Alex Anthopoulos press conference

[fatcowxlive]

Where are you getting Donaldson's reputation as a good clubhouse guy? He had a reputation as kind of a dick from I've read, and you get glimpses of it when you watch him (FYSMC, for example). If this team falls on its face next year, Donaldson is probably the first guy I'd put money on being reported as a clubhouse problem.

 

JD seems like the Bautista type of teammate where he comes off as a douche but would put the team first in everything

[Spanky99]

http://i479.photobucket.com/albums/rr160/fishbulb-suplex/Wrestlers/King%20Kong%20Bundy/KingKongBundy001.jpg

 

Inadvertent Bundy!!

[GD]

why did fatcow like that lol

[Boxcar]

maybe he likes dudes in spandex

[Spanky99]

why did fatcow like that lol

 

WrestleMania at Exhibition Stadium Fan?

[Stangstag]

Kind of like when there is a group of reasonable moderators, but then there's this one guy who....

 

Buuuuurn

[fatcowxlive]

why did fatcow like that lol

 

I thought it was funny lol

[TheHurl]

Is he??? I had no idea we hired anyone yet to be honest

 

Yep he's hired 2 members of the IMG sport Psych team. I just found out by fluke as I've kept in touch with them since my study abroad down there. There will be a Dunedin mental conditioning team and a 3rd person hired in Toronto. He's also asked the Rays for permission to speak to one of their staff

[Slugger]

Where are you getting Donaldson's reputation as a good clubhouse guy? He had a reputation as kind of a dick from I've read, and you get glimpses of it when you watch him (FYSMC, for example). If this team falls on its face next year, Donaldson is probably the first guy I'd put money on being reported as a clubhouse problem.

 

What the f*** is FYSMC?

[burlingtonbandit]

What the f*** is FYSMC?

 

f*** you, suck my cock!

[Boxcar]

What the f*** is FYSMC?

 

"f*** you, suck my cock"

 

- Joshua Donaldson in response to bellyaching by Mike Butcher.

[Spanky99]

What the f*** is FYSMC?

 

Were you under a rock man?

 

http://i.giflike.com/9BZltjG.gif

[CHRIS]

Yeah the guy who brought in Mark DeRosa, saving him from early retirement, right after the failure that was Omar Vizquel when most of us knew it was a bad idea.

 

Take everything that guy says about team chemistry at face value, little sheep.

 

AA seems to me to be a guy who, if nothing else, seems capable of learning from past mistakes.

 

The DeRosa move may have seemed like a good idea at the time to him, but I doubt a character-only guy still holds appeal to him.

[Boxcar]

AA seems to me to be a guy who, if nothing else, seems capable of learning from past mistakes.

 

The DeRosa move may have seemed like a good idea at the time to him, but I doubt a character-only guy still holds appeal to him.

 

Sure, my point was more towards Gruber's arrogance in trusting whatever AA does 100% with no thought when he's made his share of past mistakes. Especially the ones we all knew were mistakes the moment they happened.

[Olerud363]

"If we're talking about team chemistry, Colabello, Smoak, and Estrada are probably the three regulars who influenced it the least. Pretty quiet and boring guys."

 

Bro, this is your quote. Who initiated assumed knowledge regarding off the field chemistry?

 

Gruber -- people are frustrated with you and AA, because apparently neither of you understand why the team won. It wasn't character, it was because they had a Yankees/Red Sox approach to hitting. Be patient and then knock the tar out of the ball.

 

Even your best buddy Ryan Goins was extremely patient. Ryan Goins moved from "piece of crap" to "maybe just maybe he's a player" because

 

a) he has character

he is gritty

c) for some reason he started taking a surprising number of walks

 

If you say anything else but c) you don't understand the blue jays 2015 season. If AA doesn't say c) he doesn't understand it and should be fired.

 

If Ryan Goins does become a "player" it's because he has turned the corner with plate discipline. If Goins goes back to a his previous walk rate he's not a viable major leaguer.

 

So you can go on about character all you want. Plate discipline is much more important. Hopefully internally the Jays know this, and can help Ryan Goins, and the rest of the players to future success (regardless of character).

[AdamGreenwood]

The piece you're missing Olerud, is that character is a big part of that.

Guys like Arencibia and Lawrie were team leaders, and they didn't give a s*** about taking walks. They only cared about home runs and RBI's.

