JaysFan4Ever

I think he always had a fair level of confidence coming up to the bigs. I remember an article where some people called him arrogant because he was blowing bubbles on the mound in the minors. He's starting to get into his groove and is growing more confident with every pitch. Well, as long as he doesn't get an ump like the one in NY where the strike zone was different for both teams and he wasn't getting the calls. A lot of guys, especially younger ones, might have lost their s*** at a few of those calls and either bitched out an ump or fallen apart like Dickey does at times. He wasn't happy but went right back to what he was doing and stuck with his game plan. That's when I realized he's not going back to the minors unless the Jays bring someone in (ie #1-#2 starter) and even then it would be hard to send him down. He looks like he's been in the bigs for a few years. Hopefully he can keep this up. It's great watching him and knowing when he starts he's going to give you his best and a chance to win.

Pretty much every team has some kind of hole in its line up but these guys are killing us. On ESPN a couple weeks ago they said the Jays' biggest problem is they're feast or famine when it comes to runs and they have a hard time making the small ball moves to score. They're right. Watching the live feed from the Oakland feed one of the commentators just said how every MLB player should be able to lay a bunt down, move a runner over especially like Mastro since it's his job in that situation especially if you're not a big bat. It's the fact that we have replacement players who are filling in for injuries or getting more playing time than they usually would yet they can't do the basics like advance a runner or at least work the count. I hope this changes soon. The Jays won't stand too much of a chance if they can't come through when needed to make some plays to score against the tough pitchers.

It is something on how Oakland is getting that production from Chavez and Kazmir. Seems like some teams are very good at taking players off the scrap heap and turning them into something or in Kazmir's case back to where they were a few years ago. It would be nice if Chavez could have done that in his Jays days but the Jays have Bautista and EE.

That wasn't bad at all. I liked it. The editing was very smooth and looked professionally done. If you have time to make another one or more please do and share it. Well done.

AA: "Well, we had an offer to the Mets of Aaron Sanchez for Colon straight up for about a week. I then called back and asked what would it take to get this done and done now. So, after about 5 minutes they said 'give us Sanchez, Nay, and A.J. Jimenez with about $1M. So, we made the deal since we had to go all in since we're still near the top of the division. We think it's a fair trade. We would have liked them to send us a personal catcher for him too but you can't always get everything you want."

EE's reaction was one of those "damn I knew I should have tried to foul that one off and damn that was a good pitch."

That will be a bitch if that's the way they lose. I can see if they did trade Dickey to Oakland, he'll wind up pitching the finest game of his career against the Jays in the deciding game 7 of the ALDS and lead them to the World Series.

It looks promising especially since it's not interfering with the pitcher's mechanics, very light weight, and works for all ages. It would be nice to see more clubs at least test them in spring training or maybe with their pitchers who have had some kind of elbow injury, whether its' TJS or even just a sprain to see if it'll help them make some adjustments. Anything that can help prevent an injury would be great. My concern is with the younger players. If they're not hurt early on in their playing (early mid teens and up) which might end a chance for them to get at least a partial scholarship, get drafted or signed by a MLB club, they might have a bad habit/mechanics/stress that blows it out later. I'm going to have to keep an eye on this and find some more info.

Oh I know. I saw it as the Bleacher Report and almost didn't want to read it. It's not bad by their standards.

The Brew Crew made a bigger blunder pitching to EE with a base open and the game on the line haha

I know bunting is easier said than done, but there are two marginal/AAAA players up who aren't expected to do much offensively, Gose, who there was the story/article about how he was sent to the instructional leagues or clinic to practice bunting, and both can't do it correctly. It's the only thing expected and they can't get it done. If at least Mastroianni isn't sent down then we have a problem. We do since the lack of depth is catching up to the team and more importantly the lack of role players ie bench players who can provide above average defense, either a little pop off the bench of at least make a fundamental move like bunting runners over, can't seem to get it done. No one succeeds 100% of the time but it seems like these guys fail close to 100% of the time doing the simple things. They're supposed to get a bunt down. Deaden the ball. Move the runners over. Add speed to the base paths when a player gets on late but might be injured (Bautista) or slow (Fatso Navarro) not make blunders. With that said f*** YEAH EDWIN!

This is interesting. It's still in the early stages but would be interesting to see if this is another tool to help pitchers from blowing out their arms. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2097866-the-sleeve-that-could-save-baseball-exclusive-look-at-new-mlb-technology

I'm following on Game Day and the last two strikes to Kawaski were shown above the zone. I know it's not greatly acurate but it does sound like this ump is calling a random strike zone.

Considering I forgot today was a 1PM start I would have forgotten tomorrow's early start.

That wouldn't be a bad contract to bring him back on. I'd like him back since we've seen what he's able to do especially compared to the closers we've had throughout the years. He comes in and it's all but over. I wouldn't be surprised if some team jumps in and tries to lure him away with a larger offer especially someone like the Yankees because they can get him in their pen and no longer an opponent or any other team that might be desperate. Time will tell. He seems to like it in TO.

I don't know. Considering he's been very solid as a closer (and reliever in general) and only made $4M this year, he could easily triple that salary on the market if a team is looking for a closer or at least a set up guy who could be their closer if their in house/current closer falters.

