There isn’t much news for the Jays in the early days of the off-season.
Daulton Varsho was voted the Gold Glove winner in center field. Very much deserved.
And Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is a ‘finalist’ for the Silver Slugger for AL first basemen. He’s up against Josh Naylor and Carlos Santana. His numbers look much better than their’s, at least to me. Vlad had a .940 OPS. Naylor .767 and Santana .748, so it doesn’t look like much of a horse race. Vlad won the award in 2021.
The list of finalists is here.
The Jays have a fair bit of work to do this winter. The first will likely be to hire a new amateur scouting director.
After that, an extension for Vlad should be up high on the list. It might be a tough negotiation. The big stars seem to be waiting until their free agent year to sign long-term deals. They have better leverage when other teams can make offers, too.
They have to decide on which, if any, of their Rule 5 draft-eligible players need to be added to the roster. Phil Clarke, Adrian Pinto, Eddinson Paulino, Damiano Palmegiani, Will Robertson, Dasan Brown, Gabriel Martinez, CJ Van Eyk, Chad Dallas, Kendry Rojas, Hayden Juenger, Connor Cooke and Eric Pardinho are possible.
I don’t know if any of them would be taken in the draft, but Dallas could, I’m sure, be part of a major-league bullpen. Pinto is close. As much as I’ve always liked Pardinho, I wouldn’t bet he could be part of a pitching staff this year.
In the comments, tell us who you think might be added to the roster.
Gerrit Cole opted out of his contract. He was signed through the 2028 season (when he will be 37) at $36 million annually. Wouldn’t it be nice to opt out of a contract that is due to pay you $144 million over the next four years?
The Yankees can keep him if they add another year to his $36 million contract. I don’t think I’d want to pay that much at age 38, but then the Yankees would have no end of money. They have until 5:00 Eastern to decide.
The Yankees also declined their option on Anthony Rizzo. He was to make $17 million. He gets a $6 million buyout. He’s 35 and wasn’t good this year. Even last year, he had just a 0.5 bWAR.
FanGraphs lists a bunch of open Blue Jays jobs, if you would like to apply:
- Biomechanist
- Data Scientist
- Player Valuation Research Analyst
- Senior Data Engineer, Baseball Systems
- Senior Developer, Baseball Systems
- General Baseball Operations Entry Level Opportunities
You can look at the job description at the link above. I think they missed a few: left fielder, third baseman, and several reliever spots.
A defensive star in our system
Dasan Brown wins a Minor League Gold Glove Award! pic.twitter.com/AMD5vtCMej
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) November 4, 2024