2015 Blue Jays Regular Season Thread

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by JayP

If Revere was batting leadoff, we wouldn't have had Tulo/Donaldson combining to win the game tonight. Revere is probably the worst hitter in our lineup and he should bat ninth. Luckily, Gibbons agrees and has said that's where he'll bat already.

The jays are just too stacked offensively to worry about some old school mentality of having speed at lead off. Put one of your MVP type hitters up there and let them soak up the extra ABs. Tonight, those extra ABs to our best hitters were the difference in the game.

Goins and Smoak say hi.

Pretty silly statement.

Also, one game does not constitute proof for a lineup. Bautista had an off day and Pillar was hot. If they were switched, the game wouldn't have gone to extra innings. Amirite?

[TKB]

Originally Posted by iggysback05

With Ben Revere expected to play every day Valencia and Carerra are both DFA'd and expected to be claimed on Monday. Tough business boy. Both guys were good soldiers.

Tough to see them both go, I personally liked Valencia a lot and thought he was a fantastic option coming off the bench.

[KelVarnsen]

Should have kept Valencia. The 8 man bullpen is stupid.

[GirlySports]

excited for a saturday afternoon game!

[Derek Sutton]

David Price ‏@DAVIDprice14 25m25 minutes ago
#jays fans please find out who this kid is and his or his parents Twitter handle!! His price jersey will be waiting


https://twitter.com/search?q=David%20Price&src=tyah

[Antithesis]

I'm stunned that they DFA'd Valencia. Why on Earth would you keep an 8-man bullpen instead of him? Such a strange move. Have to assume that they are near 100% certain that they are about to be able to move a bullpen arm out for a position player next week.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Antithesis

I'm stunned that they DFA'd Valencia. Why on Earth would you keep an 8-man bullpen instead of him? Such a strange move. Have to assume that they are near 100% certain that they are about to be able to move a bullpen arm out for a position player next week.

Or bring up Pompay?

[jschick88]

Originally Posted by Antithesis

I'm stunned that they DFA'd Valencia. Why on Earth would you keep an 8-man bullpen instead of him? Such a strange move. Have to assume that they are near 100% certain that they are about to be able to move a bullpen arm out for a position player next week.

Hate the move as well. Liked what Valencia brought to the team. From all accounts was well liked.

Speculation is that AA may not be done making moves.

Ben Nicholson-Smith ‏@bnicholsonsmith
#BlueJays may not be done making changes; AA hinted #Jays are contemplating more ways to get better

Ben Nicholson-Smith ‏@bnicholsonsmith
AA: “We have some other moves we might make here in the next few days from a roster standpoint." #BlueJays

[Antithesis]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Or bring up Pompay?

Interesting, I hadn't really considered that. He'll be up in September at latest, but it still doesn't explain the Kawasaki move for me. Unless I'm completely mistaken, the moves in are:

- Revere
- Lowe
- Kawasaki

While the moves out are:

- Carerra
- Tepera
- Valencia

Couldn't they have kept Valencia and left Kawasaki down on the farm? Makes no sense because Valencia can play 2B and 3B. Having him up allows the Jays to give Donaldson a break (as His Dorkness Zaun just pointed out), and he can sub in for Goins at 2B when Tulo needs a break.

[Skaloper]

Originally Posted by Antithesis

I'm stunned that they DFA'd Valencia. Why on Earth would you keep an 8-man bullpen instead of him? Such a strange move. Have to assume that they are near 100% certain that they are about to be able to move a bullpen arm out for a position player next week.

As long as Donaldson stays healthy we should be fine but lets be honest if he gets hurt and can't play everyday the Jays are probably screwed anyway. Its a pretty bad move but fits in the the ALL IN mentality. Also Kawasaki > Valencia because everytime I see him on the bench he makes everyone around him play at another level.

[GirlySports]

It is interesting. Perhaps Kawasaki is a left-handed bat. Has more speed (pinch run). More suitable being the 25th guy? Kawasaki can play 3B as well.

[Antithesis]

Originally Posted by Skaloper

As long as Donaldson stays healthy we should be fine but lets be honest if he gets hurt and can't play everyday the Jays are probably screwed anyway. Its a pretty bad move but fits in the the ALL IN mentality. Also Kawasaki > Valencia because everytime I see him on the bench he makes everyone around him play at another level.

Yeah if Donaldson goes down then they are hooped anyway, but I'd be more comfortable with Valencia giving him a break than Kawasaki. The only possible argument you could have that Kawasaki > Valencia is defense as I don't want to claim profound knowledge of Valencia's skill as a defender. Don't know if the last sentence is meant as a joke or not but it's just as easy to say that Valencia was well-liked by the team and thus will negatively impact their performance.

Originally Posted by GirlySports

It is interesting. Perhaps Kawasaki is a left-handed bat. Has more speed (pinch run). More suitable being the 25th guy? Kawasaki can play 3B as well.

Yeah, the only other thing I can think of is that the Jays see Valencia as having more value so they can accomplish more via trade with him, such that the drop from him to Kawasaki isn't that huge a deal?

[Enoch Root]

Goins playing instead of Tulo today.

And Revere batting 1st

[Clever_Iggy]

Originally Posted by JayP

If Revere was batting leadoff, we wouldn't have had Tulo/Donaldson combining to win the game tonight. Revere is probably the worst hitter in our lineup and he should bat ninth. Luckily, Gibbons agrees and has said that's where he'll bat already.

The jays are just too stacked offensively to worry about some old school mentality of having speed at lead off. Put one of your MVP type hitters up there and let them soak up the extra ABs. Tonight, those extra ABs to our best hitters were the difference in the game.

I don't think he's the worst hitter but I didn't realize his OBP was not lead off material (on this team). Having him at 9 is sweet to utilize his speed when the big guys come back up at the top of the order.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Clever_Iggy

I don't think he's the worst hitter but I didn't realize his OBP was not lead off material (on this team). Having him at 9 is sweet to utilize his speed when the big guys come back up at the top of the order.

OBP...

Reyes: .322
Revere: .334

[Enoch Root]

In fact, Revere's numbers are very similar to Reyes across the board:

.............G / AB. / R. / H.. / 2B / 3B/HR/RBI/ BB / SO /SB / AVG / OBP / SLG / OPS
Reyes.: 69 / 288 / 36 / 82 / 17 / 0 / 4 / 34 / 17 / 38 / 16 / .285 / .322 / .385 / .708
Revere: 96/ 366 / 49 / 109/ 13 / 6 / 1 / 26 / 19 / 36 / 24 / .298 / .334 / .374 / .709

Reyes has 4 homers but Revere has 6 triples

Reyes has more RBIs but that would partially be explained by the team

Revere gets on base a little more and steals more bases

All in all, very similar

[Enoch Root]

One more stat. You want your leadoff guy to score runs - pretty simple.

Runs scored per games played:

Reyes.: 0.52
Revere: 0.51

And that's on the Phillies, who score 3.60 runs per game, compared to the Jays that score 5.29

[Antithesis]

Interesting numbers for sure - great problem to have. Who do we put at the top? Revere? Tulo? Travis when healthy?

4 straight 2 out hits for the Jays who are now leading 2-1.

[Finger Cookin]

Nice rally in the fourth with two outs, started by Bautista and Encarnacion. Nice to see.

[Skaloper]

The Jays take the lead!