Defense Alex?? C'mon...

[KingKat]

I really don't see it this way. This team win 73 games last year, and is going to win about 75 this year. All of our best players with the exception of Rasmus and Lawrie are on the wrong side of 30, there are very little trade chips on the farm, and presumably not much in the way of payroll space. Worst of all, they're run by a team of morons. I really don't see any way at all for this ship to be righted, especially under the current regime.

 

I can't see the ship being righted but I could see a dead cat bounce good season. If the offensive core stays healthy, the run prevention is improved and with some all around good health and good fortune, things could work out. I'm not saying it's likely, in fact that's quite a lot of ifs but not every team winning is put together impeccably. In some ways, the fact that AA has less money to work with might be a blessing in disguise. Give him a payroll and some prospect capital and he's basically a drunken sailor. Less wiggle room may force him to get smarter. Heck maybe he even makes a vintage AA kind of trade.

[DuckDuckGose]

I really don't see it this way. This team win 73 games last year, and is going to win about 75 this year. All of our best players with the exception of Rasmus and Lawrie are on the wrong side of 30, there are very little trade chips on the farm, and presumably not much in the way of payroll space. Worst of all, they're run by a team of morons. I really don't see any way at all for this ship to be righted, especially under the current regime.

 

I don't really disagree but, IMO you are speaking more towards this

Bad news is they don't have very many expendable assets

as opposed to this

Good news is this club is still only a couple tweaks away from contention.

 

I think it's important to distinguish that this team is close to contending. There are 4 huge holes on the current team; 2B, C, LF and SP. Currently these spots are filled by replacement level or sub-replacement level players. Those are easy wins to add this off-season. Literally any actual starter (and many bench bats) at those positions are better than what AA has been throwing out there. However, it is impossible to argue that AA has put himself an enviable situation. He's already moved the majority of his big trade chips. He cannot make a big move without devastating the farm or creating a hole on the MLB roster. Payroll is capped or close to it. It's going to take some shrewd planning, a payroll bump or something to fall in to AA's lap to get over the hump.

[GeorgiaPeach]

How about just throwing away a premiere defender at short who could hit and was making only 5 million per season?

 

With Escobar's eyeblack issue coupled with his behaviour on the field, it was easy to include him in the Marlins trade when it started to come together.

Alex probably thought because of the behaviour he wouldn't have got anything in return dealing Escobar alone, a big, lazy mistake on Alex's part, but that's what I think happened.

[TBJ12]

Payroll is capped or close to it.

 

What makes you so sure of this? AA himself said this team will be looking to upgrade starting pitching and defence through trade or FA. Not once have I heard that this teams payroll is capped or close to it.

[DuckDuckGose]

What makes you so sure of this? AA himself said this team will be looking to upgrade starting pitching and defence through trade or FA. Not once have I heard that that this teams payroll is capped or close to it.

 

In the off-season AA said he was close to the payroll cap but there would be some space to make a room at the deadline if necessary. There is no reason to assume payroll will go up until it actually goes up.

Edited September 7, 2013 by DuckDuckGose

[GeorgiaPeach]

"UHHH guyz I should have been something other than completely awful at the core aspects of my job. Whoops!"

 

Seriously, you should have paid more attention to defense? Is this not obvious to your basic idiot fan? It's one of THREE areas you look at when building a team, how do you make a comment about overlooking it and just get a free pass?

 

This is f***ing unreal. The guy could probably say "durr, I should have given their stats more than a cursory glance, but I don't use a computer and stats are for nerds. Next year though!!" and he'd get away with it because Rogers are happy that the team made money and don't really seem to care that there's idiots in charge of their property.

 

After hearing the interview with Alex, the problem on the defence for me was more during the season when Cabrera was left to hobble around the OF and we were down Reyes and Lawrie. The emphasis from the FO was directed to solidify the pen and it should've been to call up a position player to replace Melky, not rely heavily on Rajai and a deplete the bench.

 

IMO the starters should've been left in to pitch more innings and take their lumps when they were getting beat up, opposed to pulling them after a couple innings and wasting the pen. Alex created a bigger problem by promoting more pen arms and running with an 8 or 9 man 'pen.

[TBJ12]

In the off-season he said he was close to the payroll cap but there would be some space to make a room at the deadline if necessary. There is no reason to assume payroll will go up until it actually goes up.

 

Do you actually believe his comments from this past offseason mean a thing?

