Joey Votto on the Blue Jays would be perfect

It’s all about perspective.

On Monday morning, The Athletic’s Jim Bowden tweeted out that the plan is for Canadian first baseman Joey Votto to retire as a Cincinnati Red, unless…

Nick Krall #Reds GM told us their plan is for Joey Votto to finish his career as a Red. However, if the Reds are out of it at the trade deadline and Votto came to them and asked if they would trade him home to Toronto #BlueJays..he said he would consider under those circumstances
— Jim Bowden⚾️🏈 (@JimBowdenGM) March 20, 2023

The most interesting part of this tweet is that Votto would consider being traded to his hometown Blue Jays if the Reds are out of the playoff race. We’ll go over this more in the contract section, but keep this in mind.
In terms of fit, you may be saying “well Brennan, the Jays don’t need another first baseman, they have Vladimir Guerrero Jr, and Brandon Belt to back him up.” While that is true it’s all a matter of perspective.
Let’s dive into the numbers, his contract, and how I think he fits.
How good is future Hall of Famer Joey Votto in 2023:
I don’t think it’s unfair to say that out of any current players in the league, Votto may be one of the only locks to make the Hall of Fame. For his career, he has slashed .297/.412/.513 in 8504 plate appearances and has accumulated 57.9 fWAR in his 16-year career. For first basemen since 1900 with 5000+ plate appearances, Votto’s 57.9 fWAR ranks 26th overall, beating out 2023 Hall of Fame inductee Fred McGriff.
However, what about recent times? At the end of the day, Votto is in the twilight of his career, so it’s unlikely that he puts up a considerable amount more.
Last season, he slashed .205/.319/.370 with 11 homers in 376 plate appearances. It’s worth noting that his season was derailed by i …

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Author: Brennan Delaney / Blue Jays Nation

O’Reilly/Acciari reaction, the potential flattening of the cap and prospects worth keeping: Leaflets

It’s time for another Saturday morning round of Leaflets, everyone’s favourite column where I largely talk out of my ass hoping that a nugget of wisdom slips out along the way. wouWhen I originally wrote this on a Friday afternoon, I thought, hey, this is a pretty standard around the NHL, I’ve waited for the 5pm new drop and nothing happened, I should be able to go and watch this Oilers and Rangers game in peace. That held up for two periods and then the Leafs decided they’d give us all some news that would change a lot of the context of what originally written. So her is the hastily adapted version of Leaflets.
O’Reilly and Acciari breakdown
Here’s the thing. There are going to be a lot smarter and a lot more sober people than I am tackling this in a meaningful way. I’m hoping the fact that I’m three sheets to the wind when I write this will add a certain level of honesty you won’t get in other articles, but the analysis will surely be lacking.
So let’s start with the fact that like Kyle Dubas, I don’t like the idea of the Leafs giving up a first for a rental. The fact that it’s two …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

Stop overcomplicating Timo Meier, guessing who’s on the 2023-24 Leafs, and the Kings D: Leaflets

Stop overcomplicating Timo Meier, guessing who’s on the 2023-24 Leafs, and the Kings D: Leaflets

Welcome back to a Saturday Morning Leafs column that absolutely exists. If you’ve been waiting anxiously all week for a collection of hot takes that didn’t find their way into other TLN posts, good news. Here they are. Let’s get to it.
Timo Meier’s situation isn’t as complicated as people make it out to be
Out of one side of the mouth people are saying that Timo Meier is more like a rental because there is a limited number of teams that can afford his qualifying offer or fit him under their cap next season. And out of the other side of their mouths they are also saying that giving up a first or top prospect for a rental is too damned high. The reality is that there is really good news and Timo Meier is not a rental and paying a first or top prospect as part of the package to get him isn’t too high a price because of that. Paying a first for Vladimir Tarasenko is too high a price and the Rangers removed that option, so let’s look at a good option.
Here’s the thing. At least around these parts (meaning the TLN contributors) we all really like William Nylander. He’s added goal scori …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

Is this the year for the Leafs to overpay, Sandin vs. Liljegren and a tip of the hat to a legend: Leaflets

Is this the year for the Leafs to overpay, Sandin vs. Liljegren and a tip of the hat to a legend: Leaflets

