" while sending righty Ryan Webb, catcher Brian Ward and the 74th pick of the 2015 amateur draft."


Wait... did I miss something?

Teams can trade draft picks now?

Thanks for the picture, #2JB.  Facing Castro as a hitter must be disconcerting.  You've got this guy with teenager's body, all arms and legs, and the face of a wizened veteran, who throws high 90s heat and a nasty 90 mile an hour change.  Castro's slider wasn't working yesterday, so they cleverly used it only for decoration, but when he has control of it, he is pretty much unhittable.

Navarro hasn't just hit .357 in 17 PAs against Norris, but he has homered and drawn 3 walks against 1 strikeout.  That means very little, in fact, but I would be very surprised if he isn't catching today.  He and Buehrle made a fine team last year, and it is a day game after a night game...

Teams can trade competitive balance picks, yes.

It was nice to see Cecil bounce back after his rough outing the night before. The velocity might still be a bit low, but that curveball is a thing of beauty when it's working.

I'm shocked AA hasn't made a trade for one of those competitive balance picks yet given how much he loves draft picks.  One would think he'd find a way to get a couple.

Well, Castro is off to a good start.  He leads the AL in ERA, WHIP (only qualified guy at 0), games, BB/9, H/9, HR/9.  Of course that won't last forever but it is fun at this point.  It'd be nice if he turns into the 10's Tom Henke for the Jays.  Boy could this team use that. 

Btw, Graveman really sucked yesterday for Oakland - 8 runs, 7 earned in just 3 1/3 IP.  Gamescore of 16.  2 home runs given up, 1 walk 1 SO.  Yeah he was traded at his maximum value it seems.

Devon Travis' defensive game summarized.  Good baseball IQ and overall athleticism, good range, so-so arm, nice feed and turn on the DP, weak with orientation on pop-ups but does have pretty good speed. It is actually better than I thought.  I think that he will be a modest positive defender this year and the #1 issue he has (pop-ups) can probably be dealt with more easily than other issues. 

The Ellsbury CS last night was really sweet on both ends- quick release from Martin and a very fast swipe tag from Travis. It's going to make it a whole lot easier for Drew Hutchison who was hurt by his inability to hold runners last year.  All he has to do is to give Martin and Travis a chance, and he'll be all right. 

Today's Blue Jay lineup has me with a wide smile on my face: Reyes 6, Pompey 8, Bautista 9, Encarnacion 0, Donaldson 5, Navarro 2, Smoak 3, Pillar 7, Travis 9.  This Bud's for you.

If when all is said and done the worst thing we can say about Travis is his ability to handle pop-ups the Jays will be in great shape.

yeah that report sounds right to me, mike.

i'm no expert but travis looks coordinated out there at least, both hands and feet. have yet to see him making an awkward approach or turn, or having any trouble at all cstching and releasing. arm doesn't look great but he's made up for it so far with a quick release, and his accuracy has been good even though it looks like he's throwing it as hard as he physically can can everytime. i feel good about him not likely being a liability out there at least.

his chance at being plus out there may be decided by his range....but i don't think we have much data to judge that yet.

Travis did a few little things that really impressed me last night:

1. His approach in two-strike counts (RBI grounder in 2nd inning, a long foul ball / near home-run & 8 pitch AB after starting 0-2 in the 6th inning).

2. Sneaking behind Gregorius to tag him out at first base... looked like Gregorius didn't expect him to be there.

It's early - but this looks like a great trade for both teams.

While you won't see me criticize the deal that brought Donaldson to Toronto, I'm not going to pile on Graveman after one start.  33% HR/FB won't last, and he won't strand only 1 in 4 runners all year either.  Weather might have had something to do with it too.  I imagine he's still a productive starter for the A's this year.

That said, I'll take the Jays end of the bargain this year, without thinking twice.

Glad to see they are keeping Buerhle/Navarro together, although I'm a bit surprised to see Martin not DHing, considering it's an afternoon game today and should be ample time for him to bat today and play tomorrow too.

Btw, Graveman really sucked yesterday for Oakland - 8 runs, 7 earned in just 3 1/3 IP. Gamescore of 16. 2 home runs given up, 1 walk 1 SO. Yeah he was traded at his maximum value it seems.

