General 2017 Blue Jays Discussion Thread

[Terminator]

 

Sparkman was transferred to the 60-day DL to make room for him which in itself is a good move. Here is fangraphs' profile on Kelly:

 

The Mets signed Ty Kelly as a Minor League Free Agent in November 2015, and he quickly ascended to one of the best hitters in their farm system. He is a gap to gap line drive hitter with doubles power, great contact, and very good batting average and on base ability. In the minors he had more walks than strikeouts, a trait that has carried over into his small, 71 plate appearance, Major League career. Ty Kelly is the king of versatility, playing every position except catcher and pitcher and batting as a switch hitter with no clear platoon splits. With all of this said, he remains a backup utility player, sitting beneath Wilmer Flores and T.J. Rivera on the depth chart. He is not a home run hitter or a base stealer, but his batting average and on base ability should translate at the major league level, at least during short stints as a utility man. (Andrew Perpetua)

 

Seems like this guy would be an improvement over Goins.

[Sorrow]

He was in the Jays org in 2014 or 2015 I think.

[Spanky99]

He was in the Jays org in 2014 or 2015 I think.

 

'15, they clearly like him. Nice depth move.

 

http://www.milb.com/images/571841/generic/180x270/571841.jpg

[Brownie19]

 

Sparkman was transferred to the 60-day DL to make room for him which in itself is a good move. Here is fangraphs' profile on Kelly:

 

 

 

Seems like this guy would be an improvement over Goins.

 

It's a good claim. We had a this guy a few years ago. Between him and Jake Elmore - we have the market on guys who play every position and talk walks like it's their job (but probably can't hit in the majors) covered...

[Terminator]

It's a good claim. We had a this guy a few years ago. Between him and Jake Elmore - we have the market on guys who play every position and talk walks like it's their job (but probably can't hit in the majors) covered...

 

I forgot we used to have him. If there truly is a trade partner for Goins as rumored they should move him for whatever they can get and just promote Kelly. The projections have him pegged for an 85-88 wRC+. He's a switch hitter with no discernible splits and plays every position but C and P.

[bendera3]

I forgot we used to have him. If there truly is a trade partner for Goins as rumored they should move him for whatever they can get and just promote Kelly. The projections have him pegged for an 85-88 wRC+. He's a switch hitter with no discernible splits and plays every position but C and P.

 

But Goins can pitch. Just kidding. I agree.

[justafan]

Why have we Forgotten how poor the hitting was down the stretch and in the playoffs last year. Trend seems to continue to this season as well. Way too many first ball strikes. Should hitting strategy (or coach) not be open to criticism ? Seems fairly quiet on this front.

[Gary]

Wait, is a shitpost supposed to give you a boner?

Yes.

[Spanky99]

Shi Davidi

 

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The similarities between the calf tweak Josh Donaldson suffered at Tropicana Field over the weekend and the one he suffered there early last year are eerie, something that struck the Toronto Blue Jays third baseman.

 

Last year, he hit a home run in the third inning and felt his calf (reported as the right one last year, but said to be the left during spring training) tighten up as he rounded the bases. In the seventh, he hit a weak chopper to the left side in the seventh but walked to first base on a ball he might have beaten out, and then turned straight for the dugout.

 

On Sunday, he hit a home run in the first inning and felt his right calf tighten up a touch as he rounded the bases. In the sixth, he hit a grounder down the third-base line and charged hard to first before pulling up, walking back very gingerly to the dugout.

 

Both games were the finale of a four-game set, and both times the Blue Jays headed home for their home opener afterwards. He ended up playing in it last year, hitting a grand slam in what finished as an 8-7 loss to Boston, and he sounded optimistic about being ready for Tuesday’s opener against the Milwaukee Brewers.

 

“It’s a funny thing,” he says. “I don’t know if it was my right one last year, but [sunday] it was when I hit the homer in the first inning, when I hit first base and was pushing off that I kind of felt it a little bit then. Nothing extravagant by any means.

 

“As the game went on, I was trying to leg out the ball down the line and it almost felt like a bit of a cramp. With my right calf, as cautious as we were in spring training, the situation, I thought it was a good idea to get off it for the rest of the day.”

 

Donaldson missed most of spring training with a right calf strain, but the latest incident is thought to be unrelated.

