What will be the Blue Jays achilles heel of the 2015 season?

[Governator]

If things go downhill again this season... come October what will we be talking about is the reason for their failure?

[BTS]

Depth

[flafson]

Tommy john surgeries, more than 1 and we are screwed.

[Governator]

Meh. We have far more SP depth than recent years.

 

To replace our ace? oh wait nvm.

[BTS]

Meh. We have far more SP depth than recent years.

 

Who do you like outside the top-4, Norris, and Estrada?

[flafson]

Meh. We have far more SP depth than recent years.

 

We had some kind of depth before, it only takes you so long, if you need your depth to start more than a few games they will get exposed to why they are depth.

[Dylan]

If things go downhill again this season... come October what will we be talking about is the reason for their failure?

Solid/Proven/Durable Pitching Depth and then potential injuries.

[CrackerJack]

i'd guess too many late inning meltdowns by our relievers ...

but (who knows?) if the plan is to use Sanchez (with Cecil) at the back end of the pen maybe it won't be a weakness?

[KingKat]

Sanchez is a possibility. Hendriks, Redmond, and Francis would probably be all above replacement. Matt Boyd projects for over a win. Osuna projects as replacement already. Taylor Cole was a SwStr monster last year and is probably replacement.

 

What about Oramas?

[jayswin11]

Depth

agreed

[CrackerJack]

All of the reasons above will be true and yet 99% of the complaints with be against Gibbons tactical decisions (always after the fact, mind you).

 

don't you know that the Jays don't lose only because Gibbons made the wrong moves, but they also lose because Gibbons just "sits there in the dugout with no energy" and because he ain't the most polished speaker with the press ...

[HERPDERP]

bullpen. we'll end up like the 2014 Tigers.

 

Though I guess people won't mind that if we enter the playoffs.

[Deadpool]

If things go downhill again this season... come October what will we be talking about is the reason for their failure?

 

Your bad attitude, mister!

 

All of the reasons above will be true and yet 99% of the complaints with be against Gibbons tactical decisions (always after the fact, mind you).

 

You seem to have this board confused with the comments section on a TSN article...

[TDotttt2005]

"None" - Mike Wilner

[reedjohnsonfan]

Depth

 

Agree. Both on offence and pitching any major injuries and they are toast.

[Daniel Labude]

Bullpen

[KingKat]

But any team can say the same thing.

 

A thought that just occured to me is that if you compared the average WAR projection per player to the Median WAR projection, that might give you an idea of how injury proof a certain team is. The higher the gap, the more the team's overall projected WAR could be impacted by an injury to a key player. The lesser, the gap the les vulnerable the team is.

[TBJ12]

I'm not a fan of the bullpen, but a breakout season from any random bullpen arm, and a little luck could result in the bullpen being a strength. Infield depth could end up being a more serious concern. If Donaldson or Reyes go down, and Smoak isn't performing, this team could be in some serious trouble.

[Governator]

Your bad attitude, mister!

 

I saved face by saying "If.." not "When..."

[reedjohnsonfan]

But any team can say the same thing.

 

Yeah, but depth on offence is definitely a concern. Smoak is probably a downgrade from Lind, Pompey from Rasmus and 2B still sucks. Saunders is arguably an offensive downgrade from Melky. They added Donaldson and Martin, making them more top heavy.

 

As for SP, they have some guys who can step in and might be serviceable, so probably on par with most teams. They are however better than the days of Jo Jo Reyes and Aaron Laffey giving games away, at least I hope.

[AdamGreenwood]

Still don't understand why we traded Lind. Guy was a monster last year. No doubt we'll have Dan Johnson get 200 AB this year at 1st base.

[AdamGreenwood]

But any team can say the same thing.

 

Not really. Red Sox and Dodgers have a ton of redundancy on offense. Nationals have a ton of redundancy on pitching.

Our starting pitching is not awful, but if any of our position players get hurt, the cupboard is pretty empty.

[TBJ12]

Not really. Red Sox and Dodgers have a ton of redundancy on offense. Nationals have a ton of redundancy on pitching.

Our starting pitching is not awful, but if any of our position players get hurt, the cupboard is pretty empty.

 

I can't see the Red Sox keeping all those outfielders. I wouldn't be surprised to see Victorino and Craig traded before the season begins.

[AdamGreenwood]

Yeah, but depth on offence is definitely a concern. Smoak is probably a downgrade from Lind, Pompey from Rasmus and 2B still sucks. Saunders is arguably an offensive downgrade from Melky. They added Donaldson and Martin, making them more top heavy.

 

As for SP, they have some guys who can step in and might be serviceable, so probably on par with most teams. They are however better than the days of Jo Jo Reyes and Aaron Laffey giving games away, at least I hope.

 

Reyes and Laffey get a lot of grief, but those guys were actually pretty decent for us.

 

In Reyes' starts in 2011, we won 9 or those games, and lost 11. Not bad for a #6 pitcher that we were paying next to nothing for.

In Laffey's starts in 2012, we won 7 of those games and lost 9. Again not bad for a #6 pitcher who cost us peanuts.

 

The job of the #6 pitcher isn't to throw a complete game shutout, it's to pitch five of six innings, while giving the team a chance to win.

Those guys know they're not Clayton Kershaw, but they get out their and bust their ass trying to keep their team in it, while the fans dump on them.

[Governator]

Reyes and Laffey get a lot of grief, but those guys were actually pretty decent for us.

 

In Reyes' starts in 2011, we won 9 or those games, and lost 11. Not bad for a #6 pitcher that we were paying next to nothing for.

In Laffey's starts in 2012, we won 7 of those games and lost 9. Again not bad for a #6 pitcher who cost us peanuts.

 

The job of the #6 pitcher isn't to throw a complete game shutout, it's to pitch five of six innings, while giving the team a chance to win.

Those guys know they're not Clayton Kershaw, but they get out their and bust their ass trying to keep their team in it, while the fans dump on them.

 

Didn't Reyes lose like 27 games in a row?

[TwistedLogic]

You really shouldn't go into the season expecting that Hendriks, Redmond and Francis will look like Cy Young in comparison to the Laffey's and Reyes' of previous years. Those guys are probably going to be just as bad.

[reedjohnsonfan]

You really shouldn't go into the season expecting that Hendriks, Redmond and Francis will look like Cy Young in comparison to the Laffey's and Reyes' of previous years. Those guys are probably going to be just as bad.

 

Yeah but (knock on wood) their rotation seems to be a little more durable. Hopefully it doesn't come down to giving one of those guys the 15-20 starts that Reyes/Laffey got in 2011-2012.

[glory]

SP depth.

 

The rotation has two guys that should throw 200 IP each (Dickey/Buehrle), and one guy who should be able to at least stay healthy (Estrada), but then it's all young pitchers (Stroman, Hutchison, Norris, Sanchez, etc). I'm more worried about injury than I am performance, and if injuries hit, forget it. Depth is minimal at best. That's why if there is a glimmer of hope to sign Shields to a 3 year deal, then do it.

[reedjohnsonfan]

^^ Agree they should be actively pursuing Shields.

[AdamGreenwood]

I'd rather the Jays spent the $80 million and picked up Moncada, but with the Canadian dollar in freefall, we're lucky to be at the level of spending that we are.