Ahh so soon... I was just getting started lol. Seriously though I don't want any rentals unless we can get one very cheap but I still want to trade away our expiring contracts and see what we can do in FA or look at trade options in the offseason to see who's available and what it would cost to get MO long term partner.

Simone Wood-Richardson he was part of the Mets deal for Stroman.

So Alex gone from Boston.
Mets let go Beltran after only hiring in November
.

Whose next?

And just heard players are going to be suspended too.
No names yet.

Corra was inevitable and just saw that Beltran was let go, apparently, Altuve is denying cheating.... That would be a massive blow to find out the best 2nd baseman in baseball was cheating. But I'll wait till the rulings come out. I'm kinda mixed on this because don't get me wrong I wanted to see the players get punished also but I thought MLB would let them off because they'd want them to step forward in the future which will be harder and it's not fair for another team that had nothing to do with it get penalized by losing a player for a predetermined amount of time.

Other than that, I'm not sure who's next, but it will be very telling and I think we're going to hear some names we don't want to/didn't expect i.e. Altuve. I also think well hear other team's and players from other teams or at least I did before Manfred decided to go after the players....then again maybe they already know more? I like I said, I want to see the players get punished but I wanted to see how many team's they could unearth in this.

How many other teams do you think have been cheating?

I also heard that Huston is interviewing Gibby for their manager position.

More then being speculated.
It is just the way it is.

I want the hammer dropped on the players too.

Here are two simple adjustments:

1. Baseball is, more than any other major sport, statistics-intensive. Therefore, any batting statistic for a Houston player relating to the third, fourth and fifth game of the World Series should have an asterisk attached to it.

2. Houston gets no home games for the next two post-seasons; let them play on a neutral field of a non-playoff team (or teams, could rotate) so that those fans could get to see post-season games.

Yo @Sign_em_up000000

Any insight on this Ruben guy that Jays signed???

Most of these guys will be 700k minimum

Isn't he Miguel Tejada's son? Or at least I thought he was.

Okay, but if it means that players wouldn't come forward in the future would you still want them punished?

Also, a question for both of you and @oneX what do you guys think of banning the Astros from postseason play? Hear me out on this one, by banning them from the playoffs all incentive to cheat would be gone IMO. The players want to win so they would be deterred managers and coaching staff are already deterred from cheating after the 1-year bans handed out and gm's wouldn't want to cheat either for the same reasons. Also, if a player is set to hit FA the acquiring team would not have their services for the postseason until the ban is over. If a player is arb eligible they could lose those rights as well, IMO, that would get rid of cheating in the game.

In this case, you could band them for either 1,2 or 3 years and the penalties only become more severe each time a team gets caught. You may not like it but I think it would be effective.... I mean, would you cheat if that was the punishment? And it punishes the players like you guys want. I'm guessing I'll get a thumbs down on this one, oh well just an idea.

I like your idea too!

@OldNYIfan 's idea punishes ownership because they don't get direct revenues from playoff games which is a good idea as well.

In a perfect world, this would be true justice.

You'll get as old as I am waiting for it to happen.

I'll even improve on your idea: instead of a blanket ban for one year, which wouldn't hurt them if they don't make the playoffs, what about a ban the next time the team qualifies for the playoffs?

Bet you'd only have to impose that ban once.

Well, there's no such thing as a bad minor league signing right lol. Seriously, he's not an upgrade on Urena in terms of play and age but he doesn't take up a spit on the 40 or 26 man roster so that's a bonus and at this point in his career he'll likely be a veteran mentor in Buffalo, although I thought the same thing about Sogard last year. The first thing that came to mind when Isaw we signed him was the 2015 NLDS (I believe that was the year) when Utley slid into 2nd base and broke his leg that took him like a year to a year and a half to recover from.

At this point in his career, his defence is average(ish) and his bat is no wear to be found. I think he breaks with the Bissons after ST and Espinal either gets the 26th spot or starts with Buffalo too until he's needed if we get another middle infielder.

One thing I really wanted to see this offseason was for Drury to be DFA'D and sign Holt to replace him but that ain't happening now?

No, he might be related to him but his father was a mechanic and his mother was a secretary iirc.

That's what I'm talking about!

My idea was anyone caught cheating (players) would hurt their future financial earnings, let's use Springer as an example... Let's say the Astros get a 1year ban from the playoffs like the 1-year bans for Himch and Lunow or a 2year ban like the draft picks lost or a 3-year ban because they've been cheating for 3 years (probably longer but you get my point), in Springers case a 1-year ban doesn't hurt him as much but a 2-year or 3-year ban and any team looking at him in GA next year would be hesitant to sign him because he wouldn't be eligible for the playoffs and in this case would have lost his arb rights for this year (likely carrying the same AAV as last year or potentially less, IMO, that would deter players from cheating in the future and owners would make sure that their team isn't cheating because they forfeit their picks in those years.

Also, that's why want to see the amount a team (owner) can be fined to $50 mill @oneX is right it may not be that much to Crane but how many owners can afford to pay that? Look at the Rays payroll last year or Oakland or Cleveland etc. Those owners couldn't afford a fine that big so they would be more careful who they hire and would monitor their teams more closely. IMO, the punishment should be viewed more as a deterrent for other teams going forward because the punishment will only get worse the more team's get caught. Another thing Manfred could do is fine players who are already under contract like Altuve for example.

From a neutral party, what do you think of the Blue Jay's off-season so far? And can you give me more insight into what to expect from Ryu going forward? I know he doesn't have overpowering stuff but he's effective and he has a good pitching arsenal also I expect him to not be as effective coming to the AL East but he should be the best pitcher for us next year.

I think Ryu is in the sweet spot of his career. He's been around long enough to have learned that real long-term success at pitching requires out-thinking the batters and therefore acquiring the skills necessary to win (i.e., a sufficient inventory of pitches and knowing when to use each one). When you're young and can blow hitters away, all you need is that fastball and one type of breaking ball, but once you're no longer able to overpower hitters with pure speed, you need more than two pitches. I think you'll be happy with Ryu for at least a couple of years.

I couldn't agree more! I think he was the smart play for us in terms of bang for your buck and the fact that he didn't have a QO attached to him. Cole would have likely cost us $400-420mill on a 10-12 year deal and that's IF he would have even considered us, Strausberg I wouldn't touch with his injury history and again what it would have cost (we have to overpay to get most to consider coming here) and Odorizzi accepted his QO so that took us out of that convo.

Wheeler made sense but with having to forfeit the 45th oa pick and international bonus pool money it wasn't worth it (plus I like Ryu more). I think our FO got it right with ryu and I think Roark is getting overlooked by a lot of people. I don't expect him to be something he's not but after going through 21 different starters (I know the opener strategy played a large part in that) he can give us consistent a bite unspectacular results and being able to rely on him to pitch every 5th day will go along way to helping stabilize our rotation IMO.

Would you say our off-season has been a success or failure so far?

Edit: I just saw we signed Panik and Dull to minor league deals. I'm kinda in shock Panik chose to come here but if he makes our roster he'll earn $2.85 so it's likely more than other teams would be willing to offer.

Thanks for the input it's much appreciated! ?