KingKat

You could but they probably wanted to keep the pitcher in the same lineup spot rather than move him into Thole's.

How so?

Well that phrasing could have been clearer.

Hoffman is A piece.

I could see it as a reward if the natural grass thing actually happens. That's usually how it works. It's a reward for improvements in infrastructure.

Span out for both games?

Pompey reminds me a bit of Bradley Junior in Boston. Good plate discipline, great defense, hit tool might be a question mark. Mind you, I don't think Pompey's minor league OBP is quile as walk fueled as Bradley so he probably has a less extreme skill set. It's a comparison that I can't help but lazzily make but I'd have to go under the hood a little more to see if it's really holds.

Pompey slumped badly intially at every level he started. He has a solid approach and he has mental fortitude. He will get over this like and deal with this like he has with lesser setbacks. That doesn't necessarily mean that he's going to be a productive Major Leaguer. That may simply not be in the cards but whatever his potential is, I think there's reason to feel confident he'll turn it around and reach it.

The fact that he was old and a gimmick pitcher is what kept his salary low though. It's hard for a team like the Jays to add an ace, much less a cheap one. I can see why they might have thought Dickey was some kind of baseball unicorn even if ultimately he wasn't. I actually think that once they decided to go all in, they needed to make more trades like this for it to have a chance to work out. The whole off-season was a half-ass attempt to go all in. It was more than enough to hurt them considerably down the road but not enough to win now. They either needed to get way more aggressive or (preferably) be way more cautious.

I'm too old for ANY of that.

I also use the watch list a lot in this league. When a roster spot opens up, I can just go off of it if I don't have the time and inclination to do any research. I think I've added and dropped Blaine Hardy four times in this league. He's like my Steve Tolleson. First guy I drop when there's a crunch, first guy I add when it clears up. It's really not a lot of work. You just have to periodically identify "your guys".

The other issue was that the Jays had already taken on a big financial commitment and given up a lot of controlable inexpensive talent in the Marlins trade. There was incentive to make another big "win now" move so that it could all work out which is why I have always considered the Mets trade way more defensible in context than the Marlins trade.

My original comment was addressed at you so you couldn't possibly be considered a wingman in this situation. The main point that I was trying to make is that's it's not necessarily black and white with AA. We've seen some improvement. He seems to have a better handle on player values in general and values related to run prevention in particular. He's not making ALL of the same mistakes though he's definitely making MANY of them. I'm not willing to say that it can't work out this year. Teams win with less than optimal approaches all the time. Just because it hasn't benn happening to the Jays doesn't mean it can never happen ever. It's not a lost cause although it's definitely frustrating to see that some of the things that could have been fairly easily addressed are making things unnecesarily harder. Even some of the under the radar depth moves like picking up West and Guilmet have been ruined by pointless roster churning. There's a lot of reason for frustration but at the same the current W-L record makes the overall situation seem worse than it is. It doesn't reflect the run differential and probably isn't a good measure of this team's chances. If this was the late nineties when you had to be perfect just to have a chance, maybe you'd write off the season but this is one of those rare times where there's an opportunity to half-ass your way to success in the division and if it happens it will make AA seem smarter than he actually is but ultimately as a Jays fan, I don't really give a s*** about that. I'll give him credit for the good moves, blame for the bad ones and I'll take winning over anything.

I feel it's way easier to manage than a Yahoo team. The email notices tell you exactly who to look up and when. I find it easy-peasy compared to a Yahoo! league of any size. Would love to kick Yahoo! to the curb permanently.

FFS, all I said was "may have". I'm just saying there's a chance. I'm not saying it's the likeliest outcome or that I even like AA. No need to wingman with glory over this.

No it doesn't. There's little to lose or to gain. They're practically the same level.

Well heck I'm pessimistic too except that he was being categorical and that's dumb.

Well if everything's settled than maybe it's time to call it a day. Have fun! See you next year!

The difference between AA and AAA isn't all that significant.

Hurley loves Joanie.

I didn't say it was a realistic expectation but I was hoping that one of Gray or Bryant would fall. Hate myself for seeing something in Moran and wasting the pick.

Sigh... I suppose you could argue that the overall team is lesser (and find other arguments to support that view than just the win-loss record) but the core is stronger. The team went from two lineup cornerstones to four. That's a pretty significant upgrade. The stronger your core, the easier (in theory) it should be to build around it. And yeah it's a bit late for that now but it's not necessarily too late. The team is hardly out of the race and some mid-season moves could really go a long way.

Even at the time, it never made sense that Bryant wasn't the top ranked guy. I was hoping he'd fall to me but I ended up with Moran who Suxxx.

My LOD team isn't anything special but it would probably out-perform my DDL team head to head.

lol