The A's managed to unload Josh "432 OPS" Donaldson for him, so it can't be all bad.

I don't think Graveman's going to appear in many all-star games, but he throws strikes and keeps the ball on the ground. You can make a nice career out of that.

I'm a bit surprised to see Martin not DHing, considering it's an afternoon game today and should be ample time for him to bat today and play tomorrow too.

Unless you're counting on him to repeat his excellent 2014 season, Martin doesn't really belong at DH. He's basically an average-ish hitter, which is perfectly fine when you're a fantastic defensive player but not all that impressive when all you do is hit. With Edwin/Smoak handling 1b/DH, you may as well keep Martin flexible for pinch-hitting or late-inning defence.

That's fair enough, although the fact the Jays seemingly are insistent on hitting him 2nd in the lineup suggests that they view him as better than average-ish hitter, unless they are really just trying to maximize OBP.  I've long felt that optimal lineup construction would have Bautista in the 2 hole, but there's something to be said for player comfort, even if it's based on irrational things like wanting to hit 3rd in the order.

Shout out to Mitch Nay, Dewel Lugo and Matt Dean who all hit home runs last night as the Baby Jays opened up the season. And Labourt pitched very well too!

I'd guess that by the all-star break, we'll see someone like Pompey or Travis take over the #2 spot, with Martin moved down to a "run producer" role. He's fine hitting 2nd - draws some walks, doesn't strike out a ton - and he probably earned it with a great season last year, but I think he'll look less ideal in the spot if/when his numbers are more in line with his career than 2014.

Happy Home Opener, Orioles, hope you made it to your seats in time for first pitch! ;)

Travis did a few little things that really impressed me last night

Yes sir. It's easy to root for the guys whose baseball IQs complement their skills (like Scutaro). On the other hand, how many goof-ups did we see the more athletic Gregorius make in a mere three games? He'd be a hard guy to pull for.

Yeah. I expect to see a lot of this kind of thing this year- wearing out a starting pitcher and getting into the soft underbelly of the opponent's bullpen.   Speaking of the back end of the bullpen, it would be a good day to bring on a couple of those under-used relievers to give them some work.

Yeah, maybe even use all the back of the bullpen pitchers ( 2 guys, one inning each so they are still available tomorrow...)

It's nice to have one stat boosting game early--if only to scare the other team fans.

Adam Jones pulls an egregious Gregorius and gets thrown out on the bases down 10-2. 

great toss. great tag. as Buck & Pat might say - ballplayers.

Adam Jones pulls an egregious

Well, Adam Jones hits a ball into the gap and I'm thinking - and I'm sure Jones is also thinking - easy double. Three good defensive plays later - two by Pillar (getting to the ball and making a quick, strong, accurate throw) and one by Travis (very quick hands to get the tag down) - and imagine my surprise.

OK. Maybe it's not egregious (I can't help myself for the wordplay).  It was the game situation that prompted the comment.  I'd have said nothing about it if it was 5-2.

The early returns on the 2015 Jays are pretty promising. I still wish they'd picked up a competent SP and a reliever in the off-season, but the team looks good so far.

Hard to believe we got Donaldson without giving up any of Pompey, Norris, Castro, Osuna, Sanchez, Hutch or Stroman.

Pillar has looked fantastic in LF thus far. He has enough speed and moves well, covering both the gap and the line. He cuts off balls that lazier outfielders would let go to the wall. I hope he's okay after that tremendous catch today.

Nolan Reimold!

Pillar is giving Michael Saunders more time to rehab. Nothing wrong with that.

Agreed that Pillar has looked good defensively, although he did allow a Yankees baserunner to tag up from first on a medium-deep fly to left. The runner would have been out had Pillar not taken his time throwing the ball to second.

As well as Travis has played, Gose is doing him one better, as he's hitting .500 after today's game. You know he's coming back down to earth, but good for him to get off to a hot start. It would be good to see him realize his potential (just not against the Jays).

