nextyear

Reyes, Reyes what is wrong with you. A great game one day and less than average the next. Goins should be at SS twice a week to keep Reyes fresh and motivated.

Travis was a great pick up.

Pompey would of had that. Time to get a good LF.

That was an unexpected inning against a good defensive team like Kansas City. Hopefully the Blue Jays won't return the gift runs. As much as I want to see Colabella do well, he is starting to look like Juan Francisco of 2014 just at a different position.

Got to love Devon Travis' hitting. His defense is decent also.

I think when Reyes is on his game Reyes >> Travis or Goins. Travis played well today as he usually does.

When Reyes is on his game he can spark the offense. He was also great on defense today.

The Blue Jays became a contending team while Pat Gillick was their General Manager. During his time from 1978 - 1994 they won the division 5 times and won the world series twice. His record as General Manager with the Blue Jays and other teams indicate that he was the one responsible for building a winning team. He was a baseball man who actually played professional baseball and therefore understood the sport at the grass roots level. Why can't the Blue Jays find a decent General Manager?

That is the most reasonable explanation. Since I was comparing the team results based on when Goins played at 2B and when Travis played at 2B, I believe that you are indicating that when Travis has played the team has played much more poorly than when Goins has played, which is very possible. In any case, Devon Travis hasn't been an impact type player along the lines of a Donaldson or Bautista. However, if he has that ability then it will show up in clutch hits that will help the team win games. Over a longer period of time it should show up in his WAR without the possibility of random chance as indicated by Nox and Olerud363 (or at least it will be far less probable).

For some reason the Blue Jays have lost the intensity that they showed in June. I have no explanation why other than thinking that the organization has been losing for so many years that the players have come to expect it.

You do not have to attempt to explain it, I have taken some statistics courses and I understand all the possible statistical explanations, however, one possible explanation is that Devon Travis does not provide the team improvement that his fWAR indicates. Afterall, the fWAR statistic is intended to do this. The Blue Jays are 10 games under .500 when Travis plays; if someone does not believe this then check for yourself. Perhaps once Travis has 1000 ABs the we will have a better picture as to whether his play helps the Blue Jays, is neutral or below average. For now, I am not convinced. There is no doubt in my mind that if Donaldson were injured for an extended period of time, then the Blue Jays record would suffer. I believe this because Donaldson is better defensively than anyone else on the team at his position, and his hitting is also excellent. On the other hand, Travis' defense is not better than Goins defense so Travis' fWAR is not as meaningful when compared to Goins. Travis made one leaping play at 2B last night that the TV annoucers really played up (that is their job), but in reality any average infielder makes that play and some taller players can do it without even jumping. In Thursday's game at Chicago, Travis booted a ball to Goins that Goins turned into an out and saved Travis an error. Baseball is just a game but one that I have enjoyed since the early 1970's when I started following the Expos. I was an Expos fan first and Blue Jays fan second but now I am only a Blue Jays fan. I saw the first game the Blue Jays ever played in 1977 on TV. I saw my first Blue Jays game at Exhibition Park in 1980 against Jim Palmer of the Orioles. I just think it is too bad that the Toronto team wasn't in the National League since it would have been better for the Expos. I also would enjoy watching the games more because I enjoy defense and offense equally (which is more important in the National League). I think baseball appeals to people for the beauty of the game and also because of all the stats involved. However, the stats need to be considered with caution.

Are you the forum cyberbully?

Baseball players don't seem very tough compared to hockey players. Malarchuk of the Buffalo Sabres got his throat slit in 1989 during a hockey game, was spouting a pool of blood unto the ice and played again 1 week later.

With Estrada pitching, the Blue Jays have a good chance of winning (whenever the game is played). I enjoy seeing the pictures of the Kansas City Stadium.

Reading through this post of mine in response to John, I realized that I didn't explain my point very well. From Fangraphs: WAR offers an estimate to answer the question, “If this player got injured and their team had to replace them with a freely available minor leaguer or a AAAA player from their bench, how much value would the team be losing?” - http://www.fangraphs.com/library/misc/war/ So my point is: why does fWAR fail so miserably in its calculation of the "loss in value" of Devon Travis? In spite of his plus fWAR, when he was injured the team winning percentage was much better with a replacement level player (supposedly Ryan Goins) at his 2nd base position. This is evident from the comparative records at 2B of Devon Travis and Ryan Goins while Devon Travis was playing and while Travis was injured and Goins was playing. I have no dislike for Devon Travis, however, I am pointing out that such strong believe in the fWAR metric for Devon Travis is not justified.

Exactly. I realize you are being sarcastic, however, statistics can often lead to incorrect conclusions. The equation for fWAR is WAR = (Batting Runs + Base Running Runs + Fielding Runs + Positional Adjustment + League Adjustment +Replacement Runs) / (Runs Per Win) http://www.fangraphs.com/library/war/war-position-players/ In statistical analysis another way to determine the effect of a variable is to change that variable and observe the effect. It is better to determine Devon Travis' value to the Blue Jays by considering actual win/loss data with and without Devon Travis than relying on fWAR. When considering a new prescription drug would it be better to determine the value of a drug by a scientific equation (analogous to fWAR in baseball) or by actual trials on people (analogous to the actual win-loss record that is available)?

