The Toronto Blue Jays/MLB Thread.

[Bendit]

Roberto Osuna arrested on domestic violence charge.



https://www.thescore.com/mlb/news/1541552

If it's true, they better be thinking about saying bye-bye. Hopefully it's not...

Wow. Did he go off his meds? Not good.

[Joey]

Well that sucks ... big fan of Osuna ... let's wait for details, but doesn't look good.

[Bendit]

Bitter sweet... a no hitter by Canadian Paxton of BC against the BJs. I give it up to him. And he did it in TO too.

Why wasnt he drafted here? Gotta check his draft year.

[Mack North]

99 pitches and a hit ain't one!

[Demographic Shift]

What happened to the bats ? They have gone quiet over the past couple of weeks... and the bright lights of the Stro Show are starting to flicker.... Jays need a bit of a win streak to stay in the WC hunt.

[Demographic Shift]

And so it ends... a lost season. Last we saw of Josh Donaldson one of the most talented players the organization has ever put on the field. Last we see of Gibby unless Rogers whacks those two robots in the front office. Last we see of Russell Martin who will be relegated to the utility role off the bench. We may never see Tulo again. SOme will be happy for that. Others see a guy cut down by injury.

The injuries didn't help this year. Who would have thought that Josh Donaldson would play what seemed like a dozen games and then be rushed back to pass a saliva test then traded like a packet of ketchup at Mcdonalds to Cleveland. The starting pitching which looked to be the anchor to start the year flamed out. Bad. Aaron Sanchez finger is just puzzling. Will this uber talent be sidelined forever by tender fingers ? Marco Estrada is a pro but the AL East has seen that change up now for 3 years and its not going to fool them. The Stro show seems to be grating on the front office. ANd JA Happ started the parade of vets out for prospects in.

So its the Brooklyn Dodgers chant.. Wait till next year ! So what its going to look like.

Starting Pitching

You can never have enough pitching. The Jays need more than they got right now. Borucki / Pannone looked good but its September ball.. Don't get fooled. Sanchez you would hope would be back and maybe Stroman finds himself as well. Ried Foley is a work in progress. Don't see Marco back next year. The Jays are going to need to get a couple more SP. Middle of the roation guys.

The Infield Have to think we have seen the last of Solarte and Devon Travis. The guy from the Yanks Drury and Diaz might split at thrird when camp breaks and they come north. Not sure Bichette plays much next year so its Urena or another glove at short unless Tulo can play. That presents a real issue for the Jays. A 20M plus player who can't really play. At second will be Guriel.. he has more pop in his bat and is a better fielder than Travis. Smoak and Vladdy alternate between 1st and DH. Unless they can get something for Smoak in the way of pitching.

The Outfield After wondering how badly they got rooked in the Grichuck deal he panned out as advertised... 250 avg .. 25 HRS and can field his position in C or in RF. Teoscar Hernandez is an adventure in the field. Scarry watching balls drop in or run under his glove. He stays.. but as tthe 4th OF. McKinney can hit a bit and can field. The Jays want Anthony Alford to play so bad and take the job away from Pillar but he isn't ready yet. So its another year of Pillar in C... Grichuck in RF and McKinney in LF with Hernadez as the 4thOF or ALford if he can break through. Its a pretty avg OF.

Catcher Well they have another one in Jansen. He can play. Look for him to be the starter with Mailie behind him or if McGuire can hit more then Maille is out.

Utility and DH Russ Martin and Diaz are the guys for now. They have no where to put Russ but here. Its the last year of his deal. Diaz will help all over the infield. I don't know if they can unload Morales but if they can't its another year of Kendrys kinda on the bench and kinda DH.

The Bullpen Osuna is gone.Giles seems to be the guy for the 9th he has found his stride again. BIagini is hopeless. Tepera has good stuff but can't deliver it when the heat is on. Loup is gone. Oh is gone. Look for a complete rebuiild here. But we have a closer.

Another long year awaits us next year... but by 2020 with cap room and Vlad and BIchette and hopefully Guriel and McKinney leading the charge the Jays will be back in the hunt.

[Demographic Shift]

So Donaldson signs for 1 year at 23M$.

Shatkins couldn't get him out of town fast enough because they were afraid he'd accept the 18M$ QO and they'd be stuck with him for half a year. Why they wanted to unload him so badly has to be a good story. That they preferred pitching prospect Julian Merryweather more than JD isn't good baseball asset management.

Though they never saw it coming it turns out Shatkins could have made the QO and because he signed elsewhere as a FA and the Jays would be on the receiving end of a decent 1st round sandwich draft pick.

I hope JD lights it up... still a little bitter on how little Shatkins got for the league MVP two years ago.

[Demographic Shift]

The Winter Meetings are in full swing and we might..might ..see one of the two offseason mega FA in Harper and Charlie Hustle Machado sign in the next days...might. But for me that’s not the story....

