Blog Archives
Toronto Blue Jays Payroll In 2016 + Contracts Going Forward
The Blue Jays are at the unique crossroads where they have grown massively in attendance – but are exponentially growing in cost of payroll each year. Based on some great front office decisions on Bautista, Encarnacion and Donaldson – the club has their best chance to in a championship is right now. Push all of your chips in, sign some more players – and take on salary. You may just lead the American League in attendance if you do (just like in the early 90’s). The Jays have talked about cutting payroll in 2016. That would be a grave mistake. Right now they are at about $140 MIL in total team salary for next season.
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer) Follow @stokes_hunter21
Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
The Blue Jays have $94 MIL in guaranteed contracts already in commitments for Troy Tulowitzki, Russell Martin, Jose Bautista, Marco Estrada, R.A. Dickey J.A. Happ and Edwin Encarnacion.
The club also will have about another $35 – $38 MIL in Arbitration dealing with another 10 players.
This would mean the team is hovering around the $130 MIL already before they pull the trigger on any moves this offseason.
We made it abundantly clear in our Toronto Blue Jays State Of The Union that this is no time to slow down in going for a championship.
One of the biggest things we mentioned there was the lack of an ace in the AL East. For Toronto to win the Division they may not need a #1 guy again. They will only need another #1 guy in the postseason. Read the rest of this entry
MLB Baseball Clubs Should Make Single Game Tickets Available Before Christmas
The home site of the 2016 MLB ALL – Star Game, Petco Park..Baseball owners, and the MLB alike, should really think about having tickets made available for purchase prior to the Christmas season every year. Both of the NBA and NHL have free reign on this concept, with their season’s barely being midway yet in each calendar year at the end of December. The supply and demand for NFL tickets only reaches 8 games, and is never in question whether most stadiums will have good turnouts. You would think that kids especially, with love to receive game tickets as gifts on Christmas morning Instead, all that is available are gift certificates at this point in the year.
Chuck Booth (Owner/Lead Analyst) Follow @chuckbooth3024
Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
First off, the MLB has done a great job in posting their following year schedules earlier each consecutive year over the last half-dozen or so.
I give these guys full marks for that. It also looks like they are improving their coverage of each team, to include more splits in each of the 30 squad’s itineraries.
I still wish they would follow the NHL (god did I just say that), in providing better splits for their 2430 Games Master Schedule, to include 7 day splits (you can go to ESPN.com for those), monthly splits and finally one year-long page on a post.
In 2014, I did all of the schedules I just mentioned, and even added an Interleague Master Schedule. In 2016, I have already put out the American League vs National League schedule here.
It has been quite the undertaking, but I am doing all facets of it again – going forward in 2016 after just putting out the Interleague Master Schedule in 2015 because I was on the road the whole year. Read the rest of this entry
The Toronto Blue Jays Payroll In 2015 + Contracts Going Forward
Alex Anthopoulos had done a nice job of assembling his club with players from other teams. To construct a team with this type of caliber, it can be traced all the way back to the Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion brilliant extensions, while the Jays GM were able to break free from albatross contracts from Vernon Wells and Alex Rios. He is close to the finish line, but with a flailing Canadian Dollar, and his many guys with 1 or 2 years left on the club signed, he must go one step further to gun for a championship.
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer): Follow @stokes_hunter21
Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
What a difference from just a few seasons ago. Toronto is on the cusp of contention, and is yielding the best club they have probably since their 1993 World Series run. The payroll has crept up incrementally – and they are in the top 10 of the game.
The only Canadian franchise is estimated to have a budget of $127.3 MIL this year. This would slate them 10th in the Majors. The clubs ahead of them include: Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies, Nats, Angels, Giants, Rangers and Tigers. This total still only puts them 3rd in their own Division.
Having signed Russell Martin to a 5 YR deal worth $82 MIL jumps the teams salary big time, but one could argue he will help the team lower its ERA.
For a Year to Year Breakdown For all of the Jays players salaries please visit here. Read the rest of this entry
Boston’s Management Strategy May Help Club Prevail Again In 2015 AL East
Ben Cherington pulled off the biggest salary dump in MLB History in 2012, with his clearing the deck of Gonzalez, Crawford and Beckett. He replaced them with savvy, playoff tested Veterans – on lower value, and year contracts. His club won the 2013 AL East (and the World Series of course) with the revamped squad – that improved almost 30 Wins from 2012. Last season, the club suffered another last place finish, however he dealt away Jon Lester for Yoenis Cespedes, and then turned that asset into Rick Porcello. The club also was able to sign Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval for this year, and have also inked Rusney Castillo and Yoan Moncada to long-term deals since last summer. The Red Sox are showing the way to handle a roster year to year. If you are in it, spend the money, and when you are out, trade anybody of value not in your long term plans.
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer): Follow @stokes_hunter21
Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
The terrible news of Marcus Stroman‘s ACL earlier this week has dampened the chances the Toronto Blue Jays chances to really take a shot at the Division.
Let me qualify this more….
I think the Jays will compete all season, and may take a run at one of the Wild Card Spots for sure, it just at this time of the year, losing any pitching hurts big time.
