EMK19

Wouldn't have been the first time... But at least JJ made a few starts with us (actually, maybe we would have been better off if he didn't). Real frustrating as he was the key man in that deal IMO.

I just remembered that I had taken a few pics at Ryu's only previous appearance here in Toronto; I believe this was in 2013; the pics suck cuz I probably had an iPhone 5 or something back then, sitting in 500 level, with some at max zoom... but it was notable for some spectacular dusk scenery with the roof wide open (maybe it was a sign): The following pic will likely become the norm in Ryu starts: I remember our fans got pissed because the Korean fans kept chanting "Ryu! Hyun! Jin!", and some mistook it as "U! S! A!"... lol. Pretty sure he walked off with a no-decision on this one... though I forgot what the final result was.

Merry Christmas all! Feels like it came a bit early this year thanks to the renewed sense of optimism for our team. Hope the good vibes will continue for the rest of the year going into the next. Have a good one.

Oh, for certain money was the #1 factor in coming here, or more specifically the extra 4th year. The sources I am reading though, (a reporter with inside connection to Ryu’s camp, supposedly legit. It’s in Korean, and google translate will probably be useless, but putting it here for reference sake: https://m.sports.naver.com/column/columnRead.nhn?expertId=531&columnId=88803851) it states that we and the Twins were the only two teams that was willing to commit to that 4th year. While the amount that the Twins offered here is not specifically stated, if it was anything near the ballpark of the asking price of 80 mil, then I really do think that it came to those secondary factors such as the Korean community here etc playing that role of “tiebreaker” of sorts in deciding to come here, especially considering that going to Minnesota would have meant playing in a much more pitcher friendly ballpark, a better team and weaker division opponents. He also has a young, pregnant wife (due next yr) coming with him so it is reasonable to assume that a more comfortable, communicable living environment would have been preferable. LA for sure would have been the first choice; if either Dodgers or Angels offered the 4th year, even at a noticeably lower cost there is likely no chance he would have chose us IMO. Yeah, having a inferior dedicated catcher taking up a roster spot is ridiculous (does anyone even do that for a non-knuckleballer these days? Even for a knuckleballer it is mostly not worth the trouble) In Ryu’s case in LA I’m not sure how often Will Smith caught him, but apparently vet guys like Russ and previously AJ Ellis were much more favourable in the eyes of the Korean fans. Here they probably saw how young Jansen and McGuire are and were worried about their ability to lead/work with pitchers, and granted experience does matter, but right now it doesn’t outweigh the superior ability of both of our current guys on both defensive and offensive side of things.

Welcome. Going by the username, you're a Hanhwa Eagles fan I assume? If so, do be prepared for similar infield defensive adventures that Ryu experienced back in his Hanhwa years (well, hopefully this year will see significant improvements). As you may know our team is a work in progress, it'll be quite a difference from what you all would have been used to in LA and I'm hoping the new Korean fans will be understanding of that. At the same time we're also excited for the increased exposure of our team this will bring about in Korea and are very happy that Ryu took our offer and decided to come here. Most of us respect his abilities and have faith that as long as he stays healthy, he will help us win ball games and take the next step towards contention. Thanks for posting, and see you around.

Probably to a lot of us, JJ was the key man of that deal (well, to me he was, anyway)... and had hopes that he could rise to perform something like how AJ did for us... then he ended up being the worst piece of the deal. Buehrle’s contributions I had no issues with and even Reyes would have been okay had his defensive abilities not broke down like it did. At least he brought Tulo though and we were able to get rid of him before that whole wifebeating incident (cuz one we would experience few yrs later would have been more than enough, rather than two).

What I read from Korean Media was that he actually contacted Seung-Hwan Oh about his experiences in Toronto, who apparently had nothing but good things to say and fully recommended the move. He was apparently somewhat disappointed when he was traded concerning the lifestyle side of things, as he was quite enjoying his time here (and I can kinda understand that... Denver prob didn’t have much of a Korean community). Ryu did have good chemistry with Russell in LA, and some Korean posters are even suggesting that we bring him back... not aware of why he was initially sent packing in the first place. They’ll probably grow to like Jansen/McGuire soon enough though.

If Diaz, Familia and Betances are all somehow magically able to regain their past forms at the same time, and Lugo continues as he has, then that’d be a killer ‘pen for sure... Big if though.

