Terminator

You have no idea if that is true or not. Bautista seems like a team player to me and would do whatever Gibby told him to.

I'd probably take Kluber too. Advanced stats are probably better and he's a CY Young winner and a bon a fide star. That deserves deference IMO as I'd rather the All-Star game be played by actual stars and not half year wonders (not saying that Sanchez will be a half year wonder but if you take less proven players you run that risk). The real surprise is that Ned Yost of all people took a guy who is 8-8 over a guy who is 9-1.

I MUCH prefer Osuna coming in with a clean inning instead of letting Stroman put two men on and then bringing him in.

Need more runs. I don't trust a one run lead.

He would be a very nice addition.

Well that would make more sense. Morneau is a Canadian. Story is a Texan. Story is getting Canadian votes because somehow Rockies and Jays fans decided on an alliance.

Rockies fans need to step it up. I thought we had an alliance with them to vote Story.

Agreed. Offer the All-Star OF a qualifying offer and when he walks take the pick. Plus, it's good to see the fans being interested in voting and him making it. The more interest and buzz surrounding the team the better.

Yeah that could happen. Seems like the 2nd and 3rd place finisher for the AL East will duke it out with the Astros for the final WC spot.

Could this mean that the Jays payroll is going up? Drawing huge crowds and huge TV ratings. https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh-game/the-great-canadian-ratings-report--blue-jays-on-a-roll-both-on-field-and-at-box-office-164326382.html

The Blue Jays Are Smashing People Again - Jeff Sullivan http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-blue-jays-are-smashing-people-again/

Estrada to the DL. Makes sense as he wasn't going to pitch until after the All-Star Game anyway.

With Smoak's struggles I wonder if we are going to see a Colabello return once he's finished his suspension in two weeks. I'd just prefer to play Cabrera more and DH Bautista I think but it wouldn't surprise me to see Cola back and playing on the big league team.

I like that Saunders is DH'ing tonight.

Yeah it's very tight. I think we've got the best team but I also expect the Orioles and Red Sox to make bigger improvements than us. Going to be a close one.

I'm really glad we have Shapiro. He knows what he's doing.

I agree but Ortiz has the rings, played in a top market, the grandiose personality, more eye-popping counting stats (i.e. will have about 540 homers to Edgar's 309), may have less of a logjam to get through, etc.

Oh I know. It was pretty frustrating but it honestly wasn't a bad strategy to build a team like that if you are running s*** franchise like the Royals in a bad division. They had 5 decent starting pitchers (or at least 5 guys who put up decent years) and elite defense and bullpen. That in itself will put you in contention in the AL Central every year. Offense was merely ok but they don't strike out much and once in the playoffs all you need is 11 wins. Don't strike out for that small stretch of games and it's possible you can BABIP your way through the playoffs. They had so many damn ground ball singles against us it was ridiculous. They also stayed pretty healthy throughout the year. This year the starting pitching has regressed and the lack of elite hitters is rearing it's head. They only have one guy who is hitting significantly better than average (Hosmer) and the rest of them are hovering around average or well below. Yostball can't be helping as the worst hitting regular on the team and perhaps in baseball (Alcides Escobar) has the most AB's for them and is producing a wOBA of .263. lol It would be like Gibby batting Goins leadoff every game. Despite all this they are still getting pretty lucky as they are 3 games above .500 despite a -23 run differential. Pythagorean says they should be 5 games below.

Yeah I agree he does have a solid case but I also think he won't get in. He isn't eligible yet though as he played as recently as 2012.

I agree but it's just a hunch that I have. Ortiz is so well liked and he played in Boston where he won 3 WS and broke the curse. I just think he has all these outside factors that propel his fringe candidacy in despite the positive test.

Yeah for sure. If he's still kicking ass at an elite level from 31-34 which is entirely possible the Jays could get some decent surplus value in those year to offset the latter years which may not be an entire loss from age 35-38. But there is a very good chance that 39 and 40 will be lost years and it'd be tough to eat a massive deal like that.

Good question. The steroid s*** is so subjective but I don't think Manny gets in. Ortiz had a positive test but my guess is he gets in still.

Good BABIP beats everything.

Yeah the risk is you follow a Pujols aging curve and your production steeply declines at age 32-33. In Donaldson's case he'd only have about 5 years (as opposed to 10) to build his credentials before having to rely on just building up his counting stats like Pujols is currently doing. A guy who didn't really get started until he was 27 but I think will get in is Ortiz. He may or may not be worthy due to him being a DH during the steroid era but he wasn't really a great player until age 27 but then had 13 really good seasons. His personality and his team also play a factor in him getting in so he's not a perfect comparison to Donaldson at all but he did get a late start.

He's making up for that lost time by being one of the Top 5 players in baseball for 4 years in a row now and is as strong as ever. In other words he may or may not have the longevity that most HoFers have but he'll probably be able to match most of their peaks. If the Jays win the division he may repeat as MVP. He should be able to produce around this rate through this season and his age 31 and 32 seasons. At that point he'll probably have around 45-47 WAR. He definitely has a shot to get to 60+. I think it's doable for him to get to the HoF. Another interesting question is does he sign an extension here? I believe we have him through his age 32 season. We will see if Shatkins is going to want to spend 250-300 million on a 33 year old player.