glory

Nicely done Alford. Hopefully he actually gets to play a bit in the last 5 games.

I haven't been paying attention to the A's all that much, so just noticed Liam Hendriks has a 3.5 WAR and 119 K's in in 82 innings. He was DFA'd last season and now he does this. Relievers, man.

The problem for Vlad as mentioned seems more eating related. Fixing his diet will be much harder than getting him to workout more. He's still young enough to change though. Put him around the right people, combined with his first real taste of struggling, and it could change him for the better. In that sense, as much as I want him to move to 1B/DH, keeping him at third might force him to take his diet/exercise more seriously. We'll see. If he's still overweight in six months, then it's probably a lost cause.

Billy McKinney being white has nothing to do with how people perceive him. Come on. He is not a good fielder, base runner, or hitter. He has some pop and doesn't hit a lot of GB's. That's the only positives I can think of with him. Otherwise he looks like the most ordinary/replaceable player out there. If he could play a legit CF, then I'd be more patient with him (same with Teoscar and Fisher) but he (they) can't.

I'm in the same boat with Alford/Davis. I never thought I'd use Pillar as a bench mark for anything, but you really begin to appreciate him when you see OF's who can't field (or hit). At least Alford might field and run his way into some value. Fisher has interesting tools offensively, but they haven't translated to the bigs yet, and if he can't play D without looking like a little leaguer, then giving him AB's will become an issue. Ideally the Jays find a long term Cf in another org but in the mean time they don't have anyone without huge red flags in one area or another. Knowing what Atkins values in a player offensively he'll probably give Fisher/Teoscar more chances than Alford but it's really not cut and dry on who is the better option to play. All of them are shots in the dark.

Calling it now, Cubs are going to trade for Giles in the winter.

Saw the interview and got the same impression. Team is not ready to spend yet or make significant adds. 2020 will be what 2019 was, except we will be using the season to incorporate pitching prospects instead of position players. Maybe the Jays sign one SP short term who can eat up innings (Porcello? He has the Cherington connection and had a poor season so may not be able to get more than a one year deal but otherwise is a decent mid rotation SP). Otherwise the 40 man and future 40 man will have Pearson (in May or whenever they call him up), Shoemaker, Kay, Zeuch, Thornton, Waguespack, Borucki, SRF, Perez, Merryweather, Murphy, Diaz, Hatch......maybe I'm missing someone. That's a s*** ton of arms for MLB and AAA, and I'm sure Atkins wants to see if one or two or three of them can turn into long term pieces. Some will suck, some will be in the pen, and hopefully a couple stick. That's probably the plan. Of course there is the possibility for trades as well.

Damn why was Zoinks taken out? He was doing really well and only 70 pitches.

Yup. Last year of his deal, on a team that isn't quite ready to contend, and was traded at the deadline already before Cashman backed out at the last minute. Atkins is going to move him.

Alford was a top 50-100 prospect in baseball two years ago and plays a position where the Jays have a huge need. The Jays are paying Grichuk $50m to have two good months a season, Teoscar is basically a poor man's Domingo Santana, and Fisher looks like he can't field anywhere. Are you really surprised some fans want Alford to play? Most people likely know there's a good chance he sucks, but the alternatives are not that appealing either.

With a 35 K% and 5 BB%. Atkins seems to love that kind of profile but it's not good. Hopefully he shows a lot of improvement there next year. More importantly, it is hard to get excited about a prospect named Kevin Smith. It's just so boring.

Odor assaulted opposing players in the minors too. It's on video. What he did to Bautista was a repeat offense. And Kermit Washington punching Rudy Tomjanovich happened on a basketball court. That didn't make it any less of an assault either. Regardless I'm not comparing DV to fights in a sporting event. I'm just saying when MLB (and other sports) decide to play the police on issues like this, it's just strange how different their views are depending on who punched/slapped who.

Robo umps need to happen asap.

I think it should have gotten more, yes. What did he get, 8 games? He punched the guy in the face, clear as day. He should have gotten a much stiffer suspension. If you're asking whether I think Odor's punch should get more than a legitimate domestic violence incident? No of course not. I was just pointing out the absurdity that Odor punching a man in the face in front of thousands of people on camera got a fairly light suspension while German slapping a woman in the face (assuming that's all that happened) in front of an MLB employee will last for god knows how long. Not saying it's right or wrong, just strange how that works.

Odor punching Bautista in the face on TV with thousands of witnesses will get fewer games than German. Of course there could be more to this so I'll reserve full judgment. Still a stupid move by German either way.

Using an opener for Kay against one of the worst teams ever is a joke. If he's a SP you trust beyond 2019, then start him.

Man the Orioles are so bad.

Agreed. He sucks. Move Vlad to 1B and take Tellez off the 40 man roster. Fixes two issues in one shot.

I don't see how they can avoid signing either a CF or a RF (with Grichuk moving to CF). Fisher, Teoscar, and McKinney are all LF'ers, and that's being kind to them. Neither of them are going to move Gurriel from that spot (nor should they), and none of them hit well enough to be worth a damn at DH. Not sure how they are going to go about this but they definitely need a OF from outside the org. One name on the FA market that jumps out at me on the pitching side is Porcello. Not because I like him, but because he seems like someone the Jays would sign. There's a Ben Cherington connection as well.

The Jays can sign good free agents to reasonable deals to simply increase the talent on the roster, but outside of that, contention depends entirely on how the young players develop, and right now the guy we all pegged as the franchise player is slightly above replacement level in his rookie season (w/ weight and conditioning issues). As much as I don't want to see another rebuilding year as a fan, it's hard to picture a realistic off season that takes a 95-100 loss team into contention in the AL East.

Who knew his fascination with his own sister was not even close to the most disturbing quality he has.

Hey I'm with you guys. I think 2019 was insufferable and hope 2020 is not a complete repeat of it. I don't think tanking in baseball is even necessary. But what we want and what Shatkins will do are two different things.

I didn't say the Twins are a bad team, but they are in a really, really bad division. The path is easier for them to make the playoffs. If the Jays were in the Central their mindset might be different.

The Twins are 32-13 against the White Sox, Tigers, and Royals. So 30% of their games have been against those three teams so far. Their last 12 games of the season are also against those three teams. The Jays don't have that luxury. They have one historically bad team in their division, not two and a half. I actually agree that we should try to add good established players wherever we can for next season, especially in the rotation (and CF), but do you really think Shatkins is going to do that? They have given no indication that they are done rebuilding, and the team isn't exactly showing signs of being a few pieces away. My guess is Shatkins will try to field a contender in 2021. I'd be shocked if they gave any effort to do so in 2020. More likely they will use 2020 to give Pearson, Kay, Zoinks, Thornton, Hatch, Merryweather, Murphy, and the truckload of SP candidates on the 40 man roster a chance to see if 2-3-4 of them can stick. Unfortunately I think another factor is Rogers and whether they want to increase payroll next season. I'm not sure what their situation is as I don't follow them or hockey, but I've heard about a bad hockey deal they made multiple times, and that could factor in as well.

The team will have no illusions of competing next season. I don't think that's a wrong statement. It may not be as blatant/annoying as 2019, but likely more of the same focus on development and giving fringey younger players playing time to see if they can be long term pieces. I don't necessarily agree with it, but that seems to be the direction. Now if young players overachieve/develop quickly, there is some luck involved, and so on, then maybe it happens organically, but holding on to Giles when they already essentially traded him when he was hurt and when he only has a year of control left on a rebuilding team seems very unlikely. I highly doubt Shatkins views 2020 as anything other than an extension of 2019, except possibly with emphasis on developing the rotation (whereas 2019 was developing the position player side).