A.Gose: 17pa, 1sb, 0.0bb%, 29.5k%, .471/.471/.706/1.177, 255wrc+
D.Travis: 16pa, 0sb, 12.5bb%, 18.8k%, .385/.500/.692/1.192, 256wrc+

wee bit better for Travis, actually.

and Gose is still striking out like a madman.

Looks like Travis/Gose trade is one of those rare ones that might work out for both teams... filling a need for each while dealing from a position of surplus.  Right now I like Travis more and am glad the Jays did the deal but I could see why Detroit is happy.

Ok, so I THOUGHT that after 4 games, we had 4 QS. Then I see that Norris only pitched 5.2. No worries.

But, espn is showing's Buehrle's updated stats (1 win, 6 IP, 3 ER), but no QS. Are they just slow to update, or did he for some reason not qualify for a QS today?

So far, all I can say is: Fergie Olvr, how sweet it is!

Nice little tidbit here. Not only are Castro and Osuna the youngest players in the majors, they're younger than everyone in AAA, and younger than anyone in two of three AA leagues.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/10-youngest-players-every-full-season-league/

The little things. Adam Jones pretty much caught Reyes' leadoff single, only to have it pop out when his glove slammed down. On the next AB, down 0-1, Pompey gets a borderline pitch at the knees called for a ball, evening the count at 1-1. He slams the next pitch for a double. Edwin eventually drives Dalton in with a sac fly, one that I'm not sure was deep enough to score Martin, had he been batting 2nd.

The MASN broadcast is fantastic, by the way. I recommend it to anyone who uses MLB.TV to consume their Blue Jays.

I'll second the compliment for the MASN broadcast. I definitely enjoy listening to Gary Thorne call a ballgame.

and Gose is still striking out like a madman

In 17 PA! Also in 17 PA, Bautista has a 47.1 K% and EE has a 29.4 K%. Not that Gose is a particularly good hitter (he's not), but, um, sample size.

The Travis trade is looking really good so far. The Jays may well have found an inexpensive, long-term solution to their second base problem.

Sample sample sizes are always a bit like reading tea leaves, but in Gose's K rate is in line with a reasonable expectation given his past performance and the scouting consensus of his tools.His K rate fits with the prior/expected of his past K rate. Bautista and EE have better and longer track records in mlb.

I hope he does well in Detroit but the K rate in a limited probably shouldn't be dismissed as quickly for him as the Jays sluggers.

Gose has a career 27.6 K%. That's relatively high (lower than Rasmus's 29.5 K% in his 5 WAR 2013 season, though). Gose is only 24, though, and was probably promoted to the majors before he was ready. He may be able to bring his K rate down somewhat. Or he may not. But 17 PA just isn't enough of a sample to start hyperventilating over. In any event, Gose can be a successful ML player with a relatively high K rate (though obviously a lower K rate and a higher BB rate would be more ideal for him).

hey i'm gose's #1 fan but i think you're using SSS backwards.

IMO use SSS to dismiss outlier or unsustainable numbers like his .667babip and .235iso, not his regular sustainable numbers like that K%.

So basically, Gose has a huge BABIP, but no improved contact numbers.

For me, the larger stories from yesterday's game were the strength up and down the lineup even with Martin and Saunders out and the improvement in team defence. 

The re-signing of Santiago was a good move.  Santiago/Goins would make an acceptable platoon backup for either of the middle infielders in the event of injury.  Santiago will probably be back playing by early June. 

So in the Offseason the Jays have three young Outfielders and maybe two spots.
1) The youngest Outfielder is very, very good with huge upside. He's the favorite for the position.
2) The next best Outfielder has MLB experience. He's very good at his defense and is developing into a decent MLB hitter.
3) The third Outfielder also has MLB experience and is very good but has the least upside. He's faster than either of the other two, possibly by a fair margin. He doesn't hit as well nor defend as well as the others. It's possible he's unteachable, or just doesn't want to learn.

Despite what each Team was after in the Trade, I think they did well and got better than expected. Devon Travis looks like a MLB Second Baseman, and that's what was needed most. Anything else about that Trade is old, dusty news about who?

