2012-2013 Toronto Blue Jays Off Season Thread - Page 2 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Cheese · 10-04-2012, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by howard_the_duck

Curious where you heard that? I think it would be a mistake in terms of his trade value and what he could potentially do with a more veteran laden lineup if they're fully healthy next season.

Was listening to a radio show with all of the baseball pundits. They were all in agreement that Rasmus would be a good chip to deal in any trade for a pitcher.

flambers · 10-04-2012, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cheese

Rumor around here is Rasmus is a goner...at least thats the buzz. Yunel wont be back, AA will take whatever he can get for him as he really created a black eye for the team with his racist comment. Not much support in TO for that.

I could see the Jays moving Ramus..... probably a decent asset to move...

As for Yunel.......... I would bet AA would love to move him. Challenge is will anyone take him?

flambers · 10-04-2012, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

Because guys at A/AA are still a year or two away from being impact major league guys.

Even if they get MLB ready guys for next year what is the best the team is going to do? The teams record regressed significantly the last two years with a guy like Bautista in the lineup.

If they load up on more players so they have a solid pool two years from now does it give them a better team? At that point they can

Oakland had no qualms dealing off Gonzalez, and Cahil this past offseason...to stock up on guys who were a year or two away...worked pretty good for them as a lot of those guys were up to the challenge by the end of the year.

I don't see Oakland carrying big salary players on thier payroll year after year to win 80 games.

Sure the high end blue chippers are "years" away... They were never in the picture in the short term (i.e. probably at least 2 years away).

Jays have clearly stated they need to add to their Starting Pitching.

They need to add #1 or #2 Starter and depth for sure.....

As for trading players like Bautista, totally disagree.... Jays have a rock solid farm system. They should be focusing on obtaining top end major league pitchers through trades.

Oakland however never lost two Starting Pitchers out of their rotation in a 2 day span... Both guys require Tommy John Surgery. Depth of McGowan and Litsch never made it out of Spring Training.

Jays have no depth in terms of Starters.

KootenayFlamesFan · 10-04-2012, 09:28 PM

Yeah, starting pitching is easily priority #1 imo. If the bats stay fairly healthy they're ok in that department, just need the arms to keep the runs against down.

Where ru Chris O'Sullivan · 10-05-2012, 12:13 AM

Too many questions, very few answers. As aggressive as AA wants to be, there will be 22 other buyers in the off-season as well.

Bautista when healthy this year was quite pushy about wanting to contend etc. You may have to deal him if you dont reel in a few big fish in Free agency.

I say bring Kelly Johnson back on a supervalue menu contract, he still hit 15 bombs in a terrible year.

With 2 WC's now, you have to try each and every year, but ultimately it will be Romero, Alvarez, Lawrie, JP and Rasmus that decide where we end up next year, all 5 will need to improve and our bullpen that looks great on paper will have to bring it to the field.

flambers · 10-05-2012, 07:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Where ru Chris O'Sullivan

Too many questions, very few answers. As aggressive as AA wants to be, there will be 22 other buyers in the off-season as well.

Bautista when healthy this year was quite pushy about wanting to contend etc. You may have to deal him if you dont reel in a few big fish in Free agency.

I say bring Kelly Johnson back on a supervalue menu contract, he still hit 15 bombs in a terrible year.

.

Personanally not a fan of Kelly Johnson, I would let him leave as UFA. He is not a great fit for the Jays....

Would think Free Agency will be tough for the Jays, I would expect they will try to be active via the trade market.....

Cheese · 10-05-2012, 08:08 AM

Kelly Johnson set the record for strikeouts in a year with the BJs this year. No thanks.

Flickered Flame · 10-05-2012, 03:45 PM

Not sure why there is a comparison to Toronto's rotation to Oakland's rotation. The A's have had either 3, 4 or 5 rookies in the rotation the entire year. McCarthy has been hurt the majority of the year with a variety of injuries and then Colon got suspended. They just went down the home stretch and won the division with 5 rookies in the rotation. If the A's can compete with multiple rookies in the rotation, why can't the Jays? And don't tell me its because of the division, the A's had a winning record vs NY, TB, Balt the last time I checked.

flambers · 10-05-2012, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flickered Flame

Not sure why there is a comparison to Toronto's rotation to Oakland's rotation. The A's have had either 3, 4 or 5 rookies in the rotation the entire year. McCarthy has been hurt the majority of the year with a variety of injuries and then Colon got suspended. They just went down the home stretch and won the division with 5 rookies in the rotation. If the A's can compete with multiple rookies in the rotation, why can't the Jays? And don't tell me its because of the division, the A's had a winning record vs NY, TB, Balt the last time I checked.

Jays problem was injuries..... they simply don't have any experienced arms that are Major league ready.

A's example was brought up stating the Jays should trade Morrow and Bautista for prospects.... (not my view point for sure).

Jays for sure need an experienced arm they have enough young players...

TitovFTW · 10-05-2012, 06:12 PM

The Oakland blueprint should not be followed or used as a "if Oakland did this why can't another team". I actually really like Oakland and am all aboard for this playoff run but they had every little thing go right for them. They overcame every last piece of adversity, made it through the majority of the season with one of the leagues worst offenses and had so many young pitchers step up huge. Could not be happier for their fans or the team, but you can't replicate that. There's a reason it's such a huge story and amazing run.

