Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images
With the their third round pick in the 2021 Draft, the Blue Jays selected LHP Ricky Tiedemann 91st overall from Golden West College, a junior college in California. His brother Tai is in the Rangers farm system, a 6’6” RHP who was an 8th rounder in 2016 also out of junior college in California.
Few draftees were likely more adversely in baseball terms affected by the circumstances of 2020 than Tiedemann, between his senior high school season getting shutdown as he and the draft being shortened to just five rounds. Over the previous summer, he had grown a couple inches and added velocity, into the low-90s, the classic high school projection profile that generates helium and draft interest.
Blue Jays 2021 MLB Draft Day Two high school picks: RHP Irv Carter and OF Jaden Rudd
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2021 MLB Draft: History, trends, and thoughts as the Blue Jays transition from rebuild to contention
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A look at the Blue Jays’ biggest free-agent additions
On the heels of the six-year agreement between George Springer and the Toronto Blue Jays, here is a look back at some of the largest and most impactful free-agent signings in team history.
Allan Perkins, TSN.ca Staff Roger Clemens Hyun-Jin Ryu Dave Winfield , The Canadian Press
If Hyun-Jin Ryu’s signing last winter was the start of a new era for the Toronto Blue Jays, George Springer’s deal was an all-in commitment to it. That’s always been the plan.
Words like flexibility, patience and control were often mentioned the last few years by president Mark Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins when it came to player acquisition.
Thus far, the first three posts in this series have focused on evaluating pure exchanges of value how much production was bought in free agency, were trades won or lost, are drafts and international signings providing a pipeline of talent? These are questions of execution at what I would the tactical level, getting the most out of the resources available.
But high level strategic considerations often dominate lower level decisions. Winning trades or getting value in free agency doesn’t mean much if it doesn’t move the needle or fit together as part of broader plan. The inchoate nature of the Gord Ash years were perhaps the prime example of this. In this last part then, we’ll take a high level look at how things have fit together and the strategic choices that have been made and not made.