I think hitting Pompey second should be given at least a 10 game trial because it should help him see better pitches. At some point this season someone other than Russell Martin should hit second, preferably someone with more speed. Both Dalton Pompey and Devon Travis should be considered at that spot. If Pompey gets good enough, Jose Reyes could hit second. Anything that stretches the lineup out makes pitching to it much harder.

Reyes...Pompey...Bautista...Encarnacion...Donaldson...
Next: Left/Switch hitter: Saunders...Martin...Smoak...Travis is very deep and very hard to pitch against. It's just possible Gibbons' toughest decision becomes who hits where, because they're all so good.

Uglyone, pretty much *all* stats at this point are very small samples (just as Travis's .308 ISO and .444 BABIP are SSS). The fact that Gose has struck out five times in 17 PA just doesn't tell us anything, including whether his K rate is trending up, down, or sideways over the long term.

My highlighting of Gose's BA was just to point out that he's off to a hot start, not to accord that fact any real statistical significance.

In other words, isn't it the size of the SSS - not the content of the SSS - that makes the sample statistically insignificant? If there are any stats or math majors out there, please enlighten me.

Gibby.

Gibby's management decision to move Pompey up to bat second - was - is - brilliant. Pompey batting 0 for 2015(ish) is promoted to the number 2 spot and he lights up our lives. Interestingly, I was expecting Travis to be in the #2 spot by now - or very soon. Long term, Travis bats 2nd - but - Gibby made the move to get Pompey going and it worked. It's early, but I'm throwing my Manager of the Year vote to Gibby, bravo!

But, espn is showing's Buehrle's updated stats (1 win, 6 IP, 3 ER), but no QS. Are they just slow to update, or did he for some reason not qualify for a QS today?

Looks like they were just slow to update - today Buehrle's got his QS. So, after 4 games, we were 0.1 IP away from 4 QS. Not bad!

greenfrog, it's really both. I'll let Fangraphs do the math for me:

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/when-samples-become-reliable/

"...here are the results of his article as far as when certain statistics stabilize for individual hitters:

50 PA: Swing %
100 PA: Contact Rate
150 PA: Strikeout Rate, Line Drive Rate, Pitches/PA
200 PA: Walk Rate, Groundball Rate, GB/FB
250 PA: Flyball Rate
300 PA: Home Run Rate, HR/FB
500 PA: OBP, SLG, OPS, 1B Rate, Popup Rate
550 PA: ISO"

Mark Burhrle.

Mark just got his 200th win in RECORD time!

While I haven't sorted the tea leaves, or read the lines on his hands, I'd bet a bottle of reasonably sensible scotch (NEVER - bet the real good stuff - there is always a slim chance you can lose) that Mark's TOTAL GAME LENGTH in HOURS for his 200 wins will be an all time MLB record. In addition, the man is murder on base runners - nobody steals on the dude. Does the guy EVER miss a start...It's only when he's on your team and you see him pitch two hour game after two hour game that you realize how special he is.

Here's his resume for the Hall of Fame. 1) 200(+) wins. 2) Historically great at holding runners who get on base. 3) Historically fast play - keeps his defense in the game at all times. 4) For a sort of pudgy little thing he fields his position like Lawrie on energy drinks and steroids. 5) The guy makes the Duracell Bunny look like a slacker - Mark - just NEVER misses a start.

Mark is actually better than just the 200 wins. I'd vote for this guy to get into the Hall of Fame as an example of a pitcher who understands the range of responsibilities a pitcher has - and has mastered the full spectrum.

Mark, I'm so glad I'm getting to see so much of your work. Before you were on MY team I thought you were an interesting oddity. I now realize you're a wondrous work of art.

Thank you, James.

Small sample sized stats are not that significant unless you know why they are/should be significant. If some fundamental/basic change was made, in what the player's does, is responsible for the SSS, it's significant. If the player's just lucky/unlucky, it's not significant. Sometimes however, the SSS is all you have to work with, then it's significant.

Buehrle gets really underrated by Jays fans. He is just a metronome of "good".

That being said, he'd have to continue this until 41 or 42 before I'd really consider him HOF worthy. I think you should be able to get into the hall as a compiler- but you should have to compile a lot.

