"I think the deck chair goes much better over here."

"No, no, no, it looks better on the starboard side of the ship..."

Could be starting another one of his runs. With G being good and B being bad, his 14 starts have been: GBGBGBGBGBGB, BG.

If the Jays hang on tonight, they'll be 7-0 in the G starts and 2-5 in the B starts.

My guess is that he will receive a QO unless he craters between now and the end of the year.

His current 2.5 WAR pace is worth about 13.5MM if we use 5.4MM as the marginal cost of a win.
* His current value is not far off the cost of a QO.
* A QO brings with it just a one year commitment.
* His weakness is defense and despite the plethora of modern day metrics, defense still gets undervalued.
* There is precious little OF depth in the organization.
* The team may have an issue attracting players.

Now, whether or not he should get a QO is another matter. But I think he will.

I think the biggest impediment to keeping Gose on the roster has been (a) the oft used 3-catcher scheme and (b) the need for a RH bat (Pillar, Mastroiani, whoever) to counter-balance all the LHB with platoon issues (though the 3-catcher scheme has often meant that Navarro could DH against LHP, if even ineffectively).

With Bautista and Rasmus not entirely health, Cabrera prone to pending fatigue (one would imagine) and no other outfielder showing any value, Gose would be appear to be a lock to stay on the roster for the immediate future.

Once Reimold gets healthy, my Bre-X stock is sure to rebound.

His SLG is indeed dreadful. But as he is working on his game, I'd rather he focus on the walking, bunting and slashing groundballs in an attempt to focus on his OBP. If this aspect of his game truly develops (and there's no guarantee it will), then he can think about driving the ball to the gaps. For now, I'd rather not see a bunch of warning track outs because he is thinking extra bases.

"working to improve reading of pitchers.....throws lose some steam at the tail end"

As Mike noted, Pompey's upside is much more than a MLB regular. After noting that he was not seeing good results despite swinging the bat well in his first couple of weeks in New Hampshire, Pompey has seen his luck start to even out and is sporting a .995 OPS over his last 10 games to push his AA line back up to 100 wRC+. As it stands today, the only difference in his A+ and AA lines is a depressed BABIP with the Fisher Cats.

I agree that to maximize his value is to play him in center field, both because he seems more comfortable there and because you want to leverage his skills at the most demanding position he can handle.

Goins being up confuses me since he essentially bumps Johnson from the starting lineup. His defense may be terrific but it can't carry a .150 average.

Ultimately, we're spending lots of time and energy around the edges - as we are wont - debating how marginal gains can be had that ultimately may not add up to a whole lot this way or that. This team's fate rests in the big things, the core players playing well.

I meant according to last night's usage (Kawasaki to 3B, Francisco to 1B, Johnson to bench), not per your recommendation to get Reyes time at DH. I do agree that if Goins is going to be here at all, maybe use that time to get Reyes some rest. With Lind and EE shelved, now is the time to cycle Reyes, Cabrera and Bautista through DH to get them rest.

John, I'm not sure on what basis you can state that keeping Sanchez over Syndergaard was a case of the Jays picking the right one to keep and the right one to deal when Syndergaard was basically a consensus Top 15 prospect on midseason lists, which would have taken into account his injury issues this season, and was consistently ranked notably higher than Sanchez, who has had two good innings of relief in the majors to date.

Maybe Sanchez over Syndergaard will prove to be the right call, but I don't think you can state that the Jays appear to have made the right choice, even on a tentative basis. At best you can defer to their internal evaluations, but it's also possible they may have preferred to keep Syndergaard and chose to include him as it was the price required to get Dickey.

I'm sure Gibbons is, though he'd never admit it.

Call me crazy, but its my guess his .200 BABIP and 0.69 BB/9 rates probably aren't sustainable. The results have been nice but he has been fortunate to say the least. Count me in the camp that expects some significant regression from Samardzija.

I think the key to the Jays playoff hopes is simple.  Get healthy. 

It's not that it's controversial, and the point about 17 straight games is well-taken.  I'm just saying, it's only been 7 games, after a 4-day break.  And they're missing a big chunk of their lineup.  If the team is serious enough about contending that the idea of trading away good young talent like Sanchez or Pompey is being considered, I think you also have to push the veterans a little, at least until the injured players start to return.  When the lineup is already depleted, it doesn't help to be sitting some of your best hitters.  It's certainly a balancing act between winning today and keeping your players fresh for the rest of the season, but I just don't think anybody should need a day off this soon, especially as they leave the turf in Toronto.  Now if they're involved in any blowouts, I'd definitely switch some players, but of course, that's not as good as a full day off.

All that being said, I think you're right that before the 17 games are up, both of those guys should at least get a day at DH, if not a day off altogether.  Especially while Goins is still with the team.  But if they could sweep the Yankees first...