Which Free Agents Should The Blue Jays Target?

Which Free Agents Should The Blue Jays Target?

[Music] [Applause] Gate 14 podcast and we are two weeks removed from the baseball season. We are presenting to you the free agent frenzy bonanza gate 14 edition. Avery, how we feeling? How we feeling, Abe? I’m good. I’m ready to get back into transactions. We just had Naylor go live, right? Yeah. Naylor just signed with the uh resigned with the Mariners. Perfect fit for him. Like they they need that Josh Naylor. So, good for Josh. Five-year deal. Good for the Mariners making that happen. But the Blue Jays got some some work to do this off season. And uh it’s been fun to hear that they’re in on every single person because there is there is a lot there is a lot of innings to cover uh for this baseball team I think. But not not to play doomer mode Avery but YJ’s brought this point up to me. Do the Jays get used as in on every guy as leverage because they’re like one of the richest ownership groups in baseball? Like for sure. But there’s probably a little bit of truth to both of that, right? Yeah. Oh, yeah. For sure. I mean, it’s business. They They should be used as leverage if they’re trying to go after everyone to get more deals for other It’s just It’s just the game they’re playing. I don’t Yeah, it’s They need pitching. They desperately need pitching. And um they’re going to to need a bat, too. And speaking of YJ’s the best to ever do it, um he said it’s going to be a lot like 2021. and we’re going to add two pitchers. Uh or sorry, post 2021 once you lose the superstar bat. I I don’t know if Bo’s definitely gone away, but I don’t think Bo I’m still operating under the fact that Bo Bashette will be a Toronto Blue Jay next year. I think I’m kind of in the same boat, but like the Kyle Tucker has at least piqued my interest in a big way. And okay, I I I want to bring that up and we can talk about this right off the rip because my mentions are a cesspool of people saying keep Bo, he’s better than Tucker. That Kyle Tucker’s down year is a higher weighted runs creative plus than Bobette. And listen, I’m not discounting Bobette. All right, Bobette rocks. One of the best pure hitters I’ve ever seen on the Toronto Blue Jays. But it’s like these people have never watched Major League Baseball before. Kyle Tucker, his bat is easily top 15, top 20 in baseball. Like Kyle Tucker, when you add him to that line, to a Jay’s lineup, you are essentially adding another Vlatty. It’s the exact same similar numbers to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. You’re having two Vlattis. And it makes tons of sense because you got to think about it, next year’s free agent class sucks, right? If you This free agent class is a little bit better. So, you can splurge and you could spend money this free agent class. So, it makes tons of sense to spend money like you’re going to spend next year because you’re not going to spend next year. George Springer will be off the books next year. Kevin Gosman will be off the books next year. We don’t know what’s happening with Dalton Vo. All of that type of stuff. So, it makes tons of sense to sign, in my opinion, the best free agent that’s going to be available within the next two years, right? Yeah. Yeah. I agree. It’s like the defense. Kyle Tucker somehow refused to put up five wins when he was good, but I’m starting to feel a lot of similarities. Maybe not the same age, but like the Kyle Tucker signing would be a lot similar to the George Springer signing. Yeah, it’s kind of like they’ve won, they’re great players, came from Houston, obviously Cubs this year, but it’s starting to feel like it could just be a repeat of of George at the same time. Kyle Doug is a great player. It is. And the thing about the George contract is, right, it’s like the end of the George contract, what we’ve looked at it as when this deal was signed was these will be the glory days. We get to look back on his career with the Blue Jays and be like, he was awesome. And we kind of get to do that based off of this year’s run, but I think the Kyle Tucker thing has a significantly higher ceiling than George Springer. And that’s not really a hot take, obviously. But I I like Kyle Tucker. I really do. Last year it came out, he played like the last two or three months with just a fractured wrist or whatever it was. His numbers were were pretty down. But this is a guy that was a starter on Team USA in the last World Baseball Classic. This is a guy who is a shoein essentially for the All-Star game. This is a guy who is gonna give you a really good bat in the lineup. And if you have a chance to sign this guy and you have to maybe overpay for it, [ __ ] it. You’re in win now mode, man. You are in win now mode. And you saw how much money you can make off a playoff push. Kyle Tucker makes your chances to go to the playoffs significantly higher. I don’t know what the odds look like for it. I know I’ve seen the odds fluctuate with who his next team’s going to be. Um, but it is looking like it’s between the Jays, Yankees, and Dodgers right now. Perfect. You You have to think uh he would only go to the Dodgers on like shortterm high AV deal. Like that the Dodgers aren’t giving him the the eight years. They’re not giving him 10 years. I wouldn’t think. I mean, you can’t you can only have so many players for that long, right? Yeah. Yeah. I I just if he would take it because they could use them like they they tried to have Confordto do that thing, right? and it went it was a disaster. So like they have room for him to they got room at second base. Like they have room for for Bob Bashette too if they want him too, right? Like he is I was listening to Eno again and he said the Dodgers are are lined up to have the worst value at second base next year. Yeah. It’s like they could do Bo as well. I I like the Kyle Tucker thing. It it did suck and it did sour people based on how bad his second half was, but it was it was a great first half from Kyle Tuck and he’s a great hitter, too. It’s like the defense isn’t amazing, but like I saw something yesterday and it was MLB Network went in and said uh what the Jay’s lineup would look like if Kyle Schwarber signed. Did you see that? Yeah. Yeah. George in right, Son left. Don’t. I was just like, you guys can’t be serious. Like, I know that’s an awesome lineup. Just as cool as it gets, but the reason we saved George is because he was off his feet. Like, he he found his way to be the DH. We got our DH for this year. It’s like I don’t think Schwarber’s the fit. As much as 50 homers is a fit anywhere. Um, I mean, maybe you could send Sandere out of town, but I was like, you guys can’t be serious. Sandere and left, Springer in right, and we’re going to do this for real. But that would be fun in a video game. That’s absolutely certain. Yeah, it’s fun to play like that if you don’t give a flying [ __ ] about defense. And this team has shown they care about defense, right, Avery? It’s like it’s kind of hard to sell on that, right? Yes. Like I mean how much ground could VO I mean he’s going to have to be playing Rover in right center and left center the entire season. He is going to uh for his walk year he’s going to have to cover the most ground of anyone in the like maybe outs above average defensive run safe. He’ll set the record all time if they have him running all over the place covering it uh the outfield. But I do want one more thing that happened this week. Okay. And I I want to ask you a question John. Yeah. How do we fix award voting? Because I feel even just as covering one team on a podcast. So beat writers are technically doing the same thing for a team, right? Yeah. How can you really have that good of an opinion on other well manager of the year was the one like vote great year obviously second in a row. It’s not like it’s just some random thing. But how can a beatw writer for a certain team have so much opinion on like the bullpen moves that the You could just say the name. Who are you talking about? Go ahead. No, this is for everyone. I’m thinking like I wouldn’t even know if I would have a good vote if I was the one doing it cuz you don’t How much of the other teams can you possibly be watching besides taking it from other people and those thoughts? I think the best I’m trying to think like what the best because I’m not trying I’m not trying to chirp that like it’s we know it because it’s a Toronto thing but it happens for other people as well. Like there was someone voted for Kora and it was a Red Sox beat writer. It’s like obviously you think they’re a good manager. You’re around them all the time. That’s the team you watch. How do we fix award voting? I think you fix award voting by eliminating team writers from it. But then who votes? just the like the national like the MLB.com writers like the Jeff Passins of the world guys that cover the entire game like no disrespect again actually 