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It's hard to imagine the Cardinals would be particularly interested in moving either of Goldy or Arenado unless they decide a retooling is in order after this season's disappointment. Arenado is two years older than Chapman and under control for another 4 years, so it's debatable whether it would be more prudent to make a run at re-signing Chapman in free agency vs trading for Arenado who may be on the precipice of the declining phase of his career. If it takes a ludicrous 8 year deal for a Chapman deal then Arenado looks all the more appealing for sure though.

I think a small tweak that could really help is to add a pitch timer. Instead of having to throw the pitch within a specified time limit, this would limit how soon the next pitch could be delivered. I don't know how fast the pitches were coming in last night, but slowing down the proceedings just a little bit would allow things to breathe a little bit and give the viewers a chance to actually watch the home runs leave the park.

Holy s*** J Rod is a machine. We shall see how he bounces back after that type of all out sprint.

The current regime has definitely been better than AA when it comes to developing position player prospects, but has been extremely lacking when it comes to developing pitching. I think the key to the type of sustained contention envisioned is finally developing some of their own starting pitching instead of needing to pay free agency prices to fill out 4/5 of the major league rotation. Berrios was technically acquired by leveraging the minor league system but actually retaining him long term required a free agent type of contract. What would you view as being a reasonable level of minor league development? The last 4 years has seen a pile of prospects either graduating to the big league team, or being used in trades to acquire impact talent at the major league level. I think using minor league assets to acquire good major league talent should also count as a win if sensible trades are made, but I certainly think the team needs to develop and keep more of these players to be able to supplement the roster with cost effective talent. These last few seasons have felt a little lean in terms of graduations, but there are a few potential impact prospects nearing major league readiness in Tiedemann and Orelvis so the cupboards aren't completely bare by any means. At the very least this front office has generally been adept at identifying which minor league players to keep vs which ones to ship out, so we haven't been forced to watch the likes of Noah Syndergaard bust onto the scene as top of the rotation monsters under this regime.

Moreno graduated last season so he can be included. I think Tiedemann and Barger each had good shots to graduate this season before injuries slowed both of them down.

Varsho has historically been a much stronger second half performer with a 118 WRC+ vs the first half 78 WRC+. The team absolutely needs to obtain another right handed bat so that it's possible to shelter both Kiermaier and Varsho against tough left handed starters when necessary, but it seems unlikely we've seen the best of Varsho offensively up to this point of the season as he's had success in the past.

It seems like it would be awfully hard to ship Kiermaier out and receive a return that makes the team better in the short term. I agree that it's suboptimal having both Kiermaier and Varsho as two of the three primary outfield options, but I think that's an issue that's best addressed in the offseason by simply not re-signing Kiermaier.

Who is making excuses? I simply stated there is a high probability the Jays would have played at a 100+ win pace if they were situated in the AL Central this season. A 100 win pace would have required for the Jays to have accumulated all of 6 more wins up to this point, which they would have had a really good shot at if they played a larger chunk of their games against the lesser level of competition provided by the Central division. Aside from the disastrous month of May the team has been pretty consistent win percentage wise. Monthly records are as follows: Mar/Apr 18-10 .643 May 11-17 .393 (6-10 to start the month, followed by disastrous 2-9 stretch against AL East opponents, ending on better note at 3-2) June 16-11 .592 July 5-3 .600 The May swoon seemed to have kicked off with the Seattle meltdown at the end of April. Leading up to that game the team was in cruise control with an 18-9 record. This followed a tailspin where the team sputtered to an 8-16 record. Since that poor string of play ended the team has a record of 24-16. I think part of what makes this team look so disappointing is that they have failed to go on any kind of sustained winning streak, something like 9 or 10 wins in a row, or a stretch of 9-1, 10-2 or whatever.

That Bo Bichette guy has been pretty decent as well.

The Jays are 16-6 vs the central division so far. They haven't played Cleveland yet but it's entirely possible if not downright likely that a team on pace for 90 or so wins in the meatgrinder AL East that has a 7-20 record in it's own division would be pacing for 100+ wins if it played in the central.

There is definitely a bit of credit to be given for knowing when to cut bait and get decent value on some of these guys, but the drafting has been a real issue for awhile now. Max Pentecost is another recent first rounder that ended up flaming out, but that may not necessarily been a bad pick at the time and more of a case of s*** happening that caused him to retire at an early age. I suspect amateur talent acquisition should be one key area for James Click to overhaul as there has been a lull of several years prior to last year's draft and IFA signing period where there really wasn't much impact talent added to the organization. Last year saw the likes of Bonilla and Barriera added to the organization but each of these guys are a lot of years away.

If I wanted any of your lip I'd undo my belt.

What has Romano done or not done to warrant all star consideration? He's second in MLB in saves while only blowing 3 opportunities, has a statcast page full of red and by FWAR is tied for the team lead in wins above replacement. Pop is unfortunately a bit of a victim of the options game, but as a player without options he's going to have to earn his way back onto the major league roster. White has done nothing this season to earn his way of the roster either, so his place on the 26 man roster currently has little to nothing to do with Pop's fate right now.

What's wrong with Romano exactly? He's second in MLB in saves while blowing only 3 save opportunities, and has produced a full win above replacement at the all star break.

No I'm not the opposite of the doomers. I'm definitely on the more positive side of the ledger, but to be opposite of the doom crowd I would need to be making statements about how the Jays are the best team in baseball, are a lock to win the division, have baseball's best lineup, rotation and bullpen etc. I can recognize this is a team with flaws and areas in need of improvement, but at the same time can also recognize the team is stacked with talent which hasn't always produced to what it should be capable of. I've seen so many online commenters stating how the season was over in May for crying out loud, and the proclamations about how the manager and front office should be fired every time the team loses a few games in a row. I for one can recognize that a baseball season is 6 months long and there are bound to be ups and downs over the course of the season. I've never seen such a sense of entitlement among the fanbase with the amount of negativity around a team which will be heading into the all star break battling for a playoff position. It sucks how the offense has disappeared at times with today's no hitter being one such example, but the extremity of the negativity that surrounds this team is so over the top that it's honestly baffling to me.

