Dick_Pole

Raptors win and take a hard game off the schedule, Cavs win but take an easy game off the schedule. Bulls lose. Overall a great day.

Biggio bats sub-.200 but his OBP is still somehow .360.

Raptors -8 today. They were +4 last night so I'm guessing Boston is deciding to rest their entire team lol. Either they like the Raptors in the top 6 as opposed to the Bulls or Cavs or the Raptors are just getting lucky. This was going to be the hardest game left on the schedule now it's one of the easiest. 5-3 clinches being ahead of the Nets in the standings then they just need to be better than the Cavs or the Bulls to avoid the play-in.

More like 110ish wins. I don't expect the pitching to be particularly good. But they will exist long enough to be carried by the offense. BP is going to be a non-issue most nights. As long as they molest Boston in hilarious fashion as I expect them to, I'll be satisfied.

Guerrero 60+ HR. Jays will set the MLB record for HR in a season. Jays will score 1,000 runs this season. Jays will score 200 runs against the Red Sox and sweep all 19 games. Jays will surpass .500 all time as a franchise this year (currently 3506-3557). Manoah will be a Cy Young candidate. Three Jays pitchers will be in the top 5 in pitcher wins.

My hair comment was to point out that those people attributing negative traits to him like he's dumb while knowing literally nothing about the man personally would be less likely to attribute those negative traits to him if he appeared as straight-laced as an army sergeant. As for him leading off, it would be awesome if he actually earned the position through performance. If he has 1993 Devon White level of production while being a stolen base threat, that's a pretty good fit for this team. Yeah White batting first wasn't the optimal lineup configuration for the 1993 team, but it wasn't a horrible decision either. Otherwise, I'm fine with him as a 4th OF batting 9th if the team fails to get anything extra out of him.

I actually have to agree with this. Grishuk doesn't exactly come off as Einstein either and I never saw many people complaining about it.

This thread is loaded with two of the most exhausting board traits around: 1. Grant's long, drawn out argument. 2. Some paranoid fear that Montoyo is going to misuse this guy somehow. Just say you don't like his negro blond hairstyle and be done with it. I, for one, look forward to seeing what Tapia can do. The team hasn't had a guy like this since Rajai Davis and I enjoyed watching him play, specifically on the basepaths, even if he made some boneheaded plays on the field.

Grant is right, this rule is dumb. Ties are better. If they are going to do this, they should at least allow teams a designated runner like Herb Washington. Instead of having the previous inning's last out at second which makes no sense at all other than to keep the batting order and screws up player stats. I so badly want to see a 17 inning game even with this rule. Just to show how dumb it is. Putting a guy at second increases scoring chances for both teams an equal amount. Much of these problems with long games and excessive pitching changes go away if teams are limited by how many pitchers they can employ throughout a year.

That's only 10 games a year. Works well for the Jays but won't impact other teams' decisions, really. The Yankees have bigger problems depending on if their players who aren't vaccinated can play at home.

The fact that McGuire has been so GOOD - not bad enough where this team felt the need to go through hoops and leave guys exposed to the thankfully non-existent Rule 5 draft - is a blessing, not a curse. This forum has seen Jays teams where McGuire would have been the BEST option at catcher. Let's not make inappropriate trades just to see McGuire or Grishuk off the team. Having them plug up the final two roster spots aren't real problems.

Well the simple solution to that (as well as any bullpen fears) is to just be up 10-0 in every game by the 5th inning

I dunno about that. Raptors were equally as irrelevant to the NBA as the Jays were to baseball through the 2000's. Yeah Raptors became a consistent regular season winning franchise far sooner but were bounced from contention while the Jays were getting playoff bat flips. There was definitely a lot more buzz around the Jays in 2015-16 than the Raptors. It did swing towards the Raptors when Donaldson was shipped out and Kawhi shipped in.

I am of the STRONG opinion that the Jays should give the Espinal and Biggio platoon a chance at 2B at least for the first 3-4 months to see what they can do and re-visit trade possibilities in July. There are 6 playoff spots and 7, maybe 8 teams in the AL that could reasonably be expected to surpass 83 wins. The Jays can afford the worst case scenario of a 3 WAR difference between a Ramirez acquisition now versus one in late July.