[GeorgiaPeach]

Good news is this club is still only a couple tweaks away from contention. Bad news is they don't have very many expendable assets in the high minors. I suspect AA will move one of the big names; Stroman, Sanchez, Osuna, Hutch, . If he does pull the trigger it better be for a star 2B, SP, or C though. This team doesn't need to waste assets on more depth, they should seriously look at bringing in some FA's to fill those roles.

 

If the Jays don't have a chest full of cash to spend with the big boys, at what point do the fans or the Jays FO realize that a mildly expensive team with no farm is going to collapse?

 

If you can't draw the big free agents and don't have a farm, what do you have? A team that isn't contending without a shitload of luck. And as much as fans love seeing a s*** team get lucky, I don't. Fluke teams make my skin crawl.

 

When you say you suspect "Alex will move one of the big names; Stroman, Sanchez, Osuna, Hutch." Those aren't huge names across baseball....they may be just inside the Top 50-100 range for the 4 names listed, but definitely not elite. And then you went on to say "if he does pull the trigger it better be for a star 2B, SP or C"?????? What teams out there are itching to trade their star players (not they made the All-star team, but IMO Top 5'ish players in baseball at their position) for Top 50'ish-100 prospects?

 

And really I don't want the Jays to make those trades. I'd rather see good youth with tons of financial flexibility and pursue and overpay free agents to come here.

[DuckDuckGose]

Do you actually believe his comments from this past offseason mean a thing?

 

I believe that it is possible payroll could go up. No one has said it will though so there is no reason to act like it is going to.

[ElNik2013]

With Escobar's eyeblack issue coupled with his behaviour on the field, it was easy to include him in the Marlins trade when it started to come together.

Alex probably thought because of the behaviour he wouldn't have got anything in return dealing Escobar alone, a big, lazy mistake on Alex's part, but that's what I think happened.

 

 

I hate to make excuses for AA or anyone for that matter, but Escobar was almost released at the time of the incident that's how much of an uproar there was, or at least that's what I remember. I think they didn't release him at the time because they didn't want to eat his salary. I'm pretty sure they decided to try and dump his salary in the offseason because of the bad publicity, I think this decision was way above AA.

[TBJ12]

I believe that it is possible payroll could go up. No one has said it will though so there is no reason to act like it is going to.

 

They've already said payroll will be going up. They were talking somewhere in the $140M range but I won't be surprised to see it closer to $150M.

 

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/davidi-upgrades-to-jays-roster-wont-come-easy/

[P2F]

Allowing for arb raises this summer, $140M is just the number that is necessary to retain the current roster.

 

Fix the team with $10M.

[GeorgiaPeach]

I hate to make excuses for AA or anyone for that matter, but Escobar was almost released at the time of the incident that's how much of an uproar there was, or at least that's what I remember. I think they didn't release him at the time because they didn't want to eat his salary. I'm pretty sure they decided to try and dump his salary in the offseason because of the bad publicity, I think this decision was way above AA.

 

The only reason the decision should have been way above Alex's head was due to the bad publicity. If the suits including Beeston who's only a rung above Alex starts interjecting the good load they have for brains in Baseball decisions, the Jays are in big trouble.

[TheHurl]

The problem is that AA has no idea how to evaluate defense. We're talking about a guy that employs JPA, used Thames as his every day LF, and listens to a scouting staff that gave Derek Jeter a 5 rating on defense.

 

I was going to say similar...that if they understood defense better they would have been a little more prepared for this. Anyone who thought the Jays would be a top defensive team must have thought a lot of balls would be hit to third.

[Caper]

I was going to say similar...that if they understood defense better they would have been a little more prepared for this. Anyone who thought the Jays would be a top defensive team must have thought a lot of balls would be hit to third.

 

Did you think Lawrie was going to be that good at 3rd?

[Smokey]

Did you think Lawrie was going to be that good at 3rd?

 

I don't know about you but I'm totally shocked to see an elite defender playing elite defense.

[G-Snarls]

When you say you suspect "Alex will move one of the big names; Stroman, Sanchez, Osuna, Hutch." Those aren't huge names across baseball....they may be just inside the Top 50-100 range for the 4 names listed, but definitely not elite. And then you went on to say "if he does pull the trigger it better be for a star 2B, SP or C"?????? What teams out there are itching to trade their star players (not they made the All-star team, but IMO Top 5'ish players in baseball at their position) for Top 50'ish-100 prospects?

 

This is a critical point. It's so easy to get excited about your favorite team's top prospects. But you need some perspective on where they sit overall. These guys look promising but non of them are a Bundy or a Wheeler level prospect and we shouldn't think of them as such while we muse about trade scenarios.