I really enjoyed this, "Former Jay but current J.P. Arencibia."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

"Former J.P. but current Ray" kind of works too. 

JP hitting well so far but doubt it'll continue - 300/306/600 in 62 PA. 1 BB vs 22 SO.

i don't know if i hate the rays more than the red sox....but man i hate the rays.

Trailing by two runs after a half inning of play, we have a runner on third , no one out and a 3-1 count. The meat of the order does nothing. They have basically a free run there and can't score it. Trying to instantly tie the game up is exactly the wrong thing to do. The Rays would easily score this run, why can't they?

Because baseball is hard.

Weird stat of the year. San Francisco Left Fielders have hit 9 HRs this season.

So have San Francisco's pitchers.

Wow, so quiet here as the Jays move to 4 up on the Yankees as the Yankees lost and Jays won (magic number 6). Now within 1 game of the Royals for 1st overall in the AL. A very good day for the Jays. Looking forward to the playoffs but enjoying these final days of the regular season as much as possible.

Is Donaldson having the greatest season of any Jay, ever?

Jays are 65-35 since Gm 2 of a June 3 double-header versus the Nationals.

Which just happens to be a nice round sample of 100 games.

As for Donaldson, BRef says it's the best season by WAR, but only 4th (though likely to pass Olerud for 3rd) by oWAR. So probably depends on whether he's full value in the defensive contribution.

It's certainly looking like a pretty questionable offseason for Billy Beane. He replaced 8.2 wins (Donaldson) with 1.2 (Lawrie) and brought in Billy Butler (-0.9 WAR with two more years to go). I guess he has a few extra prospects, a fringey looking starter in Graveman, and a couple extra dollars but I'm sure questioning his supposedly clairvoyant baseball wisdom.

The Butler deal is the real head scratcher here - it seemed like a bad deal from the start. Not only that, but Butler is making 5.5 million dollars more than one Josh Donaldson this season, and will likely make more than him again next year, making the potential financial motivation to move Donaldson a moot point.

Via Ben Nicholson-Smith's twitter.

Josh Donaldson says clinching Wild Card berth would be nice, but adds "we’ll celebrate if & when we win the division".

Yup.

Well technically they've already clinched a WC spot at the very least with Astros and Twins respective losses.

Maybe for hitters but nowhere near the best ever. that goes to Roger Clemens in his first season here - midst of the crazy offense era he was 21-7 2.05 ERA in 264 IP 292 SO 222 ERA+ 11.9 bWAR 10.7 fWAR, pitchers triple crown (W-ERA-SO) and the drugs were supposedly only started the next year (McNamee was hired by him in 98). In 1998 he also won the pitchers triple crown but 'only' had 8.2 fWAR 8.1 bWAR.

Pat Hentgen had an 8.6 in '96, while Roy Halladay also cracked 8 bWAR in 2003. Bautista's 2011 is the only hitter to make it that high before Donaldson this year.

Of note: Pillar has 2.6 defensive bWAR which is good for a tie for 5th best Jays defensive season ever. #1 is Devon White 1992 at 3.8 - he leads by a full win over Orlando Hudson 2004, John McDonald 2007, Marco Scutaro 2008 (really?).

You forget how fantastic Devo was in the outfield sometimes.

The playoff drought is officially over. The Jays clinch at least the 2nd wilcard.

If you consider a WC game a playoff spot that is.

I bet the players feel like me right now, meh, I want the AL East.

Josh Donaldson's at-bat in the first inning was fascinating to watch. Odorizzi couldn't get his curve over, and fell behind 3-0. Donaldson was guessing breaking pitch, and took two fastballs for strikes (it happens), and then climbed the ladder for strike three, swinging at a pitch that was a bit high. He filed it all away in his personal batting computer, and launched a home run in his second at-bat. What a player he is.

Pillar's home run just cleared the centre field fence, and my thought at the time was: Pillar would have caught that.

