But you know what? The Yankees just don't feel very good to this fan right now. If they meet up with Texas in the playofs again, they could be one-and-done and it should not surprise anyone.

I would suspect this is a matter of scoring. Just recalling the last time the Jays faced Colon...

R Davis reached on infield single to pitcher, E Encarnacion scored, T Snider to third, J Arencibia to second.
Y Escobar reached on infield single to pitcher, T Snider scored, J Arencibia to third, R Davis to second.

I heard somewhere that if the Jays get a bad enough record, they do not lose thier picks if they sign a type A free agent.  Is this true?  Give me more details....

But you know what? The Yankees just don't feel very good to this fan right now. If they meet up with Texas in the playofs again, they could be one-and-done and it should not surprise anyone.

It will surprise me. I'm the guy who laughed when you picked the Yankees to finish .500 or whatever it was.

 "The Yanks, and especially Jeter, have been fun to watch this year."    ... jerjapan

I hate watching the Yankee$ play .  They're a bunch of classless whiners that question every close call that doesn't go their way .  The same goes for the Red $ox.  Both teams try to influence the umpires for future calls. They, (with Jeter being the worst offender),  stand there and give either a look of disdain or hurt or a combination of the two and play it so that their 50,000 fans will vociferously reinforce and validate their self-entitled opinions so that in future, when an umpire has a close call, one which he may be unsure of or have a creeping doubt about , he will allow  the anticipation of 'the look' or the roar of an intimidating crowd to colour his decision.

Also, the only time I enjoy watching the Yankee$ and the Red $ox play, is when the Jays are beating them or when they're playing each other, so that whichever way the play goes, one will  lose and the other will whine to no avail.

Also, (part 2), am I the only one who found the Yankee commentators complaining about the length of the game last night on TSN, a little rich ?

A-Rod isn't Brooks Robinson

I dunno .... the injured A-Rod and the elderly B-Robby probably have about the same range right now ...

I would suspect this is a matter of scoring. Just recalling the last time the Jays faced Colon...

R Davis reached on infield single to pitcher, E Encarnacion scored, T Snider to third, J Arencibia to second.
Y Escobar reached on infield single to pitcher, T Snider scored, J Arencibia to third, R Davis to second.

Those were the "full swing chopper" types, as I recall one play would have been made by most anyone else on the mound, the other one was just one of those things. But yes, part of the strategy for beating Colon should absolutely be laying down some bunts. But does anyone left on the roster do that? Also, in interleague play, I would intentionally walk him just to make him run the bases once.

Let me get this right,

The Jays are right now 9th out of 14 teams in the AL, so thier first round pick is protected.  Is this a case where having a Type B free agent is better than having a Type A? 

Anthopoulos says there will be about 6 September call-ups. So that's the maximalist option that I was kind of expecting -- including a few pitchers. AA hinted that Drabek will be among the 6 call-ups, and he confirmed that McGowan will be among them too. (Based on the 3.2 innings that he managed in his last outing, I'd have to expect that McGowan will be pitching out of the bullpen. Drabek too.)

So, probably three pitchers total, plus Hech, Cooper and Loewen?  Or maybe 4 pitchers and 2 position players?

By the way, AA said the 6 call-ups are in addition to those activated from injury (Rauch and Villanueva). So the call-ups will be 5 prospects plus McGowan. One of them won't be Uviedo, who's been sent to NH to help in the playoffs. McGowan will probably be the first to be promoted. Then the rest by Sunday or Monday.

And AA also confirmed that he went all the way to Japan to take a look at Darvish.

On McGowan…

He’s not entirely stretched out to start yet. He’s getting there, pitch count has gotten up to 70. We’ve talked about, would we have him make some starts and then be backed up, maybe go three or four innings? Is it best to maybe have him be in the bullpen right now, but not someone who is going to be used on back-to-back days, more of a long guy?

and

On Kyle Drabek…

“I know he hasn’t performed nearly as well as we all want him to ,and he wants to as well. But at the same time, right now … we have the rotation set the way it is,  so guys like Kyle, and so on, that are candidates for call-ups right now, everyone would come up as a reliever. If the opportunity presented itself, a starter got knocked out early, or we needed to give a guy a break, or we wanted to shut someone’s innings down … we have the ability to make a spot start.”

--------------------------------------------

Am i the only one who's thinking "Go ahead and let mcGowan and Drabek do tandem starts as happens in the GCL"?

Seriously, Start McGowan and let him go to his pitch count limit, or five innings, whichever comes first, then have Drabek prepared just as if he were the starter and let him come in and try to finish the game.

McGowan needs routine - Drabek needs at least the potential for multiple innings to see if he's learned anything.

Just to be clear, they lead the majors with 62 runs saved this year, not that their specific defensive positioning. I'm sure it does help, but they do have a number of fine defenders, Longoria, Zobrist, etc.

I would hardly call it "fawning" to express a preference to see Adam Loewen instead of Mark Teahen in left (even though Teahen had a solid game at the plate). And there's no evidence that leads to "horendous" outfield defense to have him in a corner.

