26(!) Man Roster Challenge

Courtesy of the Blue Jay Hunter


Challenge Update!

MLB has decided to go with 26-man rosters this season, so I guess we have to as well. I mean, why not up the degree of difficulty? It's not like anyone in the 10 years we've been running this bad boy has nailed the perfect ballot anyways.

Apparently there will be a cap on the number of pitchers that teams are allowed to carry, but, as far as we can tell, there has been nothing official from MLB yet. Hopefully they get around to doing that before the deadline to submit ballots, which is February 12th @ 11:59PM EST, but we kinda want them not to, just to see the chaos that would create for this challenge.

#BlueJays spring training dates.
Pitchers and catchers report: Thursday, Feb. 13.
First full team workout: Monday, Feb. 17.
Grapefruit League opener: Saturday, Feb. 22 at Yankees in Tampa.
First game at renovated TD Ballpark: Monday, Feb. 24 vs. Braves.

— Scott Mitchell (@ScottyMitchTSN) November 9, 2019

For those that don’t know, The 26-Man Roster Challenge is a super simple game that has but one requirement: Name the 26 baseball players within the Blue Jays organization who will crack the opening day roster.

Sounds easy, right? Well, it really isn’t. If you decide to play, there are 4 ways to submit your ballot:

1. Send us an email: 1bluejaysway(at)gmail.com
2. Make a post on your blog, if you have one, and send us a link.
3. Add your ballot to the comments section of this post, or the reminder(s) we post later.
4. Twitter ballots will be accepted @1BJW

In the event of a tie—and, at this point, it's pretty much a given that there will be a tie—we ask that you also give us a prediction of what you think the spring training record will be for the boys in baby blue. From what we can see, it appears as though your Toronto Blue Jays will attempt to play 33 spring training games this year. That total includes the two exhibition games against the Skankees at the Big O, but not the split-squad game against the Canadian Junior National Team on March 12.

Try not to forget that sometimes it rains in Florida, and the games don't generally get made up if they are cancelled. There is also a chance that if a game goes to extra innings and one team runs out of pitchers, both teams agree that the game ends in a tie. 

It is not a requirement that you select a tie breaker—all ballots containing 26 names on it will be considered valid—but it is a very good idea that you do include one. Over the years, we have had numerous stupid-close finishes, and we actually had to break it right down to winning percentage. We have only had one outright winner in 10 years.

Some things to consider:

Anthony Alford, Anthony Bass and Breyvic Valera are all out of options and need to head north with the team or risk being lost on waivers. Bass is likely a lock for the bullpen because it appears as though the brain trust forgot about it this off-season. There are plenty of replacement-level guys still available on the market, so selecting a player for your ballot that currently isn’t in the organization is a viable strategy.

Also, isn’t this extra player slot perfect for Alford^? Fifth OF type who can play D and run like a scared dear. Just spitballing. Scott Mitchell at TSN did a piece on this topic, as did Keegan Matheson, (sort of) over at MLB if you want to see some early insider takes.

As always, the dreaded minor-league-deal-with-an-invite-to-spring-training needs to be mentioned and considered. A.J. Cole and Ryan Dull probably have a shot at the bullpen, but the rest are pretty yuck.

OFFICIAL: We’ve signed the following players to Minor League deals with invites to #SpringTraining. pic.twitter.com/7GEfbRNpfE

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) January 20, 2020

Prizes:

Good luck to all who decide to join in on the fun this year. Please include a team name and a tiebreaker. Do NOT forget the tiebreaker.

Food For Thought

As we all know now our wonderful game of baseball has just implemented a new collective bargining agreement.  With all the new rules and caps this has given us stay at home GM types a bit of time to ponder on what to do.....what to do.....Jesus what do we do now?  I am not sure on any of the exact numbers but let's just agree that some of the now imposed caps are drastically different and will effect a lot of teams.  MLB has basically capped the draft and all international signings.

In regards to the draft, teams are only allowed to spend a certain number - which is to be determined - on their entire draft.  Gone are the days of the 17 million dollar drafts.  Teams now will have to spend wisely and put a premium on scouting to find those diamonds in the rough that will be worth the signing bonuses.  Also gone are the days of offering major league contracts to draft picks.

On international signings it gets even more weird.  Long gone are the days of giving players like Hech 10 million.  A team now has around 2 million to spend for the entire season.  They do get to trade some of the unused cap away but I'm not even going to get into that craziness!

With all these new strict rules and hard caps now out there, organizations are going to have to be a lot more selective on who they sign and what to pay them.

But wait.....do they really have to?  I may be wrong in all this, again it's just some food for thought.

Let's say for argument sake you have another Bryce Harper in the draft.  The Jays only have 5 million allotted for draft picks, FOR THE ENTIRE DRAFT.  This would mean that signing that player to a big bonus just got a whole lot harder and maybe he won't sign at all instead opting to go to college.  What if the Jays drafted said player and gave a signing bonus to him for the minimum amount.  He gets his minor league contract and reports to whatever level the Jays would like to start him at.  What is to stop the Jays at this point from purchasing his contract, adding him to the 40 man roster and renegotiate his contract to pay him the big bucks that the "stud" deserves?  Then burn an option year and send him out to the minors.

 

Simple.

The Jays wouldn't use up much of their precious draft cap and the phenom would get the money he feels he deserves.  Everyone wins.

I could be completely out to lunch and this wouldn't work at all....or maybe I found a sneaky loophole just waiting to be exploited.  Especially in the case of top notch draft talent and those gems in the international free agent market.

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This was a guest post by my idiot Reds fan friend