Nice recovery by Dickey after the first inning, which looked like it was going to be a meltdown. It's interesting to compare him to Syndergaard: Dickey is a pitcher, and Syndergaard is a thrower. A magnificent thrower, but a thrower nonetheless: he's surrendered at least one home run in eight of his last nine starts. His pitching lines indicate that his approach is "Here it is - hit it if you can."

I have MLB TV, so I watched the last bit of the Yankees game after the Jays game was over. Yankee Stadium had lots of empty seats - the fans there don't really care about the wild card, and have mostly given up on the season. Compare this with the Rogers Centre, which is full of screaming fans.

Because I vividly remember 1987, I won't say it's over until it's actually over, but it's looking more likely now than it did before last night's game.

When Osuna was shown warming up before coming into the game last night I noticed some balls the size of softballs and grapefruit on the ground behind him. Are these used in the used in the famous weighted-ball program I wonder and is this program used year-round by the pitchers ? Be it the weighted balls, or just luck, the Jays pitchers have been remarkably healthy this season.

I was entirely wrong about the lineup last night. Pennington looked fine throwing from third base, and may have overcome his problem, and chipped in wit three hits. Donaldson homered and just missed another.

Pillar's homer to centerfield may help him make a long-term adjustment to his batting approach. A little more balance will work for him. He has the strength to drive the ball the opposite way.

Our high spirits due to winning, playoffs, etc... is great. It is producing fond memories for many and knowledge/history for the newer/young Jay fans.

So over the long stretch of non playoff years, actually any time, who wants to tell about Monster HRs. That is part of our history as well.

So Donaldson is the 9th Jay to hit 40 HR's. Others are Delgado, Bautista, Edwin, Green, Barfield, Canseco and Batista. I thought the 9th might be Glaus, but he topped out at 38. Who am I missing?

Tons of fun right now with the Jays. Reminds me of the feeling it was going to happen no matter what in 1992/3. Both years making the playoffs felt hohum as the Jays felt like they were the class of the league. Cito did odd things in season which helped him figure out who could do what in the playoffs. 1985 and 1987 never felt this safe.

Pre-August I suspect all of us would've been very happy witht eh Jays clinching a wild card slot this year. On July 31st the Jays were 53-51 in a tie for 2nd in the AL East 6 back of the Yankees, tied with Baltimore. Minnesota was a game ahead of the Jays for the last wild card slot. Since then the Jays are 35-14 a 116 game win pace. Wow.

Doh. George Bell hit 47 his MVP season.

At 3B if you don't count Bautista 2010 (48 games at 3B), the best previous season would be Kelly Gruber 1998 with 5.1 bWAR (278/328/438, 113 OPS+ 23-5 SB-CS). Quite the upgrade on the Jays all-time by position chart.

Best by position by bWAR...
CA: Greg Zaun 2005 3.5 (Martin at 2.9 this year)
1B: John Olerud 1993 7.7
2B: Roberto Alomar 1992 6.6
3B: Josh Donaldson 2015 8.5 so far
SS: Marco Scutaro 2009 5.3 (?, Tony Fernandez best is 5.1 in 1987)
LF: Reed Johnson 2006 5.1 (Bell '87 was a 5.0)
CF: Lloyd Moseby 1984 7.2
RF: Jose Bautista 2011 8.1
DH: Paul Molitor 1993 5.7

Note: RF & CF had multiple seasons before the top LF (Wells, Rios, Green, Barfield) but if you're sticking to position proper then it is Reed Johnson... go figure.

Catcher is a guess - I checked all the usual suspects first (Whitt, Myers, Fletcher, etc.) but Zaun had the best year. So the Jays all-time problem position has been catcher by WAR but I suspect for most teams that is an issue, then 3B which was fixed this year. Next is LF, DH, SS all in the 5's so too low for an MVP outside of Bell's 1987 RBI year (he really shouldn't have won...Trammell earned it).

This year has a lot of great performances of course... Donaldson over 8, in the 4's you have Bautista, Pillar (!), Encarnacion. None in the 3's, Martin/Goins/Travis in the 2's. Smoak, Tulo in the 1's. Carrera is the worst at -0.8 then Thole at -0.3.