The significance in statistical significance is an actual mathematical principle, not just a personal opinion. You can decide that something is "significant", but it doesn't necessarily make it so.

you're right greenfrog that its all meaningless noise at this point.

but if we are going to critique the small sample noise, i think its probably best to see the surface numbers like avg and ops as more noisy than the component numbers like bb and k%.

and specifically with gose the key to any improvement for him will be reducing that K rate. until he does that i don't think he has much of a shot at being even an average mlb bat.

edit: or what james said better.

"Here's his resume for the Hall of Fame. 1) 200(+) wins. 2) Historically great at holding runners who get on base. 3) Historically fast play - keeps his defense in the game at all times. 4) For a sort of pudgy little thing he fields his position like Lawrie on energy drinks and steroids. 5) The guy makes the Duracell Bunny look like a slacker - Mark - just NEVER misses a start."

There's more on that resume:

- world series champ
- 5x all-star
- 1 perfect game
- 2 no hitters
- 4 gold gloves
- 14 200+ip seasons in a row and counting

It took Bert Blyleven forever to get into the HoF despite 4970 IP of 118 ERA+, to go with a 287-250 record.

Buehrle is at 3090 IP, 117 ERA+, 200-152. As a compiler, rather than a high peak player, he's got a long way to go. The bar doesn't have to be as high as Blyleven -- one imagines that the electorate is more enlightened these days -- but it's got to be a lot higher than where his numbers are right now.

Unless we're just giddily fawning. Happy hour starts early on the west coast, at least among our retired set.

Factoid: Buehrle and Dickey combined have not yet pitched as much as Blyleven did. Barring injury, they should pass him this year.

Well it's significant that Jose Bautista went 0 for 12 with 8 strikeouts. There are items of significance that makes that really especially SSS so signifying.
1) He's a very, very good All-Star Outfielder that never has stretch like that.
2) He's was so very, very hot at the end of Spring Training. That happens when you are seeing the ball very, very well. And opposing Pitchers were throwing basketballs about then.

That's why I thought Bautista being so cold was unusual. Anyone thinking I was complaining about Bautista was rushing to judgement or just couldn't be bothered to think it through.

blyleven is an interesting comp.

i don't think his ip is any more impressive after adjusting for era (i.e. he was pitching back when 300ip in a year wasn't rare). he did win two champs and have a no hitter though.

in terms of indivual honors he made the allstar game twice, but nothing else. lots of wins but the winning percentage is a ways behind buehrle.

he pitched until he was 41, which buehrle might do as well.

and he made the hall, so i'd say that's a point in buehrle's favor.

richard, 1. spring stats are meaningless 2. bautista went 0-17 between Aug 20-26 last year.

It may not be a personal opinion but the p-value in statistics is far from a mathematical principle, the level for significance (typically p-value of less than .05) is a covention.

See any number of interesting debates in the literature on p-hacking, statistical power, or Bayesian versus frequentist statistics.

If Spring Stats are meaningless, Dalton Pompey, Devon Travis, Daniel Norris, Miguel Castro and Roberto Osuna would not be on this Team.

If Spring Training stats are meaningless, J.A. Happ and Casey Janssen break with the Team to start the 2014 Season and Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez aren't called up during the Season.

People work on their timing in Spring Training, whether Starters or Hitters. That what they start the Season on. GMs and MGRs make decisions based on Spring Training stats all the time.

Spring Training stats are meaningless, nonsense. Those stats just have more meaning than they should.

I'm familiar with the debates related to statistical significance. It even made edge.org's latest anthology, This idea Must Die.

But convention or principle, mathematics of some sort -- rather than gut feel and "thinking things through" -- must play a role in measuring what is likely real and what is likely the byproduct of random noise.

richard - spring training stats are meaningless.

so.....

....Martin is back in the lineup today... hitting 6th.

Pompey stays in the 2 hole.

Gose 1/2 so far today in support of Price with a HR and (naturally) a K. Now hitting 474/474/842.

Aaron Sanchez is possibly the best Pitcher on this Staff. He's proven to be, without Russell Martin, a dominant shut-down Reliever. He's also proven to be a work-in-progress front-line Starter, without Martin. Since Martin's been catching Sanchez, this Spring, Aaron' made changes. Keith Law, this Spring, had Sanchez ranked higher in his list. That's interesting.

