I fear the return of Brian Burres and maybe T.J. Beam if the Jays get desperate enough for arms that are not going to fall off.

I am taking solace from each and every loss. A bunch of losses help the Jays get the best picks possible next June.  Of course whether those payers are signed or not is a different matter and takes some of the fun out of it.

I have never heard of this +30 rule.  Seems arbitrary doesn't it? 

Jays will want to save that 40 man slot and a future option for him I'm sure

Do September call-ups burn an option? 

Do September call-ups burn an option?

After checking Cot's transaction glossary, it's only an option year if they're sent back down for more than 20 days after getting first added to the 40 man roster. So, in this case, no one added should use options this year (since the minor league season is over at that point, why would you option them back?). Of course, they will use one when they get sent back down next year. Are there pitchers we're going to have to add to the 40-man this winter which might warrant consideration?

Not sure if they're going to mind if Castro goes over the innings limit, since they thought well enough to outright him at the beginning of the year. I don't see them using him as a starter, though. My guess is that they'll look to see if he has a little LOOGY in him, to see if he's worth putting on the 40-man.

Heh. Don't get a guy who eats innings more than good ol' Livan.

Yeah, but it's really starting to show on his waistline. Maybe the cut back in innings will help him slim down in his middle age.

...says the unsvelt guy. I don't eat innings, though. Just pizza.

Kevin Goldstein: Jackson just needs to start hitting, period. He's frustrating, because he's a plus defender with above-average speed and a good approach, but there's SO much swing and miss in him that I'm pretty worried. Gordon is a much different player, in that he's having the season he's having, yet he's still incredibly raw and there's a lot of growth in him still. I do worry that Gordon is just so far away fundamentally, when it comes to defense, that he'll end up in the outfield.

Any word on the injury status of Robert (Bob) Ray?  He's been on the DL for months now.  Is it a more serious injury than was first believed?  If so, that's an unfortunate setback for a pitcher who seemed to have a lot of potential for the Jays.   (I'm not dismissing him because of the "soft tosser" rap -- that's a sweeping generalization and over-simplification.)  Here's hoping he's back at spring training and ready for a good season in 2010, probably at AAA to start.

The Blue Jays are paying John McDonald $1,900,000 this season.

It's August 22nd and he has played 102 innings all season.

He is on pace to play 136 innings and bat 63 times. 

That's $14,000 per inning or $30,150 per at bat.  It's also $30,150 per plate appearance because John McDonald has not walked yet this season.

They may have let Paxton walk over the money they will pay John McDonald to bat 12 times. 

Since August 3rd, here is his line: 0-2

Mark Rzepczynski has started more games then McDonald.

They may as well just flush the money down the toilet. 

The Blue Jays are paying $3 million combined for a SS (Scutaro) with a 4.8 WAR and a seldom-used infielder (JMac). Considering McDonald's contract was signed two years ago (hence, that money was already flushed down the toilet and nothing can be done about it now) and Scutaro was acquired (after JMac's extension was signed...and he was given that extension because he was the best SS option, sadly, at the time) for replacable minor leaguers and will net a couple of high draft picks for the 2010 draft (whether these picks sign or not is another question), I'm not exactly sure how anyone can complain about this situation....unless one believe's that JMac appearing on the TSN Honour Roll twice a week will compensate for an OPS hovering around .600...I guess it is possible to crap on the Jays for every single decision, isn't it...

I'm going to hear about how this team was unlucky in 1-run games all off season. It's not going to have anything to do with a worthless bench or the manager who hasn't realized you are able to substitute players for each other after the game beings.

Considering this has been an issue for several years now (save 2006), yes, I would say it doesn't really have anything to do with their manager (since they've gone through 3 with no real change). Is it luck? Well, if something happens over, and over, and over, it's tough to simply ascribe it to luck. It's not any of the usual factors, though (bullpen or manager). Either way, it's useful to look at things like this when assessing the talent on the team, so yes - get used to hearing it.

As for McDonald, he's not getting paid for that. He's getting paid because he signed a two year contract after 2007. His current role has nothing to do with that, because that money's already gone (it's just a matter of handing out the cheques). A better question is, if you had Scutaro at short, what role do you see McDonald having?

His point is the team shouldn't be carrying a backup SS or CF if they aren't going to play sans an emergency, and he's right.

As for the backup SS or CF matter, I disagree. If Scutaro gets a decent welt from being HBP, or fouls a ball off his leg, or any number of things that happens to most middle infielders that makes you unavailable for a day, a backup SS allows you to wait a few days to see if he heals. Otherwise, he's gone for 15. We've been pretty lucky this year as far as middle infield aches and pains, but that doesn't mean we should count on it. As for a backup CF, if we could scrounge up a Reed Johnson sort, I'd be all for it as long as they understood their role (resting each of the outfielders once every 2 weeks, and maybe the same for 1B / DH, depending).

