GeorgiaPeach

The weird thing is when he was rapidly building the farm and making value additions to the team, it was all based around 'up the middle', defense-oriented athletic players. And then.....this rapid flip to full blown retard.

With all the raving about not signing Martin. What was the reason the Yanks let him walk for essentially very little extra money?

Seems like Alex has the reverse philosophy of Branch Rickey. Alex likes keeping guys years too long than getting rid of them a year early.

Exhibition games at a brutal park, awesome.

Is Alex gonna flip on this as well.....stop signing guys to team friendly deals? Just start spending like a f***ing retard.

Seeing as we have nothing coming from the farm. And Rasmus' trade value is less than desirable, its the logical thing to do.

I'd prefer a player I expect to do something opposed to someone who you pretty much throw your hands up every game and wonder what's coming.

How many "great" players are in baseball right now?

Similar if Colby's playing at his absolute best and Jones is just playing?

Kinda like what happened with Zaun, Fasano & Villanueva......"yeah, yeah....you'll be playing the position or where you want." ROFL!!!

What?

As Hurl said, Rasmus has more real value to us than he does in trade. And I agree 100% with that view. So trading him would actually hurt us, more than help.

There's way too many people where the glass is always full.

The only reason the decision should have been way above Alex's head was due to the bad publicity. If the suits including Beeston who's only a rung above Alex starts interjecting the good load they have for brains in Baseball decisions, the Jays are in big trouble.

Lets not use the word great. He's a good, smart hitter. You ever have a look at aging curves? I know Jose started out late in a baseball player's life, but life in the early to mid-30's the curve isn't kind on hitters.

I think he got pouty and spiteful in AAA this year. He was probably watching Melky bumblef*** his way around LF and got pissed when Alex was rocketing numerous s*** RP's and spot starters to the majors to make up for the mentally fragile pitching staff and running with a depleted bench and inadequate player in Davis get significant playing time.

I've been disappointed with Bautista's defence since he showed up here. As much as he's a player who works his ass off to improve, he's very pedestrian & improvises poorly in the OF and is often in poor position to make catches he's moving back on. He's turning 33 soon and as players age, they aren't getting better. Sorry, he isn't what he is from a few years ago....and those were his later prime years...... I know I can't wait for his retirement party. Nothing like keeping players around for old times sake, loyalty and memories. Oh wait Jays fans make fun of the Yankees and Jeter for the same s***. But it's the Jays and Bautista, so its okay.

Sorry, in Toronto a name player is a Superstar or future HOF. Otherwise they're a nobody and the fans will be clicking away texting on their Iphones or Galaxy's Winning also attracts fans. And a strong farm pipelining talent to the majors ensures a steady flow of young, cheap controllable talent. I guess Alex or the suits got impatient and couldn't wait. Sad, because the team is in the same boat now as the Sox and Yankees. And the fans that loved the Marlins & Dickey trades are in for a rude awakening if Alex doesn't undo this mess soon.

If the OP believes Rogers execs told him to do that and he meant Beeston, I'd believe his silly conspiracy. But if he believes Nadir Mohamed or his underlings came up with those ideas close to what was laid out is completely ludicrous.

Rajai's actually an inadequate 4thOF. He's limited to being a solid LF defensive replacement. Putting him in CF is a pinch or emergency situation and shouldn't be relied on. And as you stated his arm is weak. That coupled with shaky defence makes RF even less desirable to slot him. And Rajai's hitting is only good against lefties (25-30%) of all innings pitched.

If Gose could put up a slash line of 260/320/370 in FT duties, I'd be more than happy if he was pencilled in as the starting CF. For me its not worrying about how he's not going to be great with the bat. It's about maximizing his defence, base running and speed and expecting numbers he's typically put up in the minors in very age relative environments. If he can't put up those numbers at the plate, then yes move him to a 4th OF role. Sad thing is Bautista's declining hard offensively and defensively in RF. And I'm not a fan of Melky remaining with the team beyond 2014. So there's 2 other OF slots we're going to need replacements for and there's nothing in the system coming.

The tools every 4th OF possesses. Seeing as the Jays are contractually obligated to Melky and they'd get nothing via trade this upcoming off season. I'd like to see Gose start out the 2014 season as the 4th OF. Allow Melky if healthy to play regularly build his value up and the Jays move him in June/July. Then slide Gose into CF and move Rasmus to LF.

If the Jays don't have a chest full of cash to spend with the big boys, at what point do the fans or the Jays FO realize that a mildly expensive team with no farm is going to collapse? If you can't draw the big free agents and don't have a farm, what do you have? A team that isn't contending without a shitload of luck. And as much as fans love seeing a s*** team get lucky, I don't. Fluke teams make my skin crawl. When you say you suspect "Alex will move one of the big names; Stroman, Sanchez, Osuna, Hutch." Those aren't huge names across baseball....they may be just inside the Top 50-100 range for the 4 names listed, but definitely not elite. And then you went on to say "if he does pull the trigger it better be for a star 2B, SP or C"?????? What teams out there are itching to trade their star players (not they made the All-star team, but IMO Top 5'ish players in baseball at their position) for Top 50'ish-100 prospects? And really I don't want the Jays to make those trades. I'd rather see good youth with tons of financial flexibility and pursue and overpay free agents to come here.

After hearing the interview with Alex, the problem on the defence for me was more during the season when Cabrera was left to hobble around the OF and we were down Reyes and Lawrie. The emphasis from the FO was directed to solidify the pen and it should've been to call up a position player to replace Melky, not rely heavily on Rajai and a deplete the bench. IMO the starters should've been left in to pitch more innings and take their lumps when they were getting beat up, opposed to pulling them after a couple innings and wasting the pen. Alex created a bigger problem by promoting more pen arms and running with an 8 or 9 man 'pen.

With Escobar's eyeblack issue coupled with his behaviour on the field, it was easy to include him in the Marlins trade when it started to come together. Alex probably thought because of the behaviour he wouldn't have got anything in return dealing Escobar alone, a big, lazy mistake on Alex's part, but that's what I think happened.