TheHurl

Is Ramos available? I'm pretty sure they were talking extension with him at the end of the season. I don't see anyone else in the org either.

almost identical to JPA in 2011 by Fast's data. Iannetta was worse

This is the part where I'm missing something I think. Who are these extra catchers...they have the two we are discussing, a defensive specialist that can't hit AA pitching and several career minor leaguers. Are the Angels really smart enough to trade Iannetta and sign an equal catcher for less money and commitment?

You are all missing some important names here. 1. Bob Elliot - the guy who is given zero access to Blue Jays front office. 2. LA Angels - They'd be more likely interested in Esmil Rogers or Ricky Romero than Aaron Sanchez. If the intention is to keep JPA and get him a platoon partner it would make more sense for it to be Conger as long run I think JPA can hit lefties if that's all he sees. Iannetta showed signs of decline (K-Rate up, huge defensive decline, has always hit righties and lefties pretty equally but this year against righties he K'd or walked, nothing else) not to mention the chances of him putting up a 17% BB rate in Toronto are nil.

Not sure why you guys are discussing this when we all know that AA has already called Melvin about Weeks. At least it won't cost him a prospect. Moises Sierra for Weeks...book it.

opening day $148M, Overall $159

If someone set a line of number of Lawrie .800 OPS (with 500 PAs) seasons at 2, I'd be betting the under.

.270/.330/.450 is the best season I see him having moving forward. I'm really not a believer in his bat as being better than what he is now.

is that for one month? Honestly I just never see Lawrie as hitting any of those numbers except maybe the .265. And of course I can see Lawrie hitting the 420...and I'm not talking about his slugging percentage.

It's either going to be a good solid change with a new philosophy (Seitzer states in many interviews after he was fired that he doesn't preach up the middle hitting, he preaches up the middle hitting when behind in the count) or it's going to be a complete disaster as players are being pushed in two different directions. The Royals had a dismal start with their new approach but were among the best hitting team in the second half...I can see something like that happening for the Jays. Royals had a better than average K% during his time there...if he can teach a few of the Jays are better two strike approach he'll help us.

RIP Wally Bell

I get so torn...I can't listen to Sutcliffe but I hate to miss Sutcliffeisms.

There was a small anti-AA movement around mid-season 2012.

as I said...a lack of a plan. No clue how to put together a 40 man roster. Obsession with pitchers. In hindsight a lot of this stuff was there, we were blinded by this Ninja image. The minute he was in front of the camera more often (2012 season) it became more obvious that he wasn't this brilliant numbers guy which loved value. He didn't speak at all and let us convince ourselves every move was a good one. I remember when the Wallace for Gose trade happened. I was a big Wallace fan and my opinion on Gose has always been the same (that he can't make contact at a good enough rate to make his bat a positive value) but after the initial shock I justified the trade that the Jays got more athletic and were building up the middle. There were several no doubt moves like League for Morrow, While I still have Lawrie questions the trade for Marcum was solid, moving the Wells contract. But then he waited until guys like Hill, Snider and several of the prospects had no value before moving them, all the while having internal question marks about the players.

Either one of two things were true about AA: He built up a farm with the intention of selling it off in trade or He had no real plan. He never thought about what happens when his 9 picks in the top 100 all have to be added to the 40 man at the same time. He never thought about having depth in a position and moving it. Hording assets with the plan that a percentage will fail, is still asset mis-management. Having so many fail is something completely different with an org wide philosophy issue.

is it too soon to make Boston Marathon jokes? Just wondering

I'd love to see Miggy play an entire season in Fenway...if it were possible for him to do it without being a Red Sox player

Torii Hunter is seriously one reason I want to see the Tigers have another WS failure.

What about Texas and St. Louis? The Cards came off of 2 straight playoff runs and had like 9 rookies play this year. Yes Texas paid the money for Yu, but they also let Hamilton walk and announced at the start of the year that they'd be letting Cruz walk (maybe his indiscretions will put him back into Texas' price range but I doubt it). They gave starts to several rookies as well.

I'd have to think it's a tough temptation to stay away from, I mean every single year there are hundreds of thousands baseball fans and writers that suggest every team sign the biggest free agents and trade for the best players available. There are very few GM's out there constantly just looking for value and of the ones that are, really only St. Louis comes to mind as one that really could break the bank. The rest of the GM's probably aren't that much smarter than the fans and writers that think signing a Josh Hamilton can only improve your team.

Everyone always says winning sells tickets...but we still had 13K for a 31-22 team on June 1st in 2010. We pre-sold 30K for every weekend game before the season started this year, when it comes to finances that kind of commitment is immeasurable. Firesales can turn a profit as well, which is what I said was a big part of every GM's job. Social exchange theory? Where we put our own interests first when making an initial impression of someone. I think it's possible, and maybe I've been influenced by information from the inside, that AA was lucky at the start with teams knowing he was in rebuild mode and dumb GM's came to him with the early deals. I do agree that Beeston is an idiot but I don't think AA is far behind him.

I'm not sure that isn't what they are saying in Angel land. Generally GM's don't fix their own messes, they bring in a new regime to give the appearance of starting new. Does any of us really want AA being the guy that rebuilds this? As much as he looked like he was heading in the right direction in 2010 he still hasn't shown he has a clue how to handle a 40 man roster. Worst thing that can happen to this franchise would be the Jays competing for a wildcard spot this year.

as much as many hate it, selling tickets and turning a profit is a big part of a GM's job. When a GM doesn't have a f***ing clue about value or even baseball, probably best to be one that can convince fans that he has a winning team.

What a surprise he had a pull only approach while in the Jays org.

all I talked about last off season was "what is the plan B if it fails" I didn't see one then and now it is the same, most solid moves left (at least in my mind) are PR nightmares. Really all that's left to do is minor tweaks and hope that improved pitching depth carries you...or even better allows you to trade the veteran starters mid-season. Full rebuild certainly shouldn't happen in the off-season