Grant77

Our deadline aquisitions haven't been great, but at least we didn't add Dustin May. I didn't think he could get worse, but he has.

The traditional role of the pitching coach is confined mostly to working with starters and in-game management. He does work with relievers too and can accept some blame, but if you want to blame a coach then I would focus more on the bullpen coach

Nobody would take their defense over ours either. I was just making a general statement in order to help highlight the tremendous differences between our bullpens.

We're the Brewer's equal in terms of starting pitching, defense, and hitting. The bullpen is what makes all of the difference.

Let's see what Tommy Nance can do. He's the only reliever that hasn't been absolutely horrendous this month. I'd also consider bringing Yesavage up right now to pitch some high leverage relief innings. All options need to be on the table.

We can't see Hoffman in the closer's role going forward. We just can't, period. I don't care what the statistics say anymore.

Boston traded Priester for nothing in favour of Walker Buehler.

Very nice at-bats this inning against a good pitcher. I wish they could be this focused against bad teams.

BJ Ryan had fantastic statistics in his two healthy seasons with the Blue Jays. The signing was bad because he was injured in the other two. I'm sorry that you weren't able to enjoy his pitching, particularly his amazing first season where we won 87 games and made a nice little run at a playoff spot under Gibby.

Not even close. The record holder is none other than Cy Young. The record for an active player is actually a current Blue Jay.

Of course I was, but those guys were all generally pretty good. I'd argue that all of them have been better than Hoffman in a Jays uniform. Your point would make more sense of you went with Kevin Gregg or Miguel Batista.

I can't recall a Jays closer that made me more nervous than Hoffman does. Every pitch feels like a potential home run. I'm glad he got it done this time though. Jays win!

Hoffman still getting crushed and bailed out. Thank God for Gold Glove Straw.

Guys, we found our ace for the playoffs. Ryan Borucki is back on minor league deal.

For quite some time in the 1800s, the National league was the only major league with current teams like the Cubs, Reds, Pirates, Dodgers, Giants, and Phillies. A rival league called the Western League (later the American league) sometimes had their own teams in the same city (like Chicago), as well as places like Detroit and Cleveland. In 1901 they declared themselves a major league and merged with the National League in 1903, with the first World Series played between the Pirates and a team that would later be the Red Sox. I think people who appreciate that history would want to keep the historic teams in their own league. As is, the Chicago and New York rivalries are certainly amongst the most intense in baseball. I can also understand fans less interested in baseball history wouldn't care and just want a ton of games between the Cubs and White Sox every year, but I think it's a bad idea.

To me it would really be a shame if we saw teams like the Mets/Yankees and Cubs/White Sox in the same league. I think there's something special about them being in different leagues and at least having the potential to meet in the World Series.

The Mariners sure have tanked hard after the deadline. Their pitching has been 23rd in WAR, backed up by horrendous defense and a below average offense. The Royals might give them a run if this keeps up.

If a team goes to Portland, the Rockies are in a difficult spot where they really, really don't make sense in the Western divisions that would have 8 very obvious teams. Minneapolis, Kansas City, and Arlington are the closest teams to Denver by a pretty significant margin, so that made some sense to me. The only other scenario I could see for them is if you lumped in Arizona with the Texas teams and maybe the Rays, which would free up Colorado to play in the West with the Dodgers, Giants, and Padres.

I looked at that, but it's really hard to see where the White Sox end up in that scenario unless they move to the NL or go to some weird south division with the Rangers and Astros.