It will be an interesting game tonight. Russell Martin was an excellent acquisition. If Russell turns Aaron Sanchez into the Ace he should be, Russell Martin will have earned each cent he's getting paid in his contract.

rude welcome to the starting rotation for Sanchez.  shades of this game?  another highly touted Sanchez starting debut ...

http://mopupduty.com/epic-games-in-blue-jays-history-overcoming-a-10-run-deficit/

there's no slot on the team i'm more worried about than Sanchez in that #5SP spot.

I'm with you uglyone. I think we run the risk of creating another Daniel Bard rather than Chris Sale with Sanchez.

The worst part is that he will get some rope if he struggles. Estrada would likely be out after 1 or 2 poor starts but I'm betting it takes more than that for Sanchez. For a contending team I'd like to be able to turn over the 5th starter searching for lightening in a bottle.

I hope I'm wrong.

the other bad part is that he would probably be an upgrade to the pen, too.

i'd take my chances with redrikstrada in the 5 slot. with maybe a leering eye looking hopefully towards osuna.

I don't think I can remember Bautista chasing a pitch that high before. 

welcome to Toronto, Colt.

Travis' turn there was very fast and they almost got Adam Jones.  In a 7-0 game, you look for silver linings.

Sanchez needs to work on his slider and his curve, yet he might still produce enough to hang to the 5th starting slot.
He's not that different from Henderson Alvarez, who was pretty good last year, by the way.

Well it had to happen. It's done, so let's move on to Tomorrow's game. Some pitchers didn't pitch and some did. Some hitters sucked and some didn't.

Travis' turn there was very fast

In fewer than a week's worth of games, I may have a new favourite player.

He's not that different from Henderson Alvarez

That's a very odd comp. Alvarez has never had issues with command. Sanchez has always had control issues, save for when being used as a reliever.

Episode 1

- Murder Most Fowl -

Starring Sherlock Holmes and his trusty sidekick, Dr Watson...

Holmes looked at the crooked score. "7 to 1 for the birds over the other birds?" "Yes Sherlock." replied Watson.

Holmes continued, "I deduce the team of losing birds was prepared for this circumstance." "How so" queried Sherlock's trusted right hand.

"Simple, my dear Watson, don't you see, they cleverly brought not one, not two, but four sets of wings north. If one breaks they'll just insert another. I strongly suspect we'll next see an exotic Mexican fowl, perhaps, an Osuna. I hear they're quite common in these parts this time of year."

"An Osuna..." mused the good Dr., "I say Holmes, that's a capital idea, just capital."

Holmes smiled knowingly, "Yes" he began "Isn't it."

Continued on page 4,

Alvarez has never had issues with command. Sanchez has always had control issues, save for when being used as a reliever.

Sanchez hasn't walked that many at the MLB level and the issue with both has to been to much reliance on the sinker and no secondary pitch to score strikeouts. The balls/strikes ratio doesn't look good, but the problem was the 2 homeruns  and I don't put that down as a control issue. He still generated lots of ground balls.

He's heartbreaking to watch, that's for sure.

The home runs were because he couldn't spot properly and served up beach balls trying to throw strikes. Personally I do put that down to control.

Personally I think we have plenty of options to try if sanchez falters. I'm confident that one of osuna, Jenkins, Redmond. Hendricks, santana, wolf, or waiver wire fodder can fill the spot adequately.

I'd prefer not to piss away 10 starts (and simultaneously weaken a bullpen that would benefit from sanchez in a role he can handle) coming to that conclusion.

The anticipated rotation for 2015 by many was RA Dickey, Buehrle, Stroman, Hutchison and the winner between Estrada, Sanchez & Norris. At least that is how I saw it. But my opinion counts for nothing in the decision making.

Osuna & Castro were not given a chance as I see it and neither was C Jenkins.

IMO Dickey & Buehrle would not and could not play themselves off the rotation in ST. This would be due to being veterans, cost and the risk of team disention and other complicated philosophies.

