Jimcanuck

Will you agree relying on Sanchez to be the 5th starter is a very risky proposition?

The heatmap shows XBH only

Nah, you want another starter to hedge against scraping the barrel for the Ramon Ortiz of the world come July. Instead of Ortiz as injury fill-in, you've got Sanchez or Norris.

Yes, and he was an injury callup. Exactly how it should be played.... get another starter, and Sanchez and Norris in AAA refining their craft and waiting for the opportunity that will come (going by the above numbers).

Buck has to dumb down for the casual fans on the game broadcasts.

Jiminez is good defensively. MB is going to be a great pitching coach someday, but the AAA coaches are quite good too. Sanchez has about ~30 AAA innings. Norris ~20. They both need some more seasoning. Rushing elite arms to the majors not recommended.

How the f*** did Bautista hit a pitch a foot outside for an XBH?

It's crazy Sanchez might be the 5th man out of ST. Why take such a huge risk when he could be in a lower pressure AAA environment refining his craft and being available in case of injury. The SP depth sucks.

Why would 2015 be any different? Sanchez might not be able to find the strike zone (like Drabek), Norris might get hammered, Dickey get hurt, and again Jays are scraping the barrel. s*** happens. Depth matters. Granted, 5 years is a short sample size.... need about 30 years of data across 6 teams selected at random and use confidence levels to help determine necessary pitching depth.

Looking at Jays history to estimate the number of starts per available starter including depth starters. No. of starts by pitcher 2014 - 34, 32, 32, 30, 26, 8, 6, 3, 1 2013 - 34, 33, 20, 18, 16, 14, 10, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1 2012 - 32, 31, 21, 16, 16, 13, 11, 9, 6, 3, 2, 2 2011 - 32, 30, 20, 20, 14, 13, 10, 8, 4, 4, 4, 3 2010 - 32, 31, 28, 26, 12, 9, 9, 5, 4, 3, 3 5Yr Average - 33, 31, 24, 22, 17, 11, 9, 6, 4, 3, 3, 2, 1 MB - 33 RAD - 31 MS - 24 DH - 22 ME - 17 AS - 11 DN - 9 TR - 6 ? - 4 ? - 3 ? - 3 ? - 2 ? - 1 Of course, it could be MS making 33 starts and MB making 24. The point of the exercise is make a realistic estimate of how many starts your depth starters will make. Going by average, Estrada makes 17 starts, Sanchez 11, Norris 9, Redmond 6, and 5 other pitchers make 13 (Jenkins and journeyman AAAA depth). So are you comfortable with the depth? Note that if Happ wasn't traded (good trade) - Estrada has 11 starts instead of 17, and the others all get bumped down. It's not too bad, but the 17 starts by Estrada (could be more if the injury bug hits), and the combined 20 by Sanchez and Norris make me uncomfortable. Very possibly the difference between postseason and not. Note the very atypical health of the Jays starting 5 in 2014.

Possibly. At least with Happ you know what you are getting. My comment is that he was not excess. Jays now do not have enough SP depth. How many pitchers make more than 5 starts for a team in a given year.

Happ was not by any stretch an excess asset here.

The Rays fans were so very wrong. Big hit to the rep.

Raps on top in the East Leafs good young team Blue Jays looking like strong contenders After a lot of s*** years, things finally looking up

What do you think of de la Rosa from the Rocks?

Only way Ruben gets rid of Hamels salary is he gives him away for a middling couple of prospects

True not good ATM, but lots of time and money available (I think)

Should do a proper poll

Lester Most likely to continue to perform over the term

A guy that can play IF and OF would be great. 3 way for Zobrist addresses a bunch of needs/weaknesses in 1 shot

Bats for Tulo, Reyes to LF, Saunders to RF. Bingo.

Plus De La Rosa has 2 yrs left on his contract so a good bridge to Osuna and others

Would not be surprised if AA goes the trade route to upgrade SP. Someone like de la Rosa from Col Jays have the salary room and the prospects for a Hamels (gulp!)

The guys that jumped are way down the pecking order now

Miller lol