2015 Blue Jays Regular Season Thread

[Harry Lime]

Both Bautista and EE have 1 1/2 years left on their respective sweetheart deals. Not only are they going to want a raise to stay in Toronto, but their value will never be higher than this year given that there is that extra year of control.

Most of the promising prospects in the Jays system seem to be in High A or AA, so selling those two to fill up AAA with high value position prospects wouldn't be the worst idea. It wouldn't necessarily even mean losing this season. Donaldson, Martin and Travis are solid, and adding an aging DH cleanup hitter isn't that difficult of a thing to accomplish in this league.

[bluejays]

John Farrell?

I think the fanbase should calm down about AA. He's shown he can still make the big trade. He really made a mistake with the Dickey trade in hindsight, but who doesn't make those deals at some point? My patience is wearing thin as well, but if it wasn't ownership holding back some money I'm sure AA would've made deals for pitchers. It's tough dealing from a position of weakness as well. Anthopolis is a smart guy, I'm willing to hold on for a year and see what he can bring.

[KelVarnsen]

AA is good at talking but terrible at actually translating that talk into action.

[GirlySports]

I can't see how a 125 million payroll is Rogers holding back.

Other than Martin, AA doesn't believe in Free agency. He could have gotten Darvish one year, or Santana another year. But to trade prospects for big contracts is even worse. The Dickey contract is not bad (and was signed by the Jays) but to trade Alvarez and Hechevaria to inherit all that money is crazy.

Everyone knows the Jays bullpen was a problem in the offseason right? We just saw the Astros bullpen take them to the woodshed. They signed Gregerson and Neshek. Jays could have done that. Or go for someone better, like Andrew Bailey.

[Antithesis]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

It just shakes up the team. Redmond in Miami doesn't do a lot wrong either and ownership had a firesale a couple of years ago. Miami had a slightly worse record than Toronto last year with a much worse team.

The manager sets the tone of the clubhouse. Who is the manger of this team? Is it Gibbons or Bautista?

I suppose that is a possibility, but who are you going to replace him with that is going to do better? I'm asking honestly - is there someone in the minor leagues that should be brought up, or an ex-manager that would look good? The only way I really see a move happening where it benefits the team both immediately and long-term is if there's some hotshot guy coming up from the minors.

Originally Posted by Derek Sutton

The Dickey deal looks awful right now. Syndagaard(sp?) made his second start for the Mets today and he can bring it, he looks to be exactly what the Jays need right now. Losing Stroman has really hurt,but heading into the season everyone thought the bullpen would struggle and AA needed/ needs to address that. I would not be sorry to see John Farrell let go again.

Well of course the Dickey deal looks terrible right now but I think the one that is far worse is the Marlins deal. If the trades AA made turned the Jays into a reliable playoff team over the past three seasons (perhaps with a deep run or even a World Series victory), you do those trades every single time. Both of those deals more-or-less went as poorly as they possibly could. With the benefit of hindsight, they look terrible.

The Marlins deal is especially glaring in hindsight - we were all in awe that AA could pull off that trade without trading any of the Jay's 'big prospects' (They kept Syndegaard and Sanchez!!), when it's becoming clear they were able to do so because those contracts were awful and the players they got weren't all that great. That should have been setting off alarm bells. We also have to keep in mind that the Jays were trying to take advantage of a competitive window with EE and Bautista. While in hindsight, maintaining status quo (not making either trade) would have been preferable, it would have been pretty bad asset management at the time.

It seems like AA saw two options in front of him: Cash in some of the team's fantastic prospect depth for some right-now help, or cash in the right-now players for some fantastic prospect depth. Can't blame the guy for choosing the former route as the for-prospects trade he made with Halladay didn't actually turn out so great.

As for the game, great to see the Jays get some timely hitting, however Redmond turned back into a pumpkin in the top of the 4th, giving up 3 runs to bring the Angels back within one. So frustrating.

[GirlySports]

Josh Johnson really killed that deal.

[Antithesis]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Josh Johnson really killed that deal.

Yep, that really sucked. I remember going into that season thinking that we had a guy who could theoretically have been the opening day starter going 4th in the rotation! Wow! Of course, he ended up being a complete pile of junk, but oh well. Reyes isn't far behind. I know he's talented and he can bring a lot to the team, but bringing a guy in with a history of leg injury issues onto the team and playing on the turf with the contract Reyes has was pretty bad.

[Antithesis]

And there goes the lead. The Jays are like the anti-Flames. Seems like they're always happy to give up the lead.

[GirlySports]

wow, pitched around both Bautista and EE

[Antithesis]

Yep, huge inning there for the Jays - don't know what Donaldson did to get under the Angels' skin but it sure worked. Nice to see Bautista destroy that pitch to give the Jays a (safe?) 10-5 lead.

[SportsJunky]

No lead is safe with the Louper on the mound.

[Tyler]

Love me some Donaldson!

NSFW

Spoiler!

[Antithesis]

More on loving Donaldson: huge bomb to center to open the scoring in the bottom of the 1st.

Sanchez is off to a great start again - he seems to be trending in the right direction. 23 pitches through two innings.

[GirlySports]

Aaahh i think Donaldson should have taken the out at 1st...

[KelVarnsen]

Lol Jays.

[TKB]

Oh no, they suck again!!!

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by TKB

Oh no, they suck again!!!

Maybe AA will make a bold move and fire Gibbons and hire Carlos Tosca?

[Tyler]

Le Sigh

[Lil Pedro]

Can't wait for opening day 2016

[Caged Great]

Hoffman threw 5 innings today in A ball. Gave up 4 runs, but wasn't overly bad for his first professional start. Hit 99 on the radar gun.

With the Jays awesome pitching, he'll be in the majors in a month or two.