2019 Blue Jays Season Thread

[jayswin]

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[Harry Lime]

Toronto Blue Jays
Hyun-Jin Ryu (32)
Tanner Roark (33)
Chase Anderson (32)
Matt Shoemaker (33)
Ryan Borucki (25)
Shun Yamaguchi (31)

Buffalo Bisons AAA
Nate Pearson (23)
Anthony Kay (24)
Trent Thornton (26)
T.J. Zeuch (24)
Sean Reid-Foley (24)
Jacob Waguespack (26)

New Hampshire Fisher Cats AA
Yennsy Diaz (23)
Patrick Murphy (24)
Hector Perez (23)
Thomas Hatch (25)
Joey Murray (23)
Maximo Castillo (20)

Dunedin Blue Jays A-Advanced
Elvis Luciano (19)
Simeon Woods Richardson (19)
Eric Pardinho (19)
Josh Winckowski (21)
Sean Wymer (22)
Alek Manoah (22)

Lansing Lugnuts A-Ball
Adam Kloffenstein (19)
Kendall Williams (19)
Alex Nolan (23)
Nick Fraze (22)
William Gaston (23)
Grant Townsend (22)
Edisson Gonzalez (20)

It looks like some placeholders for this year (minus Ryu), and then some real potential to have up to three pitchers come into the rotation from the system next year. Followed by a lapse of about 3 years until pitchers with front line potential to be in the mix, currently at Dunedin (minus Pearson). That is a very long window of excellent cheap pitching, if it all falls right.

Also I think that Julian Merryweather (28) makes a bit of a statement in the bullpen this year.

[Roof-Daddy]

Will be watching Advanced A like a hawk if those pitchers make up the rotation there.

[alan21]

Originally Posted by transplant99

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...2-million-deal

Son of a.... really wanted Edwin back for the good feels and for him to walk the parrot.

[transplant99]

Just read that it was 100 years ago today that the Red Sox traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees.

He hit 659 HR, 1978 RBI's, walked 1852 times, while hitting .349 with New York.

Insanity.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Just read that it was 100 years ago today that the Red Sox traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees.

He hit 659 HR, 1978 RBI's, walked 1852 times, while hitting .349 with New York.

Insanity.

Two things I've always wondered about that trade.

(1) Why did the Red Sox do it?
(2) Why didn't he continue to pitch with the Yankees? He was an unreal pitcher and he was still playing outfield on his non-pitching days when with Boston the last few seasons.

[Roof-Daddy]

I guess we'll see, but IMO with the Ryu signing the Jays won't be going for Price anymore. At least not unless the Sox pay half and give up a pretty nice prospect.

That would be a ton of cash to risk on two injury prone starters for the next 3-4 years.

[bluejays]

It would be a virtual guarantee that one of those guys at this stage in their careers would get catastrophically injured over the course of a 4 year contract.

So what does that mean?

When you invest a lot of cash into injury prone players, you plan for it to happen and get ready that when it does happen, that you're willing to spend for an equal pitcher so that the loss isn't handcuffing the team. The Jays after the Gord Ash days have always invested in guys injury prone, and lo and behold when they do get injured, act like it's a surprise to the team, and very publicly use it as an excuse. It was foreseeable and you have to be ready to spend when it ultimately happens if you go down that route. Getting Price would be interesting only if the Sox eat a ton of that salary. This is a lot like banking and managing risk. Managing it can be rewarding, but taking on too much risk at the wrong time can be catastrophic. Jays really have to watch what they're doing here because taking on both those contracts, with their injury history is asking for a bit much.

[Samonadreau]

80-85 wins?

[bluejays]

As of right now I'm going to go with 76 wins.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

Two things I've always wondered about that trade.

(1) Why did the Red Sox do it?
(2) Why didn't he continue to pitch with the Yankees? He was an unreal pitcher and he was still playing outfield on his non-pitching days when with Boston the last few seasons.

The Sox wanted him to be a pitcher first and a hitter secondly. He didnt like that idea....and a plethora of other reasons not the least was his off field "activities". Dude was a full blown party animal.

Great read from a few years back here...

https://nypost.com/2016/03/06/the-re...old-babe-ruth/

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by transplant99

The Sox wanted him to be a pitcher first and a hitter secondly. He didnt like that idea....and a plethora of other reasons not the least was his off field "activities". Dude was a full blown party animal.

Great read from a few years back here...

https://nypost.com/2016/03/06/the-re...old-babe-ruth/

Yeah I read that too.

Ruth either by fluke or by brilliance revolutionized power hitting with an upper cut swing. At the time a parallel swing plane to make contact was thought to be ideal. Not recognizing that parallel was off axis and resulted in less time in the hitting zone.

So Ruth wanted to become a power hitter and the Red Sox didnt want that. Both teams were poorer in those daus as neither owned their stadium and both had mediocre attendance. Yankees thought a power hitter like Ruth would bring more fans. Sox owner had wealth but was cash poor. Yankees owner was facing a serious hit to his wealth with prohibition on the horizon.

Ultimately Baseball became more popular and both owners benefitted financially from the deal. Sox owner sold the team for double the price a few years later.

[calculoso]

The Toronto Blue Jays signed free-agent infielder Travis Shaw to a US$4-million, one-year contract on Monday and designated infielder Richard Urena for assignment.


https://www.tsn.ca/jays-sign-infield...420039?tsn-amp

[Samonadreau]

Originally Posted by fleury

As of right now I'm going to go with 76 wins.

Fair enough. Going with 11 more wins then last season now - 78 wins. Final answer.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by calculoso

The Toronto Blue Jays signed free-agent infielder Travis Shaw to a US$4-million, one-year contract on Monday and designated infielder Richard Urena for assignment.


https://www.tsn.ca/jays-sign-infield...420039?tsn-amp

I looked up his numbers but he was terrible last year after a couple good years. I guess the plan is for him to play first

Can anyone tell me how to feel about this?

[Crown Royal]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

I looked up his numbers but he was terrible last year after a couple good years. I guess the plan is for him to play first

Can anyone tell me how to feel about this?

How did you feel about Smoak? Because they appear to be quite similar statistically speaking.

[Harry Lime]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

I looked up his numbers but he was terrible last year after a couple good years. I guess the plan is for him to play first

Can anyone tell me how to feel about this?

His daughter had 3 open heart surgeries last year, and is now through it and healthy.

I think that last year was an outlier because of off field issues, and we should feel very good about him at first base. Better than Smoak by quite a bit, at this point in both of their careers.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

As long as he can play adequately at 1st base, I'm fine with it. I get the sense that Vladdy will eventually move to 1st, and Shaw might be a stop gap measure.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

His daughter had 3 open heart surgeries last year, and is now through it and healthy.

I think that last year was an outlier because of off field issues, and we should feel very good about him at first base. Better than Smoak by quite a bit, at this point in both of their careers.

Wow, I hadn't heard that.

Hopefully he bounces back big time with that tremendous weight off his shoulders.

[bluejays]

I didn't know that either, but with baseball recoveries don't just happen. That's always my worry with bringing players back in hopes they bounce back. I guess it's a worthwhile try, but playing against pros after having a terrible season, is still a tall expectation. I'll guess he'll end up a .220 hitter, which obviously isn't good (ignoring other stats).