2012 Toronto Blue Jays Season Thread

[Kelekin]

Originally Posted by flames_1987

I don't think Lawrie is that big of a ######bag anyways, I've met the guy a couple of times and have some mutual friends here in Toronto, and there's not much bad to be said about the guy. Some people seem to associate him with a certain number of muscle heads because of how he "tweets", but he's very approachable and a good guy.

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the Brewers' organization complained about his attitude, as well as the fact he has Eminem lyrics tattooed on his back. But I can't imagine this is some sort of oddity for an athlete. People just find he fits into that 'stereotype'.

[Drake]

The Pirates have traded right-handed pitcher Ryota Igarashi to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for a player to be named or cash considerations.

Igarashi, 32, signed a Minor League deal with Pittsburgh in December. In nine Spring Training appearances spanning 9 1/3 innings, he posted an 8.68 ERA.

Igarashi spent his first two Major League seasons with the Mets, for whom he made 79 appearances out of the bullpen. He has a career record of 5-2 and an ERA of 5.74.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?...s_mlb&c_id=mlb

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

The Jays won 8-5 this morning against the Roy Halladay and the Phillies. Halladay gave up 3 hits and 2 runs in 2 innings.

Bautista and Encarnacion with homers. Romero struck out 2 in the 2 innings of play.

I'm really excited for this season for some reason. I think the Jays will be a top 3 team in homeruns and runs. Their offense is going to be unstoppable this year I think.

[lowlife_mike]

anyone interested in joining our Calgary Fantasy MLB league at MLB.com?
DM me you email address.

[The Big Chill]

I really like Arencibia. I was just watching the pre-game show for the game today when he was interviewing Lawrie. It was a pretty normal interview, but the guy is extremely charismatic and seems like a fantastic team-mate. I really hope he has an awesome season, especially defensively. I'm really excited for this season to get started.

[whosurnabby]

anyone interested in joining our Calgary Fantasy MLB league at MLB.com?
DM me you email address.

count me in, i'd love to join an MLB related Fantasy League this year.

Did anyone else watch Brandon Morrow today? Wow...I know it's just spring training but, dude has taken a HUGE stride towards being a pitcher rather than stick to his usual "hurler" mode. I honestly think that this is going to be a breakout year for Morrow. Sure, it's just the Pittsburgh Pirates, but he was actually "pitching" out there rather than trying to challenge guys with his fastball. It's great to see him talk about mixing speeds more and throw for contact, something that I've been wishing he'd do more last year. If he keeps this up, he certainly has elite "stuff" to be a dominant pitcher in the AL East!

Here's some excerpt from his sportsnet interview..."Towards the end of last year I definitely learned some things about changing speeds and keeping guys off balance," he said. "That's not to say throttling back, but just (how) to be able to throw (the curve and changeup) in the zone and change speeds on them while still being aggressive." - Brandon Morrow

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/201...row_adam_lind/

[Otsy]

Blue Jays-Official ‏ @BlueJays

Foot injury to sideline McGowan through April. Read More http://atmlb.com/H8dygQ

Very unfortunate for to be out that long. Thought originally it was maybe just a couple weeks tops. Come on Drabek!

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by Otsy

Blue Jays-Official ‏ @BlueJays

Foot injury to sideline McGowan through April. Read More http://atmlb.com/H8dygQ

Very unfortunate for to be out that long. Thought originally it was maybe just a couple weeks tops. Come on Drabek!

I figure they were going to have him on a fairly strict inning limit anyways so really I imagine this just pushes his shutdown/bullpen-transfer date back a couple of weeks.

[howard_the_duck]

Cecil is getting CRUSHED today by the Tigers.

[flames_1987]

Cecil did get hit pretty bad by the Tigers lineup today. I'd love to see Drabek have a strong start to the season and then when Mcgowan returns have that be the end of Cecil as a starter.

Only 4 days away. For any CP'ers in Toronto, Drunk Jays Fans is streaming and having an Opening Day Party on Thursday at Opera Bob's on Ossington/Dundas. Seems to be one of the best bars to watch the Jays in the city.

[dhc-2]

Gameday refuses to load on my computer - did Cecil give up all 9 runs or did he get yanked earlier?

I feel kind of bad for the guy. Hopefully this is an abberation and he can find a bit of command and be a serviceable back-end guy, but I really have my doubts.

