of their salary to sign Ervin Santana.
They used to call their GM ‘Stand-Pat’ which many of us are old enough to remember.
Best Pat Gillick story ever has to be at the winter meetings in 1990 after Gillick traded Fred McGriff and Tony Fernandez to the Padres for Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter and Gillick’s wife told him “will you get home before you screw up the team any further?”
Little did Doris Gillick know that trade would set the table for 3 straight division titles and back-to-back championships
the guy who won 2 WS?
Yep. Apparently Pat wasn’t known for his wheeling-and-dealing until one odd December night in 1990
damhikt
It’s not very often that all players involved in a trade end up in the all-star game. I wasn’t a big fan of the trade when it happened, but it didn’t take long to become a fan of Jumping Joe and Robbie
In some ways it reminds me of the late ’90s-early ’00s teams when we were like, “Here’s Otis Nixon! That ought to turn things around!” The difference is, we weren’t trying to contend in those years. We’re (supposedly) trying to win this year.
Honestly, it’s not too hard to imagine a scenario where the Blue Jays are much better next year despite a seemingly mediocre offseason thanks to a bit of positive regression from Vladdy, Varsho, Manoah, etc.
That said, I’d still be pretty disappointed with how things have played out this winter if I was a Jays fan.
Bichette was down last year too but I’m w ya ! Tampa and Red Sox taking a step back will also help jays
4.9WAR for the season is down?
Way down ! 50 runs on his career mark, 40 rbi, 10 homers and 20 stolen bases.
Bo had his best all around season in 2023. People forgot his first 4 months in 2022 was mediocre.
Sox taking a step back? how do you figure? arguably a full season of casas figuring it out, not having Verdugo who didn’t care and a rotation with more experience and a 2B in Grissom who can’t be worse than Hernandez.
early prediction – Sox finish ahead of the Jays.
yes the Jays could have bats who improve (Vlad, Varsho). they could also see a rotation fall back down to earth, a not as strong season from Springer, Schneider not hitting out his mind.
everyone focuses on how they could be better but forgets just how lucky they also were
Glad you are optimistic before the sssson starts. I won’t rain on your parade
But they lost virtually no rotation starts due to injury. Their top-4 combined for 127 starts, which is about as high as you will ever see. And I think the only starts Manoah missed were via performance.
Manoah’s missed games and his poor performance didn’t help the rotation at all, if he’s even a 4 ERA pitcher this year that would be a bunch of wins just from that extra rotation spot
They had RYU who came back from TJ and pitched excellent they won’t have that this year.
Problem with that scenario is that it’s built on the assumption that the ‘real’ Guerrero is the year they played in minor league parks, not the one from all the other years.
Translation: we pissed away money on IKF and now we’re paying the price.
Pretty sure they knew their budget when they signed him…. You’re acting like that sighing happened years ago lol
It happened this off-season and is already constraining them from making further upgrades.
Constraining them? They knew their budget the entire time dude…. You think they just forgot how much money they had to spend? Your comment doesn’t even make sense?
And they needed upgrades to the rotation depth, SS and 3B with Chapman departing. IKF was their sole addition.
Lol and they just forgot about that? You really think they paid IKF and are now like crap we ran out of money? That’s your argument? Seriously? And immediately liking your own comments is hilarious lol
My argument is that they spent their entire FA budget on IKF. Whether it was by design or accident is irrelevant.
So they might’ve accidentally signed IKF…. They just blanked out and forgot who he was and signed him. You’re absurd lol. Not surprising from someone who likes their own comments lol
Interesting that they spent their entire budget on IKF when they also signed 3 other players…. Again you sound absurd
It was an even worse allocation of funds if they knew they were on a tight budget. Both him and KK were not the right moves for a team that needed offense. A lot of fans said not to worry about those signings because it wouldn’t stop them from making other moves later, but as I expected it has.