 

“This is was in the outside part of my calf,” he explains. “It sort of started to respond to some treatment that we were doing after, everything checked out to be in good shape. Day-to-day is what they’re telling me.”

 

SLOW STARTS:

 

At 1-5 out of the gate, the Blue Jays have matched their worst start through six games first set in 2004, but they’re only a game off the 2-4 pace they opened with last year. While last year issues with the bullpen were front and centre, the primary culprit so far is a lack of offence.

 

The Blue Jays have only 20 runs so far for an average of 3.33 per contest, but have scored two or less in four of the six games. Collectively, they’ve posted a .201/.279/.297 slash line and their four home runs are second-last in the American League, one up on Boston, and their .576 OPS is better than only Seattle’s .535.

 

“In spring training, you have guys playing in, out, in, out, you’re not really playing every day, you start getting into the mix of things, having to go from day to night, something you don’t really experience right away. Especially with some guys on our team, we do have an older lineup as far as position players are concerned, so we do our best to get everybody ready,” Donaldson says in trying to offer an explanation.

 

“With that said, you don’t really go through what you’re getting into in the season until you’re here. I believe that will start changing, and I believe that our guys are going to bounce back sooner than later and I still feel very good about our team.”

 

Struggles at the beginning of a season become magnified because there isn’t a body of work to counter them against. That in turn distorts the stats, something Marco Estrada warns against.

 

“No one should pay attention to the numbers right now, I wouldn’t put anything into it, we’re six games in right now, it really doesn’t matter, this means nothing,” he says. “Obviously we want to win every game but we’re all still trying to get things going. I saw a lot of positive things out there and we’ve got a really good team, we’ve just got to put it together. It’s going to come. Going back home is going to make us feel a little bit better about ourselves and we’ll play a little bit better. We’ll get things going. We’re six games in, don’t buy too much into it right now.”

 

Adds Troy Tulowitzki: “It was definitely tough, 1-5 is not the way you want to start, but good thing there’s 162 of these. It’s only six games, go back home in front of our great fans and get this thing rolling. We’ve got a good ball club, there’s no panic in here. We’re going to be just fine, I promise you that.”

 

SIMMERING FEUD:

 

There was an interesting bit of interplay at home plate in the third inning Sunday between Steve Souza Jr., and Russell Martin. The previous inning, the dugouts emptied after Tulowitzki criticized the Tampa Bay Rays outfielder for a late slide and before he stepped into the batter’s box, he decided to try and explain himself to the Blue Jays catcher.

 

“Anytime something like that happens, I try and clear it up with him,” says Souza. “He’s usually very reasonable about dealing with it. He agreed. He was just trying to protect his player. He thought [the slide] was dangerous. I said listen, it was late, I didn’t know what was going on behind me, and we cleared the air. Hopefully we can move on from this one.”

 

Martin was among the Blue Jays angered by Souza’s slide, which broke an unwritten baseball rule about sliding over top of the bag with legs up. Souza nearly clipped Tulowitzki’s right foot, which was off the bag, and then his left one, which was on it.

 

Tulo on Souza's slide: Felt it was late, said something to protect future players

“It was real close,” says Tulowitzki. “I like playing this game. If I’m going to get hurt, I don’t want it to be on something like that.”

 

As Souza engaged in an animated discussion with Martin, Rays manager Kevin Cash started yelling at his right-fielder.

 

“Our entire bench was like let’s go, this is the at-bat of the game right now, a really big at-bat for us,” says Cash. “We were just hoping Souza would let it go and focus on hitting the three-run homer.”

 

That’s what Souza ended up doing, the decisive blow in a 7-2 win.

[KingKat]

I forgot we used to have him. If there truly is a trade partner for Goins as rumored they should move him for whatever they can get and just promote Kelly. The projections have him pegged for an 85-88 wRC+. He's a switch hitter with no discernible splits and plays every position but C and P.

 

Kelly is the next best 3B on the depth chart. Would make sense to activate him now and give Donaldson some DH starts while he deals with his injury.

[Boxcar]

http://i.imgur.com/JQlk2Vw.png

 

I've never seen this before and I lol'd but it really bothers me that "rustling" is spelled wrong. Kind of like how "Toronto Maple Leafs" really bothers me.

 

Spell words right for f*** sales!!

