2011 Blue Jays Season Thread

[Matty81]

Originally Posted by Kidder

Yes, pardon my ignorance, there do seem to be some pretty good arms in the pen. But why do they seem to have so much trouble finding a guy to close the door in pivotal games? Raush and Francisco both with two blown saves so far, and some nightmare outings.

I understand you'll have some blown saves even with the greatest of closers, but cut these blown saves in half and at the very least you're tied for the divisional lead.

As soon as I saw the Yanks had narrowed it 4-3 in the bottom of the 8th yesterday I knew the Jays had lost the game. That could just be pessimism kicking in, but I wish it wasn't such an accurate predictor.

Is there anyone in the system who you guys think could be groomed for the role? Or is it something the Jays should be acquiring from outside when the time comes?

Going out and acquiring an elite closer will probably be the last move the Jays make when they decide they are ready to contend. I think there are guys in the system but they are a long ways away. The Jays traded their two best reliever prospects in Trystan Magnuson and Tim Collins last season.

They drafted so many high ceiling, hard throwing pitchers last year, I don't think it would be surprising to see someone convert to closer who doesn't quite cut it as a starter - Asher Wojciechowski can throw heat in the high 90s and there's been talk he'll end up a closer.

That draft crop is very young though, I imagine that even next season they will need to sign somebody for a short term solution with Francisco and Rauch becoming free agents.

[Caged Great]

Zach Stewart might also be a contender for the closer spot as he's kind of waffling as a starter in AA but has a nasty slider and fastball (his other pitches blow, which is why he runs into trouble)

They should try Janssen as the closer for a couple opportunities as he's been pretty good this year.

The bullpen really doesn't matter much though until they're actually ready to do something and it looks like they're about 4 bats and 2 starters (Deck + Cecil) away from doing anything.

The bats that are good where they are

RF - Bautista
SS - Escobar
1B/DH - Lind
C - Arencibia
3B - Lawrie (just pencilling him in when he gets called up)

Beyond that they're going to need two outfielders, a 2nd baseman and a 1B/DH. Snider may take one of the OF spots but they're going to have to spend money on a 1B/DH, CF, and 2B.

It's not going to be a quick fix and they're set. It's going to take a while. By that time most of those really young arms should be filtering up the system and should be knocking at the door. Probably by then we'll be able to find a closer out of the bunch.

[SportsJunky]

I didn't see this Yahoo blog article about Lawrie posted anywhere so here it is:

http://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy/blog...aining-content

it becomes our duty to inform you that Toronto third base prospect Brett Lawrie(notes) hit yet another home run on Monday for Las Vegas, his 12th of the season, and he stole another base, his tenth. Lawrie finished 2-for-4 with a double, a walk and two RBIs. The day before, he'd gone 2-for-4 with a pair of homers, driving in four runs, scoring three.
And the day before that, he went 3-for-6. And the day before that, he went 2-for-5. And before that ... well, you get the idea. There have been a few multi-hit games here.

[Machiavelli]

Quite the awful game today.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Machiavelli

Quite the awful game today.

Awful... they need to stop stealing bases with Bautista at the plate.

[Saint Troy]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Awful... they need to stop stealing bases with Bautista at the plate.

Either the manager is an idiot, or Patterson or worse yet, both. The Jays are really playing crap fundamentally, no excuse losing the way they did tonight.

[Caged Great]

The Jays have 24 wins mostly by smoke and mirrors. They can't sustain a lineup with this amount of bad players and managerial mistakes.

[Beerfest]

Jays win 4-2.

[Hockey]

Quite the game for Patterson. 5 hits and a walk-off homerun in the bottom of the 14th.

[Oilbert]

Jayson Nix and E5 should both be DFA'd. Recall Lawrie already damnit.

12 games for a 3B without a hit.

What's more pathetic is that we traded an all-star 3B for E5. #### you JP.

[Oilbert]

Francisco 3 straight blown saves, the napoli trade not looking good.

[Caged Great]

Napoli has cooled off dramatically since his great april. I would call it a push in terms of results. However, FF is still going to be a type B so we'll get a pick out it so it's still a win, despite his struggles.

[moon]

Originally Posted by Oilbert

Francisco 3 straight blown saves, the napoli trade not looking good.

Wasn't the point of the Napoli trade to get Napoli off the roster based on his salary/redundancy?

Based on his recent history I can't believe the Jays thought they were getting much by adding Francisco.

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by moon

Wasn't the point of the Napoli trade to get Napoli off the roster based on his salary/redundancy?

Based on his recent history I can't believe the Jays thought they were getting much by adding Francisco.

The trade was to get a supplemental pick next year instead of having a redundant player.

It was meh all the way around.

[Oilbert]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

Napoli has cooled off dramatically since his great april. I would call it a push in terms of results. However, FF is still going to be a type B so we'll get a pick out it so it's still a win, despite his struggles.

He is still getting on base close to his career average.

[Oilbert]

Originally Posted by moon

Wasn't the point of the Napoli trade to get Napoli off the roster based on his salary/redundancy?

Based on his recent history I can't believe the Jays thought they were getting much by adding Francisco.

Supplementary pick awarded if a team signs FF next year.

[moon]

Originally Posted by Oilbert

Supplementary pick awarded if a team signs FF next year.

Which is pretty meh as Caged great said.

Baseball picks aren't worth the paper they are printed on to report them.

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by moon

Which is pretty meh as Caged great said.

Baseball picks aren't worth the paper they are printed on to report them.

Definitely, and that's why it's best to have as many as possible because of the high attrition rate of the players. Look at last year's picks for the jays, they had a ton of top round picks, and of those players, maybe two might become full time MLB players if they're lucky (or exceptionally lucky if more than 2 do)

It's basically like starting the draft in the 7th round in hockey, but with a couple Datsyuks and Byfugliens in there every year.

Plus the greater amount of prospects they have, the more options they'll have when it comes to making trades.

[Saint Troy]

Just finished watching the game, the PVR is sweet for ff through Francisco gags, though the Konerko tying hit was pretty ridiculous. Anthopolous should be punched in the stomach hourly by Bautista until he calls up Lawrie, and oh ya Bautista is insane.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Bautista becomes the fastest Jay to hit 20 HRs. He did it in 44 games, beating George Bell's record of 53 games.

Unreal. I was just hoping the guy wouldn't be a bust after signing his new deal, but he has looked fantastic this season.