In the Unlikely Event Drew Hutchison Posts a Sub-5.00 ERA, How Will You React? (Toronto Blue Jays 2016)

Sorry Thermo, we can't wait any longer.

Great Toronto Star headline out of Florida that I posted on an SCTV thread yesterday: "Count Floyd among Jays' hopefuls."

Sounds like a scary story.

So is this Bautistas last year as a Jay? As things stand right now I like EE's odds of sticking around much more.

There's no way they give both of them $100M contracts, and if they re-sign only one before the season starts (which they both seem to want) then they've probably blown their shot of signing the other.

I think the team should either sign both and say "see, we like our core players and are committed to fielding a winning team year after year" or publicly say that they won't be held to arbitrary deadlines and won't rush to sign anyone before the season starts, "distractions" or not. Of course Rogers has done neither (if I'm wrong, and Shapiro has taken a clearer stance on this, let me know).

I think what management wants to do is wait until the season is over and then decide about EE and JB (and locking up Donaldson long term). In the real world that will piss off just about everyone who isn't a blood relative of the Rogers family but I can see them following through on it.

Ordered some tickets at work for a Dodger game in May. Really hoping for Kershaw--will start tracking the Dodgers rotation weeks ahead.

waiting to see how they age this year makes total sense to me. i don't see why any fan would be pissed off about that, aside from both players wanting to have this done before the season, but that's obviously because they want to lock up those $$ before they age another year in front of our eyes.

Good guy Jose! (Or some timely PR...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Pl5p9L8LBE

If I'd been the Phanatic, I certainly would have worked a bat flip in there.

https://cdn3.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/H9umRQ2y3o5EMXhIqFKv-KcyHog=/16x0:692x451/709x473/filters:format(webp)/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/49075479/Screen_Shot_2016-03-14_at_4.52.52_PM.0.0.png

O Canada
We stand on guard for w33d

i'm not normally one for hats... but am considering this.

I don't understand the last two posts, and VHS's is a broken link.

Shows ok for me, and makes me want a hat.

Tulowitzki update: Bone bruise to right hand on knuckles. X-ray came back negative and he is listed as day-to-day.

Any reason to think Smoak's spring (.364/.462/.818) isn't a total fluke? He could certainly help cushion some off the expected drop-off from the big three.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CeZ8PG-UEAET7eS.jpg

drew hutchison will get to work on his sub-5.00 era in buffalo

also the blue jays have (at least momentarily) won the michael pineda-jesus montero trade

feel bad about Hutch, tho we all knew this was inevitable. he's pitched well – takes a ball to the noggin, then gets demoted. i still think he has it in him to become a solid #3/4 starter.

My FB feed says Sanchez is in the rotation.

yup. which is good. i likey.

has anyone made the JESUS HAS RISEN ON EASTER MONDAY joke yet

aside from me

"Estrada has been dealing with back tightness all spring training after injuring himself attempting a martial arts move"

smh

martial. arts. move.

this kind of journalism is unacceptable in 2016

i need to know if it was karate

Osuna's closer. I was kind of hoping Storen, although I don't have any evidence to support that--I just didn't feel very confident with Osuna down the stretch last year. Anyway, I imagine, or at least hope, they view the situation as very fluid.

was never any doubt in my mind it would be Osuna. he'd have to pitch his way out of the job for Gibbons to name another closer.

Stroman's the third-youngest Opening Day starter in club history, behind Hutchison and Todd Stottlemyre. Having a hard time reconstructing a point in time when Stottlemyre was given an Opening Day start...I thought his time here fell entirely within the great decade.

1990: pitched poorly, lost to Ryan. Not sure why Stieb, coming off a very good year, didn't get it--he started the next day.

Minor injury perhaps?

Had 'em, um, all the way.

Stieb slept on his moustache and was pushed back, yes.

Mystery solved. I should have paid attention to where the games were (from a Toronto Sun piece last year):

And there were extenuating circumstances as to why Stottlemyre was given the ball in the opener...his 35th career start.

There had been a work stoppage that spring, so when the season began the Jays opened with a one-game series in Arlington against the Texas Rangers and the next afternoon played the home opener at the SkyDome.

Jays management gave Dave Stieb the option, start the opener Monday night in Texas against Nolan Ryan in Arlington or pitch the home opener Tuesday afternoon against Charlie Hough?

Stieb picked the home date and beat the Rangers 2-1, a day after Stottlmyre lost 4-2 to Ryan.

What a choice. "Let me give it some--Jesus, I'll go with Hough."

I'm sure a lot of pitchers might choose Ryan actually

At home, perhaps--not sure about Ryan in Texas vs. Hough at home.

Donaldson homered, Pillar dove headfirst into the wall, it's starting to feel a lot like 2015.

New for 2016, tho: Saunders also had himself a day.

Gibbons still doing his excellent folksy-guy-from-another-era routine. (Excellent when you're winning; maddening when you're not.)

If we lose the division title by a game, it's Chase Utley's fault.

I've seen arguments for both sides of yesterday's call, but to me it was clearly BS -- Bautista slid directly into the bag and didn't change the path of his slide with the intent to initiate contact with the fielder (or whatever the exact wording of the rule is). If they call that, then practically any slide into a base can be called as interference if the fielder is in contact with the bag.

Yeah. My first reaction, after hearing the play described but before I actually saw it, was "They changed the rule, and you can't have it both ways." But now that I've seen it, there was nothing at all reckless about Bautista's slide. What exactly is he supposed to do--make a right turn and help the fielder out?

i don't think there was anything wrong with the slide itself -- it was the fact that he needlessly reached out and grabbed the dude's ankle

also 'maybe we'll come out and wear dresses tomorrow' is nagl

If that small grab is illegal though, I don't see how anyone can legally break up a double play. On paper, the rules still allow a hard and potentially dangerous takeout slide directly to the bag, even if the fielder is there. Bautista's slide wasn't hard or dangerous, was directly into the bag, but the fielder came slightly off the bag to make the throw. I thought the rule change was about preventing injuries, not judging whether contact is incidental or not if the fielder steps half a foot off the base.

Wendy Thurm @hangingsliders
It must be confusing for the Respect The Game crowd to defend Jose Bautista.