[Boxcar]

Ironically, this lineup could be criticized for taking Smoak out of the lineup since he is actually off to a decent start with a wRC+ of 99 in 19 PA (versus Pearce with -14 ? wRC+ in 17 PA and Zeke with 57 wRC+ in 13 PA). I know tiny sample size, but for a guy with confidence issues, benching him when he is actually doing decent is not going to help. However, if it is between Smoak and Morales, you have to go with Morales.

 

Probably better to just give Donaldson a few days off completely because DHing is still going to put strain on the bad leg when baserunning. Although it's scary to think he is probably the only hitter in the Jays lineup who the opposition fears right now.

 

99 wRC+ for a guy who can only give you any value with his bat is not very good.

[Grant77]

Kelly is the next best 3B on the depth chart. Would make sense to activate him now and give Donaldson some DH starts while he deals with his injury.

 

I think that Darwin Barney is probably a better option at 3B. He'll give us good at-bats and good defense, although the lack of power isn't ideal.

[Boxcar]

I think that Darwin Barney is probably a better option at 3B. He'll give us good at-bats and good defense, although the lack of power isn't ideal.

 

Darwin Barney is not a good defender at third base.

[Terminator]

Darwin Barney is not a good defender at third base.

 

He doesn't give good at bats either.

[Bobthe4th]

I think that Darwin Barney is probably a better option at 3B. He'll give us good at-bats and good defense, although the lack of power isn't ideal.

 

Yeah Barney to 3B if Donaldson has to DH is the way to go, means not exposing anyone to waivers as well.

[Brownie19]

Where's Brett Lawrie when you need him???

[P2F]

Spell words right for f*** sales!!

 

Excuse me, for I'm dumn, but I have to ask: intentional typo?

[Grant77]

Darwin Barney is not a good defender at third base.

 

He's only had 246 innings at third base, but looks good there and has elite advanced metrics in that small sample. I stand by my statement.

[Krylian]

Where's Brett Lawrie when you need him???

 

Probably doing something stupid

[Spanky99]

Excuse me, for I'm dumn, but I have to ask: intentional typo?

 

Yes.

[Jonn]

Barney struggled at third base last year. He looks so smooth at second base and shortstop. At third he can't seem to throw the Ball across the diamond. Every play looked extremely awkward.

 

He should only be in the lineup against Lefties and ideally only when we have no better option. He got off to a grear start last year and didn't hit for like 3 straight months.

[wk680]

99 wRC+ for a guy who can only give you any value with his bat is not very good.

 

Yes, but my point was he is at least showing some life at the plate and as a player known to have confidence issues, it seems counterproductive to sit him out when he is not struggling. The weird thing is when you look at his ratings on fangraphs, his baserunning rating is not too bad considering how slow he runs. But then there is his negative defensive rating for every season he has played, which makes me wonder why he ever got a reputation as a good 1Bman Or was that just a Rogers propaganda message?

[Brownie19]

Yes, but my point was he is at least showing some life at the plate and as a player known to have confidence issues, it seems counterproductive to sit him out when he is not struggling. The weird thing is when you look at his ratings on fangraphs, his baserunning rating is not too bad considering how slow he runs. But then there is his negative defensive rating for every season he has played, which makes me wonder why he ever got a reputation as a good 1Bman Or was that just a Rogers propaganda message?

 

Nearly every 1st baseman's defensive value is a negative on fangraphs. You need to understand what it means.

[glory]

Goins at 3B today.

 

Great.

[wk680]

Nearly every 1st baseman's defensive value is a negative on fangraphs. You need to understand what it means.

 

Yes it's hard to remember which of these numbers are position adjusted. The 2016 Gold Glove recipient at 1B (Moreland) had a -3.4 Def rating.

[Bojangles]

[Jonn]

Goins at 3B today.

 

Great.

 

rippppppppppp

[Terminator]

Goins at 3B today.

 

Great.

 

I don't really mind it considering the options. Goins vs RHP probably is about as good as Barney vs. RHP. Goins seems to have a better arm sp he might even be better defensively at 3B.

[KingKat]

I don't really mind it considering the options. Goins vs RHP probably is about as good as Barney vs. RHP. Goins seems to have a better arm sp he might even be better defensively at 3B.

 

Ty Kelly though...