I can imagine the FBI's response: "Uh huh. Astros website got hacked? You want us to track down who's behind it? Well, we have to file your report by law. We'll be in touch. Hey, Smith! The Astros want us to investigate who hacked their site and reported their insane asking prices for average players!" "Hmm well, I guess that investigating into who's behind the hacking of credit and debit cards stealing millions a day from hard working people will just have to wait. Wait, they were talking to AA? That makes it international! Let's call INTERPOL! I'm sure they're just as eager to get on this as we are."

I'd have to go with the Mets, mostly because I'm from NY and their FO problems have been similar to the Jays (bad joke). I have a soft spot for the Cubbies too. Not really sure why.

What timing! With Lawrie down and possibly Bautista needing a few days, at least, you can bet he's calling AA trying to see how desperate he is.

Any kind of break is usually 4-6 weeks. I don't think they'd let him come back too soon after it unless XRays showed it was healed and after a short rehab stint. Also depends on where the club is at that point. If they fall out of contention, there isn't a point in rushing him back. The depth is so thin it's almost like they'd randomly pull someone out of the stands to play an inning here and there.

If the Morrow of 2012 is the one we get back, it would be a godsend and a steal for next year's price. The problem is I'm not going to hold my breath on him coming back at all, let alone healthy enough to start and be more than average (#4-5). I'm willing to even write off the poor performances he's had the past few injury laden years on the injuries (obviously) and say if he's healthy he should be like he was in 2012. They have plenty of time to build him back to game ready status since he can't be activated until July 3 or 4th and they could use up to 30 days of rehab. The rotation can look different by the time he comes back (if he does this year). I think it'll depend on how he preforms on rehab and the team's greatest need at the time. As for next year and beyond, who knows? Much like McGowan it's been a weird number of varying injuries, nothing as serious as McGowan's surgeries but still enough to derail a career. This tendon sheath issue, who knows? It ultimately comes down to if he can hold up or not. He could be a starter on any team, and some team would give him a chance despite the injuries and inconsistency of the past since lesser guys get a chance all the time. Where he winds up in his career remains to be seen. It's similar to when he first came to the bigs (McGowan was a similar story) where people viewed him as an asset in both roles. I think I can say for this year he's going to be wherever the team wants him/needs him at the time. He'll likely come back and get some starts but being in the pen is something I see them doing too, especially if a move is made. If he can stay healthy he can excel in either role. That's the issue. Him not being able to go more than 5-6 IP lately could be the injuries or maybe he just burns out after that. Bottom line, at least in my opinion, is if he comes back this year he'll be in the rotation barring any acquisition made before he comes back unless the team tanks and says f*** it and let's some of the younger players stay in the pen ie Stroman, Hutch, Nolin (if/when healthy), Sanchez to see what they can do. If the Jays are still floating in 1st or are in contention and haven't acquired another starter I see him in the rotation at least or until he fails or someone replaces him. I can't see him being worse than some of the replacements we've had over the past couple seasons.

Here has the past 10 games: http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=475138 I wouldn't be against it per se. He hasn't been impressive but that he's holding up at all after his 2nd TJS being as (relatively) young that he is is somewhat impressive. If Happ has lost what he had earlier in the season, why not? Worse case he comes up and bombs. I'm sure he'll be back around September. If he can come up and be of any use, starter would be better, but hell even out of the pen, we might be able to salvage something out of that trade and/or if he shows he can at least put up some quality starts some team might be willing to take him in a trade either as a throw in or something. This team has given less talented players another shot.

Scene: Jays' Club House Gibbons: OK Happ, take it easy, don't try to be perfect, our offense seems to have come back to life. Just worry about being effective and give us a quality outing. Happ (to himself on the mound after getting the first two batters out): Me a MLB starter! I'll make it interesting! Walk-walk-walk-single-walk then for the hell of it I'll make it look like we're out of sync with a passed ball. Then I 'll get out of trouble and make it look like I made "muh pitch" when I needed to. Offense scores a bunch we're all hyped up! Great plan! Walker (coming out to the mound): You see that thing called "the plate?" How about throwing the ball over it a few times? (Happ gives up the single) Walker (to himself): Yeah, that's what I meant. Meatball it over like that. Happ (to himself or the imaginary friend he has in his glove): YEAH! Got out of it! Plan is working! Sure, 3 runs on a single and a bunch of walks but hey, I'll be perfect from here on until the 7th and everyone will be like 'oh man! he started out so rough and then was dy-no-mite!' Party tonight when we come back and win it 7-4! AA (to Beeston): Hmm...have we gone through the usual excuses for this week? How about we keep telling the fan base we're working on this and have the funds to bring in some help and not let this game get the better of us in the 2nd inning since we came back with a historic win last night and can't expect it to carry over and score 14 runs every night. Tell them Happ struggled but kept us in it. Beeston (while running in a circle in AA's office): I found a dollar! I thought it was a quarter but it's a dollar! It's a US dollar! Now we can say we technically do have money to spend on a starter or help for a trade. This way we're not technically lying or using the rhetoric that we're expected to!

Happ comes out looking like he's going to have a good outing and then 3 straight walks. It's like he flicked a switch in his head.

Sounds like this was one of those moves where you have a guy hurt, where you don't want to DL him right away but send someone else down to call up depth elsewhere only to DL the player after buying some more time and basically cancelling the option move because you're bringing that player back before he even really gets to the minors? Could that have been by design or just the mess that wound up happening?