The Blue Jays Thread.

[Sylvanfan]

Yeah, pretty calm game tonight. A-Rod sat out with a sore calf....message to AL pitchers, it's worth getting your bum 5th starter tossed out of the game to throw at his calf and get him out of the lineup.

Worth noting is that Matt Stairs who was 3 for 3 on Sunday with 3 doubles against Texas, than had a HBP in a pinch hitting appearance Monday hit doubles in his first two at bats tonight. So he had 5 consecutive at bats where he hit doubles. Sort of a neat little stat.

Guys like Stairs represent exactly what a team like the Jays will need to find every year if they ever want to have a hope in hell of making the playoffs in their division. Develop a group of strong arms for your pitching staff and than try to find these guys like Stairs in the scratch and dent bin who come cheap and might give you some production for a bargain basement price.

[Flickered Flame]

Clemens gets suspended 5 games for hitting Rios, Stairs-Towers-Butterfield all fined today.

http://tsn.ca/mlb/news_story/?ID=215824&hubname=

[FLAMESRULE]

Originally Posted by Flickered Flame

Clemens gets suspended 5 games for hitting Rios, Stairs-Towers-Butterfield all fined today.

http://tsn.ca/mlb/news_story/?ID=215824&hubname=

Wow 5 games seems like a lot, I assume that he wont miss a scheduled start or they can push it back a game. I missed this game and the one where A-Rod called off Clark, but when I was at the game on Monday A-Rod got a lot of boos.

Turning into a good rivalry. Lets hope the Jays can get something out of this on the road trip now.

[ricoFlame]

Originally Posted by FLAMESRULE

Wow 5 games seems like a lot, I assume that he wont miss a scheduled start or they can push it back a game. I missed this game and the one where A-Rod called off Clark, but when I was at the game on Monday A-Rod got a lot of boos.

Turning into a good rivalry. Lets hope the Jays can get something out of this on the road trip now.

no biggy for him, his next start will be pushed back a day.

[Bobblehead]

In MLB, do players who are suspended give up their salary for those games?

[ricoFlame]

well, the run support wasn't there, but marcum pitched a gem through 6 1/3 innings and made it out of KC with the win. looks like he migh have some sort of leg injury though, let's hope it's nothing. man he looks impressive out there, very composed and confident, and hits his spots. even when he was struggling with whatever injury he had tonight.

2-1 jays.

[ricoFlame]

burnett is supposed to start today vs. KC.

[Sylvanfan]

Well AJ BandAid Burnett was pretty good tonight going 7 1/3 giving up 3 hits and one run on around 90 pitches or so. If this guy could ever be healthey enough to make more than 15 starts in a row who knows what he could achieve. Would be nice if he could make about 8 starts here to end the season and post something like a 5-2 record.

[FLAMESRULE]

Great start last night from Burnett. Was very sharp and mad few mistakes. My god is Stairs playing superbly, I wish he was the DH and not Thomas. I think 9/10 last hits have all been doubles, seeing the ball very well.

Poor Aaron Hill gets another HR taken away by the leftfielder (name escapes me). I heard the TSN guys say last night that there scouts found him jumping over small cars in a parking lot, brought him to camp to check his arm, and signed. Incredible story.

Glaus finally gets a couple hits as well after a career long hitless streak. Team really needs his bat to shape up.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by FLAMESRULE

Great start last night from Burnett. Was very sharp and mad few mistakes. My god is Stairs playing superbly, I wish he was the DH and not Thomas. I think 9/10 last hits have all been doubles, seeing the ball very well.
.

In fairness to Thomas he does lead the team in RBIs. After a slow start he's started to meet expectations.

[habernac]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

In fairness to Thomas he does lead the team in RBIs. After a slow start he's started to meet expectations.

Yeah, agreed that Thomas is hitting his stride, but think of how many RBIs Stairs would have if he were in the lineup full time. He's been my favourite Jay this year, he's always in the mix. He's hitting timely doubles, getting on the bases with a walk, trying to get at A-Rod. Just seems like a guy who really wants to be there. Can he play third? Park Glaus on the DL for two weeks and let him heal up some as he's doing next to nothing at the plate currently.

[Sylvanfan]

Thomas had a really good start to August where he seemingly collected about 20 RBI in about a 12 game stretch. Last year I think he hit .270 with just over 100 RBI but had the 39 home runs. This year it looks like he'll be around .270 and that he'll drive in around 90 runs, but the homeruns will be more like 24. Really I don't know what more the Blue Jays realistically expected out of a guy who's that age.

I don't think I'll ever be convinced that he was the right hitter to add into that mix in the lineup. He's too similar to Troy Glaus in the manner that they're both big power hitting right handed guys who are both big time double play risks. Than add in Wells who's tried to hit like that all year and Rios as a right handed power guy and the Jays have too much of the same hitter. Although one guy who really hasn't produced much at all this year is Overbay at first base. He's had no home run pop this year and certainly the injuries havent helped. But the lack of a good power hitthing lefty to mix into that group of right handed hitters has been a big time sore spot. Overall all of Overbay, Wells, and Glaus have had terrible years and Thomas likley has to be looked at as the guy who produced what was expected.

[CaramonLS]

Don't forget Reed too, Sylvan .

I'm just curious as to what Gibbons is thinking with the lineups he keeps trodding out there on a daily basis.

