glory

Some radio personalities have the face for TV. Mike Wilner is not one of them.

Using four year splits is pretty misleading as it includes his complete outlier of a season that he's never come close to duplicating since, while also including Upton's ATL numbers which are his worst by far and not reflective of what he's done the past two years. Over the past three years, Smoak has a 97 wRC+ against rhp, for example. He's essentially had one good season against rhp in his entire career (2013 where he had a 138 wRC+ against them). Outside of that he's either been average or absolute s*** against them, and that's on top of being a lumbering, slow-footed, below average first basemen. Even if you want to say he's about ~100 wRC+ against rhp, is that worth taking one of your better hitters who can't throw due to injury and is an injury risk to begin with and sticking him in a more demanding OF position where he's probably going to be below average defensively? Pearce is already an above average first baseman on defence. Upton is probably above average on defence in left (he was very good there last season). Even with Upton's struggles against rhp, is the difference between those two lineups significant enough to warrant putting Pearce in the outfield? If they want to put Morales at first and DH Jose, then sure, stick Pearce in left. But to do that to get Smoak's bat in the lineup? Not worth it. If you asked me who has the higher WAR next season, I think Upton beats Smoak if both are given equal playing time.

Even against righties, I'd take it over Smoak at first and Pearce in left. Maybe Upton can run into one every now and then while playing much better defence. Unless the Jays sign Pagan or have someone else who can actually hit righties and play a competent outfield, they'll have to go with whoever is hotter between Upton and Zeke, but if the alternative is Smoak at first and Pearce running around in the outfield, I'll take the Upton/Zeke combo. Smoak really has no business on this team.

I know Upton's not popular, but him in left with Pearce at first is a much, much better lineup.

Aside from 2015 he's been pretty good against rhp in his career. A platoon of him and Upton would be pretty solid. Plus it would move Pearce to first permanently so that would be an improvement as well.

And isn't a big league starter anymore.

I think the opening day lineup will be: Travis JD Bautista Morales Tulo Martin Pearce Smoak Pillar Gibby will think Martin is a better hitter than Pearce so he'll bat ahead of him.

Goins is a sub-.600 OPS guy.

Most likely the autograph seeker was actually an adult using a kid to get the autograph. A lot of autograph seekers are scum.

Barnes is good, Tepera is s***.

Signing free agents isn't so easy.

If the Jays are interested, then maybe Pagan's price has gone down a bit since no team is biting on $5mm. If they can sign him and still have a decent amount left to spend mid-season, then they have to consider it. As injury prone as he is, he is an upgrade over Zeke and Smoak against righties. Every win matters at this point.

He hits the ball hard, a lot of fly balls, and draws a decent amount of walks. Unfortunately he strikes out way too much and can't hit a breaking ball to save his life. Not sure there is much they can do with him unless a hitting coach fixes him. Just let him suck for a month and then put Pearce at first full time.

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/01/23/the-inside-story-on-how-rogers-tried-to-replace-blue-jays-president-paul-beeston Shapiro saved this org. I'd extend him another five years on top of whatever he has left on his contract just to make sure Rogers is not in a position to hire execs again. As far as Duquette, the O's have made the playoffs in 3 of the last 5 years. I don't think he's that bad, but his comments on Jose are definitely "old white man" comments that usually happen in baseball when talking about Latin players.

I am not a Gibbons fan and he's not very good as an in game manager. If he was fired, it would have been fine with me. But when a front office that I trust values him, and he was less offensive with his stupidity in 2016 (their first year on the job) than he was the year before (when I ripped my hair off every game watching him manage), then I'll keep an open mind about it. Maybe he will get better with a more knowledgable front office pulling the strings. It's not like I have a choice either way. He'll be here for three more years.

Yeah I don't think Bryant's wife is ugly at all. Average looking maybe compared to what you'd expect from an athlete's wife, but not bad at all. Mad Bum on the other hand......yikes. I'll second Amanda Pillar being #1. Kevin hit the jackpot there.

Probably because Gibbons seems a lot less stubborn than many old school managers and might be able to mold his managing style to what the front office wants. Combine that with the players liking him, and they might feel a managerial change isn't necessary. The man needs to learn how to use a pen properly, among other things, but I wasn't offended by much of what he did in 2016 as opposed to 2015. If the new front office has rubbed off on him, then it's probably a solid move to keep some continuity.

Nah, more like Kelly Johnson.

To give the hick some credit, he was a better manager in 2016 than 2015. His managing in 2015 was some of the worst I have ever seen. That was a 100 win team that needed a damn miracle just to get 90. He did improve last season though. The fact that he is being extended means he buys in to what the front office is saying and the front office is comfortable with him doing what they want him to do. If he turns into the Jays version of Clint Hurdle, then so be it. Just keep the derpy things to a minimum.

Damn. Why Shapkins?

Pagan wants $5mm. Don't see them spending that when they appear fine with Pearce in Left when his arm is healthy.

As great as Votto is, I don't think any team wants to touch that contract, and with good reason.

Liriano with 10 k's in 4.2 innings. Bounce back time.

He had a 0.7 WAR player last season and has been above replacement in every season in the bigs. As a bench player who can cover a few positions, he'd be good. Not a starter, obviously. He has no place on the team right now though unless they think Travis is hurt worse than it looks. If they can get him on a minor league deal, great.