nextyear

I would like to see the Yankees. The Blue Jays have played well against them this year and it is a team that the Blue Jays and fans know well. I would have far less interest in watching them play the Astros or Rangers.

I wondered this also, so I looked it up. From Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On-base_percentage For small numbers of at-bats, it is possible (though unlikely) for a player's on-base percentage to be lower than his batting average (H/AB). This happens when a player has almost no walks or times hit by pitch, with a higher number of sacrifice flies (e.g. if a player has 2 hits in 6 at-bats plus a sacrifice fly, his batting average would be .333, but his on-base percentage would be .286). The player who experienced this phenomenon with the most number of at-bats over a full season was Ernie Bowman. In 1963, with over 125 at-bats, Bowman had a batting average of .184 and an on-base percentage of .181.

How are the Blue Jays able to get a player like Darwin Barney without the Yankees trying to block it? Wouldn't Barney have to go through waivers?

I checked darwin Barney's stats again and he is not as bad offensively as I thought - http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=2430&position=2B . He seems to be a Ryan Goins type of player (mostly defense with some offense) and since I am a Goins fan I might become a Darwin Barney fan also. Too bad that Barney won't be eligible for the playoffs, if Tulowitzki isn't back then Kawasaki will need to be added to the 25 man playoff roster.

He shouldn't have been; he was off for a month and given the ok to play. Maybe you are thinking about the two weeks in May when he was playing hurt? When Travis came back off the DL, spent a week in rehab in the minors and returned to the Blue Jays he was swinging well until he re-injured himself.

I am not sure what you have against Pennington, he is good defensively and put up decent offensive numbers in the past.

When Travis first came back from the DL last time (same injury) he wasn't hitting well even in the minors (for the first week or so). How can the blue Jays expect him to get his timing back during the playoffs, especially when his defense isn't as good as Pennington or Goins? Travis' big advantage is his bat, if he doesn't have that then what is the point of having him come back early?

Just imagine if he could do that for a year. He has a WAR of 0.9 in 14 games and only 37 plate appearances, so he would have a WAR of 9 in only 370 plate appearances (about 80 full games) - http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=697&position=C Arencibia has a wRC+ 231 since being called up from the minors by the Rays. Even his fielding has been a positive.

One thing that is unfortunate about this injury is that there was no reason for Tulowitzki to call off Goins since Goins was camped under the ball and is a sure handed infielder. Goins also had a better perspective on Pillar running towards the ball and likely would have avoided contact (even if Pillar ran into Goins, Goins is like rubber and would probably have bounced off).

I am serious, if Pillar swung at only good pitches he would be making consistently hard contact. He is able to make contact with pitches well out of the strike zone, just imagine if he was a patient hitter who waited for good pitches to swing at. He has 10 home runs, so for me to say that he is a natural hitter who can hit with power shouldn't be hard to believe. His minor league wRC+ has always been good and he had a wRC+ 150 in June - http://www.fangraphs.com/statsd.aspx?playerid=12434&position=OF&type=&gds=2015-06-02&gde=2015-06-30&season=

But luckily he is on the bench and should be back soon.

Carrera is only slightly below league average offensively; according to fangraphs he is 92 wRC+ http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=9048&position=OF

Today's lineup:

Today's lineup without Tulowitzki. Moving Pillar up in the batting order would work if Pillar suddenly learned some plate discipline. Normally it would be Martin instead of Thole and Encarnacion instead of Colabello at DH; substitute these two players and the offensive lineup still looks good.

Players are human and get tired. This should be done for Goins sake, I am thinking that they should rest him 1 - 2 games a weeks. Goins might prefer to play but he will play better if he is adequately rested; for Goins to be effective he has to be at 100%.

I had never heard of Barney before, but his defensive stats are good - http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=2430&position=2B Unless they hope to have Tulowitzki back for the playoffs, what would be the point of playing Darwin Barney since he won't be eligible for the playoffs? Would they play Barney over Kawasaki, when Kawasaki is eligible for the playoffs?

I feel confident that he will. Goins looks tired though and he isn't used to playing so much at a MLB level, so I think Pennington/Kawasaki should be played more to get Kawasaki tuned up to MLB levels and to rest Goins.

