TDotttt2005

This Parody sums him up best: Wilner Is it Early? ‏@Wilnerisitearly Nov 14 Whether it's Kevin Pillar, or anyone else that Gibby decides to bat leadoff, I'll say it's the right move. #BlueJays #Jays Seriously, Wilner had no thoughts on the issue until Gibbons batted Tulo leadoff, then all of a sudden Wilner was out there saying it was genius, stacking your best guys at the top. When asked if Revere should hit leadoff, he stuck to defending what Gibbons was doing, until Revere actually was moved into the leadoff spot, then he loved that move. So basically whatever Gibbons does, Wilner says is correct. It's been like that for years.

Wilner is still trying to get AA to accept the 'lifetime contract' Wilner said he deserved in June.

It will be nice watching Wilner squirm here. He basically jerked off Alex for 6 years, saying he'd give him a lifetime contract...and now because he's been suspended before, has to cut bait and defend the move, because, you know, he has none of his own opinions, and has to protect his job.

I can see the optics of it, from an incoming executive perspective. It was kind of the same worries we had in the back of our minds as fans before we won anything...why is he selling the farm? are we f***ed in the coming years? is he doing it to save his job?

Sure you can be skeptical based on some of this news coming out, but my point is that both of these men were put into a situation that was not going to work. I suspect that Rogers expected this season to go like the other 15 they've overseen, and they Jays would be out of the playoffs, Shapiro would step in as the savior, fire AA, Gibby, clean house, and bring in his new staff to rebuild the thing. Except, because they did things how they did, they let AA stay in the job to turn things around, and set up the power struggle. They would've looked even more stupid to cut off the legs of Shapiro before he even started on the job...so it had to go down like this.

Wilner Is it Early? ‏@Wilnerisitearly 41m41 minutes ago Please excuse my absence from Twitter. Head just exploded trying to figure out how to reconcile my love for Alex and spin this as pro Rogers 2 retweets 1 favorite

I don't see how you can blame Shapiro. If you're brought into a job, and will be judged on your ultimate success, don't you want to be comfortable with the decisions the people working below you are making? It's clear that Shapiro didn't agree with some of the things AA wanted to do. The blame for AA leaving, should be placed squarely on Rogers shoulders. They put AA and Shapiro in an untenable situation. Odds are that Rogers wanted to clean house back in June, when the team was struggling, and they brought in Shapiro to do so...but not right then, but in November. The problem with that, is that they let the old regime, Beeston and AA, continue in their jobs, which they did, turned this whole thing around, and now this situation is clusterf***. If you want to bring in someone to clean house, then bring in someone in to clean house. If not, dont. Dont bring in someone, and let the former occupants of the house build it into a multimillion dollar mansion. Its a lose lose situation, and doing business the way they did, Rogers is solely responsible for coming out losers.

Pillar would be my ALDS MVP, but a close 2nd would be Aaron Sanchez. Dude pitched in every game, albeit only 5.1 IP, but late in a playoff game is always a high leverage situation. You don't seem to think of Mid Relievers/Setup guys until they screw up, but the fact that he's not really thought of speaks to his performance.

Well. What a regular season it was. The 2015 Winner of our Annual Win Prediction Contest is Ehjays with an exact guess of 93 wins Blue Jays Final Record 93.-69, .574 1st Place in AL East, 6.0 games AHEAD of the NY Yankees. 891 RS (Holy f***) 670 RA Pyth w% .639 Pyth W-L 103-59 so underperformed that by 10 games. mcfly 75 Aselvana 75 TDottt2005 78 RealAccountant 78 Olerud363 79 King 79 ScientificReason 79 Dylan 80 Praxis 80 Horses Fart 80 Copperweld 80 jimcanuck 81 BTS 81 Jonn 83 Gen.Disarray 83 labadee 83 61Cygni 84 2015 84 bowld 84 Nabru 85 TheHurl 85 crmr 85 SumoNinja 85 Jays76 86 JFaS 86 Dick_Pole 86 TheRealMin 86 Governator 87 Atothe 87 Northof49 87 Krylian 87 GD 87 guylaroche5 87 Rusty_Savage 87 Nafro 87 baloojayz 87 Oakville69 87 canadiansportsjunke 87 skicross1 87 Angrioter 88 JaysRap 88 Sanny225 88 theblujay 88 ElNik2013 88 Stangstag 88 Gnick 88 CrackerJack 88 Jays4life19 89 Deadpool 89 StroShow 89 mtljaysfan 89 glory 89 Candy Maldonado 89 Saskjayfan 90 Spanky99 90 SAAviour 90 TBJ12 90 43211234 90 NJH 90 JuniorFelix 90 Caper 90 z3r0s 91 Cyris 91 Frenchsoup 91 Baseballsss 91 S33n 91 Sdyment 92 Chappy 92 Saskjayfan 92 JaysAllMighty 92 Ehjays 93 joeclutchcarter 94 Jayzfan79 95 LetTheBallFly 96 CFNumber 110 Congrats LETS GO BLUE JAYS. BRING THE WORLD SERIES BACK TO TORONTO