IMO Stroman & Hutch could play themselves off the team if they were bad enough in ST this 2015. R Romero managed to do that in 2013, so why not.

My choice of the remaining 6 SP candidates have different positives and negatives. Estrada has Major League experience starting. However he was not promised anything and he also missed some time during ST due to minor injuries or something, I believe.

4 of the other candidates are basically equal IMO because they all lack significant ML experience. C Jenkins however does have the ML experience but not as high a ceiling or something like that.

So in theory, my theory, there are 3 spots open in the rotation. Dickey & Buehrle own 2.

As a starter, Jenkins should be stretched out at AAA. So if a SP is needed it could be him. I do not see how Estrada, Redmond, Osuna & Castro can be considered for the rotation, due to not being stretched out. Of course I do not know how to stretch out a bull pen arm once the season has started. So M Boyd & T Cole in AA are in the mix for the rotation if they can do really well in AA.
Naturally that is just my opinion, and I do not feel that strongly about it. I also think sort of that if Cole or Boyd do come up for a spot start they will be sent down after the start. 7 IP, 0 ER for the Jays in the spot start will count as a positive for future ML use.

Aaron Sanchez actually pitched well despite not being as crisp as he'd like with some of his pitches.

He faced 19 Hitters and made 61 pitches, approximately 3.21 pitches per hitter. He had five groundouts, two which generated double plays. He had two fly outs and a strikeout, which totals the 10 outs he made. He walked a batter and later intentionally walked a batter. They did not score. Josh Donaldson made a fielding error on a batted ball and Aaron threw a wild pitch. They did not score.

He gave up seven hits, two hits of which were solo HRs, both in the first inning: first and third batters. That might seem like a bad start, but only three total runs scored during his outing. The third run scored on a fielder's choice double play with the bases loaded on three straight hits.

I can see why he was pulled, that was 3.1 very stressful innings he threw. I can't speak as to how each of his pitches went, only Russell Martin can. It's possible he needs to work on his off-speed pitches because it's hard to hit HRs on pitches down or moving down in the zone. It's also possible he needs to change his off-speed mix to something more controllable.

bpoz its not hard to stretch someone out. for all intents and purposes, for example, redmond is stretched out already. he went 30-40 pitches his last spring outing and threw 53 last night. He could start next time through with say a 75 pitch limit and then be on track for the next start with no real pitch limit.

estrada is still my favorite based on track record but i'll admit the continued homers in spring and last outing have shaken my confidence in him.

Thanks uglyone. So both Redmond and Estrada are pretty much available. Castro & Osuna are unfortunately? ha ha only throwing a few pitches per inning.

OK - (Coming SOON to a Ballpark near you) Sanchez to the pen (where hopefully he continues from last year). Castro and Osuna are piggybacked in the 5th spot. On one start Osuna goes for 5 innings (to have a shot at getting the win) and Castro for 4 (more if there's OT). The next start they rotate with Castro getting the first 5 and the chance  for the the Big W.

Remember this - IF Osuna had not been injured it would have been Hutchison arriving first with Stroman and Osuna BOTH fighting each other for the next to arrive. Osuna has been pitching PRO since he was 15 in the Mexican Professional League.

To me, I see it as just being an elementary deduction gentlemen. My work here is done - time for a wee dram....

Osuna would hit an inning limit pretty fast. Jenkins stays stashed in Buffalo until other options have dried up. Hendriks has looked good so far, but that means nothing.

I wonder if AA's phone rang when Gomes ended up on the DL? Maybe they'll try to repackage Shawn Marcum to Toronto. He's only pitched 17 innings in AAA last year and now he's in Cleveland...

yeah even with their new attitude to relaxed innings limits its still tough to see them handing a fulltime starting gig to osuna right away. though i agree osuna might be the best candidate.

but hey here's an idea in line with the jays aggressive promotion strategy.....

start Osuna now for a couple months, then bring up hoffman to replace him for a couple months. and then stroman shows up in september.

Good job, Agent Snider.

Devon Travis Snyder = 3 runs

Castro should easily be comfortable throwing 100-110 innings this season. I would feel comfortable in pushing Osuna to 90-100 innings.

