Redmond doesn't have an out pitch. That's trouble against a contact team like the Red Sox.

Tough assignment to be sure, but Redmond has done quite well as a substitute starter for the Jays this season.

David Cooper, whose career looked to be over before some very unusual surgery a few months ago, has signed a minor league deal with Cleveland.

Given the success Cleveland has had with Aviles and Gomes, it's perhaps unsurprising that they would take a flyer on the ex-Jay Cooper.

I wonder whether the club would promote Pillar, Gose or Sierra to replace Rasmus.  Somehow, I think that they would choose to promote Sierra or Gose.  I don't have much confidence in management at this point.

11th inning, now up to 6 relievers used, still have Storey (3 pitches yesterday) and Lincoln (18 pitches day before yesterday) and Rogers (demoted to pen, 64 pitches 4 days ago) available.  Who knew a 9 man pen might be needed today?

Of course, as soon as I post it Loup gives up a 2 run single.  Sigh. Also noticed that Weber is officially available to pitch if he is in town today.  So make that a 10 man bullpen.  Wow.

Tough night for Loup. It looked like he had Salty struck out but the umpire called it a ball.

Pillar promoted, according to Twitter.

Good.  I wonder whether Pillar, Davis or Bonifacio plays centerfield.  Davis had one of his random great defensive games last night, and might get the call. 

I hope Pillar gets a shot everyday whether it is in centerfield or leftfield to see what he can do.

Interesting that Pillar gets the call, he has been less successful in August, just a 633 OPS.  He was better over the weekend (6-10) but 1-8 between Monday and Tuesday.

Pillar told his fiance they couldn't get married until he made the major leagues, I guess she is happy today.

I wonder whether the club would promote Pillar, Gose or Sierra to replace Rasmus.  Somehow, I think that they would choose to promote Sierra or Gose.  I don't have much confidence in management at this point.

Management, like pretty much the whole organization, has had a bad year ... but why would they do this?  Gose made sense earlier this year with his speed and defense as a pinch runner for a hobbling Cabrera.  He's had a terrible year, although he's hitting with some pop and is 7-7 in SBs in his last ten games.  Sierra doesn't seem to be a prospect at all anymore and isn't having a good year, while the club has talked about Pillar being close.  Just how little confidence do you have in management? 

Glad to see Pillar get the call. Maybe this will wake up Gose or Sierra... or maybe not. Time will tell but I hope they give Pillar an honest to goodness chance, not just the occasional at bat and defensive sub.

Just how little confidence do you have in management?

I felt that it was likely that they would consider that with Pillar struggling a bit and Gose playing a little better, and Gose being the better defensive centerfielder, that he was the better choice.

As to the more general question, it has been a very bad year for management on a number of fronts, most notably in dealing with below-replacement level performance and in injury rehab and prevention.  Anthopoulos is young and has done a few things right over his time here. If ownership feels that he deserves another chance, I won't be upset. 

I felt that it was likely that they would consider that with Pillar struggling a bit and Gose playing a little better, and Gose being the better defensive centerfielder, that he was the better choice.

That hardly feels like condemnable logic.  The 40-man spot may have come in useful over the Winter as well.

I'm fine with either Gose or Pillar.  I think we'll see a lot of both next year.  I think Gose has had a bad year, but I still think he'll be a regular in the OF in his career, with a slightly above replacement bat and elite defence.

He should probably see a lot of RF next year, with Bautista seeing more time at 1B and/or DH.

I am not counting on anything from Gose yet, at least until he regains some control of the strike zone.  During the last 10 games (when he has been warming up), he hasn't walked at all and has struck out 13 times.  He won't even hit at replacement level in the majors like that. 

If you run out an outfield of Pillar, Rasmus and Bautista, defence is not an issue.  Bautista has been much better this year.

Bonifacio traded to KC for PTBNL/cash.

I am very happy.

Dang, trade his just when he was starting to get better. hehehehe I'm happy too!

Kawasaki up, Rasmus to DL, backdated to Aug 12

Can we trade the pro scout who had the Marlins last year too? Bonifacio was the key to The Trade! Unbelievable.

Didn't the Jays also claim that John Buck and Jeff Mathis were "key" to the trade? It was all just empty rhetoric, not to be taken seriously. In reality, Johnson and Reyes were the key to the trade.

