UnkNuk Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 Remember when they had that 11 game win streak and actually moved ahead of the Rays? What were each teams record since then? The Jays won their eleventh straight game on June 23 (and it seems like a long time ago). Since then, the Jays went 36 - 52 (.409). The Rays went 52 - 34 (.605). Almost mirror images of each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butcher Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 Im glad management threw in the towel early and began playing prospects, although they were partly forced into that position by injuries. Sierra looks like hell be a great player for the Jays in the future, and Gose and Goins showed promise as well, especially defensively. Pillar struggled, but give him more time. Im not as pessimistic about next year as you might think. Its a year now after many changes, and i think the chemistry can grow. We definitely have some keepers in the hitting order - Reyes, Bautista, Encarnacion (another great year by him), and Lind, Rasmus, and Lawrie proved that they can be solid starters with their hot stretches - they just have to be more consistent, and these guys gotta find a way to get hot at the same time. Id absolutely sign Rajai Davis too - man, can he generate runs with his speed. Id keep Kawasaki too - he proved clutch as times, and well hes a real fun character. Whos got to go? Arencibia was awful - all year. Cant hit for the life of him, especially when theres men on base. I dont think Thole is the answer either though, he cant hit either. We need a catcher. Milky has got to go too, slow and lazy on the basepaths and weak defensively, no power, and average hitter. Starting pitching is our weakest area. Dickey and Buerle were ok, and theyll be back next year, but we were expecting better than 'ok'. And i dont see that changing much next year. Redmond showed some good potential at the end of the year, i can see him making it in next year. Esmil Rogers was a bit of an enigma, it was either a great game or an awful game from him. Jack Johnson was a disaster. Happ was average. Not worried about the bullpen. Definitely the brightest spot of the year. Some of them were less effective in the last half, but i believe its due to overuse. Janssen was terrific as the closer, only one blown save. Id fire Gibbons. Theres enough talent on the team that you have to see if someone else can bring it all together. It mystified me when reports came out that hed be the Jays manager again next year. Id keep Alex Anthopolous, was this disaster really his fault? He did what he could to build a better team. Id give him one more year, unless he keeps gibbons or trades from my keeper list. Thats my year end report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RUPERTKBD Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 I agree with most of you assessment Butcher, especially when it comes to Arencibia. The Jays really have to upgrade at catcher if they want to contend next season. t wouldn't be so bad if JP was a good defensive catcher, but he's below average in throwing runners out, blocking pitches in the dirt and worst of all, is poor at calling pitches and framing borderline strikes. The only thing he brings to the table is the ability to hit the long ball, but watching him strike out with runners in scoring position time after time, one tends to easily overlook 20 homers. The good news is, his power numbers make him somewhat tradeable. A guy that I would take a hard look at in the off-season if I were AA, is AJ Pierzinski. He is above average in most of the categories mentioned above and although he's starting to get a bit old, still managed 17 dingers and 70 RBI last season. I also like the fact that he would add some left handed power to the line up. As far as Thole goes, I'm okay with keeping him as a backup to play 40 or so games. He's Dickey's personal catcher anyways. Like you, I'm not pessimistic about next season. One only has to look at the turnaround made by the Red Sox to see that a worst to first move is possible. What the team really needs is a return to form from Dickey and Buehrle (something that looked to be taking place towards season's end this year) With those two penciled in at the 1-2 spots, the likes of Redmond, Rogers, Happ and maybe even Morrow can vie for the back end of the order. I think Anthopolous will likely look to add a middle of the rotation starter this winter. (Ervin Santana is an intriguing option) As you said, the bullpen was great this season. Not much work required there. One point regarding Gibbons: When he was hired, I was as surprised as anyone. It seemed like a literal as well as figurative step back to me. However, I have to cut him some slack. The areas where the Jays struggled this season were starting pitching and defense. Those are two areas that a manager doesn't have a lot of control over. You put your best guys on the field and hope they can get the job done.The Jays couldn't find anyone to play a consistent second base until September, which was about the same time the top of the rotation started to pitch like it. The areas where a manager does have a lot of control (the bullpen and the bench) were actually an area of strength for Gibbons, IMO. The numbers form the pen speak for themselves, but the offense was good as well, especially when you consider the loss of the team's lead-off man for such a long stretch and then the loss of the run producers like Bautista, Lawrie, Encarnacion and Rasmus at various times during the year. Gibbons' use of guys like Davis, Kawasaki and DeRosa especially, was very good all season. In fact, if they keep DeRo around for next year, I'd be comfortable with penciling Lind in at first base and using EE and DeRosa against tough lefties and Day-Night games. BTW: What happened to Mullet? Baseball threads aren't the same without him... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UnkNuk Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 "Sports Illustrated" has an article about the Miami/Toronto trade one year after: "Given the struggles of the players Miami traded and the fact that the team also cleared $163.75 million worth of commitments off its books, it is no longer difficult to see the trade as a solid baseball move on the Marlins’ part..." http://mlb.si.com/2013/11/19/blue-jays-marlins-trade-jose-reyes-josh-johnson-mark-buehrle/?xid=nl_siextra Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butcher Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 Good analysis RUPERTKBD Agree with your assessments on catcher, pitchers, and the good outlook for next year. Not so sure about Gibbons though. The right presence can suddenly make everyone gel together, look at what Farrell did in Boston. Gibbons did have to contend with a lot of injuries though, as well as new players, and it takes time for players to work with each other. Im a little mystified that they let Kawasaki go, thats a big wtf? Hes the kind of guy that can bring a team together, and i thought he played really well. Not happy with that. Heard rumours that bautista may be traded as well. Sure his numbers havent been as good the last couple of years primarily due to injuries, but they better get a young and good RBI producer if they do trade him, otherwise i dont see the point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Bellick^ Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 Im a little mystified that they let Kawasaki go, thats a big wtf? Hes the kind of guy that can bring a team together, and i thought he played really well. Not happy with that. I hope the Blue Jays' ticket sales suffer for this. Stupid stupid stupid. He's the type of guy that attracts people to come to the games. No one except for maybe Reyes even comes close to his enthusiasm he brought on the team. Anthopolous is an idiot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gross-Misconduct Posted November 20, 2013 Author Share Posted November 20, 2013 Good analysis RUPERTKBD Agree with your assessments on catcher, pitchers, and the good outlook for next year. Not so sure about Gibbons though. The right presence can suddenly make everyone gel together, look at what Farrell did in Boston. Gibbons did have to contend with a lot of injuries though, as well as new players, and it takes time for players to work with each other. Im a little mystified that they let Kawasaki go, thats a big wtf? Hes the kind of guy that can bring a team together, and i thought he played really well. Not happy with that. Heard rumours that bautista may be traded as well. Sure his numbers havent been as good the last couple of years primarily due to injuries, but they better get a young and good RBI producer if they do trade him, otherwise i dont see the point. They have to go hard after a catcher who can put up big numbers on a consistent basis. Then they would be killing 2 birds with 1 stone by kicking Arencibia to the curb and replacing Bautista's numbers at the same time. Thole can continue his role as Dickey's catcher. Even if this new catcher can catch knuckleballs, it's a way to give him days off during the season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiznak Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 I wouldn't trade Bautista, just because there really nothing out there that can replace his fielding and power. Unless AA is pushing hard for Robinson Cano (apparently Reyes and him are really close friends). AA needs to find 2 legit starters, who has had success in the AL East *cough* Halladay *cough*. He could be a low risk, high reward type of player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disaronno Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 I wouldn't trade Bautista, just because there really nothing out there that can replace his fielding and power. Unless AA is pushing hard for Robinson Cano (apparently Reyes and him are really close friends). AA needs to find 2 legit starters, who has had success in the AL East *cough* Halladay *cough*. He could be a low risk, high reward type of player. Cano is rumored to be looking for a 10 year $300 Million contract. If that is the case, Jays are out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Romo Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 Watch Johnson will have a cy young year in San Diego. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiznak Posted December 3, 2013 Share Posted December 3, 2013 Bye, bye JP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheHitman Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 Jacoby Ellsbury just pulled the Johnny Damon... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gross-Misconduct Posted December 4, 2013 Author Share Posted December 4, 2013 Jacoby Ellsbury just pulled the Johnny Damon... Kinda the wrong thread, but yeah. A $153-million, seven-year deal...holy sh1T I should played baseball more seriously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheHitman Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 Kinda the wrong thread, but yeah. A $153-million, seven-year deal...holy sh1T I should played baseball more seriously. This one seemed more popular so I posted it here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Korea Bob.Loblaw Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 This one seemed more popular so I posted it here. Zero logic in what you just said. And kind of annoying. They let JPA walk, and we then signed a backup catcher. So we still don't have a starting catcher, and we could still use a starting pitcher for our rotation. Hmm.... didn't we trade a catcher and SP away last winter...? HMMMMMMMM..... Alex Anthopoulos, you tried and you deserve credit, but this was a mistake and it's on your hands now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRussianRocket. Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 JP had a bad year last year...Zaun was on Sportsnet talking and JP had one of the worst years ever in MLB history for catchers..he is good but with the things Zaun said, opened my eyes up that he wasn't that useful last year and maybe it was a good thing ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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