JaysRule15 wrote:Green Hornet wrote:Mehar wrote:No way I am extending Bichette or Guerrero now. Let's see how 2024 plays out. Prefer to make a run at Juan Soto and offering him a big deal instead next off-season, if Vlad has a similar 2024 season like 2023.
I’m calling it now, Soto will probably resign with the Yankees. No big time free agent is coming here, unless they're well late into their prime like Frank Thomas or Clemons who eventually asked to be traded, LOL. The quicker you accept this, the more you’ll understand that like the Raps, the BJs will always get their best talent through trades or through the homegrown route via draft only.
The BJs are in a huge pickle now, much like with the Raps 3 years ago. The Roster is just limited and there's not much you can do when you can't sign big time free agents and good pitching can only get you so far. I don't trust the FO being able to make any great trades either, especially after what happened with Moreno. Plus, the farm system is stretching thin as well. I think the FO will have to eventually call this experiment as a failure and do a proper rebuild. The league is getting more and more stacked by the day, especially now with the Yankees and Dodgers added back into the mix. Unfortunately, I just don't see how the Jays can compete in this type of environment.
The Blue Jays definitely haven't had a problem attracting premier free agents like the Raptors have. Yes they missed out on Ohtani, but so did a bunch of other teams.
Just recently with this front office, we've signed Springer, Ryu, Gausman. Those were all top free agents in their class that offseason. We've also been able to pay to keep Berrios just after trading for him.
There's no salary cap in baseball. So teams that are able to spend the money are always going to be destinations for free agents. Even this offseason, should the Blue Jays want, they can absolutely make a play for other top free agents like Bellinger. We've consistently had a top 10 payroll in recent years.
Other than Gausman, all of those free agent signings didn’t really work out. They have either became inundated with injuries or became a former shell of themselves.
Springer is not remotely close to the same player he was for the Astros. Same with Ryu - riddled with injuries and eventually became a non factor. Berrios was acquired by trade so he doesn’t count.
Gausman is the only one that did work out which is rare and recent, but he’s turning 33 so who knows how much gas is left in his tank for him to put up good numbers.
The fact still remains - no true premiere players are going to sign here as free agents, especially positional players. Bellinger is a huge unknown right now and isn’t an established elite player, therefore he doesn’t fit the mold of a game changer. There is a reason why many teams aren’t exactly jumping the gun to sign him and still see him as a big risk/gamble.
Other big market teams can also get into a bidding war as well and they usually get their big prize one way or another, unlike the Jays. I agree that the Jays have been big spenders recently, but the players they’ve signed aren’t really moving the needle very much, and the results speak for themselves. Like the NBA, the MLB is still a superstars’ league and at the end of the day, the Jays isn’t going to attract any true superstar free agent.