There has been a lot of talk about expansion and realignment lately, with the Blue Jays as one several teams that are seemingly 'on the bubble' with regards to a division change. I have seen scenarios where we remain in the East, move to the Central, or end up in an entirely new division centered around the Great Lakes. This could be a very consequential decision for the Blue Jays. I won't try to predict the future, but it's easy to imagine a scenario where we were in the Central for the last 30 years and had a few more playoff appearances and perhaps even another World Series title. I thought it would be fun to take a look at the map and see if we can make some predictions about where the Jays will end up. These could be wrong, but I'm going to predict some of the criteria that will be important to MLB, based on the way they have historically done things. I'm also going to use 4 divisions of 4 teams in each league. My criteria in order of importance are: - Preservation of historic rivalries - Minimal league switches for existing teams - Same state/city teams being in different leagues (except California and Pirates/Phillies) - One expansion team in each league - Geography and travel schedules I figured that the easiest way to start would be to identify some of MLB's best and most longstanding rivalries to start the divisions and here's what I came up with: AL East: Yankees Red Sox Orioles AL Great Lakes: Tigers Guardians White Sox AL Central: AL West: NL East: Braves Phillies NL Central: Pirates Reds NL Midwest: Cubs Cardinals NL West: Giants Dodgers These aren't set in stone, but you can bet that MLB would be keen to keep those rivalries intact for the most part, particularly the big ones like Yankees-Red Sox and Cubs-Cardinals. Next I'm going to look at the West Divisions, which will be painfully obvious if a team ends up in Portland (which I predict here), since there will be 8 teams on the West Coast. As per my criteria, I will prioritize league continuity for these teams. I'm also going to add the Mets to the NL East because it's just obvious. AL East: Yankees Red Sox Orioles AL Great Lakes: Tigers Guardians White Sox AL Central: AL West: Athletics Angels Mariners Portland NL East: Braves Phillies Mets NL Central: Pirates Reds NL Midwest: Cubs Cardinals NL West: Giants Dodgers Padres Diamondbacks I've been through this exercise with a different thought process a few times and you always end up with the same teams that just aren't obvious fits in any division. The Blue Jays are one of those teams, but there are also the Rockies, the Texas teams, and the Florida teams. I recall back in 2013 that MLB had serious reservations about moving the Astros to the AL, given that they would be in the same league as the Rangers. This gives them an opportunity to resolve that longstanding problem. Colorado also stands out as a big problem geographically, given that the 3 closest remaining teams are all in the AL (Minnesota, Kansas City, and Texas). For that reason, I will propose my one and only league change and create a new AL Central division. This also leaves us with 2 remaining teams in the AL, the Blue Jays and the Rays, and their fit is obvious. The only other option for the Jays is to remain in the East and create some kind of southern division for the Rays, but I haven't seen anything that really makes sense. The stickiest part of this exercise for me was what to do with the rest of the NL teams (Brewers, Astros, Marlins, Nationals, and the expansion franchise). Keeping the Braves and Phillies rivalry intact results in some wacky divisions that I couldn't resolve, but once I cracked it, everything really fell into place and made sense from a geographic standpoint, so that's what I did. AL East: Yankees Red Sox Orioles Rays AL Great Lakes: Tigers Guardians White Sox Blue Jays AL Central: Twins Rockies Rangers Royals AL West: Athletics Angels Mariners Portland NL East: Nationals Phillies Mets Marlins NL Central: Pirates Reds Braves Memphis ? NL Midwest: Cubs Cardinals Brewers Astros NL West: Giants Dodgers Padres Diamondbacks Don't take any of this too seriously, but this is a sensible division alignment that prioritizes the criteria that I listed above. I essentially left four divisions entirely intact (minus one team) and two others with 3 of the same teams. The Al Central (with the Twins and Royals remaining) and the NL Central (with the Reds and Pirates remaining) were the only divisions that were kind of blown up, but they each make a lot of geographic sense. You could very well see something like this if the league wants to minimize disruptions. Hopefully it leads to some good discussion. Please share what you think new divisions will be.

I'm loving this 93+ and good command. I don't want to get too ahead of myself, but he looks like Shane Bieber.

It's time!

Not really related, but I wonder if the Jays can find a way to bring a Traject machine to their clubhouse on the road. I know it's not a simple device and it wouldn't be cheap, but it would almost be worth it regardless of the cost

That's all on fangraphs and you can sort to a specific date range.

The Blue Jays not being in a division called the AL North would be hilarious.