saskjayfan

he's been hanging with the babip king joey votto..what would you expect?

The reality is drabek hasn't pitched enough mlb innings to come to any conclusion and less than 2 innings in spring training is hardly enough time to determine anything. Drabek has good movement and velocity. His delivery is not consistent enough. Does he make the necessary adjustments physically and mentally to be a productive pitcher? Who knows. I think those certain that he will be a quality pitcher or won't be a quality pitcher are rushing to judgement.

early struggles for Drabek are probably a good thing. He has to learn to deal with adversity and not let his emotions get the best of him. He loses concentration and focus when he let's his emotions get in the way of his natural talent. At least drabek had a strike out and only gave up one hit and one earned in one and 2 thirds. Gold star for Wagner for his 3ks today. Happ should be wary of the hutch and the stro....they are coming for his job.

It's only one inning. Happ could perform quite well in spring training, but there's no way this guy should be a lock for the rotation. He should have to be fighting with the other guys for the spot.

and yet you feel compelled to post on a blue jays messageboard in february

I found it interesting that he's dramatically changed his swing already shortening it considerably. Change can be good or bad, but at least they're trying something different.

Good article. I read it the other day. Most people in normal life go on long term disability with the type of pain Melky was dealing with and he played professional baseball with it.

No one is saying everyone is going to stay healthy for 162 games. The games played by the players are not numbers being pulled out of anyone's ass. They are fact. The Jays need the core 6 players to play 130 to 140 games. They didn't come close to that last year. That and you wipe out the 130ish negative war games JPA provided and that's a big improvement. You add have the core 6 playing 135 games, that's 150 extra games using quality production vs replacement level production compared to last year, which add runs and saves runs.....The Jays don't have tons of depth, but there aren't a lot of teams who do have tons of depth and Jays aren't going to spend like the sox, Yankees or dodgers. The area of improvement in the depth is in the pitching which is key, but if the jays have loads of injuries...they're done. The Rays got 160 games out longoria, 157 out of zobrist, 158 out of loney, 140 out of Joyce, 153 out of escobar,139 out of Jennings. I'm not saying the Jays have to stay that healthy..if by some miracle their core players did stay healthy like the Rays the Jays would be right there in the end.

well...I completely agree with John Havok. The Jays and the orioles and the entire AL east is very competitive. The difference will be health and a couple upside surprises. Last year the sox got great performances out of buchholtz, lackey, carp, uehara, salty, lester...and the list goes on...you get the point. The Jays scored 712 runs which was 9th in the MLB. They did that with the following: Reyes 93 games Melky 88 games(games he did so were done with a tumor on his spine) Bautista 118 games Rasmus 118 games Lawrie 107 games EE 142 games That's 300 man games lost or almost 2 full seasons out of 6 of your core players. They got league worst production out of the catcher with JPA who posted a .592 OPS and sub .600 OPS production out of their 2nd basemen where izzy and boni provided terrible defense to go along with it. The pitching gave up 685 earned runs and they allowed an additional 71 unearned runs. Dickey pitched through back spams and I believe his ERA will be a half run less with less pressure and expectations and based on his second half...Buehrle started poorly as well...I expect him to be slightly improved 3.9 ERA plus or minus .2ish.....The Jays lost Johnson, morrow and happ for extended periods and when Johnson and morrow did pitch they were crap partly because they weren't entirely healthy even when they were pitching. The jays had no depth last year to overcome some of these things as Romero fell off a cliff. This year I hope the Jays remain healthy, which will improve the defense. Navarro isn't a defensive wizard, but he will be better than JPA and even if he posts a .700 OPS that will add runs and save runs defensively. Goins will help save some runs defensively even if he adds no runs offensively, which I don't expect him to. Morrow has come into camp stronger and healthy. He's the wild card, but I believe he can be a sub 4 ERA, which would save quite a few runs over last year. In the 4 and 5 spot I think happ can be a 4.4ish ERA type and drabek, hutch, McGowan, stroman are guys who at some point in the season can come in and help save runs. I suspect the defense can shave 30 runs off a terrible season last year and pitching can be 25 runs better....that puts the jays at 700 runs. That's not the best case scenario by any means and 700 runs given up would put them in the bottom half of the league. The offense has a lot of room for growth moving from 712 last year to 770 runs or more. That 70 run positive difference will put them in September right in the mix. I'm not saying they are favourites to win the AL east. I'm saying they will be in the hunt for the last playoff position come September. Feel free to disagree with me or tell me where I am wildly off base.

