oakville69

true, but it's been a whilesince the jays have played an AL East team.

I agree. I like kawasaki but with reyes back & izturis/Bonifacio playing better, kawasaki wouldn't get many at bats. The lock down bullpen is key to the jays success going forward

It has been quite a ride on the roller coaster ride this year. Last October, the Jays former manager, John Farrell gets traded at his request to the Red Sox. November comes along with the Marlins trade, then Melky gets signed. Dickey is the Christmas present. Playoffs looked virtually guaranteed. April 2nd 2013 comes around, & the Jays flop at the home opener. April & early May are horrible., with a record of 10-21. Since then, the Jays are 25-15 with Esmail Rogers & Chien Min Wang in the rotation. The Jays have 10 games coming up against the AL East. How will they do? What I find strange is that I went through the 5 stages of emotions in dealing with the Jays this year a few weeks ago & accepted the likelyhood of no playoffs this year. I watched the recent games with a serene attitude. Now the Jays are back in the thick of a playoff race & I am getting nervous again. The scary thing is that almost every loss from now till September 29th could mean the difference between playoffs or no playoffs. It looks like we have some competitive baseball to play at least through July.

Fair point, but couldn't Lind argue that no one else wanted him when he was DFA'd last year & so now if the Jays DFA'd him in 2013, 29 teams would want him? It's an incredible turnaround.

Is Adam Lind eligible for this award? He was DFA'd in 2012 & is on the verge of winning a batting title. From what I read on Wikipedia, the award is for people who were injured or have "personal problems". Adam did have some back trouble last year , so I am not sure if that counts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Baseball_Comeback_Player_of_the_Year_Award#American_League_winners

If you trade Colby, what do you get in return? prospect pitcher? prospect 2B?. Colby is better than Gose now, but maybe that changes in 2014. Gose has to be able to hit. He can't steal 1B.

I think the Jays hopes for a playoff spot are still very slim, but the games are watchable now. If the Jays play .550 for the rest of the season, they will end up with 83 wins. With Reyes & better pitching, Jays could play better than 550 ball. At the very least, we will see some fun baseball from now till the end of the season. I have my tickets for September 29th against the Rays, so if they are still in a race by then I will overjoyed.

The more years I spend watching baseball, the more I realize that anything can happen & being first to dump on players is not a sound strategy. Lind was DFA'd last year. Cecil was on his last legs etc. Players can have up & downs in their careers. Jays fans wanted to run Aaron Hill, Alex Rios, Vernon Wells out of town a few years ago.

Zaun was on Tim & Sid's show at 3 pm on June 13th. https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/tim-and-sid/id488721911 He was very candid & said the Jays should be sellers at the deadline if they are not in a playoff race. Specifically, he said the Jays should move Johnson,Buerhle , JPA, Lawrie Izturis, Rajai Davis, & a player who can't bunt & plays sloppy defense. ( Boneface?) Zaun said Bret Lawrie should hit 270 with 20 HR's. Davis could be a useful a 4th OF for a playoff team Tim & Sid said that JPA & Lawrie have low trade value now. Zaun said Lawrie isn't producing, has attitude & behavior problems. Zaun was upset with the errors the Jays were bad at playing sound fundamental baseball. I doubt AA would trade all these players, but Johnson is the most likely to go.

Same here. I went to the game last Saturday & had to leave before it finished. This week I have only been able to watch them on Jays 30. I know "team gelling" is not scientific, but it seems to me that it did take time to get players playing up to career averages. If Reyes comes back soon, the Jays have a shot at 500 before the all star break.

Agreed. Attendance is still strong despite a last place team that has floundered since April 2. I read somewhere that TV ratings are flat which is OK. If Rogers has a lineup on opening day 2014 that looks "playoff" calibre team then Rogers will be happy & Jays fans will be happy.

I hope so. It was in May 2011, so maybe they will have it later this year. Parks Canada sponsored the 2011 event, so maybe it will be cancelled with federal government budget cuts?

Oakland did not play almost half its games against the AL East. This year you have 4 strong teams in the AL East. In the past , the Jays could always beat up on the Orioles. The Orioles are a good team now. I thought the Yankees would be much weaker than expected.

Yup. I have a photo with Casey Janssen. I joked with Casey that they had to try & get Jo Jo Reyes a win that season. Casey said they were trying. At that point in the season , he had still not won a game for the Jays. Eric Thames was cool too. Rajai said he loved stealing bases. They played the Astros that day & won. The funny thing is that it was JR Jays Saturday, & Jo Jo Reyes & Brett Cecil were signing autographs for kids during the pre game festivities. I forbid my daughter from getting a Jo Jo Reyes autograph because I thought that kids at her school would laugh at her when they realized what a poor baseball player he was. The Jays camp events are very good value.

Very true. He's also a great guy off the field. My daughter & I met him at the Jays camp sleepover in May 2011. very friendly & posed for pictures. He can steal his way from 1B to home if needed. His defence is not as good as Colby.

I was at the game that Lambchops made his return in September 2011 & was at yesterday's game as well. I am surprised Gibby put him in a high leverage situation yesterday. At this point any innings he can pitch is a plus. I would leave him in the bullpen. It's too risky to make him a starter now.

I agree that Thole should have been here in April or May. It was clear that Blanco could only be used 1/5 games & could not be a good bat off the bench. Thole can catch 2 out of 5. Will Blanco stay in Buffalo or retire?

Excellent news!. I was honored to see Dusty's return to the MLB in September 2011 against the Red Sox. The poor guy has spent more time on the DL than as an active player with the Jays. Having him back this year will help the Jays make .500.

I would have never even thought those numbers were possible, but the Jays have been very disappointing this year. Astros better than expected

OK Thanks, I checked it out & it works fine.

Wilner call rajaidavis "Mike from Toronto" an idiot & a jackass. He also said he did not deserve a response to his call. Now it's clear on tape that the caller said "Homer" & not "Homo", so I don't know why Wilner got so upset.

Mike called him a jackass. He was clearly flustered. Wilner couldn't come up with a reply.

Will there be a mobile version of this site developed?

On Saturday night's Jays Talk, Mike called one caller a Jackass after the caller called Mike a Homer. Mike said the jays could shop Melky,Buehle & Josh Johnson at the trade deadline. Mike acknowledged that the Jays should beat the Padres 2 out of 3 games. He said he understood why fans are frustrated.

At this point in the season, I get enjoyment of listening to Mike Wilner desperately trying to convince Jays Talk callers that everything is "fine" with the Jays. If the Jays were playing in NY ,Boston or Philadelphia, fans would be in revolt against the GM, Manager & certain players. I prefer the analysis of Dirk Hayhurst & sometimes Greg Zaun to Wilner who is a Rogers apologist. The next time AA shows up on the radio, he should be forced to explain why he is constantly sugarcoating the injury situation.