Your Toronto Blue Jays

[Big Guy]

I agree that Bautista is supposed to put his team before himself - but like most of the $multi-million baseball mercenaries his concerns are about Bautista's future worth.

That bat flip certainly got a lot of ink and viewing - I hope that punch gets the same amount.

There are consequences of hot dogging it.

[overthere]

I agree that Bautista is supposed to put his team before himself - but like most of the $multi-million baseball mercenaries his concerns are about Bautista's future worth.

That bat flip certainly got a lot of ink and viewing - I hope that punch gets the same amount.

There are consequences of hot dogging it.

But clearly and of course the punch in the face was not a consequence of the bat flip/hot dogging. It was because Bautista chose to assault Odor.

Without a doubt, 99.9% of MLB players would say to the punch: Bautista deserved it. The slide was pure chickenshit bush league antics. If Bautista was bent on revenge for getting plunked, he should have either attacked the pitcher that threw the ball, or let his own pitcher drill the first batter in the next inning(which happened). Instead, in a close game, he attacks somebody that cannot defend themselves from his attack at time of attack.

[Boges]

So after an embarrassing sweep at the hands of Tampa, they go on a 5-2 road trip. Granted against the worst team in the AL and a Yankees team that's as middling as they've been.

But now the First Place Red Sox come to town. They've been gangbusters lately with their offence. Now sans a few unfortunate outings against Tampa, the Jays starting pitching has been very solid. If they hold on, perhaps the Jays bats can finally wake up.

Devon Travis has returned and produced offensive results in both of his games back. Looks like Go-Go may be on the outs as Darwin Barney has also been a very capable back-up with a pretty good batting average.

[overthere]

So after an embarrassing sweep at the hands of Tampa, they go on a 5-2 road trip. Granted against the worst team in the AL and a Yankees team that's as middling as they've been.

But now the First Place Red Sox come to town. They've been gangbusters lately with their offence. Now sans a few unfortunate outings against Tampa, the Jays starting pitching has been very solid. If they hold on, perhaps the Jays bats can finally wake up.

Devon Travis has returned and produced offensive results in both of his games back. Looks like Go-Go may be on the outs as Darwin Barney has also been a very capable back-up with a pretty good batting average.

I do admire your 'glass half full' at the slightest signs of life.

Add defence to the list of concerns now.

[Boges]

I do admire your 'glass half full' at the slightest signs of life.

Add defence to the list of concerns now.

We'll I'm watching Dickey sort of go toe toe with David Price. Even if they lose it'll be a successful weekend.

They've won 3 series' in a row. Devon Travis seems to be doing well in his return.

I guess being a fan is no fun unless you're always critical of the team's faults.

They do have ve a long way to go however. You can't debate that the starting pitching has been great. If the hitters even remotely resemble their production last year, they should be at least competitive into September.

Oh Bautista just hit a home run. That's another good move, moving him to leadoff.

Edited May 29, 2016 by Boges

[Boges]

They did lose. Drew Storen again. That trade is turning out to be a mess. Dickey takes a no-hitter into the 6th and hits a wall.

They should be able to wipe the floor with the Yankees at home this week. . . they should.

The bullpen needs to be addressed. Joe Biagini has been their 2nd best option in the bullpen right now. Floyd, Chavez and Storen have been largely awful. That wasn't terribly predictable before the season.

Do they bring Hutch up and send Sanchez to the Bullpen?

Edited May 30, 2016 by Boges

[overthere]

We'll I'm watching Dickey sort of go toe toe with David Price. Even if they lose it'll be a successful weekend.

They've won 3 series' in a row. Devon Travis seems to be doing well in his return.

I guess being a fan is no fun unless you're always critical of the team's faults.

They do have ve a long way to go however. You can't debate that the starting pitching has been great. If the hitters even remotely resemble their production last year, they should be at least competitive into September.

Oh Bautista just hit a home run. That's another good move, moving him to leadoff.

I just call it like it is, not like I hope it is. Case in point, I don't see the Jays at this time as being 'competitive'. Competititive means winning games. Like Donaldson says' it's a get it done league, not a try hard league'.

The Jays have had some pleasant surprises, or at least players that are doing better than expected: Saunders, Smoak and Barney are in this group. Happ too. Stroman is starting to look tired already to my eye.

