Blue Jays Discussion: We have Josh Donaldson?!?!?!

[Longshot]

Let's just say that on pure talent alone - Anthony Alford is what you would call a 'blue-chip' prospect in hockey.

He's got tools to be a 5-tool player in the MLB and is only behind Hoffman as Toronto's best prospect, IMO.

Baseball is my favourite sport. Always has been. Always will be. I don't need discussions about baseball translated to hockey terms.

I was asking for clarification about what level of the organization those tweets were about in order to better educate myself about the evolving information that many posters present to the group as a whole.

 

[Amadeus]

Baseball is my favourite sport. Always has been. Always will be. I don't need discussions about baseball translated to hockey terms.

I was asking for clarification about what level of the organization those tweets were about in order to better educate myself about the evolving information that many posters present to the group as a whole.

You mean where Anthony Alford plays?

Lansing Lugnuts.

 

[Bad News Benning]

Almost 2 months in the Jays have a Top 10 offense, a Top 10 defense, and a Top 10 bullpen in WHIP, K's, and .avg against.

Jays get more starting pitching like the last week and they will start winning series.

 

[The Legend]

Almost 2 months in the Jays have a Top 10 offense, a Top 10 defense, and a Top 10 bullpen in WHIP, K's, and .avg against.

Jays get more starting pitching like the last week and they will start winning series.

Not to mention the run differential. Jays have been extremely unlucky so far, although that's to be expected given the state of our city's sports franchises over the past 15 years.

 

[canucksfan]

Pitching is coming around, bats getting healthy, and 3.5 games out of first

Probably will result in some other stupid injury that kills the momentum, but there's some optimism here

That's crazy because the SP has been junk, injuries and bad luck.

 

[LaCarriere]

Not to mention the run differential. Jays have been extremely unlucky so far, although that's to be expected given the state of our city's sports franchises over the past 15 years.

I don't know if you can say they have been unlucky for a couple reasons.

Power hitting tends to be streaky / volatile for one. Home run hitters don't hit home runs every night, and typically hit for average. EE / Bautista typically hover around .250 while usually sitting close to the top of the league in HRs. It's pretty rare to have a guy hitting .300 like Donaldson who's also hitting for power.

Secondly, good pitching beats good hitting more often than not. When the Jays run into good pitchers the bats get shut down. When they run into a bad / cold pitcher the lineup is fully capable of cranking out 6 runs like tonight, or 10+ like the have done several times this season.

I don't think it's a fluke the jays have such a poor record in 1 run games as well as in games when they score 4 or less. They either crush poor pitching / defensive teams, or struggle against good pitching / defensive teams, which kind of explains the crazy run differential.

 

[TootooTrain]

Hoffman starts for Dunedin tomorrow/tonight.

 

[mikebel111*]

Anyone know what injury Pentecost has and when he returns
Seems like that 7 day DL hasnt changed in a while

 

[Eyedea]

Anyone know what injury Pentecost has and when he returns
Seems like that 7 day DL hasnt changed in a while

He had shoulder surgery in February and should be nearing baseball activities soon, if not right now in extended.

 

[Bad News Benning]

I don't know if you can say they have been unlucky for a couple reasons.

Power hitting tends to be streaky / volatile for one. Home run hitters don't hit home runs every night, and typically hit for average. EE / Bautista typically hover around .250 while usually sitting close to the top of the league in HRs. It's pretty rare to have a guy hitting .300 like Donaldson who's also hitting for power.

Secondly, good pitching beats good hitting more often than not. When the Jays run into good pitchers the bats get shut down. When they run into a bad / cold pitcher the lineup is fully capable of cranking out 6 runs like tonight, or 10+ like the have done several times this season.

I don't think it's a fluke the jays have such a poor record in 1 run games as well as in games when they score 4 or less. They either crush poor pitching / defensive teams, or struggle against good pitching / defensive teams, which kind of explains the crazy run differential.

I think this team is much closer to a 26-21 team than a 21-26 team. I feel they deserved 3 of 4 from Anaheim and 2 of 3 from the mariners but luck wasn't on their side. just those two wins alone would put them a game under .500

The Jays take a lot of walks, run the bases well, play good defense, and have a relatively solid bullpen. You would figure that would all translate to a better record in close games. A healthy jays lineup is still capable of getting 5 or 6 runs against good starting pitching its just they haven't had anything close to a healthy lineup lately. Now if they can get healthy and pitch decent their record in 1 run games should get much better.

 

[TootooTrain]

Didn't realize how good the pen has been of late. Despite how horrible they were early on, they've really nailed things down as it's been pointed out already. Even the one stat I was so sure they'd be top 5 in - total runs scored (includes inherited) - they're 17th. Middle of the pack. 6th in whip, 18th in era. The biggest blemish is the long ball.