[flames_1987]

He gave up 9 runs but two were unearned. I think the plan was always to have him pitch 4 innings since it's the Spring.

[howard_the_duck]

He gave up all 9, 2 were unearned though.

He's been sitting in the 86-87 range mostly, which is obviously concerning with the season being only 3 days away.

What a shame. If the Jays had 2010 Cecil in this year's rotation they would be in pretty good shape.

[Otsy]

Originally Posted by howard_the_duck

He gave up all 9, 2 were unearned though.

He's been sitting in the 86-87 range mostly, which is obviously concerning with the season being only 3 days away.

What a shame. If the Jays had 2010 Cecil in this year's rotation they would be in pretty good shape.

Still have unproven Alvarez/Drabek, Morrow coming off dissapointing 11-11 win/loss season with 4.7+ ERA, and McGowan coming off a 2 year injury. Far from being in pretty good shape. Potential is definitely there, but can't say Cecil is the one that's going to make th difference.

[The Big Chill]

Originally Posted by Otsy

Still have unproven Alvarez/Drabek, Morrow coming off dissapointing 11-11 win/loss season with 4.7+ ERA, and McGowan coming off a 2 year injury. Far from being in pretty good shape. Potential is definitely there, but can't say Cecil is the one that's going to make th difference.

The key is that 3rd spot in the rotation. Morrow has looked fantastic so far this spring, and I feel pretty confident that he is going to have a good year. Romero is a stud. I also feel pretty good about Alvarez, Drabek and McGowan holding down the 4 and 5 spots of the rotation. I'm sure they will have their ups and downs, but that is to be expected from the latter spots of your rotation.

What we really need is a guy who can step up and eat up some innings in that third spot. Cecil of a couple years ago was perfect for that role, but he really isn't looking like he will ever see that form again. Hopefully I'm wrong.

[howard_the_duck]

Originally Posted by Otsy

Still have unproven Alvarez/Drabek, Morrow coming off dissapointing 11-11 win/loss season with 4.7+ ERA, and McGowan coming off a 2 year injury. Far from being in pretty good shape. Potential is definitely there, but can't say Cecil is the one that's going to make th difference.

Certainly not this watered down version of Cecil, no. But I was cautiously optimistic going into ST given the dedication he showed in the offseason.

Was I counting on him to be his 2010 self? No. I'm simply pointing out that a solid number 3 (which is what he was that year) would make this rotation at least decent. And with the capability of the Jays offense a decent starting rotation gets them into the wildcard conversation at the very least.

[flames_1987]

Originally Posted by Otsy

Still have unproven Alvarez/Drabek, Morrow coming off dissapointing 11-11 win/loss season with 4.7+ ERA, and McGowan coming off a 2 year injury. Far from being in pretty good shape. Potential is definitely there, but can't say Cecil is the one that's going to make th difference.

Morrow was just fine last season and quoting his W/L's means nothing. He's a good MLB pitcher, a proven one, and now we get to see if he can become an elite pitcher.

[dhc-2]

I should add that even though I am concerned about Cecil's ability to be a #3 starter (or even his ability to be a major league starter), it can't be that hard to pick up a decent #3 guy in a trade sometime during the season. I trust that if Cecil isn't cutting it and none of our other guys step forward to claim it, AA will go out and acquire someone. We definitely have a stocked farm system so we have plenty of trade bait if we want to pick someone up.

[Caged Great]

Cecil if he doesn't improve shortly he's going to see himself in Vegas.

Actually that wouldn't be a bad thing. Either Hutchison, Jenkins or Mcguire would be a good replacement for him as a 4/5 starter.

If you have a top 3 of Romero, Morrow, and Alvarez set in stone, having a competition of McGowan, Drabek, Cecil, and all the rest of the kids will do nothing but improve the talent of the rotation. I just hope that AA has all these guys on a short leash.

[dhc-2]

You have to be careful with young guys and their confidence though. Snider's been on a short leash now for how long and I don't know now if he'll ever cut it as a big-league hitter. Maybe it's because the talent simply isn't there, but you can't argue that the constant promotions and demotions haven't had an impact on his psyche.

The flip side of that is that this could very well be the year for us to grab a playoff spot, and we can't really afford to be patient with a guy trying to figure it out in the majors.