I'm a baseball fan more then I'm a Bluejays fan, but I think they need:
Starting pitching. Everyone seems to agree. The GM seems to agree. I think they'll add a minimum of two arms and hope that someone in the system steps up. Alvarez had a good finish to the season and I think Romero is at least a #5 starter next year.

Kelly Johnson is gone. Will succeed somewhere else. Mentally he just have up.

Lawrie is still going to be a star in this league. Saw somebody mentioned moving him to 2nd. I don't think he has the range at all

As long as his injury doesn't bother him, having a full season of Bautista and Encarnacion will help.

Don't see the Jays being a playoff team anytime soon. No need for any type of fire sale though.

Flickered Flame · 10-05-2012, 06:22 PM

There is no questioning the fact that everything went right for the Blue Jays. But I would suggest that if the Jays are not going to be competitive that they sell assets while value is high. B

TitovFTW · 10-05-2012, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flickered Flame

There is no questioning the fact that everything went right for the Blue Jays. But I would suggest that if the Jays are not going to be competitive that they sell assets while value is high. B

Outside of Bautista, they don't have any sell now or sell high assets that will be headed for decline years due to age. They'd be selling really low right now. They put themselves in a good situation with hardly any bad contracts, a lot of young talent and a good chunk of players poised to bounce back to their average output. It's a really weird stage to be in, but not compared to say the Calgary Flames lol

Flickered Flame · 10-05-2012, 07:45 PM

Depending on where they are going, I think Rasmus gets a decent return. Morrow is a guy who would fetch some nice pieces but you're right, they don't have much to sell right now.

TitovFTW · 10-05-2012, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flickered Flame

Depending on where they are going, I think Rasmus gets a decent return. Morrow is a guy who would fetch some nice pieces but you're right, they don't have much to sell right now.

This team doesn't need a full rebuild though or anything close to it. Both Morrow and Rasmus are young enough that they will provide value for years to come. I think both their upsides and very friendly contracts outweigh any potential returns.

This year is hard to forget but this team is not that different from the one coming into the season, and it sounds like they have money to spend this offseason. I think they're a playoff team in 2014 and could contend next season. They had some rough luck this year.

Flickered Flame · 10-05-2012, 08:09 PM

Too difficult to predict 2 years from now. I didn't buy the hype this year and not sure if I will buy it next year, if there is hype. All depends on free agency/transactions.

TitovFTW · 10-05-2012, 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flickered Flame

Too difficult to predict 2 years from now. I didn't buy the hype this year and not sure if I will buy it next year, if there is hype. All depends on free agency/transactions.

I think it was more excitement for the team this year then hype. A good young core together, a few very promising young players, new jerseys, a good run of trades. For a big baseball fan who use to live in Canada, people were always so passive about the Jays. I was so excited to see some excitement about them this year! Besides Larry King LOL, nobody of any merit predicted the Blue Jays to even make the playoffs this year. But if this season taught us anything, baseball is so hard to predict.

Northendzone · 10-05-2012, 10:02 PM

What, the season is over already?

KootenayFlamesFan · 10-15-2012, 11:19 AM

Quote:

“There's no doubt about it, the first domino to fall for us is to add to the starting rotation,” Anthopoulos told TSN.

“We have needs beyond that, but it starts there and if that does not get done we're not going to go anywhere. So that has to get done, one way or the other.”

Quote:

“There are a few names that are out there that are available that aren't out there in the mainstream media and obviously clubs want to keep that quiet. So, that's really the first thing we're going to try to get done fast. If we can be aggressive and get one starter in some capacity early that would be great.”

Quote:

“We're definitely going to try to move fast,” he said.

http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/story/?id=407429

The Big Chill · 10-19-2012, 02:12 PM

DJF on the Farrell situation:

Quote:

Speaking of compensation, Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe has some theories, suggesting that “the compensation for Farrell will be a pitcher on the cusp of being helpful to the big league team and a Double A prospect. The Red Sox will get a non-prospect in return to make it a real trade.”
He throws out several names, none of which will please the “Pedroia or bust” crowd, or even those who think that the Jays have to “at least” get Dan Bard, but that seem reasonably realistic: Chris Carpenter (the bad one), Clay Mortensen, Alex Wilson or Zach Stewart on the big league side, and Juan Carlos Linares, Kolbrin Vitek, Ivan DeJesus Jr., or Che-Hsuan Lin as prospects.
Not exactly what you were hoping for, huh? Me either, but the fact of the matter seems to be that if the Jays are entertaining this, and very obviously not going to the same lengths they did last year to keep the fact that they’re participating in talks under wraps, it strongly suggests that they really may be ready to part with their manager.

http://blogs.thescore.com/djf/2012/1...-lot-of-smoke/

Its looking like it is highly likely that Farrell goes to Boston. I like Farrell, but losing him won't hurt my feelings too much, especially if we can get a decent arm in return.

TitovFTW · 10-19-2012, 05:48 PM

Prepare for a lot of over reaction by the Canadian national sports media who don't understand baseball that well and a vocal group of fair weather Jays fans. Sounds like Farrell is going to Boston for sure now, with Rosenthal reporting the two sides are getting very close to agreeing on compensation. To me, this is a no brainer, and you make this move 100 times out of a 100 if you're the Jays. The difference in terms of wins between good managers and bad ones is a game or so during the season and their impact is tough to even measure. To get actual on field talent for your manager is great. There really should be no other storylines to this, but people will dump on the Jays organization and so on and so on. Good for the Blue Jays