He’s not saying they forgot. he’s saying that it was a poor decision if they didn’t have more money to sign other people. You don’t seem to be understanding what he is saying.
And Yimi, Cavan, Espinal, Chad Green (technically), argument could be made on Kiermaier too.
Toronto is not a small market and Rogers has plenty of money – Jays are regressing. Unfortunate.
Wealth of the owner or owner group is 100% irrelevant to the team’s payroll capacity.
A team’s capacity to spend is not determined by the owner’s wealth? Basic economics would disagree. It’s a choice – Jays could easily up their budget.
Lol imagine complaining about a top 5 payroll in the league that is also a franchise record….
Obviously you aren’t aware of league restrictions. Before the Jays even lift a finger, they have to convert Canadian funds into US funds, costing them 50M on top of what they pay out. Then, the higher their salaries go, taxes kick in from the league and as the Yankees have seen, they pay 101 percent tax on what they spend. If they sign Montgomery, they pay 170 m plus another 70M upping the contract to 240M. The Jays go above their payroll limits and you write off Bo, Guerrero, plus many others since the team isn’t going to bankrupt themselves for entitled and selfish fans.
Appreciate the condescending reply, Ashley – obviously you aren’t aware of, again, basic economics. Have a good day.
Ashleyr it’s obvious you’re not aware of the Canadian structure either, who the owners are and what the owners own besides the club.
If anything, the “selfish” fans have come out and supported this team in so many ways that would not include the word selfish. By going all out to win they would not bankrupt themselves. 30 parks was kind to you.
you can both spend a lot of money and spend it poorly.
Correct. That’s what the Jays did.
Where are the folks that said Rogers would not restrict spending? Ownership is not all-in to win, they’re all-in to market and profit the ball club. 23 years of proof.
I think we’re seeing the idea that MLB teams “have all the money” and are just “greedy owners who won’t spend” called out as convenient fantasy. Team after team declaring they’re done with lots of excellent players still on the board. A major re-think of individual club finances and a major reality re-setting by the players is overdue.
Seam – I get what you’re saying, but I still think it’s Boras misjudging the market. Lesser players got signed rather quickly because they knew the Boras players would be overpriced.
This is strictly on Boras, teams are standing their ground against him and I’m loving every minute of it.
Why would you love legitimate stars being unemployed as Spring Training starts? Weird
I’ll buy that when I see a slash on merch prices, ticket prices and food concession costs.
Have you ever noticed…in atkins pressers, there is never a mention about WINNING the World Series. !!
His job is to build a team to get them there, after that it’s on the guys between the lines. The angst is mostly the lack of playoff wins the last few years.
Hey gomer33…B.S. atkins job is to build a World Series Champion… He and shapiro have Never done that Ever !!
Are these execs trolling Boras? ” Hey Cubs and Giants, I know we are rumored to be in on Bellinger (Chapman to lesser degree), but we are really not.”
They went from aggressively pursuing Ohtani to maxing out on payroll. That’s a head scratcher.
” pursuing Ohtani to maxing out…That’s a head scratcher”….Not really if you view baseball in the macro, not micro sense. Acquiring Ohtani was always about Rodgers Communications penetrating the Asian Communications market. Ohtani would aid this endeavor greatly, whereas Belli, Chappy or Snell or others would not. Toronto was clearly making a budget exception ONLY for Ohtani.
That’s when you know GMs are lying. I don’t remember the exact words, but it was something along the lines of making a similar offer as LA. And now he has a budget?
It was widely reported that the Jays had two budgets, one with Ohtani one without.
Ohtani in Toronto would have EXPLODED the Asian market in Toronto. You’d see Asian Canadian kids reach the bigs 10-15 years from now had Ohtani been a Blue Jay. The impact would have been similar to what the 1980 US Hockey team had on the 90’s US hockey explosion of stud players.
