Key22

I cut AA some slack overall because most of his moves at the time have been plausible. Fact is we don't know what his superiors were ordering him to do. He was in build for the future and for all we know some numbnuts ordered him to increase season ticket sales by bringing in vets. Toronto is a market that is VERY VERY likely to be on most players no trade lists and "I don't want to sign in a foreign country" list of free agents. If Boston or NY is on 1 player's no trade list you can be sure it is 10 or 20 times or more on other player's no trade list. It's pretty difficult to be a GM of a team that has its hands tied behind its back and that isn't AA's fault. He can't sign free agents who won't come here, he can't make trades for players who have power to say no and they do when it is Toronto and he can't pay free agents who do want to come here if he doesn't have the money to be able to sign them. And Gibbons - poor Gibbons. The man can't pitch for his pitchers - when your entire pitching staff leads the league in suckage and you're down 5-0 by the 4th most every night and your starters barely ever get to the 7th Managing the team is an endless series of trying to put out fires - but when your bullpen is filled with a bunch of leaking gas cans it's kind of miraculous the team has managed to the record they've managed. I'm not really against them firing people - but I want a real replacement - an absolute PROVEN winner who has won multiple world series titles and is a surefire quality GM. I don't want them hiring one hit wonders, or guys with experience at running losers. Billy Beane is viewed as a GM God to some and yet he traded Donaldson to us for what exactly - four AAAA scrubs? If one of the best in the game was dumb enough to do that then I can cut AA slack on Dickey - and really Dickey and Yan Gomes was the ones that stick out - but to be fair AA's entire staff and most teams in baseball missed Gomes. Dickey was the result that no free agents (who are worth having) will come to Toronto and the ONLY way he could get an established arm was to trade. Even if you say "well AA should have traded for a better arm like Hamels" - turns out those better arms with 5-10 rights or have it in their contracts wouldn't waive them anyway. I think people need to be able to see what was offered - and all the other behind the scenes things to dump it on AA. I think they desperately need to move Reyes - contract is another Vernon Wells.

Cueto doesn't fix the other three turns in the rotation that are black holes of s***. We all knew this going into the season though. We had two aging number 3 starters another 3/4 in Hutch and two rookies. No closer, no depth in the pen or the rotation. We have to just take it on the chin this year and hope. Even if made the playoffs we have no ace and any truly good ace pitcher will shutout or shut down our offense. Next year looks better if Stroman comes back and does what he was doing - have Hutch as a reasonable number 4/5 Dickey as the number 5 starter and find two upper rotation starters (with luck an internal candidate with more experience - Norris perhaps). Gotta keep the bats - right now they're the only thing keeping this team from being a complete and utter embarrassment.

Yeah don't remind me. It made sense at the time given that we had a hole in left with the obvious departure of Melky and WAAAAAY back then we had lots of time to sign free agent pitching. With Stroman/Dickey/MB/Hutch - we could probably trade Happ - get Saunders and also sign a starter. Stroman is the back breaker - lose the ace - forces Sanchez into the rotation so we lose our closer/set-up man as well in a sense and then a lack of depth. At this point there is nothing that can be done - we don't have the chips to make a trade for a positive helpful starter - and in fact we probably need three. We need a closer as well. And we have a new Vernon Wells albatross in Reyes.

Blown saves happen - the names mentioned are names who would be doing a better job than what is currently pitching in our pen. The Jays have hit well for the last several years - our pitching has sucked ass and is worse this year than it was last year. You said the average was 18 - we've already blown 4. We are on pace for well over 18 blown saves - to be a winner you should be "better than league average" in most areas. We currently sit 29/30 in earned runs allowed per game - But our +7 run differential is 14/30 which is keeping us respectable thanks to the fact that we can beat up bad pitching or good pitchers having an off day - though we get completely shut down by good pitching. We give up 3 times more runs that Kansas City and more than double the runs that New York gives up from the 7th inning to the 9th inning. Indeed the top three teams in baseball in fewest runs allowed from the 7th-9th innings are Kansas, New York, Houston (Toronto is 26th and 29th in just the 8th and 9th inning). All the leaders here are also division leaders - surprise, surprise. Those three teams also lead the AL in overall Earned Run Average. Toronto is 3rd in overall runs scored - behind KC and Baltimore. But it is arguable that we have more talent than our offense has shown thus far. We're 26th in close games - KC and Houston are in the top 5. I suppose it's beating a dead horse to say that if this team doesn't find some pitching and find it soon - we're out of it by June. Our 7th to 9th pitching is attrocious and our rotation has two rookies who struggle to get to the 7th inning, two number 3 starters pitching a bit more like number 4 starters and Hutchison who has been what exactly - a -0.6 WAR pitcher with a 1.57 WHIP. Eek - that's not major league Caliber so far and certainly not top of the rotation material for a supposed contending team. Love watching the offense though. Besides people are already calling for Gibbons' head - like it's his fault AA got him no pitchers.

