nextyear

I completely agree. Some of us have seen this over a period of decades. Solid defense, solid pitching and a few better than average hitters like Bautista, Donaldson, Encarnacion, Martin, Pillar (recently) should produce a better than .500 ball team. I didn't include Reyes even through his hitting is above average because his fielding is suspect, likewise with Devon Travis he is an above average hitter but I am not sure yet about his defense (it might be alright but it would be good to see him play some more).

I agree with everything you stated above. One thing that is important with a statistical analasis of baseball or a scientific/economic statistical model is that the more past data that you have (sample size) the beter the statistical model and forecast will be. So in the case of major league baseball, if a player has had 5 years in the Big Leagues and 2000 at bats then it is easier to predict his future performance than it is for a recent player to the MLB with a few hundred at bats. In the case of Kevin Pillar, if one tries to predict his future run production based on April, May and June of 2015 then there should be little confidence in the result. A person doesn't need to know anything about statistics in order to know that Kevin Pillar's future is unclear; however he has shown that he may be a good run producer, with a lesser chance that he won't be.

Your analysis seems to indicate that players can't improve with experience in the Big Leagues. Some players do have consistently higher than average BABIP - http://www.smartfantasybaseball.com/2012/12/babip/#more-30. You could use his expected BABIP based on his percentage of line drives - http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2008/6/25/558256/do-fast-players-get-more-h. Pillar seems to have a high percentage of line drives so he should have a higher than average BABIP. In any case, I believe in the saying there are "lies, damned lies, and statistics". I have taken a few university level statistics courses and I don't want to turn baseball into a complicated statistical analysis. I will continue to believe that players like Kevin Pillar have the potential to become future stars. There are players that I enjoy watching for one reason or another, Pillar is one because he started as an underdog, Goins is another because I enjoy his defensive abilities, Brett Lawrie is another because I enjoy his intensitity and because he is a Canadian and former Blue Jay. There are others such as Colabello who I root for, because of his perserverance shown by all his years in the low minor leagues. In any case, baseball is meant to be fun to play and watch, so I plan to enjoy it instead of treating it like a university statistics course.

I find it hard to believe that you think Kevin Pillar is just a 4th outfielder. He has proved in the past 2 months that he is a regular centre fielder (until he shows that he isn't). Although I don't agree with your assessment of Pillar as a 4th outfielder, you have a right to your opinion since baseball is just entertainment for the enjoyment of fans who watch. Unfortunately, many of the past several games haven't been enjoyable.

The Blue Jays need better defense more than better pitching, in my opinion. Trading an excellent defensive player like Pillar will diminish the effectiveness of the entire pitching staff.

I agree. I would rather see them develop their own talent. Pillar has been a pleasant surprise this year. I also like Sanchez, in my opinion he has great stuff. Stroman is another great player from the farm system (too bad he is injured). In my opinion, one of the great things about following a team is watching young players come up and develop into great players.

In Jose Reyes's defence, he does seem to make solid contact on a regular basis (prior to the past few games). When Jose Reyes first came back from injury a couple of weeks ago his play gave a boost to the Blue Jays. In my opinion, he just looks tired from playing everyday and his play has become nonchalant.

This isn't directed at anyone in particular: Why wouldn't a manager use this year's stats over career stats? This year's stats show what a player is doing now, which is more important than what he did 2 years ago. Are stats even necessary for a manager to know how well a player is doing? (rhetorical question)

Osuna is the man!

Good backup by Osuna

Goins should replace Reyes at SS now for the 9th (he should have been in for the 8th).

I have to agree. Pillar got caught on one of those a few games ago. Pillar charged a line drive and then the ball took a nasty spin to left field. I think Carrera played that one correctly.

I actually like seeing Navarro as a DH and even once or twice a week as the catcher. His batting is impressive. Most of the balls he hits are hit hard. For Navarro sake, he should get a good fitness trainer and lose about 20 - 25 pounds (it would help with his running and limit injuries to his legs). However, compared to Prince Fielder he doesn't look overly big.

