glory

Montoyo specifically mentioned Davis by name a week or so ago when talking about Sept call ups. Seems like he's a manager favorite. As far as why Alford isn't getting time, who knows. It's not like Shatkins to let an asset go for nothing, regardless of how marginal it might be (see Pompey), so I would expect Alford to either make the 2020 roster or be traded for something, whether he plays this Sept or not.

Seriously. I know Jays fans are used to mediocrity, and not outright dog s*** tanking, but seasons like this are absolutely brutal to sit through. I hope we are not still tanking next season.

I don't know why they'd intentionally have Grichuk stop doing the one thing he's good at in order to improve a weakness he has very little chance of ever improving on. Smoak was able to draw walks even when he sucked as a hitter. Grichuk is not going to go from a 5% walk rate to 10-12%. That's not the type of player he is. Just let him barrel the ball, hit it hard, strike out 30% of the time, go on his usual July/Aug hot streak, and live with the 2 WAR that comes with it. I mean I respect the fact that they invested $50mil in him so they are trying to make him the best player he could be, but he's not that guy. Someone like Derek Fisher who walks a lot already is more likely to benefit from this sort of adjustment.

The A's could potentially miss out on home field in the WC game or miss out on the WC game period because they went 0-6 against a team about to lose 100 games (us). I mean that's not the entire reason, but damn, going 0-6 against the Jays when they were trotting out Brito, Hansen, etc, is a gut punch. Maybe they'll remember what Drury did to them this year and trade for him.

Yup. Find the clown GM and form a relationship with that team as long as he is there. BVV is without question going to double down this winter to win in 2020. They need pen help and we have Giles. Something can be done there.

Yeah I was expecting JD Martinez to opt out and then get extended to an absurd deal, but I guess that won't happen now. Betts wants to get paid, so he'll likely bet on himself and hit free agency. I could see the Sox moving him (Braves?). With Boston having no farm system, bloated contracts, and their best player possibly leaving in a year, the Jays need to get to winning soon.

Yeah I felt the Jays should have gotten another piece (or two) in addition to Kay and SWR. Hence why the consensus of the deal was "light", not "bad". Of course if Kay and SWR prove to be very good, then the deal will look a lot better in hindsight.

Dombrowski is 2013-15 AA on steroids. Was hoping he’d stick around in Boston for a bit longer and sign more horrible contracts but I guess Boston caught on.

This better be our last outright tanking season. Hard to watch this s*** for 162 games.

Grichuk's barrel % went from 16.0 and 14.4 in 2017-18 to 7.4 this season. He is hitting way more GB's and not making contact as hard as he used to (39.0% this year versus 43.1% last year). I remember reading he made some sort of adjustment to his swing/approach this season. Not sure whether it was to become more selective or make more consistent contact, but it obviously hurt him badly. The barrel% drop is pretty staggering. His xOBA in 2018 was .340 and xSLG was .485. This year is it down to .303 and .391 respectively. Just a bad season anyway you slice it. My guess is Grichuk will bounce back next season, but I think the reasonable expectation for a bounce back should be a ~100-110 wRC+ and a WAR around 1.5-2.5. Although if his D and baserunning are going to be both be negatives moving forward then we may have to move the goal posts for his WAR expectations.

Buying wins in free agency is short term and inexpensive now, with the exception of "elite" free agents (Machado, Harper, etc). Even trades for good players does not require top prospects being moved. It's the perfect time for the Jays to buy. I'd also be disappointed if they didn't make an effort to add some good vets to surround the young group with, especially in the rotation.

Alford was a top 50ish prospect in baseball prior to 2018. Even though he hasn't lived up to that the past two years, I don't think the Jays get rid of him. They kept Pompey's corpse around for as long as they possibly could get away with it. Alford will likely be on the 25/26 man roster next year. I hope McKinney is the one they end up moving from, as J. Davis doesn't seem like much of anything but at least he has a 4th of skill set (good D, good speed, hits lefties). McKinney is the man of no tools. I definitely agree with keeping eyes open for offensive help. No way should the team be satisfied with what they have. There's some upside there with the non Vlad/Bo position players, but not nearly enough to think we can't add more. The non tender list might expose a decent player because teams don't want to pay actual money to players anymore.

Tampa does not deserve anything good to happen to them. Leading a WC spot and it looks like there's a dozen people in the stadium. When the Jays put a winner on the field it's either a sellout or damn close. Get the Rays the hell out of that s*** hole. Doesn't even have to be Montreal, literally anywhere else couldn't possibly be worse.

They will definitely trade Giles IMO as long as he's healthy. One more year of expensive arb, closer on a team that isn't ready yet, and was already traded to the Yanks even with injury concerns before Cashman backed out. I'm not expecting much back, but I think he's moved pretty early in the off season. Kay, Hatch, Espinal, Wall, and possibly Taylor (health permitted) will be added to the 40 man. I don't see Drury non tendered. He will be back and play the back up IF role.

