Last week’s signing of Freddy Galvis to a one-year contract with a club option for the 2020 season seems likely to be the final move of note that the Jays will make on the position-player side of the equation this offseason. From this point forth, as general manager Ross Atkins explained to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet, the team’s focus will be on bringing some additional arms into the fold — with both Major League and minor league additions possible.
“I think we can still add on the pitching side, on the roster, non-roster,” Atkins stated. “…The bulk of our focus, almost all of it, will be on acquiring pitching at this point.”
The Blue Jays already added some pitching options this season, signing Matt Shoemaker to a one-year contract, acquiring veteran lefty Clayton Richard, landing young righty Trent Thornton (from Houston in exchange for Aledmys Diaz) and selecting righty Elvis Luciano in the Rule 5 Draft (though the 19-year-old will be difficult to roster all season). That said, there’s flexibility for Toronto to add either in the rotation or the bullpen, and Atkins suggested that the team could look to add in either area.
Certainly, the Jays don’t seem likely to splurge on a top-end free agent like Dallas Keuchel or Craig Kimbrel. Both players would are still seeking hefty multi-year contracts, and, after rejecting a qualifying offer, each would cost the Blue Jays their second-highest draft pick and $500K worth of international signing funds on the 2019-20 market. The Jays, meanwhile, have been making smaller-scale moves in what increasingly looks like a transitional season.
However, as can be seen in MLBTR’s 2018-19 Free Agent Tracker, both the starting pitching and relief markets still have several options from which the Jays can choose. Atkins and his staff waited out the market last winter and found some value in late signings of Tyler Clippard and John Axford (who wants to return to the Blue Jays), though a higher-profile addition of Jaime Garcia in mid-February did not yield dividends. The past two weeks have already produced a slew of one-year deals for both starters and relievers alike. That trend will continue, as the supply of available arms looks to outweigh the number of jobs among the limited number of teams that are making an effort to improve.
Sign accord again. Low risk and super high reward
There’s plenty of quality pitchers still on the market. Clay Buccholz could be a great SP for the Jays; Francisco Liriano could provide a lot of versatility in a swingman role
Liriano just signed minor league deal with Pirates.
Didn’t Clay sign with Texas?
not yet but i hope
In two years, I can see the Blue Jays bringing it all together. They have a nice solid core coming up through the ranks.
Stevie Wonder sees it too. Will take 3-4 years. Need pitching and OF depth.
sigh Harper to a long term front loaded contract. solves the OF issue and would be a nice bat behind Vladdy Jr. Harper is only 26 so he can be part of the rebuild
Ray Charles also has vision of a blue jays future.
In all honesty, just can’t wait to see VGjr and BO manning the left side of the Toronto infield and the heart of their lineup for years. Should be fun to watch.
I expect both will ultimately end up manning the right side of the infield… BB to 2B, vlad to 1B…. but we shall see.
Wait they’re getting Bo Jackson AND Peyton Manning? Move over, Belichick
You are going to watch an eternity for that combo. Bichette will be a 2nd baseman, never make it a SS in the majors.
^Shhhh….don’t tell them that Jimmer. Someone will get offended!
Scour the bargain bin again with the hopes of getting lucky again like last year, Axford & Clippard more than did the job, despite Garcia not turning out as hoped. Buccholz makes sense to me, as well as former Jays Loup & Sean Nolin might be worth the risk. Whoever it is, if they turn out, flip them at the deadline to stock the system, if they do not, DFA them and try again with someone else or promote someone from AAA.
No to Loup.
Too many arms, too few jobs.
This is why Charlie Finley, past owner of the Atheltics, said over 40 years ago “let them ALL be free agents!”
Pannone should be the 5th starter, pushing Richard to the bullpen. That’s not happening.
Giles
Tepera
Mayza
Paulino
possibly Luciano
possibly Merryweather
possibly Waguespack
possibly Gaviglio (long man)
possibly Biagini
That’s the bullpen, most likely. Sounds like non-roster invitees for the Jays. Hopefully Axford.
