KingKat

You say a lot of smart things but you seem like you're just doing it to be an ass. That makes you a good (read valuable) troll in my book as opposed to the ones who merely annoy and contribute nothing.

Do you want to know the real reason I voted for you? It's because I always get your avatar mixed up with the other guy who has a team USA player (I think he's just called TheJays or something like that, he posts in the Goins thread a lot). Everytime I read one of your posts, I think that's way smarter than what he usually posts and then I look and I realize it's you not him. Setting the bar that low makes you seem very very smart.

So you're saying D'Arnaud will pan out and become Jeff Mathis? I'm a little confused.

Syndi is the one that hurts for me. Committing to JPA for 2013 hurts too but it's not like the team should have felt comfortable committing to D'Arnaud either. Both could have been traded away and a third option found. The commitment to JPA may have facilitated the D'Arnaud trade but one didn't really have to dictate the other. At the very least Gomes could have been kept for depth/insurance.

No of course not but should the team just throw up its arms? There are ways to improve the product on the field without making long term sacrifices and that should be the first priority. If you're not in full-on rebuild mode (and clearly this team isn't) then you should at least be making whatever moves you can to round out your roster and improve your chances. Breakthrough seasons can always happen, even in the A.L. East.

We still don't know that he didn't. D'Arnaud reportedly drew rave review for his catching in his Mets audition but he also continued to encounter health issues. He may go down as one of those guys who teased the game with unfufilled potential. AA definitely did not sell high on Syndergaard though. At least from a prospect capital perspective anyways. AA would be way better off if he still had Syndergaard to shop around this off-season instead of Sanchez.

This is another reason why Ellis just seems like a much more realistic target. He's already 36, he's not thinking about saving himself for the future. He just wants another paycheck. It's always a fallacy to play mind reader with free agents but I just can't see why he wouldn't sign with the Jays if they offered him what he's seeking. Maybe it will happen once AA shuffles some payroll around.

Gomes must have still had options though. What a waste it was to trade him away. It's really incredible in hindsight to see how much was undone by the Esmil Rogers trade. AA keeps Gomes and the Jays actually have a viable alternative to JPA on the roster. AA keeps Aviles and at least one of Izturis or Bonifacio isn't brought in. I don't think I've ever seen a trade seem so innucuous at first and then be so maddening in hindsight.

Nope but his versatility made it such that you could actually carry him as a third catcher. That would have been a godsend in 2013. I can't blame AA for not seeing his offensive breakthrough coming. I doubt the Cleveland Indians even saw that coming. What the Indians did see and what it seems to me that AA should have seen is just how great Gomes is behind the plate. I remember seeing catch for Brazil in the WBC qualifying and thinking "that guy looks incredibly quiet and smooth back there." I thought it was just me but then the framing data came out and it supports that impression. He's a great catcher and the Indians seem poised to further commit to him. I don't understand why the guy's defense wasn't better scouted by the Jays and by baseball in general. We've heard plenty about Jimenez's defensisve upside and D'Arnaud's defensive upside. We never heard boo about Gomes. It seems like because Gomes played so many positions, everyone just assumed he was Ryan Doumit back there. The guy is awesome. I would kill to have him back.

I can totally understand being hesitant to commit to D'Arnaud because of his health issues and judging that it was a good time to trade him. I can't justify the commitment to JPA. Who would have predicted that the best option for 2013 would have turned out to be Yan Gomes?

I'm in the minority in this belief but I actually think the Dickey trade was more defensible than the Marlins trade. The notion that you could lock up an ace cheaply had to have a lot of appeal to AA especially after being spurned by free agents. Dickey turned out not to be an ace but AA is hardly the only one who thought Dickey might not follow the usual pattern of regression because he's a knuckleballer. And an important difference between the two trades is the context. The Dickey trade doesn't happen if the Marlins trade didn't happen first. AA had just giving away a huge chunk of his prospect capital, a bunch of controlable Major League assetts and most of his payroll flexibility, he wanted to make damn sure his all-in move was going to work. Not only did he need Dickey but he needed more. He should have traded Sanchez too, got a catcher and a 2B, and gone all in for real not half-ass it. I didn't agree with the direction AA took with the Marlins trade but once it was done, he didn't have much choice but to keep making moves with the same goal in mine.

Oh definitely, two top 25 prospects one of which was considered a top 10 prospect in some circles. Sanchez and Stroman don't touch that level of prospect helium.

Kirksaw's been around for a real long time.

Best posters: RealMin Funniest poster: Angrioter Best troll: TwistedLogic Best thread: the 3-Way thread Best new poster: The guy who said he loves JPA... when he's sitting on the bench or DFA'd Comeback poster of year: Terminator? (Wasn't he gone for awhile?) Best infrequent poster: Nox Worst troll: MohYou Most annoying/ stupid poster: MohYou Poster most missed: Blurnandez Poster who is actually Lee_Marvin: Cooler Heads Prevail Most relentless hatred for AA: Hurl

Is Infante that much better than Ellis that he would justify a bigger commitment?

I see no downside to turning failed prospects and wash-outs into knuckeballers. You get one back-end starter out of it and it more than justifies the experiment. In fact I assume the only reason this doesn't happen more often is that there are very few instructors who can teach it. The only downside with this is the one Dickey brought up, the demands on his time. He's not a player/coach, he needs to focus on his own preparation not that of others. This would probably work better with a retired knuckleballer working as roving instructor (Candiotti?).

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/duceyro01.shtml

Can't seem to stop email notifications from coming in for subscribed threads. I set my Default Thread Subscription Mode to Do not subscribe.

No. Liriano was an awesome buy low candidate. Ks for days. I feel pretty comfortable calling Volquez garbage.

Cliff Lee only has twenty wins in his last two. Surely we can find someone of "equivalent value" to trade for him.

It wasn't a slam dunk that he wouldn't stick at catcher although it was the educated opinion of several. I'm convinced reluctance to completely shut the door on his catcher eligibility contributed to the hype. He did show good power though.

Part of that was the catcher eligibility. He probably should have been hyped to something like Freddie Freeman level not Buster Posey level.

Jack Z got the better of that trade. Amaro got garbage for Lee. Trade for Halladay for prospects and turn around and trade Lee for lesser prospects. Talk about counter-productive.

In many ways it's a trist of convenience. The interests aren't aligned so there's no reason to bury the hatchett. The Jays could get desperate though as options delcine. Someone like Geoff Baker fits the Jays like a glove and, Boras or not, there's only so much he could be realistically demanding. If AA handles all negotiations, it seems like something that could and should be done but Beeston is such a tool that you never really know how far he would take this. Between Boras and Beeston, I put more faith in Boras to be the one who sees the big picture. Ultimately, he always gets the best deals for his clients. I think he would do that even in the unlikely scenario where the best for his client is the Jays

I have no problem with this interpretation. I do have a problem with you calling thoe other interpretation dumb. Like I said before those who believe that there's a tryst are basing their belief on things that actually happened. For you to call their interpretation dumb especially when your recollection of what transpired is deformed in a way that suits your opinion, makes you the dummy.