100% disrespect to Rosie Demano what the [ __ ] does she know about Steven Vote come on but what do I know about what do I what do I know about I don’t know I don’t know any of the moves I can’t even name you five guys in that bullpen cuz I mean obviously two got taken away in gambling investigations but what the [ __ ] does Rosie Demano know about Steven Vogue man there’s no way she is looking at looking at these watching Cleveland games religiously and being like that’s a great manager. She was just trying to be a contrarian and the thing is the quote that she came out with on the I’m not going to say the name the person who won’t be named pod she was like they could have won more games if you didn’t have crazy bullpen decisions [ __ ] they won the American League. Who cares how many more games they could have won? They won the American League. They had the best record. They were the one seed. Why does that matter? And then she also said it doesn’t play a factor in terms of like how close the locker room was. That’s a lie. Every single player talks about how much they love playing for Schneider because he rides or dies with their guys. Do we think we should care more about um player voting because that’s the only way it’s like I mean Avery player voting. They voted Cal for the MVP. Okay. It’s not Yeah. It’s like, oh, there’s there’s a way to fix it. And like beat writers, I don’t know if that’s the best way. It’s like I cuz so how many times if if you’re in the American League, if you’re in the same division as a beat writer, you’re watching six games of that team, like six games of team vote, right? Sure. And I guess the Daniel Schnean grand slam off Jimmy Garcia hold held a ton of weight for Rosie which I can respect. I can really respect um from that early season game um off that. So I don’t I don’t want to turp her because I just think it’s crazy that I couldn’t tell you like any Stephen Vote move until it gets to the end and by the time that’s over like they don’t take the playoffs into account. I I I think podcasters should have votes. Uh I would be the most biased vote of all time. But I just I really just think there’s got to be a mix of players, managers, and beat writers. Maybe. I think maybe if I’m trying to think like do you get players who won major awards from the year before to also partake in the votes? I don’t know cuz then their votes come out public and it looks kind of bad as well. I don’t know. I really don’t know how you fix it. But having beat writers for teams make the votes. So, I saw the Houston Astros coach got a vote. It’s like that they didn’t make the playoffs. Um, kind of crazy. But to be honest, I was more comfortable and I was I would have been more accepting if Dan Wilson won it instead. But he stunk at decisions, too. Yeah. I mean, but the thing Avery, every manager stinks at decisions. I know. Like, Dodger fans hated Dave Roberts and his decisions. Like, they complain about Dave. what we’ve learned and obviously because of our relationship with John Schneider it’s whatever but every single fan base hates their manager no matter what like I’m sure Yankee fans at some point hated Joe Tory you know it’s like they just will always hate their guys and I I don’t know I think the Brewers one made sense obviously I mean lowest payroll best record in the NL that makes tons of sense but the Steven Vogue one they had four less wins in last year the Tigers collapsed and the the Cleveland Guardians faced the [ __ ] white socks like 12 times in that month stretch where they came where where they went nuts. So, it’s like there’s a lot of again it’s it’s just a stupid thing to complain about. And I talked and John Schneider texted me the day like a after um that he just said, I appreciate you guys and all the Blue Jays fans have my back, but he’s like uh but that’s not the award I’m chasing. And I was like, you know what, that’s a pretty good perspective to have it. I mean, I I I would it makes tons of sense when you look at it that way. Why should he care to have validation from [ __ ] writers? As long as the guys in the locker room care about him, who cares, right? That’s kind of the biggest thing. The other thing is the Saura Award, the best pitcher in Japan. Yeah. They I’m almost positive that you have to hit certain benchmarks to even win the award. And if you don’t hit those benchmarks, like last year they didn’t give the award out. Okay. So like the pitcher of the year and MPB, I think you have to They they just didn’t like they just didn’t give the award out. Yeah, they didn’t think anyone was elite enough to give the award out. Wow. And yeah, you have to have like a certain amount of innings, strikeouts, erra, and complete games. I’m pretty sure. Wow. I didn’t know that. That’s Could you imagine them just going like in the OB award show? Um, we’re not going to do a manager of the year this year. No one made no one uh got it. But I I think that’s We were kind of beating a dead horse here. I mean, it’s a week. It happened. The award got announced 5 days ago, so I’m sure people Yeah. No, it for me it wasn’t a uh hate on that decision. It’s more what’s a better way to do it so we can stop bitching about why the awards are the Platinum Glove being a fanoted award, too. That that means nothing to me now. That was that’s ridiculous. Yeah, that’s that that award’s thrown out the window. Um platinum glove. I feel like even the gold glove award, you should hit certain benchmarks to win like a DRS maybe. It should be a stat award that you you you win that way. It’s like you got to find what it is. We don’t have to agree with it totally, but I mean we just don’t want random randomness to win the award. I just the fan votes crazy. That’s I can’t believe that’s a thing. I can’t believe that. Like for a platinum glove, which is like a very prestigious award too, Abe. Like that’s not some sort of like bum award, you know? Like that’s a real good award that that holds ton of weight in like contract negotiations, everything, right? So crazy. But I mean, Fernando Tat Fernando Tatis Jr. rocks. I mean, I’m I’m not going to take away from him. He was he was unbelievable. Um, but we did win one award though. We should talk about that. Um, entertainer of the year, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Um, pretty [ __ ] up award in my opinion. It’s like I saw tons of people saying like you essentially just won like the the the clown award cuz the clowns are entertaining. But I don’t know. It was hilarious and and people were getting mad at me like, “Oh, you’re celebrating entertain.” Like, if you think we’re genuinely celebrating a [ __ ] entertainer of the year award, seek help. If you think I’m genuinely happy. I didn’t even know that thing existed. Right when it popped on my TL, I was like, “Is this some sort of like uh facts on MLB or something like that award?” I had to see if True RGM was the one who made the graphic. Yeah. I mean, if that was the case, I had someone DM me said, “What is the award?” I said, “I have no idea, but I’m going to celebrate like it was game seven of the World Series.” Like, I I have no idea what it is. Um, we’ll take it, I guess. I mean, we didn’t get a team gold glove, so we’ll take entertainer of the year. And they did some entertaining this year. They were entertain. I was entertained. I was at the edge of my seat. I was definitely entertained with this uh ball club. But, um, yeah, that’s kind of talking about the awards. Congratulations to Judge um on the MVP. That guy’s a freak. I tweeted it. I mean, I I was glad as an unbiased reporter. I was glad that there was no voter fatigue like there was with LeBron in the NBA. Like, they’re like, “We’re voting the best guy. I don’t care if he’s won a trillion times. Aaron Judge rocks and he deserves it.” So, shout out Aaron Judge. Um Cal obviously an awesome season as well, but if you think he deserved it over Aaron Judge, I mean, seek help. This guy, Aaron Judge, is a dog. An absolute dog. Probably one of the best players I’ll ever see in my lifetime. Um, just an absolute freak. So, congratulations to Judge on that. Um, did you think that was going to be as close as it was? I mean, it was like a three vote swing, right? I think, um, the fatigue is what got him got it so close. Re Okay. I saw Ben Nicholson Smith. He uh voted Cal. I don’t know if you saw that. Did you? No, that’s not He voted Cal. Good. I like that you can have some and he gave his reasoning though. At least they can face the music. Like Rosie just never acknowledged on Twitter. I mean, she got ratioed so bad on her last tweet. Like a 100 replies, no likes. But yeah, just um I I like when they give the reason even if it’s it’s you have a way to vote on it, so let’s actually think through it and not just be a throwaway and and Yeah. Like put some thought into it. I appreciate that. And I like when they when they do put it out there. Yeah. But