Phelps
I keep forgetting the Jays best offseason acquisition, Phelps.
Biagini is awful.
Yes. He’ll still be given a shot in the bullpen where he should have stayed this entire time. Whoever thought Biagini should start should be demoted.
Well to be fair Pete Walker is still there and was kept on by Montoyo. I would guess he would have a say in the matter…
They’re set at closer with Giles. They should be able to get serviceable arms for the back end of the rotation from FA signings.
Be nice to see the Jays sign Harper to a 7yr/245M contract and have him and Vlad man the core of the lineup for the next 7 years.
It would be nice if fans got smarter and stop suggesting ludicrous trades or free agent signings like this and everyone would be better off because of it.
Yeah a guy with multiple knee surgeries would love to play on concrete 55% of his games lol.
It would be nice if Harper and Machado would pick teams. Enough speculation!
LMFAO Bryce Harper is not signing with the Jays.
Right now he might sign 8 for $225. $250 for 8 for sure. Jays should have been all over him from the beginning to help Vlad and build a future for this team along with some marketability.
Jays won’t do it. Harper wouldn’t ever sign with the Jays, but with Spring Training near he and his agent may be looking for the best offer.
Braves would love to send them Julio
Whoever they sign should be guaranteed 1-5 million dollars and should be loaded on incentives. That way it’s not a Tulowitzki situation and they actually have to work for their money.
” in what increasingly looks like a transitional season.”
Steve, in what world were they not doing the same thing since the finish of 2016? My eyes saw it and noted it here back then.
Why so polite? It is another write-off season for the Jays as will be next year and the next year after that. Yeeesh.
Let’s call it like it is.
Just because they won’t contend doesn’t make the yet a write off. They’ve stated numerous times that they want to see what they’ve got with the young core that they’ll be hopefully basing future moves around for the foreseeable future. They were never ever going to sign a machado or a Harper, or any major player in the free agent market, so what exactly do you expect them to do?
Just buy a Red Sox hat already.
I expect them to trade everyone not named, Vlad Jr, Gurriel Jr, Jensen, Tellez and Pearson and Borucki for elite elite players or prospects for a fast rebuild through a total total tank, no half measures.
Right now they are in mediocre to poor limbo, which doesn’t accomplish much and takes forever if ever. In 14 years in Cleveland Shapiro won NOTHING doing it how the Jays are doing it.
No really, throw me your trade proposals. You’d like the Blue Jays to trade Justin Smoak, Kevin Pillar, Marcus Stroman (coming off his worst year with one year of remaking control), etc for ELITE prospects? And which prospects did you have your eye on? Enlighten me with wisdom. Because frankly I think you talk so generically and transparently that you don’t actually have a solution or know what you’re talking about. I can appreciate a good troll but I don’t want casual fans thinking your scouts eyes are anything to bet the house on. The bottom line is this isn’t Cleveland. And although I can appreciate the frustration from over 25 plus years of no World Series, Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins have for the most part stayed the course and have done what they said they would. Which is build from the ground up. I don’t have a crystal ball, however I’m excited to see how it plays out. Because right now the future looks much more sustainable and optimistic than it did with JP Riccardi and Alex. You have every right to disagree, but to suggest trading a bunch of guys who are of little value to most contending teams for “elite” prospects to expedite the process makes me think you post on here for the down votes.
This guys been saying stuff like this for so long now. It’s pretty obvious it’s just to get a rise out of people.
Thanks for taking the time to reply. I put this “stuff” up here becuase I believe it wholeheartedly.
As far as recommending solutions a few here have made good suggestions like a Harper or Machado. The Jays need an elite player to go with Vlad jr and Bichette is not the answer.
Now that the Budget is 110 M for this year and likely won’t be moving becuase the Rogers CEO has mandated it, it kind of handcuffs the team.
As far as trade proposals go, I think 99% are just plain stupid becuase it is the marketplace that determines the price of moving players. At various trade deadlines the Jays have had opportunities to move players and have chosen not too. I have heard from a source that some of those deals were for excellent prospects but the false narrative presented by Shaprio of competative mandated they not make the move. Awful leadership.
