shortstop

yeah, take the (likely) unnecessary colour away from Moog's posts, my impression is Moog is objective ie. a realist... take the colour away & imo, Moog's assessemnt of the O's and Jays are closer to reality... it's closer to the truth imo when I say we're naturally biased towards the jays...we may realize it or very often we don't...or we realize it & remain objective most of the time but not all the time... I sense dispassion with moog's, not that he's a pessimist or not a fan of the jays or whatever...dispassionate in the sense of loving baseball but able to look at the environment/landscape not as a fan of any team (even if he is) but as a natural observer... if moog's could get away from the irrelevant colour, people may see more of what Moog's really has to offer...

helps to be playing a hurt/bad rangers team though Darvish is on the mound Friday. Over the years, this team hasn't shown the propensity to win when it counts. I hope I'm wrong but I can see the jays, even with what many consider a favourable schedule, falter to 6-7 games behind the O's and 4-5 games out of the wildcard by the trade deadline...

Moog, I get the off-season non-happenings from Rogers perspective. I get the theory of a lame-duck GM, Rogers hands off guys pulling the strings. What's interesting about all that is AA came out of last season saying the $$'s would be there for priorities - pitching. You don't come out with that unless you have assurances you do in fact have the $$'s to spend. Then the tap was cut off. Anyways, the issue is the here & now...say in the past month or so, did AA want to make a trade & bring on some salary for the remainder of this year (I get why Rogers wouldn't want to take on any salary moving forward) but could not do so b/c he could not add salary? What about right now - is AA able to take on some salary - say $3-$6M for a player whose a free agent at the end of the year? B/c if so, that's just stupid on Rogers part, power play or whatever, when you had a team in first & currently, only 4 games out & 2.5 away from the wild card.

surely the true constant here is and has been Beeston

yeah, despite perception of many, it may be Rogers/Beest/AA have been and are all on the same page...

well, Boras thinks Rogers is chimping out & I'm starting to realize that maybe this Boras guy is maybe just telling it the way it is. Mikeleelop brought up a good point - we have no idea RIGHT NOW whether AA has the ability to take on payroll and if so, what amount. I mean, we don't even know if he can take on what's left of the last year of a player's contract and say b/w $3-$6M or whatever for the remainder of the season & with no long term commitment... this team has been bleeding & could have used a reinforcement a month ago...yet nothing...could be AA or could be Rogers... this trade deadline may be very telling...or it may not be b/c the jays are essentially out of it by the 31st that the easy decision is to be a seller... but assuming the jays are in the race by the deadline, failing to add a player reeks of Rogers cutting of the taps & that, imo, is unacceptable when this team desperately needs a decent 3B/2B to play alongside Lawrie, Reyes & EE. To get a decent, proven, experienced player for 3B/2B, it will very likely cost some $$'s to take on this year...of course the other tell maybe if AA gets a trade done only to have the other team take on the remaining salary...maybe smart but it maybe AA's only option...

http://www.tsn.ca/blogs/scott_macarthur/?id=457231 "He's dealing with budget parameters, the numbers of which aren't clear but Anthopoulos often talks of being “creative” with any deal. Translation: dollar in-dollar out is the likely requirement of a completed trade" Possible Rogers isn't getting enough backlash that's needed for them to loosen the purse strings - true or not, ever since Boras's comments earlier in the year then with the Santana debacle, likely perception is this is about Rogers not AA. Gotta give AA credit here b/c his job is difficult enough without being bothered with probably way more politics than a GM should have to deal with...

always found it interesting AA was going for re-build with young talent (before Marlins trade) then bam, the marlins/dickey trade & saying screw this to the slow re-build process... as much as I like to blame AA, the part we don't know is the pressure he was getting from corporate (if any) to field a competitive team for ticket sales, merchandising, advertising, commercials, ie. to pitch Rogers content...

we should hire Valentine as manager to get the re-build in motion

I think that's the key, whether jays are sticking to status quo or tearing it all up... we probably know what we're gonna get with Cabrera & there's value in that imo... and I see him to continue working on his training program in the off-season and perhaps may stick with working out with Bautista... and having Gose in centre with his coverage improves overall outfield defence... and there's value of familiarity/continuity with Reyes, Melk, Bautista and EE as top 4... with that said, I sense if the rumour is true, it's b/c of a few of Melk's mental mistakes...but if true, gotta wonder why they'd be picking on Melk man when you can point to every player & point out a few throughout the year... overall, would prefer he come back presuming no tearing down...looks like he likes it in Toronto, teammates, etc...if the jays want him back, it'll likely be the market that dictates whether he will - if another team is offering more $ and/or years, my sense is Melky will take the highest bidder on a competitive team...

sh, the schedule's been pointed out many times on here and includes the fact the O's have only 3 off days until the end of August... nonetheless, point is it is possible the O's come out hot & the jays continue to falter = jays out of it imo - not only out of the division race but also the wild card race keeping in mind it's not so bad when you're trying to hurdle 1 or 2 teams but very difficult when trying to pass 3-4 or more...

apologies basic point - O's are 4 games ahead and jays could very well be pretty much out of the playoff picture come the trade deadline

tough schedule coming up ahead or otherwise, the O's are 4 games ahead...this could get out of hand after the All-Star break if they come out playing well out of the gate...

brainstorming...Reyes could be our full time switch hitting DH since he may be more fragile and of less range than JB & EE the $22M DH!

I hear ya G-Snarls... only explanation I can think of is Gibby believes his 2 main run producers are #3 and #4 and wants Kawa in there to try to get on base... personally, I move that lineup up & place Kawa #9

lol

well, we don't know if it's true nor we do know if this perhaps just 1 of many discussions AA has or is having....

Last year's deals brought massive interest where before there wasn't - jays sold hope & on paper that was a contending team Now a big trade or two will still provide optimism but won't put as many in the seats ...diminishing returns... The fan base needs & wants a winner - it ultimately won't be sold on hope in whatever form Jays will either fall & rebuild, treadmill b/c close to a playoff spot & we're right back at it next year trying to make the playoffs...or the team will make the playoffs & big pressure on Rogers to spend more

hurl, the cynic in me says Valentine was brought in to Boston to crash that ship to sell the fanbase on "rebuilding"... or perhaps brought in with the hope his personality/approach would help crash that ship...

GP, reminds me of what I read about the Tulowitzki situation...Rockies will not trade him and a big reason is the message it would send to the fanbase... right or wrong, the perception often has overriding priority than "best interests"... then again, depending on whose perspective your looking at it from, getting perception right can be argued to be in the "best interests"...

lol...for the irony so that's acceptable

http://larrybrownsports.com/baseball/john-baker-aroldis-chapman-walk-celebration-gif/235514 that was funny herp, thanks for the link

well, it's clear with this years attendance #'s that it not only will take a team with talent/potential ie. household names but also winning/real shot at competing playoffs...the #'s will come back imo if they are legitimately competing for a playoff spot and especially a division title... no doubt many on this board are skeptical this team can pull it off & I think most casual fans are skeptical also, and this was before the winning steak let alone right now...

can we get Shelley Sterling to convince him (manipulate?!) to get some tests done with the doctors (shh, don't tell Beest they're tests to determine capacity)...

I think AA can gut the farm & Rogers doesn't need to approve any deal...not that he would but I think he doesn't need to report to Rogers about giving away prospects... it's the fact that it's very possible Rogers has limited AA's ability to add to payroll...that he definitely needs approval on... so in theory, imo, it's possible he could trade top prospects but he'd have to have the other team eat all/most of the salary... not that this would happen or he would do it, but just that imo, it's possible