2015 Blue Jays Regular Season Thread

[bluejays]

Before anyone goes further, just so we don't bitch about AA in the offseason, for the record does anyone object to either the Tulowitzki or Price deals? I don't, but I think it's somewhat fun to have it on the record now, than for others in the off-season to say, "I told you so" when there wasn't any mention of it before.

[GirlySports]

yup. I'm critical of AA more than just about anyone and I love these deals.

[The Big Chill]

Originally Posted by fleury

Before anyone goes further, just so we don't bitch about AA in the offseason, for the record does anyone object to either the Tulowitzki or Price deals? I don't, but I think it's somewhat fun to have it on the record now, than for others in the off-season to say, "I told you so" when there wasn't any mention of it before.

No "I told you so"s from me. I wasn't old enough to remember the Jays' World Series wins, so it's been nothing but misery for me in my 20+ years of being a fan. I've gotten excited over a thousand different prospects and seen next to no success as a team. I'm all in.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Plus if you get into the one game showdown - Price is one of the guys you'd want taking the bump in all of baseball. That's why his acquisition is important.

True but no guarantee Price is your starter in that game. If you are in a tight race to make it to the WC, you may not have the luxury of setting your rotation. In a 7 game series a guy like Price is equally valuable. You can hopefully count on him for 2 wins.

[Enoch Root]

Love the moves.

There are no sure things in sports. All you can ask for as a fan is to have a reason to be excited, to have hope and passion, and meaningful games.

The trades don't guarantee playoffs, but - barring a rash of injuries - we as fans have every reason in the world to be excited about the Jays again.

For me, that's the bottom line for AA. Whether or not the team actually wins now is out of his hands. He did his part.

[Racki]

My God this is exciting. I was 16 and 17 when they won the back to back World Series. I was a huge fan but I didn't quite appreciate it like I would today. I am praying that we make it into the playoffs. Once you qualify for the tournament, anything is possible.

[savemedrzaius]

Just watched the condensed game and I will say it again...I really like Price's attitude. The guy is a superstar, but you can just see he cares. He wants to play well and he wants the Jays to win. Plus I think it was pretty neat his parents were in the crowd. How long has he been in the league? But his parents still come to see his first game in Toronto.

Plus there were a lot of borderline strikes that went in favour of the Jays. I don't know if that is because of the previous game or because we have a true ace who gets the benefit of the doubt, but it was nice to see.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by fleury

Before anyone goes further, just so we don't bitch about AA in the offseason, for the record does anyone object to either the Tulowitzki or Price deals? I don't, but I think it's somewhat fun to have it on the record now, than for others in the off-season to say, "I told you so" when there wasn't any mention of it before.

20+ years out of the playoffs..........you have to go for it sometime. My only beef with AA is that he didn't shore up the rotation earlier in the season, but I have no idea what, or any, deals were available to him then. Maybe there was nothing he could do. But I am very happy with the moves......give the fans something to cheer about, to be excited about. Can't sell hope forever, have to go for it and see what happens. Exciting times.

[Caged Great]

With Buehrle and Romero's contracts up at the end of the season, you could roll those two together (23 million) and add a few to keep Price for 5-7 years. I would do that because having Tulo-Donaldson-Martin and Price for the next few seasons, you could continue to be a top tier team for a while.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

True but no guarantee Price is your starter in that game. If you are in a tight race to make it to the WC, you may not have the luxury of setting your rotation. In a 7 game series a guy like Price is equally valuable. You can hopefully count on him for 2 wins.

Way premature at this point, obviously, but if any wild card game could be timed to have Price or Buehrle start, I would feel very confident.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by fleury

Before anyone goes further, just so we don't bitch about AA in the offseason, for the record does anyone object to either the Tulowitzki or Price deals? I don't, but I think it's somewhat fun to have it on the record now, than for others in the off-season to say, "I told you so" when there wasn't any mention of it before.

No, I'll take the risk of the prospects we traded becoming anywhere near the players we traded for. Tulo and Price are elite talents, and most prospects don't get anywhere near that, so it's a good risk to take.

