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Unfortunately this is likely the best you'll see of him. I don't see the bat being much better and the defense can't possibly continue as it has. I decided to fact-check this claim. In 2015 Kevin Pillar had a total of 628 regular season plate appearances and 45 post-season appearances for a total of 673 plate appearances. 1) For the baseball term of first half (before the All Star break) he had wRC+ of 95 for the first "half" (actually 355 plate appearances which isn't really a half), and wRC+ of 95 for the second half including the playoffs (again not really a half of a season). 2) For the mathematical half of 673 plate appearances you don't get an even half so instead I did April 6 through July 8, 2015 which gives 339 plate appearances - http://www.fangraphs.com/statsd.aspx?playerid=12434&position=OF&type=&gds=2015-04-06&gde=2015-07-08&season= and this gives the first half number of wRC+ 94 (this gives the best number in your favour) For the mathematical second half including the playoffs, I used the period of July 9 to October 4th (289 plate appearances) = wRC+ 92 - http://www.fangraphs.com/statsd.aspx?playerid=12434&position=OF&type=&gds=2015-07-09&gde=2015-10-04&season=, and 45 playoff plate appearance with wRC+ 120 - http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=12434&position=OF for a total of 334 plate appearances (the best in favour of your argument): (289/334 x 92) + (45/334 x 120) = wRC+ 96 (rounded up from 95.77) So at best you can say the two halves were equal if you use the baseball term of "first half". The only way that what you stated is true is if you ignore his playoff numbers, but when it comes to predicting his future potential there is no reason for doing that.

For up to date news, I find Shi Davidi's and Barry Davis' Twitter accounts to be best. There are a couple of others but Barry Davis and Shi Davidi re-tweet their news items. When it comes to following baseball and its players, fans can do so in a manner that was not possible 20 - 30 years ago. The individual Twitter accounts allow people to communicate directly with players and follow their lives in baseball. The internet and social media are great!

I appreciate the logic in Maahfaace's posts regarding Ryan Goins. I am very happy that the Blue Jays have Tulowitzki at SS (and Ryan Goins backing him up at only $0.5 million) instead of Andrelton Simmons. Regarding Kevin Pillar, there isn't really a war of words going on between Wilner and Pillar. Kevin Pillar had three tweets regarding Wilner, and there is nothing in Kevin Pillar's tweets for people to hate Kevin Pillar for.

I would agree with you back in 2014 when Kevin Pillar got sent back to AAA for his outburst, however, now he has demonstrated that he is not just a major league player, but currently one of the best defensive players in the MLB and on the rise offensively. The Blue Jays are very fortunate to have Kevin Pillar. I wonder how often Wilner has pointed that out; maybe now would be a good time.

I don't think Kevin Pillar should bat lead-off but he deserves credit for having a wRC+ of 120 in the playoffs against very tough pitchers, and has been improving at the plate throughout the year - http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=12434&position=OF I think Revere should continue to bat lead-off. I think Pillar should bat number 6 or 7 in 2016, but he is on the rise so in the future he might be a number 5 type batter.

I am not trying to be argumentative, but this link shows a different picture - http://stats.seandolinar.com/predicting-baseball-wins-with-war/. I posted this on page 7 of this thread along with their plot. In any case, by taking team WAR it filters out (averages out) the large variations (or noise) that would be evident if factorial analysis was used to compare individual player WAR with real win contribution.

I think I get your idea but what you stated is too general and does not correspond to the fact that the teams that win the AL and NL leagues are almost invariably one of the best 5 teams each year in limiting Runs Allowed; in fact during the years 1995 - 2015, the worst in the AL was the Boston Red Sox in 2013 who were 6th best in limiting RA. I went through the records of Blue Jays teams of the past 23 years and what is needed is a good balanced attack. The current Blue Jays, unlike some past teams, have more than enough offense to go with a good team defensively. Here is a compilation of runs scored (RS), runs allowed (RA) and team records for the past 23 seasons (excluding the strike-shortened 1994 season for which there was no World Series) - taken from this link http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/index.jsp#20151004 Year RS RA Wins Losses 1992 780 682 96 66 1993 847 742 95 67 1994 strike-shortened season 1995 642 777 56 88 1996 766 809 74 88 1997 654 694 76 86 1998 816 768 88 74 1999 883 862 84 78 2000 861 908 83 79 2001 767 753 80 82 2002 813 828 78 84 2003 894 826 86 76 2004 719 823 67 94 2005 775 705 80 82 2006 809 754 87 75 2007 753 699 83 79 2008 714 610 86 76 2009 798 771 75 87 2010 755 728 85 77 2011 743 761 81 81 2012 716 784 73 89 2013 712 756 74 88 2014 723 686 83 79 2015 891 670 93 69