It isn't what anyone had hoped for, but if Tulowitzki is lost then Kawasaki will need to be on the 25 man playoff roster. Defensively, Goins at SS and Pennington at 2B is probably just as good as Tulowitzki at SS and Goins at 2B. Pennington showed yesterday that he is good defensively and can contribute offensively. Kawasaki is also good defensively as a backup, and he can draw walks and get a bunt down.

I have watched the video replay a few times - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T6Gqglg32c . Goins was initially calling for the ball with his hand up, and Tulowitzki then called off Goins (you can see in the replay Tulowitzki calling off Goins), however, I don't see any motion by Pillar that he was calling for the ball. Pillar might have been too far back to hear Tulowitzki call for the ball. It seemed like Pillar decided it was his ball and was going to take it no matter what. Pillar seems to play defense the way he bats; any ball he can get to, he is going to take regardless, just like any ball he can hit he is going to swing at, even if it is an obvious ball. Maybe the injury to Tulowitzki will change Pillar's reckless behavior before he kills someone (it is a tough way to learn for the Blue Jays). Losing Tulowitzki will hurt especially since it looked like he was starting to get into an offensive groove recently. Kevin Pillar should he hitting better, if he could return to his June production then that would make up offensively for Tulowitzki's loss; but Pillar is an exasperating player, he could have gotten an RBI by drawing a walk on obvious balls in extra innings in game 1, but instead he seemed to intentionally swing at crap so that he would get his chance to hit the ball (instead I think he struck out). Pillar should be a good hitter but his lack of plate discipline is maddening.

I appreciate both Smoak and Colabello. I have liked Smoak's defense from the start of the season, and have started liking Colabello at 1B also.

Here is a radar map that shows the rain system moving into the new York city area - http://www.accuweather.com/en/us/bronx-borough-ny/10461/weather-radar/334650 It looks good for the first game, but it could take hours to wait out rain delays in the second. Hopefully the doubleheader will go tomorrow if not today.

It seems like the new Yankees Stadium was built with a very good drainage system. Although it sounds like there is a 50-50 chance of rain, a thundershower isn't forecast until 7pm, and only during one hour-period - http://www.accuweather.com/en/us/new-york-ny/10007/hourly-weather-forecast/349727?hour=6 (hourly forecast) If Estrada pitches quickly, as usual, then I think they can get two games in. I hope pitchers won't waste any time out there today. (source: http://newyorkyankeesfanclub.com/Yankee_Stadium_2.html ) The field is made up of Kentucky bluegrass, the same surface as the previous stadium, which is grown on a 1,300 acres (530 ha) farm in Bridgeton, New Jersey. The grass is equipped with a drainage system (featuring over 14,000 feet (4,300 m) of pipe) that makes the field playable an hour after taking 2 inches (51 mm) of rain. HOT DIGGITY! A doubleheader today!

That is an odd way of comparing players, so you think that OBP is sufficient? http://www.cliparthut.com/clip-arts/215/charlie-brown-215132.jpg

Not according to these Tweets:

I read through the following Bleacher Nation article quickly, but it seems that anyone on the 40 man roster as of August 31st can be chosen for the 25 man playoff roster. Devon Travis is on the 40 man roster, and I am quite sure he was on August 31st - http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/team/roster_40man.jsp?c_id=tor (source: http://www.bleachernation.com/2015/08/31/everything-you-need-to-know-about-todays-deadline-playoff-eligibility-and-september-call-ups/ ) What about players in the organization but not on the 40-man roster? Well, if you weren’t on the 40-man as of August 31, you’re not eligible for the postseason unless you wind up replacing an injured player (guards against teams being screwed by a rash of injuries in September – imagine if a team lost a few catchers and had to try and win with a third baseman behind the plate in the postseason). Under the new rule system where every player on the 40-man is eligible, this injury replacement stuff is less likely to come up, though, since most of the guys you’d even consider putting on a 25-man playoff roster are probably going to be on your 40-man anyway. In my opinion, if the Blue Jays get to the playoffs with Ryan Goins starting most of the games at 2B during August and September then that is who the Blue Jays should go with. But Devon Travis played well and deserves a spot if there is any chance of him contributing and not hurting himself further.