If that small grab is illegal though, I don't see how anyone can legally break up a double play.

i'm cool with that. there is no other situation in baseball where it's okay to interfere with a fielder -- and it's particularly striking since the runner in question is already out. edwin sliding into first and grabbing the first baseman would break up the double play too; no one advocates that. it's just an 'it's always been this way' thing, and it should stop

there is no other situation in baseball where it's okay to interfere with a fielder

http://deadspin.com/yankees-protest-game-over-confusing-baserunning-call-1769350452

Normally not big on the Twitter, but I like that one above. If you want to read a great rebuke to the Respect the Game crowd, read the Posnanski interview with Dale Murphy I posted a few days ago (Dale Murphy thread).

Sliding into a base isn't interfering with the fielder. The runner has rights to the base, not the fielder, he has to slide there and his momentum will carry him into or through the base -- and through the fielder if he is standing there trying to make a throw. That is all perfectly legal, and more dangerous than Bautista's play. The rule is supposed to cover runners who intentionally slide away from the base and into the fielder, that's not what happened here.

"Already out" isn't relevant here, the runner can't stop dead in his tracks and disappear from the field the moment the out is recorded, he has to slide.

Donaldson just scored a 3 run homer :)

That end to the game last night was beyond deflating. Though perhaps in line with current stupid rules? bautista intentional touches - ever so slightly - the fielder with his hand, it wasn't a part of the slide etc. Infuriating anyway.

http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/jose-bautista-slide-toronto-blue-jays-replay-tampa-bay-rays-logan-forsythe-ken-rosenthal-040616

Figured they'd come back and have a great day. Very close. They lost 5-3, and Donaldson left the game with an apparent injury.

he is day-to-day, was fearing worse

Month-to-month?

Do the other 29 teams have to go through the full customs rigamarole every time they travel to TOR for a road series, or is there an expedited customs process, or do the bigger pro sports leagues manage to skip that stuff altogether?

almost 100% they have to go through customs as any commercial passenger does

teams have expedited processes for domestic flights though, like just off the coach onto the plane

Why does our bullpen hate our team so much?

I really like that R.A. Dickey uses words like "confluence" in his post-game interviews. I just wish he were a better pitcher.

R.A.D indeed one of the most loveable personalities in baseball.

Looking down his last 3 years over Fangraphs, 1.7, 2.0, 2.0, I'm actually pleasantly surprised.

At the salary he's paid, that's a pretty good deal. Maybe not so much worth the prospects the Jays gave up for him tho...

I'll put it this way: we traded for the other league's Cy Young winner, and we're into our fourth year of an okay third starter. I think we were looking for something that fell maybe halfway between.

agreed and agreed.

seeing the Jays at Fenway, next saturday.

venditte!

Job opening:

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/instagraphs/job-posting-toronto-blue-jays-baseball-operations-data-architect/

I don't see "owns a lot of old Street & Smith and Zander Hollander annuals" anywhere, so I'm going to pass.

(Don't think I realized till now that Zander Hollander was an actual person, that he lived to be 91, and that he died only two years ago.)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CgWCqOPWIAIfyfT.jpg

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/joe-biagini-playfully-irreverent-rule-5-blue-jay

It seems like every game this season has ended 4-3 or 5-3. Our pitching has been better than I expected. It's not like I expected a repeat of last year's offense, but the stars and scrubs lineup is getting a bit worrying. Offense is way down in the AL so far this year, so maybe there's something bigger going on.

http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/04/22/blue-jays-agree-to-milb-deal-with-of-michael-bourn/

really could not parse "with of michael bourn" for a few seconds there

http://www.tsn.ca/jays-colabello-suspended-80-games-after-positive-drug-test-1.476705

jesus montero time imo

fucking hell.

muni's walk-up music with the triple-a iowa cubs: drake, '6 man'

;_;

Grim scene, baby, grim scene.

today was not a fun day.

I know Dickey turned it around last year, and I know he's probably an okay investment in terms of WAR-per-four-syllable-word-uttered/IP or some such formula. But if the Jays gave him his outright release tomorrow and ate his contract, I wouldn't care.

Brett Cecil has managed to lose five of the Jays' first 25 games.

Not a bad win today. Encarnacion hit a picture perfect double play ball to the shortstop position in the 9th that should have ended the inning. Except that the Rays were shifting on him, the ball was fielded by the second baseman, and there was nobody to cover 2B to turn the DP. That scored the go-ahead run. This seems like it should happen not uncommonly (i.e. the shift backfires and the game is lost in the 9th because of it) but I can't recall seeing it before.

This was also the third series win for the Jays in the last 27 series in TB. They always seem to have our number but I didn't realize it was *that* bad.

Call-in shows are the best when things aren't going well. Missed it, but some guy called into Wilner today and suggested the Jays try to trade Tulowitzki + a pitching prospect to the Nationals for Harper. I did hear this: guy points out that Lawrie hit a homer today, and that he was great against the Jays last weekend (Wilner: "He was?"), and wonders if the Jays maybe gave up too much to get Donaldson. Wilner (paraphrasing): "Absolutely. I don't know what the Jays were thinking when they brought a guy like Donaldson over. Moving on..."

In defense of the first caller, I would trade Tulo + a pitching prospect for Harper in a heartbeat.

Which, three years from now, on a day when Tulowitzki hits a home run, would inevitably lead to the second guy calling back and asking, "Don't you think we maybe gave up too much to get Harper?"

‏Jon Morose

@jonmorosi
#BlueJays have the 5th bullpen in last 100 years to start a season 0-9. None of the previous 4 teams made playoffs, per STATS LLC.

bullpen did their job last night pretty well. tho it was an incredibly frustrating game to watch up until Smoak decided he was sick of losing.

I watched this entire game, bar the 1st inning, until the 9th inning when my cat escaped onto an adjacent balcony and I missed the thrilling denouement wrangling him back to safety.

Kershaw vs the Jays for the first time today!

Stroman graduates:

http://i1059.photobucket.com/albums/t427/sayhey1/marcus_zpsgyl8uxz9.jpg

I would complain about Gibbons' bad habit of leaving his SP's in the game for an inning too long, but with our bullpen ...

I been watching the Raptors, but this looks pretty wild.

http://www.si.com/mlb/2016/05/15/watch-blue-jays-rangers-brawl-after-takeout-slide

Zaun thinks hey guess what this is what you get for bat flippin'.

