fireballW

This is really out of hand. People who thought this team would be in a playoff race, which includes almost everyone, really need to give it a rest. I can 100% understand that some people could be on the fence about AA after last offseason. The Dickey trade was a disaster in that Syndy should not have been included. But regardless anybody who can't see that AA has made more good moves than bad ones since coming here is being ridiculous. This team on paper was a good team that didn't live up to expectations. Even if we can agree the Dickey trade was not good in itself, it is crazy to not see the reason for it - we NEEDED that one more starter to make us legit contenders, and going half in would have been stupid. This team would not be competing for a looong time if we just stayed the course. Things would not have lined up at the same time. AA has done more good than bad. He has also shown he can VERY quickly turn around a minor league system. This offseason is make or break, but right now there is no reason to act like we KNOW that AA doesn't have what it takes. I know it sounds stupid but what I would like to see is AA get himself right. As in, start hitting the gym, lose some pounds, get healthy, get his mind right. He WaS very sharp when he first got the job, really. But over the past few years he has definitely lost a step. He needs to get right, get healthy, get some more sleep and be ready to go this offseason.

AA already publicly said about how he feels guilty, how the fans supported the team and deserved better and took blame. What did most people do? They scoffed at this as if it would be a lie. Grow up.

Me too. Not easy to hit when it's evert 5 days. I think he can hit if he is healthy and playing every day.

One of the problems is the FO seems to have mistaken having confidence for people who act like douches. Shouldn't be any complaints on the board though, people here were super excited for our team adding more "swag," "mustard" and "personality." Hopefully the FO can figure out the difference between players who have confidence and people who are obnoxious a-holes. Tired of guys like Lawrie, Arencibia, Gose and even Bautista to an extent. There is no sign these guys will grow up with age, they are just tools.

We should break the bank for Cano, if Rogers really has all this money. Screw it.

Some trades are not working out well. But AA proved when he got here that he can turn a bottom of the road minor league system into a top of the road one. With all our pitching coming up it look like we'll be top ten again 2 years from now. If only we could develop some position players that are under 28/29 years old instead of guys like Bautista and Encarnacion.

I thought Melky would be back today. I was really excited thinking about our infield for next year. We need a healthier, better outfield but if the rumours are right that Bautista will move to 3rd (and he should) then.. Bautista, Reyes, Lawrie, Edwin is a great infield. If only we could do better at catcher.

It's insane how much Gose's stolen base percentages have fluctuated. Guy just doesn't have a good head on his shoulders. Hopefully he grows up a bit. I think a lot of people now have realized that "swag" isn't really the most awesome personality trait for a ball player.

Exactly. Enough hearing about JP. People don't even realize at all what they are talking about. Only people who live in a fantasy land where all FA want to sign in Toronto and every team is willing to trade their top players for B prospects could be upset. Our farm system is as good, or better than when AA got here and our team is light years better. So where is the problem? It is like the biggest argument against him is he made our minor league system too good, too fast (from bottom five to top 2 or 3 in a few years) that people got too attached. That and people here are complete dorks and get upset when guys who are maybe around our top 10 prospects are getting traded for legit major league pitching depth like Happ. If AA wasn't here instead of JP, Wells would still be here, or if JP traded him he probably would have ate half the contract. Jose would have never been resigned most likely because of Wells money so he wouldn't even be here. The Scott Rolen for EE and Stewart trade was AA's trade. He found it, lined it up, negotiated it and then plopped it down in front of Ricciardi, signed, sealed and delivered. This was talked about by JP himself, if nobody else remembers this info, I don't really care. I feel like AA also brought Bautista to Ricciardi, but am not as 100% as I am about EE. EE, Bautista and Reyes would not be here if not for AA. Ricciardi would not have drafted enough high upside guys to make half the trades AA has to bolster this team. Plus by the time it left it seemed more than a few GMs wanted nothing to do with him. Almost guarantee we wouldn't have the nice options on Lind either. JP had what? 7 years? And didn't accomplish close to as much as AA has. Give it another year and our farm system is probably going to be top 15 again too. We have a team that was widely considered one of the favourites on paper to go to the world series. People are ridiculous. Ya ya tldr. I don't care. This post was for me not any of you!

Yeah I hear what they are saying, but it doesn't register with me. Reyes' injury was more brutal than anything I've had, but I've at least had a very seriously sprained ankle before. With something like a groin pull I'd understand because even once it feels better it can be super easy to reaggravate, but once the pain goes away in an injury like Reyes', you are pretty much good to go. I don't know how playing more innings will change things if he can steal bases and go first to third already. Yeah I'm sure he can continue strengthening it, but it isn't one of those things that is a big risk to re-injure. I really don't see him coming to the bench after 5 innings and being like "I just can't to the last four." Once they started letting him run full tilt it pretty much meant he was okay to me. I doubt they'd be letting him steal bases unless he was pain free.

