jaysblue

I would like to see the Braves come out of the NL. Love their team and gotta show AA some support! He's done a fantastic job with that organization!

Just remember A. J. Preller is the GM and President of Baseball Operations for the Padres. That should make your decision easier.

The Tribe! Would love to see them knock out the Yankees. Love their rotation of Bieber, McKenzie, Quantrill and their deep bullpen. They don't have a scary lineup on paper, though they can cause havoc by racking up opposing pitchers pitch counts, put the ball in play, and run the bases well. Also, they pay good odds in Vegas!

Brewers probably have one of the best #1-2 punches in all of baseball. They need Peralta to stay healthy. Lauer was solid. Houser isn't that great. Ashby still needs to find some more consistency, but I like his upside still. I don't see them trading Woodruff or Burnes until the trade deadline in 2024 or next offseason if they decide to cash in on one or both of them before they hit free agency. Brewers could probably use another arm in their rotation and push Houser to a swingman role and keep Ashby maybe in the minors to start the year. Shocking to see Stearns admit that. Hader didn't pitch well at all down the stretch with San Diego, though I guess everyone in the clubhouse loved him. I'm not sure trading him or not would have made a difference of them making the Postseason, when they had Devin Williams already, though I suppose it did hurt team morale over the final two months more than anything from the sounds of it. Brewers were in first place on August 1st as well. Interesting.

I had no problem leaving Gausman in personally. I didn't even expect him to get pulled, so when I saw Schneider walking out I was really surprised. I saw he got those two outs and looked like he settled back in. He's your ace, making over $100 million, at 94 pitches into the 6th inning, with an 8-1 lead. As well with a Game 3 looming, didn't you want to save some arms in your pen rather than use them all in Game 2? I think it made sense to roll with Gausman given the situation and a possible Game 3 to played the next day. Sure, we know some fans will question any move and blame anyone. If Gausman gave up a grand slam, I would have been like damn, so be it. It's still an 8-5 game, now you can roll with the pen. I still wouldn't have had a problem with Schneider leaving him in given that situation. If this was in the 7th or 8th inning and he was well over 100 pitches, then different story, especially if it's a closer score like 4-1 or 2-1 etc. I think Schneider was overthinking when he really didn't need to at that moment.

Tough week to be a Toronto sports fan!

If it was during the regular season and in April, the excuse would be "It's still early and there are still so many games to be played etc." Schneider is never going to be perfect. No manager is ever going to be perfect. I agree things get magnified in a short Postseason game, especially in a do-or-die game like Game 2 for the Blue Jays. Though Schneider did mess up big time and his decisions did hurt the Blue Jays when all is said and done. No excuses.

Haha. As a former Shelby Miller owner in fantasy baseball, he still holds a special place in my heart. Though on a serious note, he definitely is a lottery ticket that could pay off in a huge way. Bring him on a minor league deal with an opportunity to opt out if he doesn't make the MLB roster after ST.

After Schneider got in his face, Vlad started to hustle and move down the baseline!

Bet the Leafs tonight with the Braves!

Yeah same here deep down inside. One of the worst, if not the worst managed baseball game I witnessed.

At the end of the day, both Bass and Pop weren't really significant improvements down the stretch this season. At the trade deadline, you want your acquisitions to make a difference and both Bass & Pop didn't really have much of an impact. I still like the deal however and think long term Pop is definitely a nice guy to have around. Even Bass is great value on a 3M team option for 2023. I don't want him used as an 8th inning guy though. Mayza wasn't really that solid when you look at the advanced stats. Easy to upgrade over him. The Jays need another lefty like Brett Cecil or Scott Downs. Matt Moore IMO would be a perfect fit and a nice upgrade over Mayza. Either way Mayza is still an okay piece to keep around if he finds his 2021 form in 2023. It's important for the Jays starters to pitch deeper into games next year to keep the bullpen fresh. Gausman, Manoah and Berrios should be fine. Lets hope some arms at the back end of the rotation can provide some solid innings unlike White and Kikuchi. Even as much as I loved Strip, you can never rely on him going three times through an order. Always was given a quick hook.

Agree with everything you said. Gausman, Manoah, and Berrios are locked in the rotation for sure. I prefer having Kikuchi and White stretched out and keep them around for depth purposes if someone goes down with an injury. Same with Tiedemann. There are a lot of decent solid mid-rotation starters available via free agency, and like you said could probably be acquired on a one-year deal. As well, could always acquire a SP by trading Jansen. Though for sure, I think the Blue Jays need to acquire two starters. As for the bullpen, I've been saying this most of the season, they need one more elite late inning bullpen arm to pair with Romano. Some lotto tickets like Shelby Miller wouldn't hurt as well and I would move Pearson to the BP full time.

