The battle of... who could care less?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y1wm7CFRCQ

There's Buck Martinez, the former catcher, grumbling that Navarro has thrown out just 16% of opposing base runners. And Tabler gently pointing out that the runner was halfway to second base before the pitch reached Navarro. It's normally the catcher who points out that base stealers run on the pitcher, and folks, I think I'd have a shot at stealing second with Hutchison on the mound.

OK, Dalton, save some of those for next season.

I don't know if anyone else notices this, but I don't see Gose as being particularly happy when Pompey does something of note. Is also seems like Gose steps us his own game after Pompey does something.

You're absolutely right, Magpie, about the speed of Hutchison's delivery.  I guess he's going to have take the Jim Palmer approach to baserunners stealing.  Take advantage by throwing strikes which the batter will disproportionately take.

Pompey's swing from the left side is a thing of beauty- a nice short quick stroke.  The swing from the right isn't quite as pretty or effective.

That was 25 years ago!!!!!! Wow. 89 was my first full season following every AB as a kid. Boy I got lucky/was spoiled. After 5 years the Jays had 4 playoff appearances and 2 WS's. And then things done changed....

I don't see Gose as being particularly happy

You're finally going to be rid of that Rasmus fellow blocking you from the CF job, and this happens? Now you have to wait for Bautista to vacate RF.

Looks like Gose should be worried about Pompey. Sure do like all that speed in the outfield and on the basepaths.

I think Buck thinks Dalton's name is Dalton PompeyfromMissisaugaOntario.

Well, Anthony, if you wouldn't have spent your time sulking around the minors you may have actually learned a thing or two about hitting and developed yourself to the point of actually being a capable MLB hitter.

Gose's ABs are painful to watch. You don't mind strikeouts as much from an aggressive hitter because of the risk/reward factor; with Gose it seems like he takes a passive approach to the plate every AB. There isn't a specific pitch he's looking to hit and drive, he's just up there trying to survive with the stick without enough of the hit tool to do so.

I really hope the Jays bring back Melky or find another established outfielder that can hit, because I don't expect Gose/Pillar in CF to be pretty.

Gose doesn't have to worry about Pompey, he has to worry about himself. He doesn't hit very well, and he's not getting any better. The only reason I still think he might make it as a decent mlb hitter is that he's only 24, but the lack of progress speaks volumes.

Pillar has a decent line since being called up in August - .278/.325/.444/.769, and, of course a monster year in AAA. Pompey doing what he did this year at his age is very promising. Quite a game today. To me, those are the 2 guys out of the 3 kids that I'm optimistic about for the OF next year.

Right now I'm thinking Pompey is quickly becoming the favorite to take over CF next year.  The Jays might leave him in AAA for a couple of months so it'll be longer until he is a free agent and give Gose/Pillar a shot in CF first but at the latest I see Pompey taking over an OF slot by mid-season.  His speed, his defense, and even his offense are all looking good.  That triple was a thing of beauty.  If Melky bolts I could easily see Pompey in LF and Gose/Pillar in CF.  The biggest issue is Pompey has trouble from the right side it appears.

Loved Hutch/Stroman as a combo tonight too.  Hutchison ends 11-13 with a 4.48 ERA in 32 starts 184 2/3 IP with a 60-184 BB-SO ratio.  Solid season.  Stroman 11-6 in 20 starts 6 relief games (with a save today) 130 2/3 IP 28-111 BB-SO ratio plus 35 2/3 IP in AAA for a total of 166 1/3 IP suggesting next year he can easily take on a full 32 start 200 IP role.  Happ and Dickey are left for the last 2 games - Dickey trying to get his 15th win in his 34th start plus if Dickey goes 8+ shutout innings he'll have a lower ERA than Stroman (big surprise to many I'm sure), Happ wanting to even his record to 11-11.   Janssen probably wants one more save to reach 25, Sanchez needs 5 shutout innings to get his ERA below 1, and that's about it for the pitchers.

