glory

Zeke against righties is still not optimal even though he's an upgrade defensively. Would have been nice to add Pagan.

Gibby with this front office molding him is not bad.

The front office loves Pearce more than Smoak. Unless Pearce is banged up, I think he will play everyday or close to it. It's either Zeke in left or Smoak at first with Pearce playing the other spot.

Castro is not a robot. Mental part of the game is important too, especially for someone as young and inexperienced as he was. Osuna is an exception, not a norm.

Pearce playing everyday, either at first or left, is great. Just keep the man healthy.

Lol, Gibby (rightfully) hates Smoak. Gausman is a fastball pitcher isn't he? Seems like a good time to start the Smoakster.

Maybe, but I don't think calling him up to the bigs straight from A-ball at age 20 when he is/was only a fastball pitcher helped him at all. He needed to work on his command and secondary stuff in the minors. If you tried to recreate the Castro/Osuna call ups 100 times, I bet a great majority of them would end up like Castro.

I feel bad for Castro. Dude was rushed to the bigs for no reason and his development was killed because of it. I'd take a chance on him and start him in the minors, but this is his last option year right?

Franklin grades out horribly at practically every position on defence. His bat would be nice to have around though.

Gruber tried to tell you guys. You wouldn't listen.

Salty doesn't look very good. Even Fatty never looked that bad behind the dish.

Gotta love playing in a s*** hole like Montreal's stadium just before the season starts. Don't get hurt playing on that surface.

Really looking forward to seeing Liriano pitch this season.

I don't think any team will claim Zeke at $1mm. Coghlan's a better player than him and he got a minor league deal a day before opening day. I don't think teams are going to line up for Zeke unless they have a huge hole in the OF and just need a body. Maybe the Tigers.

Outfield depth looking good, which is important since Bats is old and LF will likely be an issue once Pearce takes over 1b full time (we all know it will happen). Good move.

Holy crap, this is actually a real roster battle? Good lord. Goins is like a pimple that won't go away.

Yeah his hard contact rate is good, hits a lot of fly balls, and draws walks around 10%. The skill set is intriguing, but at age 30, I don't know how likely it is he turns into anything. I guess we have no choice but to find out. I hope he pans out.

I'd feel better if there was something out there about Smoak tweaking something, either his swing, approach, or whatever. A lot of late bloomers make adjustments which lead to the breakout. If it's the same old Smoak, then I honestly can't understand what they see or what they are expecting to happen. If the Smoakster has a breakout season and becomes what they apparently envision him to be, then I'll happily admit I was wrong, but god damn it makes no sense. The time to take a chance on him was two years ago, and the Jays did. He didn't pan out. On to the next. I agree that Pagan doesn't move the needle, but he's more likely to be a 1 win player than Smoak is. Even a 1 win improvement for cheap would be a solid add this time of year.

This makes no sense. By all accounts the Jays made Pearce one of their top priorities this winter, and he even confirmed it. So if they knew they wanted him, and wanted Smoak to play everyday/against righties, then that means they signed Pearce to play LF. I mean, I guess it's better to have him in the lineup in some capacity, but why turn above average defence at first to below average defence in left just to accommodate Justin freakin Smoak? The internal LF options aren't the greatest, but come on. Just sign Pagan and release Smoak. We aren't the Rays. THis is clearly on the front office. Gibbons would probably prefer playing Zeke as much as possible with Pearce at first (as evidenced by Smoak riding pine for much of the last two years), but he'll be forced to do this lineup for at least a month, maybe more. If Pearce gets hurt playing the outfield, then that would be horrible.

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.