The Mariners claimed Hagen Danner from the Jays. The Jays DFAed Danner when they signed Josh Walker.
If you are like me and you can’t remember them signing Josh Walker (or anyone else this off-season), he’s a left-handed reliever who has pitched 22 innings in the majors, 12.1 of them last season with the Mets. He has a 7.25 ERA in those 22 innings. He throws low-90s, 92-93, and has a curve and a change.
Personally, I’d rather have Danner, but they don’t run these decisions by me.
Beyond that….no news is no news. Sportsnet has a post called the Jays “MLB’s perfect stalking horse.” They are in on every single free agent out there but haven’t had the winning bid on any of them. This quote says it all:
In other words, they’ve remained rational in a competitive market that’s required some degree of irrationality. And with multiple strikes against them, well, that just isn’t very conducive to landing players.
You couldn’t say it better. You must be the outlier if you want to sign a free agent. You have to be above and beyond. Being rational won’t win you a free agent.
Part of it is that there is always the next guy. They didn’t sign Soto, there is Teoscar. No Teoscar, well Santander. Ok, Bergman. No? Well, Alonso is still out there. Pretty soon there will be no chairs left and the music will have stopped.
The Jays have until 1:00 Eastern to avoid arbitration with Vlad. And Daulton Varsho, Alejandro Kirk, Alek Manoah, Zack Pop, Ernie Clement and Nick Sandlin.
I really don’t want them to go to arbitration with Vlad. I want them to have his name on a long-term contract before 1:00 p.m. Eastern. And I don’t want them to be rational. If it takes $500 million to sign him, I want them to give him $500 million. I don’t want them to draw a line in the sand.
Anyone who isn’t signed will have to exchange numbers with the team and, later, make their case in front of an arbitrator.