The 2014 Toronto Blue Jays Thread

[bustaheims]

Makes me wonder how reliable these "other teams" are. To be able to dump Francisco and a prospect for Headley seems like a decent deal for the Jays (granted, I don't know how much potential Nolin has).

Nolin's a pretty good prospect, but, probably a middle of the rotation starter. Worth more to the team going forward than a pending free agent having a bad season like Headley.

As for the other deals . . . I haven't heard much about Prado, but, I've read that any deal with the Rays started with Stroman and Hutchison, and, unless Price came with a contract extension, also not a great long-term move.

 

[L K]

Gibbons with a new strategy for success.  Playing NL rules, he pinch hit Dustin McGowan (coming off 2 outs on 4 pitches) with Drew Hutchinson.  Unsurprisingly he struck out and then the Jays have to use up more of their bullpen.  Absurd.

 

[hockeyfan1]

Gibbons with a new strategy for success.  Playing NL rules, he pinch hit Dustin McGowan (coming off 2 outs on 4 pitches) with Drew Hutchinson.  Unsurprisingly he struck out and then the Jays have to use up more of their bullpen.  Absurd.

Don't think he knows what he's doing, and if he does, worse still.  Incredible strategizing, eh??!!

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Gibbons with a new strategy for success.  Playing NL rules, he pinch hit Dustin McGowan (coming off 2 outs on 4 pitches) with Drew Hutchinson.  Unsurprisingly he struck out and then the Jays have to use up more of their bullpen.  Absurd.

Out of all their issues right now, that's an odd thing to focus on.  They've just overall sucked - the pitching, the hitting, the fielding.

EDIT: That's not to say Gibbons doesn't have some hand in all of that.

 

[L K]

Gibbons with a new strategy for success.  Playing NL rules, he pinch hit Dustin McGowan (coming off 2 outs on 4 pitches) with Drew Hutchinson.  Unsurprisingly he struck out and then the Jays have to use up more of their bullpen.  Absurd.

Out of all their issues right now, that's an odd thing to focus on.  They've just overall sucked - the pitching, the hitting, the fielding.

EDIT: That's not to say Gibbons doesn't have some hand in all of that.

Well, you can't really change the roster at this point so you have to work with what you have.  The Jays have a tired bullpen because the starters have struggled to get anything done.  Making a move like that where you pinch hit for McGowan with another pitcher so that you are forced to use more of the bullpen just seems like a stupid move. 

 

[Andy007]

Gibbons with a new strategy for success.  Playing NL rules, he pinch hit Dustin McGowan (coming off 2 outs on 4 pitches) with Drew Hutchinson.  Unsurprisingly he struck out and then the Jays have to use up more of their bullpen.  Absurd.

Out of all their issues right now, that's an odd thing to focus on.  They've just overall sucked - the pitching, the hitting, the fielding.

It seems to me that LK just pointed out a really bizarre move, as opposed to "focusing" on something irrelevant. IMO Gibbons frequently makes odd moves, and that one was particularly confusing.

 

[hockeyfan1]

Well, you can't really change the roster at this point so you have to work with what you have.  The Jays have a tired bullpen because the starters have struggled to get anything done.  Making a move like that where you pinch hit for McGowan with another pitcher so that you are forced to use more of the bullpen just seems like a stupid move. 

Hasn't this been a theme for the Jays time and again?  Same problem in seasons past (last year, year before last, etc.) where they relied on the bullpen to bail out the starters.

Thought this issue was to have been addressed with the signing of Buerhle, Dickey, a healthy Hutchison, plus the usual array of bullpen relievers.  Seems to have finally clicked somehow with a decent first-half showing...

...only to have the roof cave in, figuratively-speaking, when the team needed it most, such as now.
Same old story with the Jays.  Can't understand this team anymore what with all of their injuries and stilted results.

Perhaps it's time to rethink having Gibbons as their bench boss, though, a new manager might not be able to accomplish much either with the way the team functions.

 

[hockeyfan1]

Baseball Prospectus has the Jays at a 4.9% chance of making the playoffs.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/odds/

More here on what the Jays will need to do to make the playoffs (just short of a miracle):
http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/odds-stacked-against-another-jays-hot-streak/

 

[hockeyfan1]

Someone out there likes it...

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/blue-jays-opposing-creighton-trademarking-logo/

 

[bustaheims]

Jays back down to .500 with tonight's loss.

 

[Derk]

After his missed fly ball on the weekend that contributed to the Jays loss against Tampa, Reimold was designated for assignment and Pillar recalled.

And after last night's debacle, Santos was also DFAed. He has been absolutely terrible this season. Jenkins was recalled.

Something must be wrong with Janssen. He has been pretty poor since the all star break (reported that he had food poisoning or something).

 

[bustaheims]

The Jays have started putting a lot of their roster on trade waivers over the past week. Doesn't mean anything is going to happen with any of them, but it's a sign that management has at least accepted that the season is over.

 

[seahawk]

It's also the rule that to make trades between July 31st and September 1st, the player has to go through waivers. Every team that is looking to make a move has been doing much the same thing. The waivers are revocable so I wouldn't read much into it.

 

[bustaheims]

It's also the rule that to make trades between July 31st and September 1st, the player has to go through waivers. Every team that is looking to make a move has been doing much the same thing. The waivers are revocable so I wouldn't read much into it.

I know the rules. It's the timing more than anything else that makes me feel it's a little more indicative of acceptance from the front office. Also, for what it's worth, the rule actually extends until the ends of the regular season. August 31st is only the deadline for players to be eligible for postseason play. Trades can still be made afterwards and still require players to clear waivers.

 

[Kin]

Good write up on Grantland on five notable September call-ups, two of which(Norris and Pompey) are Blue Jays:

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/mlb-whos-that-guy-september-call-ups-joc-pederson-maikel-franco-daniel-norris/

 

[draeko17]

it doesn't matter that the Jays are all but out of the playoffs.  That was just a fun game to watch with Stroman on the mound.  Sweet play by Goins to end it. 

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Looking like it was probably a good idea not to sell the farm for Samardzija.

 

[bustaheims]

Looking like it was probably a good idea not to sell the farm for Samardzija.

Yeah. He's pitched very well for Oakland, but, it's definitely looking like hanging on to Stroman and Hutchison (and whoever else out of the pitching prospects the Cubs were asking for) is the smarter decision.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Looking like it was probably a good idea not to sell the farm for Samardzija.

Yeah. He's pitched very well for Oakland, but, it's definitely looking like hanging on to Stroman and Hutchison (and whoever else out of the pitching prospects the Cubs were asking for) is the smarter decision.

His ERA+ stood out to me with Oakland - 100, pretty much league average.  Already 29 too.

 

[bustaheims]

His ERA+ stood out to me with Oakland - 100, pretty much league average.  Already 29 too.

Yeah, though, I'm not really much of a fan of ERA+. I think it measures the wrong things - it's basically ERA adjusted for park factors, and I don't believe ERA is the best way to judge a pitcher's performance. I prefer stats like WHIP, FIP, BB/9, etc. His WHIP of 0.96 is excellent, and his FIP of 3.64 is pretty good - in line with guys like Buerhle, Sonny Gray, James Shields, etc. His walk rates is impressive and his K rate is pretty good. His xFIP of 3.18 is also very good and shows he's been a little unlucky in terms of allowing home runs this season (his 13.1% HR/FB is well above league average and is something that can fluctuate significantly from season to season), while his BABIP is good for 3rd in the AL for starters who have pitched at least 80 innings. Overall, he's been very good for the A's, he's just not getting the results.