 

[LaCarriere]

I think this team is much closer to a 26-21 team than a 21-26 team. I feel they deserved 3 of 4 from Anaheim and 2 of 3 from the mariners but luck wasn't on their side. just those two wins alone would put them a game under .500

The Jays take a lot of walks, run the bases well, play good defense, and have a relatively solid bullpen. You would figure that would all translate to a better record in close games. A healthy jays lineup is still capable of getting 5 or 6 runs against good starting pitching its just they haven't had anything close to a healthy lineup lately. Now if they can get healthy and pitch decent their record in 1 run games should get much better.

Last week in 7 games they were held to 2 runs in 3 games and 3 runs in 2 games. 5/7 games with 3 runs or less. I know they've had a depleted lineup but they need to score more than that.

I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for a healthy Jays lineup -- that's the problem. How many games have they played with the projected lineup two months in? Have they even played a game with all of Saunders, Reyes, Travis and Bautista not DHing? Add in no Navarro off the bench as well. Losing Navarro and even Saunders isn't the end of the world, but expecting this entire team to be healthy seems like a pipe dream. It seems like there will always be at least 1 or 2 key pieces missing.

 

[Puckstuff]

The Jays are 2nd in the Al East in run differential but last in the division. Anybody still think a closer is overrated?

 

[The Nemesis]

The Jays are 2nd in the Al East in run differential but last in the division. Anybody still think a closer is overrated?

yes. Because a closer is not the be-all, end-all for w/l vs run differential. The team has coughed up leads before the 9th inning, when the closer would still be sitting out in the pen because the 1st bullpen commandment is apparently "thou shalt not use thine closer prior to inning the 9th."

 

[Bad News Benning]

He had shoulder surgery in February and should be nearing baseball activities soon, if not right now in extended.

pretty sure I heard something about early-mid June. He's listed on the Dunedin roster but I wonder if they start him off in Vancouver to get his feet wet for a few weeks. Definitely be interested to see all the short season rosters. Another name im interested in seeing is Clinton Hollon who hasn't pitched since 2013. Tom Robson is another guy who is coming off surgery that was looking promising. I'd mention Jake Anderson but he might as well be named Brett Anderson.

Definitely curious who the Jays send to Vancouver this year. Had some great prospects come through here the last 4 or 5 years. Most of last years roster is in Dunedin or Lansing so should be a lot of new faces. Im guessing we will be drafting a lot of college players in rounds 6-10. Matt Smoral will be back. Ryan Borucki recently started throwing again after surgery. Angel Perdomo, Daniel Lietz and Evan Smith could be part of the rotation. As for the regulars... most exciting one will probably be Lane Thomas.

 

[BertCorbeau]

Poor starting pitching and one-run games (2-10?) have been the biggest killers of the Jays this season .. Improvement to just average starting pitching and being .500 in one run games should get them in the mix for the division.

As bad as their record may seem now, they're only 3.5 games back of the division .. They just need to keep staying in the mix as the season goes and hope they get hot when it counts.

Two complete games within the last 5 days helps.. Hope this is a trend upwards

 

[LaCarriere]

The Jays are 2nd in the Al East in run differential but last in the division. Anybody still think a closer is overrated?

I'm not sure I follow your line of thinking? The large run differential just suggests when they win, they win big, and when they lose, it's close. A quick peek at their game log / schedule shows that to be true.

If the starter is pulled from the game in the 5th or 6th losing by 1 or 2, or the mid-relievers cough up the lead, I'm not sure what good a closer does. The Jays have been in so few save situations this year anyway. They are almost always more than 3+ runs ahead or losing going into the 9th, or even 8th if they wanted to stretch out the closer.

 

[Bad News Benning]

Last week in 7 games they were held to 2 runs in 3 games and 3 runs in 2 games. 5/7 games with 3 runs or less. I know they've had a depleted lineup but they need to score more than that.

I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for a healthy Jays lineup -- that's the problem. How many games have they played with the projected lineup two months in? Have they even played a game with all of Saunders, Reyes, Travis and Bautista not DHing? Add in no Navarro off the bench as well. Losing Navarro and even Saunders isn't the end of the world, but expecting this entire team to be healthy seems like a pipe dream. It seems like there will always be at least 1 or 2 key pieces missing.

The Jays don't have to be completely healthy to score runs. They just need most of their lineup in tact. I'm not one of these people who thinks the jays will be healthy all year but even Reyes coming back is a huge boost. Travis coming back will be another boost.

Reyes is the key as far as im concerned. You need his speed in the lineup because when he's on base other teams get distracted and have to throw more fastballs to fastball hitters. Travis for example would be seeing a lot more fastballs in the 2 hole with Reyes on base. With Goins or whoever hitting in the 9 hole and Travis leading off it often led to nobody on base and Travis seeing a heavy dose of breaking balls. Travis getting more fastballs it means he's hitting more extra base hits or getting on base which leads to more RBI opportunities to the big boys. Sometimes just one player can have a positive net effect on the rest of the lineup.