now it’s over. Awards season’s over. Yeah. And we’re on to the offseason, folks. On to the offseason. Um I’m Emma Pilled. I don’t know if that’s how you say his name, but I can’t get enough of this guy. He is a dog. He’s a Chad innings eater, but he also throws high 90s. It’s like I love this dude. And if I take a step back, take my bias out of it, he makes tons of sense for the Yankees, right? I mean, oh, he’s the most obvious. He’s the most obvious Yankee ever, and I’m going to be like, we have to deal with I don’t know how good Cole’s going to be next year, but we have to deal with that freak in our division, which is going to suck. But I’m the uh quote that came out about him pitching an NPB. What? So he um one of the aggregators, he’s an English uh speaking guy who covers NPB. I forget his um Twitter, but he did this and he translated he said the last couple years um it feels like the players in Japan, all they wanted to do was foul off his pitches. Like they weren’t trying to hit home runs. So it got boring. It got boring for him. He wants to go go power on power. He said he loves that best on best guys trying to hit home runs off of him. So that’s why he wanted to make the jump. I love that. I love that quote. Essentially saying this league is a [ __ ] joke for me. Yeah. He’s like, “They’re not trying to get hits. They’re trying to run my pitch count up.” That’s what the quote was. So sick. Imagine being that good where a professional league is like you can openly come out with a quote and be like, “These [ __ ] aren’t even trying against me. That’s how good I am.” It’s pretty cool. Yeah. Pretty cool. But again, he’s probably the most obvious Yankee. Would I love him in Toronto? Yeah. Um I don’t know what I I don’t think he signs with the Dodgers to be honest with you. I don’t think they they don’t even really need a starter, but I wouldn’t be shocked if I see he’s a Dodger. Why wouldn’t the Angels go after him? Now that would be funny. I mean, it’s it’s not really talked about, but they’ve had some a little bit of success with certain Japanese player. Sure. Before. So, I wonder if you knows him. Maybe you can rent out a uh a sushi place in uh LA for him and have a nice little dinner. Well, I mean, Kikuchi coming out and saying that they wouldn’t put AC in the weight room in LA. I mean, that’s He said he was tired because he was he was You say’s working out in a sauna. A big league team can’t afford an air conditioning unit in their lock in their weight room. That’s pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. But should we do free agency talk now? Avery, what what do we got here? Um, yeah. So, I wanted to go position by position to see if any of these guys are going to be a fit, if you like them, um, if we think that something’s going to be good. So, we’ll go position by position. We’ll start a catcher, then we’ll get to the uh, yeah, not awarded uh, Sour Mur award. I was making sure I got that right. Yamamoto three in a row and then they didn’t award it in 2024. So sick. So sick. So I’ll go um catchers. I don’t think we have to talk catchers because it was weird that one of the three Ross quotes from the day at the meetings was um one was Tyler Heinaman. One was about Tyler Heinaman. And I will tell to the people like we can expect a big season next year from Tyler Heinman, right? I mean the Bab luck was crazy. Part hit rate was insanely low. It’s going to be hard for him to mimic that, right? But that again, that’s a backup capture. If he gives you good defense, you’re kind of just happy at the end of the day, right? Yeah, that’s kind of where you’re at with it. He ended up He was a two- win player, Fan Graphs, which is pretty I mean, again, do we expect him to mimic that? I’m not quite sure, but two- win player, we take that 10 times out of 10. If he if he’s even a one- win player next year, I’ll take that. Avery, I’ve got I’ve got something bad. And our friend Chris Bowling is going to hate this. Um Danny Jansen only did that one time in his Really? He did two and a 2.7 wins in 2022. Never had a better year uh wins both replacement wise than what Tyler Heinman did. Wow. Yeah, that’s a I’m a Jano guy. I know that that was a ricochet shot that I shouldn’t have. That’s a crazy ricochet, but you’re just presenting facts. They don’t care. I am. I’m presenting numbers, not how I feel about Danny Jansen because that it’s a fair point. But they did put Oh, another thing we have to talk about too before we get to this. Nick Sandlin outrighted. I thought that was a shocking move. I think that’s a move where I Ross Atkins is essentially telling us fans and maybe this is just hopeless. I’m just hoping that we’re going to target tons of bullpen guys as free agency. Yeah, I’m I thought I like Nick Sandler. I like him too. I do. And it’s only a $2 million deal. Yeah, I thought it was odd. I mean, obviously, not obviously, but the 40man like rule five protections are coming up this week. So, now they’ve cleared another spot. So, they got three spots left and they’re going to add Ricky T and they’re going to add Josh Casvich. Like, those are two for sure. I can’t tell you I even know who Josh Casvich is. He’s the shortstop. He He was like a second round pick a couple years ago, but Okay. He’s a shortstop. Um he had like a bunch of injuries this year. So you got the three people that you’re looking to protect to kind of fill up the 40 man. Yeah. I just I I believed in Nick Stanley. I think that I did too, dude. He was awesome. Yeah, he was he I like his stuff. And that’s a guy and I I tweeted it like you kind of build a bullpen off of scraps, right? And that’s a pretty cheap contract that could give you some good innings out of a bullpen, right? So, I think either Ross Atkins is saying we’re going to ride or die with our guys. I mean, we we or we’re going to sign some guy. I really don’t know. But I think Ricky Tedman will get added to the 40man and that’s a pretty good a lefty that throws absolute gas. Like maybe I’m expecting some big things from Ricky Tedman next year. I don’t know. Big question mark. But he was awesome when he was healthy. Awesome. Yeah. I think he’s gonna get what halfway Yeah. through the season he’ll be there. But if we just look at Nick Sandlin, he he came into the league with a fast ball 94.6 on average and last year was 913. Obviously some injuries when he comes back that will affect it. Um but yeah, maybe they just saw the de I don’t know. I thought he’d be a good piece. I thought it was thought it was a good one. So um we we’ll trust and see what happens. cuz I know obviously he should pick free agency and not accept his I mean let’s he’s going to pick free agency. Yes. So what a strange uh just like trade that was besides Jimenez who I think is going to be pretty valuable next year at short. brought the points up last uh podcast, but they traded Nick Sandlin for essentially Luis new Nick Nick Sandlin and Andres Jimenez for essentially Luis Ortiz who is never going to play baseball again. Pretty crazy. Sorry, he’s innocent. Allegedly never going to play baseball again. Yes, until proven guilty, of course. Interesting. So, we will go catcher. Also, they added Brandon Valenuela. switch hitting guy, right? Yeah. Kind of the same like they would try and get a Heman year after in maybe next season, but yeah, the other catcher added to the 40man. Um, so that’s why we’re not going to talk catcher, but first baseman. It’s like an interesting thought. Not one that is super high on my priority list. No. For anything. Cuz Sonere could play first as well, right? Yeah. I mean, I just think Vlad’s good at the position. Yeah. And Vlad’s going to each eat up 150 innings next year, right? Or 150 games. So, it’s like, do you you can’t you don’t have to like go crazy at that position. Maybe get a guy who is like uh like a Tai France, honestly. Yeah. I don’t know. I just don’t think it’s that that big of a need. High up there. Like, there’s good hitters on the list of free agents at first base. for sure. Taylor’s gone off of this one. And he was never coming here. No, I don’t think so. Seattle like like we said before, good fit. Good for everyone all around. Tidy piece of business. I would call that for sure. And I mean, he loved it there, dude. Yeah. He’s the only one to say after we get two straight years of Seattle being like one of the worst park factors in baseball, being so much of an outlier that you can’t see, and he goes to Seattle and he goes, “You know what? I [ __ ] love hitting here.” So yeah, make that guy. And he he goes on. I think we should talk about the first like if they brought back Ty France, I wouldn’t be mad about it, but Lido could play first. Son Derek could play first. But so there is there is first base, third base guys that you could talk about. And that’s an interest potentially. That is uh Okamoto. He’s one of the MPB guys. And then Murkami. Yeah, I don’t think