But I agree that the Jays need to review their scouting department. Unless AA overruled the scouts, which is also possible.

"Didn't the Jays also claim that John Buck and Jeff Mathis were "key" to the trade?"

Not that I can recall, no. Buck was a key piece of the Mets trade because the Jays had to dump his salary and they paid a premium in prospects to do so.

SPORTSNET STAFF
NOVEMBER 21, 2012, 12:56 AM
Toronto Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos said the massive 12-player deal with the Miami Marlins almost never came to fruition because of his reluctance to part with Jeff Mathis for John Buck.

Mathis was apparently the last piece of the Marlins trade:

"And now the deal might fall apart because of Jeffrey Stephen Mathis, who started 59 games in the his first year with the Jays.

"Every proposal the Marlins asked for him and every time we declined because we were uncomfortable including him," Anthopoulos said.

"Out of a sense of loyalty we didn't feel like trading him.""

And you think that's empty rhetoric because...?

I sure hope it wasn't!

uglyone - now that is addition by subtraction.  Bonifacio has been one of many disasters (Johnson being the other major one).  If he played less it wouldn't have been a big deal, but with the amount he has played and how poor he has looked out there (especially with the bat) it hurt the team.  He did seem to get hot for awhile but in August he has hit 241/290/276 over 9 games, not a big sample but a sign he was moving back to normal after a hot July (308/400/500 in 30 PA).

At one point, AA said he almost called off the trade because the Marlins insisted on getting Jeff Mathis. Which might have been true, or perhaps was just a case of complimenting a player who has a very solid reputation.

Anyway. Bonifacio is some debacle of scouting or coaching. Even pessimistically, you might have expected him to be a mediocre utility player with some great speed. Instead, he was terrible, and didn't even run that much. At a minimum, the idea that he could play 2nd on a regular basis casts some serious doubts on the coaching staff.

Maybe Mathis was worth it after all. Over 1653 PAs, Marlins pitchers have a 2.54 ERA pitching to Mathis. Rob Branly's at 4.45, and Olivo at 4.01. And he's caught a tidy 38% of baserunners.

Jeff Mathis is Magic.

Am I missing something, or do the Jays have only 3 outfielders on the roster- Pillar, Davis and Bautista?  I guess that means regular work for Pillar, but it would be nice to have a 4th outfielder around just in case...I guess Adam Lind or Edwin Encarnacion would be the default choice. 

The Miami trade hasn't worked out so far (although Reyes can hit), but the package sent to the Marlins doesn't seem likely to come back to bite the Jays too badly.

The package sent to the Mets, on the other hand...

Carrying 9 relievers is way more important than having a backup OF.

"....it would be nice to have a 4th outfielder around just in case...."

Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com is saying that Kawasaki or DeRosa are, technically, the backup outfielders at the moment. (Emergencies only, I guess.) But he's also speculating that Gose is likely to be promoted in the "very near future."

Bonifacio has been bad this year, but Izturis has been worse.

Wonder who #4 is?  The Jays are down to just 12 hitters, so 3 guys on the bench who would be Thole or JPA, Kawasaki and DeRosa.  I'd guess Kawasaki and DeRosa could each play LF or RF if needed for a few innings, but I suspect from now until September the outfield will be Pillar/Davis/Bautista.  In September we should see Gose and Sierra up.

John - even worse than the bonifiasco is that 32 year old Maicer Izturis is on pace to play a career high amount of games and plate appearances (20 more games and 116 more PAs and he sets a career high), even whilst having by far the worst year of his career with a .595ops and 62wRC+, not to mention horrific defensive metrics.

If that doesn't say it all about this season, I'm not sure what does.

Am I missing something, or do the Jays have only 3 outfielders on the roster

Things keep getting unusualer and unusualer. Reyes has shown a remarkable ability to stay in the lineup after his injury (even though he moves as if he is not fully healed). Maybe Kawasaki was chosen over an outfielder since the organization feels that Reyes will need to be spelled a little?

At this point, roster construction hardly matters. The Titanic has long ago hit the iceberg and we're just rearranging deck chairs. The latter quarter of the season figures to be little more than six weeks of whack-a-mole, finding enough healthy bodies to man the positions as they require filling.

"Bonifacio has been bad this year, but Izturis has been worse."

