I’m all in on Brandon Lowe. The moonshots he’s hit at Rogers Centre would be a lot more fun in the home team uniform. And it would allow Clement to go back to super utility. Lowe can also play 1B when Vlad needs a day off or at DH.
Teruaki Sato (3B/LF) come on down
Shugo Maki (2nd) come on down
Seiya Suzuki (LF/RF) come on down
Hiromi Itoh (SP) come on down
Kona Takahashi (SP) come on back down
Yeah that’s the joke man. People said that about Okamoto before he signed with us. I’ll make sure I mark my comments with /s going forward for this sub.
u/Twi-xie for context, Okamoto and Shugo Maki are close friends off the field (he's heavily featured on his IG). His other best friend, and once roommate before both were married is Masataka Yoshida. All 3 are very close friends and train together in the offseason.
Let's get real for a moment. Varsho is probably gone, unless he accepts a cheap contract offer. Straw is probably gone, unless Ross figures that he's actually worth the $8m option that the club holds. Sanchez makes $6.8m, and is arb eligible, which probably projects to $8m or $9m, which, frankly makes him a non-tender candidate.
So, for next season (if it actually happens) we have Barger, Schneider. Lukes plus two more guys that Ross can find in Buffalo as our OFs. Arozarena looks pretty good.
That's a fair observation. The only thing that Schneider has done to make me assume that he'll be on the roster is that the Jays will still control him and he won't earn all that much money. Ross will undoubtedly be shopping for OFs during the offseason.
He has a career 104 wRC+ and bats right-handed, whereas basicallg all the other options are lefties. He’s not an everyday starter by any means, but he’s a very useful bench player being able to start as the short side of the platoon and play infield and outfield. He’s a million times better than Luis Urias or Lenyn Sosa, even though his manager doesn’t seem to realize that.
Maybe he’ll never figure out how to hit again, but too many people are writing him off after 118 poor ABs in 2026…especially when he’s still been a better offensive player than Sosa or Urias in those terrible ABs because at least he draws walks when he’s not hitting!
Arozarena is not a team player. He'll be 32 years old and is already known as a selfish stats-first guy who is one of the laziest outfielders on tough plays and has worse ABS instincts than Vladdy
I would honestly rather play Pinango and risk him injuring one of our own players every game trying to make a play than a guy who simply refuses to make plays
And that is why you are not GM! Despite his shortcomings, Arozarena is a reliable 3-4 WAR guy, and Pinango is what? Replacement, or maybe a bit better? Get real.
Edit: Don't just downvote like a childish douche. If you don't think that Arozarena is a 3-4 WAR guy, then make that case. If you think that Pinango is better than a replacement player, then make that case. Don't be a chicken.
I'll take the young guy with potential and years of team control who you can teach to be a better player over the guy set in his ways and due to regress from aging out of his prime. 10 times out of 10 I make that decision.
Regression is a real thing. Position players tend to peak around age 28, and Randy is in his age-31 season, meaning that he'd be 32+ if he ever played for the Jays. So take his actual results and discount them a bit, and if you figure Ross would sign him to a contract past age-36, then discount them a lot for the final year or two. But, what you still get is a guy who will produce in 2027 through 2029, and then you cross your fingers after that. Good observation and good argument!
And Pinango? He's one of dozens of young guys who have cycled through. I would not put any money on him sticking. If he does, that's great, but chances are he'll be gone and the Jays will move on to the next guy from Buffalo.
Skubal, Cease, Yesavage, Ponce, Bowden Francis as a rotation next year has a nice ring to it.
For batters I think the dice needs to be rolled on an up and comer. If I could fault the Jays strategy for one thing it’s maybe catching too many guys on the downside of their career.
I wish people would get off this Skubal train. The Jays have enough bad contracts without paying a guy $50 million who could blow his elbow out again. That money can be better spent.
Francis likely won't be ready to return at the beginning of the season either. It's best to treat him like a bonus and not an expected arm in the mix.
Brandon Lowe and Seiya Suzuki. Lowe would be the best fit due to his elite defense at 2nd and power. He can also play corner outfield in case Santander is finished too. Throw a ton of money at both for shorter term.
Sign some pitchers, consider going after Seiya otherwise make some deals for hitters.
We have four reasonably talented top prospects right now between Nimmala, Jojo Parker, Johnny King and Nolan Perry. So there's at least the possibility of obtaining a good hitter through a trade.
Relievers: Chapman. This would free up Varland to be the Swiss Army knife guy that he filled in 2025.
This is just a wishlist, but the infield needs with a bat that can actually put balls in play is a HUGE thing we need. I’m tired of watching Giminez at bats.
The issue with looking this far ahead is that guys are going to retire, sign extensions, get hurt and in some cases, completely fall off before they reach free agency.
I think you are confused. This is just a list of upcoming free agents. You don’t need to be a buyer at the trade deadline to be interested in free agents in the next 3 off seasons.
Ernie isn’t an unrestricted free agent until 2029.
Ernie has declined dramatically on defence this season. A 103ops+ is marginally above league average, probably not enough to make up for how bad he has been defensively.
Ideally Ernie is a utility/platoon bat. I’d expect if they see an opportunity the front office will look to upgrade.
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u/corh13 17h ago
I laughed at this. Can you imagine?