BigCecil

a 178 wRC+ at his age. I've wondered but who knows. His season is unworldly. If he is, I hope he gets busted hard rocking Red Sox Nation to the core and we blow by them.

One the most read articles on line was in the Globe and Mail yesterday on Jose's gambit and declining value. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/baseball/kelly-opposite-bargaining-tactic-left-bautista-in-the-same-bad-spot/article30942821/ Its interesting Jose said he didn't believe in hometown discounts, but is now intimating more for a "face of franchise" contract which is essentially a "hometown premium". Cant really have it both ways. His first deal was fair to both sides. It was no hometown discount. Nobody knew if he was a one year wonder and PED allegations were all over him. Jose is quite capable of coming back and going on a tear that would get him to 2.5 to 3 WAR ish (good for us- hope he does) but when you look at comparables he is closer to Beltre's deal at this point. At least Beltre plays a premium position well still. What Big Papi is doing to aging curves is so rare. Last person to do it was probably Bonds. Jose is so far removed from his 6.5 and 8 WAR seasons now to go another 5 yrs would be insanity.

Yes, Pitchtracker has been a blessing and a curse. Its a very difficult thing to do calling behind the plate but so much rides on it. I know the calls tend to even out but games can change on one (or more) horrible call. Case in point Gm 6 with Revere and Navvy. there has got to be a better way. Soccer refused to change until the World Cup when England was screwed against Ger on a critical obvious goal (by replay) that was called a crossbar. Flames actually beat Tampa for the Cup but Gelinas winner was called a save. Baseball is slowly bringing in improvements and overall they have been good for the game. I'd like to see them turn some attn. to this.

Agreed. I don't often agree with WILNER, but I do on this. He asked the question why they weren't working on getting the umps and using technology to improve the ball/strike calls behind the dish. He also pointed out the NYY under Torre weren't amongst the worst complainers on this issue.

"When the Blue Jays acquired Jason Grilli his numbers weren’t particularly impressive. With a 5.29 ERA and 13 walks in 17 innings, he appeared to be declining quickly. Sixteen appearances in Toronto suggest otherwise. After another stellar inning Sunday, the right-hander has 25 strikeouts against six walks in 14.2 innings with the Blue Jays for a 2.45 ERA." -BNS Pen has allowed 43 of 119 inherited runners to score and blown 13 saves. Grilli has been a god send.

PVRED the game. Managed to avoid anyone telling me the score all day. Decided I couldn't watch it without knowing if we won. Opened up my app and saw we lost and Bosox and O's won. Mercifully skipping it and moving on to tomorrow. f*** I hate losing to the A's.

Not a Smoak hater but don't understand this for an under league avg bat with a high K% at that pos in this Div.

His last start before this one he touched 95 at least twice with the 4S. With good location that should be plenty. We don't know what would happen if he used it more in 2016 yet, but in 2014 he threw it a lot more and the results were quite good.

There were a few posters on the GDT thread who were calling for a short leash who usually don't panic on these things always calling for the hook. It was obvious that Stro just didn't have command and he had little in the tickle trunk to get swing and miss...even with 2 strikes. LHH were taking WAY too good a swings off of him, and frankly he was lucky to get some of the calls he did that Martin framed. Boxy posted his pitch chart in another thread. Wasn't pretty.

Ya, he was awful. not great FB location or V and no bite on the CB. Similar to start of yr.

I put a lot of credence in FIP and xFIP, but an arm that gives up as much contact with the exit V Stro does isn't just unlucky. Is it just back luck his HB/FB is 18% or is it the fact that they are hitting the ball so hard? The eye test location and stuff was just poor all round.

Out of safe hell of a throw. This has been a frustrating game. Cecil cant get LHH out.

Probably just the frustration of blowing a decent lead against a pretty weak hitting team when our comp has already locked up Ws

Yes, Gibby's veteran eye noticed the vapour trails the balls were leaving as they went over the CF wall. He then quickly made the decision to go to the pen 7-7. Rare breed to see something so subtle.

OAK just f***ing pounding Stro. He is just s*** tonight all round. Got nothing. This one far from over.

Pretty lucky for a homer like him to catch that 2B.

For sure. His command is poor and his stuff isn't great. LHH are taking some serious rips off him.

I don't blame them. Stro caught 2 breaks this inning.

Lucky call there on the check. Decent pitch though. Sit down!

JD's spray chart this year is an MVP ish thing of beauty.

Gonna need a bunch. Stro not sharp. Keep it rollin Zeke.

That's the Devo swing. Great baserunning Pillar (don't seem to say that too often)

Love the little JD stutter step when he bounced up after the slide. Let's get another!

So my son was in Alomar's Jays camp near Calgary the last couple days. My buddy with a group of friends ran into him at a party tent yesterday at the Calgary Stampede and they pounded vodka and fruit punch all night. He said he was a ton of fun. My son is 8 and said of all the Jays coaches which included Barfield, Alomar and Devo etc, Alomar was the "most awesome". Kind of nice to hear that.

I like your posts. Its too bad some posters go away feeling like this, but overall I love this board. It is what it is and for the internet its pretty civil. I don't expect it to change. There are a lot of knowledgeable posters on here and its taught me a lot about valuing performance complementing the old stats we used to rely on. Ive met a few guys from the board...and that's been interesting and fun. It fills a void for talking baseball/Jays/other things that most of my baseball friends and new casual fans who I like personally, but make me insane to talk ball with.