Since JS took over, the Jays went 46-28 good for a .622 W-L%. If the Jays made the ALDS and played some good baseball in the Postseason, without question he would be brought back. Game 2 of the Wildcard though really screwed him IMO, though not sure its enough to let him go. I'm sure the FO will see if any better options become available and if not, he likely is back in 2023 with a very short leash.

D'Backs will be a fun team to watch in 2023.

Took Kelly Oubre Jr

Bass since traded to the Jays: 25.2 innings, 9.82 K/9, 3.51 BB/9, 1.75 HR/9, 1.75 ERA, 4.63 FIP and -0.1 WAR He still had a very solid year overall, though he was far from being an elite shutdown reliever for the Jays over the final two months.

Yeah they were starters for a very short time. Frasor had some good years and some bad years here, was mixed. League was solid in 2006 and 2009, otherwise couldn't stay healthy and was a disappointment. Can't believe with the stuff he had, his K rate was pretty low and never amounted to much.

Roberto Osuna Aaron Sanchez (in 2015) Scott Downs (was one of the most consistent and reliable late inning relievers for the Jays) Casey Janssen Liam Hendriks Brett Cecil I would say those guys were pretty darn solid pitching in the 8th or 9th inning when they did for the Blue Jays.

Frasor and League were starters in the minors, no? Frasor started some games in the Dodgers organization I recall.

I'm talking about guys who were failed starters either in the minors or MLB level. Maybe some of those guys you listed started in the minors at some point, so forgive me that I never went back to check on those arms. Though yes, those arms you listed for sure provided quality innings out of the pen for at least one season. Completely forgot about Daniel Hudson. Great example right there, even if he was traded at the deadline after in 2019. Health was his major concern, though he was an elite bullpen arm when healthy. Romano I was listing under the Atkins era actually. He was a failed starter in the minors in the AA era, though Atkins and co. decided and worked with him on becoming a BP arm. So I give Atkins the credit on Romano.

Since we're talking about failed starters turning into relievers, I would seriously give someone like Matt Moore a look this offseason (10.09 K/9 and 1.1 WAR). His BB/9 is pretty high at 4.62 but if he improves on that, I think he can be a huge weapon out of a bullpen. As a reclamation project, would see if Matthew Boyd would consider pitching mainly out of the pen and would also take a flier on Shelby Miller. Kikuchi could also be intriguing, but you're paying him $16 million haha. Pearson and Merryweather hopefully can make the transition and be successful.

You summarized it perfectly. Atkins has built a solid foundation. I think most of us rational posters agree with that. He needs to take this 90-win team to the next level and turn it into a 100-win team that can go on a deep Postseason run, which yes can be the hardest part and something he hasn't had success with yet. 2023 is very important given its your last season with Teo and Chapman under contract, along with some veterans getting older and some of your younger talent will start becoming more expensive afterwards. I agree, it definitely involves more risk. Signing an elite BP arm like Edwin Diaz comes with way more risk than spending that money on someone else, though what does this team need? Everything else is pretty much in place from a foundation perspective in terms of the main pieces in the lineup and rotation. Some small moves and improvements will still have to be made such as improving the roster depth, though it's not like the Jays are a 70 win team trying to sign an elite BP arm.

Yeah majority of the time, spending millions and millions on several bullpen arms during an offseason doesn't work and backfires. Ideally, you hope the Jays could develop another elite arm or two out of the pen. Though given this teams window and lack of success up to this point, I don't think it hurts going out and spending money on a guy like Edwin Diaz as one of the final pieces to the puzzle to take this team to the next level. The Jays don't need to go out and sign like 4-5 bullpen arms and spend like close to $8-10 million each on them. Someone like Diaz complements this group very well. And you hope you get lucky with one of Pearson or Merryweather, the Blue Jays are in better shape after. The BJ Ryan contract didn't work out long term agreed, though lets say his 2006 season, which was freakin' amazing - imagine if the Jays 2022 roster had an arm like him down in the pen this season or even in 2021? Obviously not saying it's a guarantee the Jays win the World Series, though definitely gives them a better chance at going deeper into the Postseason where anything can happen after. If Diaz can fill that same role in 2023 as Ryan did with the Jays in 2006, I'm all for it. It makes sense when you have a team with a solid core already in place like the Blue Jays do.