Atkins is terrible. Bloated payroll, poor farm and an incomplete roster. Offense was terrible last year and they’ve done squat other than getting Turner. This team without a miracle turnaround won’t make the WC. Same coaches expecting different results.
A simple solution. STOP, STOP, STOP following the Jays and go root for and support the Dodgers that exploited deferrals to sign many top players. The Jays aren’t like ANY other team. They have to exchange Canadian funds into US funds to pay every player. If they are at 240M in salary, if they sign an expensive FA, they may pay them 30M a year, but CBA taxes on higher levels doubles that to 60M per season which is a franchise killer. If the Jays sign Bellinger, then which of Guerrero or Bo do they trade because they can’t sign or extend them. NO team can survive six 30M contracts and that is what the fans are demanding. 180M on six players and there are 26 players. The only way it works is if the six players are surrounded by minor=league players at league minimum. That is the reality fans don’t think of.
Lol what nonsense. As I stated they drafted very poorly. They also have one of the richest owners in baseball. I know they’re publicly traded but they own the stadium, parking, the team and the network they’re on. The only thing I hear is excuses.
Its still all anthopoulos’ fault
The Blue Jays had revenue of $542 million in 2023 so CBT spending at $249 million plus the taxes puts them at about 46% of revenue spent on payroll, benefits, and CBT fines. They are pretty close to that 50% mark you want to see teams at.
What are the expenses.
This proves Jays were “in on” Ohtani knowing he wasn’t signing. This front office is losing credibility everyday- Atkins and Shapiro are useless, can’t put a competitive team together and have a terrible draft track record
It only proves that if you were not paying attention. It was widely reported that there were two budgets, one if he signed and one if he did not.
I believe the signing that isn’t being talked about enough is Kiermaier. Love him as a defender and high-energy guy, but this was an opportunity to have Varsho play CF, where his bat actually plays much better. That would have freed up Atkins to sign a corner outfield bat with some pop.
Team knows Varsho has a weak arm to play CF. There is a reason why teams test his arm. It’s also why Varsho racked up many assists. If they felt strongly about Varsho playing CF he would be there.
Just stop dude. All of the stats show he is an elite CF. Your Varsho hate is getting ridiculous.
Don’t look at me kid. The Jays said so by reacquiring Kiermaier. If you think Varsho has a strong arm then you didn’t watch him throw last year.
he is not elite. he is certainly above avg as a fielder but the poster is right his fielding weakness is his arm.
He was 2nd in DRS with 18 DRS last year in CF despite having only around 1/3 of the innings in CF of the next highest who had 19. How is that not elite?
Ask the Jays, jaysfansince92. They know better than us. They also feel Varsho is more suited for LF, and his arm is one big reason why.
Because we all know Jay’s Management is infallible right? I don’t rip on them as much other fans and even defend some their decisions, but just because they decide to do something does not mean it is the best choice. I’m surprised you are saying that considering how much you rip on them for even considering trading for Varsho in the first place.
It’s easy to say because 1) it’s true, 2) Jays needed more offense and did not hesitate on Kiermaier, and 3) they’ve pushed for better D based on decisions with their players.
And yes, it was a horrendous trade.
People forget that the Jays had a self-imposed payroll cap after being 2 wins short of a World Series in 2015. They were a good bat short the following year. Today, another self-imposed cap – only this time they’re willing to pay the tax penalty, to a point.
Could be a good 2024, could be a rough one. If it’s the latter let’s hope the front office knows how to do a proper teardown this time around. They are still paying for the many mistakes in 2017.
El Chapo (Matt Chapman): the speed of a 22 year old Billy Hamilton combined with the defense of a 24 year old Kevin Kiermaier. Should have resigned him.
Remember when the jays were interested in every player in the offseason and they banked on George springer holding up in center. You’ve got to think that move is one of the major reasons why they’ve failed to capitalize on all that potential. That’s not to say the bats been bad but you’ve got to capitalize defensively at a premium position if you plan on paying for it.