I don’t want Makami. I’ve I’ve made that very clear. I I think we’ve lost a little bit on it. I think we’ve gone too far. It’s same with Framber. Everyone’s like, “Oh, he’s not a great free agent anymore.” It’s like, we got to Mirami broke the record for single season home runs and you fresh. Sure. Can’t I know we talk about it, Stevie brought this up that we’re talking 2021 Vlad like we talk about 22 Murakami, but again to have the ability to do that is impressive in itself. and you just you just don’t find that. But I think in terms of free agent contracts that are like iffy where it’s a gamble, I’d probably say he’s might be one of the biggest like Dylan C may be up there as well, but he’s probably one of the biggest, I think. Yeah. So, let’s we can go talk some other first base, see if any like peak your interest. Um like a Rhino Hearn. Don’t really have space for him. He’s awesome, too, though. He could play outfield as well, man. Yeah, Santana. Luis Ary, what do you think? He’s not the fit here, but in general, what do you think about Luis A? I’m sorry. I hate his guts. I And we tal I mean, dude, we’ve been pretty clear on Luis Oras. I have been I’ve made it very clear from the get-go that I think he’s bad. You just hate it. Yeah, that’s fine. Like Rowdy’s on this list. Wilmer Flores isn’t going to get a deal. Reese Hoskins. Uh, he had he declined his club option. He’s going back to Philly probably. Oh, you think so? I can see that making sense. Nice. Like some of these. What about Pete? What do you think? Pete’s a Red Sox. I I have already locked that in. Him or Schwarber? 100% going to be a Red Sox. Red Sox. One or the other. I like that, too. And you got like Josh Bell. So, nothing really crazy there. We can go to second base. Um, there’s some interesting names at least on this. They have Kevin Bishio as one of the top second base free agents which is very Kevin Bio’s 31 years old. Are you serious? He’s on. And what happened to So they got Glaver’s on this list and he’s a fun option, man. Um, Jorge Palano’s on this list who’s interesting. He’s another guy you add to any lineup and your lineup gets better. I like Jorge Palano. Yeah. But the Mariners showing the ability to spend. I mean, they they the first domino fell this a couple hours a hour ago with Naylor. So, um I could see the Na I could see the Mariners essentially kind of running it back. They got the staff. Blanco’s four years older than Glabber. Um wow. I didn’t know that. You look at weighted on base like ex Wobba too. I think Glaver more unlucky than uh than Palano was. Clayber could do the Dodger thing. I think he picks up his option in Detroit. I think he has a pretty good option. A lot of people said they they did the qualifying. Glabber would be a great Jay, man. He would We’ll just go All x Yankees. Like I wanted Gabber bad last year, too. He had a pretty good year, man. Yeah, he did. Like the barrel rate was down. Average exit VO wasn’t very good, but like he doesn’t chase. 100th percentile chase percentage. Wow. 95th percentile walk rate. That’s that that’s right up the Jay’s alley, man. Yeah. And the bat speed was ass. That’s not up the Jay’s alley. No, but you can you can work on that. Yeah. Right. That that is it’s so cool having a hitting coach now where you could say just get him in that lock. Get him in that Get him in the cage with Pop. Get Get him in the cage with Pop. Uh Hunter Men’s gone, too. Yeah, with the Giants. I mean, I think he’s friends with the Giants coach, right? I’m starting to change my ways. I think Tony Ve might rock in San Fran. I could see it. I I wanted I wanted to be out on it. Yeah, I think they might they might do some fun stuff. I could see it making tons of sense, Dave. Yep. All right, let’s go to shortstops. Our king, uh, Bobette is on here. Obviously, I I don’t think he should be put in the shortstop category, but I think he’s the second. I think wherever he signs, he’ll probably play second. I think so. How I mean, how do you look at his defensive metrics this year and say that’s the guy I want seven years at shortstop? It’s Oh, yeah. You just You don’t You don’t I think And you don’t you don’t lie to him either. Like, I don’t If you’re going to play him at shortstop, you’re going to play him at shortstop. just don’t lie to him about it. It was funny that John Haymon tweet where they were like uh teams are exploring Bo at second and third and then a couple hours after he got his kneecaps broken in by his agent. Yeah, he got spanked and goes uh actually no like shortstop’s one of the main priorities uh with Bo. It’s like brother man you the cat’s out of the bag on that one. You [ __ ] yourself. So, it’s safe to say John Haymon will not be getting many source offs. He won’t be breaking where Boba signs. Um, safe to say. All right. So, some in this shortstop list. Um, Bobette, obviously. Hassan Kim, he’s a war guy, right? I could I could be in on on uh I could be in on Hassan Kim um in a different way, but I just think Hassan Kim is an interesting player because it was so bad. The shoulder thing coming back from him is tough to do and then the last month in Atlanta, he was like, “Okay, this guy rocks again.” Like Hassan Kim, I love Hassan Kim. I love him. He’s awesome. Yeah. I mean, you you look at will Jay’s fans be happy if that’s the quote unquote bow replacement? I’ll think I think there’ll be riots in the streets. Yeah, I think you’re going to want the bat still. So, I I do think the most obvious one is maybe you get the Glaver to play second base and you you have Andre Jimenez play shortstop. I think it’s a that’s like backup plan if Bose signs elsewhere. Again, I I really don’t see a world Bob Bashette doesn’t resign here. I really don’t. I need to talk myself into it so it doesn’t break me if it happens. I for sure I I need to put it in my head or else it’ll be a devastating Do you see a world the Jay’s overpay a little bit just to keep Bo here? Yeah. Yeah. I mean it’s just I mean I’m not going to be mad about a corporation having to spend more money so you won’t catch me being mad about that. No. Yeah. Um okay. So, let’s head to third base where there could be there could be some talks about it. Like, do you do you think they get in a meeting with Alex Bregman for any reason? I think this se and I tweeted it. I think the seasons from Barger and Ernie platooning at third is a cheaper viable option where you could spend elsewhere where you have an actual need like in the outfield upgrading with a Tucker or something like that. Um I really don’t see a world where they even have a meeting with Alex Bregman. I don’t I agree. I think you get good production from uh if I know people are going to want Barger to play every day, but if the worst case scenario is he he plays against righties all the time, you could find him a spot there. So yeah, abs I do think that’s good to be cheap at that spot and you for sure and it’s not like a need. It’s not a massive hole, right, where you have a hole in the middle of the infield right now. I think um the outfield, as much as I love Nathan Lucas, I think Nathan Lucas would be an awesome platoon bat or like a a bench guy. And if you can upgrade there, I mean a Kyle Tucker is a massive upgrade where Nathan Lucas is. That’s not a hot take. And honestly, even having Barger as an everyday outfielder is I I know he’s not familiar with the outfield as much as he is with third base, but or is the o opposite? He’s I don’t really remember his I don’t remember what it is. I don’t remember what it is, but I think having Barger play every day would be it instantly makes a lineup better, right? Addison Barger rocks. But I do think there’s going to be maybe some sort of improvement in that outfield position via trade. I don’t really know. If you could put money on one guy, Avery, to get dealt from this current raw Toronto Blue Jays team, who do you think would it be? Would it be Nathan Lucas? He probably sets up to be dealt. He probably sets up the best to be dealt if you can. Yeah, I think again if you if you sign Kyle Tucker, why do you need Nathan Lucas? Like Exactly. I know it is depth, but you have that bat that’s not platunable and he’s a lefty. Yes. Like you don’t Yeah. I mean, you just you have a a replacement for him, you know. I just think I think an outfield of Barger and right, Varo and center, and Tucker and left or vice vers. Sorry, I forgot. But I think that would be scenes. That would be a good outfield. That’d be a great outfield. Yeah. I don’t know. He usually plays right, does he not? Yeah, I know. That’s the tough part about it. You could move him over there. Yeah, he’s playing Yeah. He’s playing 5,400 innings in right and 560 in left, and he hasn’t played left since 2020. So, okay. So, that’s not even an option then. I guess I don’t think it’s We’re going to have to work bars in left if that’s the way you want. It’s going to be a great lineup against