The Blue Jays Thread.

[ricoFlame]

Well with pitchers and catchers reporting in a couple days, i figured the timing was right for a Jays thread to begin. so lets get 'er going:

http://www.nbcsports.com/mlb/1061940/detail.html

A.J. Burnett's goal for the season...staying healthy is important, but perhaps a nicer goal would be winning. hopefully he can keep it healthy though, those arm troubles need to be a thing of the past ( though they rarely are).

[ricoFlame]

Here's the link to the current organizational depth chart:

http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/team...x.jsp?c_id=tor

I love Zauny, but catcher looks to be a weakness, hopefully he can keep the offensive numbers up. and hopefully Clayton can hit for average because there definitely doesn't look to be much offense from SS for another year.

[Cerebral]

If Zaun hits as well he did last season (which is somewhat unlikely), the Jays will have above-average offence from the catcher position. What I like about Zaun is his OBP - the guy can take a walk and he's not a free-swinger like a lot of other catchers. The Jays can likely live with Clayton at SS (although I'm personally hoping that Olmeda steals the job in training camp) simply because the rest of the club hits so well.

Aaron Hill is a guy I'll be watching closely, the guy could develop into an elite 2nd baseman in the league if he continues to hit/field like he did last year.

[Gravitykillr]

what happened to Russ Adams? did I miss something because he's not on the depth chart at all

[Resolute 14]

That depth chart only shows players on the 25 man roster. Adams will start the seaosn in the minors.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by Cerebral

If Zaun hits as well he did last season (which is somewhat unlikely), the Jays will have above-average offence from the catcher position. What I like about Zaun is his OBP - the guy can take a walk and he's not a free-swinger like a lot of other catchers. The Jays can likely live with Clayton at SS (although I'm personally hoping that Olmeda steals the job in training camp) simply because the rest of the club hits so well.

Aaron Hill is a guy I'll be watching closely, the guy could develop into an elite 2nd baseman in the league if he continues to hit/field like he did last year.

I agree competely about the SS situation. This summer, that was the most ridiculous signing, but as long as the guy is good on defence, the Jays will be alright. No one batter can kill the team or win a game single handedly, so even though Clayton is the weakest link, he isn't going to break the team (assuming he plays in the 9 spot). As for Hill, don't be surprised if this year he has a setback. He's still relatively young, and in all sports, many young players who have had good seasons earlier in their careers take the summer off expecting to naturally be better, and I'm not sure Hill is no exception. The lineup is looking good though. Just waiting to see how the starting rotation rounds off and if one of the high-risk-high-return guys really takes the league by storm. Should be a very interesting year.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by Snakeeye

That depth chart only shows players on the 25 man roster. Adams will start the seaosn in the minors.

I would guess the depth chart has not been updated.... but players like Adams or Towers have to have great camp to make the team.

Short stop will be an interesting position, personally I am not a fan of Clayton.

[Ranchlander]

Unless they get some more starters they're screwed. Tomo Ohka and Johnson as their #4 and #5?? Thats pretty bad.

[kipperfan]

Originally Posted by Ranchlander

Unless they get some more starters they're screwed. Tomo Ohka and Johnson as their #4 and #5?? Thats pretty bad.

I dont know who your talking about? There is no "Johnson" that pitches for the Jays....

As for your point.....dont forget Zambrano and Thompson have also been signed...then there is the young guys like Marcum, McGowan and Janssen, Downs as well as the golden boy Josh Towers.

I think the 4-5 spots will be fine....they have a TON of depth, and some good expierenced guys in Zambrano, Thompson and Ohka.

[Cerebral]

Originally Posted by fleury

I agree competely about the SS situation. This summer, that was the most ridiculous signing, but as long as the guy is good on defence, the Jays will be alright. No one batter can kill the team or win a game single handedly, so even though Clayton is the weakest link, he isn't going to break the team (assuming he plays in the 9 spot). As for Hill, don't be surprised if this year he has a setback. He's still relatively young, and in all sports, many young players who have had good seasons earlier in their careers take the summer off expecting to naturally be better, and I'm not sure Hill is no exception. The lineup is looking good though. Just waiting to see how the starting rotation rounds off and if one of the high-risk-high-return guys really takes the league by storm. Should be a very interesting year.

My big beef with the Clayton is the fact that he's not even a great defender anymore (at least based on what a number of people have been saying). He's a pretty terrible hitter (although he does have a little power at times) so he's really a pretty useless player at this point in time. Granted Olmeda can't really hit either but at least he's reasonably young and he's apparently very good with the glove as well. My wild card is Jason Smith, it sounds like he might end up making the club and he has put up some pretty impressive numbers for a middle infielder in AAA.

Russ Adams has really disappointed me, I like his potential in terms of becoming a solid on-base guy but he simply can't throw the bloody ball. I have a feeling he could develop into a reliable 2nd baseman but Hill is already fantastic defensively at the position and Hill also seems poised to put up a .300+ season along with potentially a .400 OBP.

Originally Posted by Ranchlander

Unless they get some more starters they're screwed. Tomo Ohka and Johnson as their #4 and #5?? Thats pretty bad.

I disagree completely - if Ohka and Thompson are healthy (which is obviously a big "if"), the Jays will get better than average numbers from their #4 and #5 starters. I actually like what JP did with the starting rotation this summer, I wouldn't be shocked at all if one of Ohka or Thompson ends up putting up better or similar numbers to Gil Meche who is making $10+ million.