I typically side w players on contract negotiations, but I am enjoying seeing the teams hardline the top of the FA class this off season. Sorry, but Nola is the only one deserving $150m+. All the rest trying to play the comp game are awash in a reality cocktail. Snell is close, but he’s simply Rodon 2.0 imo.
Gonna be interesting to see who holds their ground and sits until the draft.
Look everybody keeps equating teams spending money to the Owners total wealth. You need to realize there are other penalties for exceeding the Luxury Tax that go far beyond losing a few dollars. The perfect scenario is to keep under the tax every year, Keep your draft picks and international money, and pony up and go over once in awhile when you need to. The idea is to keep the pipeline moving through your system to replace players that you have to and dip below the tax again. Sure the TV money is part of it but just a part. Every once in awhile a Cohen will show up or the Dodgers will push all their chips into the pot like they seem to be doing. Dave Roberts better not get off to a bad start, Or I feel like he’s finally going to be toast. Cub fans keep blaming Ricketts for not spending, But Ricketts goal when he bought the team was always to build a winning system, Not spend billions on FA’s.
So what’s your take on STUPID contracts? Didn’t see anything in your post about those. IKF $15 million, trade a catcher for an outfielder (Varsho) who has great defense but can’t hit. Then resign a player (Kiermairer) for $10 million who shoved the aforementioned Varsho into a corner outfield spot usually saved for average defense but plus bat players. Escobar? Vogelbach? Could have signed a good hitting outfielder with that money. Oh by the way the Jays are in the financial straits they are in because of Shapiro and Atkins. I have never heard of any Jays players bringing a gun to their negotiations. The two idiots are responsible for the Jays money woes.
Larry- The ” Stupid” contracts show up when you pay for potential. You can do all the scouting and analytics on players you want it still boils down to a guys willingness to learn and evolve so to speak and admit his own faults. All Major League teams need to do is find one fatal flaw in your game and they’ll exploit it no end. Baseball is a game of adjustments and you to be able and willing to adjust. Then you toss in a little we really don’t have a guy like this, We really need a guy like this, The guy we thought could do that but couldn’t in our park for some reason and well you can go on forever. How many times have we as fans gone, That was a great signing. Then 2 years later go Boy was that stupid. Scouts are going to miss, Analytics will also fail, Injuries happen that can make any signing look horrible. Then you finally get a staff that works, And people like what you do and come in and poach your guys and you have to start over. It’s a cycle you have to keep moving and it’s always evolving. Just be happy when it works. Enjoy!
I can’t wait for this upcoming season. The battle for 4th place in the division is going to be intense.
At the way things are going, some random teams are going to end up with the remaining Boras clients on peanut deals. If you listen close enough, you can hear Jed Hoyer licking his chops…
good news for Atkins and Jays brass, they will likely be taking the same road LAA did last year, shedding salary late in the season (Turner, KK, Kikuchi, Bassitt) when they are inevitably put of the playoff race.
Realistically the Jays were never going to sign Ohtani or Trade for Juan Soto.. It was all a smokescreen to convince fans that they were trying to improve the team. The reasoning behind that strategy is to get the fans to come to the ballpark to experience the new and improved Lower Bowl. The drive to sell the ballpark as a happening place to be is going to start any day now. Just watch. I wish people would join me in boycotting the Jays. I will not be attending any games this year nor will I be watching on TV. I am tired of the psycho-babble and empty promises. Management has to go and Rogers needs to feel the anger and disappointment of the fans The only weapon we have is to refuse to support Rogers in any fashion. Maybe then they will start caring about the product they put on the field..
if it was a smokescreen and to convince fans to buy tickets, why didn’t they release more tickets at the time?
I think they genuinely had interest but we’re played by Ohtani and interested in Soto but not enough to exchange names
The post was meant to be looked at in the context of the big picture not as a single moment in time.