Jim, you clearly don't think this team is very good and that's fine...but you keep belittling things like 3rd order wins and pythagorean record - are you trying to suggest that the actual W-L record is more predictive and indicative of how good this team actually is than these other measurements? Are you suggesting that teams like Seattle (crappy R.D. with an above. 500 record and they did this a couple of years ago as well...which was the impetus for the Bedard trade to "put them over the hump") just have "something" undefinable and intangible that the Jays simply do not have? Rios/Rolen/Millar being replaced by EE, Snider and Ruiz is a downgrade (espescially defensively) and the play on the field demonstrates this...

I mean, does the bad of having McDonald on the roster outweight the good of having Scutaro play every day? Your argument about how little McDonald plays relative to his salary suggests that his contract would be more defensible if he played more and Scutaro, by default, played less. You could do the same cost/game breakdown with BJ Ryan...that money has nothing to do with Paxton so bringing it up is pointless...I'm not sure it proves anything other than the fact that it is very easy to criticize this team right now...even if just a month ago they were a top 10 team in baseball with bad luck trapped in a brutal division.

That is a simplistic statement. There are multiple facets to a manager's job and one of them is in-game strategy and tactics. If you want to argue Cito is below average at that part of the job I don't think too many people would disagree with you. Could that have an effect on the Jays "bad luck" during this season? Perhaps.

But there are multiple facets to a manager's job and, frankly, you have little idea how well Cito performs at those. Listen to Adam Lind speak about 2008 vs. 2009 and it couldn't be clearer how much more comfortable he is playing for Cito. Is every player more comfortable playing for Cito? I don't know, but I think many are happier with the clubhouse now than during the later year of John Gibbons.

You have no idea how well Scutaro or Wells would have played if they had an additional day off a month. There is no guarantee they would have played better, as you seem to be implying. You have no idea how well the team would be playing if there was a different tone in the clubhouse than there is under Cito. I don't either.

For someone who is so insistent that the dogma of "bad luck" is wrong than your adherence to the reverse is no more convincing.

Jim, you're damaging your own credibility when you resort to sarcastic insults and snide remarks about people like Cito Gaston, Brandon League, etc, etc.   When you make comments about how "idiotic" they all are, it just makes you look arrogant and crude.  When you suggest that Brandon League beaned a hitter because he was upset at Gregg Zaun, it just makes you look arrogant and over-confident, because nobody really knows what happened in that situation, what League was thinking, what he was intending to do, what instructions he might have been under, etc.  You suggest that Cito is an "idiot" because he doesn't give Scutaro and Wells enough days off -- but in the same breath you are snidely condemning the lack of bench strength on the Jays.  So which is it?  If Cito gave lots of playing time to John McDonald instead of Scutaro, you'd certainly make lots of snide remarks about that too.  Cito can't win, according to you, no matter what he does.  (By the way, his record since rejoining the Jays last year is now 108 wins and 102 losses.  Not necessarily the record of "an idiot" even if it doesn't impress you.)  To suggest that Cito is the manager ONLY because of what he did 20 years ago is a gross simplification that ignores all sorts of factors.  Again, you're simply damaging your own credibility when you make such sweeping over-simplifications.

You also damage your credibility when you say the Jays have had "very few injuries" -- and then you forget to mention Litsch, Ryan, Downs and Janssen, among others.  The Jays lost their closer, their set-up man and their No. 2 starter because of injuries, and you forget to mention any of them when you're listing the team's injuries.

You also damage your credibility when you accuse Cito of being "reluctant" to give time to any reliever except League and Carlson -- ignoring the fact that Shawn Camp has had more innings than EITHER of those two, and almost every other bullpen pitcher has spent time on the DL or in the minors.

If you're going to condemn Cito as an "idiot", without providing evidence, it is equally possible for others to suggest that Cito could have been a key factor in the success this year of Lind, Hill, Scutaro, Romero, Cecil, Zep, Snider and others.  We don't know.  You don't know.  But if you're going to make sweeping insults, you're just encouraging us to make equally broad statements.  Maybe Cito is a genius in his handling of young talent.  You can't prove that he isn't.

It would be a nice start if League would stop throwing at people after he gives up homeruns. It's not anyone else's fault that Gregg Zaun took you deep Brandon.