For hitters we have Encarnacion one HR behind Bautista, 2 RBI from 100 and 5 RBI behind Bautista and I bet those two have a friendly wager on that stuff.  Rasmus needs 2 HR for 20, Reyes 1 to reach 10, Reyes 1 RBI for 50, and that's about it for goals for the hitters that I can see (reaching round numbers that is).

pillar has definitely shown he should have been up here all year platooning with rasmus, at least. still not sure he'll be able to handle mlb righties, though.

Pillar vLHP: 46pa, 117wrc+ (career 83pa, 103wrc+)
Pillar vRHP: 72pa, 68wrc+ (career 145pa, 54wrc+)

tiny sample, but backed up by his milb splits as well.

that's not to say he'll never hit rhp, but it is to say we can be pretty confident that he can hit lhp at least.


meanwhile gose continues to hit rhp passably well for a young speed/defense guy, and his recent downturn is more a result of him facing lhp more.

Gose vRHP: 213pa, 82wrc+ (career 478pa, 84wrc+)
Gose vLHP: 55pa, 30wrc+ (career 132pa, 39wrc+)

again a small sample, but again backed up by milb splits.

if we don't want to start the year with pompey in cf, platooning these two still makes the most sense, and probably gives us solid cf performance while we wait for pompey.

I read last night that Lou Gehrig once had 3 triples in a game. That lasted only 4.5 innings and was rained out before it was official! He would have had a shot at the 19th C record of 4. Lou led the league as a 23 year old in triples, and in his first MVP season at 24 had 18 to go along with his 47 homers and 52 doubles.

I think Buck thinks Dalton's name is Dalton PompeyfromMissisaugaOntario.

All Canadian players are required by law to be referred to by their full names, such as "LondonOntario'sPaul Quantrill", "AnolaManitoba'sCorey Koskie", and of course the most famous, "MapleRidgeBC'sLarry Walker".

If it were not for the fact that Lind was on first base Pompey may have had three triples last night. He really seems to be everything that I had hoped Gose might become and while I know September stats are generally viewed with a jaundiced eye, smacking the ball around against the likes of King Felix and Tillman is impressive nonetheless.

Adam Lind has once again made some comments that probably aren't conducive to having his 2015 option picked up:

“We never really had a set team,” Lind said in his typical matter-of-fact manner. “It was like McGowan just filled the void for six weeks. And then you look at what we did in the outfield in September. Were we really trying to win? But I guess every team goes through that, trying to figure things out. April’s probably a big feeler month for a lot of teams. But why didn’t Marcus make the team out of camp? We all knew he was going to come anyway.”

Adam Lind - "some comments."

Adam fascinates me. His stylish hair cut, his beguiling long haired facial rodent, and most importantly his 100% complete lack of comprehension of his play, his skills and his performance.

When Adam is in a slump - and asked about it - he has no idea why. When Adam is on a tear and in a groove - and asked about it - he has no idea why. The man does it his way - if it works fine, if it's not working then he (as he has more or less stated several times) just keeps doing it until it starts working again. Most guys know "why" they're in a slump or hitting well - Adam - not so much.

Some would say clueless - not me - I say pick up his $7.5 million option - and consider ourselves lucky. The man - alert or in a daze - mashes righties - I love guys that can mash anything - even potatoes (served with a generous portion of butter).

We will be DESPERATE for hitting when we lose Cabrera. On offense next year we need all hands, plus Cabrera, plus at least one more "real" bat (a "real" bat is one that can hit 260+, be OB 350+ and slug 485+) AND - dare I say it - we need Lawrie to at least make it through til late June before he again turns into the star of "Emergency Room - the Sequel."

Pompey's catches this week have been wonderful, but I wish someone would take him aside and tell him about the dangers of the RC surface.  There's no need to dive headfirst to get a ball in foul territory.  Maybe he can spend some time with Bautista and work on the foul territory slide.

Trivia:

Marcus Stroman is one of four pitchers to have both pitched a shutout and earned a save this season. The others: Tim Lincecum, Josh Collmenter, and Carlos Carrasco.