So’ I’ll spare you the specific trade proposals. Here is a general one: I beleive one of Sanchez or Stroman will get his stuff back this year. If I am right, at the deadline that player could be moved for bigtime prospects. Let’s see if Atkins has the stones to do it.
One of the reasons that I continue to repeat myself in these pages is that media members and MLB people also read these blogs and the more pressure that we can put on the Jays for change, the better.
Here is an repeated inside scoop. I know of a Jays executive who is in love with Smoak. He has blinders on and has refused all talk of a trade. There are those around him who are working on him to change his mind. I think we will finally see Smoak moved this year.
Here’s the problem, Jimmer and Shane….
The time to deal Smoak was the 2018 deadline and they did not do it. Leverage is now gone unless Smoak has his best season in 2019.
The time to deal Donaldson was 2017 deadline. They did not do it. That backfired. Big time.
Can’t deal Stroman now. Besides being awful and battling injury, he whined on social media which isn’t a good look, ever.
Should have released Morales before Tulowitzki. Add the Smoak situation and that wastes Tellez.
The entire Tulowitzki situation was mishandled. The Galvis signing gave us more proof. Although people don’t see that (because they believe the organization and Rogers-backed media).
Rogers should be blamed for the self-imposed payrolls. An owner with no desire to win. Period. You disagree? Well, look at 2001-2018. Aside from 1 division title and 1 WC, they’ve been mediocre despite deep pockets. Unacceptable when you’re capable of much more.
Wholeheartedly agree and said so on all points. Perhaps that is why the Jays just hired a new PR driector. They need it for all the bonehead Mgmt strategies and decisions that flowed from that.
I am saying this team as-is starts the 2019 season 5-20.
They might as well sell everyone and go all-in for a tank.
Anyone but me find it difficult to listen to anything that comes out of Atkins? It is mostly double-speak and crap.
On the positive side, the Jays are fillling the organization with as many young ballplayers as they can.
On the downside, this methodology is going to take forever to bring a winner and many of the so called “MLB level Additions” are terrible with Atkins. Most of them are good players but not elite. Only elite wins. Either sign the Harpers and Machado or trade the farm to acquire them like Dombrowski or Cashman. The broken record continues from me becuase the crap coming out of Atkins continues.
Fire Atkins now.
Nope but i certainly do find it difficult to listen to anything that comes out of yours.
Hiyo!!
#scoutseyesRbroken
Jimmer I agree the Jays delayed their rebuild, an odd choice, but it’s great to see the Jays now building from the ground up. Not sure about firing Atkins, but I enjoy reading your take on the Jays no less – always interesting.
I am 100% convinced Ross Atkins told Tulowitzki’s agent they don’t see Gurriel as a future SS. When Atkins also told Tulo that Gurriel would start at SS, it sparked Tulo’s comments.
He may have done a good job with Cleveland’s scouting department, but that does not necessarily translate to the GM role.
Personally I like what the Jays are doing now. They know they aren’t competitive but they aren’t giving up completely and rolling with 4A scrubs. They’re at least signing ST placeholders who can potentially be flipped while they await the arrival of their young guys.
If they could add 1 of Brad Boxberger, AJ Ramos along with Jake Diekman I’d be very happy as a fan because I think these guys are all very good bounce back candidates. The former 2 each have closing experience so in the event Giles regresses, or doesn’t and is traded 1 could take over. And also could be flipped at the trade deadline to a contender. Diekman is coming off a bad year but I’d be more comfortable with him in the pen over Mayza as the go to lefty.
I’d be fine with any of this.
Romo?
The big question is does Rogers make more $ when the team is competitive, draws 40 k every night and a million sets of eyes on Sportsnet or when they are a mediocre team with a mid market payroll. Rogers isn’t into “winning” unless they win financially, which as a publicly traded company is their mandate. Wonder what the t.v. rights would be worth if the club were not owned by a media company?
You think they are trying to lower the team’s value to entice a buyer?