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Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

Welcome to the Neno's Place!

Neno's Place Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality


Neno

I can be reached by phone or text 8am-7pm cst 972-768-9772 or, once joining the board I can be reached by a (PM) Private Message.

Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

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Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

Many Topics Including The Oldest Dinar Community. Copyright © 2006-2020


    Jays head into winter meetings looking for outfield help: Griffin

    jedi17
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    Jays head into winter meetings looking for outfield help: Griffin Empty Jays head into winter meetings looking for outfield help: Griffin

    Post by jedi17 Sat 03 Dec 2016, 8:57 pm

    Jays head into winter meetings looking for outfield help: Griffin
    Toronto might still be in mix for Encarnacion after Astros sign Beltran.

    With free agent Carlos Beltran, the designated hitter and outfielder who finished 2016 with Texas, reportedly agreeing to a one-year contract with the Houston Astros, the former favourites for Edwin Encarnacion would seem to be off the board. That leaves the Yankees, where Beltran started last season, and the Blue Jays as visible front-runners for Encarnacion, barring late interest from the Red Sox or another hidden suitor.
    The Jays were believed to have made Encarnacion a final offer last month of four years and $80 million. When that was refused, they went ahead and signed first baseman and DH Kendrys Morales for three years and $33 million. Now, as Edwin’s asking price seemingly drifts lower, could the Jays be back in the mix?
    If the Jays truly desire to advance to the post-season for a third straight year, they need to bolster their offence. The team strength is pitching, with five starters locked in at a combined $44.5 million. But they can’t expect to be dancing in October with what currently is the worst outfield in the American League. The top four fly-chasers on the current roster just won’t cut it.
    The Jays’ priorities for the baseball’s annual winter meetings, which run from Sunday through the Rule 5 draft on Thursday morning, include the outfield, the bullpen and a backup catcher. And they will wait on the outcome of their own free agents, Encarnacion and outfielders Jose Bautista and Michael Saunders.
    Jays general manager Ross Atkins has a head start, with preliminary discussion already having taken place with player agents and other GMs on all of those priorities. The Jays’ decision-makers will include president Mark Shapiro, vice presidents Tony LaCava and Ben Cherington, and assistant GM Joe Sheehan. The winter meetings are being staged this year at a resort hotel just inside Washington D.C.’s beltway, in suburban Maryland.
    How much room do the Jays have with their payroll to add significant players? With 10 multi-year contracts already in place, plus educated estimates provided by the great website MLBTradeRumors for four arbitration contracts, Atkins and company have committed about $127.8 million for 14 players in 2017. Shapiro indicated last month that they payroll would be higher than the $140 million spent in 2016, but did not offer an exact figure.
    Given that promise, a reasonable bump might be $10 million, or a 7.1-percent increase. That would leave the Jays about $22 million to spend on the final 11 roster spots, with the minimum salary being $535,000. Clearly, there is room to add some talent, if not quite enough room to re-up Encarnacion.
    And the Jays need spend that available money, even if, and perhaps especially if, they lose both Bautista and Encarnacion. Since the 2015 trade deadline in 2015, the Jays have proven you can spend money to make money. Success on the field over the last season-and-a-half has translated into full houses at Rogers Centre, huge TV ratings, hand-over-fist profits on sales of merchandise. Even Shapiro understands there’s no turning back.

    “There could have been someone (at Rogers) who strategically said you should take a step back in this moment and we chose not to do it,” the president said, rather cryptically, at a meeting with baseball writers on Thursday. “We think that the core of talent in place is still good enough to field a championship-calibre team and, yes, it’s important to continue to work hard and deliver on the promise that has been fulfilled over the last couple of seasons.
    “If you don’t walk away from that environment both motivated and feeling responsible to continue to field a contending team, then you’re walking in with blinders and earplugs, because it’s incredibly special to be in that setting.”
    Those are promising words for fans, but now the Jays must get it done, whether it is via trades or free agency. Which method do the Jays prefer?
    “It’s always dependent on the opportunities you have,” Atkins said. “If it’s one that you like, then we don’t necessarily have to wait . . . To say that we can’t move on one or the other before we consider free agency, or vice versa, no. If it’s a deal that makes us better and we like the cost, then we’re prepared to do it either way.”
    Paul Kinzer, Encarnacion’s agent, has suggested his client’s contract should be settled before the meetings are over. At that point, with money to spend, the Jays will start rebuilding the outfield.
    How far below C-level is the Jays’ current outfield. The five returning outfield names — Kevin Pillar, Ezequiel Carrera, Melvin Upton, Jr., Dalton Pompey and Darrell Ceciliani — combined to bat .246 for the Jays in 2016, with 17 homers, 93 RBIs and 129 runs scored. Not good.
    Bautista and Saunders contributed 46 homers, 126 RBIs and 138 runs. And it has been Bautista and Encarnacion hitting in the top four that has made the Jays’ batting order so relentless the past few years. That is no more.
    Outfield names that have been mentioned in trade rumours connected with the Jays include: the Mets’ Jay Bruce and Curtis Granderson, Adam Eaton of the White Sox, the Tigers’ J.D. Martinez, and the Yankees’ Brett Gardner. Free agents mentioned as possibilities include Dexter Fowler, Bautista and Saunders.

    Another interesting name appeared for the first time Friday, when former Jays leadoff man Ben Revere, non-tendered by the Nationals, became a free agent. The 28-year-old, traded to Washington for reliever Drew Storen before the 2016 season, was hampered by an oblique problem that limited his slash line to .217/.260/.300. Revere loved his time in Toronto, could bat leadoff and play left field. He is represented by the same group as Saunders.
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