The move to have Bautista at leadoff is pretty much desperation, because(as I predicted before the season), they don't have a clear contender there because the Storen for Revere trade was more or less a disaster so far. You don't want to take a RBI producer like Bautista out of a RBI position in the order, but Pillar and Saunders just were not getting it done at leadoff. They'll be giving Travis and probably Carrerra a chance there soon enough.

Their bullpen is a gong show now. They keep throwing the same mutts out hoping anybody can not walk batters, not hit batters, not throw wild pitches and above all get somebody out. Their only lefty is the shockingly bad Girodo. Cecil and Loup will be back some day, then we will really be in trouble.

And I do not understand why Gibbons is still employed. Very puzzling.

[Boges]

Bautista has a great OBP, that's something you need with a Leadoff guy. There's a philosophy that your best hitter should lead off because he gets the most ad bats

That being said, Travis should probably be there.

Firing a guy after a playoff season when his team isn't awful but hovering around .500 is something that won't happen.

[Boges]

We still upset the Jays wore Camo hats for Memorial Day again?

[overthere]

Bautista has a great OBP, that's something you need with a Leadoff guy. There's a philosophy that your best hitter should lead off because he gets the most ad bats

That being said, Travis should probably be there.

Firing a guy after a playoff season when his team isn't awful but hovering around .500 is something that won't happen.

The traditional view is that your best pure hitter is in the #3 spot, the guy who hits for both average and power and RBI because there are people on base, and those people are in scoring position. That is why traditional leadoff guys are a combo of speed, base stealing, hits, bunts, infield hits, slap hits, forced errors.. They can get on and get themselves moved over into scoring position.. Bautista is only there because all the other candidates were not getting it done, and the move was not managements idea but reportedly came from the players themselves. Bautistas OBP is important from the #3 slot because of who is behind him: RBI makers like EE, Tulo and now Saunders.

They need to find a leadoff guy that is not named Jose. It is going to have to be Travis, because even if Carrera hits well, runs well and gets on base(all of which he has done very well this year), they don't really have a place for him in the field, and he can't bump EE from the DH spot.

Oh, and when teams underachieve- and can we at least agree that the Jays are underacheiving? the normal approach to remedy that is to look at management and at players. The state of the bullpen is on Shapiro and Atkins, and they have so far done pretty much nothing about it. Their off season moves(except Biagini) have been generally disastrous. Their in season moves, much the same.... poor Aaron Loup last night, starting off just as he left- pathetic again. Shapiro is not going to fire himself or Atkins, and must be under big pressure from ownership to do something, anything. Unless the Jays start winning and winning soon- bye bye Gibbons.

[Boges]

Unless the Jays start winning and winning soon- bye bye Gibbons.

They've won 7-3.

Perhaps he gets fired if they're out of it, they currently aren't out of it. You're the only person I've heard that's calling for Gibbons' head and I consume a lot of Jays media.

You don't think signing Happ and Estrada were good offseason moves?

Edited May 31, 2016 by Boges

[overthere]

I meant their offseason bullpen moves, that is the context of that comment.

The Jays are a .500 team, which is not acceptable for ownership. Why? Because it will inevitably be reflected in attendance. The Jays are doing well at average 36k per game, but that will not sustain unless they rise above medocrity. Toronto is not a city /team that has high attendance no matter what-.

I don't care what the media says: Gibbons is on the chopping block. New President, new GM and neither has any connection or loyalty to Gibbons. He might have been axed along with AA last year, had the Jays not gone deep in the playoffs. But they are not going anywhere right now fighting to stay at .500, well behind division leaders and nowhere near a wildcard slot. It isn't early now, the season is 1/3 over. If the Jays are i the same spot in the enxt 50 games, their attendance will have dropped a lot. They can't and won't wait that long to pull the trigger on the piece of the puzzle that is most easily replaced- the manager.

[Boges]

I think being 5 games back of the AL East leader and 3 back of a WC spot will keep them competitive into September. Gibbons will likely be fired if they fail to meet expectations this year. They modified his contract so that his contract expires at New Years, but gave him a raise. Coaching doesn't win or lose many games though. Had the bullpen been even remotely competitive this team could easily have up to 10 more wins. And that's ignoring the fact that the offence has also been disappointing, though it appears to be getting better.

