GDT(1/3): Toronto Blue Jays @ Los Angeles Angels - Johnson vs. Richards - 10:05 PM ET

[gruber92]

What the actual f***? It's his first god damn game back from injury, and we send out there for 2 innings?

 

Should of pulled him after his one inning on a positive note. First game back too..

 

This reminds a bit of how Gibby through McGowan in the fire his first time back. I'm disliking Gibby more as the season progresses.

[Howard Roark]

Okay, but if he is actually hitting .240+ / .285 and 20 dingers at th deadline, we probably aren't going to trade him.

 

And that's a huge IF

 

I'd bet they would if we're once again in 4th/5th place. Even this FO sees the writing on the wall at THAT point, you would hope.........

 

If we're this bad, or even just .500 or slightly below at the '14 deadline, I think they clean house. I hope to Jahbulon they do, anyhow.

[leaffie]

speaking of McGowan, did I miss an injury or was this just a way of getting santos back.

[dineke]

Well I do. Same context, the sport is irrelevant. Assets for assets. The GM game is the same whatever the sport. And Bargnani was seen as even more toxic around the league than JP is within MLB.

 

Derp GM's gonna derp. You can always rely on human stupidity to shake up what "should" happen in any given situation.

 

Except in this case, AA is the derp gm.

[Howard Roark]

A bit of both is the safest bet. He may be hittable this year, but not 19% HR/FB and 0.350 BABIP hittable.

 

Yup. Although that more than 100% inflation on his career average FB/HR ratio is a hard pill to swallow when put down merely to luck. That's a LOT of bad luck. Or a lot of meatballs.

 

Just "one of those years" I guess. The fatalist pessimist in me says he'll revert back to a legit #2 the second he lands with another team.

[Howard Roark]

But you can't go into 2014 expecting JPA to have a career year. It's just unrealistic expectations and setting yourself up for disappointment

 

Even if he doesn't do THAT well, like I said, there are always teams out there who have a good enough offence that they'll take the bitter with the sweet and appreciate 20+ HR power from the 9 hole at catcher, or get desperate because they're in the race and their starting C just went down. Most B prospects never amount to anything, not like we'd be asking for Bundy or anything FFS. lol

[Howard Roark]

Except in this case, AA is the derp gm.

 

-sigh-

 

Whatever happened to our ninja? =(

[gruber92]

Gibby's job isn't to protect Santos' stats, it's to use him since he's a member of the bullpen. Santos threw 23 pitches and was on two days rest. What's the big deal here?

 

He was a bit shaky in his stint in Buffalo,so maybe it would of benefited him mentally if he came out with one clean inning in his first game back.

[Howard Roark]

Some teams with good offenses are willing to accept a defense-first catcher. JPA is a media-first catcher. All he does is talk big to the media. He's not actually good at defense, offense or really anything at all between the lines.

 

This is news to absolutely nobody.

[Arkadium]

A media first catcher, who doesn't even have a twitter account. So the one thing he did well, he's not even doing anymore. He made all of the casual fans legitimately fall in love with him.

 

I find it retarded that the casual fans like JPA, but it's so true, everyone I know who's a casual fan like JPA. I guess AA is a casual fan too.

[Howard Roark]

-lol @ "media first catcher"-

 

Man, poor JP. For his own sake, I hope he never visits this place.

[Arkadium]

It's completely retarded. Did you saw the "Breaking: Arencibia Quits Twitter" thread?

 

Yeah that thread was pretty much lolz

[dineke]

-sigh-

 

Whatever happened to our ninja? =(

 

Same thing that happened to Bryan colangelo. Remember when he could do no wrong in his first two years?

 

BTW... If JPA has an outlier year like you said... AA is just going to sign him long term not trade him... Which would be the worst thing ever.

[Arkadium]

It blows my mind that in a team proclaimed "World Series Contending Year", We went into this season with JPA as our catcher. We traded away 4 (4!!!!!!!) catchers that could have been better than him this year in the past offseason.

 

And there's not a day goes by that I don't miss every one of them.

[Howard Roark]

Some teams with good offenses are willing to accept a defense-first catcher. JPA is a media-first catcher. All he does is talk big to the media. He's not actually good at defense, offense or really anything at all between the lines.

 

Looking back on it, that can actually work both ways; teams with a good offence will accept the low AVG/OBP in the bottom of the order, teams with bad offences would gladly take the power potential and overlook the low AVG/OBP.

 

29 other teams, plenty of opportunity. We only need one to bite.

[Howard Roark]

Same thing that happened to Bryan colangelo. Remember when he could do no wrong in his first two years?

 

BTW... If JPA has an outlier year like you said... AA is just going to sign him long term not trade him... Which would be the worst thing ever.