It's all really going to come down to Burnett in my view, the Jays could be in good shape if he stays healthy and has a solid season. They still have enough budget space to add a starter around mid-season if one of Ohka or Thompson don't pan out and I'm still really hoping McGowan can have a bounce-back year and find his control again.

[Ranchlander]

Originally Posted by kipperfan

I dont know who your talking about? There is no "Johnson" that pitches for the Jays....

As for your point.....dont forget Zambrano and Thompson have also been signed...then there is the young guys like Marcum, McGowan and Janssen, Downs as well as the golden boy Josh Towers.

I think the 4-5 spots will be fine....they have a TON of depth, and some good expierenced guys in Zambrano, Thompson and Ohka.

Whoops, yea I meant Thompson. Hopefully one or two of those guys can win some games, otherwise its gonna be the same deal as last year. Lots of firepower, but not enough to leapfrog the rest of the AL east.

[Sylvanfan]

Well if the Jays top 3 can stay any semblance of healthy it will help a lot. Both Chacin and Burnett missed long stretches last year and Halladay missed a few starts at the end as well. If they can get 30 starts each out of those three than you'd hope thats 60 games that they could win, meaning that if you can win 50% of the other games that gets you 95 which should put them in contention for the Wild Card.

[Otto-matic]

What about Josh Towers?
Isnt he the #5 guy in Toronto or am I crazy?

[CrusaderPi]

Nothing wrong with Tomo Ohko as a #4. If I could get 150 innings out of him and a record of 10-10 I'd take it.

[Cerebral]

Originally Posted by Otto-matic

What about Josh Towers?
Isnt he the #5 guy in Toronto or am I crazy?

Josh Towers was the #5 guy heading into last season and he was beyond terrible. Last season he was a soft throwing guy who simply couldn't place his pitches in the strike zone. Towers's success comes from his accuracy and he gets knocked all over the park if he leaves his crap over the heart of the plate. I'm sure he'll be in contention for a starting spot this year but I'm hoping that both Ohka and Thompson show him up in camp.

Truth be told, the best case scenario for the Jays is if McGowan can come into camp and have a fantastic pre-season pushing one of Ohka or Thompson out of the starting rotation. That's certainly not likely but the kid still has ace potential if he can get his command issues sorted out and he apparently pitched pretty well in winter ball.

[ricoFlame]

everyone knows this by now,but gibbons has been re-signed for the 2008 season at $650,000.

http://tsn.ca/mlb/news_story/?ID=196821&hubname=

[RedHot25]

A nice article on Royce Clayton for the Jays....

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl.../sports/Sports

[RedHot25]

Poor Shea just can't get enough of the 'ole Blue Jays. Whether or not he has his point, this is ridiculous; he keeps going on and on and on and on....

Among the highlights:
http://torontosun.com/Sports/Basebal...54227-sun.html

"J.P. will deny it, but he told my agent, Dan Lozano, they'd bury me ... keep cutting down on my playing time, unless I got in line," Hillenbrand said.

...

During batting practice he was in the outfield talking with players ("players who wanted out, the trade deadline was approaching"). He admitted, in the interview this week, to writing "Play for yourselves" on the clubhouse whiteboard July 19.
Gregg Zaun mockingly wrote the next line "Play for your contract" and argued with Hillenbrand. Then, Hillenbrand wrote "This ship is sinking."
Hitting coach Mickey Brantley told Gibbons what was on the board, Hillenbrand claims. After batting practice a team meeting was scheduled, called by Vernon Wells. A teammate had accused the centre fielder of pulling up on a ball that should have been caught.


....


Gibbons delivered a "you or me" ultimatum to Hillenbrand. Later, assistant to the GM Bart Given told Hillenbrand he had been designated for assignment. That night the Jays claimed Hillenbrand had cut up both the Canadian flag crest on his cap and the Canada across the back of his jersey on July 1 after being removed late in a 5-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.

.....
"I'm not a guy like Gregg Zaun who claims he's a leader, I'm a competitor," Hillenbrand said.
"I like Gibbons, but J.P. puts so much pressure on him. Gibbons keeps everything inside until he reaches the boiling point and can't keep it in any longer."


....


Hillenbrand remembers being in the training room at Rogers Centre after a game early in 2005.
"J.P. comes in ranting, knocking Vernon for a lack of work ethic and saying how he couldn't stand Eric Hinske," Hillenbrand said. "I hardly knew the GM and he's saying this to me?"


....


Hillenbrand spoke of a dugout scene against the New York Yankees in 2005 when Alex Rios didn't run out a ball and Gibbons lifted Rios from the game.
"The manager had the situation under control; at the end of the inning in comes (third base coach) Brian Butterfield, he's yelling, swearing, hitting the Gatorade bucket and crapping on Rios.
"I tap him and say 'it's okay, John handled it,' and Butterfield turns and goes off on me. We didn't need him distracting everyone. (Butterfield) said later I didn't know him well enough to say anything to him."

[kipperfan]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/art...23_132754_4964 Jays make another minor signing to attempt to bolster their pitching....cant say I know who this guy is though.

[Jiggy_12]

Originally Posted by kipperfan

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/art...23_132754_4964 Jays make another minor signing to attempt to bolster their pitching....cant say I know who this guy is though.

I love what the Jays have done lately. They are going to have about 5 darts to throw at the rotation, chances are 1 or 2 will stick.