Photo credit: MLB
Photo credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
The Toronto Blue Jays had a memorable season making it all the way to the World Series, and just falling short to the Los Angeles Dodgers, but it did cost them a lot, they were one of the five teams to surpass the $281M payroll threshold, along with the Dodgers, New York Yankees, New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies.
Exceeding this threshold is a tier 3 penalty, which results in dropping 10 spots in the draft and a hefty fine, however the Blue Jays don't seem to care.
The Blue Jays are in the highest tier of spending.
Brady Farkas of Yahoo Sports reported on the Blue Jays new strategy to disregard how much they are spending. They want to win the World Series and the only way to do in today's game is spend the most amount of money to get the best players. The penalties do not matter if championships are won, just ask the Dodgers.
"If the Jays go over the threshold for a second consecutive year, they are subject to more penalties next year. However, they don't seem to care about that, as evidenced by the contracts they've given to Dylan Cease, Cody Ponce and Tyler Rogers already. Assuming they land at least one of Bo Bichette or Kyle Tucker, they will blow right past the threshold. However, as the Dodgers have proven, if you can win the World Series, it's all worth it."-Farkas
The Dodgers had to pay an extra $169M in penalties, while the Blue Jays only had to pay $13.6M and their top draft pick was affected, they will now draft between the 35th and 40th pick. With an uncertain prospect pool, it's not the best situation, but the Blue Jays rather buy players than develop them at this point.
"The business of baseball is likely to shut down between the Christmas holiday and New Years, so the Jays may have some pressure to get something done before the holidays. We'll see if they do. They've also been linked to Ketel Marte on the trade market, at least to some degree."-Farkas
The Blue Jays are playing in a new league, at the top of the food chain with the big franchises, their first year of doing so saw them make it to the World Series, next year can see them win the whole thing.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 20|362 ANSWERS Toronto Blue Jays total penalty amount announced by the MLB Will the Toronto Blue Jays spend even more next season than they have this season? | ||
| Yes | 288 | 79.6 % |
| No | 74 | 20.4 % |
| List of polls | ||