The Blue Jays welcomed Kyle Tucker to their Dunedin complex this afternoon, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. Murray writes that the Jays continue to have interest in both Tucker and Bo Bichette.
Toronto has been the most aggressive team in the first month of the offseason. Their seven-year deal with Dylan Cease is the biggest signing to date. They agreed to a three-year contract with KBO MVP Cody Ponce to deepen the rotation. None of that is expected to take them out of the mix on a top free agent hitter. It’d be stunning to see them sign Tucker and Bichette — who’ll probably join Cease in receiving the three largest contracts of the offseason — but the Jays appear firmly in play for either of free agency’s two best hitters.
Re-signing Bichette would be the more straightforward move, but Tucker is the better all-around player. He’s a lifetime .273/.358/.507 hitter and is coming off a .266/.377/.464 showing in his lone season with the Cubs. Even if the Jays don’t really need a corner outfielder, Tucker is the caliber of player for whom any team can make room. ESPN’s Jeff Passan wrote last month that some executives with other clubs considered the Jays the likeliest landing spot. That preceded the Cease signing but hasn’t closed the door on the possibility.
MLBTR predicted Tucker to receive an 11-year, $400MM contract as he enters his age-29 season. He declined a qualifying offer and is attached to draft pick compensation. The Jays already forfeited their second- and fifth-highest picks in next year’s draft, plus $1MM from their 2027 international bonus pool, to sign Cease. Signing another qualified free agent would cost them their third- and sixth-highest picks as well. That would not apply to their own qualified free agent in Bichette (though they’d give up their right to receive a compensatory pick after the fourth round).
RosterResource projects the Jays around a $282MM competitive balance tax figure. They’re already on track for the highest payroll in team history. Adding another top free agent would push them beyond the $304MM final luxury tax threshold. There’s no indication that the budget is tight at this point, though the Jays could try to shed some of the remaining three years and $66MM on the José Berríos deal. Toronto is seeking a high-leverage reliever on top of their pursuit for a big bat.
And then signed with the Dodgers right after!
“MLBTR predicted Tucker to receive an 11-year, $400MM contract as he enters his age-29 season.”
The market cannot continually overpay players for years they have no chance of playing at the contract level. In the non steroid era, so few players perform at or even near age 40.
I’m interested to look at teams likes the Jays and Dodgers versus the Cubs is 8-10 years and see how it pans out
There’s a couple contracts out there that decline in value as player ages. But I still couldn’t even consider signing Tucker to anywhere near age 40. If he’s wanting that, he’s gonna be a free agent for a while. 8yrs 250 w a 25M player option for yr 9. Doubt he can get much more than that
Without owners, none of these players would be playing pro sports. The owners’ money is the only reason we are able to watch these guys at all. Take the owners out of the equation and we all find new hobbies and the players find real jobs and the Tuesday night softball leagues around the country gets a major infusion of talent.
Who are these over paid players? There’s some. Some obvious. But many who people will say overpaid who aren’t.
No team expects any player to produce at the contract level for the entirety of the contract. Two and maybe 3 sub-contract level play at the end of a long-term deal is acceptable to most teams as the price of doing business. It’s how teams get guys to sign.
And these billionaire owners would be doing this if they aren’t making money even if it’s from the increasing value of the franchise? That’s a putting the cart before the horse argument.
That’s like saying if private equity wasn’t there to buy up all the houses in America and charge people exorbitant rent, we’d all be living in cardboard hovels underneath the highway overpass.
So you expect teams to constantly blow past the luxury tax every year and be penalized with loss of draft picks. Fantastic way to operate! Special child
No it really isn’t like saying that at all. Shelter is an essential need of all human beings, Baseball is fun, but it is completely a nonessential pastime. If baseball disappeared forever tomorrow, we would be sad, but we would go on. If homes disappeared tomorrow, many of us would likely not survive the winter. It is not the same thing.
@RuPaulMolitor
I was evicted from cardboard hovel underneath the highway overpass. :os
on the other hand, the players’ league and its history.