Devon Travis could provide the type of trade bait that could bring a good young starting pitcher to the Blue Jays. The Montreal Expos got Pedro Martinez for Delindo DeShields in 1994. Although I think Ryan Goins is greatly underrated, he probably won't get much in return in a trade. However, with the right teammates, which I think already exist on the Blue Jays, I think he can help the current Blue Jays team win. Well that is it for now. I am going to sleep and will read all the nasty replies tomorrow (or maybe not )

I think people quickly forget past events. When Reyes returned from the disabled list on May 25th he provided the Blue Jays with a spark and soon after, starting on June 2nd, the Blue Jays went on a 11 straight win streak. In spite of all the favourable FWAR numbers, Travis' return hasn't provided a similar spark so I think it is legitimate to wonder why. Sometimes in the chemical industry it is easy to imagine that adding a certain ingredient to a chemical formula will produce a favourable result. When the opposite occurs then it is necessary to wonder why. Such is the case with the Blue Jays, Travis' return was supposed to make a the Blue Jays even better and it hasn't. If fans want a winning ball team then it would be best to go back to what was working. The current lineup isn't. However, it is just baseball and the sun will rise tomorrow no matter how many ball games the Blue Jays lose.

If anyone would like a copy of the spreadsheet results, I can provide it.

I was interested in knowing what the Blue Jays record was with Ryan Goins starting at SS or 2B. I tabulated some unexpected results: Jose Reyes at SS and Travis at 2B: Blue Jays team record of 11 WINS and 14 LOSSES Ryan Goins at 2nd base: Blue Jays team record of 17 WINS AND 10 LOSSES Devon Travis at 2nd base: Blue Jays team record of 19 WINS AND 28 LOSSES Jose Reyes at SS From May 25 to June 24 (while Travis was disabled): Blue Jays team record of 19 WINS and 9 LOSSES (Ryan Goins was at 2B for 24 of these games). Devon Travis was playing hurt for part of the time, however, the team record before he was hurt and after he returned is still well under 0.500. I realize that I will get some nasty comments, however, the numbers make me wonder if the problem is really Jose Reyes? Is there a problem with Devon Travis' fielding range or is it possible that he is getting a poor jump on ground balls? The wins and losses indicate that the Blue Jays have the best chance of winning with Reyes at SS and Goins at 2B.

I recorded the game and just finished watching it (on fast forward since I knew the final score). It was another disappointing loss. The Chicago pitcher was good. Ryan Goins showed so much confidence in his defensive ability at SS. I could see that he really took charge at SS. I take back what I said about Jose Reyes playing 5 games a week and Ryan Goins playing 1 - 2 games a week to give Reyes a break, Ryan Goins should play almost everyday at SS. That would give the whole team a boost defensively. Even Goins' swing has seemed better the last couple of games that he has played (he has been hitting line drives instead of popups, which would result in a much higher BABIP). I am going to stop apologizing for being a fan of Ryan Goins; he is the real deal at SS. I wish the Blue Jays would trade Reyes for either another outfielder or, even better, a starting pitcher.

This game was fun to watch except for the final home run. Jose Reyes can't be blamed for this loss, however, I think his overall performance would be much better if he played 5 days a week maximum. Unfortunately, Gibbons and AA are betting the farm on their confidence that he will lead the team to a good record. Either the Blue Jays will keep going down in win loss record or Jose Reyes will go on the injured list again because of lack of rest. In games in which Goins was in the starting lineup this year, the Blue Jays are a few games over .500. This indicates that Reyes can be rested a couple of times a week without hurting the ball club. On the other hand, Devon Travis needs to be played as much as possible, he is excellent offensively and at least average defensively (maybe even better than average).

Doubront has a lot of potential. He also has a decent major league record at 29 W - 23 L overall. He looks like he might fit into the Blue Jays rotation.

You're right, I shouldn't forget Devon White. I remember Devon White as an exceptional Center Fielder (he won 7 Gold Gloves - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devon_White_%28baseball%29). I didn't think of him as a big run producer, however when I looked up his career stats his batting was good also, especially in terms of runs scored - http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/whitede03.shtml

In 1992 their usual starters on defense in the infield were John Olerude (1B), Roberto Alomar (2B), Manuel Lee (SS) and Kelly Gruber (3B) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Toronto_Blue_Jays_season. That seems to be a very solid defense on the infield; all won gold gloves at some point of their carreer, except Manuel Lee whom I don't remember very well. Some of their starting pitchers were: David Cone, Jack Norris, Dave Stieb, Jimmy Key, Al Lieter. That is a very solid pitching staff. Is there currently a team in the MLB that has as good a starting pitching staff?