We might score 1000 runs but it looks like we might give up 1000 as well.... jeepers

Castro should easily be comfortable throwing 100-110 innings this season. I would feel comfortable in pushing Osuna to 90-100 innings.

Sure, bearing in mind that it obviously won't happen if they're in a major league bullpen. It's now quite unusual for a MLB reliever to throw 90 innings in a season - there were just two such guys last year - and the last Toronto reliever to throw as many as 80 IP in relief was Paul Quantrill back in 2001.

They don't call it the home-field advantage for nothing.  How often is a pitch like the 3-2 to Martin called a strike?  1%?  0.5%?

Kind of like the 3 run double Travis hit that was called an error on Snider. I Call homer B.S. for sure.

That pitch to Martin has been called a strike to LHB a fair bit -- twice to Navarro in one at-bat. But it's much more obviously a non-strike to a RHB.

I guess the ump figures he's not getting paid a premium for a 4-hour game so wants to hurry things along. Or else he could just be crummy. That's always a possibility.

Buck Showalter on knuckleballer Gembora courtesy of MASN:

"Yeah, he brought the glove.  Some people travel with a toothbrush.  He travels with the glove.  Hopefully he brings both."

Earl Weaver lives on.

Now there's one.  The 2-2 pitch to Martin is high and inside, appears to hit him but sails past the catcher.  The home plate umpire signals that the ball hit Martin, and then asks for help from the first base umpire who signals strike and they call him out.  The ball was never retrieved by anyone except probably the ball boy.

Is it still spring training? Umping looks like it at times.

Some people have the hobby of diving into water, and then there's Kevin Pillar who prefers earth.  Chacun a son gout.

The Jays have Darren O'Day to thank for waking up Jose Bautista. Reminiscent of that Yankees rookie who threw at him and was taken yard and given a cold stare.

Don't make Jose angry. Unfortunately for the American League, the bear has been poked. The sleeping dog no longer lies.

given our recent history, winning back to back road series against division rivals is kinda huge. pretty sweet.

our starting pitching is definitely a bit concerning, but least i like the looks of our dirt cheap bullpen.

and taking pillar of the lineup suddenly isn-t so easy. guy's a #baseballplayer.

And - Saunders has a wee setback.

Hard not to like the improve defense so far. Oh, and it is fair to say that home plate umpire Mike Everitt had a rough day...

That must have been frustrating for the players.  balls called strikes and strikes called balls.  No rhyrme or reason for it either.  Ugh.  I'm sure the head of umpiring will be having a long talk with him after that mess.

Hard to tell the balls from the strikes..... never seen charts so all over the place. Looks like something one would see in little league where the ump failed to show up and somebody got pulled from the stands.

For a first week the Team didn't do too badly. They won four games, lost one game and were beat by their opponents in one game. The Defense is as good as it was hoped to be, perhaps even better. The Hitters: Martin, Pompey, Bautista and Donaldson are struggling a bit; Reyes and Encarnacion are doing very good, as usual: everyone else is just fine. The Pitchers: Castro, Osuna, Hendriks and Cecil have given up just one hit each; who knows what we really have in Starters until at least five starts in.

Conclusion: Game Two should have been won. Any game with a two run lead after 7.0 IP should be won. This Team is better than that. With 6 unused Relievers, the first two Relievers in should not be the only two used in Game One. Game Two is time to fine out who is what.

Maybe it's partially because there was lots of pitchers in this one. Let's just say the ump wasn't seeing the ball well today.

On a good note, Bats didn't lose it.

"Sometimes I have trouble more than other players dealing with my production being affected by somebody else's mediocrity."

I knew they had a history, but I didn't immediately get the skipping reference.

That was a bad day for ball/strike calling- four real stinker calls and a bunch of bad ones.  Amazingly, the Martin call was not one of the stinkers, just one of the bad ones.  The stinkers were divided 2-2 and the bad ones went mostly in Baltimore's favour. 

I read someone on twitter saying pitchfx was broken for part of the game. Just outright wrong in several places. So, take that chart with a grain of salt. That said, yep, questionable umpiring yesterday.