The 2016 Toronto Blue Jays Thread

[Sylvanfan]

Every time I tune into a Rays vs Jays game, Kiermaier comes up and get's an extra base hit. Judging by his stats this year...I think I've seen every extra base hit he has this year.

[cross16]

I still cant' believe that some Jays fan get on the bullpen. IMO, their bullpen is now very good with the Grilli-Osuna 8-9 lockdown punch and more than enough options for effective relief in the 6th/7th innings. Hopefully that rhetoric can end soon.

Travis is becoming quite the catalyst for this team and really happy to see him in the leadoff spot. The Donaldson trade I think will always be AA's legacy to the Jays but I don't think the Travis trade should be very far behind it in terms of his best deals as GM. That's an outright steal of a trade.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by cross16

I still cant' believe that some Jays fan get on the bullpen. IMO, their bullpen is now very good with the Grilli-Osuna 8-9 lockdown punch and more than enough options for effective relief in the 6th/7th innings. Hopefully that rhetoric can end soon.

Travis is becoming quite the catalyst for this team and really happy to see him in the leadoff spot. The Donaldson trade I think will always be AA's legacy to the Jays but I don't think the Travis trade should be very far behind it in terms of his best deals as GM. That's an outright steal of a trade.

Their bullpen was a tire fire with Cecil and Storen. They've replaced them with Grilli and Benoit. Huge upgrade.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by cross16

I still cant' believe that some Jays fan get on the bullpen. IMO, their bullpen is now very good with the Grilli-Osuna 8-9 lockdown punch and more than enough options for effective relief in the 6th/7th innings. Hopefully that rhetoric can end soon.

Travis is becoming quite the catalyst for this team and really happy to see him in the leadoff spot. The Donaldson trade I think will always be AA's legacy to the Jays but I don't think the Travis trade should be very far behind it in terms of his best deals as GM. That's an outright steal of a trade.

It's definitely improves, but still no lefties though. They only have one left-handed pitcher on their 25 man roster (Cecil). That is a huge area of concern.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

It's definitely improves, but still no lefties though. They only have one left-handed pitcher on their 25 man roster (Cecil). That is a huge area of concern.

Guessing you mean only one left handed bullpen pitcher.

Haap, and Liriano are lefty's too, but as starters of course.

[cross16]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

It's definitely improves, but still no lefties though. They only have one left-handed pitcher on their 25 man roster (Cecil). That is a huge area of concern.

I don't consider it a huge concern as I personaly feel matchups are overrated. Osuna and Grilli are equally as tough against both and traditionally Benoit has been too. Tepara is actually faring better against lefties than he is righties.

Where I do agree is they need Cecil to figure himself out as he seems to. Doesn't need to be an All star but he has to be a legitimate late inning option IMO. I still think they are a good bullpen if he doesn't, but could be a great bullpen if he does.

[Roof-Daddy]

Osuna, Biagini and Grilli are about as automatic as it gets.

Benoit has been great so far in the 7 innings he's pitched as a Jay.

Even Cecil seems to be finding his groove again as he's only allowed 3 hits and 1 earned run in his last 8 appearances (7.0 innings)

If Benoit and Cecil can be solid behind those other three, the Jays pen is really solid now. Just glad to have Storen and Chavez out of there. They were just terrible.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by cross16

I don't consider it a huge concern as I personaly feel matchups are overrated. Osuna and Grilli are equally as tough against both and traditionally Benoit has been too. Tepara is actually faring better against lefties than he is righties.

Where I do agree is they need Cecil to figure himself out as he seems to. Doesn't need to be an All star but he has to be a legitimate late inning option IMO. I still think they are a good bullpen if he doesn't, but could be a great bullpen if he does.

You should consider it a concern. We are one injury away from having no lefties in the pen, and even without injuries, Cecil is a tire fire this year. It's really unfortunate that Morales didn't pan out. Our only other options is Aaron Loup, and that makes me want to cry.

Tepera is horrible. Hopefully he never sees the light of day in a Jays uniform again. There's better options down there, like Bo Schultz.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Guessing you mean only one left handed bullpen pitcher.

Haap, and Liriano are lefty's too, but as starters of course.

Yup. We are one injury away from Aaron Loup!

[JiriHrdina]

Yeah I think the lack of a situational lefty is a concern, but is one that I would hope they can still address via trade. There should be someone out there they can get for low acquisition cost I would think.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Yeah I think the lack of a situational lefty is a concern, but is one that I would hope they can still address via trade. There should be someone out there they can get for low acquisition cost I would think.

I don't think players acquired on the waiver trade wire can suit up in the playoffs. Isn't that why Darwin Barney had to sit out the post season last year?

[JayP]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

You should consider it a concern. We are one injury away from having no lefties in the pen, and even without injuries, Cecil is a tire fire this year. It's really unfortunate that Morales didn't pan out. Our only other options is Aaron Loup, and that makes me want to cry.

Tepera is horrible. Hopefully he never sees the light of day in a Jays uniform again. There's better options down there, like Bo Schultz.

Assuming Sanchez manages to stay in the rotation, I think the long term strategy is to utilize Liriano out of the pen once the playoffs hit. His ability to strike guys out should play up nicely in the pen.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by JayP

Assuming Sanchez manages to stay in the rotation, I think the long term strategy is to utilize Liriano out of the pen once the playoffs hit. His ability to strike guys out should play up nicely in the pen.

Yeah it would, but I don't think we can bank on Sanchez starting in the playoffs yet.

[JayP]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

I don't think players acquired on the waiver trade wire can suit up in the playoffs. Isn't that why Darwin Barney had to sit out the post season last year?

Players traded in August are still playoff eligible. Players traded in September (like Barney was last season) are not.

[cross16]

I agree it is a concern just not a major one and i'm personally much more concernd about their lack of situation hitting and abilty to win games outside of hitting home runs than I am a situational lefty.

when they are tied/ahead Osuna and Grilli are going to get the majority of 8-9 anyway regardless of matchup and Benoit is right there in that boat too. Most of the time, the Jays get a quality start out of their rotation so I just don't see a ton of opportunity to necessitate such a need or concern for a situational lefty.

I would agree they should acquire one and one should be out there but is it the end of the world if they don't, or will it really hamper their postseason/world series plans? Not IMO.

[JayP]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

Yeah it would, but I don't think we can bank on Sanchez starting in the playoffs yet.

Even then, if he goes back to the bullpen it adds a dominant reliever who doesn't have issues getting lefties out anymore. The Jays still might deem it to be a better option to use Dickey as the 4th starter in the playoffs and have Liriano come out of the pen too in that scenario. Just depends how both those guys pitch down the stretch.

Either way, it could be an issue if Cecil gets hurt down the stretch, but once the playoffs hit I think the Jays have a lot more options than they did last season.

[puffnstuff]

Hey Rogers dont put the game as starting at 430 when it doesnt really start til after 5. Clowns.

[Karl]

EE took that fastball for strike 3 right down the middle of the plate. Might've been expecting an offspeed pitch, but that was right there. Too bad because they missed a great chance with men at 1st and 2nd with 1 out.

[Karl]

Too many Jays getting under the ball. Just not squaring it up yet.

[Karl]

Well Smoak at least finally made some good contact there even though he didn't get a base hit. Been a long time coming for him.