By building a clubhous culture (and character is a big part of this), that fosters trusting your teammates to bring you home, and being more concerned with winning as a team than individual accoloades, it allows players to be patient and take walks, instead of constantly feeling a need to prove themselves.

[fatcowxlive]

The piece you're missing Olerud, is that character is a big part of that.

Guys like Arencibia and Lawrie were team leaders, and they didn't give a s*** about taking walks. They only cared about home runs and RBI's.

By building a clubhous culture (and character is a big part of this), that fosters trusting your teammates to bring you home, and being more concerned with winning as a team than individual accoloades, it allows players to be patient and take walks, instead of constantly feeling a need to prove themselves.

 

I agree with you. Lawrie and Arencibia probably didn't take the advice from Bautista and EE to just walk and wait for your pitch, to come to the plate with a plan instead of wanting to gulf every pitch outside the stadium, they came off as arrogant players with huge egos. Especially with the hype the had coming up as batters from the minor leagues, they probably thought that they're good enough for the majors and they don't need no help.

[BigCecil]

The piece you're missing Olerud, is that character is a big part of that.

Guys like Arencibia and Lawrie were team leaders, and they didn't give a s*** about taking walks. They only cared about home runs and RBI's.

By building a clubhous culture (and character is a big part of this), that fosters trusting your teammates to bring you home, and being more concerned with winning as a team than individual accoloades, it allows players to be patient and take walks, instead of constantly feeling a need to prove themselves.

 

Revere and Pillar don't take BBs much. Are they selfish players bad for chemistry or is that a pitch selection and approach issue?

[Boxcar]

Revere and Pillar don't take BBs much. Are they selfish players bad for chemistry or is that a pitch selection and approach issue?

 

Really is funny. Arencibia is an awful player. Lawrie never realized his potential. Talent wise, they are not the kind of guys great teams have starting for them, generally.

 

But no,all boils down to character issues.

[AdamGreenwood]

Revere and Pillar don't take BBs much. Are they selfish players bad for chemistry or is that a pitch selection and approach issue?

 

It's not black and white. Not everyone has the same potential obviously, but a good clubhouse environment, means you don't panic if you get a called third strike. It means you don't swing at garbage because there is a guy on 3rd base, and you want an RBI.

If you like your teammates, you play for the team. If you don't, you play for statistics. A good environment, and good character teammates bring out the best in everyone around them.

 

Case in point:

 

There was a game last year when there was a runner on third base in the 9th inning. Nobody out, and Jays were down by five.

Lawrie comes up, hits a flyball. The runner stays at third base (as he should).

 

Lawrie has a mini-tantrum - not because scoring that run would have increased the Jays chances of winning, but because the smart play, hurt his RBI totals, and batting average.

[Olerud363]

The piece you're missing Olerud, is that character is a big part of that.

Guys like Arencibia and Lawrie were team leaders, and they didn't give a s*** about taking walks. They only cared about home runs and RBI's.

By building a clubhous culture (and character is a big part of this), that fosters trusting your teammates to bring you home, and being more concerned with winning as a team than individual accoloades, it allows players to be patient and take walks, instead of constantly feeling a need to prove themselves.

 

I mostly agree with you then. A key for next year is for Pillar and Goins and Pompey (if he gets significant playing time) to keep their on base percentages at around .320. If guys like Donaldson and Martin really do help them accomplish that... that is an argument for "character".

[Olerud363]

Revere and Pillar don't take BBs much. Are they selfish players bad for chemistry or is that a pitch selection and approach issue?

 

It's a complicated issue. Revere and Pillar had good enough on base base averages last year given their other contributions.

 

If Pillar hits .280 he's a fine player, if Revere hits .320 he's a fine player. The problem is that if Pillar hits .250, and Revere hits .290, they might not be good enough to play on a contender.

 

Does the team recognize that?? Do they understand that Revere and Pillar and Goins, as a group need to put up a .320 on base percentage. If they slip to .280 as a group it doesn't matter what their character is.

[Olerud363]

It's not black and white. Not everyone has the same potential obviously, but a good clubhouse environment, means you don't panic if you get a called third strike. It means you don't swing at garbage because there is a guy on 3rd base, and you want an RBI.

If you like your teammates, you play for the team. If you don't, you play for statistics. A good environment, and good character teammates bring out the best in everyone around them.

 

Case in point:

 

There was a game last year when there was a runner on third base in the 9th inning. Nobody out, and Jays were down by five.