Bat-flip sheriff:

https://vine.co/v/e6uKPIg0qWp

@jonahkeri
Someone please alert me the next time a Venezuelan guy punching a Dominican guy causes a stadium full of fans to chant U-S-A

I go outside to bbq with the Jays in the lead. Came back to something else entirely.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ciiq53UWwAQ0liE.jpg

wow

Zaun is just about the only commentator taking the Rangers' side in this.

so when do we hear about the suspensions?

i despise zaun with a passion. baseball doesn't need a don cherry, you gormless buffoon

Pretty funny listening to Zaun on McCown's show today. As McCowan walked him through the whole sequence of events, he had a whole litany of this-should've-happeneds and that-shouldn't-have-happeneds according to Gregg Zaun's Book of How the Game's Supposed to Be Played. He's like Kramer on Seinfeld with the velvet scrunchie: "You've got really specific tastes." (Almost felt sorry for the Raptors today; the brawl seemed to be the bigger story, at least on the radio.)

what the heck is going on?

I'm going to guess that Shapiro might be the kind of guy to dismantle this team quickly. Not based on his own history, which I don't know, but on the fact that it's still basically Anthopoulos's team and he'd be happy to move past that.

I was one of those people who 48 hours ago thought that the big brawl would wake them up.

and the Jays tanking this year would give him the excuse he would need.

reminder that jays were < .500 until august last year

Back to back 13 run blowups look bad, but they ended a streak of 18 straight games with six or more innings pitched by the starters. We would have killed to have that level of pitching last year. We need a couple of bats to wake up and for the bullpen to wake up and realize it isn't spring training. The foundation to win is still there, there's no need to tear anything down. Yet.

I don't think the team should be dismantled--combine the starting pitching from April with something close to last year's offense and you're all set--just that I think Shapiro, as Thermo says, will jump on any excuse he has to do so. The other thing I expect to happen soon is for the fans to focus their ire on Shapiro. The Raptors have been a diversion thus far; when they're out, all the rancor from last November will return.

btw there was a sabermetric study of the 'wakeup' power of brawls. no correlation found.

i wasn't really saying he'd jump at any excuse to dismantle the team. i don't think there was ever a full dismantling in Cleveland. i was just saying *if* that's what he wanted to do, another month or two like this and he'll have the excuse he needs.

Bautista leading off

this is getting surreal.

Losing on a late inning comeback by the Twins might be rock bottom. Happ took a one hitter in the eighth and blew the lead, although he left with the game tied and the bullpen blew the game open as usual.

R Martin 2B

Kinda nuts how awful the offense is this year

Perfect timing--game was out of reach when I was at the library, checked in when I got home, tuned in for the last two AB.

Reminiscent of the 11-10 comeback against the Red Sox in 1989.

That's quite the wayback journey!
Last two games have both been crazy. Devin Travis is good luck I guess!

and a sweep of the Yankees! things have been looking better recently. Travis is looking p good since coming back, Martin's bat has come back to life and Saunders is killing it!

And now we get to go to Fenway! And that's not good!

This would be a good time to make our move in the standings. The team is playing well, we face Boston and Baltimore next, enough fiddling around near .500, it's time to contend.

Bizarre: for the second consecutive start, Dickey heads into the 6th inning against the Red Sox with a messy no-hitter and a two-run lead. Last time, he got knocked out in the 6th; sure enough, Ortiz leads off the 6th tonight with a double.

muni is 35 today

Nerve-wracking: Osuna was one ball away from loading the bases and having to face Ortiz in the bottom of the ninth up three runs. (Stuck out Bogarts on a full count.) With two doubles, Ortiz has 42 XBH in 49 games.

Gibbons has a knack for leaving his starters in the game one inning too many.

I can understand allowing Sanchez to face Iglesias, but not the top of the order/Kinsler for the fourth time.

last night was a tough one. real waste of a great pitching performance.

hard to be too mad about leaving sanchez out there when the real problem was that they stranded something like 11, and failed to capitalize on a basically awful blooper-reel performance from bobby parnell in the 9th, and 9 walks from the tigers pitchers in the game

When Edwin's locked in, I'm not sure there's a scarier hitter in baseball.

yup. i've very much been enjoying Saunders season so far as well!

I didn't catch it exactly, but Encarnacion has the most multi-homer games in baseball (I think--maybe just the A.L.) since 2012 (I think--maybe more recent).

For such a streaky hitter, he's really consistent year over year. Since 2012, his HR have ranged from 34-42, RBI from 98 to 111, BA .258-280, SLG .534-.557, OPS .901-.941. Joe Carter wasn't the hitter than Encarnacion is, but he had the same pattern: mercurial during the season, metronomic from one season to the next.

When we're in complete meltdown, I'm not sure there's a scarier bullpen in baseball.

(But we hung on.)

In the past three weeks, we swept the Yankees in a three game series, took three of four from the Orioles, and five of six from the Red Sox. The offense is respectable again and still improving, but good god our bullpen can't get much more fugly.

the bullpen is terrifying. watched "blue jays in 30" yesterday and ive never been tenser watching baseball highlights, was pretty much convinced the orioles were going to get a walkoff run (i didn't know the score while watching it)

Off the bat, I thought for sure Alvarez's long fly in the 9th was a home run--great catch by Carrera.

Blue Jays gonna beat the Phillies 30-0 today.

my money would be on a 1-0 loss in the 10th.

Recommended reading:

http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/06/14/one-at-bat-koji-uehara-vs-devon-travis/

currently Estrada is on pace to have the lowest single season BABAIP in baseball history...
http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=pit&lg=all&qual=y&type=8&season=2016&month=0&season1=1885&ind=1&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=13,a

his .216 last year is good for #16 on the list – so this can't just al be luck. either way this just blew my mind.

I hope so...my understanding of BABIP is that that's exactly what it is, luck, and he's due for some trouble ahead. I don't know. Maddux must have had some impressive seasons, but he did log more strikeouts than I think people remember--just under 7 per nine from '92 to '98. But I'm with you; I would think location and ability to change speeds has to have something to do with how many hits a pitcher with modest strikeout totals gives up.

BABIP isn't just luck, but it is mainly luck, especially for pitchers. regression to the mean to be expected before long.

e5 has been on fire

Maaaaaan did I pick a good day to accidentally not start Nola in out FBB league.

(xpost) Last 6 games, including tonight (so far): 6 HR, 14 RBI, 1.455 SLG.

Look out for the wall, Jose! Here comes the wall! Look out! The WALL! LOOK out! Sh

How hot is Donaldson? I don't think I've ever seen this before. He walked and hit a home run tonight, which gave him nine straight PA reaching base. Comes up with a couple of guys on, two out, falls behind in the count 0-2. Edwin's on deck. He checks the next swing, and the ball clearly hits his hand--he should be headed to first. Umpire misses it, Gibbons starts to leave the dugout, Donaldson waves him back--basically, "I want to hit." Next pitch, hits a triple past the center fielder.