I started. Cancelled Rogers. Will not go to games in Toronto.?
I disagree about Ohtani being simply a smokescreen as there was a lot of money to be made for Rogers is they signed him.
I do not disagree that there needs to be consequences for how they proceeded after that failed though.
I agree there was money to be made if Ohtani was signed. Japanese TV revenue would more than cover that contract. The Jays know that so it would be safe for them to offer that contract and even sign him if he was willing. What I am saying is that Ohtani was never coming to Toronto and the Jays also knew that. There was great PR in playing up the fact that they made this incredible offer and therefore were trying to improve the team. They were not. Readind posts here and on other sites, it seems their plan worked just like they knew it would. A lot of people are impressed that the Jays came so close to signing Ohtani. I am not one of them. I am just tired of the BS.
Rogers 2023 revenues were 19.3 Billion dollars
Time for Teddy Roger’s to put his money where his mouth is
Go grab a Boris bundle. Bellinger (so perfect for the jays top 5 order), Chapman, and Snell (moved the Kuch to the bullpen, have as starter insurance)
They would certainly entertain a slight discount with games next week and the chance to become legit World Series contenders.
Pay the luxury tax
350 million a year in payroll for a team where you have a 2 year window with Beau/Vlad, a “new” stadium to monetize, and you own the tv/radio networks at a time when live sports and news are the only properties watched on live tv…..
As they say this cost would be a rounding error for Roger’s
Just get it done
If they get Bellinger and Chapman, they could trade Varsho for prospects (since everything thinks he is valuable), move Springer to LF and then deal Cavan and Espinal to shed some money.
They will never do this, btw.
But, Barger and Clement can replace Cavan and Espinal, and Bellinger would replace Varsho – and be an upgrade.
Varsho could be the best 4th outfielder in the league.
Springer cannot play right in more than 100 games and you got Vladdy and Turner needing shot reps…. No way I move Varsho.
Gotta give him a chance. If he’s 2022 Varsho everyone will forget about last year.
2022 Varsho was an easy out. An expensive 4th outfielder. That’s the whole point of moving him. Also hard to get a chance if you are the 4th.
The Springer argument is true, which is why I didn’t like the Turner signing despite liking Turner. Springer needed to DH and the Jays needed to use the Turner money plus unload a few more million to get Bellinger.
Unless the greatest hitting coach alive worked with Varsho the last 4 months, he is what he is; speedy player who plays hard, cant hit, strikes out too much and can give you some defense. Flawed metrics aside, that’s a bench player making over $5-mil.
does anyone outside of the fools that run the club think Varsho is valuable?
That trade last offseason has to be the worst deal for the organization since the Michael Young for Loaiza debacle.
Yes. Fools who call themselves Jays fans and overvalue WAR.
Great points. If they are not willing to do this can they at least do a favour for the fans. Get rid of Atkins and Shapiro. Now.
I think you can say that if the jays don’t perform this year they look much different next year
What’s the benefit of announcing this?
To get Jays fans fired up for the battle for 3rd place in the division?
The subtractions should be Atkins, Shapiro and Schneider. Time to re-tool the useless tools in charge.
Atkins is a joke and Shapiro is a joke and neither one of them has a good punchline. Dump the bums.
I see some posts about the consequences of signing large contracts. So why aren’t these same posts talking about the consequences of signing STUPID contracts! IKF for $15 million. Kiermaier for $10 million (this to put the player who you traded for a potential all star catcher into a corner outfield position). Escobar? Vogelbach? When does the STUPIDITY end? It will end when Rogers sees the revenues dwindle because of the team that Atkins puts on the field. Get rid of the bum! Shapiro also! They came from Cleveland where they won NOTHING and they treat the Jay fans like we don’t know anything about baseball. Please Rogers. Please!
“Meanwhile” needs to be at the start of the sentence, NOT the middle.
The Cleveland clowns need to go. This team is grossly mismanaged.