BTW, I really do miss Jim Hughson doing baseball play-by-play. Him and Buck were a great team, just as good as Dan/Buck. How many years has it been now for Buck now anyways, he started around 87-88 IIRC? (Though he did have a managerial/Baltimore hiatus in the middle)

Funny enough, I was just randomly browsing the Korean MLB forum where lot of introduction to Toronto-type posts have been appearing (because besides the three sons and Ken Giles, everyone else seems to be unknown) and I saw a thread named "Toronto Blue Jays - Current state of defense.gif". I could have sworn that I could have predicted its contents before going in and surely enough it had about 4 Fisher moments, 2-3 Vladdy moments and a few Bo moments. For some reason there was no Teoscar ones, but with him the people are more concerned about how someone with his contact-related stats can still be on the team. They want us to get Puig, as he and Ryu had quite a chemistry over at LA. Yeah, we do all wish... Honestly though with Fisher, definitely the hardware tools are there (power, speed) and I do see the upside more on the offensive side of things once he figures out how to make solid contact consistently. Possible solid 4th outfielder isn't out of the questions but there's a lot of work to be done.

I managed to rip all the ones I had at the time (1989 to 1993, plus a few Leafs season reviews) to DVD when I had to dispose of all the tapes/VCR before a move and still had an external DVD burner lying around... I knew these would become ultra rare and will likely never see a re-release, so I decided to go through the trouble... and I’m glad I did it. Really important pieces of history for Jays fans. Luckily they actually released and sell the World series vids on DVD. I do have rest of the seasons on an external hard drive but since they are already put up on youtube by some fine gentlemen, I’ll keep them on ice for now. Still looking for the 10th anniversary one though... that one seems to be the rarest.

This move will definitely greatly increase the amount of support for the Jays in Korea, which until now I’m sad to say have been more or less nonexistent; in the MLB store over there, it’s just filled with LAD/NYY/PIT/TEX/STL while all other teams merchandise are nowhere to be seen (Even when we had Oh for a bit we were still overlooked). If anything, we had been somewhat despised over there because we knocked out the Rangers (Choo) two years in a row as well as the Orioles (Kim) in recent times. Since Ryu’s by far the most popular player over there out of all Korean MLB’ers, with thousands of dedicated fans staying up overnight just to catch the games, I’m sure our exposure will increase tenfold. Of course, probably 90% of these are plastic, nationalistic fans that will attack and curse at anyone making an error/blowing a hold/save on a Ryu start (I fear for Vladdy in particular) and then immediately drop support once he is out of the picture, but there will always be a few left over at the end that will develop some attachment and continue to follow the team, which would be great. Broadcasting wise, the priority over there will likely go: Jays on Ryu starts > Cards on Kim starts > Jays on non-Ryu starts > Rangers/Choo > Cards on non-Kim starts > Rays/Choi (he’s not liked over there due to history of PED use).

I've been meaning to put this up for a while now, but I've finally come around to do it. Many of you old folks like me may remember that back in the late 80's and early 90's, season review VHS Tapes for sports teams were quite popular, and Jays had a few out; from my memory, they were: 1986 (10 year anniversary review), 1989 (Sky High), 1990 (Tradition of Success), 1991 (4 Million Memories), 1992 (Oh! Canada), and 1993 (Back 2 Back). Pretty sure they stopped making it after that when we started sucking... (and I have no idea why they don't make these anymore... I'd kill for a 2015/2016 season review DVD!) Anyways, I saw that most of them are up on youtube now, except for the 1986 one (Which I did have but unfortunately have lost to time) and the 1991 one - the first year of the Alomar/Carter era. This was a really exciting season where we saw a lot of roster changes (Gillick stopped being "Stand Pat", acquiring White/Alomar/Carter and sending off Felix/Fernandez/McGriff) and also had a lot of young talents coming up and contributing (Olerud, Guzman). Unfortunately, we fell short vs. the Twins in the ALCS - IMO we didn't have enough bat to get there that year, missing a Winfield/Molitor piece that would have possibly put us over the top... plus Stieb was lost in the mid season. I was initially worried a bit about possible legal repercussion of putting this up, but hell, they're no longer in print anyway and most of the other seasons already seem to be up on Youtube, so here it goes. Enjoy and discuss!

I'll definitely try to be more active in posting this year. I've actually been away since late 2015 as I had to go to Europe (Poland) for work and only came back home a few months ago... more or less missed all of our 2016 run because of that Btw, Korean fans already have some photoshops out (courtesy mlbpark.com) Pop quiz, can anyone identify the original players in these pics? lol

Unfortunately the domestic talent pool in the KBO has become more dry over the last few years... Kwang Hyun Kim, that fella the Cards signed recently, is probably the last true decent talent that will be available from there for the next little while. There's one more semi-decent soft-tossing lefty due on the market for next year (Hyun-Jong Yang), but it's not someone we'd really be interested in. If anything I think there's probably gonna be more attention paid to the former MLBers who revive their career over there, like Eric Thames and Josh Lindblom (btw, interesting tidbit for Jays fans: Our old hopeful Deck McGuire went there last year and actually managed to pitch a no-hitter, but fizzled and was released by mid season... poor guy).