What significant Bullpen moves, other than Storen, were made? And even the most cynical fans thought that was a good move at the time. Floyd and Chavez were brought in to compete for a starting role, it was never expected they'd see such high leverage bullpen situations.

The conventional wisdom was that Cecil, Storen and Osuna was a pretty damn good bullpen based on track record. Well Cecil sucked and Storen has pretty ordinary, if not bad. Osuna is still amazeballs. Let's hope what ailed Cecil was behind his awful performance to start the season and he can return and be more productive later this season.

If they are going to keep using Chavez and Floyd, perhaps bring up Hutch instead and have one of the other two "starters" go down and stretch out for a spot start, when needed. At least Hutch looked competent the one time we saw him.

Edited May 31, 2016 by Boges

[Big Guy]

We still upset the Jays wore Camo hats for Memorial Day again?

The Canadians were wearing Canadian Camo hats:

http://news.sportslogos.net/2016/05/30/all-mlb-clubs-camouflaged-today-for-memorial-day/

[Boges]

Jason "Freakin" Grilli!

Apparently he can strike people out. So that's nice.

[overthere]

Yep he is an old righthander with a high WHIP and ERA, should blend right in.....

Anything is worth a try and he is basically a throwaway to clear a roster spot for a really bad team in Atlanta , but it would just be so much better if he was a lefty.

[Boges]

Apparently has a history with Russell Martin and he had 24 saves last year. Definitely a flyer though. Not like it cost them much, if anything.

[overthere]

Yeah, it costs almost nothing. I think a couple hundred K on a 2 mill salary, Atlanta pays the rest. We have to pay his bonuses if he achieves any. Who are they sending down? Tepara? Loup? Girodo?

[Boges]

Yeah, it costs almost nothing. I think a couple hundred K on a 2 mill salary, Atlanta pays the rest. We have to pay his bonuses if he achieves any. Who are they sending down? Tepara? Loup? Girodo?

Girodo, if he's not down already. Tepara and Loupe just came back.

[overthere]

I see Loup started right where he left off here.

What happened to that guy? Or was his strong play an aberration that one year and this is normal?

[Boges]

I see Loup started right where he left off here.

What happened to that guy? Or was his strong play an aberration that one year and this is normal?

I don't know. I think he made an appearance on Sunday and retired two batters without issue. I guess he fell victim to Brian McCann. McCann also almost took Osuna yard in the 9th last night.

He'll stay up simply because he's a lefty.

[Boges]

So they sweep the Yankees in rather impressive fashion. We'll see if they can do well in Boston this weekend. If they do, watch out!

Now here's the simmering debate. This team is better with Barney and Travis in the middle than it was with Tulo and Go-Go. You can't bench Tulo when he comes back but Goins has to go down to Buffalo right?

Who knew Darwin Barney could be the offensive juggernaut he's been.

Also, there's talk that Sanchez can't be in this rotation all season and he'll have to be moved to the bullpen down the stretch. He's one of the best starters in the league but I guess they don't want to push him so young.

Edited June 2, 2016 by Boges

[overthere]

Goins is a goner at this point. With a fat bullpen roster, they cannot keep four middle infielders. But.... would Barney be OK as a DH? They don't really have anybody other than EE/Smoak, and one of those guys has to play first when the other is DH. Why not send down Tepara too, and leave a spot on the bench for a position guy? Goins is a great fielder but his traditional weakness at the plate is signing his ticket. He is also trade bait.

I told you Barney was a fine fielder (Gold Glove!), and his bat would determine his future. They might be trying him out at leadoff soon.

Travis needs a bit more time to settle in at the plate. He kind of reminds me of Pedroia- small frame but lots of power and skill all around.

I'd like the Jays to find another catcher to replace Thole. It is really a hole in their lineup, he is totally a one dimensional player.

The team is really showing signs of life.........

[Boges]

Yeah I guess you could keep Barney on as a replacement for the role Smoak had before Collabello got suspended. I wonder if he can also play outfield.

[overthere]

I don't think Barney has ever played anything but infield: SS and 2B- as a pro.

Carrerra is their only outfield backup now, and he is not the greatest fielder . Smoak has never played outfield, and EE has justa few games there. I think they are both too slow for the outfield anyway. But if either EE or Smoak gets injured, I could see Bautista moving in to play 1B again(or DH) and Barney in RF. It is hard to take Barneys bat out of the game when he is hitting at this pace.