Our pitching will be our ultimate downfall - losing Stroman is crushing - he was probably the Ace and it forced the Sanchez from effective 8th inning relief to mediocre starter. Norris isn't quite ready for the show and AA failed to acquire shut down relief - the top arms on the relief market were Gregarson and Robertson. I know people like to talk about WAR but wit the pen it is easy. You have a lead in the 7th - you need to 7-8-9 innings while holding said lead. If the Yankees lose 10 games and we lose 20 that's a 10 game difference - What am I missing - the job needs to get done and our pen sucks - the rotation has been pretty terrible as well - even when we seem to win we give up 8 runs. Dave Robertson 8 innings - 3 hits, 1 BB and 17K - 0.00ERA -0.70 FIP and 0.50 WHIP. Gregarson 10 innings 5 hits 1 BB and 8K - 1.80E.RA 1.87FIP, 0.60 WHIP What would our record be with these two guys at the end of the game versus our 4 blown saves? Hmm we'd have 4 more wins and 4 less losses - so explain how relievers don't matter to the win column? We would be 15-8 and in first place but nope 11-12 in last place.

Janssen to have MRI on pitching arm. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/nationals-journal/wp/2015/03/29/another-injury-for-nationals-casey-janssen-to-receive-mri-on-right-shoulder/?postshare=2311427666810338

I liked this game series many years back but after awhile the game often got buggy, long load times and eventually continuous crashes made me give up on it. I now have Windows 7 though and wondering if that or OOTP has improved. The game looks like it has improved over the years.

Blackberry melt http://www.howsweeteats.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/bbsmash-1-2.jpg ontina + Blackberry Basil Smash Grilled Cheese Sandwiches makes 4 sandwiches 1 loaf of multigrain bread, cut into 8 thick slices 12 ounces of fresh blackberries 12-15 fresh basil leaves, chopped 6-8 ounces of fontina cheese, sliced 2 tablespoons olive oil In a large bowl, mash blackberries with a fork (be careful – they will splatter!) and stir in chopped basil. Heat an electric griddle or large skillet over medium-low heat. Lay a piece of cheese on each slice of bread, then top with a few spoonfuls of smashed blackberries. Gently pick up 3 slices, brush some olive oil on the bottom, and place them on the griddle or skillet. Place the remaining slices on top, brushing them with olive oil too. I like to cook these over lower and slowly so the bread gets perfectly golden and the cheese melts, so let each side cook for about 4-5 minutes. Remove and dig in!

When AA took over as GM didn't he build the team's scouting staff to be the biggest staff in all of baseball? Perhaps AA and his staff evaluate prospects quite differently than the people at baseball America. The dodgers commented that Tampa Bay always asked for the "right prospects" not the big name prospects which is why they hired Tampa's GM. No team is ever going to get it right all the time. With the Dickey trade AA said D'arnaud was offered early on but as time went by he caved on Syndergaard. Listening to the interview back then it was Syndergaard he seemed to not want to trade so it will be interesting to judge how much value the Jays get from Dickey versus the two players the Mets got. But I think the issue with Dickey was Cy Young winner, 3 years in a row with the most quality starts in the majors, and he was willing to sign a multi-year deal at well under market value. The Jays seeming to have a top 5 offense he knew that quality starts would matter most because if he just goes 6-7 innings 3 runs then with the Jays offense they would likely win most of his starts. If they went after another ace (and no doubt AA phoned on every ace in the game) they either wanted two more players on top of Syndergaard and D'Arnaud AND/OR the player's salary would likely be double (Hamels etc).

I was kind of seeing Stroman take over as the ace of the staff this year and certainly the stuff is there but you can't really trade the farm. We probably have a boat load of internal candidates to fill a number 5 spot in the rotation. The only possible element for the Jays in all this is AA's future with the club. If the team doesn't compete in September he's probably canned. Now if we put ourselves in his shoes and a losing season could mean you get fired then would you do something a little crazy? The Phillies want to move Hamels and they want talent in return. Stroman (+ mid/lower level prospects) for Hamels (- a healthy amount of cash). I don't want to trade Stroman I am just posing this as an example of a GM that needs to win and the team probably needs an ace to have any shot at the post season. The Phillies may get 4 prospects from some other team but I seriously doubt any prospect would be anywhere near as good as Stroman unless Boston gets involved.