 

[Canada4Gold]

The Jays are 2nd in the Al East in run differential but last in the division. Anybody still think a closer is overrated?

1st actually, unless you meant 2nd in the entire AL which we're tied for 2nd with Houston.

Tied for 2nd in run differential. 2nd last in record. That's not sustainable. I don't care how inconsistent your offense is or how bad your pitching is, how often you lose 1 runs games and blow other teams out. You're not going to be 2nd in run differential and 2nd last in record all year long. If we keep this run differential pace going the wins will come. Maybe not as much as our expected W/L formula suggest but it's not going to be this bad.

 

[Vesa Awesaka]

Didn't realize how good the pen has been of late. Despite how horrible they were early on, they've really nailed things down as it's been pointed out already. Even the one stat I was so sure they'd be top 5 in - total runs scored (includes inherited) - they're 17th. Middle of the pack. 6th in whip, 18th in era. The biggest blemish is the long ball.

I think things started to settle once the starters improved and Gibby found out who he could trust.

I remember being roasted for saying Castro is closer in name only. Thank god we sent him down for the sake of the team and his development.

I mean to start Gibby would probably never of guessed his low leverage guys might end up being Osuna and Hendriks.

 

[Bad News Benning]

I think things started to settle once the starters improved and Gibby found out who he could trust.

I remember being roasted for saying Castro is closer in name only. Thank god we sent him down for the sake of the team and his development.

I mean to start Gibby would probably never of guessed his low leverage guys might end up being Osuna and Hendriks.

bullpens are such a gong show from year to year. I was actually happy we didn't spend any money on it as you are just as likely to get the same WAR out of a 5 million dollar bullpen as you are a 30 million dollar bullpen. I've had enough with the Santos, Francisco, BJ ryans, etc investments. Spend our money on one Elite starter or bat and go cheap in the pen. I want nothing to do with Papelbon or any other high priced closer. If we make a trade it has to be for a starter, a dependable Top 2 starter! No Josh Johnson or Brandon Morrow who will fall apart.

Osuna and Hendriks are the perfect example of why you don't spend money on a bullpen. Great production for peanuts on the dollar.

 

[Vesa Awesaka]

bullpens are such a gong show from year to year. I was actually happy we didn't spend any money on it as you are just as likely to get the same WAR out of a 5 million dollar bullpen as you are a 30 million dollar bullpen. I've had enough with the Santos, Francisco, BJ ryans, etc investments. Spend our money on one Elite starter or bat and go cheap in the pen. I want nothing to do with Papelbon or any other high priced closer. If we make a trade it has to be for a starter, a dependable Top 2 starter! No Josh Johnson or Brandon Morrow who will fall apart.

Osuna and Hendriks are the perfect example of why you don't spend money on a bullpen. Great production for peanuts on the dollar.

I think i would look into Mat Latos despite his injury issues. Dont think he'd be super super expensive to acquire or retain and hes 27 which seems like a young age for a FA pitcher

 

[Bad News Benning]

I think i would look into Mat Latos despite his injury issues. Dont think he'd be super super expensive to acquire or retain and hes 27 which seems like a young age for a FA pitcher

Latos fastball velocity has dipped the past few years. It went from averaging 93-94 to around 90-91. His swinging strike rate went from 10-11 down to 8 last year which is an obvious sign his stuff isn't what it once was.

I might be more inclined to take a chance on him if it wasn't for the fact even is off speed stuff is being hit. Reds obviously knew to ditch Latos while he still had some value around the league. The guy they traded him for Anthony DeSclafani( former jays prospect) is actually performing better than Latos so far this season.

 

[hoglund]

I don't know if you can say they have been unlucky for a couple reasons.

Power hitting tends to be streaky / volatile for one. Home run hitters don't hit home runs every night, and typically hit for average. EE / Bautista typically hover around .250 while usually sitting close to the top of the league in HRs. It's pretty rare to have a guy hitting .300 like Donaldson who's also hitting for power.

Secondly, good pitching beats good hitting more often than not. When the Jays run into good pitchers the bats get shut down. When they run into a bad / cold pitcher the lineup is fully capable of cranking out 6 runs like tonight, or 10+ like the have done several times this season.

I don't think it's a fluke the jays have such a poor record in 1 run games as well as in games when they score 4 or less. They either crush poor pitching / defensive teams, or struggle against good pitching / defensive teams, which kind of explains the crazy run differential.

I know their record is bad in 1 run games, I didn't know it was bad when they score 4 or fewer runs, what is that record?

 

[Bluejaysfan*]

Pitching has come around against 3 poor hitting teams. Not sold yet

Pitching is as much mental as it is physical. Getting that confidence is key regardless of who you face.