It’s Saturday morning and we’re hours away from the Leafs vs. Habs. It feels good. It feels like the these two teams are never good at the same time, but that also hasn’t stopped the Habs from knocking off the Leafs before so it’s not a game to be taken for granted. If the Leafs can beat up on just one lottery team, this is the one they should commit to.
Now here are the stray thoughts rattling around in my head…
It’s time for the Leafs to go all-in (but in a smart way)
On the Leafs Morning Take yesterday, Nick Alberga was discussing possible Leafs trade targets with Frank Seravalli. One of the players that was swiftly dismissed in the conversation was Bo Horvat. Then not a minute later it was mentioned that Boston could be a possible landing spot for Horvat. The belief is that the price on Horvat is more than the Leafs are willing to pay, but at the same time, the Bruins would be willing to pay it. So let’s break that down.
The Bruins find themselves in a situation where their prospect pool is even more drained than the Leafs. They have a very similar draft pick situation, and their salary cap situation is even more …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

Government urges Canadian KHL players to leave Russia and Belarus

Government urges Canadian KHL players to leave Russia and Belarus

On Wednesday morning, the Canadian Federal government warned all Canadian players currently on the Russian and Belorussian teams in the Kontinental Hockey League to get out of those countries.

There are 33 Canadian-born players on 16 different Russian KHL teams, while there are seven different players on the only Belorussian team in the KHL. Out of the 57 players listed at the bottom of the article, 35 are former NHL players. This includes Ryan Spooner, Brendan Leipsic, and Andrew Hammond.
Moreover, there are six players that have played in the Toronto Maple Leafs organization, with two making their Leafs debut. The two players who played on the Leafs are Brandon Kozun (Minsk Dynamo), and Brendan Leipsic (Magnitogorsk Metallurg). 
The four players who only played for the Toronto Marlies are Joshua Ho-Sang (Ufa Salavat Yulaev), Ryan Sproul (Kunlun Red Star), Tyler Wong (Kunlun Red Star), and Jack Rodewald (Kunlun Red Star).
Taylor Beck, who plays for Novosibirsk Sibir, also was a Leaf on paper. He was traded from the Nashville Predators to the Leafs for Jamie Devane but was traded with prospects to the New York Islanders for Michael Grabner before the start of the 2015 training camp.
It’s widely known that Russia is in the midst of an ongoing war with Ukraine. Onc …

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Author: Brennan Delaney / The Leafs Nation

Blue Jays beat the Yankees again 5-2 behind big hits from Jackie Bradley Jr. and Alejandro Kirk

This morning when the lineup card was published, there were some mixed reactions.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was given an off day, and George Springer was still out of the lineup as he continues to nurse his sore knee. Raimel Tapia was batting lead off, and Jackie Bradley Jr., although batting ninth, was probably playing the full game today. Add all that up, plus a date with Yankees starter Gerrit Cole, and it certainly was going to be a challenge for Toronto this afternoon against the Yankees.
The Blue Jays were up for the task, as they won their fourth game in a row, defeating New York 5-2. With this win, Toronto clinched their first series win against the Yankees this season, and continue to send the Yankees sliding down a dark path. The Blue Jays now find themselves only seven back of the Yankees in the AL East.
Cole had not allowed a hit through the first four innings of the game, but it was the bottom of the order that gave Cole fits. Santiago Espinal started things off in the 5th inning with one out, as he launched a double off the left field wall. The Sportsnet cameras looked to fool us once again, as they showed us nothing but the fans in the left …

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Author: Evan Stack / Blue Jays Nation

Seravalli: Kerfoot has generated interest but Leafs still see his value

Frank Seravalli joined the SN 590 Morning Show today to weigh in on amongst other things, Alex Kerfoot.
Seravalli states that there’s 100% a market for Kerfoot. They could move him today, and the number of teams is significant. The feeling is that his production is exceeding what he is getting paid and that he’d be a $5M on the open market, and because he’s exceeding his value the Leafs will want to keep him and are comfortable with letting him run out the last year of his contract.
This followed a statement that the Leafs are in fact actively shopping Justin Holl and that moving him today would give them a lot of flexibility.
So here’s the thing with all of that. Now that the draft has passed and there isn’t an immediate rush to use the futures that a trade for either a Holl or Kerfoot trade would produce, the Leafs are best waiting until some teams miss out on their target UFAs before reassessing the value of either Kerfoot or Holl.
It’s something that hasn’t been discussed much on this site to this point, but there is still the 10% summer overage on the salary cap that will allow for the Leafs to explore what they want to do on their way to cap compliance. They can go after any target they want as long as there is a clear path to cap compliance by opening night.
It’s in that spirit, that …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation