KingKat

Whatever his shortcomings, I feel like Armstrong is a perfect fit for the Raptors. This is Canada where there isn't an NBA culture. The Raptors are a tough sell but Armstrong is an enthusiastic pitch man and that's what's needed.

I really hate the later starts for the playoffs games. It used to be both Saturday games in the Wildcard and Divisional playoffs were day games. The Conference Championships were day games as well. I have nothing to do all day until the game airs but by the time they do, I'm dealing with scheduling conflicts. There's nothing better to do on winter weekend afternoons then watch football. Put on the damn football.

They have made slight corrections to run prevention with Navarro and Goins although neither player is expecting to contribute a lot of value overall. That's basically it as far as corrections to last year's team. Positional depth is till very thin, especially at 3B (if Lawrie as usual misses significant time, they may have to shift Bautisata back there for lack of options). Pitching depth is somewhat improved by the availability of Hutch, Stroman and Drabek but with a back end of Morrow/Happ/Redmond that depth probably won't be a luxury and we will be probably see yet another rotating cast of pitchers unless there are major breakout seasons. So basically the lessons learned from last season are that Izturis and JPA are not starting players on a contending team but Goins and Navarro might be. Beyond that, it's just cross your fingers that you can get more out of what you have. It's weird the way Anthoopoulos has gone from seeming like a savvy GM with a plan to looking completely overwhelmed by the task of putting together a roster. Maybe he just stop listening to the right people and started listening to the wrong ones.

It's really hard to understand this offseason. Either they had money and they just backed themselves into a corner by only focusing on the top starting pitchers or they didn't have money but didn't really do anything to free some up either. At first the team was talking like they had the means to bring in as many as three starting pitchers and then they kind of clamed up. Where they too optimistic at first? Did the payroll get locked down? Strange offseason. Sometimes it seems like the Jays aren't operating in the same reality other teams are.

Holy s***. That's truly awful if true.

I can't imagine he would have visited the page in the last two weeks and not felt compelled to get in touch with someone about either the blog or the dynasty league.

Yeah but you dropped the "d" the first time so it was super confusing.

Melky is no. 1 right now on my reasons for optimism. I guess I'm just as sucker for those training videos with Bautista. Who knows what it really means but superficial evidence suggesting that Melky will be in much better playing shape is a lot better than no evidence at all. It would be pretty sweet if he was the player we expected when he was signed.

So are you saying you'd run with Gose first then or are you simply saying that another option is needed?

Allen Quatermain is somebody else. I forgot who he is but he's definitely someone on this board not name Ace. Btw, your statement above is confusing. Are you saying his name is Aceveo or Acevedos?

Anyone know if Pillar had strong platoon splits in the minors? I'm kind of intrigued by him now that the initial hype has receded. If you look at teams that excel at getting value out of unheralded players (TB, STL), the players they employ look a bit like Pillar. Pillar could theoretically be a line drive hitter with a solid platoon split, solid defense and reportedly, he has the kind of "want" that allows scrubby players to maximize their talent. If he hadn't been so bad in a small sample size last year, he'd probably be a bit of a folk hero among the casuals with a 100 page "Can Pillar stick" thread in these parts. Maybe I'm squinting too hard to see somehting in him but Sierra and Gose are such s*** shows right now that I'm starting to want to like Pillar as a kind of poor man's Reed Johnson.

At this point, what alternatives are even in place? If it's between him and Pillar for the 4th OF and main right-handed hitter off the bench, I'd probably go with Pillar. The bat might actually be better (very recent results excepted) and the defense is way, way better. Pillar can even play CF in a pinch we're told something Sierra couldn't do in a million years.

Bingo. They really should be called betting lines because saying odds implies probabilities and probabilities don't factor in them at all.

Talk to me.

I forgot Diaz had ever left. He's a right-handed glove first guy so based on that alone he probably has more use than Getz.

JFaS is too nice to do this but someone really needs to write an article exposing Dave Cameron as a total fraud (cough, Nox, cough).

It's really weird to look back on those years and realize how out of touch we all were. Olerud was a much more valuable player than anyone realized even in 1992 before his big batting average year. Carter was much less valuable.

Ban.

By far. Heck, Saki and a platoon partner might actually provide good production from the position but the Jays haven't brought in a single right-hander to compete for the position (unless you count the switch-hitting Izturis).

The s*** they use usually has an exploitable platoon split and some defensive value. That's how you get value out of scrubs. AA seems to be attracted to the opposite. What do Getz, Izturis and Bonifacio all have in common? Even platoon splits and lousy defense.

Excitement! Track Team! But seriously this guy is like Bonifacio with passable defense. He doesn't hit and he has no exploitable platoon split. Kawasaki all day over this scrub even more so if Kawasaki had a platoon partner.

I wonder if he'd make a good broadcaster. He always struck me as a smart and funny guy but he might not be loquacious enough. He's pretty sarcastic too. Whereas, Zaun takes everything too seriously, I figure he'd be the opposite.

In terms of proximity to Japan, Chicago, New York and Toronto are probably about the same, assuming a direct flight using the northern flight path. Only the West Coast teams have a real advantage with Seattle obviously being the very best. Of course, I don't know if you were thinking along those terms.

I will in be in the U.S. from the 31 to the 9th. It seems unlikely I would miss the deadline but I could send someone my list if it's a concern.

All the more reason to be talking to Ubaldo/Garza now. The priority should be to sign SOMEONE not Tanaka specifically.