glory

I can't believe I'm saying this about Liam Hendriks, but the Jays can't afford to lose him given the lack of depth on this team. If they are confident he can pass through waivers, then do it, but otherwise, he's someone I can see a team in need of a pitcher claiming.

Cecil, Loup, Lopez, Delabar, Redmond, Estrada, Hynes/Francis (or another LHR) If AA is on stupid pills, then put Castro in place of one of the guys above, but I'm still thinking sanity prevails on that front.

Sanchez and Estrada in the rotation with Norris in AAA would be fine with me. They don't seem to want to demote Sanchez, but they were open to demoting Norris before Stroman went down. Save one of their arby clocks, at least.

Carpenter's minor league numbers were very Sanchez-esque. That doesn't mean he will be a HOF calibre pitcher but there is hope that with some tweaking he can be a good MLB starter. I agree though, expecting that light switch to turn on in 2015 is unrealistic.

Yep. If Arizona is willing to eat up the difference between Navarro and Cahill, it should be done. However, they have no reason to do it (Arizona). They'd probably do the trade straight up to save 7m but I don't think they'd eat up 7m just to make it.

Unless you want half the throws from third and short to go for throwing errors, it's better to have Smoak or Barton at 1B than Edwin.

Nope. The fact that there's still 3 weeks left until Opening Day scares me. That's three weeks for more terrible things to happen.

Navarro for Oliver Perez?

My guess, ignoring the stupid possibility of Castro in the pen, is this: Dickey, Hutch, Buehrle, Sanchez, Norris Cecil, Loup, Lopez, Delabar, Redmond, Francis, Estrada

No such thing as a jinx with the Jays. I don't wish it on him obviously but I'd honestly rather he had that than the ACL.

Meant first full season back. Should have been on an innings limit around 150.

So unfair. Stroman doesn't even have an arm injury and he's done for the year . Still can't believe it. And hell, for all we know, he could need Tommy John Surgery at some other point in his career, which would be another year lost. Just s***** all the way.

Wouldn't surprise me if it were Francis.

Tanaka will throw 200 IP this year with a busted elbow while Stroman throws 0. Gotta love baseball.

The Donaldson trade was great. THere is a difference between fringe prospects (Nolin/Graveman) and top prospects (Norris, Sanchez, etc). Trading the fringe guys, especially if you're getting an MVP candidate in return, is a no brainer. The problem is, if you're going to trade depth, find a way to replenish it. When Mike Bolsinger is DFA'd, trade for him (he was traded for cash, I believe). Sign guys to minor league deals as depth pieces (Jeff Francis types are fine if that's all you can get). Find older blocked bottom of the rotation guys with good minor league numbers from other organizations, find a deal, and put them in AAA. Maybe one of them can stick. Not saying any of that is easy, but what is easy in baseball? You still have to make moves. What did the Jays do, though? A bunch of minor league relievers (which was fine) off waivers or minor league deals, but no SP depth, unless you want to count on Johan being able to throw a pitch without hurting himself. He did the same s*** in 2012. Remember that vaunted rotation of Romero, Morrow, Drabek (coming off a terrible season), Alvarez (rushed big time), Cecil (the one who had no velocity), Mcgowan (hadn't started in four years at that point), Hutchison (with barely any Double-A innings), and Carreno? No depth, no vets to bridge the gap, just a bunch of young prospects thrown into the rotation hoping they stick. Like I said, 2013 was the outlier. Every other season he has acted a completely different way.

I think it's fair to say we will never see that type of off-season again with AA since Rogers probably wouldn't trust him to do that again. Prior to that off-season he was promoting guys straight from Double-A to fill rotation spots (Drabek, Alvarez, Hutchison, etc), and now it's Sanchez and Norris with practically no high minors/MLB experience filling rotation spots. It's one thing if he was counting on them, but added a bunch of depth guys behind them in case of need. Instead, he just sort of limped into Spring Training with four set starters, and didn't bother to have a contingency plan if something happened. I expect no different next season, although if he's still around in 2016 then that means the Jays probably made the playoffs, so I guess I should be rooting for him to keep his job.

If I had to pick one pitcher out of the group of Hutchison, Stroman, Sanchez, and Norris to have the best career (assuming good health to everyone), it would be Hutchison. Of course, they foolishly had him throw 185 innings in his first year back from Tommy John Surgery, so I'm going to hold my breath every time he pitches.

That's precisely why I don't want AA back next year. The team is going to lose Buehrle (and miss him dearly), and he'll be replaced by a prospect if AA is still around. The team needs some vet starters and keep the prospects in the minors for depth purposes. They need to find a GM who recognizes that, and not a GM who fantasizes about every single one of his pitching prospects panning out like a homer fan would.

I tend to agree, but he's either going to be in the big league rotation or bullpen, as AA isn't going to send him down (for some reason). Looked like the plan was going to be Sanchez in the pen, Estrada in the rotation, and Norris in AAA, but Stroman ruined that. If it were up to me, both Sanchez and Norris would be in AAA, and I'd roll with Estrada and someone else (whoever the DBacks are willing to move for Navarro) until May or June. That's not going to happen, though.

It's going to be Sanchez and Norris in the rotation, unless AA actually goes out and acquires someone (looking unlikely) or Johan discovers the fountain of youth and makes an improbable comeback. They'd have to use off days to give more starts to Dickey, Buehrle, and Hutchison throughout the course of the season, but they might be able to use Sanchez and Norris as full-time starters while keeping them at a 170 IP limit without going too far over. Assuming they actually stay healthy, and since there is 3 weeks left in Spring Training, there is more than enough time for one or both of them to fall in a ditch and injure something before the start of the season.

Can't they release him prior to the start of the season and only be on the hook for a certain percentage of his salary? I believe they did that with Reed Johnson in 2008.

Wilner saying Estrada only gave up one HR. I guess that's a relief.

I want Saunders with Happ still in the rotation. Not sure how that could have gotten done, though.

Welp, looks like Sanchez and Norris for the bottom of the rotation. Wish we still had Happ right now.

Well, damn.