JaysRap

That's a pretty good call right there.

That isn't too far off what Stark is aluding to. http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/11932327/is-right-philadelphia-phillies-trade-cole-hamels

http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/000/021/073/1254172884282.jpg

I say make a mega deal and get Jay Bruce, Johnny Cueto AND Brandon Phillips.

Agreed. The patience isn't there in Boston for long term development.

My guess is they will #ScroogeMcDuckBucks #DontLearnTheirLesson

Orioles looking at Melky as a "fallback" plan if they don't get Markakis http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/11/orioles-interested-in-melky-cabrera-as-fallback-option.html

http://dirkhayhurst.com/2014/11/defending-dickey-muting-howarth/ Phew! There is a lot of commentary about RA Dickey getting traction on the interwebs these days. Let’s filter some of it, shall we? Going in, please understand that all post-season commentary does not necessarily find it’s exegesis in the rumor factory that is big baseball, or its effort to turn media minnow stories into whales. Sometimes those tales come natural from the fans, from their tendency to create something just so they can be riled. A common one: create a junk pile trade/salary-salvage in exchange for a big name getting a lot of talk-time. What I mean to say here is this, during the off-season some fans think that if their team ties enough of it’s scrubs together, they can make a raft out of them and float it out into the trade ocean and swap it out for a yacht because, you know, bulk value. This assumes a lot. A lot, a lot. First, that another team is looking for a pile of scrubs—sure they’re useless, but it’s a complete set! Frankly, no teams are looking for scrubs. The Marlins weren’t even looking for scrubs when they made the great Super Trade of 13’. Teams are always looking for value and sometimes that value can be found in diminished pay role or prospects, but it’s rarely ever found in scrubs. So you can’t simply think of the rest of the league as a nuclear waste dump ready and willing to take your players if you bundle enough of them together. Second, thinking along the lines of a bundle-o-scrubs trade usually assumes that the scrubs in questions are tradable, deal-able, get-rid-able. They’re not—which is why we hate them so much. Players that don’t produce usually don’t’ get paid a lot, but they still have value since they supply depth. Such players aren’t scrubs. They’re replacement parts, paid like replacement parts, and expecting them to play like superstars just because they’re getting more time in the Bigs than they should is incorrect. The real scrubs are the ones that should play a lot, get paid a lot, but still suck. Ryan Howard is a scrub, which leads me to my next point… Third, once a scrub becomes a scrub, he’s damn near impossible to dump for anything more than a roster spot and some payroll flexibility. What is this you say about getting comparable value similar to his contract back when he was producing? Don’t make me laugh! You’ll be paying the other team to take his cost to value ratio, because it’s more economical to pay to have him inflicted on someone else than keep him. So, players that have use comparable to their value = not scrubs. Players in decline that suck and ruin your flexibility = scrubs. Therefore, RA Dickey = not a scrub. Now that we have that cleared up, do I think the Blue Jays will win the World Series with Dickey as their Ace? No, hell no. Do I think fans should have thought him as the Jays ace in the first place? No, hell no. Did that stop me from being a good little Rogers mouth-piece and saying he’s the new Ace. No, Hell no. But you really can’t blame a lot of folks for being star-struck by the guy as, when they picked him up, he was coming off a Cy Young year, was part of off season rife with massive trades, and the zeitgeist of the baseball world at the time was all The Jays will win it all and Dickey is the Capstone! Boy, have times changed. Did the Jays get, and are they still getting value out of Dickey? Absolutely. The man turns in 200 innings, 30 starts, and pitches swiftly. He saves your pen. He dominates crossword puzzles. He also provides a nice landing spot for complimentary Doctorate Degrees from local universities because he writes books and wins Cy Youngs while writing books. Who else would you give a complementary doctorate degree to, John Gibbons? “Yeah, well, yessir this here degree’s awful kind of yee, I reckon.” But, as I stated earlier, come the off-season, folks take long looks at a roster, at its static numbers and think to themselves, “I really want a new big name I don’t know much about but will make me feel like I’ll win next year, and for that I’m okay with getting rid of an old big name I don’t like anymore.” Fans want change. They want something that will make them feel like they are getting a winner even when they’re months away from winning anything. When they see other teams getting big names, they get jealous, and, suddenly, reasons that would, might, could fix that jealously spring into existence and a story is born. The Jays could replace Dickey and his departure wouldn’t be damning