Honestly, do you think the Dodgers sign Tucker and not go after another big free agent next year or the year after or the year after that one? My guess is that in 8 to 10 years the Dodgers will be spending like always. Salary cap or not. Just my thoughts. Cheers.
It’s not the owners money that they are playing with, it’s the fans money. The owners just have enough money to buy the team and carry expenses but they get it all back plus some, even the small teams. The Ray’s were bought for 200 mil in 2004 and now just sold for 1.7 billion. That’s a nice investment.
I hope Toronto signs him and the Dodgers get Buxton.
Okay I think I feel a stroke coming on which will be followed up by a major blockage in an artery close to my bitter resentful heart.
Or your team can sign Tucker and the Dodgers get Buxton? Better?
My team is Seattle and Tucker can go to hell. Yeah you guys can have Buxton. Mariners want Marte & Donovan.
Those would be good pickups for Seattle.
Blue Jays could taste a World Series title last year and are now are just all in. Love to see it.
Wish the Tigers would do that after getting back to the post season
Agreed, and somewhat sad as a Cubs fan. We have all the financial power to make these type of moves but Ricketts refuses to. Glad to see the Jays pushing their chips in. Growing up they were always good and fun to watch; Carter, Alomar, Olerud, Cone, Leiter, Wells, Weathers, Kent, Winfield, White – they were absolutely stacked in the 90’s.
couldn’t agree with you more. Feels.like the Cubs’ advantage in that division is to be able to spend more than their rivals and they just dont.
The Jays seem even more motivated than my Mariners are. I hope the M’s can pick things up soon.
I’m not sad I’m glad. I don’t want him back. He was a huge mistake I’d rather forget. Just keep him out of Chicago. Give him all the money in Canada.
Why? Are you one of those?
Are we sure it wasn’t Robert Herjavec?
Yeah! Or Barbara Corcoran!
Stop I can only take so much hurt
So no Kyle then…
Don’t let him get away, Cherington.
The 1 player Cherington isn’t interested in!
Come on cherington all you will have to do is offer lifetime pirates tickets, your entire wage, your own house, and take out a loan with the bank for a gazillion dollars and Tucker is yours!
sad- add all you can eat sandwiches from Primanti’s for the rest of his life and maybe that’ll reel Tucker in.
Smkelly those are great sandwiches 🥪
I think the Blue Jays know they have $ to use/can support a higher payroll and want to be grandfathered into the system in the event there’s heavier restrictions on teams spending above certain levels. I’m actually surprised more teams aren’t doing this right now. There’s no way the league is going to make teams cut $ if they are already above a certain $ amount.
With all the cap talk I’ve often wondered how you deal with teams who’s financial obligations are already over a theoretical cap
Almost like teams don’t want a cap. I mean the luxury tax was a great excuse to use as one. The bottom feeders seem happy to just spend what they have to. We can’t can’t compete as a small market!
I imagine they’d give teams a 3-5 year window to comply, and place restrictions on future spending until they are below the required threshold.
They will have all the time they need to comply. Players won’t be in any hurry to have their ceiling limited in their eyes. The large spenders will need to give more of their $ to the Nuttings Fishers so they will get everything they want if they sign off on it.
People can talk all they want about a cap, but it ain’t happening. The owners would love one, and have wanted one since 1994. But the players will never agree to one. Read “The Game” by Jon Pessah about the 1994 stoppage and negotiations to understand why one will never happen. It’s the hill the players will die on.
I don’t think it’ll be a hard cap. I think there will be (and need to be) heavier penalties. I like the idea of the first year you’re over the cap, you lose your 1st round pick, the 2nd consecutive year, you lose your 1st and 2nd round pick, and keep adding on another draft pick each consecutive year a team is over.
Teams would make it a point to get back under the cap every 5 years because they wouldn’t want to cripple their farm system.
What about all the teams collecting MLB welfare though?