Wait. Is anyone here actually thinking this was an intent pitch? First, does League have enough control of his splitter to hit someone if he was trying to? More seriously, why would he hit Upton with a splitter? Why would he seek to 'intimidate' someone with an 81 mph splitter, when the man throws 96-98? Remember when the ump then warned the benches, which caused that terrible manager Gaston to stick up for his player and argue it was a splitter, and that there was obviously no intent.

You also damage your credibility when you say the Jays have had "very few injuries" -- and then you forget to mention Litsch, Ryan, Downs and Janssen, among others.  The Jays lost their closer, their set-up man and their No. 2 starter because of injuries, and you forget to mention any of them when you're listing the team's injuries.

I said they had very few injuries to position players.  I mentioned Marcum and McGowan, they were the most important.   Ryan I guess is an 'injury', but it's not like it was recent and it's not as though anyone was counting on him.  Downs pretty much got hurt after the season was already sliding downhill.  I like Casey Janssen but if his injury is having an impact on your season then you have bigger problems then Casey Janssen getting hurt.   They have had some pitching injuries, but that's part and parcel with pitching, a lot of them get hurt.  I'll grant you that I did sort of forget about Litsch.

You also damage your credibility when you accuse Cito of being "reluctant" to give time to any reliever except League and Carlson -- ignoring the fact that Shawn Camp has had more innings than EITHER of those two, and almost every other bullpen pitcher has spent time on the DL or in the minors.

Camp has thrown more innings, League and Carlson have made the most appearances.  League and Carlson both have higher Leverage Indexes according to BP as well.  Yes, Camp has ended up with more innings because he's had a handful of very long appearances for a reliever.  Because he mopped up a few short starts with big deficits and ended up with more innings doesn't really say much about why Jesse Carlson is still pitching in close games.

If you're going to condemn Cito as an "idiot", without providing evidence, it is equally possible for others to suggest that Cito could have been a key factor in the success this year of Lind, Hill, Scutaro, Romero, Cecil, Zep, Snider and others.  We don't know.  You don't know.  But if you're going to make sweeping insults, you're just encouraging us to make equally broad statements.  Maybe Cito is a genius in his handling of young talent.  You can't prove that he isn't.

Some of those players you list aren't exactly setting the world on fire.  Cecil's ERA+ is down to 96.  Snider has an OPS+ of 81.  It doesn't really matter anyway to me,

I'm not really of the mind that the manager has a huge impact on how individual players perform.  I can see how he manages the bullpen.  I can see how he's buried a player such as Accardo going back to spring training.  I can see how he doesn't seem to be interested in any strategy other then turning in a lineup card.  

Maybe some of what I'm attributing to Cito is actually Riccardi.  Maybe it's Riccardi who is hell bent on keeping Millar around.  Maybe it's Riccardi who won't call up a left-hander other then Carlson.  

I'm certainly not the only observer who is unimpressed with what Cito Gaston is doing with this team.  Not only are they losing, they are playing ugly baseball.  Maybe it's not his 'fault', but he certainly hasn't fixed it.

You guys want to pretend League wasn't throwing at Upton.. that's fine.  How do you ignore his next appearance when he hit Youkilis after Martinez hit a HR?

With Cito, if you're a relief pitcher, you'd better throw strikes in a high leverage situation.  If you start getting tentative and nibbling, or what's worse, walking batters, then you are unforgiven, and rightly so.  The Zaun slam was great theatre, good for him, the Blue Jays owed him one and he deserved it.

The Yank 'n' Bosox games are hilarious: ritual becomes a stylized art form explaining the heart of the beast--but at least it is a civilizing influence in a society where the bankers run wild. 

Will you guys defend anything against evidence? In two straight appearances League gave up home runs. Both times the next batter got hit. Yeah, no way was he frustrated.

You are absolutely right about everything ever. I have no idea what I am talking about, and argue without evidence. Oh, and this is most certainly not an 81 mph splitter in the side of BJ Upton right after the Gregg Zaun grand slam from a pitcher who throws 96-98. Now, please stop acting so ridiculous.

You know what is wierd is the similarity between A.J. Burnett and Scott Richmond.  Burnett: 141 SO in 158.2 innings.  Richmond:  91 SO in 101.1 innings

                                                                                                                                                       ERA       4.08                                       ERA              4.09

                                                                                                                                                       WHIP      1.40                                      WHIP            1.29

Scott's SLUG is a bit higher, but considering the salary spread and his rookie status, hats off to Mr. Richmond.  These are comparable #3 starters.  Ya think he desreves a bit more respect?  I do.

Good find, as those stats certainly are closer than I had realized. Not too mention that Richmond has walked about half as many batters as AJ in two-thirds as many innings.