Can we just settle at "they both stink"? I certainly can't say that Izturis has been definitively worse than Bonifacio, and would've in fact leaned the other way. If somebody claims Izturis on waivers AA should let him walk too.

Good riddance to Bonifacio. He was bad, but they kept running him out there. Then again, we might see Edwin Encarnacion or Mark Derosa in left field. Going against Lester tonight, I think I'd like to see Derosa start at 1B, and EE at DH, with Lind ready to pounce off the bench for Pillar, Davis, Izturis or Derosa, depending on the situation. Then again, relying on Derosa as a 4th outfielder shows that they aren't concerned about putting the best line-up out possible, so Lind will probably start.

At this point, roster construction hardly matters. The Titanic has long ago hit the iceberg and we're just rearranging deck chairs. The latter quarter of the season figures to be little more than six weeks of whack-a-mole, finding enough healthy bodies to man the positions as they require filling

Spot on, sadly.

I was basing my conclusion on bWAR and fWAR, both of which rate Izturis well below Boni (I was a bit surprised too).

The Blue Jays announced today that they are taking "crowdsourcing" to a new level.  Every day one lucky fan who comes through the turnstiles at least 1hour prior to game time will be offered the opportunity to be the backup outfielder for the day.  A reliever with options will be sent down immediately upon acceptance by the fan.  Commissioner Selig has given the plan his approval on condition that the fan agrees to provide hair samples for PED testing.

Fans will, however, be permitted to ingest a Klondike Bar before taking the field.

For most of Izturis' cold start, I reassured myself with the assumption that he'd get back to his career levels sooner or later, at least defensively.

Perhaps that was unwise. If the Jays can't rehabilitate his defence, they might as well release him.

There was a time when the latest news would get a Post so we could comment about it.
1) A versatile player gets traded.
2) A hot young prospect gets called up.
3) An exciting player hits the D.L.
4) A fan favorite is recalled.

And no one cares.

"....Carrying 9 relievers is way more important than having a backup OF...."

Not sure that a back-up OF is so crucial for a single game. Gose is almost certain to be promoted tomorrow or the next day. Rogers is unlikely to pitch more than 4 or 5 innings tonight (based on recent experience), so Weber or Lincoln will likely pitch for 2 or 3 innings and then be demoted to Buffalo to make room for Gose.

Barry Davis @SNBarryDavis
AA says Bonifacio wasn't getting much PT and wanted to see Pillar. With Rasmus on DL Gose may also get the call later this week. #bluejays

More directly:
John Lott ‏@LottOnBaseball
AA on Bonifacio: We expected him to be a better player.

Incidentally: is Kevin Pillar the first Jewish player on the Blue Jays team since Shawn Green?

Bonifacio had one good year and has been virtually replacement level the rest of his career. Tools are nice, but the ability to play baseball is even nicer. I won't miss him even a little bit.

Welcome aboard Mr. Pillar. You are 24.5 years old, so we'll hold off getting too terribly excited about your upside. It seems that you can hit for average with a little gap power. You don't walk and you don't hit homeruns, so there doesn't appear to be much margin for error if you can't deliver on those aforementioned skills. That said, no harm in having you aboard for a look-see. It's not like you're stealing playing time from anyone.

One could argue that if Rasmus does in fact lose much of thebalance of the season to his injury, it may actually help him contract-wise. Some regression from his .363 BABIP would have been inevitable and his rate stats would have seen some normalization. I'd guess that an extension will be offered, and if Rasmus is seen as an 800 OPS solider defender in CF, big bucks will be forthcoming. I see him as more of a 750 OPS type but even that would play in center field.

is Kevin Pillar the first Jewish player on the Blue Jays team since Shawn Green?

We had Nick Green here a few years ago for a brief stint. No idea if he was Jewish.

It turns out, somebody keeps track of the Jewish players.

Not sure that a back-up OF is so crucial for a single game.

Besides, Manny's back on the market.

I don't have much confidence in management at this point.

I can't imagine why.

So, the first since Scott Schoeneweis, as far as I can tell. Let's hope Pillar has a longer Jays career than Schoeneweis, but the achievements of Shawn Green are probably out of his reach.

Buck was a key piece of the Mets trade because the Jays had to dump his salary and they paid a premium in prospects to do so.

