jays76

Not sure I really see it there.

Here's another one from The Baltimore Sports Report: http://baltimoresportsreport.com/peter-angelos-handle-dan-duquette-situation-56713.html

Here's an interesting article from the Baltimore perspective via Birdswatcher on Fansided- http://birdswatcher.com/2015/01/17/baltimore-orioles-let-dan-duquette-go-toronto/

Yup apparently it's Ed Rogers, he wants Beeston out due to some perceived shady actions regarding the vote for Bud Selig's replacment and potentially some other stuff. Ironically though Rogers is being accused by the Baltimore media of being sneaky himself and ignoring the typical protocol of asking for permission to speak to Duquette first instead of tampering, and this is in conjunction with the s***** timing of doing all this around the winter meetings instead of at the end of last season. Then you have Peter Angelos who is spitefully adamant about not letting DD go even though there's the unwritten rule you let employees leave if they're promoted to a higher position (and by all accounts DD also wants to come here). MLB is apparently supporting the Jays and trying to mediate this situation but Angelos has a history with the league dating back to the Nats coming to town and his perception of market interference which netted him a stake in the Nationals TV rights via his MASN company. Rumor has it all this bad blood led to him losing out on his chance to host the 2016 All-Star game which has further enraged him. I'm sure you're aware of most of this but I thought I'd give a quick recap. It's a lot of high drama and is getting really messy..

Good question but then again could he really be worse than Beeston.

This is really dragging. It seems Angelos is really being petulant about this, even after all the potential smoke screens to drive up compensation, etc. I think he's truly irate about this.. I can't wait til it's finally settled, I don't know how much of a factor it really has on these teams making outside moves but transactions for the Jays & O's seem to be completely shut down since this was first announced 5wks ago.

Would really be interesting to see what transpires next off season, either way it would be a win/win scenario having DD on board and AA orchestrating a playoff run.

No doubt Toronto is a hype city in regards to fans (for basketball & baseball anyways) but winning with some consistency and returning to the playoffs will cure most of what ails this franchise as we've seen with the Raptors. I mean 20+ yrs for a playoff drought and continually coming up short will jade most fan bases in any sport so they'd have to excuse and understand the high level of skepticism and lack of fans racing out to open their wallets. Don't get me wrong I agree with most of what you've been saying but we would never be the Rays in terms of attendance/fan support with continual seasons of winning and competitive baseball. This city loves & supports winners and I'm not talking about a brief first place flirtation in the standings while holding your breath that the bottom doesn't fall out. At some point this ownership and their shareholders will have to realize that turning a significant profit will require exiting the uncertain middle ground that's plagued this team for the last two decades and putting a winner on the field, which in turn will take more money than they are currently spending. I realize business wise it's a precarious position for them to be in but it's what's needed if they expect to break out of this current cycle they're continuously stuck in.

I agree. Liriano or McCarthy as groundball pitchers coming to the RC would've been great targets this off season which would've paid big dividends. Affordable and would've provided us the options and depth we need in case of injury. Now with Sanchez or Norris slotted in as the 5th starter there is no margin for error or injury to our rotation, if that happens we're probably turning to flyball specialists Estrada & Hendriks who will get shellacked in the Rogers Center.

This^^.. I mean 20+ yrs and now the longest tenured team without a playoff appearance. Would I love for them to go out and get Shields, no doubt! Do I think it's going to happen? Definitely not. Shields will be overpriced and a burden to us going into the 2017 season but let's be honest about the real reasons it won't happen, ownership looks like they're interested in spending just enough money to turn a profit and not much more than that. They want to put a competitive team on the field to entice the fans into the seats and that's pretty much where it ends. AA has to be uber creative to construct a playoff team and then will probably have to go upstairs and beg like a dog again come the trade deadline. However I do think there are potential deals within his grasp that could pay massive dividends, getting Ben Zobrist is one of them! He slots in salary wise and fills so many needs (Plugs 2B, Lefty Bat, potential OF Depth if it all goes wrong with Pompey and/or Saunders). Cough up Navarro and the prospect or two AA, let's do this. Missing the playoffs again this year is not an option..

Actually probably for the last month which also includes the concession stands in conjunction with merchandising plus the TV as you mentioned, the profit could be very substantial. I think we caught a glimpse of that last season when the ratings spiked through the roof against the Red Sox towards the latter part of the season when the Jays were still in the mix. I've mentioned this a few times in previous threads but the Jays really dropped the ball last trade deadline and that penny pinching lack of imagination & balls is what has most fans skeptical about Jays ownership this year. Kudos to AA though this off season for being creative with his limitations.

