C'mon, take the 4th outfielder, 8-man bullpen, Danny Valencia, Matt Hague business to another thread! ;)

China, while I think you sometimes took a little too much abuse here, but I don't think you're being fair here.  Valencia's role was to bat against left handed pitchers.  Even those of who you who think his role would have been limited have acknowledged this.  That was quite literally the situation tonight.

In terms of the outfield defence, A) you could use him in place of Revere in place of Pillar, and B) managing for extra innings is managing scared (this is something I appreciated about Joe Torre, he managed for the win)

Anyways, i didn't realize that the Valencia discussion was over, happy to drop it if that's the deal now.

You don't think they were making a suitable effort to not make an out? Are you basing this on the results or on some specific observations? Did they exhibit a blase, laissez faire comportment that most of us were not skilled enough to discern?

Indirectly it does. Having Travis starting in place of Goins means one less player to have to pinch-hit for, meaning fewer demands of the bench.

Just as it would for any fan site for any team for any sport. Welcome to earth.

A good long time. You miss that one? I missed "cowboy up" by about a decade. Guess I wasn't paying attention.

Oh, would that were true. They don't know. They do not flippin' know. Somebody should tell them.

It's been a while since I read anything by Richard Griffin. I tend to avoid doing this, as I just get annoyed, and it's probably bad for my blood pressure or cortisol levels or something.

I don't think the Jays gain anything by sending Hutchison down to Buffalo. If they need to keep him sharp, they can have him throw a simulated game on his rotation start day, or give him a chance to work on pitches in a couple of bullpen sessions. And he is available in long relief should somebody else blow up.

And, despite his ups and downs, Hutchison just beat the Yankees to avoid a morale-sapping sweep (the fans' morale, if not the players'). If anyone deserves a few days' R&R at the major league level, he does.

However, I think that what is not good for the gander might be good for the goose, so to speak. I suggest that, when the Jays have days off, the Toronto Star should send Griffin to Buffalo to report on Bisons games. Torontonians have fallen in love with baseball again, and would probably enjoy reading more about the Jays' possible stars of the future. (How about an extensive interview with Dalton Pompey, for example?) And it's important for him to keep his writing skills sharp during what looks like will be a tough and demanding pennant race.

Had Hutchison been shelled yesterday, I think the decision to pull him from the rotation for the next two weeks would have happened. His start yesterday, and the one before it, likely change things, however. I would be surprised to see the organization not opt to stick with 5 SP and just use the off-days for rest.

Hutchison would have presumably been replaced by a 4th OF or Thole.

Now, was Loup destined for AAA regardless of the Hutchison decision (i.e., had Hutch been sent down, would Loup have stayed)? We'll probably never know. It would seem that he, now, is the one to be replaced by a 4th OF or Thole. And perhaps the thought, before Sunday's game, was to ship both Hutchison and Loup down for a 4th OF and Thole.

I am assuming that Hutch stays and that only one player will get the call-up. Who will that be?

Revere has stumbled out of the gate for the Jays and that may push him into a platoon role (despite his reverse L/R career splits). At the very least, since the Jays don't face much LH SP, Revere may start being pinch-hit for. Heisey would seem like the frontrunner (being RH, Pompey having the ankle woes and perhaps being protected from a pennant race) but he has reverse L/R career splits himself. Also, he seems little more than a warm body at this point. I'd just as soon see Travis Snider in the 4th OF role though I can't see that happening (the sideshow might be too distracting with the narrative of the Jays having "destroyed" him as a young player sure to resurface).

While not addressing the OF shortage, Thole would arrive with an obvious role: spare Martin the wear-and-tear of catching Dickey. Martin's offense has been sliding. Fatigue may be an issue. Or it just could be plain ol' regression -- he did seem to be hitting over his head for a good while. Nonetheless, the poor guy needs some relief (he's on pace for his most PAs since age 26).

Frankly, I had hoped that Navarro would have been moved by now. He's a better player than Thole, to be sure, but does seem to get in the way on this roster. He is rarely used as a pinch-hitter and no longer DHs. He is simply a backup catcher and the drop to Thole would be offset by Thole assuming the high maintenance Dickey duties.

Prediction: Hutch stays. Heisey gets called up.

FG calculates WAR based on xFIP. Hutchison has underperformed his xFIP by 0.70 for his career. Time will tell, but there does seem to be an argument that xFIP overstates his ability.

By contrast, xFIP seems to undervalue both Buerhle and Dickey, whose career ERAs are about 0.30 lower than their xFIP. In Buerhle's case, his defense, his ability to shut down the running game and to induce the DP do not get captured by xFIP. And in Dickey's case, I don't think that standard BABIP rules apply to knuckleballers.

Yeah, and I'll have a 32-inch waist again.