2012 Toronto Blue Jays Season Thread

[Gozer]

Originally Posted by fleury

AA is known as a man of his word, but if management did promise a call up and didn't stick to their word, it's nice to know they can't hold a gun to his head, and he left (and subsequently, they have egg on their face). Management has to be held to their word in any work environment.

In the presser, Ant said that there were no promises nor any deadlines.

Originally Posted by fleury

Are you serious? Lind? I could somewhat see Cooper, but Gomes and Lind?

Gomes has terrific defensive versatility and his bat has been passable in the Show.

Lind, in AAA, has double Vladdy's OPS.
If it's a meritocracy, you go with the guy who's been twice as good with the bat (especially at DH).
To be clear, I'm ok with neither coming up. And if Vladdy isn't ok with that - good luck!

[Where ru Chris O'Sullivan]

Originally Posted by fleury

Are you serious? Lind? I could somewhat see Cooper, but Gomes and Lind? AA is known as a man of his word, but if management did promise a call up and didn't stick to their word, it's nice to know they can't hold a gun to his head, and he left (and subsequently, they have egg on their face). Management has to be held to their word in any work environment.

What's Vlad's rush? he took a ball off the hands, the Jays are in a National league ballpark (no DH spot atm), he could have given them another week? Feels like his agent is scared he wont go yard in Vegas and after 3 more games hitting .350 will be overshadowed by that.

[flambers]

Vlad is a DH..... If the choice was E5 or Vlad.......... I would think it was an easy decision.

As for the other bench players.....

Gomes for example can play 3rd, 1st or Catcher.

McCoy can play all over the place

Cooper is the regular 1st Baseman....

Its hard to find a spot for Vlad...

[calculoso]

Also remember that Vlad (and Lind) are not on the 40-man roster, so another player would have to be DFA'd or outrighted. Not necessarily an issue, but definitely another factor to consider.

[habernac]

Geez, Drabek hurt today? They're going to have to call in Dave Steib the way things are going.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by habernac

Geez, Drabek hurt today? They're going to have to call in Dave Steib the way things are going.

Hopefully the injury is not serious.........

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by habernac

Geez, Drabek hurt today? They're going to have to call in Dave Steib the way things are going.

At least Steib might be able to hit the strikezone once in a while....

[Gozer]

Originally Posted by calculoso

Also remember that Vlad (and Lind) are not on the 40-man roster, so another player would have to be DFA'd or outrighted. Not necessarily an issue, but definitely another factor to consider.

Good point - a likely issue since they just lost a pitcher on waivers.

[Caged Great]

Updated with more accurate $ figures

The Jays if they sign all of their picks in the top ten rounds will be able to spend a maximum of $9 272 340 on their picks

Here's the slot for these picks

Davis - 2.0 - Signed 1.7
Stroman - 1.8
Smoral - 1.0 - Signed 2 mil
Nay - 884 100 - Signed 1 Mil
Gonzalez - 857 200
DeJong - 620 300
Alford - 424 400 - Signed 750 000
Donahue - 308 700 - Signed < 5000
Delatte - 231 100 - Signed < 5000
Phillips - 173 200 - Signed 5000
Parmley - 145 000 - Signed < 5000
Frawley - 135 400 - Signed < 5000
Leyland - 126 400 - Signed < 5000
Azor - 125 000 - Signed 1000

Cap Savings - $20 600

[Caged Great]

Rumours are out there that the Jays have signed

Ryan Kellogg - LHP (12th),
Ryan Borucki - LHP (15th),
Joshua Almonte - OF (22nd),
Trey Pascazi - SS (23rd),
Devyn Rivera - RHP (35th),
Daniel Devonshire - 1B (37th),

Will try to find out more info.

[flames_1987]

What's most frustrating is how the Jays bat's continue to struggle. Lawrie's offensive numbers are really ugly, did not expect this big of a drop off from his pace last season, but he's still contributing with his base running and defense and as a 22 year old, that's all you can ask for.

I don't mind this team struggling a little bit because hopefully it can reign in the expectations of some fans who seem to live and die by 162 games and each season as do or die. The Jays not only are thin on pitching right now but Alvarez and Hutchison are both gonna be on a strict pitch counts. I'm hoping that seeing this, AA won't go after Garza and give up any number of prospects. JPA is not the future catcher of a contending team.

It will be really interesting to see what this team does going forward with EE and Kelly Johnson both playing in contract years. I'd love to see them keep both but if you can get close to MLB ready talent in a bundle for EE I think you go for it. I'd love to see us bring back KJ as there are no 2nd basemen in free agency or really available. If he is going to test free agency, I'd love to see us get something for him. And this is far to premature, but Bautista is going to continue to get older and while his contract is team friendly and he still has some effective years ahead of him, it be interesting to see the type of value in return that could be offered.

