OBPlover

Problem is, there's basically nobody else for the Jays to go out and sign if we want a "Number 1" pitcher all season long next year. Cueto? Horrendous 2nd half.

Everything involving David Price makes perfect sense and I for one, applaud the way Gibbons has handled him. Look he's your overall best starting pitcher. There's no doubt his body of work from acquisition to October was the best overall pitching performance. So you can't, NOT use him in the playoffs. On the other hand, he's in the middle of a terrible pitching slump. So you can't rely on him to be your game 5 do or die starter. 0% of managers in this league would have worked Dickey to the 6th or 7th, unless he started getting hit hard, then a middle reliver-Sanchez-Osuna, but they would also have started Price in game 5. By putting in Price, they are resting their overworked bullpen and their 41 year old starter and against a team who have by far and away their best hitters as Left handed (only Beltre stands out for righties and he's hurt) so he's a good option to preserve the lead in a do or die game. You're trying to build Price's confidence by not having him pitch in a pressure situation since you have a 6 run lead. You are not relying on a slumping starter. You are preserving your bullpen and letting your hottest pitcher pitch your most critical game, all with one move. It's the best I've ever seen of Gibbons.

I think this is part 1 of a 3 way trade.

The "what's up with Donaldson" is that he was criticizing ownership for being cheapskates back in October. They must have put the screws to Beane and this was the best deal he could come up with. Solid win for the Jays, don't get me wrong but I can see his point as Lawrie has the potential to immediately and cheaply replace most of Donaldson's upside, a top SS prospect after trading away their own and 2 decent pitching prospects. He couldn't have done better.

The problem with Baseball returning to Montreal is that thousands of English speaking people have migrated away from the city. Also, The downtown area has felt the sting of economic depression for years. Their politicians would have to justify spending on a new stadium depsite a downtown that badly needs new investment.

"Derek" cough pardon me.

Now that Derrick Norris' defensive ineptitude is getting him chased outta town in Oakland. A good move would be to trade for him (shouldn't be expensive). Resign Lind and use him in a plattoon role as our RH DH. The guy just mashes LHP but can't do anything defensively. In an emergency he could catch.

Yeah a 4.37 ERA and 1.30 WHIP are fabulous what was I thinking? Before you have your expected temper tantrum over his FIP, realize a 38% GB% is death for a RHP at the Roger's Centre.

Who you calling Troll? Yes I did predict Hutch will fail, in the pre-season, when everyone else was so gooey after his spring training performances. As I said, you need a lefty starter for the RC. It eats up RHP alive. You need more lefties. If you can't find a dominant righty, go with a LHP.

Unfortunately it looks like Hutch is a bust..which I predicted. The guy I want tried as a starter is Brett Cecil.

I don't think it's really about everyone liking Ubaldo, but it's a reaction to the scarce pitching options that the Jays have. Any trades would mean giving up one or both of the Jays top pitching prospects. So that's basically out. The best free agent pitcher out there is being pursued by the richest teams in baseball, so Tanaka is likely unattainable. If the Jays was to have any hope of a 2014 post season then they need to sign one of the leftover pitchers and that pitcher has to produce. Ubaldo is the one most likely to do that, despite his problems. Otherwise it's another 75-85 win season and sitting on the couch come playoff time.

I'd rather have Ubaldo...high risk//high reward. But at least Ubaldo has a history of a very low HR/9. That's what the Jays need. RC is a very good hitters park, especially for LH hitters and Ubaldo did great against them. Ervin Santana was the benefactor of a spectacular Royals Defense. His K/9 isn't that great and he's somewhat HR prone.

He's not terrible, he's not the best GM in the world but he has pulled off some good trades. Thames for Delabar anyone? What bothers me about AA is that here is a guy who should be just about the ultimate "stat geek". He's not one of those old school GM's that used to play MLB baseball and then field managed for a number of years or who became a longtime scout. His only weapon is that degree in economics, which makes me think he has some degree of skill with numbers. Skill that for some reason, he simply refuses to apply. He constantly puts players on the field, ignoring the value of OBP. It's not 30 years ago anymore. Even most casual fans have heard of this stat. But AA seems content to send guys out there that just fail in this category. IIRC, at times during the 2010 and 2011 season, the lineup featured 7 or 8 guys who had OBP less than .310 during the previous year. You just aren't going to win many baseball games with stats like that. I also don't think he understands the RC. It's a hitter's park. Maybe even correctly labeled a hitter's paradise. The ball just really carries to right field. He needs to focus on high K pitchers or pitchers with very good GB% rates and focus on acquiring lefties. Look at Dickey, he's an aging knucleballer that even in his good years was still a little too HR prone. Right handed soft tossers will not work at the RC.

There's no way the Rays trade price within the division. For Hamels or Lee it would take a lot nicer package then D'arnaud and Syndy.