The penalties are already extreme. The Yankees haven’t had access to premium amateur talent in almost a decade since they went to the hard cap international system. They constantly lose their top picks or have their top picks moved back and they are routinely at the bottom of the available funds for international signings. The Yankees paid over 60M in luxury tax in 2024. Their luxury tax payments were more than the Athletic’s payroll.
It’s not about “getting under the cap”. The cap is an arbitrary number. Who’s to say the max payroll should be in a billion dollar industry?
Same rules apply to a salary floor. If a team doesn’t spend enough, they face the same penalties. The goal should be to close the spending gap from the bottom 5 teams to the top 5 teams. I’d also suggest that any teams outside of the floor/ceiling range shouldn’t be allowed to sign international players any year they are in violation either.
An idea I had the other day would be to give some incentives for teams to retain their talent. Whatever incentives those may be, have a requirement that the player has had to play with the team for like 3 years then sign them to a free agent contract/extension to get said incentive. Not sure if the idea is coming out right over this comment but basically thinking of ways to incentivize small market owners to retain talent
I don’t care if there is isn’t a cap. Just some observations. If the owners wanted a cap why have they blown past the luxury tax? That is a great excuse to not go over. If small markets are just pocketing all of this $ why do they keep giving them their $? Let the players get paid and the big markets invest the $ into the mlb product.
2026 2027 you will get to see the intelligence level of mlbtr community. You need a floor not a cap!!! Obviously any cap system will have a floor. No one wants to watch the owners play!! No but we want to watch the best college high school Japanese players play along with all the mlb players who join in. That’s hypothetical if the government allows replacement players and the union still doesn’t sign a contract. Like fan boys cheer on what plastic gaming box is better they will cheer for other grown men’s $ making ability.
The fact is that a team like the Rays will never generate the revenue that the Yankees or Dodgers can, so the goal should be to pull back on the teams that can spend that way and still turn a profit, but also take away their opportunities where talent comes cheap – through the farm system.
Most people fail to realize that most owners see their team as a business, not just a hobby. If small market teams have a $300m payroll, they’ll lose endless amounts of $. If the Yankees and Dodgers spend $300m, they still turn a profit.
“If the owners wanted a cap why have they blown past the luxury tax?”
That question would be germane if it represented the majority of owners, but it doesn’t. In the history of the CBT less than half the teams exceeded the threshold. The Marlins and the then Indians both exceeded it in 1997 and neither team has since. Teams also try to duck under the threshold to reset the penalties. So they aren’t “blowing past” the threshold like they have no concerns about it.
In general, most teams want a cap because it means being able to compete on a more level playing field without spending money that’s not in the the budget.
There’s less than 5 teams that spend without a huge amount of concern for the CBT, and yet even they will try and duck under the threshold to reset the penalty.
But the majority of owners do absolutely want a cap. Again, read “The Game” by Jon Pessah, and you’ll see that I’m telling you the truth. Every team owner was willing to accept a cap, but it was a total deal breaker for the players. There was not going to be any agreement by the players on the CBA if it included a salary cap.
Those 5 teams or so are the only ones that matter. Every other cap has a floor and in order for the small markets to reach that floor they are going to have to give away more of their $. They seem to enjoy spending that $ on themselves.
No interest in the subject to read books on it. I don’t care what they do. Just saying if teams didn’t go over the tax mlb players would look at a cap more favorably. If they are treating this tax like a cap might as well have a cap so we can raise the floor.
You’re changing the parameters of the debate. You implied that the owners didn’t want a cap. Now the vast majority, 83% of them don’t count?
The players are rejecting a cap no matter what. Whether teams exceed the threshold or not irrelevant, Players see the cap as an infringement on the earning power.
You don’t want to educate yourself on the subject, but you’re perfectly willing to expound on it. Why should anyone take your opinion seriously. I realize now I shouldn’t have.
I never implied that. You just stink at reading comprehension. Also no debate. I have no stance on the issue so it’s impossible to debate.
