KingKat

Phillies reportedly scouting Manuel Margot in anticipation of a Hamels trade. http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2015/04/hamels_time_phillies_reportedly_scouting_highly-to.html

Oh well... When I checked probably starters earlier today he wasn't listed so this must have been a very recent development. Either that or Yahoo fell asleep at the wheel.

Definitely the kind of pro-active managing you would never see under Cito.

It was cold as balls.

Wasn't he owned?

I don't know... most teams are trying to win now not make speculative plays.

Hamels presumedly.

I guess the focus of this piece was very recent ex Jays but two of the most interesting stories for me this year are the peformances of two slightly less recent Jays, Marisnick and Desclafani.

True but that only makes him pretty much the pitcher ScientificReason is describing.

You can argue that AA should have acquired a starter in the offseason but you can't argue that the need hasn't changed with the Stroman injury. Crossing your fingers with Stroman might not have been ideal but it's a hell of a lot better than a 100% probability he doesn't contribute. We also don't know that AA ever really had a shot with the free agent SPs in the first place. Maybe his only shot was Hamels and at the time he didn't want to bend over for Amaro Junior knowing there was at least a chance he already had his ace in Stroman. Yes free agent options are better than trades but we don't really know that free agents were on the table for this team. The whole reason AA has made terrible trades in the past is because of the difficutly in attracting free agents. You can criticize those trades sure but you can't just say "insert random free agent instead". For all we know, the only options for this team in the off-season as far as front line pitching goes were deal with Amaro Junior now or deal with Amaro Junior later. If they Jays do end up trading for Hamels, you can't just say "should have signed Scherzer when we had the chance. It's not that simple.

Great article from Capital Jays (hat tip to NJH for bringing this blog to my attention) discussing the possilbe implications of the Vlad Junior signing. http://capitaljays.com/2015/04/29/the-blue-jays-vlad-jr-and-international-budgets/ (Apologies if already posted but I didn't see it.)

So you're saying Cito Gaston is coming for the third time?

Gibbons sure has turned around when it comes to Pillar. From doghouse dweller to being in the middle of the lineup against a RHP.

Against a right-hander, no less.

There was an eery moment during the Baltimore game where the announcers stoped talking and invited everyone to listen. You could hear what I believe were the faint sounds the bullhorns of the protesters outside and that was about it for sound.

Holds can only come in save situations so blown holds end up counting as blown saves.

Deserved Run Average. It's new!

Yeah I'v watched this a bunch of times and it's still interesting. Great story. Hopefully there's another chapter left to be told.

It's true that there's only so much you can do to protect these egos. He was clearly under the impression that he could flat out win the job in spring training but it's not necessarily the team's fault that he thought that.

Appreciated.

Lenghty domestic violence rap sheet.

If you got banned over this, I would not join the chorus to have you freed. It's in terrible taste to say the least.

Could be. I certainly wasn't sold on him going into spring training but reportedly he wasn't told to work on anything in AAA and that's what raises an eyebrow for me. He looked good in spring training. If the team still wasn't sold on him then why not tell him what they want him to work on? Seems counter-productive not to say anything.

I wanted to watch the fight until I learned what a piece of s*** Mayweather is and now I don't care other than hoping he somehow loses.

So maybe, just maybe, Delabar is not a team player. Maybe he's not the kind of guy who pats Miguel Castro on the back despite losing a job to him. Heck maybe for all we know, he's a huge s*** head and a terrible clubhouse guy and the Jays just plain don't want him on the team. I could live with that assessment. I mean it's not like I'm around him and would know any different but being toxic (if that's the issue) is not an excuse for wasting an effective, healthy, veteran reliever in Buffalo. If you're not going to use him than just trade him away already. Lots of teams could use him. The return on him might not be amazing but it's better than punishing both him and the team by blue balling him like this.