Toronto Blue Jays

[2014olympicgold]

They need a president to come in and ask Rogers to be able to spend the $189mill that teams can spend prior to the lux tax and then tell AA how much they can spend. That’s it. Or even asks to go over the $189mill threshold and get taxed only 17.5% because they’re first time violators I think.

They spend $200mill on payroll, they actually end up paying $235mill, and $35mill goes to the MLB fund or whatever. I think they finished the yr at $138mill at the end of this yr, but Price and Tulo were only like $7.5mill each because they were acquired at the deadline. So you got to add like $25mill to that number at that’s where they would be at if they resign Price at $20mill/yr (163), then the raises for the arbitration guys (let’s say 1mill/player so 7mill {I think theres’s 7 guys}) (170mill) then about a 14mill raise to Estrada (184mill).

If allowed, they could go around the same payroll. I’m also not removing guys that are leaving (Buerhle, Hawkins, Thole-I think, Navarro, Itzuris, Saunders maybe, Romero, Valencia, Morrow, Santos, and I think there’s one more retained salary guy off the books).

The Romero money is big, it’s like $7.5mill off the books.

[bondon]

I agree with this. It's like they brought him in to fix some internal issues but it would appear that the issues seem to be going away already. He's still young and I hope he doesn't come in looking to become a more "hands-on" type of Prez.

I also agree that AA needs to be re-signed and let him continue with the path he's been taking. Shapiro just needs to come in and be the middleman between AA and Rogers.

Just read this article that really puts things into good perspective regarding this situation we're discussing.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb...uldnt-imagine/

My favourite part about that article is this part:

“By design, last off-season we really targeted a certain type of player and we walked away from a lot of players that were talented and productive that didn’t fit what we were trying to do,” said Anthopoulos. “And I don’t know as a GM I would have done that a couple of years earlier. I was so caught up on value, contractual status and things like that. You learn from your mistakes and you adjust.”

Earlier in the article he stated that he feels like he really caught his stride this year, and that's an important thing to consider. He was pretty young when he took over the GM job, a brilliant young mind in the baseball world. He has the presence of mind to identify his weaknesses and show that he's able to adjust, which is something that I feel a lot of GMs in pro sports don't have; a lot of them are bullheaded and run the show the way they want to, no introspection whatsoever. That quote from Alex really resonated with me because I remember when he first signed on as GM, he was constantly fixated on acquiring young talent and underrated talent that had control. Every interview he gave after acquiring a player, one of the first things he would talk about was that he sought out player x because he was under team control.

Yunel Escobar is the player that sticks out to me when reading AA`s quote. At the time AA was lauded for acquiring one of the games more underrated shortstops in the league for a song, and part of what enticed AA to acquire Escobar was that he was under team control for the forseeable future. What the kid also brought was a horrible attitude and an immaturity that bred controversy. That`s the kind of player that AA would have and did acquire at the start of his career, and I think the type of player you wouldn`t have a chance of seeing in a Blue Jay uniform under the more experienced AA.

[blayze]

I also agree that AA needs to be re-signed and let him continue with the path he's been taking. Shapiro just needs to come in and be the middleman between AA and Rogers.

The only problem is that Shapiro is a "baseball guy". He's not just a business executive... I expect he'll want to be way more hands on than AA is used to with Beeston who essentially gave him free reign. You don't hire a big name like that and pay the big money for someone to just be a "middleman".

There is definitely some power overlap and probably ego issues with Shapiro / AA that will have to be sorted out if AA stays. AA probably won't want to stay if the plan is for him to be Shapiro's puppet.

[LawMan]

[QUOTE=bondon;1537394]Just read this article that really puts things into good perspective regarding this situation we're discussing.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb...uldnt-imagine/
[QUOTE]

Great article thanks for posting, I agree that AA is really starting to come into his own, usually I think "character" is over-emphasized but I think AA has done a good job of finding quality, "high-character" guys. The most interesting part of the article to me was this:

The Game 6 loss on Friday night drew 5.12 million viewers on Sportsnet with a peak audience of 12 million, making it the largest television audience in network history. The top-10 most watched broadcasts ever on Sportsnet were Blue Jays games during this post-season run and that caps a regular-season rush of record audiences.

To me that more than anything makes a case for why the Jays should commit big dollars to Estrada, and hopefully Price.