“Almost like teams don’t want a cap. I mean the luxury tax was a great excuse to use as one. The bottom feeders seem happy to just spend what they have to.”
If that isn’t implying that the owners didn’t want a cap, then you stink at writing what you meant to convey.
More like my outsider view on it. How would I know what the owners want? I’m not a mind reader as proven here “If the owners wanted a cap why have they blown past the luxury tax?” Just asking a ? to myself. I have no idea what they want don’t want. Just they have this luxury tax line why didn’t they use it. I don’t care the slightest. Just seemed like a good opportunity to have a cap without having it called a cap.
You didn’t ask the question to yourself though. You posted it on a comment board for others to read and reply to.
Only a very small number of teams blow by the tax threshold. And even those that do, will try to duck under it to reset the penalties. Those that do blow by it, are the wealthier teams that can afford to, and choose to, because they can. But the vast majority of owners absolutely want a salary cap.
He’s going to meet with every team that is interested in him. I hate these types of stories.
He flies in and gets a lunch and a good arse kissing, all on the team’s dime. Must be nice. Must be real nice!
Yeah, he might be meeting with other teams, but he isn’t flying in to all 30 different cities. Meeting face-to-face, is a more advanced stage of any negotiation. I’d guess the preliminary stuff is over and at the very least it’s down to a chosen few.
Tucker lives in Tampa, which is about 40 mins from Dunedin.
So maybe too much can be read into the visit, but he still isn’t meeting face-to-face with all 30 teams. And he probably won’t meet with more than half dozen teams, if that.
Yes I agree, he’s only going to meet with teams that are actually pursuing him which prob 6-7 feels about right.
So we should expect the same story from the Marlins and Rays tomorrow? Just kidding.
Thanks. I was wondering where he lives. Florida, Texas, and Arizona are the top three places for MLB players.
That’s because of state taxes.
@gomer That and weather. South Dakota, Washington, and Alaska, etc don’t collect state income taxes either.
Taxes, weather, proximity to spring training.
Victor Rojas lived outside Fort Worth so his family was in the middle of the country. They could join him easily on road trips and he could fly home on some off days.
Neither does Tennessee. Several current and former players live here.
I’m in Canada so I thought I was doing well to know what i did about state taxes in the USA, apparently it was thanks to baseball.
The taxes are a big part of it.
Solid knowledge for a Canadian.
I’m guessing that he’s meeting with the top-4, maybe 5, but all of these teams understand that the bidding starts at at least $320M dollars over 8 years…You can talk contract length, deferred monies, opt-outs , incentives, etc…BUT, the minimum starts at $320M… That’ll pare down the competition real quick… If you’re Toronto, Bichette wants Tucker to sign first so that it opens up his market…if I’m Toronto, I push to sign Bichette first so that their existing 26 man fits the best way possible…
– Vladdy 1B
-Bichette 2b
– Clement -3B
– Gimenez SS
– Santander LF
– Varsho CF
– Barger RF
– Springer DH
Yes…more to Canadians than making poutine and riding on ice floes….
If you ask nicely, a Canadian will knit you a toque.
This lineup stays the same with Tucker. Just move Barger to 3b and clement to 2B.
That being said I would prefer Bo and a really good reliever over just Tucker.
@bestone
Shhhhhhhh.
Actually taxes aren’t as big a part of it as fans think. The most tax anyone pays is federal, and that’s going to be the same no matter where someone lives.
State taxes are paid where the work is performed, not where the player’s residence is. When the Marlins play in NY against the Mets, Marlins players will pay NY state taxes for those games.
Plus teams in higher tax areas will usually offset that in salary. No player is losing a lot of revenue as a Yankee or Dodger, than they would as a Diamondback. The biggest factors in where players live is family and where they can play golf in the offseason.
Spot on Jean.
The only real impact to offseason home is signing bonus, which would apply to the resident state, so a no state tax is advantageous here but very few players get those anyways
You’re right. Plus I was incorrect saying teams in high tax areas will offset the higher tax through salary. They will offset the higher taxes but that’s usually through the signing bonus, not salary.