As has been noted before, there's not a scintilla of evidence to support the tinfoil hat theory that the return on the Dickey trade was shaped by including John Buck's 6 million. But in the alternative universe where John Buck's salary dictates the return on a major trade, the Jays made off like bandits, because then they got Jose Reyes for taking on John Buck's salary. Best deal ever!

Kawasaki is in tonight's starting lineup.  Against a left-hander. Perhaps something is in the works for Izturis as well. 

One can only hope.

I was quite pleased to hear the Bonifacio news and that Pillar will be getting a shot. Let's hope he gets plenty of at-bats over the rest of the season.

I suspect for the 2 weeks (and a bit) left until September the Jays can run out Pillar/Davis/Bautista everyday.  Let DeRosa or Kawasaki play in RF during blowouts to give Bautista a bit of a rest as needed, but otherwise just leave them alone and see how they do.  Two decisions are needed for 2014 that this will help determine...
1) Is Pillar ready for prime time, and will he be valuable?
2) Should Davis be resigned for 2014 and if so for how much?

In September a platoon in CF of Gose and Davis can be done, with Sierra called up to sorta-platoon with Lind (Sierra in RF, Bautista DH when a LHP is on the mound).  Won't tell much unless an extreme happens (ie: Gose goes 0 for September or hits 10 HR) but at least it'll give an eyeball for the club on those 2 as well to see if they can handle the majors.  For the infield Kawasaki and Izturis should be in a semi-platoon at 2B with Kawasaki giving Reyes time off here and there as well.  DeRosa spots off Lawrie when his bruises get to be a bit much.  Call up some infielder as an emergency backup as well in September (40 man guys are Gomez who is a 1B/sorta 3B AAAA guy, Goins a SS/3B/2B who has climbed up the ladder and hit 267/321/386 in AAA so far, 712 OPS lifetime in minors).  Given the short bench it might not be a bad idea to call both up. A big question would be who the 3rd catcher will be - A.J. Jimenez is the only one on the 40 man, but has yet to play in AAA. Mike Nickeas has caught the knuckleball before and has ML experience but has a 484 OPS in AAA.  Sean Ochinko also has caught in AAA this year, but has a 626 OPS in Buffalo - but lifetime has hit 279/339/441 in the minors so might be worth a call-up if his defense is strong (has never been in majors, age 25 season).

So my bets for offense is Gose & Sierra in September, either Nickeas or Ochinko (depending on promises made by AA pre-season to sign them), and maybe Goins or Gomez.  The Jays do play 3 in Arizona early in September so no DH for those games thus having Gomez might be nice as a pinch hitter.  I see Goins and Orchinko as organization guys who it would be a reward for hard work to get called up, along with the usefulness of an extra guy on the bench.  I doubt Jimenez just due to his not being in AAA yet and probably getting another year in the minors with a September callup in 2014.

Izturis appeared to be coming back to life earlier, with his OPS by month slowly growing ... from 510 to 623 - 676 - 682 in July (97 sOPS+) then... 349 so far in August.  Ugh.   Near 100 for OPS+ you'd get buyers, but a 349 OPS? If that doesn't scare other clubs away (mixed with poor defense) I don't know what would.  If someone would take on his contract I'm sure the Jays would be more than happy to let him go.

would love to see the team give up on Izturis, too.

a rotating cast of minor league signings would have given us a better bench than our $10m bench has given us.

But hey, let's have some predictions from da Box - what is Kevin Pillar?

Personally I still peg him as a good 4th OF, but there's a chance of being an average starter in there too. Of course, with the state of our LF this year, the bar for starting is very, very low.

For the record, Pillar has turned into a lefty masher this year, which plays into the "4th OF" narrative, and was 2 years ago in rookie ball as well.....but wasn't last year in A/A+:

2013: AAA: 1.045 v.LHP, .740 v.RHP, AA: .968 v.LHP, .713 v.RHP
2012: A+: .770 v.LHP, .745 v.RHP, A: .789 v.LHP, .856 v.RHP
2011: Rk: 1.136 v.LHP, .838 v.RHP

"Pillar told his fiance they couldn't get married until he made the major leagues, I guess she is happy today."

Either that, or she's about to learn a very hard lesson about the difference between necessary and sufficient conditions.

what is Kevin Pillar?

I'm already on record. He's Dan Gladden. But I see a number of folks are thinking "new Reed Johnson." Either will be fine.