Yes I remember those days where 99% of Toronto fans wanted EE released because he was so horrible etc etc - indeed, they put him on waivers and every team passed on him (I thought there were shrewd brilliant GMs out there better than AA - but they ALL passed on him. Spend some time - fix up his swing and boom - around a top ten hitter in the AL. How many people want him released now? Still not everyone is EE and Viciedo will need a .50 point bump to his OBP to get into that kind of conversations - still defensively EE is just as bad in terms of dWAR.

The guy is at least serviceable, has experience and has some home run power. He played left, right, 1B last year and can apparently fill in at third. His offense according to his splits were pretty much the same versus lefties righties, home or away first half second half. So you kind of know exactly what you're likely to get. 25 years old and can hit you 20 doubles and 20 homers in the same year. Costs next to zilch and is only 25. Let's face it - with no budget room and no OF depth this guy at the very least puts some ticks in the useful box. His oWAR is at least above zero and his defense is about the same as Melky's defense. Not a bad stop gap measure - use Pillar as a defensive replacement where needed. Pillar's temp LF job to lose but at least they have SOMEONE remotely competent to fill the void if Pillar stinks it up.

That makes sense to me as well - for his benefit but at the same time - if they're in win now mode they could do what they did with Jimmy Key and David Wells - their young starting pitchers in the minors and use them in the pen - at least in the second half IF the team is in a play-off run. All hands on deck if you're in it.

AA is against certain incentives and he has reason to be because it can cause problems in the clubhouse and for the manager. The player may demand being played in order to reach his incentive when it may not be beneficial to the team - but there is no "hard" reason not to play him. Maybe a guy who is struggling you want to skip him a start but noooo he has to make X starts to get his incentive. This incentive contract seems a bit different because it's basically about health and performance. If Johan is the old Johan and healthy then 25 starts will prove that and he would easily be worth more than $6million if he gave us 2010 Johan numbers. If he gives us 2010 Johan he'd probably be worth $15-$20million but we're paying $6million. It's also good for Johan - if he comes in here and performs well - he did it in the AL East and in a non pitcher friendly park which means his contract next year would be rather huge. I'd love him to be the fifth starter and place Sanchez, Estrada and Norris in the pen. If Cecil can pull and Andrew Miller (or Casey Jansen) and be a good closer with Loup doing his usual goodness - and if Sanchez does what he did last year and Norris is Sanchex but from the left side then all of a sudden you have a 7th through ninth that is looking pretty excellent. Delaba goes back to the good Delabar and Jenkins (who is actually surprisingly good most of the time) and solid relief from Redmond and you get maybe 1-2 surprise good performances from a Castro or Lopez then the pen may go back to the year we all though it would stink to a strength. A good Johan strengthens the pen.

Man we haven't even played a game yet and the season is already looking over. 3 weak spots in the order was iffy - now we're at 4. And does anyone think Reyes will hold up all year? LOL. On the plus side there are bound to be out of options players on other teams we can pick up - but then those guys are usually at best AAAA scrubs and you can;t have that for half a season unless our pitching is ridiculous.

You're not really restricted but when I read the above - Cashman seemed like a guy who could be available. When we say there are MANY other options I would assume those options already have GM positions - unless you deem AA to be the worst GM in baseball and there are MANY candidates better sitting by the phone waiting for the call to replace one of the employed GMs. I'm not sold on Cashman - merely because the Yankees can buy their way out of mistakes. Their owners are PRIVATE businessmen so that can always be in the bidding for 19 year olds and can make decisions to pay $30million and $30 million in luxury taxes - Rogers is a corporation and I doubt they're ever in on any of those kinds of players with boards and shareholders etc to answer to. If AA in October was told he would have a $200 million payroll I wonder what the roster would look like right now?

I know some posters hate AA so my question is basically - if Cashman were available would you hire him? Steinbrenner noted that if the Yankees don't make the playoffs then Cashman could be on the chopping block "“It would be horrible not to make the playoffs three years in a row,” he said. “We’d be embarrassed. So anything [as far as firings or restructuring] would be on the table, yes.” There is a decent shot that the Yankees don't make the playoffs. The Jays will have a new president next year and if the Jays don't make the playoffs there is a decent chance AA gets fired.

Nafro I agree in the sense that I would rather high OBP than high slugging but if you are a low OBP guy then at least slug and bring something to the plate. My point was that I don't think he was benched entirely because of his offense - he was hitting better in the second half and showing improvement in the second half at the plate. Who knows maybe if they let him play he hits better and pops 25 homers. He was basically hitting better than his 2012 numbers and he didn't get benched then. His 2014 was down from his 2013 but not by a whole lot. Benching a player is a pretty serious thing and I just don't see something there that was so awful. Yeah he strikes out so what - there are guys in the league who get trotted out everyday like Mark Reynolds and Adam Dunn that strike-out far more and Colby plays a position where typically offense isn't expected. And while slugging may be the same for a slam or a solo shot - if you're up 15-2 and you hit a slam that is less valuable than 3-3 bottom of the ninth and you hit the game winning solo shot. 1 for 5 with the game winning homer is more valuable than 4 for 5 when the score is up or down 15-2. And Francisco was ridiculously hot for a few weeks and made a huge positive contribution to the team over that time. Then he turned into a big pit of disaster.