Some Bauxites may give Loewen more hype than he "merits", but I think a lot of that comes from the fact he was a highly-rated hitting prospect when drafted, before Baltimore chose to have him develop as a pitcher, and he has limited professional batting experience. However, as he's surpassed 1,500 professional at-bats, I think it's becoming clear what sort of player Loewen most likely will develop into.

However, his last 2,000 major league plate appearances are likely to give some indication of his ability.

No.

However, his last 2,000 major league plate appearances are likely to give some indication of his ability.

2,000 PA for another organization are likely to give far less of an indication of a player's ability than 1500 PA for your own organization. There's value in letting AA & the coaching staff see Teahen play a bit.

Mark Teahen is under guaranteed contract for $5.5 MM for 2012.   Whether he starts, is on the Bench or is waived, you are still paying $5.5 MM regardless.   Unless A.A. is mistaken, Teahen can play the corners on the infield and the outfield.   For just next year, I can see A.A. keeping Teahan, for no other reason, than not wanting to pay twice for the same roster spot.

Kelly Johnson is the best available 2B this offseason.   Our depth in the Minors, at this position, is weak, but slowly improving.   Signing Johnson should be a priority - say $18.0 MM over 3 years plus option year(s).

Will we have 6 Relievers or 7 Relievers and a smaller Bench?

Richard, have to agree on Teahen.

 On the other hand, we have Hech in AAA. I think one more year of KJ would be perfect, either through arb or as a FA, even if it takes a bit of an overpay to get it done  This would allow him to rebuild his value a la Beltre last year with the Bosox.

I don't think there will much choice about having at least 7 relievers (although hopefully we've seen the last of the 8 man pen). As a group, our starters aren't exactly innings eaters.

That is Juan Rivera logic, and it takes you to fourth place.

I'm far from a Mark Teahen fan, but I don't quite see how Teahen as the 25th man on the roster will take us from the pennant to 4th place. Would I like to see someone much better in hiis stead? Of course.. But I don't think he'll be dumped, at least not until a similar timeframe as Rivera. If he is going to be given the playing time Rivera was provided, it would be an issue, but barring a complete career reversal, that's not going to happen.

Keeping Teahen for September makes sense - be certain as to what you have

Is this really necessary? What if injuries were to force Teahen into a great deal of playing time. And say, in 70 AB, he were to hit 325/425/550. Would that mean anything? And what if, instead, he were to hit 180/240/320? Would that tell you anything?

I can't help but think that there is enough evidence on the table to gauge who Mark Teahen likely is at this point in his career. Of course, you can never know 100% for sure what a man has left in the tank, but you have to think that his last 1000-1500 PAs would serve as a more meaningful indicator than would some random September at-bats.

John's point about the sunk cost thing is, of course, dead on. What if Teahen were not scheduled to make all that money? What if he were on the Patterson payment program? Would you even bother keeping him around?

Teahen's salary was one of the costs of acquiring a seemingly high upside Colby Rasmus. Sign the cheque. Walk away.

This is how you separate the good from the great franchises.

Few would consider separating good from great franchises based on the 25th man on their roster. I would think most of us would consider Boston as a franchise to emulate, yet they have carried Darnell McDonald, hitting all of .194/. 264/.367 for almost the entire season.

No one here is arguing Teahen will have a sudden career resurgence. And maybe the Jays will find someone else they'd rather have collecting butt splinters as their 25th man. It just seems to me, the likelihood of Teahen breaking camp with the Jays next year is at least as great as the team simply dumping him and paying another marginally better player to sit on the bench most of next season.  

Alvarez is a terrific looking yong pitcher.  The movement on his fastball is amazing.  Terrific changeup.  What a job he did today against that loaded Boston lineup.  That's 14 shutout innings combined in his last 2 starts.

Lawrie is already a force to be reckoned with at the age of 21.  He seems to be getting better in the field on a daily basis.  That was a terrific play to make the tag on the runner with the bare hand and make the quick throw to get the DP.  Two walks today were nice to see, in addition to the HR.  Another steal without getting caught.  Future MVP candidate.

Francisco has been excellent lately.  That's 15 consecutive scoreless appearances, totalling 16 innings.  I'd like to see him brought back for next year, if the price is right.

Maybe we see McGowan tomorrow.

Alvarez has been exciting to watch in the big leagues so far.  He's still very young, of course, but I feel really good about him as a long term starting pitcher for us.  Looking at what we have still in the minors, the way Hutchison and Molina are pitching....is anyone else already thinking about a Romero, Alvarez, Hutchison, Molina foundation for 2013 and beyond?  Hutchison and Molina could both be ready for later in 2012, even, similar to how Alvarez came up this season.  Pitching prospects are fairly unpredictable, but right now, all four of those guys look like they are going to have great careers.

I think he should hit third next year.

I think that with his natural agressiveness, he'd slot in well at #5 (predicated on paying significantly for a Fielder-esque bat for #4, which I've definitely warmed up to over the past month or two).