I don't think a salary cap is necessary. A payroll minimum is probably a good idea, if only so the small market teams who get revenue sharing are not putting it in their pockets, but I think teams should be allowed to spend as much as they want, especially when the draft has a slotting system. The issue is incentivizing teams to try to compete every year. I don't know how you do that other than creating punishments for long term failure rather than reward. No team in baseball should ever want to do a scorched earth rebuild. It defies logic. Baseball is the one sport you can have a great MLB team and strong system at the same time. Like I said, finish below .500 for three years, and start putting in draft penalties. 100 losses in consecutive years? Your draft pick moves to the end of the 1st round. Three straight under .500 finishes? You lose a pick every sub .500 finish after that. Stuff like that. In that scenario, the Jays would be on year 3 of finishing below .500 this year, so fans would know Shatkins will bust their ass to put a contender on the field in 2020 with the potential penalty involved. There is no perfect answer. I think MLB needs it all. Dynasties, teams bidding to sign free agents, the winter meetings being must see TV, etc. None of that is there now.

A big issue is that players in MLB have little to no impact on revenue for teams. If the Jays signed Mike Trout, other than a momentary increase in interest/hype, there would be little impact on revenue unless the team was winning. If a s***** NBA team signed LeBron James, not only would the team's revenue increase, but the economy of that specific city/state would improve. The importance of players is night and day in different sports. The NFL is closer to MLB in that regard, but that sport is so popular that it doesn't matter who is on the field as long as the franchises are the same and fantasy football/betting still exists. When Bill James made that quote about the players not being that important to the league, the sad reality is he was right. Replace all the current MLB'ers with minor leaguers and within a year or two no one would notice the difference. Teams can make money putting embarrassing products on the field on low payrolls, so no incentive to pay free agents. Something has to change otherwise teams who don't have a legit shot at a WS will just decide that the WC isn't worth it and pocket the money.

In the AL alone, there are 8 teams under .500. Six of them at least 24 games under .500, and five of them at least 30 games under .500. Add another six NL teams that are under .500, and half the league is bad. The only division race still up for grabs is the NL Central (3 games back). The Phillies are 2.5 games back of the 2nd WC, and no other team really looks like they have a shot at it. Hell, the D Backs are 3.5 games back of WC2 and they don't even want it. Combine that with teams knowing they can make money without being competitive, thereby not having incentive to actually try, and it has lead to this mess. Even the off season has been boring the past couple of years because teams don't want to spend on free agents or trade prospects, so the hot stove is non existent. MLB needs a lot of help, and none of it involves pace of play. Manfred has a tough job, but he's not tackling any of the important issues with fixing the game. I am 100% for some kind of rule that forces teams to try to compete. If you are under .500 for more than 3 years straight, or lose 100 games in consecutive years, you lose a first round pick, or something crazy like that. I hate watching highlights of other games and seeing half empty stadiums. Every team should be trying to contend, or at least put a decent product on the field. / end of rant

Alford has had K issues in AAA for two years. Even if he turns into a contributor, he is likely going to K a s*** ton. He needs consistent playing time, but he's so prone to injury it's going to be hard to rely on him. He's out of options after this season so I'm guessing he will be the 4th OF in 2020. Hopefully he shows a 4th OF skill set at the very least.

Pitchers batting is so stupid. God damn just add the universal DH already.

Wonder who the prospects were.

Since the start of the 2016 season (not counting today), Grichuk has a 99 wRC+ in 1919 plate appearances. I mean, a league average hitter with good defence is a decent player, but not someone I'd want batting anywhere near the top of the lineup, especially when his OBP is so bad. Of course the Jays hitters are young/not established yet, so where he fits in the current lineup is debatable. If everyone is healthy, I'd say 6th is the highest I'd put him (Bo-Biggio-Vlad-Gurriel-Smoak being ahead of him). I'm still holding out hope that he somehow breaks out next year unexpectedly like Smoak did. I remember reading they were tinkering with his swing, so maybe that might explain some of the down season, but it's not like he's going anywhere, so hope for the best.

People getting upset at losing DSJ, Bergen, and Romano was hysterical early in the season. Atkins hoards prospects like crazy. He kept Pompey's corpse for years despite seeing nothing out of him because he doesn't like losing players for nothing. Yet people still overreacted to losing either marginal at best talent or RP's (Romano might end up being something out of the pen). Unfortunately with the Jays adding more talent, and having to make more 40 man roster decisions, it is only going to get worse when we lose a marginal talent in the rule 5. Twitter is going to explode when Andrew Sopko is taken. Or does it have to be an AA guy?

$50 million reasons why we are stuck watching him play everyday and bat high in the lineup. Somehow, Kevin Pillar is hitting better than him this year. Hopefully this is just a down season (like Smoak in 2016 after his extension) rather than a sign of things to come. Hitting like crap for 3 months and then getting hot in July/August is already getting old.

Don't really know what we have in Gonzalez unless someone has a report on his stuff/velocity. But a minor league RP and a low minors lottery ticket sounds about right for a return.