It's been ten years since a Blue Jay pitcher pulled off this particular double, which used to be a lot more common than it is now, beginning in Year One when Pete Vuckovich had 1 SHO and 8 SVs in 1977. Since then, it's been done by Jim Gott (1984), Dave Stieb (1986), John Cerutti (1986), Al Leiter (1993), Todd Stottlemyre (1994), Roy Halladay (1999), Kelvim Escobar (2000 and 2003) and lastly by Miguel Batista (2004).

With fewer complete game shutouts it is much harder to do the save/shutout combo.  The Jays have 2 shutouts, Hutchison and Stroman.  Last year just 2 as well (Dickey/Buehrle).  2012 saw 4 via 3 for Morrow (in 21 starts) and 1 for Alvarez.  Hmm... think I see why the Jays keep being high on Morrow - he really showed something there but he did fall to earth pretty badly since.

A few here have mentioned/questioned Pompey's hitting ability as a righty and as a lefty. I just went through his minor league splits from 2013 and 2014 and added them up, and calculated his slash line from both sides of the plate. As a righty hitter, vs lefties, he's actually been a bit better - .292/.370/.462/.832, but his numbers as a lefty hitter, vs righties are very close - .289/.370/.419/.789. He looks like a true switch hitter. Note the OBP is exactly the same. Biggest difference is in HR's - he's shown more power right handed, with 8 HR's in 253 AB's, compared to 7 HR's in 625 AB's hitting left handed. If you add in the small mlb sample size to these numbers, the OPS's are even closer, .814 as a righty, .799 as a lefty.

Morrow's game log from 2012  tells a bit of a story.  He had pretty good contol at the start of the season, and threw his first shutout against the Angels on May 3 walking nobody in a 3 hitter over 102 pitches.  His control started to fade a bit, but he then threw another shutout on May 19 against the Mets in 107 pitches (1 walk).  He was roughed up by Texas in the following outing, came back for a good outing against Baltimore (94 pitches, 6.1 innings, 2 walks).  He threw his third shutout of the season against the White Sox in Chicago (2 walks, 119 pitches).  The Blue Jays led 4-0 after 8 and 1/2 innings.  Morrow had not walked anybody and had thrown 96 pitches.  Orlando Hudson popped up on the 4th pitch.  DeAza drew a 5 pitch walk.  Beckham flew out to deep left field on the 2nd pitch.  Adam Dunn drew a 7 pitch walk.  At that point, Morrow had thrown 114 pitches (exactly his season-high).  Farrell kept him in the game and he struck out Viciedo on the 5th pitch. The next start he had stabbing pain in the obliques after 3 pitches and he was out for 2 and 1/2 months. 

It looks to me like there was a price to be paid for the veneration of the complete game shutout. 

I'm no expert but IMO John Mayberry looks better at first than either Lind or Encarnacion. Too bad Lind would be the probably left handed part of any platoon or part time first baseman.

Concur, Ceebee.  Mayberry looks good defensively at first base. 

Well it's another winning season with no playoff berth. Nine times since 1993 they've been over .500 and it's obviously resulted in zero playoffs. That's kind of hard to do.

Also since the last WS win (1994 on), up to todays game, the Blue Jays have scored 15879 runs. They have allowed 15880 runs. Yes, that's -1 run over 21 freaking seasons; a 1-run win tomorrow would be cosmically appropriate. Actual record 1634-1701 in the same time frame (-37),. In the above .500 seasons, they've averaged a 13 game deficit in the division while averaging 85 wins. Even this year, with NY and Boston down, Baltimore wins 95 games.

Cheering for the Blue Jays for the past 21 years has been like cheering for tails in a series of coin flips. Sigh. I like the late-season wins at least...beats the heck out of August.

John Mayberry looks better at first than either Lind or Encarnacion.

You don't set the bar very high, do ya.

Hell, John Mayberry Sr - now 65 years old, and probably close to 300 pounds by now - might look better at first.