Burnett's had the better season by virtue of pitching more innings than Scott (some of this beyond Richmond's control), but Richmond has had a good season and has shown the ability to slot well at the back of a rotation and pitch well after extended periods of rest.

There will be a number of teams with fourth and fifth starters worse than Scott Richmond next year.

Jim, I'm not personally offended by your use of "stupid" and "idiot" as your adjectives of choice for Gaston and Ricciardi and League and others.  It's a free world and you're entitled to use whatever words you want.  I just think it's highly unlikely that everyone on the Jays is "stupid" and "idiotic" and that you're a smarter baseball man than everyone on the Jays.  I grant that you're an economist etc, but I just factually question your assumption that you're smarter than all the idiots on the Jays.  But if you are indeed smarter than everyone on the Jays, you should be applying for the GM's job or the manager's job, rather than sniping sarcastically from the sidelines.

I'm still asking you:  if Cito rested Scutaro and gave a lot more games to McDonald, would you criticize him or not?  The logical extension of your Scutaro argument is that you would happily accept Cito's judgment if he gave a lot more games to McDonald.  But in view of how you criticize every tiny thing that Cito does, I find it implausible that you wouldn't attack him if he benched Scutaro once or twice a week in favor of McDonald.  It would certainly produce more losses for the Jays, which you would certainly criticize.

You also criticize him for his over-use of Carlson and League.  But you ignore the fact that the Jays bullpen was pretty comprehensively crippled by the loss of Ryan, the shifting of Tallet to the rotation, the injuries to Downs, etc.  There really aren't any great alternatives in the minors, unless you're a huge fan of Brian Wolfe.  Under those circumstances, it's completely understandable that Cito would be forced to rely more heavily on Carlson and League, and it's also understandable that the over-use of those two pitchers would reduce their effectiveness.  No surprise there, and hardly grounds for crucifying Gaston.

The rest of your argument against Cito, as far as I can tell from your latest posts, seems to be reduced to his handling of Jeremy Accardo.

I said they had very few injuries to position players. 

No, you didn't.  Your exact words were:  "For an older team this team has had very few injuries."  Then you immediately mentioned Marcum and McGowan, so you were clearly talking about pitchers and position players.   (Interestingly, you mentioned two injuries from last season and forgot about a whole slew of injuries from this season.)

If you're going to make such sweeping attacks on the Jays, you can't backtrack and deny what you said as soon as you're challenged.

Spifficus, I am really curious as to your posting. <25 comments from Dec. 2005 until the end of June 2009, and >125 comments in the last two months. It's astounding!

I'm still asking you:  if Cito rested Scutaro and gave a lot more games to McDonald, would you criticize him or not?  The logical extension of your Scutaro argument is that you would happily accept Cito's judgment if he gave a lot more games to McDonald.  But in view of how you criticize every tiny thing that Cito does, I find it implausible that you wouldn't attack him if he benched Scutaro once or twice a week in favor of McDonald.  It would certainly produce more losses for the Jays, which you would certainly criticize.

Would I criticize Cito if he gave Scutaro a day off every few weeks?  No one would probably notice, 99% of the players in the major leagues get a day off now and again especially when they are in their mid-30's and play a demanding position.  

The centerfielder is about as bad as they come at this point.  What does he gain by playing him every inning of every game?  Is that going to snap him out of his funk at the plate?  Is it going to help improve his 'range'.

I hardly criticize everything he does.  I'm believe part of the reason that they underperform their run elements is because they don't have a good manager.  This is hardly a outlandish opinion as pretty much the entire North American media agrees.  

You also criticize him for his over-use of Carlson and League.  But you ignore the fact that the Jays bullpen was pretty comprehensively crippled by the loss of Ryan, the shifting of Tallet to the rotation, the injuries to Downs, etc.  There really aren't any great alternatives in the minors, unless you're a huge fan of Brian Wolfe.  Under those circumstances, it's completely understandable that Cito would be forced to rely more heavily on Carlson and League, and it's also understandable that the over-use of those two pitchers would reduce their effectiveness.  No surprise there, and hardly grounds for crucifying Gaston.

It would be understandable for a while.  Now that we all know that Carlson isn't going to get people out maybe it's time to head in another direction?  How deep into the season do League and Carlson have to cough up games before it's time to try something different?

Is the case for Gaston that everything is out of his control and he has no choices?  He's the victim here?  I'll grant you that he's not nearly the issue that the front office and ownership are, but he's hardly the solution. 

but Gaston is (of course) not responsible for it at all.

He seems to have input on some, and no voice on others.  I don't see how he's not responsible at all.  If he didn't want Bautista they could have saved a big chunk of his money.  If he didn't favor Millar why would he be here at this point?