As a Korean-Canadian I had been somewhat following Ryu since his Korean League/National Team days and quite stoked to see him as a Blue Jay. But of course, I'm a Jays fan first and foremost (since '89) and I do honestly did have some skepticism on whether he is really a right fit for us... as a 32-year old, injury-riddled, soft-tossing balls-in-play type pitcher (that's gonna be fun as hell to watch with our current infield...) he was not someone I expected to see playing here in AL East and I actually fully expected him to sign for a west-coast team. Apparently neither Dodgers or Angels wanted to give him 4 years though and that was the key reason why he chose in the end... well, I'm at least pleased that the FO finally decided to take a risk and make an effort to slowly get back into contention. Hopefully Ryu can lead the rotation well enough until Pearson is fully ready to take over that spot. His injury history of course is a big question mark; which goes for all Asian pitchers really, we most likely won't see 200 innings and should probably at best expect around 180 like he did this year (which was for the first time in his MLB career since his debut season, and he got hit hard in August before given some extra rest in early September and finishing off decently). His velocity has also decreased after surgery (used to clock 92-94 but is now around 88-92 range), but as he does have elite control hopefully that will be less of an issue. His changeup is excellent but his curve is below par and he hasn't really effectively mastered his cutter yet; he will need to continue to work on his 3-4 pitches more if he is going to survive in AL East IMO. Good thing with him is that he will likely keep us in ball games if he's healthy; he is usually reliable for a quality start and blowouts with him out there are pretty rare from what I've seen. This year I think only starts where he got seriously rocked were vs. the Rockies in Coors field, the Yankees and the Braves, which can happen to any pitcher really. He also has a pretty strong mental approach to the game and has a knack of getting out of Jams. In the Korean league he played for a terrible last-place team with a god awful defence behind him (kinda like how ours are currently), and still ended up being the best pitcher in the league and coming to MLB. So in that sense, I liken him to someone like a David Wells or Jimmy Key when he's at top of his game; more realistically though he'll probably end up performing more like how Marco Estrada or Mark Buehrle did with us, which isn't exactly an Ace type we all want, but hopefully it will do for a few years before we get our true ace, whether that's Pearson or someone else through a trade or something.

Sucks that he goes to the rival, but I'll always have fond memories of his dominating one month stretch drive that gave us the division. Too bad he never really got a good proper send off here at home though (lost that final reg season start + got shelled in game 1 of ALDS).

We need to get this Shohei Ohtani when he becomes available... Damn. 7 innings of 1 hit ball with 11k's vs the same team he faced a week ago, Korea. Funny thing is that they questionably took him out after the 7th even wich a decent pitch count and Korea came back in the 9th to upset Japan 4-3. But this Ohtani guy is so young yet with filthy fastball/splitter. Looking forward to seeing how this guy develops...

Not surprisingly, the two teams that took this Premier 12 tournament the most seriously are in the semis and look the strongest, Japan and Korea. They face again in the semis and it should be a really interesting game... Shohei Otani starts again for Japan and Korea has quite a few hitters that will/may see the MLB next year (Park, Dae-Ho Lee, Hyun-Soo Kim, Ah-Seop Son, etc.) and are really strong offensively so it should be interesting to see if Otani shuts them down again as he did in the first game. It's scary good how good that Otani kid looks at only 21 years old... As for Canada, win 5 yet lose 1 and we're now out of the tourney... lol. I hate single game elimination when it comes to baseball...

I sometimes wish both Cito and Devon White were around these days just so that I can see Cito drive Wilner crazy by having White lead off every day. lol. Though to be fair that would probably drive everyone nuts these days, not just Wilner.

Oh has a great mentality as a closer and has a plus fastball from what I remember watching KBO games, but he's a two pitch pitcher with his secondary pitch (slider) being below average so I'm not quite sure how effective he'd be at the ML level. If he can be brought on for the right price then I'd give him a shot.

Why would anyone be willing to give up anything useful to trade for him at this point? I wouldn't mind him in the minors for depth but full time #5 starter...? Come on now.

True, fair enough, good point. I guess the fact that he's never been in this sort of an issue before thus far in his career plus his general well-natured demeanour that we've been used to seeing gave me the benefit of the doubt but you're right, as fans we can never tell how they really are in their life outside of baseball. Bigger point I wanted to make there was that he just seemed generally unhappy ever since the trade and with his game declining/future somewhat uncertain (he doesn't want to play in Colorado, but it'll be hard to find a team that'll take on his contract in a trade) wondering how much that may have played into his general mental state when this allegedly happened.

He must be at a real bad place mentally right now... It seems so ever since the trade, with the way he's expressed sadness in leaving the Jays (and keeping up as if he was still one of us during playoffs, rare we see a traded player do that) and his discontent playing in Colorado. Not that it excuses any sort of domestic violence of course, but it just doesn't seem like something the Reyes we used to know would do.