Even last year I don't think they had a week on offense like this. I think this is the fifth game of 10+ runs scored for the week. It's 11-2 Jays in the 4th vs Baltimore and Saunders has a pair of three run homers.

Three for Metal Mike!

One more AB for sure.

Saunders bringing me much joy.

It was in fact the first time in franchise history that the Jays have scored 10+ runs in five games within a seven day stretch.

Donaldson's gone from a fast start to a lousy May to surpassing last year:

2015: .297/.371/.568/152+
2016: .280/.393/.575/157+

This should be his fourth straight 7.0+ WAR season. I know that's an arbitrary benchmark, but the only two third baseman I can find with similar runs are Schmidt (two separate four-year streaks) and Boggs (five straight years). Brett, Beltre, A-Rod (as a third baseman), Matthews, no.

(xpost) How many teams period have every done that? That's got to be rare. (Sure enough, the Red Sox did the same earlier this season.)

Been waiting months for this: staff-student game today, lined one out to left field, did a bat flip.

Ha!

\m/

Tulowitzki hitting sixth tonight at Coors--think I'd move him in the lineup.

"move him up"

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CmSvY8LWEAQ7Sg5.jpg

a tradition unlike any other

does dan shulman do other jays games or do they just bring him in for canada day?

lmao russel martin

Top of the 17th...Cleveland's got tomorrow's starter pitching; the Jays are getting close to pitching Goins.

here comes Goins

Easy 85-mph gas

136.794 km/h, excuse me

rip jays

A scoreless 18th for Goins

ok wow

NOPE! xxp

this is mental.

I hope Goins has some great deadpan Ball Four answers prepared for any post-game interviews.

encarnacion's ejection looks like a favor now

might be for the best Martin got the boot too.

off to the 19th. can't believe we're sending Gions back out.

nope... it's Darwin Barney instead. well then.

welp, pitching in the bigs isnt as easy as it looks apparently

fingers crossed they tie it

Why couldn't we bring in a starting pitcher like the Indians did? Position players pitching in relief is for 15 run blowouts, not tie games in the 18th. Seriously, wtf was that???

This won't cause much of an uproar: Goins to the DL because of "forearm tightness."

Drew Hutchison dropped his ERA to 4.97 tonight. I'm not sure how to react.

pretty typical hutch. coughed up just enough runs to make it a challenge for one of the best offences in baseball while also striking out over a guy an inning.

Form team in the AL East, 2 games back. Starting to enjoy the season a bit more.

Dreamt that we'd traded for Prince Fielder. Just checked, relieved it's not true.

http://d2s3dt9f4iyeup.cloudfront.net/images/standard_v1/59ed336c-eb9c-46fb-b603-1dc8c5a9f734.jpg

"You better not put fucking Grilli in the game."

that old lady was the best.

Think of where we might be without all those games blown by the bullpen in April and May.

AL starting pitching has pretty much imploded, and the Happ/Estrada signings are looking like the best deals of the offseason by any contending team.

I don't think they'd ever do it, and I'm not sure how much you'd get in return because of the injury/contract status, but I'll ask: should they be looking to trade Bautista for a pitcher?

"Shapiro trades Bautista for little-known middle reliever with excellent FIP/WAR numbers."

http://thehessiangoeshome.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/frankenstein-castle-torch-wielding-mob.jpg

I'd do it, with the major caveat that I don't know if Pillar/Saunders/Carrera/Lake gets you to the playoffs--assuming the middle two fade somewhat, you're giving up a ton of offense to Boston and Baltimore.

no way Bats waives his 10/whatever rights

If it were a fire sale and he were moving from a losing team to one playoff bound, I'm sure he would; in this situation, probably the reverse, you're right, no way. Can't remember what the Jays offered him in the spring, but, in view of the injury and what will inevitably be diminished numbers, I wonder if he's second-guessing himself.

Which AL team has a better starting staff 1-5 than us? Cleveland maybe?

If it's about shoring up the bullpen, they still claim that Sanchez will be moving to the bullpen in the second half no matter what.

There are no free-agent-to-be "ace" pitchers available at the deadline this year -- next year's free agent SP class is the weakest it's been in a long time.

So based on what kind of help is reasonably available, if anything we need to be shoring up the offense. Batista isn't going anywhere.

houston and texas, maybe (better stats in june anyway)

I'm less confident about the starting pitching than NoTime (putting Bautista aside--agree that he's staying). The first two statements work in opposition: if/when Sanchez moves to the bullpen, right away you lose a lot. Stroman, I don't know; he's a location/mixing-pitches guy, moderate number of Ks, so he's got to be right on, and we've seen him go both ways. As a #1 (is he?), he's not blowing anyone away. If you think Estrada stays where he is, he's the #1; maybe I should be convinced after a season-and-a-half, but I guess I'm not. Happ's K/BB/HR rates are almost identical to Stroman's, so he's pitching a little lucky, and also getting a ton of run support (6.5+ RPG). Dickey is Dickey.

So they're doing fine now, and you can pick holes in almost any team. But I see a lot of uncertainty once you take Sanchez out of the rotation. Definitely need more offense at 1B/C.

now i'm imagining a world where they somehow get jonathan lucroy from the dismantling brewers. is that even a possibility? are they moving him?

Estrada is injured and Stroman has been inconsistent all season, so I'm not entirely confident either. But we're still better off than most AL teams in starting pitching. And nobody missed a turn until Estrada got hurt (the opening day rotation has started all but two games this season). I'm more worried about the offense falling back to earth. Are Carrera and Saunders really this good? I'm not even sure Donaldson is this good.

We can't complain, but sometimes we still do.

I'm not even sure Donaldson is this good.

From what I can tell, Donaldson's on track for the third or fourth best single-season WAR ever for a third basemen (9.8), and the fifth or sixth best OPS+ mark. It does seem a little unreal.

I should clarify "unreal"--he was, after all, last year's MVP. In 2012, Mike Trout's rookie year, Donaldson was a 26-year-old converted catcher who to that point hadn't done much of anything. Four years later, he's putting up numbers that rank with Schmidt, Brett, Boggs, and a handful of other third basemen. Has anyone his age ever gone from 0 to 60 any faster? Some pitchers, undoubtedly (Randy Johnson comes to mind), but I don't know about position players.

