Dick_Pole

If the only way to get Shields was to trade Buehrle and apply the salary savings to the first year of his contract, I stand by my comments. If the Jays lose a playoff spot by half a game instead of winning it by one and the variance can all be attributed to Buehrle versus Shields, I'll give everyone who pointed out this WAR difference a high five. It's a much better strategy to let Buehrle go after 2015 and try for one of these pitchers in 2016: http://www.spotrac.com/mlb/free-agents/2016/pitching/ If the goal is to try to sign Shields and keep Buehrle for an all-out attempt in 2015, sure I'm all for it. It's not my money. But the point looks moot anyway.

Especially with the sad state of the subway reach in this city. The only semi-feasible location that comes to mind is Downsview Park. Scary thing is if we has some f***er like Loria in the same position Rogers is in with team and building ownership he'd do it in a split second...or send the team off to Brooklyn if he couldn't find a good spot in Toronto while collecting big $$$ from the condo developers.

I don't see the benefit of dumping Buehrle to pick up Shields. Longer commitment and a minimal upgrade. I'd rather that the Jays have the flexibility for next year's FA crop. Plus the Jays have the benefit of one more year of Hutchison/Stroman/Sanchez/Norris development along with the lower level guys. The team will have a much better idea where they stand with the young SPs next year, and if we're lucky, might not even need to replace Buehrle and can allocate all extra funds to shoring up the positional holes which I'm sure will still be an issue next year.

Rogers paid $25M for the Dome IIRC. With the condo boom I bet they could sell that property, buy another property in the boonies, build a stadium there and still make a huge profit. With the negative result being that the team ends up playing in the boonies.

I am going to go on record to say I don't think the BP will be nearly as bad as people think. SP depth = RP depth and we have enough experience with this team to know that mediocre starters (Cecil, Litsch, Janssen, McGowan) can turn into passable relievers at least for a limited period of time. And that there's still a large pool of free agents out there and every day that passes makes them a few dollars cheaper imo.

Not for the Jays, which I think was Adam's point. He could have done way worse than what he was while here.

Young pitching sometimes works out just fine. Ask the Giants or Cardinals. Since last year I'm actually quite optimistic about the durability of the staff compared to years prior. People worry about SP depth beyond #6. The rebuttal to that is do we realistically think two of the top 4 guys are going to be out at the same time? If that happens this year, it will be because of bad luck. If it happened in years prior, that's because of bad roster management, loading the pitching staff with injury-prone arms. The real weakness is infield depth, as it was last year, though some of that was addressed.

hmm...this thread has predictably...gone to hell.

For trolling this board, the karma police are now after you. d'Arnaud will retire before Dickey will...hahahahaha

Every day that the bullpen holes aren't filled and every day that Casey Janssen remains a free agent increases the likelihood that he's coming back. With the glut of RP still available so close to spring training and with his second half problems last year, a 1-year contract at a reasonable price looks like a good solution for both sides.

Going back to LunchBox's first post on the matter, when you read it like this I would feel more comfortable with Alex in Beeston's role and Tinnish in AA's role than the current configuration. Put that economics degree from Mac to good use.

Sometimes I choose not to go to a Jays game just to avoid seeing what awful train wreck Reyes considers to be a hairstyle has hiding under his cap. I'll go with the Donaldson rugged white guy pseudo-fro or faux hawk over that any day so at least they are getting the marketing part of that right even if they had to give up Canada's prettiest and most delicate athlete to get him.

Oh s*** yes, I forgot about that awful one. My therapist has told me to erase traumatic things out of my mind.

100% agree. His roster management is still atrocious, it just pops up in different places each time. This team will either be getting extremely lucky with avoiding injuries this year, or be giving more plate appearances to jobbers (I believe the BJMB official-recognized term is "replacement level") than any other team in the league once again and certainly the most out of any team reasonably expected to compete.

Oh come on now, this is way overdone and I think it's a product of him refusing to deal a reliever in 2013 for assets rather than the other way around. Lincoln (a first-round bust) for Snider (another first-round bust) who is just now coming into some value as a role player Santos for Molina, a pitcher who looks to be going nowhere Napoli for Francisco, which has been beaten to death a million times and is always looked outside its context where the bigger goal was releasing the Jays of the Wells contract. If it was constructed as a three-way trade where Francisco and Rivera came in and the Angels and Rangers did a swap no one would be complaining about this. Three times it happened (that I recall) in his tenure here, two times it was for minimal assets and the third had a bigger goal in mind.