For all the grief that Bonifacio received (and deservedly so), I am still surprised that Izturis' stunningly bad performance is understated in these parts. Poor doesn't begin to describe it. A 62 wRC+, and if you believe Fangraphs the worst defensive numbers in all of baseball. He has arguably been the worst player in the non-pitcher category this season.

My theory is that Izturis doesn't *look* as obviously bad as Bonifacio (striking out less, for example), so his particular mode of underperformance has attracted less attention.

When the Jays signed Izturis, I raised concerns about the fact that he was coming off a weak year in 2012 and that he was no longer in his prime. I didn't expect him to struggle to this extent, though.

I'm not a huge Steve Simmons guy, but I heard him say something fairly valid on the radio yesterday. Essentially he said, a good general manager has to admit his mistakes , rectify them and move on. He used Pat Gillick and Cliff Fletcher during his tenure in Calgary as two examples of being able to cut their losses.

Hopefully AA is cut from the same cloth. I imagine JPA should be the next in the cross hairs. I'm certainly glad to see Boni gone.....

"Not sure that a back-up OF is so crucial for a single game."

Positive that 9 relievers aren't needed either. The Jays could've easily sent one down today so they could field a proper roster.

"As has been noted before, there's not a scintilla of evidence to support the tinfoil hat theory that the return on the Dickey trade was shaped by including John Buck's 6 million."

@AdamRubinESPN "John Buck needed to be in deal because Jays at their financial limit. Toronto needed Mets to take the $6M."

"There was a time when the latest news would get a Post so we could comment about it.
1) A versatile player gets traded.
2) A hot young prospect gets called up.
3) An exciting player hits the D.L.
4) A fan favorite is recalled.

And no one cares."

As one of the 10 or 15 initial posters on this forum ( I believe we started up in early 2002? ) I couldn't let this comment slide. Richard do you not realize that the moderators of this blog are all volunteers. This is a labour of love, nobody is getting rich off this forum. I for one am thankful for their efforts. You do not have a paid subscription, nobody does, so your comments are rude and inappropriate. Perhaps your needs would be better filled elsewhere.

One important thing about the Bonifacio trade - the return. If it's a player I'll leave it to those who know prospects to say how good it was. If Cash comes back, it means no one offered is good enough for our minor system.

Draftees miss some playing time between Spring Traing, Extended Spring Training,early Short Season games and what they play in College/University or High School pre draft in Draft Year. Draft year means nothing, but some success is nice. Second year could be hit or miss and not matter that much. Third year decides make or break for MLB- readiness.

Pillar was promoted steadily, but apparently not beyond his capabilities. As long as he gets regular full time ABs between now and season end should gives an idea of what he is or can be. Very few player in this organization have moved as fast. Is he a Regular, Bench - 4th outfielder, Big Trade Asset, or just AAAA.

Bonifacio went because we had replacements, Davis, Pillar, Sierra and maybe Gose. Izturis has a bad contract for his value thus far - too many years. It's unlikely he goes anywhere. Who replaces him? J.P. Arencibia is unlikey to go anywhere, his trade value is too low. Who replaces him?

Another way to look at it...
1) The 25th man on the roster (who many wanted released) was traded for cash
2) A guy not in the Jays top 10 pre-season (even after trades) prospects was called up
3) A guy many wanted traded to make room for Gose in the offseason is now on the DL
4) A guy who was released by Seattle and unwanted elsewhere is called up to warm the bench

So those moves could be seen as critical or as bookkeeping moves.

Replacing Izturis isn't so hard - Kawasaki starts, a guy like Goins or Negrych or McCoy backs up, and maybe Burns gets a looksee in september. They can't be any worse than Izturis has been, and there's no worry about ruining any of their development paths.

JP you don't trade. Doesn't make any sense. He's cheap, with as much upside as any other guy in the system, and you'd be trading low anyways. Jimenez might get a september look but not because he deserves one.

It makes a ton of sense to trade Arencibia if another team considers him an everyday catcher and is willing to give you value for a "cheap guy with upside".

At least Arencibia's WAR is in positive territory (unlike that of Boni and Izturis).

I find JP to be a frustrating player to watch. He could be a solid starting catcher, perhaps with above-average offence and slightly below-average defence, but he never quite seems to break through.