Not quite to the same magnitude, but the late rises of edwin and jose also come to mind

That's actually something that caught my attention last year: how all three of the Jays' biggest stars were late breakouts (Jose and EE even later).

@jonahkeri
Game 7 World Series in Toronto gonna be cold AF

Have two games coming up next week, possibly a third in August. So happy that they're going to be six games out again by then.

i want to talk abut Stromans' baserunning.

That post before yours...Jesus, some people get panicky.

will be @ the jays game today lets go happ

Was at the game yesterday. Was a crazy amount of people. Make sure to get there a little early.

nice thx

so im sitting row 1 3b side 0_o

You didn't know this in advance?!

my uncle was like "itll be a surprise"

I was higher up than I'd ever been before for a game last week: 500s, 30+ rows up. I'd always been low in the 500s previously...I have mild vertigo, so it was actually a problem looking down until the third or fourth inning.

First place!

FIRST PLACE! 3 ILXORS IN 2 GAMES THIS IS NO COINCIDENCE

I say we trade Syracuse for Chris Sale.

And throw in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

hah oh and also i just saw the whole jays team going thru customs/security @ the airport to the states

300th for Bautista.

oh wow.

crazy thing is i think encarnacion is just 3 shy of 300 as well

14% to get to 500 as per Bill James Crystal Ball

33% for the Wing.

I thought that seemed high for EE, so I penciled him in for 40 this year (he's on pace for 43) and got...41%. Intuitively, because of his late start, I don't see it--that's 7 more years of just under 30 HR per season. Will he still be a full-time DH at 38 or 39? Is there anyone nowadays besides Ortiz like that?

KenRo explains Liriano deal and ancillary effects

http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/the-logic-behind-the-angels-and-blue-jays-baffling-deadline-deals-080316

@gregorMLB
Forget everything you've heard about Aaron Sanchez. He's staying in the rotation, per #BlueJays GM Ross Atkins.

Shapiro was all over Toronto media the other day saying unequivocally that wasn't going to happen...Wouldn't he have the final call?

'Jason Grisly' by Buck

I find this six-man rotation idea really strange and potentially damaging to Estrada, Happ, and Stroman.

i dunno. makes sense to me. I'm surprised Stroman wasn't on an inning limit too, considering how much time he missed last year (and he hasn't seemed quite like himself). Estrada's back has been bothering him on-and-off and could probably use the extra rest. Happ and Dickey are the only ones who i don't think need the extra day, but you could probably bump them up in the order periodically to negate that.

Really scary moment tonight when Donaldson got one in the head from Herrera and crumbled to the ground. Luckily, it was change-up and caught part of the ear flap, so he stayed in the game.

With Herrera you never know - but unintentional?

Positive it was unintentional. Jays were ahead 4-3 in the top of the 9th, Bautista had just walked; it brought up Encarnacion up with a chance to break the game wide open. And it just looked like a pitch that got away.

Pretty interesting looking at Devon Travis's career box.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/travide01.shtml

1) His stats in last year's half-season and this year's half-season are almost identical in every single category.

2) Overall, in what is now more or less a full season: 32 doubles, 18 HR, .299/.348/.495, 126 OPS+, 5.1 WAR.

Zaun wonders why Stroman's innings don't seem to be the big topic of concern that Sanchez's are.

Sanchez: just turned 24, third season, 145 innings this year, 270 in his career.
Stroman: just turned 25, third season, 142 innings this year, 300 in his career.

Good question. Especially, I would think, in view of the fact Stroman's six inches shorter and 60 pounds lighter.

Aside from the height factor, I've been wondering the same.

They're completely different pitchers though! Hard throwers like Sanchez have tended to break down more easily (e.g. Fernandez, Harvey, Strasburg, the list goes on).

ah v. true

I think Happ has an outside shot at the Cy. He still has a ways to go, but if he posts a gaudy W-L record, gets his ERA down some more (he pushed it under 3.00 last night), and stays within a game of the WAR leaders (1.2 behind Quintana right now), you never know. I think he realistically stands 6th or 7th right now, although you can probably eliminate Sanchez from contention. Everything would have to break right, but for the first time he seems viable.

Of course he's pitching above his head, so he's due to get shelled one night...

So my partner and I are trying out indoor skydiving today - and RA Dickey is here with his family!!

He'll mess up his dive, he'll be lying on the ground in a crumple, and when you go over to ask him what went wrong, he'll tell you he was encouraged by the dive, and that things are finally starting to come together--coalesce--for him.

Even allowing that managers can be meaningfully evaluated in the first place, the idea that Gibbons is the very worst manager in baseball--an ESPN piece from a couple of days ago that seems to be behind a paywall--strikes me as ridiculous on the face of it. He did some weird things towards the end of last year that I didn't like, and I wasn't following closely during his first tour in Toronto. But it's not like the last couple of years haven't had their share of challenges. The main thing to me is that, as far as I can tell, the players seem to be on his side.

I'm not sure really how good of a manager his is tbh. But I'm coming around on him. I like that he isn't afraid to try something unorthodox once in a while.

Btw RA never got in the wind room, just his kids. Mad respect to him for enjoying the city.

I think they've conclusively reached the point where they need to move Tulowitzki up in the lineup and Saunders down. Second half:

Saunders - .154/.278/.330, 4 HR
Tulowitzki - .308/.354/.538, 6 HR

Tulowitzki's actually been solid since the beginning of June.

Great comeback last night.

yeah it was a great comeback, i was cooking borscht in my kitchen, with the score at 6-0 i didn't think id miss much and from my kitchen i can hear, though not see, my tv. was rushing between rooms every time buck sounded excited, which ended up being a lot, great couple of innings.

russell martin is feeling it

Never expected this Gibbons-Donaldson dust-up today, but very heat-of-the-moment and kind of meaningless. Gibbons has the high ground here. What is Donaldson's argument--flying wooden projectiles are just part of the game?

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/watch-donaldson-gibbons-argue-blue-jays-dugout/

donaldson's answer is pretty priceless

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/17331098/blue-jays-josh-donaldson-uses-humor-brush-dustup-manager-john-gibbons

The "altercation" was a load of nothing, cheers to Donaldson for telling the media to stop stirring up shit in the best way possible.

Donaldson's response was brilliant. But they've got to report on it, right? I didn't take it as the media stirring up stuff, they were just asking what happened--they even played straight man once Donaldson got going.