Vladdy got 350mil in signing bonuses and guess what his resident state is Florida. Straight salary no SB would have paid for a lot of hospital visits and schools etc. in Canada. That did rub me the wrong way.
Maybe Canadian taxes shouldn’t be so high then
Kirk Cousins of MLB….plays to a stat sheet/bottom feeder and you want him to be the opponent you face in key situations/playoffs.
Horrible take. Great player that has dealt with injuries but makes any lineup better and great in clutch situations.
Good player…let’s not go nuts here. Sometimes the best ability is availability and even when this guy is healthy, I wouldn’t consider him great.
Since 2020, Tucker is 11th of all position players in value with 25.2 fwar.
His stats compared to his peers very much consider him great
A good example of how WAR can be misleading…This isn’t roto ball, this is doing it on the field, or, in Tucker’s case, not doing it on the field.
@16: If you think Tucker is great in clutch situations, you didn’t watch many Cubs games last season.
It’s weird: For some reason, related I think to the haughty way he carries himself, people want to, even seem to have a kind of need to, buy the IDEA that Tucker is a great player. People seem to have some kind of emotional investment in him. But he really isn’t very good.
Was about to make a snarky comment then I looked up Tucker’s post season stats and went “….o”
Still don’t 100 percent agree but this post is not as much of a troll post as I expected. The more you know……
PS stats are a compilation of small samples. All they tell you is whether a guy had a good series or not. Plenty of HoF guys like Willie Mays, and Babe Ruth have had bad PS series’. Joe Morgan, never had a good PS series, yet he’s regarded as one of the best ever to play 2B.
279 plate appearances is a pretty large sample size
Pretty large would be more like 400 PA
279 PAs is about half a season. Plenty of players have half seasons where their production is subpar. But 279 PAs in the PS is even less informative than that of a half season.
If those 279 PAs were consecutive they’d be as informative as a half season. But PS stats aren’t consecutive. They’re small samples cobbled together. They’re as informative as how a player hits on say, Tuesdays. Cobbling the stats from every Tuesday over a couple seasons would basically be as informative.
How else can you explain HoFer Joe Morgan? He was a two-time MVP, with a career 100.6 bWAR, and a lifetime .819 OPS in the regular season. Yet in 222 PAs in the PS he posted a line of .182/.323/.348 for an OPS of .671. The only way to understand that is to see PS stats as small samples linked together like stats from only Tuesdays.
Or Joe Morgan might have just been bad in big spots, no disrespect but certain guys are built for it and certain guys are not. Not everything is attributable to sample size and stats
No, everything can be attributed to sample size, in baseball anyway. It’s the reason why statisticians reject small samples. PS stats are a compilation of 3 games here, 4 games there, maybe 7 games another time, over different years.
Clutch is a silly concept. It’s based on a player hitting when he chooses to. Every batter is trying to get a hit every AB. If 2 guys each go 2 for 4 in a game, but one drives in 3-4 runs, but the other scores no one, does that mean the first was able to pick and choose the situation when he got his 2 hits, and is clutch, but the other isn’t?
BB Ref doesn’t even put clutch stats with advanced stats. They’re grouped with splits. Clutch stats are virtually useless except by comparison. If Morgan per your theory, was unable to perform under pressure in the PS, why was he able to in the regular season? He had a career OPS of .804 with 2 outs and RISP. He had an .809 OPS in tie games. So Morgan was able to perform in pressure situations throughout his 22 year career.
Statisticians also reject clutch stats, and studies have shown guys considered to be clutch actually performed at about the level as their career stats. And Morgan’s stats in clutch situation are also similar to his career numbers.
These are not robots, to dismiss the pressure and limelight of the big moment is actually borderline absurd. Many guys have difficulty in big moments and hits with 2 outs vs a game 7 elimination game is not even a comparison. We are obviously gonna have to agree to disagree but I’ll give you a real world example. When I was in my police training academy many of the things we did was stuff i have done a million times. Drawing a pistol from a holster or driving. But it became difficult under the stress of being constantly evaluated and having to perform.
