John_Havok

Hypothetical, somehow trade Cabrera, resigning Davis at 3 million and having a Gose/Davis platoon in LF. Save 5 million, upgrading defense in LF and not losing out on a ton of offense from this year from that position. Also keeps a speed option on the bench. Use the 5 million to try and upgrade the bench... Lets face it at 140 million, we're going to see basically the same product on the field next year, and hope for a different result, unless AA makes some significant moves in the offseason, which is possible, but unlikely to be the kind that would open up the kind of payroll needed to land a guy like Choo, who would be perfect for this team.

So the jays are right now at 110 million without any arb raises or option pickups, including the buyouts of DeRosa and Lind, and assuming Davis is not re-signed, Boni and Lincoln non-tendered and DeRosa bought out. Lind will be picked up for his 7m option probably(add 5m), and I think Colby coming back on a short term extension is likely (maybe the same type of deal that Edwin got, just maybe a few less dollars). Counting on him for 7 million in 2014 is probably close, maybe even conservative. So now up to 122 million. 1st time arb guys who will certainly be retained are Rogers and Cecil. Both so far without injury issues, one of them a reliever only, the other was a reliever turned starter. Recent compatibles from 2012 and 2013 place Cecil about 1m, Rogers maybe 1.5. So that's 124.5 million. League minimums for those in their first 3 years would total about 12 million, so we're up to 136.5 without even considering what these clowns will give JPA, probably 2m is close. Hope he's traded or outright released, but lets say they do retain at 2m and Janssen at 4 million option, that's 142.5 million and here's your roster. C - JPA 1b - Edwin 2b - Izturis SS - Reyes 3b - Lawrie LF- Cabrera CF - Rasmus RF - Bautista DH - Lind Bench (using current roster guys only) Kawasaki Thole Sierra Gose SP(without options) Dickey Morrow Buerhle Happ Rogers BP Janssen Santos McGowan Delabar Cecil Loup J. Perez SP depth - Hutchison, Drabek, Nolin, Jenkins Pen depth - Weber, Redmond, L. Perez, Wagner, Schwimer, Jeffress Other position players: Goins, Gomez, AJ Jimenez. 38 spots on the 40 man roster. 2 empty spots on the 40 man with huge needs on the bench, rotation, catcher and LF unless you still believe in Cabrera.

Yeah. It will be really interesting to see if they make the QO to JJ. You'd think he'd be a prime candidate to bounce back to some sort of respectability in 2014. There's no real interesting arbitration issues... Cecil and Rogers will get their 1st arb deals, maybe Lincoln also but they won't be expensive. JPA might get his too unless the guys running this team grow a brain and realize he's pretty s*****. Trade or non-tendering him and Bonifacio should be no-brain moves. Re-signing Davis is still an option and they could probably get him for 2.5-3

That's just it... The payroll is going to be round 140 with pretty much the same team on the field as this year. Announcing that it's going to increase to 140 really means nothing

At this point I still think the Jays will give him a shot at starting, just limiting his innings this year since as you said, he's thrown a lot of innings in college. I would expect a starting job at Dunedin or Lansing in 2014. His low walk totals are encouraging

Tbh, I don't think people care enough about stuff like this. Internet and wireless is the future of pretty much everything, and Canadians get raped front and back on both for substandard services when you compare to other countries. Lack of competition is a bitch.

I wouldn't really call it a breakout until he stays healthy through the end of the year. But, despite his numbers not being sexy and having been injured every year at some point since being drafted, he's been moved up a level every year.

Shane Opitz is quietly putting together a decent season at High A at a good age/level. Bit of a SSS since he was injured to start the year (seems to get hurt every year, so health might be a concern) but so far at age 21 in High A, 108 AB - .306/.369/.426 left handed MIF, listed at 6'1 180 so a chance to grow into perhaps average power. 17K, 12 walks. Over his last 10 games .344/.421/.500, 5 walks, 5 K. 3 SB with 1 CS Also nice to see perennially injured Kenny Wilson on his rehab tour. He'll be off to New Hampshire again soon.

Roid rage.... he could've hurt someone on his backswing taking out that phone.

I temper my expectations. High A ball is a far cry from the majors, even AA and AAA. More free-swingers and less patient hitters the further you go down the minor league ladder. Not saying the numbers aren't great, just that until he does it against some better competition, it's cautious optimism at best.

So his pitch count was probably what, 75?

This. And the fact that I was an Expos fan before a Jays fan. I really think Vancouver could support a team... get 1 Asian player and half the city would show up.

Not sure why, his FIP and xFIP are both better against RHB than LHB. his K/BB ratio is better against RHB by far. In fact, he's pitched far more often against RHB than LHB and still getting great results, so why would he need to be a LOOGY? .286 wOBA against RHB is pretty good.

That was just a glitch in the MiLB scoreboard. I checked it too and saw the score but everything was way out of whack. They fixed it now

So is Mariano I'm sure

Very much so. He's murder on lefties and good enough against righties that he doesn't have to be pigeonholed as a LOOGY.

I don't think anyone underrated him. He's a good reliever getting great results. Bullpens only matter if you have a good starting staff, they're also very volatile by nature. If anything, I think baseball as a whole still doesn't realize how easy it is to replace good pen arms and build a very good pen on the cheap once you get past the save statistic. There's a few teams that get it, but not many.

Yes you can. He did. All relievers are the very definition of failed starters. If they could have succeeded as starters, then they wouldn't be relievers.

His head got in the way. Has no confidence left

Loup is your typical MLB reliever, failed as a starter in the minors, tweaked his delivery and limiting his repertoire to effective as a reliever in the bigs.

His only base runner reached on an error. Hit 94 with ease according to the game notes

Yes I see it. Sometimes when you first post it you can't see it but if you refresh the browser you can see it

One way to work them both in would be to move Melky, have Gose in CF and Rasmus in LF, the 8 million in savings would easily make up for the arb raise for Colby, but I suspect that Colby met be in line for a 3ish year deal with an option tacked on in true AA style. I think something like 7 million for 2014 and 2 years at 9 million, plus a 10 million option. That's about the same kind of deal Edwin got and would be a pretty decent deal for the Jays. It's certainly less than what he would get on the open market if he had another good year in 2014, but he doesn't have a lot of leverage since he's coming off some pretty bad years and now just 1 decent one.

Yeah I agree, I want Stroman as a starter until he fails, and so far he hasn't. I get that some other clubs bring up kids in the pen first to show them what they're in for, and i think there is merit to that in the event that the kid would have to be added to the roster in the offseason anyways in order to avoid the rule 5 draft, or if he's really dominating the minors and your team has an injury to a few pen arms and you're in a playoff race. Other than that, it doesn't really make sense.