Signing the likes of Pablo Sandoval or Russell Martin would represent a major shift from how the Blue Jays have approached the free agent market in recent years, FOX Sports’ Jon Paul Morosi writes. Under Alex Anthopoulos, the Jays have signed only three free agents to multiyear contracts, none longer than three years (for Maicer Izturis) and none for more than $16MM (for Melky Cabrera). The Jays’ stated internal policy of not offering contracts longer than five years could play a role, though they’d almost certainly have to top that mark to sign Sandoval, who reportedly wants a six-year deal.
More from north of the border…
- With Cabrera’s status still up in the air, Anthopoulos is doing his due diligence on possible replacements within Toronto’s lineup, Sportsnet.ca’s Shi Davidi reports. “We’ve thought about alternatives, you have to think about alternatives all the time for any position. I can’t speak for Melky specifically other than we’d like to have him back,” Anthopoulos said. “We may have a good sense right now of what the likelihood is of signing him or not signing him, but I’m sensitive to not talking about someone else’s free agency, and not divulging negotiations or things like that….That’s not to say we don’t want it to happen with Melky, but we’re also being real with this. There’s a good chance he doesn’t come back, we just don’t know.”
- Also from Davidi, the Blue Jays are one of the 20 teams on Cole Hamels’ no-trade list. The Red Sox are also known to be on Hamels’ block list, while the Cubs are not.
- The Braves’ Evan Gattis doesn’t appear to be a Jays trade target, Davidi reports, and he also reiterates that the Jays aren’t interested in Yasmany Tomas.
- If the Jays can’t land Martin, Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun speculates that the club could pursue Marlins catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, “who is available” following a .220/.320/.362 performance over 435 PA in 2014. Saltalamacchia just signed a three-year, $21MM free agent deal with Miami last winter, though obviously it wouldn’t be the first time the Marlins have looked to deal a recent high-profile signing. I’m not sure I see Saltalamacchia as a fit for the Jays, as he costs a lot more than incumbent catcher Dioner Navarro but arguably isn’t an upgrade.
- The Jays are talking to Brook Jacoby about becoming the club’s new hitting coach, Elliott reports. Jacoby is an assistant hitting coordinator for the Rangers and previously spent seven years as the Reds’ hitting coach.
Alright. I’ve had enough. This is PATHETIC on the Blue Jays part. Melky has stated he wants to stay with the Blue Jays. Last season, before his season-ending injury, he proved why he wants to stay.
(And don’t tell me anything about Melky “testing the market”. If he really did want to stay here, he would have re-signed already.)
He should have been signed a very long time ago.
Toronto should feel blessed they get the pick. Cabrera has dreams of recapturing the $75kk he lost when he got busted awhile negotiating with the Giants.
Also, you can ignore what free agents say to the media. What do you think they’re going to say? “Only a few teams should bid on me because I’m not interested in the others. Let’s keep the price down.”??
Lester said he wanted to stay with the Sox last off season. Players don’t always mean what they say publicly, and teams don’t always offer market value when players “want to stay”.
Melky on a deal longer than 3 years would be a pretty poor investment, IMO. He probably should be DHing already and he’s not some crazy great bat that you hold on to at all cost like Bautista. He may want to stay here, but his financial requests may be out of whack with what is reasonable.
I agree fully.should be offering 3-4 years and $45-55 million
Jays *need* a big name bat, pref LHB, or Switch (like VMart), can’t even imaging them going to camp with Smoak as their DH and Gose as their CF and Pompey as their LF, that’s just a ticket to 4th or 5th place
Let’s separate fantasy from reality. Fantasy is reading all these absurd notions the Blue Jays are in on any of the top 50 FA’s. Reality is Fantasy during the off season keeps fans from cancelling their season tickets.
AA will roll out his canned line “We didn’t match up on years and or dollars”
and then begin his off-season waiver wire bonanza.
And this is why I want Anthopolous gone.
Sadly it is not AA or Beestons fault, if you want to point fingers at the culpable party look no further than Rogers and their business model. Beeston and AA are just doing what they have been told to do. The Jay’s, Mariners and Braves are the only Corporately owned teams and on field results are similar. The Nintendo Mariners seem to want to spend more but poor baseball operations management seems to get in their way. Rogers Blue Jays allocated 137MM and said no more. AA with have to earn his keep by rearranging the roster with the dollars he has.