92-92 - true, trading JP for value can always be a good idea, but that applies to anyone on the team. Looking to dump him a la bonifacio doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, though.

"....Positive that 9 relievers aren't needed either. The Jays could've easily sent one down today..."

If Lawrie hadn't gotten that hit in the 10th inning, the Jays would be in the 11th inning with exactly one available reliever -- the 9th reliever that you thought was unnecessary. Every other reliever was already expended, or unavailable due to overwork. (Gibbons had already made clear that he wasn't going to use guys like Janssen, Loup and Santos last night because they needed a day off after their recent work.) In fact, if Rogers hadn't unexpectedly gone 6 innings, the bullpen would have been in serious trouble by the 10th inning last night.

It's amazing that some people are still a slave to the 7-man bullpen after the results of this year, when the Jays bullpen has been the most overworked in the majors. The injury to Delabar and the sharp decline in the performance of Cecil and Loup are almost certainly a result of overwork. If the Jays had stuck to a 7-man pen for the whole season, the toll on the bullpen would have been much worse.

Given a choice between a 9th reliever (who would have been absolutely necessary if Lawrie hadn't gotten that hit) and a 4th OF (who wasn't needed at all last night), the decision was a no-brainer.

Correction -- the Jays had 2 available relievers in the 10th inning: Weber and Storey. The point remains: having an 8th and 9th reliever available in an extra innings game, when every other reliever is unavailable due to overwork, is far more valuable than a 4th OF. At least one of those two relievers would have also been unavailable in extra innings if Rogers had pitched as poorly as he has done recently. And my point about the overwork of Delabar, Cecil and Loup -- and the toll it has taken on those three pitchers -- certainly remains.

Not sure, Wagner was fine going 2 innings. Weber and Storey are rested by now, but I don't know that they'll be sent in just to get some work.

It's really a combination of 2 things. Not having a long man that can go 3 or 4 innings regularly and a lack of starters going deep into games. The lack of innings from the starters can be attributed to bad luck--or whatever--but the lack of a long man is a strategic decision.

When your 2 available relievers are 2 valueless arms you are more than covered. Heck, the Mets got 100 relief pitches from Shaun Marcum while he was in the rotation.

And if having that set of 9 relievers left them with 3-4 available RP, then you send down two of them for a fresh arm and an OF. That's what options are for. Playing games shorthanded is incredibly stupid.

"....When your 2 available relievers are 2 valueless arms you are more than covered..."

That's a bizarre notion of how to structure a bullpen. So if the game had gone just one more inning, the Jays would have ended up with two marginal minor-league pitchers for some of the highest-leverage innings of the game.

Weber and Storey were on the roster to soak up blowout innings if Rogers faltered. They weren't there for the 11th inning.

Of course, under the 7-man bullpen they wouldn't have been there at all. Let's hope Kawasaki can pitch.

In my 7 man bullpen I carry a long man, like pretty much every other team in baseball.

The games don't matter anymore, so I'm not sure why you're pretending having Storey and Weber pitch innings 12-18 would've been a problem.

Whether the games matter or not, a good manager doesn't deliberately take risks that can blow out a pitcher's arm. A fan might scoff that a pitcher is "valueless" but a manager can't afford to be so cavalier with the health of human beings. Whether or not he's "valueless" to a fan, he's still a human who's trying to make a living.

Gibbons wasn't too concerned with Juan Perez's arm when he had him throw 57-34-55 pitches in an 8 day period. The last appearance, of course, was cut short by a serious looking injury.

Thad Weber is a starting pitcher. He was good for 120 pitches without any risk of blowing his arm out.

"....Gibbons wasn't too concerned with Juan Perez's arm..."

The fact that Gibbons is not using a 7-man pen is proof that he's concerned about the health of all of his relievers. Imagine how many additional pitches they would all be throwing if the Jays had dogmatically stuck to a 7-man pen for the whole of this season.

Whether or not the handling of Juan Perez was optimal, Thad Weber is in a different situation.  He has been a starting pitcher this year.  He threw 7 innings on August 3 and 7 innings on August 8 (his last outing).  He would surely be ready to throw 6 innings on August 14, and if anything, it would be a good thing for him to get some work. 

