The Officially Greatest GDT Ever. 4/4. Astros vs THE Bluebirds.

[bill]

so far the decision to spend money on things other than pitching this year looks to be a disastrous decision

[fatcowxlive]

The pitchers weren't supposed to suck though. Hutch and Norris are very talented. Buehrle and Dickey have long track records of success. The rotation has significantly underperformed. Many teams have pitchers pop up as mid-rotation starters all the time. Teams like the Pirates, Indians, Mariners, Cardinals, Yankees, Giants and others never seem to have depth starting pitchers come up and completely embarrass themselves at the major league level. If you're a fan of just about every other team, spending most games praying that your starting pitcher won't walk the park is not part of the experience. I don't know who is to blame and the reality is likely that there are several contributing factors, but something isn't working and the answer probably isn't just waiting for neutral luck and the continued progression of young pitchers.

 

I know that, they're underpreforming like I said. But the thing is taking starters like Norris and Sanchez who haven't taken the complete time to develop and craft their pitches completely and throw them in MLB action isn't the right way for a team contending for post season action. The org seems to think that Sanchez and Norris are going to be exactly like how Stroman was but it's not usual that pitchers advance so quickly from the Minors to the Majors like Stroman did. Norris was thrown in the rotation as the #4 starter having started last year and A ball, how often do you see contending organizations do that? Sanchez is an even weirder case because we know that he has command issues, always did, yet the Org took his 33 innings out the pen last year as big enough evidence that he's ready for the bigs instead of thinking that it was just an anomaly. I think the front office dropped the ball on this, you can't really fire Walker or Gibbons when you have a rotation with Norris/Sanchez/Estrada filling in, there's really not that much you can do with that. I'm confident Hutch/Dickey/Buehrle will have a solid stretch and get their numbers down to last year's numbers but we need those 2 more pieces to the puzzle. Or at least one more, I think Estrada can be a decent 5th starter if he can prevent the long ball.

 

The bullpen is another issue too

[bill]

"Hutch and Norris are very talented. Buehrle and Dickey have long track records of success"

 

Hutch and Norris and young and unproven. Buehrle and Dickey and nearing the end of their careers and can't be relied on to carry a team. This is the Jays problem this year and it's a big problem.

[jays4life19]

I really f***ed up today. Perm Ban coming.

[MatBarnes]

Garbage joke team is garbage joke team

[TheHurl]

Garbage joke team is garbage joke team

 

And the Rays fan takes out the trash

[jayswin11]

the thing is barring major changes this team will be worse next year.

 

for the 2016 season, Buehrle and Dickey will be gone. Bautista, Encarnacion, Reyes all a year older and increasingly injury prone. This team is unfortunately going down in a spiral that I don't see changing.

[King]

Norris is very good. Tough to predict a month long 'dead arm' period which derails the beginning of his season.

[TheHurl]

Oh we're going to win today. Don't you worry.

 

Speaking of trash...guaranteed win day without a win. That earns you a banning too. anyone else?

[S33n]

The pitchers weren't supposed to suck though. Hutch and Norris are very talented. Buehrle and Dickey have long track records of success. The rotation has significantly underperformed. Many teams have pitchers pop up as mid-rotation starters all the time. Teams like the Pirates, Indians, Mariners, Cardinals, Yankees, Giants and others never seem to have depth starting pitchers come up and completely embarrass themselves at the major league level. If you're a fan of just about every other team, spending most games praying that your starting pitcher won't walk the park is not part of the experience. I don't know who is to blame and the reality is likely that there are several contributing factors, but something isn't working and the answer probably isn't just waiting for neutral luck and the continued progression of young pitchers.

 

#FireAA

[jaysfan2014]

the thing is barring major changes this team will be worse next year.

 

for the 2016 season, Buehrle and Dickey will be gone. Bautista, Encarnacion, Reyes all a year older and increasingly injury prone. This team is unfortunately going down in a spiral that I don't see changing.

 

Buehrle and Dickey aren't exactly helping right now.

[jayswin11]

I agree, no they aren't. That's the sad thing though, the Jays have no one to replace the. Hopefully they will be able to use the saving to bring in someone.

[FrozenRopes]

Where is dickeys long track record of success. When that trade happened I nearly barfed. How many of us would rather have just Syndergaard today vs Dickey, let alone all the other pieces we lost.

 

Our best pitcher right now is Buerhle followed by Hutch and Sanchez and then it is a massive drop off for the rest. Even Norris could be pitching up here as he was better than Dickey has been.

[saskjayfan]

the thing is barring major changes this team will be worse next year.

 

for the 2016 season, Buehrle and Dickey will be gone. Bautista, Encarnacion, Reyes all a year older and increasingly injury prone. This team is unfortunately going down in a spiral that I don't see changing.

 

 

You reference 3 position players being older being an issue when the position players aren't the problem with this team. The problem is pitching and having 2 pitchers gone might be a good thing especially when you can re-invest the 33 million they earn into better pitching! You can't see this team being better next year with stroman being back, with all the young players being one year older, with Romero, Navarro, Iztruis, Dickey and Buehrle money being re-invested differently...there's no way in which that team could be better than this one? You don't have much of an imagination.

[goeb]

If there was a position for AA to solely managed the position players he'd be an ideal gM....as great as he is at managing the position players he is commensurately as awful when it comes to managing pitching.

 

I still wonder as to what other contributing factors are involved here, Jays have had the reputation of a Home Run hungry team, maybe from a marketing standpoint the higher ups were satisfied with a team full of sluggers. I seem to enjoy the Jays games much more when I only tune when they are at the plate, then when that half of the inning ends I just change the channel haha.

[SAAviour]

Buerhle 20 mil, dickey 12 mil, Romero 7 mil, Navarro 5 mil, izturis 3 mil.

 

47 mil, I'm sure who ever we spend it on blows out their shoulder after 2 games.

[SAAviour]

Next years rotation....

Price, Cueto, stroman, who cares, who cares...2 months in replace who cares with Hoffman.

[BigBounceyBlueBalls]

Let the good times roll!

[Governator]

Buerhle 20 mil, dickey 12 mil, Romero 7 mil, Navarro 5 mil, izturis 3 mil.

 

47 mil, I'm sure who ever we spend it on blows out their shoulder after 2 games.

 

Don't forget Martin's contract is practically wiping out Buerhle's going forward, from 7MM to 15MM then on to 20MM x 3yr. It's not all gravy.

[BigBounceyBlueBalls]

So we have 27-34 million of fun money! Plus the pocketed increase we were to have this year ! Hmmm

[GD]

Don't forget Martin's contract is practically wiping out Buerhle's going forward, from 7MM to 15MM then on to 20MM x 3yr. It's not all gravy.

 

Russell Martin is pretty gravy tbh

[Governator]

Russell Martin is pretty gravy tbh

 

Yes.. yes he is, at least for now. He could also become an average catcher getting paid $20MM much like Buehrle is to pitchers in 4 years time. I'm not complaining, just others are looking for more cash available after this season but they do forget we have an expensive piece coming.

[BigBounceyBlueBalls]

Shame this game is about Money not skills!