Laika

BTS will love this. He covets Doubront.

Well.... the truth it out there. Simple google search top 3 hits: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3445126/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3435945/ http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095254612000427 Learn what all of the obtuse biomechanics language means and then dive into Google Scholar!

Enough players have played baseball and had surgery at this point that you can certainly correlate the presence of certain things with injury risk. That's a huge job though. Most of it is in-house, I think. Not sure if there's anything publicly available like that. I don't actually know what any of the indicators are. You're right that it's hogwash a lot of the time. People will just pick a guy's delivery apart with pictures after he gets hurt and say - "look at those high elbows - I told you so!". But the one thing that it has going for it is sensibility.

Buehrle is basically the model. You want that arm cocked (upright), hand and forearm pointed toward the corner base at foot plant, and you don't want a stiff front leg. But really the problem isn't the arm action itself. A pitcher can have an ugly Inverted W and still get to where Buehrle is at the critical moment. The messy arm actions just lead to an increased likelihood that a guy's timing will be off when it matters. They are like proxy measures, because most of the time there is no high speed camera of a guy's motion. But there's a reason that people do the "tricks". They increase stress on the arm/elbow/shoulder, and that stress can = more velocity! Guys (coaches) can trade a bit of health for a bit of velocity, in theory, sort of. Also this isn't science and you're talking about increases in % chance of getting hurt - pitching at all, even with perfect form, is unnatural and dangerous.

You'll also be pleased to know that there's an Inverted L. Observe: http://www.chrisoleary.com/projects/Baseball/Pitching/Images/Pitchers/BJRyan/BJRyan_2006_001.jpg Inverted W: http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/634355/prior_motion_medium.jpg The Power T: http://www.chrisoleary.com/projects/PitchingMechanics101/_Images/Pitchers/Harvey_Matt_002.jpg subverted S: http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2009/0310/mlb_u_ziegler_300.jpg And lastly, the sans serif: All very bad omens for arm health.

TJS don't hassle the Hoff ugh

Three reasons. 1) Inverted W is a more memorable term than "the M", which is too short. 2) An M and a W aren't really mirror images as commonly written. M's have vertical legs 3) because you touch yourself at night

He's just big on the notion that players need to understand and be in charge and control of their own swings.

inverted W

I don't hate the article even if it's pretty thin and lazy, but why call it Are Swinging Strikes Better Than Called Strikes? and then not even attempt to answer that question? All he did was use Vance Worley and a tweet response to show that called strike rate doesn't have an overwhelmingly high year to year correlation when you remove catcher, umpire, park effects, etc. because these things have a big influence on it. One Blue Jays take-away could be that Russell Martin could very well be the difference between whether Aaron Sanchez can sink or swim as a SP. We all know how important called strike rate will be for him.

Apparently Santiago is signing back with the Jays

Well considering it's a "Win Prediction Thread", it would just be f***ing stupid.

I like the boys assembled. I see 4 legit SP, a murderers row offense, a much improved defense, and if I put blinders on and only think about 2015 it's even possible to be optimistic about what the two kids in the bullpen will do for the team.

90 wins

He's so much Jarred Cosart that it hurts

Ugh, John. Ugh, author. Don't use that quote.

nope, just looking at their reasonable projections and entire statistical histories

Just had a wonderful thought - what is throwing Osuna and Castro onto the big league club is all part of the long game? In this summer's international free agent signing period we already know that the Blue Jays and Dodgers are both planning to spend past the limit. Vlad Jr. alone will take the Jays over theirs and prohibit them from signing any big players in the next two seasons, but beyond him it will be hard (impossible) for Toronto to compete with LA on any other players unless the Jays already have some verbal agreement with them. Toronto just can't offer these kids nearly as much money as the Dodgers can. BUT, maybe they can offer them the hope that they will reach the big leagues 2-3 years before they would if they sign with LA. The quicker a kid reaches the big leagues, the quicker they reach free agency. Osuna and Castro, if they stick, will both reach free agency at around 26 years old - an almost unheard of age to be a free agent, and a factor that would definitely boost their market value by a large amount. They would be marketing their entire physical prime! Maybe the quick Osuna and Castro promotions are on one hand about competing this year, but on another hand about trying to attract a f***ing boat load of 16/17 year old Latin American talent this summer. Especially for the kids who are in the moderate to small bonus range, the glimmer of hope that your signing organization might push you up to The Show quicker than any other team could be a big difference maker. And for this to happen at the same time as Kris Bryant is getting CBA'd in the face by his huge market team - to show international free agents that the Blue Jays don't f*** around with service time or twiddle their thumbs and let you ride a bus for 6 years - it could be a big deal.

Well I'm OK with that consequence! I like Tolleson if the fit is right, but it ain't so his utility is gone.

I'd just roll with Travis. He looks pretty legit on both sides of the ball.

I think not

You both make good points. BTS, all of those gripes could be dealt with very quickly if Navarro gets dealt early, Saunders comes back early (Tolleson out), and they sneak Hendriks through waivers and bring up Goins (when Saunders comes back).

the Estrada - Sanchez role flip could come pretty early on.

Man Sanchez is competing so hard out there today. Love it.

They switch during the game but Wilner was doing play by play to start.