Force of habit, but the calendar is turning to October, so naturally my focus is trying to turn to next season. Although, looking forward to next year for some solace is not the case this year FINALLY, I will make 1 prediction. Carlos Carrasco will be in the Blue Jays rotation come April 2016.

Anyone want to take up a collection online. If we raise maybe $1-2k, a member can go to washington to meet the pope, and ask him to pray for Tulo's quick recovery?

Since this was bumped...I'll update Blue Jays are 84-62. 1st Place in AL East, 3.5 games AHEAD of the NY Yankees. Win % .575, on pace for 93 WINS. Ehjays is the only one to guess 93 Wins. Jays are on pace to win more games than the Mean, Median, and Mode of our Prediction Set of 87 Wins. 806 RS (Holy f***) 596 RA Pyth w% .647 Pyth W-L 94-52 so still underperforming this. mcfly 75 Aselvana 75 TDottt2005 78 RealAccountant 78 Olerud363 79 King 79 ScientificReason 79 Dylan 80 Praxis 80 Horses Fart 80 Copperweld 80 jimcanuck 81 BTS 81 Jonn 83 Gen.Disarray 83 labadee 83 61Cygni 84 2015 84 bowld 84 Nabru 85 TheHurl 85 crmr 85 SumoNinja 85 Jays76 86 JFaS 86 Dick_Pole 86 TheRealMin 86 Governator 87 Atothe 87 Northof49 87 Krylian 87 GD 87 guylaroche5 87 Rusty_Savage 87 Nafro 87 baloojayz 87 Oakville69 87 canadiansportsjunke 87 skicross1 87 Angrioter 88 JaysRap 88 Sanny225 88 theblujay 88 ElNik2013 88 Stangstag 88 Gnick 88 CrackerJack 88 Jays4life19 89 Deadpool 89 StroShow 89 mtljaysfan 89 glory 89 Candy Maldonado 89 Saskjayfan 90 Spanky99 90 SAAviour 90 TBJ12 90 43211234 90 NJH 90 JuniorFelix 90 Caper 90 z3r0s 91 Cyris 91 Frenchsoup 91 Baseballsss 91 S33n 91 Sdyment 92 Chappy 92 Saskjayfan 92 JaysAllMighty 92 Ehjays 93 joeclutchcarter 94 Jayzfan79 95 LetTheBallFly 96 CFNumber 110 Mean 87 Median 87 Mode 87 Min 75 Max 110

Is this a pop culture reference?

Maybe not, but if you look at the situation in Toronto, LaCava as GM would report to AA as President of Baseball Ops, who reports to Shapiro as President and CEO of the Blue Jays, who reports to Rick Brace, President of Rogers Media. Pretty clear cut org chart, with little interference in the Baseball operations from Ownership in the past. vs Situation with the Angels, LaCava as GM would report to the Team President, who Reports to the Team Chairman, who reports to the Owner Arte Moreno, who has been meddlesome in the past (Blue Jays fans may know him as the guy who made Tony Reagins trade for Vernon Wells), all the while having to deal with Mike Scoscia who has the ear of Moreno, and has allegedly already chased out one analytically minded-GM in DiPoto. Even if its an inflated title with the Jays, and assuming he's paid GM level money in both places, whats the better situation with more say in the baseball operations? I'd pick the Jays situation, where even if you're being overruled on baseball decisions, at least its coming from baseball guys above you, and not an owner above you who has no baseball experience, or a manager below you.

AA would report to Shapiro, just like he does with Beeston now. Shapiro would Liason with Ownership, Run the Business Operations, ie. Finance, Marketing, Pricing strategies and Promotions, Ballpark ops, Ballpark renovations, Community Outreach, Communications. I don't think there would be time to be cleaning any jockstraps here.