right-handers. Yeah, it’s going to be really good. Absolutely. So, third base I I think they do have uh have but like I’m interested in Yan Mona. What’s that’s going to happen at least question. Didn’t he he crushed the Jays when they faced them in an Oh, yeah. If I remember correctly. That’s a good bench bout as well for cheap man. Yeah, it could have been last year too, right? Like that was some talk about it. I’m The barrel rate was good. The bat speed’s good. Strikes out a bunch. Walks okay. Can’t field to save his life. Yeah, that’s just again that’s a that’s a guy you pinch hit late and then you put in straw or something. I don’t know. You put in someone move Ernie over or something. Barger over. I don’t know. But Yan Mona would be a very fun bench bat that I could easily talk myself into. Yeah. Okay. So, the outfield. We head to the outfield. Uh, I’ll just try and I’ll uh try and sort this by just like the best players that are that are on this list because they could upgrade over Nathan Lucas, right? Yeah, that’s that’s the most obvious upgrade. You do going to have some cheap guys like the straw is probably going to be there still as you should. Yeah, for sure. The the backup to play the defense in center field if Varo ends up going down. That’s that’s a good one to have. But they do put Cal Schwarber as an outfielder. Um, which is funny because I don’t think he’s gonna play a lot of outfield. But yeah, I if we just go by hard hit percentage of some of these guys who are in the outfield or I’ll do uh I’ll do XWO instead like Schwarber’s on this list. Cal Tucker is second XOBA from outfielders uh who are on the free agent market. Trent Gisham is an interesting one. Uh I don’t think the Jays will be in on him at all. Um, he should go I know it’s just play for the Pirates or something. I don’t know. Yeah, just play somewhere. Maybe the Cardinals or something like that. Cash in. You deserve to cash in because your year was that good. And I don’t think other teams are going to like the the t the Pirates might spend on Gisham and just show that they’re putting forth a little bit of effort for Paul Paul Ske. But I’ll tell you one name looking at that outfield list who I’m very intrigued by and I don’t know if many people will agree with this or like this but I like Cody Bellinger a Yeah. Okay. That’s an upgrade from Nathan Lucas. Yeah, it is. It’s a it’s some good defense, too. And that that fits the Blue Jays mold. I know they were in on him last or last year or a couple years ago. So, I could see a Cody Bellinger move here, Avery. I really can. and he’s a great defensively, awesome left-handed bat, and we talk about upgrading on Lucas. That’s a pretty good upgrade. Hits left like him, too. Um, and had a pretty good year last year. So, I I would be happy with a Cody Bellinger bow signing. I’m concerned of Cody Bellinger split. The numbers under the hood aren’t good. Really? No. Like, if you I’m not one to just look at circles. They’re not good for for Cody Bellinger, for a guy who’s going to make the money he is and who had like 30 bombs or 29 bombs. Yeah. And you look this up and it it’s shocking to see. Let’s do home road splits for Cody Ballinger. I heard this, too. So, at home, 18 homers, 302 average, 909 OPS. Okay. Okay. On the road, 11 homers, 241 average, 715 ops. That’s almost 200 percentage points different from home and road ops for Cody Bellinger. Wow. I mean, it’s feeling and there was a lot of talk on it, too, where it makes the most sense for him to be back um with the Yankees. I would welcome the Yankees. You know what? I’ll make a trade with Yankee fans. You guys bring back Bellinger and we’ll take Kyle Tucker off your hands. That’s what we’ll do for sure. Handshake agreement. We both get our guys. Bring Belly home. His dad played there. Your fan base loves him. Good defense, which is a good change of pace for the Yankees. I You could take Bellinger. We’ll have Tuck. Love that. Great one. There’s There’s a bunch of mid-tier guys that we I want to try and dive into to see if there’s a real fit a little bit later. like some underrated guys. Maybe I’ll do that next week. We’ll do trades next week. I’ll I’ll get 10 trades going um for next week’s episode. But I’ll do some underrated guys. I’ll end up liking a guy like Lance Lynn, which was the most ridiculous thing. Oh, that was awful. He retired when you said you wanted him. He retired. I was trying to save on his wife’s podcast. He announced it. I wanted him to be the closer. I mean, that was bad. That I mean, that was that was awful. That was some of my favorite work. Oh man, really, really good. Um, okay. So, the outfield we didn’t really hit on. Like, it feels Kyle Tucker is the best fit, but you got like the the Cedric Mullins, the Gishams, the Baiters. I don’t see the Bader as the most fantastic fit. Yeah, because I don’t think he’s going to start. And then you have Miles Straw. I mean, Harris and Bader had a pretty good year last year, though. Yeah, for sure. I just don’t think it’s the most natural fit when you have straw for what you’re if maybe if you’re moving him, but I don’t think you should they don’t need to totally do that. Yeah, there’s other guys like Max Kepler if you like the left-handed bats. Mikey Stressky. I mean, he’s 35. That’s an old I I didn’t know he was going to be 30. It is very funny going through these lists and seeing how old these guys are. And that came to me when I saw that Edwin Diaz is 32 years old. I thought he had to have been 35. It feels like he’s been around forever. He has been though, but he he he got into the league pretty absolutely pretty early. So it’s like I Are we going to do pitchers next? Cuz then we could talk about Diaz and Rice Ella Glacius. But is there any more outfielders you were looking at? No, not not any that I’ve had. Totally. Circle. For me, it’s kind of just Kyle Tucker. bust. And then Bellinger, plan B. You know, if you miss out on Kyle Tucker, Bellinger is an okay replacement guy. Good defense. Do we John, do you think there’s any actual chance that Bo and Tucker can happen? Well, Bob Nightingale said so. By the way, if you listen to Bob Nightingale on legit anything, seek help. That guy doesn’t know. I mean, my [ __ ] aunt could tell me more about what’s happening in free agent than Kyle Tucker or not, sorry, Bob Nightingale. Like, that guy can’t even spell right on Twitter. So, cannot he spells like you sometimes or just and he is he’s just the worst. Genuinely the worst. Unless it’s from passing. I’m not believing [ __ ] And I’ve actually matured and got to the point now where I hate the talk of, oh, the Jays are interested in this guy. They’re having me like I I’m not I’m taking a lot of this stuff now with a grain of salt after the Sodto thing and after the Otani thing just I know the Kyle Tucker thing we’ve talked about. I think there’s a real chance that could happen, but until I see it happening, that’s when I’ll fully go all in on Kyle Tucker being a Blue Jay. In terms of my want list and my need list, he’s obviously at the top. But I’m not gonna [ __ ] believe Bob Nightingale saying the Jays will like spend a [ __ ] ton on Kyle Tucker and Bob Bashette. That’s kind of where I’m at with it. A I think that is the thing that you need to shield yourself. It’s good to get clicks on Twitter. It’s easy. It’s easy for impressions. Yeah. It’s like what is any of that stuff going to happen? Do you want to I don’t know. The offseason’s fun because you could think of all these people on your team, but I’ll just wait till it actually happens to get super excited about it. But um it is good to try and be a desk GM and place these guys into slots where you can see them. It’s the easiest impressions ever. Like if just coming out and saying like the Jays could get both of them, it’s auto couple thousand likes on Twitter. It’s like the easiest all right I’m here type of thing where it’s like oh do we start believing this guy this guy? I don’t know. But um until things happen, I know I I I used to do a lot of green screen videos of Jay’s apparently interested in soand so and so I just I can’t get up for it anymore. I I’m done the fake source [ __ ] making Tik Toks about Jay’s potentially getting one sodo last year. Jay’s potentially getting it’s it’s just [ __ ] content in my opinion and I won’t fall for it anymore. I won’t I won’t fall for it anymore until I see a signing. The only the only green screen Tik Toks you’ll be seeing from me is the Jays are signing. They Jays have signed a guy. That’s where I’m at with it. Yeah. Let’s talk ball. Let’s not talk uh let’s not talk rumors all the time. Talk hypothetical rumors. It’s just like getting your hopes up for nothing. The rumors are fun when you’re talking about getting Show Otani or getting Juan Sodto. But it’s after that. Yeah. Just give us some transactions, man. Really love it. So, we can go into the starting pitching market