What’s eye opening is that some pretty good teams are pissing on the fire and calling in the dogs saying the hunt is over. The Mariners won 90 games last year and are selling. I guess you can see why. If you say that Houston, Yanks, BoSux and Cleveland are un-catchable due to talent and division teams that suck..it’s a plan that says you are trying to spend large for a one game playin spot as the second wild card. Do you spend big to compete for that? The mariners said no.

So what do you do if your MLB and you have good teams retrenching?
Expand the playoffs or go to a hard cap?

Both will work...The cap puts limits on what the Yanks, Dodgers, BoSux, Cubs can spend and spreads the talent base around..or..you let more teams into the post season to encourage teams like the mariners to add talent rather than sell it and look to ride the next wave to the post season.

The Jays are going to suck next year. We will be sold hope and come out to see a young exciting team with Guerrero and perhaps Bichette who make their mark in the majors as rookies. The NBA version of a team on the rise. But they will suck. The Jays are keeping their powder dry for a run in 2022....Good news is that tickets from scalpers for walk ups will be really cheap. Bad news is that it’s going to be three years to meaningful games in September as the reality of competing against a loaded deck of teams next year is not a smart move.

Ask Seattle ...

[slaw]

Baseball is entering its NBA phase where a third (or maybe more) of the teams are tanking. That never used to happen. Unlike the NBA, the players union in baseball won't stand for it as it is clearly affecting free agent value. Will be very curious to see how the union tries to stop it. I'm guessing they go after the years of control and arbitration system, which would paralyze small market teams.

[Demographic Shift]

No one is spending any money this offseason so far.... Scott Borras must be close to having an aneurysm.

The Rogers Owned Jays have so far sprung for:

A rule 5 acquisition on a high risk SP named Elvis...... for basically nothing.
A 2B Eric Sogard to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training... for basically nothing.
Signed a Matt Shoemaker, ostensibly a SP who won 2 games last year for the Angels... for basically nothing.
Was Shatkins going to do something or just throw loonies around like they were manhole covers ?

And then the big money went out... an addition by subtraction so to speak with one of the last guys from the Anthopolous playoff runs in Tulo... A very steep buyout price of 38M$ to just go away and play somewhere else. Must of been a hell of a meeting selling that at the table eh ? Finance might have been beside themselves. 38M$ for nothing. Ah sports the bane of the corporate worlds way of working. LOL.

Estimated its about 6 or 7 weeks till pitchers and catchers report to Dunedin. Realistically I think that Jays fans just have to expect more of this kind of stuff this year. Getting ready for 2021 when they should be competative again. Hopefully. Getting ready for The Future as the marketing theme for this season...

Over under is 65 wins. Minimum bet is 100 quatloo's.

[Demographic Shift]

Roy Halladay goes into the HoF in his first year... Oorah !

Get the feeling Toronto fans are a bit miffed at his widow's request he go in without a team designation...I can see that side of the coin yet I am OK with the choice his wife made...Sure I'd love to have another Blue Jay cap beside Robbie Alomars but there is no denying Hallidays career was in Toronto.

Happy to Doc get in....

[Bendit]

Roy Halladay goes into the HoF in his first year... Oorah !

Get the feeling Toronto fans are a bit miffed at his widow's request he go in without a team designation...I can see that side of the coin yet I am OK with the choice his wife made...Sure I'd love to have another Blue Jay cap beside Robbie Alomars but there is no denying Hallidays career was in Toronto.

Happy to Doc get in....

Some get miffed easily ... over a cap logo? I don't know that anyone incl. his family owe anyone anything in this matter. Truth be told I am "miffed" at Roy's extreme adventures in his plane (he did this often I understand) in the prime of his natural life. Must have been bored without the thrills on the hill. But what was he thinking? ... not his family ... him just being around for them. Selfish.

[Joey]

Man, Tulo goes deep against the Blue Jays in his first at bat as a Yankee ... this Jays management is killing us. No way we keep a guy like Guerrero long term with management like this. Shapiro needs to go ASAP.

[Superjudge]

Man, Tulo goes deep against the Blue Jays in his first at bat as a Yankee ... this Jays management is killing us. No way we keep a guy like Guerrero long term with management like this. Shapiro needs to go ASAP.

Well, he's a piece of garbage and did nothing for 3 years and got paid large.
Shoots his mouth off afterwards....

Tim and Sid got at im though. Taken care of.

I always hated that guy, thought him overrate and passed his best. Glad he's gonel and he won't be anything more than average at best moving on.

[slaw]

Well, he's a piece of garbage and did nothing for 3 years and got paid large.
Shoots his mouth off afterwards....

Tim and Sid got at im though. Taken care of.

I always hated that guy, thought him overrate and passed his best. Glad he's gonel and he won't be anything more than average at best moving on.

My problem with Tulo was last year when he went through the entire offseason and then had surgery when the season opened. That was crap. I don't have a lot of time for them Shapiro group but I have no issue with them dumping Tulo.