Blue Jays assistant general manager Tony LaCava interviewed for the Angels’ GM vacancy today, reports Buster Olney of ESPN (via Twitter). LaCava has been an AGM with Toronto since 2007 and also currently holds the title vice president of baseball operations. He’s been strongly considered for GM openings in the past, and he even (reportedly) turned down an offer to become the Orioles’ GM back in 2011. Jays should just promote AA to President of Baseball Operations and give the GM day-to-day duties to LaCava. In reality, they'd be doing their same duties, reporting up the same structure, just with inflated titles and pay. Maybe AA would take more of a hand in the Baseball $$ side of things to start to learn the business side, as Shapiro did. It would make it interesting if LaCava gets an offer, and allows the Jays to 'match' it, ie. Give me the EVP, GM title that AA currently has, match the $ obviously, and i'll stay sort of thing. If that were to happen, who would be making that decision...Beeston? Shapiro, eventhough hes not officially in his new role yet? Rick Brace? ... Having named Shapiro, but not having him in his new role yet would make a situation like this awkward to say the least.

Damn it, thought AA would be able to trade Hutch to them for Nola and Franco, touting his high win total. Not to be I guess.

I think this is a great hire overall based on what i've read about Shapiro's business operations background, his experience running the business and ballpark side of the Indians (Remember, Beeston is President of the Rogers Centre too), as well as his influence in the rules, competition, safety, etc. aspects of MLB, being part of the Competition Committee. All of this had more to do with his hire than the fact that he was GM of the Indians in the first decade of the 2000's. For those scared that AA will leave, or pissed that AA wasn't given the President/CEO job... (1) AA has little to none Business Ops experience in Baseball. There's a wide misunderstanding among a lot of fans that because he's made good trades, he can oversee the Business Operations aspect of Beeston's Job. I'm sure he's a smart guy, but what experience does he have with dynamic pricing strategies, procurement, stadium operations, planning and running a $400mil stadium renovation, accounting/forecasting/budgeting, etc. etc. etc? Even on the baseball side, what experience does he have dealing with a multi-billion dollar conglomerate board of directors to get a baseball budget approved. Stuff like that is what Beeston does/Shapiro did in Cleveland, as well as having the final say on Baseball Operations. (2) I really don't think AA will leave. From all indications, even though Shapiro has a Baseball Operations Background, once he was promoted to President, he let Antonetti do his thing, and played a similar role to Beeston. Antonetti, like AA, never had complete autonomy. He had to clear things with Shapiro, who at times had to clear things with the Dolan's. This is a kin to AA having to clear things with Beeston, who at times had to go to Rogers. I don't see much changing in how AA functions in his role with Shapiro as President/CEO, versus Beeston as President/CEO. In fact, if there is a major change, I see it being AA given a promotion to President of Baseball Operations title, similar to what Dombrowski has in Boston, and having more autonomy than he had under Beeston, including the option to promote LaCava to GM, or retaining that title himself. Either way, good people want to work for and learn from good people. For AA, staying and learning from a guy who once had his job, and now has the job he ultimately wants to have (i'm assuming), is a great opportunity. I don't expect him to be going anywhere. Oh...and Re-sign Price. Thanks. #Nomore5yearlimit

Time for an update here. I wouldve liked to update this more often, maybe at the 25%, 50% point in the season, etc. especially with the huge movement in the standings the Jays have made over time...but with this being the 1 month anniversary of the Troy Tulowitzki deal that kicked off this surreal, unreal, doesnt seem like its real, wait is it real run, I'll update it now. Blue Jays are 71-55. 1st Place in AL East, 2 games AHEAD of the NY Yankees. Win % .563, on pace for 91 WINS. z3r0s, Cyris, Frenchsoup, Baseballsss, S33n all guessed 91 Wins. Jays are on pace to win more games than the Mean, Median, and Mode of our Prediction Set of 87 Wins. 688 RS (Holy f***) 515 RA Pyth w% .629 Pyth W-L 79-47 mcfly 75 Aselvana 75 TDottt2005 78 RealAccountant 78 Olerud363 79 King 79 ScientificReason 79 Dylan 80 Praxis 80 Horses Fart 80 Copperweld 80 jimcanuck 81 BTS 81 Jonn 83 Gen.Disarray 83 labadee 83 61Cygni 84 2015 84 bowld 84 Nabru 85 TheHurl 85 crmr 85 SumoNinja 85 Jays76 86 JFaS 86 Dick_Pole 86 TheRealMin 86 Governator 87 Atothe 87 Northof49 87 Krylian 87 GD 87 guylaroche5 87 Rusty_Savage 87 Nafro 87 baloojayz 87 Oakville69 87 canadiansportsjunke 87 skicross1 87 Angrioter 88 JaysRap 88 Sanny225 88 theblujay 88 ElNik2013 88 Stangstag 88 Gnick 88 CrackerJack 88 Jays4life19 89 Deadpool 89 StroShow 89 mtljaysfan 89 glory 89 Candy Maldonado 89 Saskjayfan 90 Spanky99 90 SAAviour 90 TBJ12 90 43211234 90 NJH 90 JuniorFelix 90 Caper 90 z3r0s 91 Cyris 91 Frenchsoup 91 Baseballsss 91 S33n 91 Sdyment 92 Chappy 92 Saskjayfan 92 JaysAllMighty 92 Ehjays 93 joeclutchcarter 94 Jayzfan79 95 LetTheBallFly 96 CFNumber 110 Mean 87 Median 87 Mode 87 Min 75 Max 110

