There isn’t that much for Jays news this morning:
- The Draft Lottery is at 5:00 Eastern. The Jays have a 7.48% chance of getting the number one pick. They are sitting in the fifth spot before the lottery. I’d be happy if they didn’t drop down.
- Reading about the Juan Soto negotiations, it seems like Mets owner Steve Cohen just wasn’t going to be outbid. The other teams could have raised the bids, but Cohen would play the trump card no matter what. I guess there is a question of ‘why bother’ if that’s the case, but maybe the Jays didn’t know that was likely to happen. At a certain point, pushing the bidding up was adding to what future free agents would ask.
- I think Vlad’s asking price went up with Soto’s signing.
- The A’s signing of Luis Severino surprised me, but apparently, the A’s have to raise their payroll. The teams have a baseline of spending 150% of the revenue sharing amount, or the Players Association can bring a ‘grievance’ against them. The A’s would need a payroll of $105 million to reach that point. After signing Severino, they are at $78.5 million, so they must find other free agents willing to play in Sacramento.
- Rumours have it that the Jays are interested in Teoscar Hernandez. Whether he is interested in coming back to Toronto is another question.
- Ken Rosenthal tells us the Jays will make a ‘monster offer’ to Corbin Burnes. I think they should offer money, but I’m not a GM.
Hopefully we get some real news soon.