This is a question mostly for my own curiosity (as someone who has played a modest amount of the position): what qualities/talents make for a good defensive first baseman? Obviously the ability to pick a bad throw out of the dirt and have good enough mobility to field balls hit towards you are extremely important, but are there other skills that are almost equally important?

For instance, a first baseman with a very strong arm, while useful, isn't the best position for a player with that particular skill. This is a major reason why I'd be willing to give Bautista another season or two in right field befoe moving him there.

what qualities/talents make for a good defensive first baseman?

First of all, it's a real advantage being left-handed (sorry about that!). Your glove is toward the centre of the field, your body is positioned naturally for every throw.

Fielding the position obviously has a lot in common with third base - the defender is much closer to the hitter than a middle infielder. Quickness of reflex is much more important than foot speed. A corner infielder's range is basically a matter of a quick first step. You need to be mobile enough to charge the bunts and slow rollers. A third baseman can't get by at all without a strong arm, of course. While that's a very nice trait for a first baseman to have, it's possible to get by without.

And the scoops. It really might be the biggest deal of all. The difference between a first baseman who's good at catching the bad throw and one who isn't can be as much as 30 or 40 plays a year. That's a lot - that many baserunners turned into outs is significant at any position.

One of the things I learned this year arose from Lawrie's play at second base.  One has more flexibility in positioning on the right side of the infield (at least with nobody on base) than I thought.  If you have a right-handed first baseman and a second baseman with a good arm, you can have them play deeper and shifted over a step towards second base.  It's the cone theory of defence which Graig Nettles used at third base, transposed to an easier location to make it work. When considering the thought of Reyes as a second baseman, this adaptation to Reyes' skills (good arm, slow first step, no diving) seems possible to me. 

One of the advantages that the Blue Jays have is that their top 4 starting pitchers (Stroman, Buehrle, Dickey and Hutchison) are all good fielders.  If they had a catcher who was a little quicker (not that Navarro or Thole are bad), it would make their overall ability to handle bunts and squibs pretty good even if the rest of the infielders play deeper than usual. 

Dickey had a pretty good 2014 season, giving the Jays both innings and decent quality. I still feel that he was a good acquisition, although d'Arnaud, Syndergaard and Becerra could end up producing more WAR in their careers than RA will ultimately accumulate for the Jays. Maybe Dickey will get a shot at the postseason with the Jays next year - maybe.

Former Bauxite Dr. Pepper Moffatt had a somewhat depressing observation on Twitter today. He noted that with the Yankees winning, the Blue Jays finished with the ninth-best record in the American League. That wouldn't have even been good enough to get them into the NHL playoffs.

Pitchers and catchers report in 4.5 months.

"Getting all excited finding nothing that was never there before / is like bringing flowers to your mama and tracking dogshit all over the floor / Jesus made the flowers, but it took a dog to make the story good / I think about you when I can, and sometimes when I don't I probably should."
- Mike Cooley

I predict whoever signs Casey Janssen next year gets a tremendous bargain.

I think it depends on management.  If the club that signs him accepts that he is going to probably be unavailable for some period during the season, he'll be a fine addition.  He really should have gone on the DL and had a rehab stint after the food poisoning this year.  He doesn't have a large margin of error the way he pitches, so when he's at 75 or 80 per cent of normal, you're better off with him working on getting better. 

Janssen is a fierce competitor and has been a mostly terrific pitcher since 2007.

On the other hand, he's 33 and has had some significant shoulder issues. He could revert to being terrific (or at least very good) over the next couple of years. Or he could go into decline. I hope he'll be able to work his magic for another season or two, but there is a fair bit of risk there.

Also, I don't think Janssen has been all that impressed with the Jays' front office of late. I expect him to sign elsewhere.

Stranger things have happened than Janssen re-signing here, but about the only person that I'd be more surprised to see in a Jays uniform next year is Colby Rasmus.

Casey Janssen could be wanting to get back to California and his Family from this point on in his career. I suspect he'll want more than one year and $3.5 MM. At his risk level, I'd be willing to let him go. I believe we can do better, so I'm willing to let him walk.