You called me an ******* and I threw a tantrum...lol I guess you make the rules so I'm the *******. I do not agree with your assessment of the Jays. I realize I am in the minority around here for my beliefs. My positions have been well articulated. You can choose to disagree and state why, or clarify if I've taken your words out of context or you can call me names. Whatever floats your boat.

Please....where have I called anyone a bad fan in any post. I state my opinions. I don't hate on AA. I wish AA would have got fired, because I believe the disposition of the fan base. I'd be a rich man if I had a nickel for every person who's used the term fat greek on this board.

I don't agree with you so I'm an *******....isn't calling someone an ******* against the rules or something..lol......that saskjay...the one who has an overly positive outlook for the jays and posts on jays fans messageboard...what a prick......you're a funny duck there super moderator.

Why do you see the upside in the orioles and not in the Jays....Tillman is crap...he's not even as good as buehrle.....Dickey can't be good, Morrow can't be good, drabek, Hutch, Happ...terrible.....but that gonzalez, tillman, rule and Gaussman is a young guy who will step forward for sure......You should change your location to orioles bandwagon.....love that bullpen in Baltimore.....they are going to be super..

The Jays lost the most man games in the MLB last year and the Yankees scored 650 runs and allowed 671 runs....they had a very flattering record last year..

You talk like with Baltimore you know what you're going to get....yeah....last year their rotation posted a 4.57 ERA. Jimenez helps potentially, but the rotation is still not very good.

so what's your desire to discuss a scenario where another team's player thrives and a blue jays player who is in the best physical shape of his career crashes and burns in a month. What will the entire league be saying about AA if Santana signs in the AL East and blows up and Morrow pitches 180+ innings with a sub 3 ERA...

kinda sounds like you are cheering for this scenario, which is laughable as well.

Melky looks great. He worked out with Bautista in the offseason so I'm not surprised. The Jays need a good year out of him.

Keith law doesn't like Capuano either...so it's not like I'm the only guy in the world with this opinion. You're free to have your opinion. I know it's unpopular to say I like Kyle Drabek's arm because when you google fangraphs there's no statistics to back that up. There isn't a large enough statistical sample to totally discredit him either. Same with McGowan, and Hutch. I like all three better than Capuano. As far as Stroman goes, I don't really have an opinion on the guy, but everyone is excited about him. I'd be more than happy to make a friendly wager on Capuano...ugly avatar, can't post for a month...whatever you want. I say his ERA is above 4.3 at the end of July. You want to take the under?

what were Johnson's numbers the 4 years prior to coming to the jays last year.

yeah....and if Capuano is healthy all year and posts a 5 ERA in the AL east, what good is it going to be with drabek, hutch, stroman and romero in AAA....and McGowan in a crowded bullpen when he has a lot more talent....I'm well aware of depth.....I just don't think a guy who posted the numbers he posted in the NL would look that good in the AL East. Having more talented players in AAA vs the MLB team is not my cup of tea. The jays need to roll the dice and have some guys perform and stay healthy to make the post season...but if you're of the mind set they have zero shot then your scenario makes more sense...I'm not willing to throw the towel in before a single pitch is thrown.

Capuano is not an upgrade on McGowan....hopefully he stays healthy...but if he doesn't, I'd rather see drabek, hutch, stroman and even romero pitching than Capuano...we don't need a run of the mill guy blocking those with better upside..

It's hard not to like both players. Votto will likely play more than Walker. Votto will never top Walker's best season though. 1997...49 homers 130 RBIs 1.172 OPS with a higher away OPS than home OPS, 33 stolen bases 12 outfield assists and 2 errors. The only player in mlb history to post a slugging percentage above .700 and steal more than 25 bases in a single season...that season was ridiculous.

You guys need to temper your optimism. I know it's spring training and everyone is excited, but guys probably won't perform to the lofty expectations you are setting for them. You're just pumped that baseball is back. There will be ups and downs.

so at the end of the season, if by some small miracle according to you, the jays make the post season or are right there the last week of the season people will say..oh you were the idiot who said they had zero shot and that will somehow make you feel good? Do you hire someone each morning to kick you in the balls first thing in the morning so your day can't get any worse..lol.