Why is Matt Stairs, your best hitter vs. RHP leading off? Ideally you want that guy in the 3/4 who would have a better chance at driving OBP guys in (because Olmedo/McDonald/Zaun aren't as good at getting on base as the guys at the top of the order).

Anyways, here is what I do vs. RHP:

Wells/Overbay/Rios/Stairs/Thomas/Glaus/Hill/Zaun/McDonald

Reed rides the pine because he has been pretty awful since coming back - spelling off guys in the OF occasionally (and plays everyday vs. lefties). Wells has had uncanny success leading off for some reason (perhaps focusing on getting on base more?), so I'd put him there until he proves otherwise.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

Reed rides the pine because he has been pretty awful since coming back - spelling off guys in the OF occasionally (and plays everyday vs. lefties). Wells has had uncanny success leading off for some reason (perhaps focusing on getting on base more?), so I'd put him there until he proves otherwise.

Well you make a good point in that the Blue Jays lack a real leadoff hitter type of guy. Johnson is the best player they have to play that role, but he does struggle too much at the plate playing every day against right handed pitching.

I think Wells is a guy who has hit far better in the lead off spot than he did in other parts of the lineup. Really the guy has good speed and can beat out more infield hits than anyone else in the lineup. When he's leading off it I think he will take a few more pitches and will lay off those high fast balls that he always pops up to the infield. Plus once he gets on base he is a guy you can start as a runner and who can score from first on a doulbe or go first to third on a base hit. By no means is he ideal...but he's likley the best option they have. So yeah if you could run out a lineup like
Wells
Overbay
Rios
Thomas
Stairs
Glaus
Hill
Zaun
McDonald/Olmedo

At least you can set it up so that you don't go more than two right handed hitters in a row before a lefty comes up.

[ricoFlame]

this time it was errors that lead to a jays loss. 2-2 at KC is a bit disappointing, but whatev. move on i guess. litsch looked composed all game despite the fellas booting it aroung behind him.

[Flickered Flame]

Originally Posted by ricoFlame

2-2 at KC is a bit disappointing, but whatev. move on i guess.

Isn't that the problem with the Jays though...they want to compete with the big boys but always settle for series splits or 2-1 series wins. The Jays just don't have the make up to run off 8, 9, 10 games in a row to really put themselves in a good position. relying on other teams to fade is not the way to make the playoffs.

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by Flickered Flame

Isn't that the problem with the Jays though...they want to compete with the big boys but always settle for series splits or 2-1 series wins. The Jays just don't have the make up to run off 8, 9, 10 games in a row to really put themselves in a good position. relying on other teams to fade is not the way to make the playoffs.

7.5 Games back of the Yankees for the WC now, and have to leap frog over a couple more teams with 45 games to go.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by Flickered Flame

Isn't that the problem with the Jays though...they want to compete with the big boys but always settle for series splits or 2-1 series wins. The Jays just don't have the make up to run off 8, 9, 10 games in a row to really put themselves in a good position. relying on other teams to fade is not the way to make the playoffs.

Than factor in that they tend to get clobbered head to head against teams like the Yankees. They get swept in that series and since they themselves don't sweep often they need to win 3 series 2-1 to make back the sweep they gave up. Mean while 9 more games go by the wayside and the team is still at .500. The Blue Jays need to start teeing off on teams like the Royals and D-Rays and anyone beneath them in the standings.....correcting...needed to because it's definitely too late right now.

At least the positive thing is that the team does look like they might have pitching staff that they can work with. I think as a GM in Baseball it's easier to overhaul your offence than your pitching staff. The Jays are pretty much .500 since the Allstar break despite having a pitching staff with the top ERA in all of the majors. You can only wait so long for your offence to wake up until you have to realize that it's not sleeping....it's not that good.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

At least the positive thing is that the team does look like they might have pitching staff that they can work with. .

Exactly. Heading into next year they have Halliday, Burnett, Chacin, Marcum, McGowen and Litch as potential starters. They haven't had that type of rotation established for a long time. Now that assumes Burnett doesn't opt out but given that contract amount I can't imagine he would.

There have been a number of positive this year actually in spite of the underwhelming end result. The rotation (as noted). The bullpen and specifically the combination of Janssen and Accardo (which raises the question as to what to do with BJ Ryan). Thigpen has looked good since his re-call. The development of Aaron Hill and continued maturation of Alex Rios.

Lots of positives centered around the younger parts of the Jays.

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Exactly. Heading into next year they have Halliday, Burnett, Chacin, Marcum, McGowen and Litch as potential starters. They haven't had that type of rotation established for a long time. Now that assumes Burnett doesn't opt out but given that contract amount I can't imagine he would.

There have been a number of positive this year actually in spite of the underwhelming end result. The rotation (as noted). The bullpen and specifically the combination of Janssen and Accardo (which raises the question as to what to do with BJ Ryan). Thigpen has looked good since his re-call. The development of Aaron Hill and continued maturation of Alex Rios.

Lots of positives centered around the younger parts of the Jays.

He can opt out next year, not this one.

As for BJ Ryan, there is nothing you can do with him. Nothing. No one is going to touch a closer making 10 m per coming off TJ surgery, without at least 1 full year of success back.

Anyways, I'd look at moving Accardo, a young closer with another 4 years or so under contract, is going to fetch a king's ransom in return if you can find the right buyer. Might be able to plug some of our major holes with that.