It was obviously a non-incident, just one of those things that happens in the course of a long season, and not a sign of problems between the star player and the manager. The beat writers know this better than anyone. But they couldn't resist asking about it, because they also love to write about possible dissension on teams, no matter how minor.

Agree that it's minor--said so in my first post. (I think it's probably just that Donaldson's playing a little bit hurt and in a minor slump the past few games.) But I honestly don't get your seeming suggestion that the reporters shouldn't even ask about it. It happened in plain view to anyone watching on TV (and with last year's MVP to boot). "What is your take on what happened there?" seems pretty innocuous to me.

it was a weird sight to see, that's for sure (esp given Gibbons history).

We all agree that it was nothing and there was no story there, so by asking about it they're trying to make it into a story because that's how they roll.

If I had to file a story every day during a baseball season, I'd be asking players why their top button was buttoned yesterday but unbuttoned today. A tense exchange in the dugout between player and manager would be like D-Day.

ha ha!

Game's not televised, following online, left for a couple of minutes. What an absolute nightmare of a loss.

Upton fucked up.

Just saw the play. Upton messed up for sure, but it looked to me like Saunders should have caught it in the first place.

At least Saunders made an effort.

Heard something on the broadcast yesterday that jibes exactly with my own sense of this season: Jays are 19-21 in series opening games. They're maddening, always seeming to play catch-up, but they have an impressive ability to bounce back and right themselves.

... and then they bring Cecil into the game...

I was neutral when they made the change, and then, as often happens, I left the game for what seemed like a minute and they're down when I come back. Very frustrating--could have swept the series. (Although you could also say we wriggled out of being swept.)

our bullpen (with the help of our OF) robbed us of a sweep imho!

Martin's last eight games (includes an 0-5 the other night): 6 HR, 13 RBI, .469/.514/1.094.

Exorcising the ghost of Tyler Naquin.

Some clarification:

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/197992374/melvin-upton-jr-triples-blue-jays-beat-twins/

"Little League HR," although I get what they mean, is a little condescending. The fourth base was Little League--it's not all that unusual to see a triple like that.

Hat trick for Donaldson today! i was about 5 rows behind the Jays dugout – figured i might not get the chance again, so am now down one hat.

I still don't trust our starting rotation in the playoffs (assuming we get there of course) -- Dickey is as average as they get, Estrada has been inconsistent since the ASB, Sanchez might wear down, Stroman can't string together three good starts in a row, Happ is still J.A. Happ the last time I checked and might be a fluke. Plus our bullpen is a work in progress with maybe 2.5 pitchers that I'd trust in an important game.

And yet we've given up fewer runs than any other AL team. Am I being pessimistic? Are all pitching staffs really so bad in the AL this year?

Feel the same way--their pitching does make me nervous. If it comes down to those last three games in Fenway, I hope the offense has 25-30 runs left.

i would expect our bats to do most of the heavy lifting in the playoffs this year (as it was last year iirc?)

Wonder where R.A. Dickey stands on the list of Worst Starters to Win a Cy Young (career-wise, not the year they won it)? Seems to be in Steve Stone/Pete Vukovich zone, better at the moment, still lots of time to get worse:

Dickey: 109-106, ERA+ - 103, WHIP - 1.291, K/BB - 2.24
Vukovich: 93-69, ERA+ - 104, WHIP - 1.374, K/BB - 1.62
Stone: 107-93, ERA+ - 98, WHIP - 1.355, K/BB - 1.49

(If you adjusted K/BB for era, like they do with earned run average, I'm sure that column would be a lot closer; adjusted WHIP, I don't know.)

Oh yeah--with Dickey, you get Josh Thole as a bonus.

Dickey has six (consecutive!) seasons of 2+ WAR, Stone had only four, and Vuckovich five (nonconsecutive for each). So Dickey was better for longer, and was more consistent. He's got them beat on career WAR too, for me Dickey is definitely a cut above, notwithstanding his crappy 2016.

He's reaching Stone territory in a different sense though -- didn't Stone semi-intentionally kill his own career by throwing his curveball like 60% of the time during his Cy Young year? He knew he'd probably blow out his arm but figured the 25 win season and a CY award would be worth it. Dickey threw much harder in the year he won and had a bunch of peak Verlander/Max Scherzer stat lines. I wonder if he knew he'd never be the same but did it anyway because he knew he'd be a free agent and the time was now to get a decent contract and maybe win a CY.

just reserved my playoff/WS tickets! now for three weeks of rollercoaster, white-knuckle baseball!

That game last night was maddening and demoralizing (normally I'd be heartened by the near-comeback, but they'd already blown two leads).

ya, i shut it off early on because there was already too many emotions even part way through.

Swept by the Yankees. We're slumping and they're officially back in the race. It's time to start getting nervous.

Oh im beyond nervous

4-0 Boston in the third, Estrada has been pulled, and Upton has dropped two balls in the inning. Not the best start to the series.

i was sitting in LF and boy was he hearing about this.

With a whimper.

Huge win today. I was sweating by the end but they hung on. Whatever got said in that players only meeting yesterday must have worked.

"He guys, we should win this game. Maybe a few more after this too."

I know I'm just asking for trouble, but Benoit so far:

17.1 IP, 12 hits, 17 K, 7 BB, ERA 0.00

Tulo!!!!

I know I'm just asking for trouble, but Benoit so far:

Shut the fuck up.

Look what you've done clem!!

Benoit vs Ortiz?? Why?

Wasn't Gibbons watching the playoffs a couple of years ago?

this fucking game is going to be the end of me

That was painful right down to the last out.

I'm almost ready to refocus on the two wild-card spots.

The last week has convinced me that we don't have the pitching to survive a wild card game, let alone three rounds of playoffs. Almost everyone on the staff is a wild card (no pun intended) right now.

I don't think I've yet used this on the political thread...

Sad!

this game was painful. they looked like a AAA team out there.

at least you now have ben cherington?

huh. apparently we do. we also may have an injured Josh Donaldson on our hands.
ready to panic now.

See what they do tonight. Others doing their best to keep them afloat--Boston, Baltimore, and Detroit all lost.

In other news, Dewey defeats Truman.

haha. I take it you saw the boston score going into the 9th and just assumed?

way to jinx it, clem

Yeah--I think they were in the 8th when I posted. I guess I'm still hanging on to the hope that they'll win the division, because I winced when I turned on the radio this morning. If I were really focused on the wild-card, like I lie to myself that I am, I would have been happy about Boston winning.