who all the guys at the top have these flaws and it is such a weird class. I don’t know who’s going to get the most money. There’s a lot a lot of interesting pieces and I think the Blue Jays are going to need two maybe three guys. Yeah, I think the the starting pitching thing is massive, man. I I I don’t know what they do with Basset. We’ve always talked about him. I know tons of people are going, “Oh, bring Bassie back a reliever.” This guy’s not going to get paid as a reliever. Okay. This guy’s been as He showed why he’s valuable over a full year. Like, eat the innings and then you can You don’t have to throw Exactly. So, he’s There’s no such thing as this quote unquote hometown discount for Chris Basset as a reliever. It’s not going to happen. Okay. He’s a valuable fifth starter and many teams would kill to have Chris Basset as their fifth starter. So, absolutely. He’s going to go to a winning team like Yeah, he’s not he’s not going to sign with like the Angels or the like he’s going to go to a team that has World Series aspirations. No, I saw someone uh like the Braves. That was the team that I was like that makes a ton of sense. He’s a North Carolina kid, right? Yeah. Or sorry, he lives in North Carolina now. Yeah, that makes an awful lot of sense. I think I think the Bra it’s the between the Braves and maybe the Jays. I really do. But if the Jays sign a high-end guy, Avery, I’m not saying it’s out of the picture to be for Basset to be that second addition if they spend a [ __ ] ton of money on a starter, right? Is there any starters you don’t want, Avery? Uh, that’s different to me. I just think they all have flaws and it’s like, what are they going to value and how are they going to rank these guys? because there’s no Garrick Cole in this class. Like Dylan CE, I love the numbers, the underlying data, but he kind of just pitched like [ __ ] He gave him a bunch of home runs in San Diego, which not many people do. Ranger Suarez, I love like I would love for him to be my number one guy. He throws 2 miles an hour slower every year he pitches. Like, holy [ __ ] he’s on pace to throw 78 by year four of the deal. Yes. Like, he gets people out non-stop. So I could I could be talked into it very very quickly. Uh for sure Ranger. But that that Ranger Suarez shouldn’t be that big pickup. Um but I think he could be man. Really that’s the thing with name value and like actual stats output, right? Like Ce is the better name, Framber’s the the better name. Like what what are we going to get at the end of this deal? What? How is it going to be? I know it’s not because it’s not We don’t get a ton of VO on this market and I looked for Michael King. I thought No, Cece. Sorry. CE is the cease is the is the showstopper with the VO. So, so I did starting pitchers. I filtered all of them. This I don’t know why this doesn’t filter them all. Love that. Um it’s claiming that only two pitchers are throwing harder than 95 on average in this class. And who are those guys? Carlos Hernandez, who’s a minor league free agent, and Dylan CE. So, yeah, it is Dylan CE. I think CE to me is the guy I love a lot because you get the strikeouts. Um, but you deal with the walk thing. Padre’s fans hated his guts. Avery. Yeah, I know. I like a lot. It’s like the stuff does look good, but he’s giving up some rockets, man. And that happens, too. So, do you like the Framber stuff has also gotten out of control? He’s not even like I saw Major League Baseball release their top 10 free agents. He’s not even in it. Yes, absolutely. Just because of one cross up and almost kill the catcher. I mean, come on. Like that’s different between Yeah. bad teammate or he’s he’s a great pitcher. He’s awesome. You can’t not put that there. Um consistency though, like Dylan C is making all his all his starts. The fact that he made 32 starts this year and only threw 168 innings is not great. Not great. No, but like the last three seasons, 214 strikeouts, 224 strikeouts, 215 strikeouts. That’s something that this starting rotation lacked, right? He’s got it in him. And I think I like him a lot. And I like Ranger Suarez a lot. I love Suarez. The VO thing’s scary because you have already a rotation aside from Gossman and Yavage, I guess, that’s not VO heavy. Um, but Ranger Suarez has awesome postseason numbers. He’s a lefty, which is what this team needs in a rotation. Makes tons of sense. And again, I could talk myself into it if I just if I like black out and cross the VO probably the problem. Ranger Suarez sinker in 2023 was 93 miles an hour in that plays for a lefty. Yeah. And this year it averaged 90 miles an hour. Are you serious? Yeah. It’s like that’s so concerning because everything looks so good besides his ability to strike people. Like I think he’ll make more money, but it it feels like uh what Basset could kind of rock. He’ll he’ll make more money than that, but it’s just a guy that that you’d love to have. The other name that has come up and we’ve we’ve heard from from people, uh Cody Pon, the I said that last. I mean, that guy had insane numbers in Korea. Yes, he really did. And uh I mean, you had the Eric Lowour thing coming from Korea the year after. So, uh man, and he’s um teammates with Hunen Ryu, I’m pretty sure. So, maybe he put a good word in for Pon as well. But I’m rocking with Ranger Suarez. I I love him. He’s so good. And he’s awesome teammate. Like, I’ve talked about him with Bryson and Bryson says like he’s just the best guy ever. So he checks those boxes in terms of the locker room stuff and it’s a lefty. Like I truly do think the Jays are either going to get in the lefty market either Frame frame or him. I think those like those are the two guys who I think the Jays will land one of them in my opinion. Yeah. Do you think they’re taking any like flyers on guys? I like Riceell Glacius as a reliever would probably be one of those guys. Yeah. Okay. Maybe like uh this is this is a bad one. This is really bad. Like an Austin Gomber if you want to get Oh god, he was so bad last year. He got released by the Rockies, dude. Yeah, but you like maybe he’s a minor league deal guy for for more depth. Yeah, if you want to do that. But I I’m just going to look at whiff percentage top of this list. Charlie Morton top like third of Oh, I would hate that. Just bring back G. Just bring back Bassid at that point, Avery. But there is an interesting name that I like on this. Tony Gonzalin is a free agent. Another guy that could be kind of the depth piece. Woodruff, I don’t know what’s he I think he might just take his qualifying offer. He’s he’s probably one year 20ome. Yeah. And then Griffin Canning is a free agent, too, that he had some interesting times with the Mets um this year, but again, the the numbers don’t look great. They’re going to take a flyer on someone, just so we’re clear. Like, they need depth. Absolutely. I think they will take a flyer on someone. And maybe an Austin Gomber. Maybe I don’t know about Charlie Morton would take a minor league deal. Probably not. But Austin Gmer is a minor league deal type where you can just see what he does in spring. to see what the VO is, what the advanced stuff is, and just kind of play from there. They they they got lightning in a bottle with Eric Lowour. See if you can recreate it. Under the radar minor league signing, Eric Lowour, right? Like that’s how you make that’s how you’re that’s how you are a successful team. But I was about to say that’s the that’s the thing that keeps these teams going is being able to replicate success with more people that they can bring in. That’s more than signing. Obviously, you want the top guys to make your your ceiling higher, but to raise the floor, if you have a good coaching staff and you have good facilities to get these guys better themselves and when you can get them for cheap, that’s the thing that that takes an organization over the top, which has been great to see. So, that’s the starting pitching like Imanaga, Tyler Anderson. I don’t know the Imanaga what what was up with him. Tyler Mi, he’s a free agent, too. There’s a lot of I just love older pitchers. It’s fun to see these names and be like, you know what, kind of hate all these guys, but I would like to see them pitch a couple innings. Yeah, just see make them throw them Buffalo. See what the Buffalo numbers are, A, you know. Yeah, absolutely. Um, but that is fun. Um, relievers, which they seem to be heavy in on relievers. They’re going to spend on relievers. I I have I I tweeted I I I’m not a fan of it, Avery. But I just think it’s going to happen, man. You think so? Yeah. Uh, no chance of Sir Anthony coming back. No chance. Okay. Um, I’m kind of It’s crazy to say because he’s top on the list. I’m rocking with Edwin Diaz. I would do anything to have him for He’s going to get five years. I would love to have him for three and then you just see what you can do after that. But you think so, man? Come on. his