2006 Blue Jays Thread

[Sylvanfan]

^^^^^
I think theres also something to be said about having an intimidating closer and set up man too. I think it helps put some extra pressure on the opposition hitters to get to the starter, or to try and get into that bullpen by the 5th-6th inning or it will be lights out. That said I can see where spending 8 million a year on a closer may be excessive for a team trying to compete on a budget. Certainly the Jays might be alright if they could develop Accardo, and League into being a legitimate setup guy closer and moving Ryan's salary for help at the front of the rotation. But the key is that you can't just hand that type of job to average talent and hope they'll survive. You need to have players who are legitimately suited for that role.

[Resolute 14]

Roy Halladay just can't catch a break. He left after 2/3rds of an inning after getting drilled on the shoulder by a line drive.

[Flickered Flame]

Originally Posted by Snakeeye

Roy Halladay just can't catch a break. He left after 2/3rds of an inning after getting drilled on the shoulder by a line drive.

And against the team I hate the most, here I thought the A's would gain some ground on the Halos today with Doc on the hill but then the stupid line drive.

[Sylvanfan]

Meh, like the A's have to worry what do they have like an 8 game lead? You can pretty much put any Halladay Cy Young thoughts to rest though as Johan Santana has pretty much stepped up and claimed it.

[Flickered Flame]

Blue Jays to lose about 25 million this year.

http://tsn.ca/mlb/news_story/?ID=177290&hubname=

[Sylvanfan]

Ha, ha stupid Ted Rogers

[RedHot25]

Roy is now saying that he won't miss any starts? That's good, he's a good part of my fantasy baseball team. The heck with the real life Jays, its all about my fake team!!

Also, interesting the Jays lose money....and they are going to up the payroll again apparently...

[habernac]

did you see Burnett yesterday? Man, that sinker was working well. Looked like Halladay pitching. If he could stay consistent.....

[Sylvanfan]

As of late Burnett has put forth some good efforts. I think he's had 7 of his last 8 starts as quality starts. Late in the game he was pretty much picking on the kids riding the short bus, but still a good effort none the less. If the Jays had gotten the pitching they've had in the past month all year long, and the hitting they had in the first two months than they would be in playoff contention. Of course they don't have the depth to get both aspects together for a long enough period of time.

[habernac]

wow, does anyone in baseball have worse luck than Halladay?

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Baseball/M...72972-sun.html

Ugh. Last win was Aug 20, 4 no decisions in that period of time and 2 losses, one of them a 2-0 shutout where he threw a complete game 4 hitter.

[Sylvanfan]

wow, does anyone in baseball have worse luck than Halladay?


I'd say any player drafted by the Devil Rays does.

[RedHot25]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

wow, does anyone in baseball have worse luck than Halladay?


I'd say any player drafted by the Devil Rays does.

Also could have put the Royals in there as well, although Drayton looks like he has them getting back on track with things...

[Sylvanfan]

Well the Jays have a chance to move ahead of Boston tonight and into second place in the AL East. With 82 wins they did guarantee themselves a winning season. Overall the Jays were good at home, but didn't get it done on the road. I suppose the thing that really killed them was that the offence cooled down for about 2 months when they had no pitching whatsoever. By the time they started getting decent pitching they were long out of it. Couple that with the fact that they never had an extended period of time where the offence was cooking and the pitching was going well to rack off 12 wins in 15 games and you end up where they did. Still they did manage to plug forward this year, but thats to be expected with an increased payroll. I guess we'll see if they can find a way to move to the next level next season with a bit more dough.

.

[Resolute 14]

Jays will finish 2nd in the East. Highest finish since 1993. Not quite what the team was hoping for at the start of the year, but not a bad finish either.

[JiriHrdina]

I think all in all you have to look at this year as a positive step forward for the Jays. If they had kept their starting rotation healthy, things could have been much different.

Postives for the year:
- The emergence of Rios as a good everyday player. Though he never got back his power after his staph infection, I think he'll be able to do it next year.
- The continued improvement of Aaron Hill in the field and at the plate
- Lyle Overbay - wow. This guy and this trade doesn't get the attention it deserves. Great fielder, and good offensive numbers all around.
- Troy Glaus gave the Jays everything you could want for a clean up hitter and played good defense
- VW and MVP type season for half of the year.
- Some guys in the bullpen (e.g. Brandon League) seemed to take a step forward
- BJ Ryan showed he is a legitmate closer
- Chachin when healthy seemed legit
- Reed Johnson demonstrates he is an everyday player.

Negatives
- Russ Adams a huge dissapointment
- Josh Towers - ugh.
- The bullpen on some nights
- Molina is the slowest MLB player I have EVER seen

Questions for the off-season
- Does VW want to stay
- Who replaces Lilly
- Who plays SS next year for the Jays. I think they will go out and get someone
- How does the team set itself up so that it can deal with inevitable injuries. There has to be a better contigency plan in place for what happens when they lose a starter.

Should be an interesting off-season.
- The durability of your #1 and #2 starters.

[Sylvanfan]

Even though Molina is slow as molases he ended up hitting like .285 with 19 homers and almost 60 RBI. If you look at other AL playoff teams and the production they get from their catchers it becomes pretty clear that Greg Zaun isn't enough and that you need to get at least Molina type numbers there. Joe Mauer, Jorge Posada, Pudge Rodriguez, and Jason Kendal all make important contributions to their teams.

Overall a pretty good year for the Jays. You do have to wonder what if Burnet and Chacin only miss like 3 weeks each instead of 8. Could the team have put themselves in position to win the extra 9-10 games they needed?

Dump Adams, and dump Towers and I think that would pretty much get rid of the remaining dead weight on the team with Hinske and Schoenweiss gone.

[Bobblehead]

An of course Towers gets the final win of the season. What did it take him, something like 3 months, to get win #2?

Jays need a SS
Last interview with VW I heard sounded promising. He said there was no reason his time with the Jays was winding down and it was up to management to determing what happens to the team. It kind of sounded to me like if there was offseason improvements then he wouldn't mind staying.

[JiriHrdina]

A couple of items on the Jays payroll and specifically VW:

http://www.rotoworld.com/content/pla...=195093&spln=1 - JP says they can't afford to give Wells Beltran money

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...d=968332188492
- piece on the payroll in general

VW was also on Baseball Tonight last night and is speaking about a desire to stay in Toronto and how much he likes his team-mates. So there is a chance something could be done.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

I think all in all you have to look at this year as a positive step forward for the Jays. If they had kept their starting rotation healthy, things could have been much different.

Postives for the year:
- The emergence of Rios as a good everyday player. Though he never got back his power after his staph infection, I think he'll be able to do it next year.
- The continued improvement of Aaron Hill in the field and at the plate
- Lyle Overbay - wow. This guy and this trade doesn't get the attention it deserves. Great fielder, and good offensive numbers all around.
- Troy Glaus gave the Jays everything you could want for a clean up hitter and played good defense
- VW and MVP type season for half of the year.
- Some guys in the bullpen (e.g. Brandon League) seemed to take a step forward
- BJ Ryan showed he is a legitmate closer
- Chachin when healthy seemed legit
- Reed Johnson demonstrates he is an everyday player.

Negatives
- Russ Adams a huge dissapointment
- Josh Towers - ugh.
- The bullpen on some nights
- Molina is the slowest MLB player I have EVER seen

Questions for the off-season
- Does VW want to stay
- Who replaces Lilly
- Who plays SS next year for the Jays. I think they will go out and get someone
- How does the team set itself up so that it can deal with inevitable injuries. There has to be a better contigency plan in place for what happens when they lose a starter.

Should be an interesting off-season.
- The durability of your #1 and #2 starters.

A few more positives:

Brandon League - Was oustanding has earned a spot

Reed Johnson - Was amazing

Lind - Jumped two levels in the minors and finished really strong for with the Jays.

Negatives

AJ Burnett and his health, Jays need a full season out of this guy or this will turn out to be a terrible signing

Gibbons, Lilly and Hillenbrand incidents have brought a dark cloud to this organization. Jays will have a tough time signing UFAs.

Questions for the Offseason

- Both of the Jays Catchers are UFAs (Molina has a 7.5M option but JP has already stated the Jays will not pickup the option).

- As stated above VW needs to be signed or traded. If he goes into next season as a pending UFA this will distract the Jays. The media will hound the Jays all season with this topic (in my opinion VW will not sign).