I wouldn't mind trading Dickey & Thole, I'm sure there would be interest out there given his reasonable contract and propensity for eating innings. If you could get someone to bite it could create a multitude of options- Freeing up enough salary to take a stab at Shields (if Shields was interested in coming here), perhaps getting a younger SP back in return, keeping Navarro as the backup, maybe getting a backup C in the package and still dealing Navarro, landing a 2B in a deal somehow. Dickey is definitely serviceable and does eat so many innings but ultimately he was a bad match for the RC and AL East imo. He could definitely hold some higher value for another GM in the right ballpark.

Lol a bunch of s*** and then pray for Travis is right! And hopefully he comes around sooner than later, would be nice to offload some of that s*** with say Navarro in a package for a more adequate 2B and reliever. Say Pennington and Reed from Arizona.. Of course the salaries wouldn't add up in their favor and the trade would marginally make sense for them (in spite of needing a C) so we'd probably have to toss in a mid tier prospect to make it palpable.

Well said.

I like Tolleson as a lefty bat coming off the bench but it ends there for me, he was atrocious in the field and muffed/missed so many playable balls. Was it eyesight related? Who knows. I don't mind Kawasaki in a backup role, for all his deficiencies I love the way he works a PC. This is going to be disputable and also maybe intangible in relation to statistics but he seems to have good luck & timing for pulling off a big hit or walk at the right time. Not a fan of Izturis period, especially coming off a full missed season.

He was probably the best player on the field defensively in games he started and integral to getting our team off the field. I'm sure games he started finished 20mins sooner on average Shame about his bat, I don't know how much room for improvement there is to be honest but if him and Pompey are out there flashing web gems and killing rallies I think we can carry them at the bottom of the order.

Well there goes Ichiro

As disgusting as Goins is with the bat I'd still give him one last chance since defensively he offsets Reyes a little and probably helps him with his confidence (along with the pitchers out there). Having two defensively inept players up the middle was borderline unwatchable at times last year. We have a short memory about how many times our pitchers got hung out to dry and then absolutely collapsed after witnessing gaffe after gaffe. I'd love to see us start the season on defensive lockdown and it all starts up the middle because we know having Donaldson at 3rd and Martin behind the plate is going to be unreal.

No worries none taken.

Lol I am very relaxed, I was actually responding more to your useless post statement in your last paragraph. It kills me sometimes how self righteous, petty and bent out of shape some posters get on here. The condescending all knowing attitude and ridiculous arguments I've witnessed over the last year plus on these boards is laughable. We all come here for the love of the game and to discuss it for leisure yet people get so defensive-territorial about their board and so called baseball knowledge that it's ridiculous. I always feel sorry for the new posters who come on and are excited to learn and discuss the game because they get ripped apart by a condescending wolf pack who act like bullies protecting their school yard. Who cares about the online dick swinging contests, I mean really is your life that boring? I don't know if this is you or not but your comments seemed to be coming from that place. I'm not really sold on the AA flexibility theory, I would love for that to be the case but I'm skeptical. How is the Martin signing a leap in payroll? We didn't resign a ton of players and lost others in trades, we're still currently below last years payroll. I respect Ichiro's career as much as the next guy but I'm realistic about his limitations/expectations, I just feel we could use him as depth. That said I get the apprehension people have because he's so long in the tooth. Aoki would be sweet, I'd be all for that if we can land him.

Yeah Vogt probably he is but he's a bit of an uncertainty coming off of surgery and Phegley's a crap shoot. Billy might be enticed if the prospect is appealing enough.

I agree but I'm just not sure of the remaining targets and my concern is more from a depth standpoint. Don't get me wrong if AA is working on something better then by all means, I too want him to be all in. However if it's boiling down to him leaning towards standing pat than I'd rather Ichiro be thrown into the mix for some additional depth.

I agree he really is that good and the prospect part is the only way Billy loosens his grip. There might be some alternatives like Pentecost or Osuna, maybe 2 mid tiers combined like Smoral & Davis. Either way it will be steep but I would definitely be fapping.

Relax champ keep it in your pants, slow down before you give yourself an aneurysm. He is who he is and obviously he's not a fangraphs wet dream or the 2nd coming of Christ in regards to combined offensive/defensive output but I think we need some additional depth outside of Pillar & Carrera and Ichiro can hold some value in an extreme buy low circumstance. Of course we're not aware of the budget but what we are aware of is AA's spending behavior is of that a GM who is constantly under the squeeze from ownership (I think last years trade deadline and the Santana hat passing rumors last off season are evidence enough). I'd like to hear these 100 attainable outfield options that fit our needs for the same price? Last I heard Denorfia was off the market now so just who are we talking about here..

Don't the A's need a catcher now? I just mentioned it on another thread, flip Navarro & Izturis for Zobrist. It plugs holes at C and 2B for them and the salaries all matchup and are 1yr for everyone, of course it will also take a prospect from us to get it done but it's worth it imo. Zobrist is that damn good and is the lefty bat/multi positional depth player we need to put us over the top. It wouldn't cost us financially and we'd still have money for relievers, this trade benefits both clubs and needs to happen!