Rooting for that magical feeling of backing into the second wild-card spot.

Seattle is team #6 so they won't have the luxury of backing in.

You mean we actually have to win some games? I don't know that I like the sound of that.

lol

holy crap, how many Jays fans in attendance at Safeco ? feels like the entire British Columbia came down.

Happ's now the sixth Jay to win 20. I got the other five pretty easily.

clemens, halladay, jimmy key... argh i'm stalling out

Wells... i feel like Stieb or Hentgen would be too obvious (also would not have guessed Key)... maybe Cone?

David Wells!! omg forgot completely about him. One of my favorite players ever.

just checked, Jimmy Key never won 20. He won 18, 17, 14 many times but never quite got to 20.

looked it up. one guy i thought was too obvious, was obvious for a reason – and the one I missed I def should have guessed, considering the thing he was known for was winning games.

K – i gotta ask. Why Wells? David never had the greatest reputation here.

Clemens, Halladay, Wells, Hentgen, and you're all still missing one--and now that I think about it, he probably is a little tough to remember (brief stay here).

Thermo you're asking why I loved Wells? Cause he was a soft-throwin, beer-drankin son of a gun who wore his heart on his sleeve.

that he was. what i will always remember about Wells is him throwing that ball into the outfield instead of giving it to Gaston, when getting pulled after coughing up 5 runs. I don't doubt that a year later Cito (who seemed to handle Wells's tantrum a little too well) intentionally got even with the him; leaving Wells in long after any manager would have pulled him – by at least two innings. Dude left him in there long enough to put up a historically bad game score – worst in Blue Jays history.

My second guess was wrong, Juan Guzman had only 16 wins, but my first guess was right (not gonna put it here). I remember him more than almost any pitcher from a little mini-doc about one of his pitches when I was a kid.

Happ pitched six innings or less in ten of his wins. I think Jered Weaver set a record in 2012 for having the fewest IP by a 20-game winner (188.2) and Happ has a shot at beating that if he only starts once more this season.

jack morris!

Bautista with the heroics!!

He does have a flair for the dramatic. (Love the link to Odor, too.)

Dickey in relief

tough throw to 3rd

I think the division race is officially over now.

And now, Detroit. If we go into the last weekend and they're in the mix, we'll be in Fenway while they're in Atlanta.

what a performance by francisco liriano, whom the pirates jettisoned along with two surprisingly good prospects just to avoid paying him next year

Just like that we're starting to look like a playoff team again.

Def sounds like playoffs in the stadium.

Bring on the Rangers.

That got silly.

Missed this brawl for the other one. Benoit's hurt, Travis may be--could be disastrous long-term.

Benoit has a torn calf.

i'm starting to feel pretty pissed off with Happ for even starting this whole stupidity.

Jays have been great at times the past couple of weeks, but they've also had three, maybe four chances to pretty much lock up the top wild-card spot, and they just can't seem to do it. I think we are essentially going to back into the playoffs.

uh oh

Weird AB for Bautista in the 9th. The crowd either hadn't seriously entertained the possibility that the Jays may not make the playoffs period (not out of the question--25% chance?), or they were so immersed in the game they weren't thinking beyond the moment. But it's hard to imagine Bautista being back here next year, and, after striking out, there was no that-could-be-it farewell ovation at all. I guess everyone was just too down.

The Jays led the AL in attendance this year! I never would have believed that could happen again.

Lots of jays fans in Boston tonight going to the game.

Reliving 1987.

Blown leads in three of the past five games, tigers one back, yep this is what backing into the playoffs is like (if we even make it).

144 permutations remain:
Home WC: 34
Away WC: 33
Host Play In Game 163: 31
3-way Tie: 7
4-way Tie: 1
Out: 38

voting 1

Pat Tabler says a lot of stuff, and occasionally he hits upon something: "add-on runs" have been a huge problem the last few weeks. There've been so many games where they jumped to a modest lead and had two or three AB in the middle innings where they could've broken the game wide open. Had a couple tonight. The bullpen's been bad, but so many of those games never should have been close in the first place.

And while I'm in a foul mood, Martin, after a fantastic August, has been flat-out terrible this month. Even his fielding's a problem now.

Tabler is right. Ten hits and six walks tonight but only three runs scored.

A's rookie who's been great his first four starts going against the M's tomorrow.

That pretty much sums up where we are right now: counting on the A's rookie who's been great his first four starts to pitch well against the M's tomorrow. Plus, and, also...

Tried to corroborate my (or Tabler's) "add-on runs" theory by going through the boxscores of our 16 September losses and looking for games where a) we had a lead by the third or fourth inning and b) didn't add on to the lead in situations where we had someone on third with less than two out. Could only find one such game early in the month against the Yankees--even last night didn't qualify. Maybe I'm not looking carefully enough, maybe a lot of the missed opportunities happened with two outs, or maybe they happened in games we ended up winning anyway (I only checked losses). Or maybe Tabler and I are dreaming the whole thing up--it sure feels like we've had numerous opportunities the past few weeks to break games wide open.

I would check for the number of times that the sum of walks + hits were more than three times the number of runs scored in a loss. Such as last night.

In the 7-5 loss to the Yankees, they had six hits and eight walks plus a runner reach on an error. Plenty of runners were on throughout the game and the bullpen blew it in the ninth.

In the 3-2 loss to Baltimore they had six hits and four walks. Again, plenty of men on base but the bullpen blew the lead in the ninth again.

Last night it was more of the same. Oh wait the bullpen blew the game in the seventh, and the Jays had two runners on in the eighth and ninth against their best relievers and couldn't score at all. That's. .. better than a blown ninth inning lead?

The silver lining is that we can't be mathematically eliminated today. Yay!

Hey, some help.

Gibbons is trying to squeeze another inning out of Happ. NOW I'm nervous.

Really need another run or two. I feel like there's no way they hold onto a one-run lead for two innings.

Osuna for six outs, wow. Gibbons has even less faith in the set-up guys than I do. Think I would have left Grilli in--Betts' double was a total fluke.

And there he goes trying to get another inning out of Grilli. If Gibbons doesn't trust anyone other than Grilli and Osuna, and was prepared to use Osuna for two innings, then why not bring him in to start the eighth?

lol wtf just happened a balk

a balk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Orioles lose, Tigers lose, Mariners losing. And we do that.