I am hoping that some club will try a more creative approach to the pitching staff than the usual 5 man rotation, 7-9 man bullpen.  I am bored by it, and I find the notion that it is the most efficient use of talent in all situations unlikely.  I've never liked herd mentality and this is a case of it. 

With respect to Gibbons' presumed overuse of the bullpen, some of the blame can go to the bullpen itself. Up until their recent woes, their performance has been excellent and the pen has been very deep. It has been awfully tempting all season long for Gibbons to use the pen early and often and to make use of everyone.

Had Gibbons been armed with fewer relievers, performing not as well, with a pen not as deep, would the Jays still be leading the league in bullpen use? Perhaps, and some would argue even likely. But it must be conceded that Gibbons has proactively sought to rely -- and aguably over-rely -- on one component of the team that has been predictably reliable (or had been, up until a few weeks ago). The bullpen has been a victim of its own success.

Whether or not the handling of Juan Perez was optimal

What bothers me about Juan Perez is that the manager or the GM or the pitching coach or someone seemed completely unaware that Perez had evolved into a one-inning pitcher at least six years ago. I didn't know that either, but they don't pay me to know these things.

"....The bullpen has been a victim of its own success...."

An interesting point. But I struggle to think of games where the Jays starter could have been left in the game for much longer. Perhaps an inning or two, here or there, but not enough to make a huge difference. The biggest reason for the overwork of the Jays bullpen has been the poor performance of (and injuries to) the starting pitchers. That's been the biggest disaster this year. The Jays had assembled a group of six starters who, judging by past performance, should have been able to go to 7 or 8 innings regularly. Due to implosion and injury, most of the starters (and projected starters) have failed to do that. The overuse of the bullpen was largely the result of this implosion.

Let's say you are managing the 2014 Toronto Blue Jays and you have two starters who will reliably give you 6 innings every 5 days- Dickey and Buehrle.  They may or may not be 6 very good innings, but they will take the ball for you and deliver the traditional starting pitcher role.  Great.  Let them do it.  You've got to fill 3 other slots.  One thing you could do is have alternating starters in that role.  Let's say one slot is filled by Rogers/Happ, and that they are day 5 in the rotation.  On day 5, Rogers starts and goes as long and hard as he can, ideally for 6 innings plus but 5 innings will be fine.  Happ then comes on and in the ordinary game finishes it off.  If the game is tied or the club has a one-run lead late, you might bring in your ace reliever.  The next time through the rotation, Happ starts and goes as long and hard as he can, ideally for 6 innings plus  but 5 innings will be fine.  Rogers then comes on and ordinarily finishes it off. 

On average, each pitcher will throw somewhere just over 4 innings every 5 games, or about 140 innings per season.  You have a 3 or 4 man pen comprising one long man (for short Dickey/Buehrle appearances and extra inning games, one or two middle men for Dickey/Buehrle games including perhaps one situational lefty and an ace).  If you had a 4 man pen with Loup, Delabar, Cecil and Janssen, that would be good. 

I'm not going to say a bad word about the bullpen or the bullpen management. They've been awesome this year, even with a number of injuries. I've loved the way gibbons has used each one in their roles, using their splits, and I love the way he's gradually moved the ones pitching well into higher leverage roles and the ones pitching poorly into lower leverage roles. I even love the way they cycled through the AAAA crap until they found a couple hot arms that worked in Wagner and Perez.


Any overuse is completely on the horrific starting pitching.

How can they manage with only 7 relief pitchers in the NL where they need the bench for those pinch hitters?

Let's look at the cards:

8/1 6.0/0.1/2.2
8/2 5.0/2.0/2.0
8/3 5.0/1.0/0.1/1.0/0.2
8/4 8.0/1.0
8/5 7.0/1.1/0.2
8/6 5.1/0.0/1.0/0.1/1.1/1.0
8/7 0.0/1.0/4.2/1.1/1.2/0.1 (elbow contusion after 2 pitches)
8/8 4.2/1.1/1.1/0.2/1.1
8/9 6.2/0.1/0.2/0.1/1.0
8/10 5.0/1.0/1.0/0.2/0.1/1.0
8/11 5.1/0.1/0.1/1.0/2.0
8/12 0ff
8/13 7.0/1.0/2.0/0.2/2.1/1.0
8/14 6.0/2.0/1.0

It's not like they are getting 6 or 7 innings from their starters every day.
And they are making the playoffs.