Dick_Pole

Glad to see we are on the same page with this.

f*** him...dumbest argument I ever heard. One of the few times where Colby uses his head rather than baseball instincts to do something right and some mediocre pitcher has to yap on about unspoken baseball ethics.

I'm so sick and tired of hearing about how casuals liked the Marlins trade, and now it's stupid blah blah blah... I liked the trade because at the time I had assumed that Rogers was going in the direction of an inefficient highly paid playoff team. IE make the playoffs on a $150-200M payroll. Looking back at it now, of course that trade was stupid but we weren't privy to the information we have now, casual or "real" fan. If someone said to me In December 2012 that in July 2014 they payroll would be frozen at $140M, I would say f*** no, don't make that trade and use that spare cash on other players. I think everyone would. Now that leaves one of two options. Either Rogers had made AA believe they wanted to go the route of inefficient highly paid playoff team as fast as possible and that belief was undone, which means AA got seriously f***ed over after following orders in December 2012. Or AA got the $140M hard limit and spent it like a maniac which makes him the dumbest piece of s*** ever and he needs to go. Actually the third option could be Beeston getting his nose in there and muddying up the communication between possibility #1 and #2. We don't know the situation and until someone speaks, like 5 years from now when AA is an organ grinder in front of Habs home games and someone candidly interviews him about his tenure as Jays GM and he decides to throw people under the bus. But until that time we are all just speculating if it is AA's fault, Rogers' fault or Beeston's fault or a combination of all three.

Oh Moogy, your so mistrusting of people! Here's is something to brighten you're day a little bit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVm88MX2Gw4

In the 4chan rules of internet nerdery, a good zinger always trumps grammar nazi. You lost this round, sorry.

One day this guy will bust a nut when JP joins him in the stands.

I agree with the sentiment that the derby is dying out. Only the players with the biggest of egos still give a s*** about it...*ahem Bautista ahem*. Players don't want to do it because they know it means less than nothing and it's almost like an embarrassment now to care so much about trying to win the thing. Any other type of lame excuse is just a cover for "I simply don't want to do it" and I can totally understand that position. Anything that JP Arencibia could potentially thrive at does not exhibit actual baseball skill.

JPR hasn't touched a draft for the Jays in a while...

My sentiment exactly. I can't believe anyone would seriously suggest sportswriters after how berserk this and the old forum went over the Cabrera/Trout MVP vote two years ago and the past couple of HOF votes, particularly on the topics of Morris and PEDs. The last thing we need is for sportswriters to flex their morality muscles during the summer as well, they already have the fall and winter for that.

Actually, I think how he's put himself together so far IS part of the reason why he's so good. Great use of his off-speed pitches. Maybe you and I just have a different ceiling for what the term dominant is since it is an ambiguous term. He hits around 95 with a plus slider, but I don't think that slider is unhittable once hitters have some time to adjust to him. I'd be very happy to be wrong and have him become ROY with Cy Young candidacy by the end of the year. That would be awesome. But I'm not going to pencil him in like that because usually when you do you're disappointed more often than not.

The all-star game is meant to be for fans. Not just for smart fans who log on to internet message boards and talk sabermetrics, but for "dumb" (aka too busy with other priorities in life to become baseball experts) fans who casually watch the game and take their families out a couple times a year. If they want it to be a dumb, broken popularity contest that makes North America's political electoral systems look great, then let it be as such. It's not like this game means anything...oh wait.

I hate it when people talk like this as if these baseball players are nothing more than materials to be traded or robots. They are people and can perform differently under different circumstances. Maybe, just maybe, someone in this organization saw something in Happ and said "Hey I can work with that". They didn't want just *any* mediocre pitcher, they want *that* mediocre pitcher. And maybe, just maybe, AA aggressively pursued Happ to try and make good on the project, not concerned about "winning" the trade. And maybe, just maybe, they were actually right? I could totally understand people's beef with Happ up until the end of spring training. But he's beaten everyone's expectations thus far and seems to be getting better. This is the first season where they've actually had some time to work with him, and this isn't a Chacin-like run of luck. When he can spot his pitches he is very good. Why mourn this trade when the Jays have been getting good production from Happ? A 95 MPH lefty with consistent command can be a good #2 starter in this league. Most of those traits describe Happ, with the one key remaining being his consistency. Let's focus on that and whether the Jays can actually get that out of him one day rather than crying spilled beans over mediocre prospects that Houston has had some success in developing. (Yeah, yeah, yeah...his history...30 yo...declining age-curve...whatever...it's not like this organization hasn't gotten the best out of "older prospects" a few times before recently)