The Red Sox tied the game in the most unimpressive way possible (flukey check swing double, walk, double play, balk) but OTOH the Jays were on their way to their most unimpressive big win ever so I guess it's fair.

This is going to be excruciating.

(I actually thought the double play was my first-ever triple play...)

The Jays ... manufactured a run on no hits?? In the ninth inning on the road?

That was a hell of an at-bat by Carrera, who looked completely overmatched against Kimbrel but managed to get the fly ball they needed.

Holy shit they did it.

I feel more exhausted than elated. I am right that we've at least clinched a Wild-Card tiebreaker?

Am I right...

Yes--at the very least, another game after tomorrow. If they win tomorrow, I'm not sure if that clinches one of the two wild cards.

Yes, and if Seattle loses we've clinched a WC.

If so, it'll be interesting to see how they handle tomorrow's game.

Ah no, Detroit would have to play the make up game vs Cleveland on Monday if they win and either BAL or TOR lose tomorrow, so no, nothing is clinched yet and it's all hands on deck tomorrow.

i'd be down for a 4 way tie

I don't know about all the permutations if we lose, but if we can win tomorrow, we guarantee the Wild Card game will be at home against whoever.

Too perfect that we'll be going against Price.

Ominous: hitting Price hard, nothing to show for it.

Jays have two guys in the lineup pretty much every day, Martin and Upton, who are hitting a combined ~.150 since Sept. 1.

God. I love the movement Sanchez gets on his pitches when he's throwing well.

good stuff

Obviously Sanchez won't go more than seven. But this is like a perfect storm right now. When you weigh the game situation, the pitcher (entire rotation has pretty much revolved around him), how crucial the game is, and the state of our bullpen (five blown saves in seven games, set-up guy and closer over-used), I wouldn't want to be Gibbons right now. This is like the mother of guaranteed second-guessing.

feel bad for the kid

"What the fuck?!"

Gotta keep this from getting ugly now.

No idea how we come out of this with a win. I guess they go to Cecil and hope he can last two.

haha that's the spirit

I'm the Bee OK of Canada.

triple play time i can feel it

Thank god for that--Tigers lost 1-0.

this is a great game - despite the sudden lack of stakes it feels like the playoffs

Home field advantage for the WC game and the Boston - Cleveland series is still at stake.

The Red Sox, smartly, seem focused on getting home-field against the Indians; we didn't seem to consider that such a big deal last year.

i've never understood the emphasis. does it really matter?

I think typically teams play better at home.

this article is pretty convincing that it doesn't matter

http://www.hardballtimes.com/home-field-advantage-does-not-exist-in-the-postseason/

among the other evidence: a team with homefield "advantage" only realizes it if a series goes to all 7 games. a best-of 7 series decided in 5 games, for instance, has the non-advantaged team playing more games at home..

Huh.

Well. 54% odds for the home team, in general. Esp in a one-game elimination match, I'll take it.

Just realized after today, Sanchez is the era king!!

Heard on the radio the other day that three Jays may be going in for off-season surgery: Donaldson, Martin, and I forget the third--Travis, I guess.

that a little unnerving.

He will be missed: no Jay past or present ever made 6-inning, 4 runs-given-up starts sound so interesting.

So Donaldson is dodging the off-season surgery.

@DCameronFG
I guessed Morales would get 2/$22M and thought it would be an overpay. 3/$33M seems silly.

looks like the signed lourdes too (sry if that's upthread somewhere)

no, that's brand-new, unexpected news. pretty excited to see how he (Lourdes) turns out.
thinking this commitment to Morales spells the end for EE & Bats in Toronto. but possibly more money for Fowler?!

man, a fowler-pillar-whoever outfield would be prettyyyyyy dope

you guys love keepin this team thread goin eh

EE can still play first -- and they shouldn't bring bats back anyway

EE at 1B full time can work. Morales can be the full time DH.

I like how the Jays are making their moves early before the winter meetings and before the bidding for FAs gets ratcheted up. It worked for them last year too.

stained-glass edwin

http://imgur.com/a/KxGMf

EE had a press conference today (can't bring myself to post this on the Indians thread...) and had a funny answer when he was asked if the parrot was making the trip: (paraphrase) "I'll have to check with immigration."

so - Bautista likely returning. reading a one or two years deal at around 18 per.

I'm sure EE will be thrilled to see Bautista get a somewhat comparable deal.

@sportslogosnet
Full line from Marcus Stroman on why #BlueJays always wear blue in playoffs: "Tulo. Tulo likes the blue jerseys. He's the man, so he picks"

Having a hard time believing that Bautista turned down more money to return. That's what I heard on the radio, and the headline of this article corroborates that:

http://www.tsn.ca/bautista-turned-down-more-money-to-sign-with-blue-jays-1.655192

When you actually read the article, though, nowhere does it say that he was offered more money elsewhere.

I just played the press conference clips, and he doesn't seems to say it there, either. All he says is that were other offers.

Somehow the idea that he turned down more money is taking hold.

Heard a Joe Biagini interview clip on the radio yesterday (not Jimmy Kimmel--still haven't watched that) that made me laugh. The reporter asked him if he'd made any adjustments this year (paraphrase): "Well...I drove down instead of flying--that was an adjustment."

i want to adopt him.

I didn't pay enough attention to him last year--he's like a character from Ball Four, the living heir to Bill Lee and Moe Drabowsky and Dan Quisenberry.

I like the Latos ml deal.

I was just checking Russell Martin's career box, and something I'd never noticed before (although I've lived through it twice): among players with a decent sample size, he must be among the worst post-season players ever. In 57 games/320 plate appearances: .185/.300/.303. And his awfulness is very consistent between divisional series and league championships (never played in a World Series). He had a couple of good WC games.

Morales crushed the hell out of that ball.

also maybe new thread time, but also i'm lazy.

new season new thread boys

always so much pressure coming up with new thread names. i feel like i let everyone down with the fantasy thread one!

I really liked the Fantasy thread title...Was trying to think of something for the Jays, couldn't. Feels like some kind of hangover right now after two exciting years, and I don't know where the personality on the team is anymore.

loved the fantasy thread one.

can't be worse than mines!

Biangini. maybe something about him getting a high five? i dunno, i'm going to bed.

xpost aw, thanks!

JUST IN: Sportsnet baseball TV personality Gregg Zaun has been terminated by Rogers amid allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour.

— CP24 (@CP24) December 1, 2017