Colby was actually hitting better in the second half - a .757 OPS which is quite good for CF. I mean they played Aaron Hill for a year hitting under .600 OPS - so it seems to me there was something in his being a "teammate" as to why he was benched. Lind seems to imply that he wasn't exactly well liked. Perhaps the Cardinals knew something after all.

As players always say - winning solves the problems. I seriously doubt there are any teams that don't have some players that don't get along. He noted that some would smile that Colby is leaving. He was benched so I suspect it had to do with attitude or work ethic because his numbers were not awful enough to be benched. Bautista I think liked Lawrie as Bautista said he would miss him. He never said that about Colby or Yunel Escobar. And AA spoke of the possibility of getting Lawrie back and seemed genuine about it. I would have really like JD at third and Lawrie at second.

AA noted in fan590 that Smoak isn't guaranteed a thing and that he may not make the team. The Jays brass probably hopes he's a late bloomer and perhaps the non-existent expectations will take pressure off him - he's no longer the up and coming top flight prospect but the borderline MLB player who may be on his last shot in the majors kind of thing. Valencia will be a strong candidate. If Justin Smoak 2013 shows up then we should all be pretty happy with that. The guy obviously has talent as he would not have been a prized prospect to begin with. His defense though is not great but his 2013 numbers are in line with Lind in terms of WAR but for $6million less. It's basically Smoak and Estrada for Lind. Estrada has been a solid average pitcher from 2011 to 2014. Other than his high homer allowed rate last season he's been pretty decent. In terms of WAR he has been 1 better than JA Happ since 2011 as well. At worst he's probably just as good as Happ and as a fifth starter/swing man - these guys are incredibly valuable. You need these guys to eat innings - you hope he's not in the rotation but he's likely to be competent when you need them. Estrada is basically Carlos Villanuava 2.0 - similar war and in fact Villanueva gave up 23 homers in 2012 (in 125ip) and plenty wanted the Jays to resign him because he was a fairly low cost excellent swing man.

The guy is so frustrating. He still throws 94, still has the stuff. Convert him into a closer - tell him to aim the ball dead center and fire in as hard as he can - get him to 98mph with movement. Do SOMETHING with the guy. The guy just fell off a cliff. And Delabar - an all-star who was striking out 4 guys an inning. WTF. When he was on he was ridiculous. Batters looked like 5 year olds up there. What kind of drugs were these guys doing to now not be able to hit a barn from 10 feet.

I agree John - I like Shields for his innings but it's a LOT of money for a declining number 3 starter. Then again maybe this is just the going rate for number 3 starters - see Mark Beurhle. It's not the end of the world to have Sanchez in the pen - a lot of good Jays pitchers started in the pen. It would have been nice to have Sanchez and Norris as the 6-7 guys with Cecil/Loup in the 8th and some kind of quality closer. You can kind of pick the spots for the relievers to gain success. I really hope Sanchez and Norris are the two best pitchers on the team in the spring (with no one stinking it up) - make the decisions as hard as possible. I am actually excited about the starting pitching talent that seems to be coming soon. 2016 and 2017 look real good.

San Diego is his home town team. I know I would take less cash to play for my home town team (well assuming I liked my home town). San Diego - nice weather, probably less taxes, not a homer dome so my stats will look better. Or you know Toronto - humid and freezing cold, higher taxes, homer dome, have to deal with the travel issues, and not a winning team. BUT on paper we look like we will score runs and lots of up and coming talent. I just don't think that will be enough and we'd have to go $2 million more per year and 1 more year than whatever San Diego offers. At least Gibby said he wanted him. Money be damned eh Gibster.

Adding Shields would be what AA was hoping for 2 years ago. Have a solid rotation with young upside and veterans and a strong offense. Shields allows both Sanchez and Norris and Estrada to be placed solidly in the pen. It's a ripple effect. But Shields supposedly wants a west coast club and San Diego is his home - the Jays would most definitely have to outbid San Diego and probably in both years and dollars. He'd sure be nice because he would also help us add depth for injury. If MB or Dickey go down so do their 200 innings. I think they're going to stand pat though. With Luck Stroman is going to be a true shut down Ace and Sanchez turns out to have worked out his walks problem and is the next Roy Halladay. If both those happen AND Dickey and Beurhle just do what they usually do then the team has a decent chance. Anything less than that however, and we're probably not sniffing the playoffs.