Tuesday Bantering: Stripling Signs with Giants

The Giants have signed Ross Stripling to a two-year, $25 million contract.

I’ll miss Ross, but I’m not sure I’d bet on him equaling the season he had last year. But then he can regress a fair bit and still be a valuable pitcher.

Enjoy San Francisco, Ross. I wish you the best.

The Bassitt signing surprised me, but that is how things work with the Blue Jays. When we think someone will be signed, it doesn’t happen. But they make moves that come out of nowhere.

I like the signing. We have four starters who should be able to get us deep into games, which is pretty handy. The fifth starter spot is an open question, but Yusei Kikuchi will get every opportunity to show he can handle the job. Unless someone is still out there when we get closer to spring training, who the team feels will be a better choice?

Next up seems to be another outfielder.

There is a lot of talk of them going after free agents Michael Brantley or Michael Conforto.

I’d rather they get the outfielder through a trade. I think they ought to be looking to move a catcher. I don’t think going into the season with all three of Jansen, Moreno, and Kirk will cause (at least) one of them to lose trade value, and of course, that will be the one we will want to move next year.

I’d also rather they get an outfield who could play center field so Springer can play right field every day. I don't want him going back and forth. And I don’t want Kiermaier playing every day. His glove is still good, but his bat is average. If it takes a step down from average, it would be good to have someone who could take his spot.

It will be interesting to see what’s next.

Shi Davidi has a post up talking about how the Jays are trying to improve the defense this winter.

Here is a bit:

Should the Blue Jays move one of Danny Jansen, Alejandro Kirk or Gabriel Moreno, they would seem to now hold the high card in the market. The Arizona Diamondbacks have a surplus of left-handed hitting outfielders and make sense on paper, while Cleveland (if they aren’t going to run with Canadian prospect Bo Naylor) and the Cubs, among others, could also be in the market for catching.

Adding another offensive piece makes sense as does further lengthening the bullpen, with Liam Hendriks making some sense for the Blue Jays if the Chicago White Sox chose to switchover their core. They could also get creative in that regard, betting on Zack Britton, who resumed pitching last September before a setback, or Chad Green to bounce back from Tommy John surgery.

We can skip the part about Cleveland. They signed Mike Zunino. Beyond that, there are some good guesses about what’s next.

MLB Daily Dingers has a couple of articles up on the Blue Jays' top single-season home runs hitters and their top career home run hitters. I enjoyed getting a chance to be reminded about these guys.