Certainly some guys are victims of small sample sizes but there are a lot of guys like Kershaw who have very large playoff samples that simply don’t match up with their regular season.
No one is dismissing the pressure. My point with Morgan is that that pressure exists in the regular season as well. Young guys just called up face tremendous pressure to perform, or get sent back down. Nobody gets to be a 20+ year veteran in MLB without being able to perform reasonably under pressure.
No doubt, some guys have difficulty in big moments, but those guys don’t get to be a first-ballot HoF guy like Morgan either. You’re dismissing Morgan’s poor PS stats as him not performing well under pressure, but his regular season stats show that isn’t case since he did over 22 years..
But it still comes down to statistics. Like how a guy performs on Tuesdays being a poor database to be informative, PS stats are similar. Snippets of stats grouped together make a very poor database for any real insight.. If you don’t take my word for it, as a real statistician.
All you needed to see was Game 5 of the NLDS series against the Brewers. Stars excel in small sample sizes. Tucker grounds out to the right side and jogs his pigeon-toed jog back to the dugout.
You think one game is informative? Even if it’s a big game? Every hitter in the HoF, Ruth, Mays, Aaron, etc. has had a bad game in the PS and failed in a big situation. I almost ignored your post because the idea that grounding out at a key point in a big game tells anyone anything, is absurd.
I hope your team signs this bum and you see for yourself how bad he is.
By the way, feel free to ignore my posts. You say you “almost” did ignore it….give in to the temptation next time
This sounds familiar
Heck no! Bo or nothing.
Screw it. Let’s get both!!
I think they’re gonna sign both! Why not?! Go get yours dude! Maybe they trade Berrios then. Screw it! Get that flag! I’m a Brewers fan, so a little jealous, but the window is open!
Yes of course, go for the guy who is not as good with the bat and is a liability with the glove. Great choice…..not.
You’ve got be be drinking … Bichette flat out outhits Tucker… .311 BA compared to Tucker at .273 BA
That equates to at least 20 more hits per season!!
This season Bichette 181 hits, Tucker 133, Bichette
44 doubles, Tucker 25, homers Bichette 18, Tucker 22…
You need to know what you’re talking about if you want to play with the big boys!!!
With each passing day, I worry my Mariners re-signing Naylor is all they’re planning to do this off-season. They need to be as aggressive as the Blue Jays and Dodgers.
Many more are. SD Atlanta Boston NY Philly etc give it a good run. You can only compete as much as your demographics allow.
I feel like something about Seattle’s market size makes it so that the M’s can be good, but not good enough to sustain competitiveness. I worry it’s the reason they haven’t been to the World Series yet. They just don’t have enough resources to make it like Boston, NY, and LA do.
They don’t have spend the $$$ to be in on every free agent. The blue jays and dodgers will be mentioned in every article. If you keep up on the M’s news, they are active on trade rumors, Polanco and relievers. They will add another experienced infielder/outfielder and a solid reliever.
I hope they don’t just run it back and hope for better production from the guys they have. No chance they’ll fork out big free agent dollars. If they do get better it’ll be through trades. Time to deal a pitcher and get some more hitting. Any chance maybe Cleveland would be willing to send Jose Ramirez our way for the right package?
For your entire pitching staff!!! Lol
I thought as much but the offseason is for dreaming
@steviesteve
What a dud you are bud
I am sure he visited the Blue Jays’ spring training facility many times when he played for the Astros.
The facility is different than the stadium. Opposing players don’t go to the training facility.
No way he goes back to the Cubs? Haven’t heard anything about a connection there.
The Cubs have indicated they aren’t spending what it would take to retain him. I doubt that many Cubs’ fans are expecting him back
That sounds right. What a waste why did they bother getting him in the first place?
I think they decided to go for a WS title and thought Tucker might be the piece to put them over the top. It was a gamble that didn’t pay out, but I can’t blame them too much for going for it.
