Blue Jays Discussion: Estrada nearly unhittable. Our bullpen? Not so much. Also, CB Bucknor sucks.

[Swervin81]

Previous thread almost at 1000. Preemptively made this one.

Click to read more...

 

[TootooTrain]

Post game notes from Davidi

There are no certain answers on either front, but one thing that sounded firm is Copeland will get the ball if Sanchez isn’t a go Sunday.

"I don’t think it’s fair to the kid in two outings to make a judgment on him," manager John Gibbons said of Copeland. "He was really good in that first one. Tonight the ball was up a little bit. That happens to them all every now and then, but he’s competing, that’s what we want out of him.

"I think he’ll be fine his next go around."

"Just got to get down through the ball, kind of pulling off a little bit, got to stay through it more," said Copeland. "I was pounding the zone again, I didn’t walk anybody, so that’s a plus. …

"In my side I’ll work more on getting over top of the ball instead of flying open."

Asked about potential candidates should they need another starter for some reason, Gibbons replied, "you hope Daniel Norris is one of them."

"It’s been hit or miss for him to this point, he’s had some good ones and then he’s scuffled a little bit," continued Gibbons. "He’s the top guy. You’ve got (Felix) Doubront down there pitching, he’s doing OK, he’s done it before. You can get into the roster spot thing, too. It’s never stopped us before, but it’s always a concern."

"I made a mistake," Pillar said. "Just being aggressive. I happened to see that play from an outfielder’s perspective, not in a base-running perspective, just knowing what I’m going to do as an outfielder in that situation, and not throw the ball home, not let the tying run get to second base. I made a mistake by not picking up the third base coach. I ran the scenario by my head before it happened, and I made a mistake by not picking up the coach."

"The game went out right there when we really had them on the ropes," lamented Gibbons. "It’s over with, we’ll move on."

Added Pillar: "It’s as embarrassing as it gets. We’re paid to go out there and perform and not make dumb mistakes, especially late in the game. I wanted to do something to help the team win a game, when you’re facing a guy like Harvey, you try to keep it close, get to the bullpen and we were in a situation where we had the heart of our order up, and we’re better off taking our chances with them hitting than trying to get extra bases."

 

[topched]

Jon Niese going tonight for the Mets, Lefty with unspectacular stuff who gives up a lot of contact and in our home park. Jays smell blood no doubt. Looking for a good bounce back start from Hutch.

 

[Mach85]

Jon Niese going tonight for the Mets, Lefty with unspectacular stuff who gives up a lot of contact and in our home park. Jays smell blood no doubt. Looking for a good bounce back start from Hutch.

Big game to be sure. After a couple tough losses it's important to get back on the winning side of things.

 

[Discoverer]

Jon Niese going tonight for the Mets, Lefty with unspectacular stuff who gives up a lot of contact and in our home park. Jays smell blood no doubt. Looking for a good bounce back start from Hutch.

Jays with an absolutely ridiculous 143 wRC+ against lefties this year (Tigers are second at 114).
Niese with a 4.67 FIP against righties (89th out of 110 qualified pitchers this year).

Yeah, this could get ugly.

 

[Swervin81]

The last time we face Niese, we destroyed him and Rajai Davis hit 2 HR's off him

 

[Discoverer]

The Orioles just demoted their best starter to avoid having him face the Jays left-mashing lineup.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-sp-orioles-notebook-0617-20150616-story.html#page=1

 

[Suntouchable13]

The Orioles just demoted their best starter to avoid having him face the Jays left-mashing lineup.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-sp-orioles-notebook-0617-20150616-story.html#page=1

WTF?? What a bunch of *******! Isn't Chen an established major league pitcher?

 

[Nasty Nazem]

The Orioles just demoted their best starter to avoid having him face the Jays left-mashing lineup.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-sp-orioles-notebook-0617-20150616-story.html#page=1

Guessing other teams will look to push back their lefties to avoid facing the Jays. Strategically, it makes sense.

 

[LaCarriere]

Well Chen still has options, so they got away with one, but I'm not sure every team will be willing to burn thru player options just to skip a lefty start.

Skipping somebody's start and having somebody pitch on 4 days rest, using a AAA arm or spot start from the pen or whatever could be just as bad.

 

[topched]

WTF?? What a bunch of *******! Isn't Chen an established major league pitcher?

Lol Boras is his agent and has already voiced his displeasure with the Orioles

While I guess you can make a case for not starting a LHP vs us right now, I'm not sure the benefits outweigh the costs

Not only are you pissing off a good player and upcoming FA but you're also throwing him out of his routine, how is that going to impact his performance over the next x starts?

 

[FreeBird]

I feel bad for the Suits at Rogers

Their between a rock and a hard place, the Guy's who they wanted to fire if they could have gotten the GM from Baltimore. Do they give these guys a whack of Cash to give the Jays a shot and if they do and the Jays get to the playoffs will they still fire AA. On the other hand can they trust AA who's contract is up, in other words will he clean out the farm system and the Jays implode.

 

[Discoverer]

Their between a rock and a hard place, the Guy's who they wanted to fire if they could have gotten the GM from Baltimore. Do they give these guys a whack of Cash to give the Jays a shot and if they do and the Jays get to the playoffs will they still fire AA. On the other hand can they trust AA who's contract is up, in other words will he clean out the farm system and the Jays implode.

 

[TootooTrain]

Lineup:
Reyes
Donaldson (dh)
Bautista
EE
Colabello
Martin
Valencia
Pillar
Goins

Hutch v Niese

 

[LaCarriere]

why isn't Smoak starting? This is some grade A, amateur BS

 

[Diamond Joe Quimby]

why isn't Smoak starting? This is some grade A, amateur BS

Valencia.

 

[Kurtz]

why isn't Smoak starting? This is some grade A, amateur BS

Lefty on the mound, dude. Much smarter to go with Valencia.

 

[TootooTrain]

Gibbons said after last game he's gonna give his regulars a day at DH or day off this week. As long as they win, whatever. Smoak does need to get more at bats though.

 

[topched]

Gibbons said after last game he's gonna give his regulars a day at DH or day off this week. As long as they win, whatever. Smoak does need to get more at bats.

Fingers crossed we should see Smoak get on a nice long run of starts at 1B. With Jose and Edwin finally both healthy I'd expect Smoak to get a ton of consecutive starts here... Which he's definitely earned

 

[theaub]

Just to further the point, Valencia has a .405/.432/.524 line against LHP this year (not taking Smoak's 6 AB sample as valid here)

 

[RayzorIsDull]

I would have figured a way to put Pillar on the bench after his little league base running error last night.

 

[Suntouchable13]

I don't know, I'd use him instead of Cola who has been nothing but a singles hitter lately that clogs up the bases and a below average defender (I guess he is not that bad at 1st, though). Anyone know what are Smoak's career numbers against lefties?

 

[TootooTrain]

I would have figured a way to put Pillar on the bench after his little league base running error last night.

Seems like the kind of guy who wants to make up for his mistake. I certainly would rather have him playing than Carrera anyway.

 

[Discoverer]

I don't know, I'd use him instead of Cola who has been nothing but a singles hitter lately that clogs up the bases and a below average defender (I guess he is not that bad at 1st, though). Anyone know what are Smoak's career numbers against lefties?

His career numbers against lefties aren't good (84 wRC+), and Colabello has been wrecking them this year (just 32 plate appearances, mind you, but 3 of his 4 HR have come against them).

 

[weems]

Gonna put a nice chunk of change on the Jays tonight.

Hutch at home.
Jays murder lefties.
Jays cant afford to lose 3 in a row.