Osuna made the team

[Governator]

Lets all calm down on the Osuna/Castro debacle. There is more to cheer about with Thole in AAA.

[saskjayfan]

So the plan is to burn option years on a pair of promising young starters by having them pitch out of the bullpen needlessly in their age-20 season?

 

They can be optioned at any time to stop the service clock and pick up that extra year. They are pitching well now and 13 of the first 16 are against AL east teams. When I look out 7 years are the Yankees and Red Sox who's payrolls are that much higher than the Jays going to be as weak as they are today.

[Governator]

They can be optioned at any time to stop the service clock and pick up that extra year. They are pitching well now and 13 of the first 16 are against AL east teams. When I look out 7 years are the Yankees and Red Sox who's payrolls are that much higher than the Jays going to be as weak as they are today.

 

 

This sounds most reasonable...

[KingKat]

Risk years of control, tens of millions of dollars, and looking like a total fool, for what? Optics? To sell a few more tickets?

 

Because he thinks putting Sanchez in the pen last year was some sort of stroke of genius, I guess. I don't necessarily think there's a "good" reason but I don't believe for one second that West and Guilmet were given the same opportunity as Castro and Osuna. There's just no evidence of that. That's AA for you. He's only half-smart. Like he does some stuff that makes sense but he also does some dumb stuff like over-paying for middle relievers in trade (Lincoln, Rogers, Francisco) or bad rosters assignments (Sierra, Thames). AA's not the kind of guy you can just give a blanket benefit of the doubt too. You just have to take the good with the bad. This shoudn't hurt the team in the short term. These guys will be fun to watch but West and Guilmet would have probably been fun to watch too and with no long term cost. It's not a decision you can rationalize. The simplest explanation is often the correct one and the simple explanation here is that this was just AA's dumb prerogative. People in positions of power don't always do what's best for their organization. They go with their gut and do dumb stuff. You probably see stuff like this all the time in your own work environment. The people making the decisions aren't necessarily the smartet peoples, they're not necessarily the dumbest. They're just the people making the decisions.

[Angrioter]

Barry Davis ‏

Colt Hynes and Todd Redmond have made the team. Final bubble decision between Hendriks and Goins. #bluejays

 

f*** this team. We will lose Hendriks for goins

[Governator]

Barry Davis ‏

Colt Hynes and Todd Redmond have made the team. Final bubble decision between Hendriks and Goins. #bluejays

 

f*** this team. We will lose Hendriks for goins

 

 

Isn't that what everyone knew would happen?

 

I thought it should have been Hendriks & Delabar in the pen, Castro & Osuna in AA, Goins on the bench with Thole in AAA.

[Angrioter]

Isn't that what everyone knew would happen?

 

Trade Hendriks is a bad idea

[sachmo55]

What's wrong with Norris and Travis? They're, contractually, in the same boat.

 

Even in this thread you can read that they have far from given any extra years away......yet.

 

Would a playoff appearance have any "serious value"?

 

Ideally none of them would be starting right away, but at least Travis and Norris get everyday roles in positions that have proven harder to fill. And they had a chance to play above A ball and get some experience against higher level competition before the majors. Osuna and Castro have 30 combined innings in high A ball.

 

Serious value as in then pitching in high leverage situations and succeeding. If they're in mop up duty, what's the point of calling them up so early?

[flafson]

If West and Guilmet are as good as some think, what's wrong with having them as depth?

We had a depth problem in the past, it can't hurt now.

[KingKat]

If West and Guilmet are as good as some think, what's wrong with having them as depth?

We had a depth problem in the past, it can't hurt now.

 

There's no problem with having them as depth obviously. It's just weird that the team didn't do it the other way around is all.

[glory]

Nah, they will keep Hendriks.

 

Well, can't say that for sure, since Alex has lost his mind, and all.

[KingKat]

The way it looks to me is he's going with the best available options.

 

That's probably how AA feels yes but his actions suggest that he made up his mind about Castro and Osuna being better options prematurely. I think a lot of GMs (and most armchair GMs) would have given the relievers every chance to make the team before contemplating converting the starting prospects. That certainly would have been the more "normal", "typical" approach (and no it's not that unusual for a starting prospect to be put in the bullpen but it is unusual to do it this early). I think AA is trying a little too hard to be clever here but I don't want to argue this much further. It's not a catastrophe by any stretch. The long term consequences (if any) are unknown at this point and Castro and Osuna ARE awesome and will be awesome to watch. Gusy like West, Guilmet, Delabar, Infante and Lopez provide practically an entire bullpen's worth of plan B's and the team looks good overall even with a few early injuries.

[TheHurl]

There's no problem with having them as depth obviously. It's just weird that the team didn't do it the other way around is all.

 

It's not weird at all. West and Guilmet are not selling 1 ticket. Osuna and Castro are talked about more than Bautista and Donaldson right now. That's just good playing of the media. No media outlet is talking about AA's incomplete off-season at this point. This was started early in the off-season when suddenly every media outlet was talking about Castro. The business of sport takes precedent regardless...and there is a possibility that the product on the field won't be harmed at all.

[KingKat]

It's not weird at all. West and Guilmet are not selling 1 ticket. Osuna and Castro are talked about more than Bautista and Donaldson right now. That's just good playing of the media. No media outlet is talking about AA's incomplete off-season at this point. This was started early in the off-season when suddenly every media outlet was talking about Castro. The business of sport takes precedent regardless...and there is a possibility that the product on the field won't be harmed at all.

 

You really think this would have an impact on ticket sales?

[SaskJaysFan_2]

You really think this would have an impact on ticket sales?

 

I think it will have an impact on walk up ticket sales.

[L54]

FWIW, Dave Cameron doesn't hate it:

 

Comment From Bret

6 rookies breaking camp with the Jays, including two 20-year olds in the bullpen who have never pitched above A-ball. Nuts?

 

Dave Cameron: Not really. It’s an upside play, betting on stuff translating well to the bullpen, which it often does. If either Castro or Osuna look overwhelmed, easy enough to send them back to the minors with little harm done.

[Chappy]

Just not enough polish on that mustard.

 

#Insight

[BigBounceyBlueBalls]

What makes me chuckle is normally most on here Bitch that we didn't take the best team North each year, this year we are to start the season other then injuries to Stroman and Saunders and and people are still not happy again this way either!

[TheHurl]

You really think this would have an impact on ticket sales?

 

Media still sells tickets unfortunately, it's not like people are saying "I'm buying tickets to see Osuna and Castro", but the media and fan buzz about them making the squad is keeping the Jays in the media pecking order (in a time of year which hockey and NCAA basketball is usually dominant (although home opener secondary market tickets are usually a good sign about positive buzz...and they have remained pretty constant. Do I think the Positive PR of having 2 kids that have skipped levels to make the bigs is a consideration here though...absolutely.

[ElNik2013]

I would've thought that if they were gonna bring up an A-ball starter to the bigs, it would've been Taylor Cole who, IIRC, led the minors in K's. I would think he'd get a bump in velocity from the pen.

 

Oh well...

[Frenchsoup]

This is a pretty cool video of Castro being promoted last year to Lansing http://www.milb.com/multimedia/vpp.jsp?content_id=48914883

[Spanky99]

Is that the same god Norris cheers for? Could this cause friction?

 

It sure isn't Allah!