I agree with what you said completely. Of course I don’t know it for a fact, but I’m pretty sure if they wanted to they could keep him. I’m all about if you think you can reach it to go for it but for them to not even try to keep him makes them look foolish.
A better POBO than Hoyer would have known Tucker isn’t a difference maker.
Let me get this straight, that plane actually GOT to Toronto?
The training facility is in Florida
I get a chuckle from all these jokes about a flight that a reporter made a mistake on still happening, especially from fans whose handle say they are fans of teams who collect the handouts.
Large market fans have no sense of humor that we are aware of…and don’t seem to understand why the revenue sharing is a necessity as their team rakes in hundreds of millions in local TV money.
Glass houses…..
Make sure to give him a hat
Why wouldn’t he visit the Rogers Centre?
Weather
Weather in the dome? Really?
I haven’t visited the Rodger center, do planes land inside there? If not, it’s likely those he’s discussing business with are in Florida so it’s prudent to meet them there. Plus the weather.
Would you go to frigid Toronto in the midst of a cold wave when you could meet them in Fla?
@Jean Matrac
If he’s going to sign a 10 year contract for $800M, he should enjoy the Toronto scene…
Tucker has played in 33 games at the Roger’s Centre. I doubt there’d be much more to glean from an offseason trip to Ontario in December.
He is afraid of the butt plug t-shirt guy as we all should be
@RogerDorn
Wah?
So did Ohtani…..I’d make a safe bet it’s down to a few and he’s on his final leg of deciding. Winter meetings deal
So I don’t know how much the Jays are willing to be spending. But if they are willing to increase payroll to accommodate the likes of Tucker, I like it. So damned close to a World Series title, go for it, go all in.
I actually think the jays will sign him. I mean look at the money they gave Cease. That was way more than I ever thought he would get.
I also wouldn’t be shocked if they got Bo as well. Though both would be a tons money.
They still are in on back end relievers as well. How much are they gonna actually spend. I have them as the second most likely for Diaz. Suarez is prob an option if they miss out of Diaz.
I’m not a jays fan but you have to love when a team goes for it. Unless it’s the dodgers of course.
Would prefer Bo to Tucker at their projected salaries and also “homegrown” talent is more fun.
Yes, but both would solidify line-ups for next few years. Springer will retire as will others. They have a wide open field to sign multiple players long-term right now. As I wrote here a few years back when people were guffawing about the Blue Jays bidding on Ohtani, the Jays ownership is the wealthiest in MLB because they also own teams in every other pro league (Leafs, Raptors, Marlies, TFC, Argos…) and also own a national sports network that broadcasts all the games. They made big bucks from the Jays in the World Series as over a third of Canadians were watching…. and it makes sense to over-spend now to keep that ball rolling.
With the deferrals the deal was for less than this site predicted in their 50 top free agents rundown.
That is true but it was still way more than I thought cease would get. My value of him was from watching him and he never really felt close to an ace. Obviously I was wrong about that.
Blue Jays appear to be making the right noises.
The thing is, the Jays could go all in if management really wanted to. I don’t know that most people understand how rich the Jays owners are (Rogers). They are just behind Steve Cohen for top spot, but are then three times richer than the third richest owner (Detroit). I get that it’s a corporation instead of an individual owner, so the team needs to get their spending dollars approved by the board. That said, adding Fairbanks or Diaz, Tucker and Bo is doable financially, it’s just a matter of their willingness to do so.
They also have a majority stake in the Raptors and Maple Leafs plus they also own the channels they come on. If it weren’t for the cap penalties they would probably go nuts.
“Majority stake” meaning 75% ownership now, but in 2026 they have the opportunity to boost that to 95% or 100% via a clause in original partnership agreement.
Obviously dollars are the decider, but having spring training close to home is nice. It essentially extends your off season by 6 weeks.