Another starter would be nice but until there is injury where would you even stash this extra starter? Arms like Francis could be sent down, but once Green and Ryu are ready available roster spots would be in short supply at that point.

A lot of those are actual comments I've seen from posters on various platforms this season, including on this forum. I don't recall seeing this much derision for a team that is actually had a pretty decent season up to this point. It's disappointing that they are battling for a wildcard spot and not the division no doubt, but to see the collective internet meltdown that's occurred up to this point is goddamn baffling.

I didn't say the 2015 team wasn't legitimately great, I bristled at the suggestion you could add both Ohtani and Trout to the current squad and the 2015 team would still be better. Adding two of MLB's best hitters and another ace to this year's team would likely create the most talented Blue Jays team of all time.

Completely tongue in cheek bro.

Just imagine one of MLB's best relievers at the trade deadline. Except in this case if things work out as well as hoped for Green is going to be a Blue Jay for many years to come. This could eventually turn out to be one of the more impactful additions to this team if Green can return to anywhere close to previous levels of performance.

They should have had 60 wins a month ago. I blame Sportsnet for pumping this team's tires so much in the offseason, you can tell that the players spend as much time as we do reading s*** about them online and let the positive press go to their heads. Atkins deserves to be fired. A real GM would be on the field before games to teach the players how to hit with runners in scoring position. He took too much of a risk bringing Manoah back up this soon. Anyone with a brain could tell this wouldn't be nearly enough time for Alek to drop the 80+ extra pounds he's carrying around this year. The true experts among the fanbase were all in agreement that Alek's issues were almost exclusively a result of the extra weight he was carrying around. A piddly month wouldn't be nearly long enough for him to become less of a lardass, and if he were to struggle this could really ruin his confidence for good. Struggling against a team of rookies in the complex league is one thing, but imagine the horrors on the young man's psyche if he were to struggle against a major league squad! Schneider needs to be fired as well. The fact that this team has played at nearly a 95 win pace for him so far they should be playing at a 110 win pace at minimum. The biggest example of what a doofus he is was the move to take Berrios out after only 7 innings. Jose Berrios is an alpha dog and he needs to be allowed to run free, and not tethered to a leash by the puppet manager. Bringing in Richards was totally a bad move, what with him only striking out 5 of the 6 runners he faced.

I have really fond memories of the 2015 squad but it wasn't THAT good.

Heading into this season White's minor league numbers were nothing spectacular, but good enough that he earned his way onto the major league roster of a stacked team like the Dodgers. He had a 3.70 ERA/3.87 FIP. He really struggled in AAA this year as he worked his way back from injury, but it appears as though he might have righted the ship upon his call up back to the majors. Prior to being acquired by the Jays last season he pitched pretty well over the course of several stints with the Dodgers. He produced a 3.58 ERA/3.87 FIP. For a guy acquired primarily to be used as a swing man/6th starter these numbers are just fine. The results last season as a Blue Jay are admittedly ugly, but there are signs that suggest his ERA was inflated due to some pretty terrible luck on batted balls. He avoided barrels and kept the ball in the park, but despite an average exit velocity of only 87.8 MPH he surrendered a batting average on balls in play of .368. There is a massive gap between his ERA and FIP of nearly 4 full runs which further suggests the high ERA is something that may have normalized over time. Frasso is a fun prospect to follow but he hasn't exactly been lighting AA on fire. This is his second season spending time in AA, and his total AA line shows a 4.41 ERA/3.13 FIP. He's experienced a lot of injuries over his young career and as such has a very high likelihood of ending up as a reliever. He's only averaged 3 innings per start in his AA time so it seems somewhat unlikely that he will be able to remain as a starter long term. De Jesus is having a nice run of success in Vancouver right now. He's upped his season WRC+ to 120 after a few very good months at the plate. Over his last 49 games he's produced a 141 WRC+ including 9 home runs. He's starting to show why the front office was willing to ship out Frasso as part of the White trade. White being used in low leverage situations doesn't take away from the fact that he's pitched well for the team so far. Low leverage relief has been a big weakness for this team, as key low leverage relievers such as Cimber and Phelps have either been hurt/ineffective or retired in the case of Phelps. Pop showed promise in this role before he eventually started to struggle and ending up on the injured list, so if White can be effective in this role he can eventually work his way out of mop-up innings and start pitching in closer games.

This is speculative in nature but I'd be more inclined to think the lack of extra base power is a function of timing/not being locked in at the plate vs a conscious decision to slap balls the other way. Orelvis wasn't locked in for the first month of the season, and he offered literally nothing at the plate as he didn't walk, provided no power, and wasn't even picking up the odd single. In May he went on a power surge, and the walk rate started ticking up while a few more batted balls were falling in for hits. In June the power largely dried up but the strikeout and walk rates are stellar and he's producing a lot of base hits. I'm very encouraged he is able to contribute offensively when he's not squaring up the baseball with regularity.

This may come as a surprise to you (I already know you are spouting off as per usual without looking anything up first) but Mitch White has actually pitched pretty well for the Blue Jays this season. I would surmise that a 3.38 ERA/3.17 FIP/11.25 K/9 with a 5.0 K/BB shows that White has actually been a solid contributor by every measure imaginable. It's like people only look at the small sample struggles White had as a Blue Jay last season to evaluate him as a pitcher and nothing he did prior to this or after this have any bearing whatsoever on their opinion.