CrackerJack

if one guy apparently puts up a "better defensive season" than the other because he's lucky to play 3rd base for Oakland then there's something off with the defensive metrics, no?

alls I know is that there's no juggernaut in our division plus there's quite a bit of parity throughout our league, and so it's reasonable to believe that the Jays can stay in the thick of it (at least the wildcard race) until mid-summer ... at which point I think AA/Beeston will make a splash at the trade deadline to (a) try to save Alex's job and ( try to give Paul one last hurrah.

the good news (I guess) is that you gotta play the actual games ... didn't the Yankees get like 7 more wins than projected in each of the last two seasons?

okay so it's not going to be a 100 win season, but they'll still finish above .500 which will keep 'em in the mix all season.

thank god for the second wildcard ...

(just for the record) the pad ain't gonna be right at Yonge & Sheppard lol ... that intersection was just mentioned (for those in the GTA but outside of Toronto) as the general ballpark of where i'm considering moving to ... but I haven't finalized anything just yet ... because it's hard to get a short term lease.

Thanks for the tip haha. Wife & I are just renting during the baseball season. We spend the other half of the year in Medellin, Colombia ... great street life there!

Age is not a factor so long as one's fit enough to help me move stuff. The move will be in Toronto/North York. Stuff's in storage at Don Mills & Eglinton and moving to Yonge & Sheppard. Don't know the exact day yet.

just the usual furnishings for a one bedroom apartment ... but no sofa nor dining room (thank god) ... the only thing really awkward is the huge heavy mattress (so wifey probably will have to help with another pair of hands with that.)

that goes without saying, bro.

yeah, I could just hire a dude to help me ... but what the hell ... i'll just throw this out there: Any young Jays fan out there in the GTA (don't have to be "big and strong") wanna help me move my stuff out of storage into a one bedroom condo for a few hours on either March 31 or April 1 or April 2? In exchange, i'll give you a pair of first row ("Premium Dugout") tickets behind home plate for one of the following games: vs Rays April 15-16 vs. Twins August 4-6 vs. Indians August 31 Cheers

Bautista will end up on the Blue Jays Level of Excellence (plus he chooses his words carefully) which separates him from Janssen.

a leadoff walk is always a nice way to start the game.

perhaps Casey expressing his "frustration" and "disappointment" at last year's trade deadline wasn't appreciated by the brass?

He was decent out of the pen last season.

Dude said he thinks Happ can be a 15 game winner. While most know the deal about individual pitcher wins, i'm curious what percentage of 15 game winners (historically) have actually been below average pitchers that year? (Probably not very many.)

Juan Francisco was the king of BP last season.

I don't mind if he misses the first six road games. Will be happy if he's good to go for the home opener on April 13.

Elliott should've asked Lind whether (in retrospect) he thought that his "my Mom told me to get an MRI" comment sealed his fate in Toronto.

lol (I shouldn't have quoted your post before because I wasn't really addressing you specifically ... but your link didn't go unappreciated.) don't know (tho) whether fangraphs is what the guy considers to be the final word on rock solid indisputable Blue Jays projections?

My "how did Fangraphs do?" query was somewhat rhetorical ... because ... well ... I ain't that impressed. I'm no stranger to Fangraphs etc. (and love the baseball nerd sites) but their projections aren't gospel for me (sorry.) All i'm saying is that I (personally) wouldn't automatically dismiss somebody's "predictions" just because they don't emanate from some sophisticated "projections" system. In fact, I think that IF you take a keen bright baseball observer who follows a particular team religiously (watching the games and soaking up tons of relevant info & insights) so that he's very familiar with the players that he's forecasting, and he pays close attention to the stats along with considering a number of other factors about each player, such as: - age? - health? - where the player is in his career? (prime? twilight?) ... maybe it's a contract year? - what the player's likely role, and playing time, will be this season? - has anything unique to a player recently arisen? (e.g. a big new adjustment with hitting approach or perhaps the development of a successful new pitch) THEN it wouldn't surprise me if knowledgeable Joe or Jane Jays fan can make "arbitrary predictions" about Blue Jays performances that frequently are as accurate (or as inaccurate haha) as the "projections" generated by Fangraphs, ZiPs, PECOTA, CAIRO and Bill James etc. ... (s***, I was buying Bill James' annual Baseball Abstract before many here were even a twinkle in their father's eye, and so I don't have any bias against sabermetrics and baseball analytics.)

well then how accurate was fangraphs with their individual blue jays player projections over (say) the past two seasons?

post up the "projections" that you have strong faith in and, when compared to this guy's "arbitrary prediction," it'll be interesting to see which ends up being closer to the mark. (not that I think Stroman & Hutch will go a combined 37-17 ... tho it would be nice.)

yeah well Sergio Santos won't be back (right?) haha ... if the fans won't wanna run any relievers outta town then it's gonna be a pretty damn good year!

yeah Dickey's body language is bad when things aren't going well for him ... has "the look of defeat" on his face ... also some fans don't like that the team has been carrying a light hitting personal catcher for somebody who's not an ace.