 

Not really, he was pretty bad from the beginning. Not trading Bosh when we all knew he was leaving, trading for Jermaine O'Neal...........

 

Sure, we won the division his first year with an average 47-win team, but that wasn't due to him. he inherited a decent team and added a few minor pieces and the rest of the Atlantic sucked that year, we won it pretty much by default.

[wardhenke1]

We traded away 4 (4!!!!!!!) catchers that could have been better than him this year in the past offseason.

I never thought of it that way. I've been so focused on d'Arnaud I sometimes forget about Buck, Gomes and Mathis.

[Arkadium]

D'Arnaud >>>>>>>>>>>>> JPA

John Buck >>> JPA

Yan Gomes >>> JPA

Torrealba >> JPA

Jeff Mathis > JPA

[Howard Roark]

Can you imagine the outrage if he is signed to a long term extension this offseason? I can't even

 

Even the casuals have caught on now, due in no small part to the campaign on here, I'm sure.

 

It's part of the zeitgeist surrounding this team now that he's bad. The vocal minority of hardcore fans have managed to spread the word and it's slowly metastasized within the casual fanbase and become common knowledge.

[P2F]

D'Arnaud >>>>>>>>>>>>> JPA

John Buck >>> JPA

Yan Gomes >>> JPA

Torrealba >> JPA

Jeff Mathis > JPA

 

Ramon Hernandez, too.

[dineke]

Not really, he was pretty bad from the beginning. Not trading Bosh when we all knew he was leaving, trading for Jermaine O'Neal...........

 

Sure, we won the division his first year with an average 47-win team, but that wasn't due to him. he inherited a decent team and added a few minor pieces and the rest of the Atlantic sucked that year, we won it pretty much by default.

 

And AA inherited a team with a bautista about to break out and a huge trade chip in Roy halladay. At the end of the day he hasn't done jack s*** just like colangelo.

[JFD]

lose them all please and get a better draft position

[96MPHFB-----]

Even the casuals have caught on now, due in no small part to the campaign on here, I'm sure.

 

It's part of the zeitgeist surrounding this team now that he's bad. The vocal minority of hardcore fans have managed to spread the word and it's slowly metastasized within the casual fanbase and become common knowledge.

 

Because he is statistically so terrible that it is hard to argue against, even for his fan club. The ones that continue onward with stat after stat thrown in their face end up sounding retarded after a while.

[96MPHFB-----]

I was watching the game with my grandparents tonight, who are very much not hardcore baseball fans and they rarely ever watch baseball. When JPA f***ed up the throws in the early innings, even they screamed "AHHH COME ON. THE CATCHER NEEDS TO BE FIRED."

 

Some catch on quicker than others

 

We should hire them as scouts!

[96MPHFB-----]

We probably should. Even if they do nothing but release JPA, I would be satisfied.

A job well done if they did that in their first year

[FireAlexAnthopoulos]

New game plan? Start JJ everyday, pitche the first inning and we are down 5-0. Best way to tank

 

http://i.imgur.com/x7XcnNL.png

[digiblader]

D'Arnaud has yet to play at the big league level. John Buck is as bad as JPA with the bat--only his glove saves him.

 

Yan Gomes is a part-time player--small sample size. Good thing Esmil Rogers turned into a adequate starter.. or that trade was a major mistake. The way he's going, he may force Carlos Santana to 1B/DH sooner than later to protect Santana's knees(and it's been a huge boost for the contending Indians--but they STILL can't catch Detroit. Lucky they have a 4-gamer next week.)

 

Torrealba is a part-timer as well--Wilin Rosario is the starter in Colorado.

 

Jeff Mathis is too similar to Josh Thole.

 

But you are right--JPA has got to go. His poor catching skills and bad bat are killing us.

 

If the team wants to get better, JPA should be dealt or sent to AAA, and they should acquire a better catcher this offseason. Here's the free agent list courtesy of MLB Trade Rumors:

 

Catchers

 

Henry Blanco (42)(likely to retire)

John Buck (33)

Jesus Flores (29)

Ramon Hernandez (38)(likely to retire--Jays didn't even want to call him up)

Brian McCann (30)

Jose Molina (38)

Dioner Navarro (30)

Wil Nieves (36)

Miguel Olivo (35)

Ronny Paulino (33)

Brayan Pena (32)

A.J. Pierzynski (37)

Humberto Quintero (34)

Carlos Ruiz (35)

Jarrod Saltalamacchia (29)

Kelly Shoppach (34)

Chris Snyder (33)

Geovany Soto (31)

Kurt Suzuki (30) - $8.5MM club option with a $650K buyout

Yorvit Torrealba (35)

 

You want Torrealba or Buck? Wait until the offseason--they're free agents. Keep in mind we also have AJ Jimenez on the way as well. Don't be surprised if he gets a September call-up(he's on the 40-man).