to the Jays’ plans. Or, they could keep him and he’d be a very serviceable back end starter. In fact, they may very well replace him, and/or Buehrle. But not because those two don’t have value, rather because the Jays want to upgrade. Again, you can’t trade or deal scrubs, you can only dump them. And the Jays wouldn’t be dumping Buehrle or Dickey, they’d be dealing them for other options. If those options aren’t better, there is no move for them. Yet, for some fans, that’s not enough. What makes Dickey such an interesting topic is how he—even in the face of the aforementioned logic— is now the one player that should go, not because he’s not that valuable anymore, but because he’s suddenly never really been a team player, and can’t really relate to his team. Supposedly that makes him a dangerous chemistry liability that is contrary to where the team is headed. really? Where are they headed? What mission statement did they forge together about the future? Did I miss that? If you read my stuff, you know how I feel about chemistry, how it’s mostly a function of narrative before it’s a function of utility. I concede that there are rare exceptions when chemistry is a liability, but this isn’t one of them. I always laugh when baseball types drudge up the who said what to sketchy thing to who like it’s the reason teams don’t win or don’t like a player. Having spent 10 years in the game, I can tell you that a little tussle about a contract, or not playing, or getting pulled early, or whatever, is nothing compared the type of quintuple X-rated, poison tipped death stars flung around a locker room daily. You want to work in baseball, bring a flack jacket. Thick skin is a requirement, not an option. There is always a reason to be offended or play the “unprofessional” card. Yet, Dickey sticks out. Why? Well, it’s not because he’s an ass. It’s that he’s a snob. A high brow, deep thinking, writes his thoughts, measures his words, judges the motives of others, doesn’t buy into stuff he doesn’t agree with, talks above the media, is his own person/player who also throws a knuckle ball. He is never going to be one of the other guys. He never was! Everything about him screams unique. To be shocked by that is, well, shocking. Still, I find that many folks around the Jays are surprised by him being him. Or they think that his pronounced sense of individuality is a liability of some kind. They drag up Dickey’s “incident” at the holiday function when he said he was unhappy about how the Mets were handling his contract. They say he keeps to himself and isn’t really plugged into team activities. Even Jerry Howarth took a moment to weigh in on it: “R.A. is kind of a man unto himself on an island, and you don’t want that in your clubhouse. He gives you 200 innings, he goes out there and starts 30 games, that’s great; but you need more than that. You need someone who is right there with his team, communicates with his team, listens, gets involved with his team; I don’t see R.A. doing that. For me, I can already see the team moving in a different direction. You have to have people who are part of a 25 man roster, not a separate entity.” Please note that you do have to filter Howarth. He’s the master of the supercilious critique. He’s very conscious of his legacy and what sounds correct and will say things that support that agenda. That’s why his critiques often make it seem like there is a higher power baseball should pay reverence to. If you recall, a lot his “analysis” is framed by arbitrary concepts like heart and teamwork and togetherness and so on. Why? Because fans get behind that stuff even though it says nothing. It implies much more than it states, and to argue such patriotic team concepts would be to argue the essence of team, which no one could do and not look like a schmuck. But that doesn’t make him correct. Sure, Howarth looked virtuous saying it, but only by making a guy that’s done a great deal of work for his team (for a reasonable price) sound like a deadbeat dad that mails his kids a check but never shows up to any family functions. Look, it takes all kinds to win folks, and unless a player is going out of his way to make his team look like a joke—like, say, painting homophobic slurs in his eye black— you find a way to assimilate his persona. Besides, if RA really is a man unto himself out there, he’s certainly not the only one. There are plenty of times you could say that Melky was that way, or EE, or even Joey Bats in their careers. Furthermore, you think that’s the reason the team isn’t winning, that RA has that much power over the team, you’re nuts. Asking him to pitch better is one thing. Asking him to be more involved… that’s something else. Lets recapitulate. Teams trade for value, and value is contextual and subjective. Selling scrubs is like asking someone to take plutonium off your hands. The off-season doldrums tend to create stories that aren’t really stories. Not all players you don’t like are scrubs just because you want someone who is popular right now. RA Dickey has value, and the Jays should look to maximize it. And saying a player isn’t right there when he just threw more innings than anyone else on your team this year is dumb.