You don’t think he would want to spend tons of money if he was allowed to?
I think it’s who the money is spent on rather than having the money to spend. $54M this year to Reyes, Buehrle, and Dickey alone. Granted two of those contracts weren’t handed out by the Jays, but they’re paying for them.
The blame rests with Rogers, not with AA. When you only have so much money to play with, you need to implement limits on the team’s spending.
Hopefully A Large Part of ALL NHL AD Revenue Rogers gets This Year Will Go Into the Blue Jays
As much as I love the Melky, I wouldn’t be extremely upset if he indeed leaves. I think the Royals and Giants proved that defense and fundamentals can prevail over pure slugging. Russell Martin and Chase Headley are ideal additions as they provide you three plus defenders you didn’t have for the prevailing part of 2014 (Catcher, 3B, and 2B (Lawrie)). Its a lot harder to find plus defenders at those positions than it is to find a Left Fielder.
Headley’s only contribution is his defence.
.346 wOBA, 121 wRC+ once he got the heck out of PETCO. The best Blue Jays 3rd baseman in 2014 produced .327 wOBA, 106 wRC+…and that was while striking out 36% of the time. I’m not saying he’s a world beater, but if the price is not over the top, its a definite upgrade.
Would the dodgers/jays be inclined to do a Bhurle for Ethier + cash trade. Beckett retired thus creating an opening for a starter. Jays want to create spot for some of thier young arms. ethier has 3 year 52 mil bhurle has 1 year 20 mil.
I would prefer Crawford to Either. That being said I would rather AA trade Burehle and cash for prospects and use the money in free agency.
AA’s longest contract in his 4 year tenure is Maicer Izturis lol. The reality is, the team on the field next year has to be an IMPROVEMENT from the 2014 team. Signing Melky isn’t enough for this offseason to be a success, there are a lot more holes to fill. I consider there to be 4 holes offensively; LF, CF, 2B, DH. At least three of those need to be filled. We cannot expect to contend in the AL east with 2 or more below avg bats in the lineup, . If payroll remains constant, there’s an estimated 15 million to spend and limited trade chips, AA has to get creative.
Bullpen is another conversation. AA, get to work.
Roger’s should just sell the franchise to someone who truly cares about putting a great team on the field for the fans.
But WHY, I’ve been wondering for so long. Is it hatred for the team?
Nope, it’s the turf.
Canada is not a state.
Also think the taxing system is different so being paid $40 million in Canada isn’t the same as being paid $40 million in the USA. I might be wrong though.
I guess I’ll state the obvious. I think the performance of the team is a major factor in putting the Blue Jays on the no-trade list. Even when they go “all-in” with Reyes, Dickey, and Buehrle, the results are less than anticipated.
Nope its location like Canada, Eh? As if Chicaga is better than Taranna?. Best they go where they want to though, and good for AA for holding of on the huge money, after getting burned so badly on the knuckle baller.
Explain the Rays then. They have turf.
Doesn’t really explain pitchers.
By that logic, MLB might as well move the Blue Jays to the U.S.
Well…. yeah. Ok. You’re right. There are certainly other reasons as well. Different country. Jays have not been in the playoffs for 20+ years (I mean, if it was a playoff team I’m sure it would be attractive for any free agent). To me it just seems to me like the turf taking its toll on players bodies seems to be the one that pops up most.
The also have Florida weather, Florida home prices, Florida’s no personal state income tax, and turf. These guys have families too (often) and so moving to Toronto for them means much more hardship on their families. Where do you live while in Toronto? Probably a rental condo as I can’t imagine too many players take the GO train in from Oakville. This city is not family friendly anywhere realistically close enough to the dome for a ball player.
The Rays NEVER trade for older players. A players is only going to have a no trade list if they signed and extension or a free agent contract.
For the last 2-3 years I’ve had suspicions that the umpires are behind that playoff drought – that they are shafting the Blue Jays of calls because of TV ratings reasons. I was told that’s why the Blue Jays are never on Sunday Night Baseball — ratings.
