KingKat

Because they were going al-in. Dickey still contributed more that year than Synder and D'Arnaud. Let's not forget that they had done the Marlins trade already. The Dickey trade was just a perfectly logical follow up to that and really when you think about it, they should have traded Sanchez too if their strategy was to go for one big push. The real mistake was adopting that strategy in the first place.

I like both Owings and House even though they both have flaws. I feel like the sizable pick upgrade makes it a win for him on paper but Owings was a redundant piece for me and I was short a healthy SP so I wasn't going to let haggling over pick value get in the way.

Lol. He didn't overhype him at all. He wanted Owings. House was my idea.

I think I'd rather Shimpf than Burns at this point.

lol I didn't even realize he wasn't under contract. Good platoon partner for Tolleson if the Jays go that route. There's no clear starter at this point. Might be Maicer, might be Travis but it could easily be Tolleson/Kawasaki. Between them they can cover practically every position and they have decent platoon splits. It's not a very sexy thing plan to sell to the fans but as a bridge to Travis, it might very well be the best current option.

Izturis really needs to hit to justify any kind of job. He can't play SS anymore and he isn't good at the other positions either. He can switch hit but there's no real value in that unless he puts up good overall numbers. If you're going to employ players who don't hit much, you'd prefer a timeshare using guys with pronounced splits rather than all around mediocre switch hitter. Even at his best, Izturis was a jack of all trades, master of none kind of player. He wasn't tuly great at anything but you could plug him at any of the infield positions and against any pitcher and he would do fine and there was real value in that. As he declines, the lack of a single really good tool and the declining defensive versatility make him harder and harder to employ. I haven't completely written him off (he might still have one decent offensive season left in him) but the window is clearly closing on his time as an employable MLB baseball player.

That was discussed earlier in the off season and pooh-poohed a lot more than it should have been IMO. Astros can be a bitch to deal with though so it's probably safe to assume the price won't be appealing.

I'm leaning that way too. A lot of fans would hate it because it would basically be the same as last year but Tolleson plays all the position and hits lefties well so I don't want to lose him altogether and Kawasaki compliments him better than Izturis does.

Knowing Goins limitations, it doesn't seem worth it to lose Tolleson altogether to keep him on the team and rostering both at the same time would mean either pushing Tolleson into the 4th OF role or not having any kind of left-handed option for the middle infield. C Martin 1B Smoak S (out of options) 2B Izturis S / Kawasaki L / Travis R SS Reyes 3B Donaldson (out of options, not that it matters) OF Bautista OF Pompey OF Saunders DH Encarnacion Bench C Thole/Navarro CI Danny Valencia (out of options) MI Tolleson R (out of options) / Goins R OF Pillar R / OF Dirks L

According to RosterRessource, the only 2B option who doesn't have options is Tolleson. Even Maicer theoretically can be sent down at no risk. http://www.rosterresource.com/mlb-toronto-blue-jays/

Izturis/Tolleson would probably leaves Tolleson the main backup ss. Does that work for a team that's talked about giving Reyes DH starts?

Well s***... I was wondering why anyone should expect more out of Tolleson than what we saw last year and that's a pretty good reason and even without improvement, he's the best option against lefties of any 2B the Jays have so he deserves more consideration than we've given him to date.

Former Jay.

1. This is true, whenever so-called compensation is sent, there's always a minor leaguer coming the other way. It happened with Farrell as was discussed ITT. 2. If he says so. 3. As many have pointed out, Baltimore gets less desirable the more Angelos digs his heels. He's just confirming that the Orioles may be better but he's still the same old Angelos. 4. Angelos is a bit of a hypocrite. He talks big game about the importance of honouring a contract but he would tear it up himself if a good prospect were on the table.

The Cito thing was from a different time. It doesn't make sense for some to still hold that against Jays fans when there are hardly any fans left who would still defend Cito. He's barely more popular around here than he is on an Orioles board.

This is probably a good time to buy low on Colby Rasmus. There really doesn't seem to be much of a market and he could provide good value for cheap as a bounce back candidate. Offensively, he's a frustrating player to watch. He can disappear for long stretches and he'll really, really look bad during those stretches, like "how does this guy ever make contact" bad and his forlorn, depressed looking demeanor just re-enforces that. He (usually) bounces back though and when he's on, his swing is a thing of beauty and generates really nice lift. Up until last year, he provided enough value on defense to make him not totally useless even when he's struggling at the plate but last year was a very bad year defensively and it was one of those cases where casual observation and defensive stats were in complete accordance about how bad he was. He blamed a lot of his problems on the turf. He said it messed with him physically and he just couldn't go after balls anymore. If playing on turf really was inhibiting him (and not just an excuse, the Rasmus clan is big on excuses especially the patriarch) than he could bounce back defensively and that would give him a much better floor. That would go a long way to making a Rasmus signing a good one. The fact that he's an unapologetic hick-ass hick and that he always seems to be looking for redemption made him pretty popular with Jays fans up until last year's fiasco.

Sounds like a mutually beneficial arrangement. He doesn't have much left in all likelihood but he wouldn't be expected to provide more than some emergency starts.

Dogg is eternal.

The Eva Braun page, on the other hand: http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1844

Yeah but they got the building for a song in relative terms so that's not really a good comparision. Compare it to the cost of building a new stadium and consider the fact that the location is already perfect and it just makes sense even if it isn't cheap.

Foreshadowing: All standard restrictions apply. Jew or Not Jew is not responsible for the above statements if the player is injured, accused of using PEDs, mysteriously stops hitting, renounces his religion, or is traded to Tampa.

Love the name.

Jew or not Jew needs to up their game. Neither is in the database. http://www.jewornotjew.com/

That would be the final solution to the bullpen problem.

Epic kiss cam fail from a Bulls game: http://tv.bamargera.com/this-dude-loses-his-girlfriend-to-the-chicago-bulls-mascot-get-off-your-phone-idiot/?utm_content=buffer90014&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer