Toronto Blue Jays 2017 regular season thread - Page 132 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

KootenayFlamesFan · 09-26-2017, 06:09 PM

JD with 2 AB, 2 HR so far. He's in the zone for the past month or two.

Roof-Daddy · 09-26-2017, 08:21 PM

Teo with a couple more dingers today too. Speed, power, defense and decent arm. If he can get on base at a better clip he could be a nice piece going forward.

TheAlpineOracle · 09-26-2017, 09:15 PM

JD spent the whole offseason training in MMA and in my opinion I think there is probably a correlation between that and his early season injuries which took him half the friggen year to get over. Hope the Jays tell him to stop with that #### this year. May just be a coincidence, but he's too valuable to this team to be screwing around with a different sport that is hard on your body and uses different muscle groups.

cross16 · 09-27-2017, 09:00 AM

I have not been the biggest Bautista fan the last couple seasons but still very glad to see the fans give him the send off he deserves. All time great Jay even despite his fall off the last 2 seasons. Well deserved.

zukes · 09-27-2017, 11:00 AM

A couple thoughts...I want to believe what Teoscar Hernandez is doing is real, but they say never believe anything in September. This is still a 25 year old that is just now coming to be a decent MLB'er (maybe). You can't reasonably expect much more in the way of growth. There was an article on Twitter the other day about this. Betts, Harper, and others are the same age....but here;s hoping.

I was at the last home game and it was deafening every time Jose came up and when he was pulled in the 9th, there were several in my section who had tears, including myself. To me, while he is absolutely done being the player he once was, is the face of the Blue Jays recent turnaround and an all-timer for sure. If his ego let's him come back as a part-timer on a part-timer salary, I hope he's back. Otherwise, selfishly, I hope he retires.

Parallex · 09-27-2017, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zukes

A couple thoughts...I want to believe what Teoscar Hernandez is doing is real, but they say never believe anything in September.

And they're right.

The overall quality of baseball drops as teams try out minor leaguers and rest veterans for the post-season. Plus as a young player without an extensive MLB book Hernandez is going to be fed a steady diet of fastballs. If/when (I think it's when) he sticks in the Big Leagues pitchers will start offering quality offspeed pitches.

I think he'll get platooned with Pearce next year. Fun fact... I looked up his splits yesterday... he has a reverse split (Hits righties better then lefties).

Cappy · 09-27-2017, 11:36 AM

Teoscar gives reason for optimism, but he's starting next year at AAA, unless he tears the cover off the ball in spring training.

That K/W rate is atrocious.

TheAlpineOracle · 09-27-2017, 06:41 PM

Ouch. Not a good third inning for Jays pitching.

Parallex · 09-29-2017, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cappy

Teoscar gives reason for optimism, but he's starting next year at AAA, unless he tears the cover off the ball in spring training.

That K/W rate is atrocious.

It is... but the 980 OPS is amazeballs. He's not going to slug 667 over a full season but he has an excellent batted ball profile (hits more line drives & flyballs then groundballs and pop-ups). IMO a corner outfield spot is his to lose barring a big to midsized free agent acquisition. Alford/Pillar/Hernandez isn't a bad prediction to start next season (with Pearce getting his AB by allowing those guys + Smoak/Morales to have a day off).

Jays really need to get a MIF who can get hit better then Barney/Goins... Tulo and Travis aren't healthy enough to justify a glove only back-up... that and better depth in the Rotation.

Cappy · 09-29-2017, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parallex

It is... but the 980 OPS is amazeballs. He's not going to slug 667 over a full season but he has an excellent batted ball profile (hits more line drives & flyballs then groundballs and pop-ups). IMO a corner outfield spot is his to lose barring a big to midsized free agent acquisition. Alford/Pillar/Hernandez isn't a bad prediction to start next season (with Pearce getting his AB by allowing those guys + Smoak/Morales to have a day off).

Jays really need to get a MIF who can get hit better then Barney/Goins... Tulo and Travis aren't healthy enough to justify a glove only back-up... that and better depth in the Rotation.

He was never profiled as a power hitter though, so it's tough to argue this isn't a hot start. I think if he has a great start you put him on the team, but if the jays think they can compete next year, they will push for a vet.

Pearce starts the season in LF.

cross16 · 09-29-2017, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cappy

He was never profiled as a power hitter though, so it's tough to argue this isn't a hot start. I think if he has a great start you put him on the team, but if the jays think they can compete next year, they will push for a vet.

Pearce starts the season in LF.

I've always read/understood the opposite on Hernandez. Plus power but below avg plate discipline so it's touch to consistently show power if you can't recognize pitches.

I think the power is real but I agree with Parallex that he likely is getting alot of fastballs and that's why the HR are coming in bunches. I don't read into the performance this month too much but I still think he is someone who at worst would be a solid 4th OF which is still a big need on this club (just overall position player depth really)

Sylvanfan · 09-29-2017, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parallex

Jays really need to get a MIF who can get hit better then Barney/Goins... Tulo and Travis aren't healthy enough to justify a glove only back-up... that and better depth in the Rotation.

I would agree that playing pretty much the entire season with two sub replacement level bats in the middle infield has really sunk the team on offence at times.

The games changed now...good teams look to the guys at these positions to produce offensively now. Bogaerts Altuve and Correa are big time drivers for the Astros, and Lindor and Kipnis have both been guys to produce offensively for Cleveland.

TheAlpineOracle · 09-29-2017, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

I would agree that playing pretty much the entire season with two sub replacement level bats in the middle infield has really sunk the team on offence at times.

The games changed now...good teams look to the guys at these positions to produce offensively now. Bogaerts Altuve and Correa are big time drivers for the Astros, and Lindor and Kipnis have both been guys to produce offensively for Cleveland.

Phillips is on TSN saying Kipnis or Kinsler would be a good fit. Kipnis makes sense given the connections with management and that Cleveland prefers Ramirez. Don't know about Kinsler though. He refused to waive his no trade clause to go to Toronto back when AA was looking to sign him if memory serve me right.

transplant99 · 09-29-2017, 03:14 PM

Bob Nightengale‏Verified account @BNightengale 6h6 hours ago

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The #STLCards, who badly need a slugger in the middle of their lineup next year, are expected to strongly pursue #BlueJays 3B Josh Donaldson

Jiri Hrdina · 09-29-2017, 05:21 PM

^Good. They NEED to trade him this off-season. He isn't going to re-sign and they need to maximize the value they extract out of him.

BOSSY · 09-29-2017, 07:29 PM

Why won't he re-sign?

Jiri Hrdina · 09-29-2017, 07:36 PM

- the team isn't going to be in position to contend for a long time
- he can pick where he wants to play including in cities where he would be very marketable
- the Jays may choose not to break some of their arbitrary rules about contracts
- on the open market he will get HUGE offers.

jayswin · 09-29-2017, 07:43 PM

Yep, was going to respond, but Jiri nailed it. He's a true competitor who won't sit around waiting for a team to re-build if he doesn't have to.

Some players have team loyalty and prefer comfort and familiarity in their life and stay with a team because of it, Josh has been pretty clear that's not how he operates. He wants to win and he'll go where that opportunity best presents itself.

jayswin · 09-29-2017, 07:45 PM

He's also getting older (30, I believe), so if he signed another deal in Toronto he'd likely be at the tail end of his career when, and if the team was ready to contend again. No way he wants that, imo.

Parallex · 09-29-2017, 09:17 PM

Yeah... it doesn't make sense for either Donaldson or the Jays to have him stick around past next season. He's gonna be 32 at the start of next season, fast forward a year later... would you want to commit a long term big money deal to a 33 year old Donaldson? Not sure I want to see a 38/39 year old Donaldson eating up 20-25M worth of payroll.

As to whether he should be traded or not... I dunno. The Jays will have a 1st round pick for him for sure after next season so to trade him in the offseason you're gonna need to offer something = to that + plus a year of Donaldson's performance... any recent trades for an MVP/elite calibre player with a single year of team control left?

I mean... say the Cardinals offered up Kolton Wong and a decent prospect (Let's say Dakota Hudson, ranked as their #7 prospect... if you don't want to look him up he's a starting pitcher who gets a lot of ground balls but relatively few K's, call him a likely inning eating #4 (maybe a 3 if he can get a few more K's). Would that do it for people? That strikes me as what you'd be offered for him.