This is mainly a nothing burger in regard to the odds of Tucker signing in Toronto, but the main takeaway is that a) Tucker would at least entertain signing in Toronto (which, he should, but this confirms it), and b) if there was ever any doubt that Toronto would still be in the mix for Tucker or Bichette after the Cease signing, this puts that to bed.
Here we go again
I would love to see them sign both and go all “Canadian Dodgers” and just spend like mad.
Of course for me as Red Sox fan, it’s mildly(and I’m being kind) to see the Sox kind of flounder around. Sure, Sonny was a reasonable signing, but they need a 3B and RH bat….if only there was a guy available who could fill both voids….
Sure, he’s an older guy but he can still play 3B to a draw and is pretty decent with the stick…
Of course they’ll sign Alonso, who’ll be rubbish inside of 2 years.
Anyway, the Jays are rocking it, so that’s kind of fun for them.
Very good player, but those numbers don’t scream $400m, but maybe that’s just me.
Yeah, it’s just you. The way I look at it is to compare Tucker to Juan Soto. They’ve both played 8 years. Tucker has a bWAR that is 64% that of Soto. 64% of the $765M deal that Soto signed is $489.6M Tucker is 2 years older, but a much better defender. So IMO $400M seems about right, and I could see some team going even higher.
Two seasons in a row missing time with injury. Not getting any younger. Giving Tucker double digit years would be a bad choice.
That wasn’t my point. Compare Tucker’s bWAR for the last 2 seasons then, which you think weren’t exceptional, to Soto’s. Tucker’s percentage is actually higher, 66%, And 66% of Soto’s salary is $504.6M
I can see discounting some salary, for Tucker being 2 years older and, and more of an injury risk, and if you deduct $100M it’s still over $400M.
Maybe it will be a bad choice, no one knows. Maybe the Mets signing Soto will be a mistake as well. But the point was based on what Soto signed for, $400M seems reasonable. And every FA signing carries the possibility of regret.
We read your point, Jean. You don’t need to explain yourself. In fact nobody said you were wrong, as someone (probably) will offer 10-11 years. Not sure why you felt the need to be defensive over the point. Someone is giving Tucker $400-mil give or take. It’ll be a big buy.
What are you talking about? Not feeling defensive at all. The post I was responding to was that his numbers were good but not $400M good. I disagreed based on what top FA players are paid. Then you intervened missing that point posting info that was irrelevant to the initial post and my response.
You were defensive the second you decided to respond. Unless you’re planning to delete this comment and your previous comment, I would agree. The only irrelevant information is your cute math performance but why expect anything less from a Giants fan. If you weren’t defensive you wouldn’t be pretending you’re not.
Uh, you responded to my post initially When someone responds as you did it’s common practice here to respond to that.
Plus the assertion is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve seen here.. There was nothing defensive about anything I wrote. I was simply supporting my opinion with facts. The truth is accusing someone of being defensive is a cheap tool used in an argument. So try again.
Passing just reported that Tucker sneezed.
Passing? I wish we could edit our posts here. Passan, of course.
He said it in passing 🙂
Is he back on the DL yet?
On a plane heading to Philadelphia….
As a lifelong Cardinals fan, I’d rather keep Donovan. But if they do trade him, I’d want a LOT for him….like the top 4 rated propects , and hopefully most of them at triple A already. In other words, whoever gets him will have to pay through the nose!!!
It’s nice to see a team that does more than express the mind numbing “interest” in anything with two legs.
It’s difficult to imagine a more overrated prima donna than Tucker. Note to fans of whatever team gets him: If Tucker comes up to bat with the winning run on base and two outs in the bottom of the ninth–that’s the time to go to the bathroom.
Tuck is made of glass, and folds like a freshly dried shirt when the pressure mounts. Watching him in Chicago all year, game after game, I’d fully assume he’d sit out a month with nothing more than a hangnail. Buyer beware. He’s great when his head isn’t fully planted in his backside, unfortunately that’s usually half the season. He is best suited for a laid back arena in which to thrive, such as KC Royals, otherwise he’s a headcase.