All that being said, we don't have one bad contract on this team besides Adam Lind. We've seen Rasmus really begin to live up to his potential, Morrow has had Ace stuff all season and we are coming off what looks to be another great draft.

This is still a good baseball team, I still see them finishing above .500 and there's a ton of reasons to still be excited about this franchise going forward and the games still to be played this season.

[KelVarnsen]

This is season hasn't been what I was expecting from this team. I expected a more competitive team, not a division leading or true playoff contender but more then what they are right now. Santos getting injured, Lind not finding his form, the whole LF thing, Romero struggling, and the above mentioned batting struggles. It has been frustrating to watch.

Going to be interesting to see what happens with our pitching going forward due to Morrow and maybe Drabek getting injured. Maybe Cecil can figure it out, but I have my doubts about him.

This team does have a lot of potential, and is a better team then they have played, the future is still bright.

[Caged Great]

I think the Jays should shop Escobar for a quality hitting SS/2B prospect in AA or AAA. It makes sense as he's blocking Hechavarria who's numbers won't be much if at all worse in the majors than Yunel's have, while improving defensively. We don't really have a guy that's nearly ready prospect wise that we can throw at 2B, so getting one in trade would help.

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by KelVarnsen

This is season hasn't been what I was expecting from this team. I expected a more competitive team, not a division leading or true playoff contender but more then what they are right now. Santos getting injured, Lind not finding his form, the whole LF thing, Romero struggling, and the above mentioned batting struggles. It has been frustrating to watch.

Going to be interesting to see what happens with our pitching going forward due to Morrow and maybe Drabek getting injured. Maybe Cecil can figure it out, but I have my doubts about him.

This team does have a lot of potential, and is a better team then they have played, the future is still bright.

This is actually right around what I was expecting. We needed to see what the pitchers and the hitters that were question marks would do. EE and Rasmus have exceeded expectations, while Thames/Lind have been an abomination. Morrow's finally starting to be what he should be, same with Romero (Last year, he was better than his predictive stats showed that he should've been)

I'm pleased with the progress of a lot of our players, especially our prospects. There is a lot to be hopeful for.

[flames_1987]

I agree with everything Caged except for the call up of Hech. His bat might not even be good enough to be in an MLB lineup. His defensive has to be such an incredible upgrade over Yunel to make that worth doing and while Yunel's range isn't that good, his strong arm makes up for it. He's also under contract for only 5 million the next 2 or 3 years I believe.

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by flames_1987

I agree with everything Caged except for the call up of Hech. His bat might not even be good enough to be in an MLB lineup. His defensive has to be such an incredible upgrade over Yunel to make that worth doing and while Yunel's range isn't that good, his strong arm makes up for it. He's also under contract for only 5 million the next 2 or 3 years I believe.

According to metrics, Hechavarria is up there with Ozzie Smith in terms of defense, which is ridiculous (He is considered the best ever defensively)

If Hech puts up a .600 OPS (not much less than Escobar's .620) which is only a bit better than Johnny Mac's, the improvement from the increased range and defensive ability should make up that difference easily. Plus Hech will only be making 450K or whatever the league min is and is under control for 7 years. Escobar's contract though could be enticing to some teams who want a decent SS (despite Yunel's struggles at the plate, he's still better than a lot of SS) then it would be possible to move him for something else we could use.

[Gozer]

I agree that Hech should be the starting SS next season and, since I don't expect his defense to fall off, I'm happpy with him and a guy like Vizquel and potentially have to live with some struggles.

Also, D'arnaud as the catcher next year makes sense. Call him up and get him some at-bats - Sept at the latest.

That does leave Yunel and JP as odd men out. I think JP is probably not a huge piece on the trade market compared to his value to the team as a backup. I'm happy having him as a guy that catches plenty games while d'Arnaud gets plenty of time at DH to keep his bat in the lineup. JP and TdA seems like excellent depth/versatility and not necessarily wasting an asset.

Yunel is a tough call - he's too valuable to keep as a SS/3B backup, but doesn't seem to have a spot next year. I don't think he transitions to 2B well, but he has a very team-friendly contract. Could be a big piece in a trade - a starting calibre SS plus a variety of bullpen veterans like Oliver and Cordero (Cecil maybe) could land a premium return at the deadline from a contender - this would be a more attractive package than the Rasmus for Patterson/Ryzp/Dotel/Frasor deal.

If Johnson isn't interested in an extension, that package for an elite 2B prospect from an NL team makes a lot of sense.

[Gozer]

Joey Bats, tied for 3rd in HRs. (AL)

[Trojan97]

Originally Posted by Gozer

Joey Bats, tied for 3rd in HRs. (AL)

15 HRs in 143 ABs in May/June. That pace over a full season amount to 63 home runs. Guy is mashing!

[Otsy]

Drabek to DL with Ligament sprain. Brett Cecil recalled and starting Sunday