If the Raptors face the 76ers in the playoffs they will win in 5 and it will be hilarious. The Raptors inexplicably own this team the same way Casey's band of duds in Detroit inexplicably own them. The Raptors were not good offensively at all this game, missing two of their best players and they still came away with the victory.

Red Sox season win total just jumped from 84.5 to 87.5 at my bookie after the Story signing. I had to nibble at that under.

The BP is a bunch of generic hard-throwing guys with a lot of injury risk/history and control issues. Not exactly what I would call deep but also something that would be adequate for this squad if things were to land in an average scenario for this year. It is the worst, or pretty close to the worst bullpen of all the teams in the AL expected to get a playoff spot. Don't be surprised if Cimber and Mayza end up being the most consistent members throughout the year.

My bookie has season win totals up. Most of them are within 2 wins of the Fangraphs projections with a few exceptions: TB 89.5 versus 86.5 on Fangraphs. First time I've seen the bookies overstate the Rays wins this much. I guess that market efficiency is gone. Considering taking the under but will wait to hear from Hurl since he is the Rays whisperer. BAL 61.5 versus 65 on FG. It's actually tempting to take the over on this number. Their team isn't nearly as bad as past years indicate but they could easily get tossed around in the AL East again. The trauma of having to cheer on the Orioles may be too much to ever take an over. Just that they are no longer an easy under. Seattle way overstated. 84.5 versus 80 on FG. The bonus being the under is practically even money at -105. I took this number. Cardinals win total is 86.5, overstated by 3 versus projections. Pirates 65.5, understated by three. I was really hoping to go under here but now I'm not so sure. Rockies are overstated by 3. Diamondbacks understated by 3. Rockies seem like another easy under that I took. When I saw the FG number on the Tigers of 75 I was hoping to nibble on the over. But too many people think the same way I do. The Tigers number is 78.5 and -130 on the over. Almost tempting to leave my biases at the door and go under for +100. Jays over number sucks at 91.5 and -140 so it's barely worth it but I put a small amount because I'm a fanboy. In addition to the Mariners and Rockies I also took the Reds under 74.5.

Imagine a scenario where Greg Bird is in the Jays lineup on a regular basis. Either the team is on pace to win 65 games after a year of suckage and injuries. Or the team is winning 120 games because ON TOP of the already awesome offense, Bird becomes the next Bautista out of nowhere lol.

Give this man some credit. It took him no more than nine minutes to look that up. Unless he had this factoid ready in preparation for an opportunity to display it.

Yeah but...that's EVERY manager of an MLB team the 1800's to today. Including the current brass that has to manage several spoiled second generation stars and their baseball daddies who think they know better.

You f***ing guys man. The commonality between Donaldson, Bautista, Goins, Valencia, Pillar, Stroman etc. is that they are all ATHLETES. Athletes in the social media age. Athletes in the Reddit/Twitter age where equal voices are given to the jocks and the nerds they terrorized in high school. You think George Bell or Kelly Gruber or Dave Stieb would translate well to 2020 society? And honestly about Goins. Yes he was a piece of s*** MLB ballplayer. But a piece of s*** MLB ball player is better than 99.9999% of people who ever touched a baseball. If you were a fringe major leaguer you would have a big head too. For the majority of his friends and family growing up, Goins is the most famous and successful person they'll ever know.

This is a close one, but not a fair comparison. Tulowitzki and Price were added mid-season. We don't know what the Jays will do this July but it will likely involve additions if any holes need plugging. Reyes and Tulowitzki were at least somewhat comparable talents but you take away Price and rewind to April 1, 2015 and that tips the scales to 2022.

What that dude is going to do is go down in history as the manager of the team's winningest season in franchise history. Bobby Cox will be dethroned. Then in 2050 when fans of the team look up historical franchise records, they'll take a look back at Charlie Montoyo and think "Wow that guy must have been a GREAT manager!"

I'm not following the point you're trying to make. The Yankees are consistently in the playoffs but didn't win during that time. The Royals fluked their way during a short period of competency and luck. The Dodgers and Giants have both had a great level of success during that time. Pick either. The Braves and Nationals are in the NL East so the answer to that is be in a s***** division where 88 wins gives you a legit shot at winning.