My thoughts are the Jays are trying to set themselves up for an RA Dickey trade. Dickey + Thole for help (2B? LF?) and get Jaso to be as mentioned new backup C/DH help.

MLB Network (Rosenthal video version of his report - Jay Bruce heavy) http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/7417714/v36968895/leading-the-league-has-update-on-freeagent-market

http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/reds-at-least-considering-trading-big-names-reducing-payroll-112014

How much of Casey struggles came from being sick on that trip to Bermuda? His 2nd half stats were awful but his 1st half stats were pretty good. Anyways I think he's going to sign with a team in So Cal where he's from. I'd like the Jays to see if they could swing a deal for Johnny Cueto out of Cincinnati or Chris Sale from the White Sox. Of the 2 Cueto is reportly on the block with other Reds pitchers (http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/reds-at-least-considering-trading-big-names-reducing-payroll-112014) Johnny Cueto is also projecting to a 2.7 WAR on Steamers for 2015. He's also a free agent after 2015. Now, if the Jays continue to open up pockets and say James Shields can be had on a 5 or 6 year deal.... 1. Shields 2. Cueto 3. Buerle 4. Stroman 5. Hutchison (In my scenario Dickey and Happ will be moved)

According to Steamer 2015 Projections Starting Pitchers Candidates James Shields - 3.0 WAR Jon Lester - 3.4 WAR Max Scherzer - 3.7 WAR and just for kicks Marcus Stroman - 3.3 WAR Drew Hutchison - 1.9 WAR RA Dickey - 1.5 WAR Mark Buehrle - 1.5 WAR JA Happ - 1.2 WAR Aaron Sanchez - -0.2 WAR 3B Candidates Pablo Sandoval - 3.6 WAR Chase Headley - 3.8 WAR Brett Lawrie - 3.7 WAR

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/why-six-years-for-pablo-sandoval-isnt-crazy/ ...and for the record kinda going off what kgm was saying - I think Lawrie will pout if he's forced to play 2B this season. He wants 3B and will sulk if he's asked to move.

The more I think about it, the more I really want the Jays to try and trade for Michael Saunders. I think he's a great fit in great fit for the team (affordable LF who hits L to try and balance out our R heavy line up.) I'd trade To Jays - Michael Saunders (OF) Dustin Ackley (2B) To Mariners - Macier Izturis (2B) Kevin Pillar (OF) To Jays - Chris Carter (DH/1B) To Houston - LHP Bret Cecil Starting Lineup 1 - SS Jose Reyes (S) 2 - C Russell Martin ® 3 - RFJose Bautista ® 4 - 1B Edwin Encarnation ® 5 - LF Michael Saunders (L) 6 - DH Chris Carter ® 7 - 3B Brett Lawrie ® 8 - 2B Dustin Ackley (L) 9 - CF Dalton Pompey (S) Bench - IF Ryan Goins, C - Josh Thole, OF - Andy Dirks, 1 of John Mayberry Jr (OF)/Danny Valencia (IF)/Justin Smoak (IF) Starting Rotation Trade to Jays LHP - Chris Sale To the White Sox LHP - Daniel Norris (#1 Prospect) LHP - Sean Nolin (#11 Prospect) LHP - Mark Buehrle (Flexibility after 2015 Season for W.Sox) I'd sign LHP John Lester 6 year/$147 million contract Rotation 1. LHP Chris Sale 2. LHP John Lester 3. RHP RA Dickey 4. RHP Marcus Stroman 5. RHP Drew Huthison Bullpen Sign RHP Francisco Rodriguez 2 year/$14 million Sign RHP Luke Gregerson 3 year/$20 million RHP - Marco Estrada (Long Man/Emergency Starter) LHP - Liam Hendricks (Long Man/Emergency Starter/LOOGY) LHP - Aaron Loop (LOOGY) RHP - Steve Delebar (He bounces back and wins a spot in the bullpen) RHP - Luke Gregerson (7th Inning) RHP - Aaron Sanchez (Setup Man) RHP - Francisco Rodriguez (Closer)

I think at the end of the day you have to look no further than the competition in your own division. Essentially if you can beat out them, you guarantee yourself a playoff spot. So over the next 2 - 3 years, is winning the division from the current structure of the Orioles, Red Sox, Yankees or Rays not possible? I'd argue no; we're right there with them. Moves like getting Russell Martin will probably position us above them. And once you're in the playoffs as Kansas City showed - get hot and it can ride you all the way to the World Series. First thing is just get in.

I wonder if the Jays can put together a package to get Cole Hamels out of Philadelphia that won't cause the board a heart attack (and one that Amarao Jr would bite on). I think AA is going to trade and trade for a top-of-the-rotation starter like Hamels or Johnny Cueto if they don't want to go long years with John Lester.

...And similar to the Jays (and Leafs I guess) these Toronto towns s*** the bed when put into a spotlight. They can't handle the big lights and crumble like a warm Pillsbury cookie.

Easily... Although he's never really been able to shoot an efficient percentage his whole career but his volume shooting is eerily similar to a guy we just traded out of town for doing the exact same thing.

It looks like the ball is still in his mouth.

AA has always mentioned a little more per year is better than number of years... I hope that we could retain 3/45 and call it a day (which might also take into consideration the home town discount that was mentioned).

Something big is cooking...

Completed. I'm going to use that $50 prize money and turn it into $50 million! (Lotto Max). How bout that for an AAV?

My guess is he'd use Sanchez as a replacement before Estrada. But my gut tells me he's going to non tender Estrada and this was all just for payroll flexibility.

Fangraph article up on Adam Lind trade http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/adam-lind-and-baseballs-worst-position/