Aaron Laffey? Forget about the WAR for a minute here. The Jays are 8-4 in Happ's starts. Out of the 4 losses the team scored a combined total of 5 runs. Chances are they lose all 4 games no matter how bad Happ shits the bed or what pitcher they throw out there. In the 8 wins, 4 times they scored 7 runs, once they scored 5, once 4 and twice 3. If they throw out the normal band of shitheads or Todd Redmond out there, good chance they lose the two 3-run games and maybe the 4-run game while the 5-run game is a toss up. So yeah, pretty good chance they'd be battling .500 and not in first place.

I agree it's quite depressing. I wonder if Brewers fans have a thread dedicated to the Lawrie trade. Because these things should work both ways.

Without Happ pitching this well this year, the Jays are likely battling for .500 and the Yankees for second place right now. Funny so much harping about how the Astros are developing those prospects, but not a peep about how far Happ has come from that disaster of a spring training. Both teams have done well in managing the assets they got out of the deal. The only difference is the Jays have their eggs all in one basket so let's hope Happ continues to be that 95 MPH lefty with command he has been in half his starts....and apply that to all his starts consistently.

A rookie with good (but not dominant) stuff that's been on a bit of a run cannot and should never be considered a team's best starter. Unless you're talking about Strasburg or Fernandez-like abilities, a rookie is not your top guy. And if you have one of those you just hope they don't get injured.

In reference to the pitching exactly how a #5 should pitch comment. I interpret that to mean he's the #5 guy. However it could also mean he's pitching way better than a #5 and in a dream scenario where there's 4 SPs on this roster pitching better than him, would make him a terrific #5. Too bad that's not the case.

I think most teams would be very happy with 2014 JA Happ as their #5. On this team we should get use to considering him the #3-4 and raise our expectations. He's pitched good enough to deserve the promotion for now.

That would work. Stroman I'm less concerned with because I don't view him as an important contributor to the push for the playoffs. That could change if he continues to pitch well and Dickey continues to s*** the bed and Happ joins him. But right now he's a pretty good (not dominant) young pitcher that's had a good couple of starts. That's the team's #5 starter right now.

I'm of the opinion that once Morrow comes back or someone else is brought in, one of the two young guys goes. If Hutch is on an innings limit this year, would it be possible to rest him in July/August then bring him back in September and consider him as one of the top 3 in the playoffs? I'm unaware of any team ever doing that...essentially a healthy DL stint to save his arm.

You've obviously never seen a fat man going slightly downhill on a slip n slide...he reaches warp speed.

I would love for someone to hack into AA's database since he started. It would be fascinating to see the details behind shopping Halladay, the Wells dump and the events leading up to the Marlins and Mets trades. We should start a crowdfund for it to give the hackers some incentive

The only "Booster Juice" I care about Jose ingesting is the newest form of undetectable HGH that allows him to play in tip top shape tomorrow.

There sure are a lot of guys vying to be Dickey's agent. Baseball fans in the 1980's: Fan #1: Our pitcher gave up four home runs late in the game and lost it for us. What a piece of s***. Fan #2: Yup, I agree. Baseball fans in the 2010's: Fan #1: Our pitcher gave up four home runs late in the game and lost it for us. What a piece of s***. Fan #2: No, he's not a piece of s***, he just got unlucky. A 80% HR to fly ball ratio is really unsustainable. There is no such thing as being "clutch" and pitcher wins and losses are over rated stats. Fan #1: Well too bad that was game #162 for us, and this loss cost us a playoff spot. But don't worry, the pitcher will have plenty of time to revert back to the mean for spring training. Seriously, f*** all of you who are calling Dickey unlucky. We can harp on AA overpaying for the prospects, but it's still Dickey who signed a contract extension knowing what the expectations of him were here. He is not living up to those expectations, nor is he living up to his contract even when ignoring the prospects. Should the Jays DFA him? No, he still has value as a mediocre #4 inning eater. But do fans have every right to rage every time he doesn't live up to expectations? Absolutely. He's not paid like a mediocre #4 inning eater.

Dude it's pretty common knowledge that the best job in Cuba is resort work serving fat Canadians because you can make tips in a day the covers more than a month's wage working in a real profession. That's not a slight on your people, that's a slight on the economic reality set up by the s***** government.