strikeout numbers are like he’s a 40% strikeout guy. Okay, but I I’ll bring this point up to you because I did tweet it and I said I’d be kind of pissed at the Jay sign with Diaz, but I’ll push back on myself as crazy as that sounds. Um I’ll kind of be a coward here. He won reliever of the year last year. Yeah, I mean I know it’s like not that sexy, but he won reliever of the year last year, Avery, in terms I I know it’s not that sexy. Sorry. It’s not that sexy in terms of having to pay relievers, but he is [ __ ] awesome. He’s so good. He’s insane. And having that back end of the bullpen, Hoffman, uh Braden Fischer was awesome. And then having uh healthy Jimmy, healthy Jimmy. And then having Diaz. That’s a [ __ ] nasty back end of the bullpen, man. Yep. Right. Absolutely. I mean, you do have I would love Devin Williams. That’s a But I think people are going to turn on and just be like, he had a good numbers year. Like it couldn’t have been that bad. But the thing about the thing about um him is Avery uh I saw some people bring it up and YJ’s mentioned it. I don’t think there’s going to be quote unquote team friendly type of thing. Oh, hell no. No. For for Devin Williams, like he’s going to take a flyer or he’s going to take a prove it deal. He had good underlying metrics last year. Aside from like a bad month maybe, Avery, he was awesome. So, I I I I highly doubt this entire factor of like he’s going to take a prove it deal or he’s going to try to the Jay should sign him for cheap. That’s just not going to happen. Devin Williams will get paid this off seasonason. Yeah, his ERA was bad and like you look at April, he had a basically two whip and that was the problem. Anything else after that, like really good months whipwise, strikeouts wise, he’s getting the swing and miss. I know the fast ball isn’t um as good as it was, but still that’s a good arm, too. And there’s a lot of fun fun names that you could just dream on on adding to this. It’s like Phil Maton, I know the the fastball VO is not there, so it’s a little different, but like he’s a big whiff rate guy still and talk about maybe trying to get him at the deadline. Um Shelby Miller was part of it. Is does Luke Weaver interest you at all? Maybe. No. [ __ ] no. As a guy who’s not going to be your closer, like he’s he’s not the closer type. Do you take Ryan Hley after He was awful on the Mets. He was not good on the Mets. Like you could take that take a look at that, too. Do they Do you think they need another lefty? No, I think Lowour and Ricky Tedman. Okay. It’s like, what about the Pete Fairbanks thing? Does that interest you at all? Depends how much he takes. I I I I let’s do the let’s do the Eglacius talk Avery because Francis came out uh France Romero and said the Jays are in talks with Riceol Glacius and I was kind of iffy on it but I think if a Glaciius doesn’t get that much money and if he doesn’t uh get that much term I could talk myself into Riceell Glaciius. His numbers were pretty good last year and his Savant page was all red I’m pretty sure. Correct. Yeah. That’s just like the VO isn’t high. Doesn’t get ground ground balls. Um, but everything else like the chase is good, the whiff’s good, the strikeout percentage is pretty good. I look back at Jeff Hoffman’s numbers and his strikeout rate was great. It’s just anytime it wasn’t a strikeout, sometimes we got bit by the by the home run ball. Russell Glacius is old, too. 35. So, you think he gets like a one twoyear thing maybe? I don’t know. He’s probably in it for two. He he he lost VO on on his four. He was almost a mile an hour down. Yeah. Um but it’s not not that different from 2023. I don’t mind that. Alio Pagan I’m kind of interested in too. Good year with the Reds. Um another guy it’s like his fastball VO um isn’t fantastic. He’s like 96 I’m looking at here. I’m interested. They’re going to be in the reliever market to try and upgrade. And you know who I really talked myself into, Avery? Who’s that? Brad Keller. Nice. He had an awesome year. Yeah, that’s a guy that makes your bullpen better. Why don’t we just get Brad Keller back to starting? Oh my god, he was awesome out of the pen, though, man. Yeah, I know. Um Brad Keller, there was like a demon year. I thought he was going to take a massive leap. It was probably 2021. because I thought he had a great year in 2020, 54 innings all albeit and I was like, “Oh, he’s going to take the leap and then he just like led the AL in losses with ERA. I think he has found his thing.” It’s the Hoffman thing, too. It’s like obviously you’d wish you could take it, but Keller’s numbers look fantastic after this year. I’m a Keller guy. I would love that signing, Avery. It’s a good domino to fall in a bullpen that you have to drastically improve, right? Yeah, he throws hard. It’s a little different. Um, I don’t think that’s a bad one at all. There’s some There’s some fun names they’ll spend on it, I think, John. And I think they will. I don’t know how many guys are up and coming to take spots from the miners. Like a macro to a pen. Maybe like he’s he’s good because he gets because he’s a starter. That’s you need the depth right now. Yeah, pretty high up on the depths chart with the guys they have right now most likely. So, that’d be fun. But I think that’s all really all I got right now for for the people. Avery, give your four free agents that you want where you’d grade at an a an A offseason. We’re not going to go A+ because then you’re just going to say ridiculous guys, but realistic A offseason targets and we’ll maybe track it and see if we get these guys that you’re saying. Okay. I won’t say B. I’ll say without Bo, even though you could say Bo. That’s realistic. I’m not gonna say Bo. I’m gonna say Kyle Tucker, Ranger Suarez, um Cody Pon, and I’ll say and Edwin. I’ll say Edwin. That’s an A for you. That’s be that’d be an A+. I mean, that’d be That’d be a pretty insane off season. I would love that one. Would that make them the favorite in the division? Do you think depends on what the Yankees do? Yeah. Like if they have a Mai, if they get him and they spend on some players, I think they’d be pretty good. Like if they get Murakami, I know it’s it’s not the it’s not the most complete package, but if they get those two guys from MPB, then it would be it would be sick. So, I’ll take I’ll take Diaz off of mine. Okay. And I’ll I’ll put I’ll put Amelio Pagon on that one instead of Diaz. That was that was too good. Too good to be true. Too good to be true. Okay, I’ll go Bulbashette, Framber Valdez, Brad Keller, and Pon. Nice. That makes your team better. Yeah, it does. Yeah, it does. All right, I’ll go to some listener questions. Yeah. Um, sad Winnipeg fans asking if we would sacrifice him for the Jays to win the World Series. We b we almost did. He was He was gone technically. Yeah, you’re right. I guess. Yeah, we almost we kind of technically did. Yeah, I would sacrifice him for a a championship series win again. Uh, Mr. Baby wants to know if we’re nervous about the 40man. Yeah, there’s going to be some trades. I hope. I love trades. I’m a trade guy. I love downplaying guys we sent away and hyping up guys we acquired. I mean, I hyped up Andre Aimenez without even really understanding how bad he was offensively the previous season. So, um, yeah, I could talk myself into a lot of stuff. I really can. It’s very easy to do. Who do the Blue Jays need to call up from Triple A? I don’t know if they have anyone like crazy crazy pressing. I like the Shrek. RJ, he just followed me on Twitter. Shout out RJ Shrek. Let’s go. Um I was looking at some of the relievers. It wasn’t crazy jumping up. Cutter Coffee had a good um Arizona Fall League. That guy can just play baseball. He’s good. I don’t know if he’ll he’ll ever have the tools that jump off the page, but I think Cutter Coffee is just a good baseball player. I know he was in Vancouver and got up to DA, right? But I mean, him having success in the fall leagues though is pretty [ __ ] cool for a guy that was playing a ball. I think he’s just a good ball player, man. Yeah. And we’ve we’ve talked to guys on the Vancouver Canadians and they’ve told us multiple times how awesome he is um defensively, right? Yeah, he’s good. He’s a good player. Uh from Luris Guriel enthusiast, does Var need a change of scenery after his World Series? Maybe a trade to Arizona for an outfielder with a solid bat and some catching depth. Yeah, I could see it. If Do you What if they just reverse the trade? I would hate it. Obviously they have they got I mean what Thomas plays center field and then Corbin Carroll. Yeah. But that would be very just reverse the trade. That would be uh dude I look at that Diamondback’s roster and they had like two guys in the top 10 MVP voting and it’s like how the [ __ ] did this team not make the playoffs and then I look at the division they play and I go ah that makes you know what yeah I understand why they