Brownie19

Are the Celtics going to pull this off tonight? If they do, Boston teams will have completed 3 of the biggest comebacks in sports history.

Interesting. I knew BC was always strong. My oldest son is U13 this year. I understand this is the only age group that has "Nationals" and thus all the best AAA teams in Ontario (errr maybe just the ones in the GTA) stack up to win this year. Teams combine, or take the best players off weaker AAA teams in an attempt to win OBA and then go to Nationals. Because of this, we dropped down to AA this year (as we're in Barrie and thus aren't one of the teams adding players). We've gone from a .500 (or just below) AAA team to mercying every team we've played so far this year in AA. We're off to the States this weekend to get our asses handed to us though, so that will be an eye opener. Enjoy the ride BigCecil - goes by fast. Luckily I have 2 more younger boys coming up through the rep program. Had our first U8 AAA tournament this weekend. So much fun to watch those little guys, but you need so much patience!

Is AAA in Alberta better than AAA in Ontario (honest question).

Yep - great point ass hat.

damnit - the ass hats are still lurking around here...

It's crazy they called Taveras up as a 21 year old after he posted a 94 wRC+ in AA the previous year. He's always been young for the league, but he's never hit a lick at any level. Seems unlikely that Taveras, Duran or Heim will continue hitting like this. But your point still stands.

They have 11 batters with a wRC+ over 117. Lots of inflated BABIP. They also brought Will Smith back from the dead. I mean if I'm stat scouting - it doesn't seem sustainable, but they do have some big time players and some interesting pieces. We'll see if they can keep it up or not. My guess would be they cannot.

I mean - that's funny and all, but it seemed pretty obvious that Gibby bought into the advanced statistics and learned how to manage a bullpen significantly better in his 2nd go around with the Jays. It turns out that not every old guy from Texas is a complete bumpkin who can't learn new things.

Mickey is on quite a heater for the Angels.

you should try playing in traffic instead!

This is a better description of the people I hope lose interest. I will call them ass clowns from now on to avoid confusion. I don't think all ass clowns are trolls though - I think a large % of them are just casual fans who get upset when the team loses, but they are so under educated, that they can't form any rational opinion or view and thus add nothing to the forum. They just say things like "it's over, this team doesn't have it" or "Atkins is stupid, everyone he brought in is terrible". It's been my observation that these posters typically hover around here early in the season and throw s*** around at every sign of weakness. Every lost game is someone's fault, someone is s***, someone should be fired - like they expect the team to go 162-0. I find they typically lose steam as the season goes on (because they are casual fans) and then they f*** off until late March the following year. I think the team has fallen so far that they will soon lose interest and piss off soon enough. I hope I'm right. That's certainly not to say I'm happy the Jays are slumping big time right now - nor to say I don't enjoy new posters who contribute to the board in a positive manner. Jays333 - you'd generally fall into this category. I think you've adjusted well after a rough start here with some odd opinions.

Perfect - I hope the casuals and trolls lose interest in the team and find something else to fill their time with.

I'm starting to agree with this view. He may just be more of a .200 ISO guy. I still think his fitness level plays a bit part in the results.

I generally agree - except the bolded part. I mean we saw LGJ post wRC+'s of 125 and 137 for the Jays. The guy can hit. What we didn't see was him hit that way for a full 162 games. Will he do that this year? Time will tell. What he can't do is run or play defense, which he's also not doing in Arizona.

It's like Kelenic and J-Rod switched bodies...

perfect - we'll see you next year BCZ.

This Michael Block story is unreal. What entertainment.

Cowser, Westburg, Kjerstad, Joey Ortiz and Mayo are all cooking in the upper minors also. They are going to have a disgusting young lineup very, very soon.

Is Jackson Holliday already the best prospect in baseball? wRC+ of like 217 over 147 PA's in A/A+ as a 19 year old. More BB's than K's, ISO near .300 and 10 SB's in 32 games.

What? So Teo ran into Altuve while he was on Houston and that's why you think the Jays didn't develop him after trading for him? He was a toolsy nobody when we traded for him. We gave up Liriano, a bullpen pitcher on an expiring contract for him. He had no value. We developed him into a legit ML ball player who had some fantastic years in Toronto. Did we develop him into Andruw Jones? No we did not, but he was very good player. As for Lourdes - I don't give a f*** what he played in Cuba. Lots of players come up as middle infielders and have to move to new positions by the time they hit the majors. Not many 6'4" players stick at SS. The reality is we haven't drafted many OFers over the past 10 years, which seems to be a strategy. Alan Roden Jaden Rudd Zack Britton Dasan Brown Will Robertson Griffen Conine JP Woodman Who am I missing? JD Davis in 2012? It is interesting to see how few draft picks the Jays have spent on OFers though...Corner OFers do seem to be one of the easiest/cheapest positions in baseball to fill. CF - not so much. Big time cost.

um....Lordes Gurriel? Or do you not count international signings? I'd also suggest we developed Teo.

It is a measurable stat and the stats suggest it's not a thing. Outside of a VERY few players, it's extremely random from year to year, month to month. VERY few ever consistently hit better than their normal in 'clutch' situations.

What team develops starters at every position? Prospect development often comes in waves at different positions. Of course I wish the Jays were cranking out starting OFers, Starting Pitchers and Middle Infielders from their farm system on a yearly basis. So does every other team in baseball. As Moneyball told us - everyone thinks they know what they have in prospects - but they don't. It's generally a massive crapshoot. Some are better than others, but in generally - everyone sucks at it.

That's because 'being clutch' isn't a thing, or a skill in general. Luck is a massive component in a baseball game.

What is this nonsense? By developing Jansen, Kirk and Moreno, we were able to make this trade in the first place. You say this like good teams never have to make trades. Like the Yankees didn't have to trade for Bader, or the Dodgers didn't need to trade for Betts, Turner, etc. And lots of winning teams fill out their rotation with FA's.