Last season, the Blue Jays were dead last (16-32, .333) in challenges. It seems obvious to blame it on the fact that the replay offices are in New York. (Yankees were first, 23-5, .821)
I’ve played on grass and turf, and real grass is more uneven than turf. It’s a huge excuse. Turf plays way more even then grass
Aren’t all contract figures in US dollars? I could be wrong.
Funny, the large contingent of first generation Canadians from Latin America and the Caribbean seem to rather enjoy the city of Toronto. Must be a ball player thing.
Nope. None of this was an issue when the Jays were a consistent winner in the 90’s.
Building via the draft is necessary but a core of home grown talent needs to be supplemented with FA signings. All the teams you listed above understood that.
Contract figures are equal. Taxes are not equal. How much are Ontario income taxes for $1M? $5M? $10M? In Florida, the answer to all three is $0.
EDIT: I mention above a likely reason why players put Toronto on their no-trade list – team performance, or lack thereof.
Are you joking? These guys make millions of dollars a year. They can afford a home in any neighborhood in the city. There are plenty of homes in Rosedale that are within 15mins of the dome.
Vernon Wells used to drive in to games from Mississauga, had a buddy who had him as a regular (as in knew his order) at his Tim Hortons.
Thank you. As an accountant, the tax argument is as annoying as it is inaccurate.
So since the state income tax of Florida is 0%, it’s lower than 2.56%. Additionally, cost of living is higher in Toronto than it is in Florida. I’m not even arguing for this point, I was just clarifying it for you that it is in fact more lucrative to play in Florida than Toronto, all else equal.
My main point again for players not wanting to be traded to the Blue Jays is the fact that they haven’t made the playoffs a single time in the past 20 years, regardless of roster or payroll.
Rosedale versus ocean-front in Florida at half of the cost for 2-5 times the space with nice weather all year long – where is the joke to you?. Be realistic, if you made millions working 6 months of the year would you be living in Toronto if you had a choice? You are thinking like a local not like someone who makes millions and has no reason to come to Toronto other than a salary that they can easily get elsewhere. Think of poor Lind getting sent off to Milwaukee. Would you like to make $7 million and live in Toronto or live in Milwaukee? I’d pick Toronto but using the ‘they make millions’ logic he shouldn’t have anything to complain about. That’s just silly.
Yeah well you could also say players would rather play in Florida than pretty much anywhere. Not really that relevant to Toronto.
I believe it’s simply because of the difficulty of moving to another country.
Fair enough. Nothing to argue. I was just trying to point out that lots of people make blanket statements about income tax being a reason not to play here when in reality there are few states where there is a significant difference in taxation. Cheers.
If that were the case, the NBA and, to a lesser extent, NHL would be facing similar situations.
I think no trade clauses are very rare in the NBA, probably has to do with the strength of the union there. In the NHL most players are not american anyway, and there are more canadian teams as well.
That is just a lame excuse. It’s the Manager and their Crew’s fault that they challenged calls in which they were more likely to lose. Also, the reason the Jays aren’t on Sunday Night Baseball is because their demographic is majorly in Canada, not the USA. Most people in Canada have Sportsnet, so that is where people will watch them play, not on some US broadcast being air by a Canadian network. Also, I’m pretty sure the Jays’ TV ratings are quite good, probably in the top 10, partly because they are catering to a whole country. The fact is, the Jays haven’t been good enough to be contenders the last few years, hence the reason they haven’t made the playoffs.
You may have something there Nick.- The umpiring has been really shoddy much of the time , including Pillar’s beautiful head first slide into home (had to be reversed.))- MLB and Pro sports is is all about southern California, NY, and Boston TV MARKETS.
Nope. It’s a Toronto thing. We “only” love it because it is one of the best and most diverse cities in the world.
“Hard to argue with the guys gameplan and/or results.”
The Blue Jays haven’t seen a single playoff game in over 20 years. The results are zero. The gameplan, as well, has yet to be seen, because it doesn’t appear that the team has been trending in the right direction, even after acquiring Reyes, Buehrle, et al. To further my point, the Blue Jays traded for starters rather than signing them, costing prospects and money rather just money. Not sure how that’s 100% smarter every time.
Fully agreed
Exactly. Especially for millionaires/multimillionaires