I wish the Blue Jays would develop more of their own talent or trade for good prospects (such as what they did with Devon Travis). High priced, established players on other teams tend to be overpriced and have little loyalty for the Blue Jays organization. The grass is always greener attitude really annoys me. The Blue Jays are winning now, so why try to fix something that isn't broken?

It looks like Toronto has a future superstar in Devon Travis. He is good defensively and offensively, and will probably just keep getting better. Reading through his bio on Wikipedia, I see that he wasn't drafted until 2012 when he was 22 years old because he attended the University of Florida State - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devon_Travis. In my opinion, this is also a plus that he chose to attend university. I wonder why Ryan Goins can't learn from all the great hitters on the Blue Jays such as Devon Travis. Goins seems to get under so many balls for popups whereas other good hitters swing level and get line-drives (or deep bombs like Edwin Encarnacion).

Gibbons should have switched pitchers before that home run. Everyone could see that Copeland didn't have anything. The game is almost over in the 2nd inning, not a great day for such a great crowd.

This should be an interesting game. It has been a while since Colabella has not been in the starting lineup and I think he needs a day off. Maybe it is just my imagination but he is starting to look tired. I also wonder if Goins needs a day off, however he will be getting bench time when Devon Travis returns in a couple of days.

He is one of the contributors to a better defence. Jose Reyes coming back has had a positive influence on the team with both his defence and offence, as has Bautista in RF. Donaldson, Martin and Pillar are also fun to watch on defence. I usually don't start following the Blue Jays closely until late May/early June so I can't really compare Goins' defence with Devon Travis. It would be great to see a player with Goins' defence and Travis' batting stats.

So are you saying it sounds too rational? It is easy to make critical comments to people on a website who you don't know. I think it would be more human-like to consider Blue Jays players and people posting on this website as people instead of objects. Maybe you need to learn what it means to be human.

I can see Saunders in LF improving the defence but it would have been difficult for him to match Colabello's offence. The poorer record than expected, when based on run differential, has been due to poor pitching and errors on defence prior to the current 14 wins/2 losses streak. In June, both the defence and pitching has been much better than in April and May. Even Colobello's defence is improving in LF as he learns the position. I think the last thing the Blue Jays need right now is to start trading players for starting pitching and bullpen help. As the saying goes, "If it ain't broke don't fix it". I hope that the Blue Jays won't do anything to fix the Blue Jays team right now. I even wonder if getting Devon Travis back will improve the team. When Devon Travis went on the injury list, the team record was 17 wins and 21 losses (on May 16th - http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/index.jsp#20150516), since then it has been 20 wins and 11 losses. I hope that when Devon Travis comes back he will be eased back into the lineup. Rushing him back into the lineup could be bad for the Blue Jays and Devon Travis. The last thing that the Blue Jays need is to damage Devon Travis' confidence such as what happened with Dalton Pompey.

People are enjoying watching the Blue Jays win because they are getting timely hitting and also they are also getting good defence from Bautista, Pillar, Donaldson, Reyes, Goins and Martin. (LF and 1st base have been so-so). Saying that "Goins sucks" is just immature or means that jays4life19 doesn't understand the game of baseball. Good defence at one position encourages good defence at other positions. If players such as Reyes are making circus plays that lead to errors, which cost the Blue Jays games, then watching them lose high scoring games is not enjoyable. Lately Reyes hasn't been doing that and I think that it partly because Donaldson and Goins are setting an example in the infield for Reyes to match. I appreciate defence as much as offence, so jays4life19 saying "Goins sucks" seems like garbage to me, so I posted my opinion.

I enjoy watching the Blue Jays games so much more when I don't read the garbage posted on this website.

Let me guess. You are a Calgary Flames fan and lukewarm Blue Jays fan who is envious of the big city of Toronto?

Are you really a Blue Jays fan? I like to watch Ryan Goins play SS and 2B but if I started dumping on Devon Travis once he returns then it would be obvious that I am not a real Blue Jays fan. Likewise people who dump on Blue Jays players such as Goins when they play well are not real fans. In my mind there is no wonder why the Blue Jays and Maple Leafs have done so poorly for so many years. Too many fans are just too critical of the Toronto team players.

One of my favourite players right now. I hope that he can learn the LF position, then Smoak can get more games at 1st.