Can Reyes hit worse than Izturis or Kawasaki? The guy is healthy and I doubt he will lose any confidence if he doesn't hit .300 right out of the gate. Forget Buffalo and get him up here for Baltimore.

It'd be awesome if he hit the ball more often because he's pretty good at making baseballs go far. Players who stay healthy are pretty cool when they are decent for their positions. Keep it up Colby. No dive like last year please. Lind no dive like 2 (?) years ago please.

JPA is actually talented. He is just so impossibly dumb and even more stubborn. Seriously, he is so unable to reflect objectively on himself, it must be a defense mechanism. Of course he sucks when he is at 3 balls. He has publicly called people who think he should walk "nerds." I believe he actually believes in his heart that taking a walk is for pussies. Our catcher/leader on the field has the brain of a high school student. Not the all around athlete/scholar one, the jock type who gets by with 60% but thinks he's da s***. Apparently he decided to start listening to CM and change some things recently. If this guy could just grow up and grow a brain he has the talent to actually take some walks and be a top 20 catcher... maybe. He can be funny, even charismatic but he is sooooooooo dumb.

Made a post on the old forum a long time ago about when I used to play baseball and how hugely annoying it was to pitch to catchers who wouldn't give a good target. JPA would always flip his target up right when the pitcher is about to release the ball like he needed to sneak it so the batter didn't no. Just stupid. Apparently had time with Sal and watching him lately he is ACTUALLY PUTTING UP A TARGET!!! This seems like a basic idea but it took this meathead years to figure it out. Oh yeah, and our pitchers are pitching better. Surprise.

If Melky's injury is something they know won't get better, then I kind of understand this. But if not it makes no sense. He is really so hobbled out there that moves to accommodate him going to DH would not hurt us defensively. EE to 3B isn't worse than what Melky is doing right now. Hell, Lind could play LF the way Melky has been lately, although his confidence is always so think I don't like jerking him around. If Melky's problem is something that some rest could solve, they need to do it, because if he can come back closer to his real self he would turn from a bad player to a good player for this team. He is way better than he has been doing.

Well done. I've been here long enough to know that some posters here will never be satisfied. Not until we have the #1 team AND #1 farm system at the same time. These posters are often very knowledgeable, but at the same time complete delusional. They have played fantasy baseball so long they have no real concept that the people that play are human beings, with likes, dislikes, families etc.... Looking at our roster, our big stars would have been over the hill before we got much significant help from the farm. They put a team on paper that was worthy of fighting to have the best odds of winning the world series. They gave us the best team we've had in a long, long time. There is lots to be disappointed about, but AA and Gibby have done their jobs well. Of course the season has been frustrating, but it is good to see someone who can step back and be reasonable about it, even if in certain moments it is easy to get angry and question things.

Sorry but just quickly, in a one year league is Heyward/Butler for Morales/McCann fair or is one side lopsided?

Thole caught Dickey during a year where Dickey won the Cy Young, so how is he not qualified to catch him this year? I'm happy we have Dickey, but he is pitching like shiat. Blanco is an offensive black hole, whilst Thole is really not. The guy can at least walk and slap the ball around for a decent average. Especially once our players get back (Reyes, lawrie - if they ever get back) I want to Thole catching. The lineup below is still a super good lineup, even if we never have our pitchers healthy enough to make us any good. Reyes Melky Bautista Edwin Lind * Lawrie Rasmus Bonifacio Thole

Ridiculous. Thole would be so much better... he is at least close to an MLB quality starting catcher.

No, they definitely backed off that after last years injuries and made it sound like he would come back as a reliever. But then this spring they started kind of giving mixed signals again. Like other people said though, it'd be kind of strange for him to be only throwing one inning yesterday if he was going to be coming back as a starter. At this point some more starting pitching dept would be pretty great though!

I don't understand your post. Look at Strasburg this year? His fastball velocity is pretty close to the same as the last couple years and he has been pitching well. Are you arguing that we shouldn't start pushing a program that has turned around 2 of our player's careers completely and looks to be helping a 3rd? Are you trying to argue that velocity doesn't help? You said Tommy John surgery ain't no phone in your post and the program I am talking about was designed as an injury prevention program, with the side effect that it has seemed to add a significant amount of velocity to player's fastball.

Every one of our pitchers should be on the Delabar program before all the other teams start getting in on it too. There are enough gimmicks out there, but with Delabar and Cecil adding a seemingly unheard of amount of velocity throughout the program, and staying healthy *knock on wood* so far, there is a lot to think this might be legit. Earlier reports on McGowan were mixed, with Toronto org guys saying he still had awesome stuff but other reports saying he was throwing around 90-91 MPH. To hear he was throwing that hard is pretty awesome!

Great job on this! Now all we need is a little winning streak and this place will be hopping. Reyesdaroof (zaunbie)