Lawrie comes up, hits a flyball. The runner stays at third base (as he should).

 

Lawrie has a mini-tantrum - not because scoring that run would have increased the Jays chances of winning, but because the smart play, hurt his RBI totals, and batting average.

 

You have some good points here. Hopefully the team recognizes all this even after losing a tough series. Hopefully after losing game 6 they said... all we have to do is come back next year and do the exact same thing. Good defense, hit some jacks, be patient at the plate.

[Governator]

It's a complicated issue. Revere and Pillar had good enough on base base averages last year given their other contributions.

 

If Pillar hits .280 he's a fine player, if Revere hits .320 he's a fine player. The problem is that if Pillar hits .250, and Revere hits .290, they might not be good enough to play on a contender.

 

Does the team recognize that?? Do they understand that Revere and Pillar and Goins, as a group need to put up a .320 on base percentage. If they slip to .280 as a group it doesn't matter what their character is.

 

 

What do you mean by as a group they need to put up a .320 OBP? It sounds like add their totals & divide by 3...

[BigCecil]

It's not black and white. Not everyone has the same potential obviously, but a good clubhouse environment, means you don't panic if you get a called third strike. It means you don't swing at garbage because there is a guy on 3rd base, and you want an RBI.

If you like your teammates, you play for the team. If you don't, you play for statistics. A good environment, and good character teammates bring out the best in everyone around them.

 

Case in point:

 

There was a game last year when there was a runner on third base in the 9th inning. Nobody out, and Jays were down by five.

Lawrie comes up, hits a flyball. The runner stays at third base (as he should).

 

Lawrie has a mini-tantrum - not because scoring that run would have increased the Jays chances of winning, but because the smart play, hurt his RBI totals, and batting average.

 

Fair comments. That was with Lind and Lawrie in 2013 I think. I don't think Lawrie is selfish and bad for chemistry. I just think he sucks at pitch recognition as a hitter and he has too much movement in his swing loading.

 

You mentioned Jose and Edwin "taking their walks". You know very few guys can do what Edwin and Jose do at the plate combining power, contact and pitch recognition skills.

[IBTrini]

If the chemistry was so great why didn't they win the ALCS? Explain that. You can't.

cuz... cuz... cuz the Royals had more chemistry?

[Olerud363]

What do you mean by as a group they need to put up a .320 OBP? It sounds like add their totals & divide by 3...

 

All I mean is that combined the goal should be for these players should be to have a .320 on base percentage.

 

There will be random variation, injuries, bad luck, good luck, differences in playing time, so you can't divide by three.

 

They can't fall in love with these guys if they start to slip...

[Olerud363]

Fair comments. That was with Lind and Lawrie in 2013 I think. I don't think Lawrie is selfish and bad for chemistry. I just think he sucks at pitch recognition as a hitter and he has too much movement in his swing loading.

 

You mentioned Jose and Edwin "taking their walks". You know very few guys can do what Edwin and Jose do at the plate combining power, contact and pitch recognition skills.

 

The same could of been said about Ryan Goins 6 months ago. He sucks at pitch recognition. Then all of a sudden he hits puts up a 10% walk rate and becomes a decent player.

 

My god... if you could teach all the Ryan Goins of the world to hit .250 with a 10% walk rate you'd get places.

 

The great questions of our time

 

Why did Ryan Goins take so many walks?? Was it character?? Was it random chance?? Can he repeat it?? My god can other light hitting dudes find the same magic.

 

Does Goins actually have better pitch recognition then Arencibia and Lawrie?? Or was he given better advice?? Or did he just listen cuz he was afraid Donaldson and Bautista would yell at him if he swung at bad pitches?

[L54]

Greenwood is killing it. Well said!

[flafson]

The same could of been said about Ryan Goins 6 months ago. He sucks at pitch recognition. Then all of a sudden he hits puts up a 10% walk rate and becomes a decent player.

 

My god... if you could teach all the Ryan Goins of the world to hit .250 with a 10% walk rate you'd get places.

 

The great questions of our time

 

Why did Ryan Goins take so many walks?? Was it character?? Was it random chance?? Can he repeat it?? My god can other light hitting dudes find the same magic.

 

Does Goins actually have better pitch recognition then Arencibia and Lawrie?? Or was he given better advice?? Or did he just listen cuz he was afraid Donaldson and Bautista would yell at him if he swung at bad pitches?

 

He probably realized that often times walk is as good as a single.