[Axeman33]

https://mobile.twitter.com/SNBarryDa...7845264384?p=v

EE underwent successful surgery today to repair a Sports Hernia. He is expected to be a full participant at spring training. #bluejays

[2014olympicgold]

Jays picked up Dickey’s option, as they should have. If he munches up 200IP, and goes a few games over 500 he’s done his job. 162x9=1458, 200/1458=0.137. Dickey is good for roughly 13.7% of the season’s innings. He’s averaged 218IP for the Jays, so 200IP is nothing new to ask.

And essentially if they didn’t pick up the option, they’d be paying him 1mill to play somewhere else.

[2014olympicgold]

AA rejected latest contract offer. He’s leaving the Jays.

Reports have it that the issues leading to this split aren’t thought to be financial.

I don’t get why you wouldn’t want this guy on your team and let him do what he wants. He managed to get Donaldson, Tulo, Martin, and sign Bautista and Edwin to team friendly contracts. He drafted well. He got rid of 81mill (of the 86mill contrac) of Vernon Wells. He traded Gose for Travis. He did faulter on some moves early in his career (Lawrie, Morrow, Escobar, Rasmus, Halladay trade). And wasn’t afraid to swing for the fences in trades (Reyes, Buehrle, JJ, Dickey), but he did more good than bad.

He is responsible for Stroman, Sanchez, Osuna, Pillar, and Pompey. He had Syndergaard, Nicolino, Hechavarria, Norris, Hoffman, and Boyd drafted and later traded to make a run.

I think this is a bad decision. But if you bring in a President or whatever he’ll more than likely want this his way.

[bondon]

Big ****ing mistake.

[Axeman33]

Interesting thoughts from Friedman

https://mobile.twitter.com/FriedgeHN...7867779076?p=v

Hockey reporter guess: power and control offered to Shapiro before AA's big trade deadline. It was never intended to have him back.

Apparently, if there's any bright lights to this whole fiasco going down, the future of John Gibbons is also in question. I'd have no issues with Gibby heading out the door with Anthopoulos.

[bondon]

He's probably right. Still a big ****ing mistake. I'm actually fuming right now, I think i'm more pissed off about this than losing game 6.

Team was 2 games away from making it to the World Series and the players are finally starting to buy in to the fact that AA is going to do what it takes to build them a winning team. Hey, let's **** all that up and bring in someone new.

GREAT ****ING IDEA.

The only saving grace about this is because of AAs great eye a lot of the team is already under control going forward. So unless the new guy comes in and completely obliterates things he can't **** up too badly right?

[Axeman33]

WOW!

https://mobile.twitter.com/rwesthead...97223287074816

Source: In their 1st & only meeting, new Jays prez Mark Shapiro scolded Alex Anthopolous & staff for trading so many top prospects this yr

[2014olympicgold]

WOW!

https://mobile.twitter.com/rwesthead...97223287074816

Great way to start your tenure. You replenish your prospect stock every year with like at least 7 young guys. Just draft well.

If he is all about keeping some young stock, I’m not too happy. Jays are win now, and I rather win the WS in the next yr or two, then have a bad 5yrs, then be playoff bound for 3 yrs, and an alright team for 6yrs. Go all in for 2-3yrs, then replenish for a few yrs.

Not liking the start of his term with the Blue Jays…

[Axeman33]

Not that he's with the Jays anymore but still good news to be shared for Daniel Norris.

https://mobile.twitter.com/DanielNor...7083705344?p=v

I just want to thank everyone for the thoughts & prayers. Surgery was successful & I am Cancer Free.… instagram.com/p/9b89IQRaVJ/

[Axeman33]

I dont know how much of this I believe from Ed Rogers but its an interesting read just the same.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb...under-shapiro/

[2014olympicgold]

Well baseball is over now. At least we put up a better series than the Mets did. There weren’t a lot of highs and lows it felt like with the Mets series compared to the Jays. KCR is a very good team that just keeps at you.

2016 can’t come fast enough now. The Jays prolly had their run at the best time for the Leafs, because it filled the gap from when Hockey starts to when Basketball starts. So now the Raptors can win and take focus off the Leafs…even though the Leafs will always have the focus.

Congrats KCR, we’re coming for you next yr.