Toronto is already lacking an ace, but that is not a cause for grave concern in this Division, with the AL East possessing exactly zero of them now, following the departures of Jon Lester and David Price in the last 9 months. But they are in trouble when it comes to depth versus the other clubs. Read the rest of this entry
The Falling Canadian Dollar Could Be A Major Roadblock In Any Montreal Bid For Another MLB Franchise
Toronto is the only team in the MLB not in the USA. With that comes foreign currency. For the years of 1990 – 2007, the Canadian Dollar was hovering around the 70 cents mark for the duration (62 cents at its worst). The last economic crash in the USA – had the dollar at par for the better part of the last 7 years, including once reaching $1.10 for every George Washington bill in America in late 2008. The average for the exchange rate had been in the mid 90 cents range for the most part of 2014. The loonie has been in a nosedive since the end of 2014 kicked in – and now it is around 80 cents for every US Dollar. It will cost you $1.263 Canadian for $1 American on today’s market, and it If it looks to go down much more. This economic factor could significantly derail any effort the city of Montreal has to ever regain an MLB franchise.
Chuck Booth (Owner/Lead Analyst): Follow @chuckbooth3024
Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
The Canadian Dollar is in a free-fall against the American greenback. I woke up this morning to see that to buy a US $1, it now cost $1.263 Canadian dollars. Effectively that means any club in Canada is at 26.3% Luxury Tax before the season even starts, because the team pays out player salaries in USD, while the money brought in is Canadian currency.
So often people forget that the Montreal Expos problems became occurring not only as the 1994 Player Strike/1995 Lockout fanbase was angry at the MLB, with some of them never to return, but also a sagging loony.
At its worst price, was a 0.62 cent buck vs the USA back in the mid-90’s. With the oil prices being what they are, this has serious ramifications for any impending groups of people wishing to bring back baseball to Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The Expos left after the 2004 season, and in some ways it is a total injustice. Perhaps no other franchise has been affected more by the two biggest work stoppages than the Montreal had been.
The 1981 Player strike happened when Montreal was filling Olympic Stadium to the tune of 2 Million Fans per year, and the young nucleus of players such as Andre Dawson, Tim Raines, Gary Carter, Tim Wallach and Warren Cromartie were leading the charge to an uprising NL squad.
Of course everyone remembers “Blue Monday’s” HR to knock the Expos out of the 1981 playoff chase. The 1979 – 1994 teams carried out 12 out of 15 winning seasons, and possessed one of the greatest semblance of a drafting organization ever. Read the rest of this entry
Dear Santa: All AL Teams 2015 Wish List (By The Fans)
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer): Follow @stokes_hunter21
Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
Okay, so it is time to ask old Saint Nick, for some help for teams in the MLB to have their wishes come true.
New York Yankees:
Can someone please knock some sense into the brass in the Bronx to realize they are the friggin Yanks? Since we can’t bring the “Boss” back to kick some ass, maybe a losing season would force the team to pilfer the payroll, and believe it or not, if Cashman behaves himself before Spring Training, the club could get under the Luxury Tax Threshold this year with a few Trade Deals, and go an attack the 2016 Free Agent core of Jason Heyward, Jordan Zimmermann, David Price and Johnny Cueto…
Would it be too much to ask if the team could just release Alex Rodriguez? There is no way he should hit his 660th HR in Pinstripes. Release him before that day, or way prior, and don’t pay him that dumb $6 MIL Bonus. He ain’t worth it. Also don’t want him passing Lou Gehrig for the RBI list ALL – Time in a New York uniform either. Read the rest of this entry
Could The Toronto Blue Jays Turn Into The Canada Blue Jays + Play In Montreal And Vancouver As Well?
Olympic Stadium was a building catastrophe from the get go. It was a contributing factor of the Expos leaving Montreal. Having said that, it would have been really cool if the North America opener were to have been opened in Montreal, with this past series with Toronto and the New York Mets. Instead it was just an exhibition. At least the Canadian park has hosted regular season MLB games unlike the Sydney Cricket Ground. Will another city other than Toronto ever host a regular season game again?
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
Follow MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
I must be out of my mind right?
Having the Toronto Blue Jays play in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver during a regular season – and re-brand the club to a national team in the MLB? But stop and think about this for a minute.
The club just drew almost 100K total fans for the 2 exhibition games in Quebec on Mar.28 and Mar.29/2014.
This just reaffirmed my stance of last week. I admonished the MLB for not starting the season with this series in Montreal.
Having thought about it further this weekend, I came up with a new idea. Why not play some games in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver – and name the club the Canada Blue Jays? Read the rest of this entry
The Toronto Blue Jays Could Be Facing Yet Another Challenge For Payroll
Toronto is the only team in the MLB not in the USA. With that comes foreign currency. For the years of 1990 – 2007, the Canadian Dollar was hovering around the 70 cents mark for the duration. The last economic crash in the USA – had the dollar at near par for the better part of the last 7 years, including once reaching $1.10 over every George Washington bill in America. The average for the exchange rate has been in the mid 90 cents range since 2008. The loonie has been in a nosedive since 2014 kicked in – and now it is around 90 cents for every US Dollar. If it goes down much more, it will be just another challenge the Jays will face in a vaunted AL East Division.
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer): Follow @stokes_hunter21
Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
It was a big reason the Montreal Expos are no longer in the MLB anymore. It also affected the only Canadian franchise left for that same stretch.
I am talking of course about the Canadian Dollar.
Luckily for Toronto, the last 6 years have been decent for the exchange rate.
The mark has fluctuated predominantly between .94 -.99 cents per US Dollar from 2008 – 2014.
This is even more crucial for the Blue Jays considering they reside in a tough AL East with payroll powerhouses Boston and New York. Read the rest of this entry
MLB Reports 
You must be logged in to post a comment.