glory

Of course JD gets hurt. Well this was the risk heading into the year. He’s 32.

The Jays are in a really good spot in terms of infielders in the minors. Gives them the ability to flip some of them down the road for other needs.

10/100 guaranteed seems like it would be a risk for the team, but chances are they will be seeing surplus value on that deal by year 3 or 4. I know prospects can bust but he's not a typical prospect. He doesn't strike out, makes Stanton-like hard contact, high hit tool, and practically no weakness with the bat. Guys like Snider had troubling K rates. Those types are more high risk. If Vlad takes 10/100, sign the damn thing tomorrow and call him up.

I am at a point where I just want all the vets to do good so we can trade them at the deadline. Yes, I've thrown in the towel. Too many injuries and underachieving for too many important players. July can't come soon enough.

When the Twins DFAd Hughes that should have been the signal. It's one thing to say the Red Sox can eat up bad contracts, but when the f'n Twins are eating up $20m, then Rogers can eat Morales' contract. No excuses.

They have like a billion more games against the Yankees and Red Sox, and haven't faced the Astros yet. The Jays will be selling. Only a matter of time. Too many key injuries and underperformance. It will be hard to keep afloat. Just have to hope the key trade pieces (JD, Happ, Grandy, Pearce, etc) do well from now until July.

Someone who lives on social media and feels the need to broadcast her life on there has to be mad annoying in person. I wonder if she and Stroman would get along.

This team could have (and should have) won a World Series in 2015 when Gibbons was one of the worst managers in the game at the time. He has improved dramatically since the new regime took over and yet the team has declined in wins. A manager can negatively impact a team, but he's not the reason a team is good or bad. The Jays are a true talent 85-ish win team that have suffered injuries or underachieving from players they simply couldn't afford to have that happen to, and here is the end result. Gibbons couldn't fix this even if he was the baseball version of Brad Stevens.

Smith not scoring on Grandy’s hit and Grandy not scoring on Morales’ hit definitely seemed questionable. At least with the Morales hit, Grandy was tagging up since it wasn’t a certainty that it was a hit, but yeah should have at least tied the game.

My opinion of Gibbons has changed from three years ago and I really don’t have an issue with him managing this team but I almost want him fired just so Rivera is gone. That might be the only way to make it happen.

That ball was not deep enough to get Grandy. Maybe 5 years ago but not now. But damn I thought Morales walked it off. s*** what a horrible ending.

Vetrin with proven saves experience. I actually don’t mind it as long as Gibbons keeps using Oh in higher leverage middle inning spots with runners on while Clippard comes in with the bases empty, but Clipps is easily the worst reliever in the pen with how solid Axford has been for the most part.

Worst reliever in the pen as the closer. Damn you Osuna.

I agree it's early, but Osuna is probably done for the year, Stroman is hurt, Sanchez sucks again, Garcia is hurt, Estrada has regressed to #5 starter level, and the offence is probably middle of the pack at best and that's with JD hitting like he normally does. They had enough depth to cover a bunch of positions, but essentially the guys they could not afford to lose are either lost or not performing. With Stro and JD it is likely injury related, which makes it difficult to project the rest of the year for them (will they be healthy?). I thought this team had 85 win potential before the year started but I'm not seeing it anymore.

Yes, the next best option on a team that expects to contend for a World Series. I think it was an aggressive call up, but at least it was justifiable from that sense if they felt he was going to improve the team. For them, every win matters. For the Jays, it's clearly a different scenario. Also, as I said, look at the history of GREAT players who didn't do jack ish at age 19 in the bigs. Even if we call Vlad up it doesn't mean he's going to do well, and in that case, what's the point? If he comes in and hits like Harper, it won't help the team make the playoffs since they appear to have way too many other issues to overcome, and if he comes in and struggles like many other great players did at that age, then you wasted months of his service clock on a season where he could have worked on his D and other things in the minors. I just don't get the logic here. I'd expect the mouth breathers on Twitter to demand Vladdy be called up but not anyone who is looking at this team objectively. Is it unfair to Vlad to be this good and be stuck in AA? Absolutely. But change the CBA then (which I have said for years they should do....the game treats its players like crap).

Remember the time when Trout, Beltre, A-Rod, Andruw Jones, both Upton's, etc, etc, came up at age 19 and set the world on fire? Good times. Every 19 year old hits like Bryce Harper did. Let's use him as the norm. Call Vlad up now. Start his service clock in a lost season and park him at DH because why the f*** not? If the Jays had a chance to win the division then I can see the argument, but my god people want to call him up when the team will be lucky to finish .500? Who bloody cares? Fans didn't come to see Roy Halladay, Carlos Delgado, Roger Clemens, etc, and they sure as hell won't watch Vlad at 19/20 on a s***** team. This is insanity. Soto got called up because the Nats are a good team. If they were where the Jays are now they would have been laughed out of the building for calling him up.

Phil Hughes DFA'd by Twins despite having $22m left on his deal. I think you know where I'm going with this by bringing it up......

Should have traded Osuna for Soto last year when we had the chance (maybe). The Nats pen sucks every year. Oh well.

No I want him up now and lose him at age 25!

I thought Shapiro actually rebuilt and went for the 2nd wild card at the same time. The off season was a blueprint for what rebuilding teams usually do (short term vets to fill spots and trades for inexpensive players with years of control left). They didn’t trade any top prospects either. They aimed for the 2nd wild card without sacrificing their farm system. It was legit the best of both strategies. If they win the 2nd wild card then it worked. If they don’t, then sell and move on. There’s really no downside except for maybe holding on to everyone and then missing the playoffs but long ways to go before we know what direction they go in.

'Cause Stone Cold Said So was my first thought as well. Shapiro wanted to rebuild two years ago. He knows what's up. This season is a compromise to appease Rogers. Shaps did nothing but sign vets to cheap one year deals and trade little value for inexpensive talent with years of control left. The off season basically was what a rebuilding team would do. If this season goes south, and chances are attendance will drop enough to hurt payroll next season, a rebuild is coming soon. Maybe not scorched earth one, but one nonetheless. But yes, Rogers suddenly wanting to end the rebuild and win right away is always a concern.

It's doable. It's not like we'd be making blockbuster deals. JD and Happ will probably fetch something decent, but the others will likely be similar to the Joe Smith and Liriano deals (Teoscar, Pannone, Taylor). I doubt it will be that hard. Teams have to be interested in the players though, obviously.

I think they can trade all those guys I mentioned in July. Some of the returns might be very minor, but prospect depth is important too.

The Jays have a ton of deals expiring after this year (JD, Happ, Pearce, Grandy, Estrada, Clippard, Axford). I think at least you can trade those guys if out of it at the deadline. Try to re-sign Happ in the winter since he's still good and might actually like Toronto enough to sign back again. Others can be replaced internally. Way too early to sell though. June at the earliest, but most likely July.

Ehh this is a .500 ish team with the rotation pitching the way it is and Donaldson likely playing on one functioning shoulder, the chances of being anything meaningful this season has gone down. Still time to turn things around because the 2nd wild card race will be probably be a race for 85 wins, but the wrong players are underperforming or are hurt.