Hoffman and Norris are two guys that I think will be starting pitchers in the Majors. To what level is yet to be determined, but at least middle of the rotation type of guys. Losing Castro hurts as well, but I think he will remain a relief pitcher and those guys are a little easier to replace. Don't forget, they traded for the long term with Tulo. Price is a rental right now, but it's possible they go hard at signing him in the off-season. Even though Price has said he will explore free agency, he hasn't ruled out signing with Toronto and his excitement thus far makes me think they'll be on his short list of teams to sign with. Bringing Price into the organization for a couple of months (where he can see the culture he'd be getting involved with) gives you a shot at him where he wouldn't have really considered it before. If you sign him to a long term deal then giving those prospects up is definitely worth it.

However, there's no record of me saying this at the time, but I hated the Dickey deal when it went down. Now Syndegaard looks like an absolute stud for the Mets, and although D'Arnaud's career has been seriously derailed by injuries, he's looking like a very good starting catcher who can hit. If that deal doesn't go down we wouldn't have needed to sign Martin, and we would have had a very good front of the rotation starter and starting catcher. All for a guy who was nearing 40 who only had a couple of good seasons in a very long career of below average pitching. Knuckleballer's are very difficult to predict in terms of contributions and consistency, so I felt that was too much to give up on such a risky, aging player in Dickey.

[Strange Brew]

Very cool to see the excitement on here. I will be in Calgary for 9 days starting next week so looking forward to catching some Jays baseball.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Way premature at this point, obviously, but if any wild card game could be timed to have Price or Buehrle start, I would feel very confident.

the only way they could really do that is if they are in the first wild card spot and up by 4+ games with 5 days to go

otherwise game 160, 161, 162 etc. could be just as important

[Sylvanfan]

The Tulo deal makes some long term sense. He's under team control until 2020 at a manageable salary. He's a definite upgrade on Reyes and a younger player, who'll cost you 48 million for the next two years, as I think you can all but assure the buyout clause on his deal will be activated. At worst, he easily could be moved to first base and still be a productive bat for you even if his body can't hack playing short. Reyes was at a point where he's already a liability at short, and now it's an ego thing to get him to go to either 2nd base or a corner outfield spot. No doubt I'm onside with that deal. Him and Donaldson still give you two pieces to form your offence around.

As for the Price deal, that's the huge gamble. IMO he has to win like 8 of his 10 starts to make the difference to get the team to the post season. In a way this is a deal you would have made sooner to get a bigger potential impact. But I doubt it wasn't till that time that he was even on the market. If he was to resign, than that would be fantastic. But I'm pretty sure he's wearing the same color jersey next year except that it's in Los Angeles.

[KelVarnsen]

Gibby suspended 1 game, Sanchez suspended 3 games. The Sanchez suspension is a joke.

[MelBridgeman]

Originally Posted by KelVarnsen

Gibby suspended 1 game, Sanchez suspended 3 games. The Sanchez suspension is a joke.

Agreed complete joke.

[Karl]

Originally Posted by KelVarnsen

Gibby suspended 1 game, Sanchez suspended 3 games. The Sanchez suspension is a joke.

Yeah. I thought the ridiculous out call by Gerry Davis was gonna be the worst ump #### up I'd see this year, but boy was I wrong.

#### Jim Wolf, he's the reason this #### happened. What a joke!

[The Goon]

I was in Toronto on vacation in early June and really enjoyed myself with a game at SkyDome - it was in the midst of the Jays' 11-game winning streak and they won the game I was at with Encarnacion hitting a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth.

Recently told I have to spend two more weeks in Toronto later this month for some training, which bummed me out, but then I realized, "Hey, I can go to more games!" only to find out that they're on a road trip the entire time I'm there. Ugh.

(not-so-cool-story-bro)

[Inferno]

Wow, that's terrible. And I thought the NHL was bad for protecting incompetent officiating.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by KelVarnsen

Gibby suspended 1 game, Sanchez suspended 3 games. The Sanchez suspension is a joke.

Brutal decision by the league, game was poorly handled.

Not surprised with the manager getting one game.

Sanchez suspension is a puzzling decision, player should appeal.