I think I share you frustration; I understand it but I don't accept all of it (but I do accept most of it). I like most of the stats on fangraphs but not WAR or FIP. Anyone who says that they don't accept stats such as WAR will be insulted on this forum, however, they are in good company since the best known Sabermetrics person, Bill James, who developed many of the stats and has written books on the subject, is NOT impressed by the WAR stat; here is what he says - http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2014/10/29/bill-james-not-a-statistical-guru-not-impressed-by-war/ The purpose of Sabermetrics is to try to compare baseball players from different teams, different time periods and different positions all on the same level. This is what Bill James tried to do with Sabermetrics; unfortunately some current Sabermetrics enthusiasts are taking it to previously unimagined extremes. What I personally would like to see in the field of Sabermetrics is to simplify the calculations. People who have mathematical, statistical and baseball knowledge can figure out calculations that are just as informative but which can be calculated by anyone; it is just a matter of the right people getting involved. In fact the right people will likely be able to come up with simpler calculations that are better. The WAR stat is not scripture. If people really want to know how much a certain player contributes to a team winning then there are better methods such as examining team wins directly (the W in WAR) instead of using a convoluted equation. One method is factorial analysis that can separate out the effect of one player among 9 players on the field.

Just out of curiosity, have you ever managed to get any type of university degree? I have met many people who call others dumb because they can give an intelligent, factual response.

Why don't you provide some actual substance to your posts? What I stated was an obvious fact, your reply was just another asinine response.

This doesn't prove your point since positional player WAR includes offense and defense; being 22nd in positional player WAR could mean that they could score runs but were poor defensively. Likewise being 8th in pitcher WAR could mean that they had strong pitching but poor defense (since pitching WAR use FIP, although I have no faith in the FIP stat). Do you have the stats for team runs scored (RS) versus team runs allowed (RA) over the period of 1994 - 2014?

Brilliant, but not really.

The combination of Jose Reyes at SS and Devon Travis at 2B was a defensive catastrophe. Goins at SS and Travis at 2B was slightly better. Reyes at SS and Goins at 2B was actually a decent combination (but not as good as Tulowitzki and Goins). Tulowitzki at SS and Devon Travis at 2B is defensively an unknown. 20 years without going to the post season has shown that the Blue Jays can't win by focusing on offense.

Real fans don't support stupid management moves.

lol

Devon Travis played in 62 games of the 162 games in 2015, and the Blue Jays were 10 games under .500 in the games in which he played. He only had 238 plate appearances. Devon Travis had nothing to do with the Blue Jays getting to the ALCS. Devon Travis isn't underrated defensively, he did not contribute anything defensively to the Blue Jays getting to the post season. That is simply a fact.

This is the best post in this thread. If the Blue Jays announce that they are bringing David Price back or another high quality pitcher then that will be welcome news. Bringing into a Byung-Ho Park will signal regression in management philosophy and it will be time for me to find another team to root for.

If management thinks this way and brings in a Byung-Ho Park to provide more offense, or a Chris Davis then I think the Blue Jays will be losers for many more years. Didn't 2015 show that the Blue Jays need defense as much as offense?

Thank you. That is greatly appreciated.

It seems that Dalton Pompey got robbed of an inside the park home run. Does anyone know of any other players in the Blue Jays organization playing winter ball (in any league)?

You've got it. (in my avatar)

We all must strive to keep the 10 year veteran posters such as Boxcar happy. Perhaps we all should bow even as we post to the veterans on this forum : http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SmprtzkaQY8/TrZJmF6tC7I/AAAAAAAACOY/fIK-4JWM6J4/s1600/Angle-of-Japanese-bow.gif

Dalton Pompey is playing in the Dominican Winter League on the team named "Leones del Escogido". Here is a link - http://www.mlb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=l132&t=t_ros&cid=671

I predict that Kevin Pillar will have a fWAR of 5.0 in 2016 in CF (up from 4.3 in 2015), and that Tulowitzki will be the starting SS for the Blue Jays in 2016 (obviously). I think Ryan Goins will have a fWAR of 1.5 in 2016 with about 300 PA at SS and 2nd base as a Blue Jay, then get traded to San Diego in 2017 and be their starting SS for 5 years in complete but happy obscurity.

Personally, I don't think that play had much to do with the Blue Jays losing. Didn't that home run occur with no outs? Even if it was called a double then the Kansas City Royals would have almost certainly drove the base runner in, by other means, since they were clutch in driving in runs with none out. The two bad strike calls (one on Navarro and an obvious one on Revere) in the top of the 9th inning had a huge influence on the outcome. If Revere had of gotten the obvious ball called a ball then there is a very good chance that he would have gotten a ground ball or fly ball to at least tie the game. As much as I believe that Kansas City has a good team, I feel the Blue Jays were cheated by the umpire. If the Blue Jays had won game 6 then I think they would have most likely won game 7. In that game 6 I feel worst for Dalton Pompey who managed to get to 3rd base on two steals; he would have been one of the heroes of the game if the Blue Jays had of won. I am glad the World Series is over, every time I see that KC team I become bitter again at the terrible umpiring in the 9th inning of game 6. As much as I dislike the KC Royals, I am somewhat glad that they won because I can believe that the Blue Jays were just as good (I won't say 2nd best). PS: I think the fan who had the biggest effect was the one who called "I got it" "I got it" in game 2 (the fans were being relatively quiet at the time and I could hear it on TV).