didn’t make the playoffs now. Yes. Um what’s the best place to eat when visiting Toronto? I like the steakouses guy. I went uh Jacobs is great. I know the players talk. Barbarians I went to last week. Barbarians. Yeah. Yeah. I was There was a guy outside smoking darts. Two guys. Um and they’re just like Avery like Yeah. Like what are you doing here? I like I can’t I can’t afford on my salary. It’s why my girlfriend’s taking us out here. And they ended up being lawyers on some opposing cases. Oh. Uh oh. Classic Trouble in Paradise. Yeah. I I like Earls and just King Taps, man. I’m I’m a simple man, you know. You could get better eats than that though. You like for sure if you like being close on King to where But again, if you want to just do value eating, King like King Tops and Earls is pretty good. Some of like the Chinese food spots are good, too, that you just go up. Can’t say I’ve been to those before. Um, will Ross Atkins come up short once again? No. I don’t know what that totally means. I believe in Ross. When is Avery getting the George haircut? That happened already. Um, do we see a world where the Blue Jays go full offense and get Tucker and Bo and no pitchers? No. No. That would be hell. Cuz we saw, and I know I’m bringing up teams like the Diamondbacks went full-blown offense last free agency, no pitchers. I mean, Corbin Burns, but he got hurt. But and that did not work out for them. They had the worst bullpen ever. It’s tough. I’m I’m kind of interested in the gallon Mel Kelly, too. What they could do. Your gallon build. Again, those are bigger names, so like you’re not gonna get them that cheap. And yeah, he’s Gallon’s probably not coming to the they’re probably not coming to the AL East to try and prove it on something when they can get the hardest division to pitch in. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’s I mean, you can just go to stay in your division and see what’s uh see what’s happening. What would a package for Freddy Peralta look like? They would definitely ask for bars or a tray, but we wouldn’t trade them. So, I’m not sure how it would work. Yeah. I don’t know what I don’t know what that would package would look like. I don’t know what you give up in that to be honest with you. Is a gauge. Gage is probably in that gauge. Maybe a Ricky T. Probably can’t part with both of them. So, you you would go you would go to the position player group Arjun maybe. I mean, has his has his V value dropped that much? It’s dropped an insane amount. a little bit. Yeah, too bad. Um, how big of a role will Miles Straw be in recruiting Kyle Tucker? He’s working his magic, commenting on a baby announcement pictures. Um, I could see it. I If if the Jays land Kyle Tucker, we got to start having the Mile Straws the GOAT conversation. We He’s up there already now. Yeah. Do we think George Frier regresses or has another strong year? I’m going to think something in between what he was in 24 and 25. I’m rocking 110 again. And if he 110 I’m happy with it. Absolutely. It’s like at some point maybe he he unlocked something but you will like the age that was honestly man maybe the DH thing helped him. Of course that was that was part of it as well. And someone asked can we count on Springer to be a solid bat? Absolutely. Yeah. Maybe not as solid as as it was, but I I do I mean the guy finished top 10 MVP voting. Like yeah, if he has that again, folks, we are cooking with peanut oil as the kids say. And that guy, the team will just be a wagon again if George Springer does that. Especially with some moves hopefully they make in this off season. Yes. Um what players do you want to get on the pod this off season? It’s a great question. Um see who who Johnny can make it happen with. Yeah, I I got some guys in the hopper. I I’ll reach out to Pop. Um he sent me a picture of uh his girlfriend wearing Gate 14 stuff on the beach. Uh that was cool. Um but yeah, we’ll try to get Pop and Lou and uh see what happens from there. Then obviously we got the Vlatty one um in November or December. Um so that’ll be cool. But yeah, we got tons of stuff in the works. Um I I honestly want to keep my distance with the players right now. I probably still we’re two weeks removed from like the most gut-wrenching loss of all time. I don’t think I want to reach out to those guys right now. Yeah. Know feels like in a month from now when it’s be like, “Okay, we I’ve had my time off. I’m back in the back in the cages. We’re back working out.” I know they’ll be in before that, but then we can kind of flush it and move on. Maybe they’ve already flushed it and moved on. Um that are waiting for when are we going to get our own studio? We’re working on that right now to be honest. Yep. Hoping to uh get that done. Is there a reality that the front office goes for quantity of Btier guys as opposed to going for the top dogs like am I Tucker Ranger? I think it’ll be somewhere in the middle. I think they go for top dogs and take flyers on guys. Yes. Um for sure. Okay. A lot of these questions are um very similar. How serious is losing Hunter Mens? I I read that different hitters were working with different coaches which seems entirely reasonable. Absolutely. Yeah. seemed like he was part it seemed like he was part of the things that were going well. So yeah, I do I do think seemed like the guys liked him. Yeah, they all loved them, man. You’d want to have him back. But young guy who’s awesome going to coach with a young guy on the Giants in California makes sense. Life’s pretty good for that. Yeah. Uh what are some realistic expectations for Trey and his development next season? I saw uh what’s that thing called that projects next year. Um well they’re just they’re just projections but so I saw a projection had him to have the fourth lowest erra for rookies next year. Minimum 60 innings pitched. Yeah I see I see Steamer Steamer is probably the one you’re talking about but it’s just it’s just a projection system. Um 386 erra, two- win player, 26 starts, 146 innings. I’ll take that [ __ ] I’ll take that [ __ ] I think that’s pretty great for him, too. Like the RA can fluctuate for him. Absolutely. But a lot of strikeouts. Congratulations to Trey and Taylor for getting engaged. Um Taylor, loyal Gate 14 followers. She rocks. Um that’s that’s awesome. So that’s the that’s the playoff bonus. Right to right right to a ring. Yeah, respect Trey. Um, all right. I think that’s it. There’s a lot of just uh free agency stuff that we kind of Yeah, people talked about the Venezuela tattoo. I saw that one. Yeah, we’re going to have to I have one person in my ear saying I just shouldn’t get it. I’m probably going to have to get it. Yeah, you hate to see it. But, um, yeah, little hour 20 pod for the people. Um, we got some cool stuff happening this off seasonason, man. I talked about it. I kind of ted on a little bit earlier. We got some cool interviews potentially happening. I might try to get Ross on. I’m not sure. Um I feel like having Ross the Boss on would ruin the beauty of Ross the boss, you know. You like you like Ross being from afar? Yeah. You know. Yeah. But we’ll see. Maybe we get him on. I’m not sure. But we’ll we got the spring training trip planned. I’ll be going to Houston hopefully to watch uh Team Italy take down uh some rosters. So, I’m looking forward to that hopefully. But um yeah, thank you guys for tuning in, man. I mean, I know people are saying more content, more content, more content. The one pod a week makes tons of sense, man, cuz then we’re just recycling our thoughts every second day we record a pod. I I it doesn’t make tons of sense. And it’s We kind of need this break, man. We did a [ __ ] ton for like seven months. So, um one pod a week and uh again, if breaking news happens, we’ll be the first to talk about it. So, um you you have that there and uh we’ll go from there. But, uh, love you guys, man. Gate 14 forever. Thank you guys as always for subscribing, watching the pod, and uh, hopefully we did a good job here breaking down free agents for you guys. And hopefully we could talk talk oursel talk you and talk ourselves into free whoever signs with our club or whatever trade happens. So, love you guys, man. Gate 14 forever. We’ll talk to you guys next week or if a signing happens and uh, see you guys.

Ave and John look into the Free Agent market for some fits and team needs.

Gate 14 is the most electric Toronto Blue Jays podcast on the planet. Join Johnny & Avery as they navigate the ups and down of 162. New episodes drop twice a week, so subscribe now!

Theme song by Limited Hangout: https://linktr.ee/limitedhangout
Thumbnail: Cam Law

Follow Us On Socials
MERCH: Gate14.ca
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gate14podcast/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gate14pod
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Gate14Pod
Discord: https://discord.gg/KvCFpy7gX2

#TorontoBlueJays #MLB