It could happen, they could have President of Baseball Ops (AA) and President of Business Ops (Brooks). The Cubs have a similar structure, with Epstein as Pres. Baseball Ops and a guy named Crane Kenney as Pres. of Business Ops. They both report up to Tom Ricketts, the Chairman/Owner of the Cubs. (Family made their money founding the predecessor to TD Ameritrade). The only thing with that setup is that the Cubs have a Chairman/Owner who is involved with the day-to-day management, in Ricketts. With the Jays, they're not dealing with a monolithic chairman, but instead the corporate leadership of Rogers. I guess Rick Brace, Pres. of Rogers Media, would be the person in that scheme that AA and Brooks would report up to, but the Jays are only one of the properties Brace/Rogers Media runs. It would make more sense in terms of time and efficiency for Rogers to deal with 1 guy who is in charge of everything Blue Jays, ie. Beeston now, instead of having 2 guys discussing the different aspects of the team. Even in Boston now, its a bit convoluted as some Globe reporters are now saying Dombrowski will report not the new President/CEO Sam Kennedy, but instead directly to the owner, John Henry, which was a stipulation to get him to come to Boston. But again, Henry is the monolithic Chairman/Managing Partner...not another corporation. For those who follow the business side of sports, seeing these new structures, the 'title inflation', and how different organizations choose to operate is very interesting, as its a recent change from the normal structure that almost all teams have employed for decades.

There is a lot of misunderstanding that I'm seeing, even in the media, who are the alleged experts. Dombrowski isnt replacing Larry Lucchino as President/CEO of the Boston Red Sox, but instead is coming in at a newly created President of Baseball Operations position. He's the top baseball guy, reporting up to the new President/CEO Sam Kennedy, who was promoted from EVP/COO role to replace Lucchino, in which he was the top business operations guy. Up to now, Cherington and Kennedy had been the top Baseball and Business Ops guys, respectively, reporting up to Lucchino, so its easy to see why Cherington quit. He was in fact being demoted, by them bringing in another baseball operations guy above him, whereas before there was no one...he reported to Lucchino. In this realm, its not really surprising that Dombrowski did not come to the Jays. With the Jays, Beeston is President and CEO of the Toronto Blue Jays with his direct reports, AA as the EVP/GM (Head of Baseball Operations) and Stephen Brooks is EVP, Head of Business Operations. Dombrowski's role in Boston isnt equal to Beeston, its actually equal to AA (albeit with a more impressive President Title). I never thought Dombrowski was qualified to replace Beeston, similar to how Kenny Williams is not, as they do not have the Business Operations background. If they brought in Dombrowski as President of Baseball Ops (creating that position), it would mean that (1) they still would have to replace Beeston, and (2) it would be a demotion for AA, similar to how it wouldve been for Cherington had he stayed. Duquette is the only named candidate who has both Baseball and Business Ops experience, which is what the team would look for in a candidate to replace Beeston as President/CEO of the Toronto Blue Jays. Duquette has started a pretty successful sports academy, owned and run (from a business standpoint) a minor league baseball team, and was a founder of the Israeli baseball league. Not sure many posters here have an interest really in the business side of things, but thought i'd help clear up some misconceptions here.

I'd expect former GM's like Bowden and Steve Phillips to be more clued in, but all we get from them is constant crap. If they are clued in to stuff, and we get this dribble, are they just lazy then? I guess any content is still king, even if its garbage content.

Lets revisit at 7/31. Because of their financial situation, Beane is usually forced to be decisive one way or the other sooner than a lot of teams are, who can afford to take a wait and see approach. Thats a lot of the reason why he went ahead and traded Samardzija, Donaldson, etc.

My prediction is that we ultimately acquire Clippard and Kazmir from Oakland. May have to move some salary out, since their combined salary is about 22mil this year, so pro-rate depending on when a trade takes place, and i may be more than the jays can afford.