I like this line of thought and voted for that as well. It may not happen after this season, but I think will happen eventually. The recent MLB transactions and drafting AA has done reflects to me someone who knows how to surround himself with good people, rather than making analytic calls himself. That's one skill of a good leader. AA has demonstrated a pretty good ability to negotiate internally, with respect to contract extensions. That skill comes most in handy in dealing with suits at the top. Also, f*** the three year window (2013-15), I am more optimistic about 2016 than I was about 2014. I remember people bemoaning how terrible 2016 will be a couple years ago. Young pitching, salary flexibility, stability at C and 3B. Whatever happens with Bautista and Encarnacion down the road, at least that's in the team's control.

i'm waiting for TwistedLogic to finally get the balls to put one up with a shirt off, and the mods don't ban him.

Maybe this was all a master plan to get all of us on the forum to appreciate Paul Beeston in his final year? I was quite pleased to see Beeston extended for one more year, and a comment like that would lead me to getting tarred and feathered here under normal circumstances. Ed Rogers and Paul Beeston must be such complete morons that they circled back to the opposite end of the spectrum where they actually became geniuses.

That was actually a pretty reasonable response to a joke post.

Not sure if this made the Around Baseball thread but there just too many damn posts to shift through on that one. This is so funny I figured it was worth its own thread: Ex-Major League Baseball player Ted Lilly accused of fraud https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/ex-major-league-baseball-player-ted-lilly-accused-171011635--mlb.html SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (AP) -- Former Major League Baseball player Ted Lilly has been charged in California with three felonies related to insurance fraud, according to a newspaper report. The charges stem from allegedly false insurance claims filed last year connected to Lilly's damaged recreational vehicle, the San Luis Obispo Tribune reported Friday (http://bit.ly/1L6bb1y ). An investigation by the state Department of Insurance found the RV sustained damage in a collision, and Lilly sought an estimate from a body shop on March 19, 2014. The estimate was $4,600. Lilly then bought insurance from Progressive on March 24 and claimed the damage on March 28, said Nancy Kincaid, a spokeswoman for the agency. ''What a lot of people may not realize is that body shops often enter estimates into a database that insurance companies can check to verify claims,'' Kincaid told the Tribune. ''They can see what the damage was and whether a false claim may have been filed.'' The three felony charges, filed Oct. 24, are filing a false insurance claim, filing a false statement in connection with an insurance claim, and concealing a material fact in connection with an insurance claim. The case is being prosecuted by the district attorney's office in San Luis Obispo County, where Lilly lives. View galleryEx-Major League Baseball player Ted Lilly accused of … FILE - This 2013 file photo shows Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Ted Lilly. The former major league bas … His lawyer, James Murphy, didn't return a call for comment. Lilly faces a maximum penalty of five years in jail if he's convicted, the newspaper said. He's scheduled for arraignment on Feb. 5. Three previous court hearings were postponed. The 39-year-old left-hander was a two-time All-Star who pitched for Montreal, Oakland, Toronto, the New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs and the Dodgers. He retired in 2013 after 15 seasons because of problems with his shoulder and back. I wouldn't even bother doing a fraudulent insurance claim for $4,600, and I am not a millionaire baseball player.

I wonder who Dan Duquette will be cheering for?

On top of the normal amount of disdain any good Canadian would have for the Rogers corporation, now I have to think that every monthly bill I pay helps go to feed and clothe this imbecile. f*** you Ed Rogers I hope you find a plastic bag you enjoy playing with.

f*** you Oriole turdbags...80 pages of s*** about your garbage team and your s***** old man that owns it # of suicides of Blue Jays front office personnel: 0 # of suicides of Orioles front office personnel after being s*** on by that old turdbag Angelos: 1 RIP Mike Flanagan

Cal Ripken was just starting his streak lol

You mean being the greatest pitching coach of all-time? Pole began his coaching career in the Cubs' minor league system in 1983, and joined their Major League coaching staff in 1988, working as pitching coach for Don Zimmer. Pole remained in that capacity through 1991, during which time he oversaw the development of Greg Maddux. Maddux credits Pole as a major influence, and a significant contributor to his success. In a 2005 interview, he said, "I remember when Dick Pole told me one day, 'Why don't you stop trying to strike guys out? Just try to get them out, and you'll probably strike out just as many guys, if not more. He was right. I've always tried with two strikes just to make a pitch and get the guy out. You get a lot of strikeouts just on accident.