For pitching no one is ready for the all-time top 5 rotation or top 5 pen.
5 man Rotation...
Clemens 1997 11.9
Hentgen 1996 8.5
Halladay 2003 8.1
Stieb 1984 7.9
Key 1987 7.4

6 man Bullpen... (mostly guesswork on who is there...might have missed someone)
Eichhorn 1986 7.4
B.J. Ryan 2006 3.5
Tom Henke 1989 3.4
Paul Quantrill 1997 3.2
Duane Ward 1992 3.1
Scott Downs 2008 2.8

This year only Estrada is over 3 (3.3), with Price, Dickey,Buehrle all over 2. Osuna could reach 2 he is at 1.8

Now that the Jays are going to the playoffs it is worth noting that their next win puts them at a high water mark for post 1993. 88 was the best set in 1998 in Tim Johnson's only year as manager. 89 wins reached in 1983/84/89, 91 in 1991, 95 in 1993, 96 in 1987/93, and 99 in 1985. With 9 games to go 1985's record is unreachable. They need to go 8-1 to tie the 2nd best Jays record, 7-2 for the 4th best. Fun to still have stuff like that to hope for this year on September 26th.

Not quite 6-0 yet. Don't keep the Yankees waiting.

Nice start today. Jose looks like he want to hit more home runs than Josh. Nothing like a friendly rivalry.

Allow me a hypothetical question.  (I don't want to jinx anything, but I think this scenario is not very far-fetched.)  Let's assume that the Jays clinch the division title with 3 or 4 games remaining in the season.  Question:  if you are Gibbons, do you continue to run out the best possible lineup every night as long as the Jays are still competing with the Royals for the most wins in the league?  Or do you begin to rest your regulars, to get them ready for the playoffs?  Which of those two goals is more important:  the first overall position in the league (for home advantage throughout the playoffs), or a well-rested lineup for the playoffs?  Or perhaps a compromise, where the Jays rest one or two regulars per night, but otherwise go with their best lineup?

One reason for asking:  I think subconsciously I'm already looking ahead to the games after the Jays clinch the division, even though I know it's not guaranteed, because I'd like to see a couple games of playing time for Pompey, Hague etc -- the kinds of players who might normally get a lot of playing time in September in a season when the Jays aren't contending.  But as long as the Jays-Royals battle is still on, we might not see those guys at all.

Not exactly the pitching duel that we were expecting today. Nine runs in less than 3 innings.

Post clinching, I'd be resting regulars the next day, then give them spring training type games where they play 5-7 innings each, giving any injured guys as much rest as possible.

So day after clinching lineup should be...
CA: Thole
1B: Hague
2B: Barney
3B: Pennington
SS: Kawasaki
LF: Colabello
CF: Pompey
RF: Carrera
DH: Navarro

Maybe give the start to Francis with Jenkins the next guy in. Delabar, Tepera, Schultz all ready to hop in as well.

Archer up to 3.26 ERA and Price up to 2.46. Need to hang on to that ERA for that shiny Cy Young Trophy. Keuchel is at 2.51.

Likely not the most appreciated 27th birthday gift for young Mr. Archer, courtesy of your playoff-bound Toronto Blue Jays.

"Wow, so quiet here as the Jays move to 4 up on the Yankees as the Yankees lost and Jays won (magic number 6)."

tbh, while there's always a bit of nerves, i haven't really been worried about the yanks for a few weeks now. the one thing missing from all the game counting and remaining schedule comps was the fact that we're simply a much better team than the yanks.

the only team goal i've been keeping an eye on is catching the royals

other than that it's been all about personal achievements:

1. Donaldson's MVP hunt
2. Price's Cy hunt
3. The quest to have three 40hr hitters, which would be pretty dang cool.

"When Osuna was shown warming up before coming into the game last night I noticed some balls the size of softballs and grapefruit"

yep, kid has serious cojones.

"estion: if you are Gibbons, do you continue to run out the best possible lineup every night as long as the Jays are still competing with the Royals for the most wins in the league? "

I'd do a bit of both. Rest one guy per game or thereabouts.

but only the guys who really need it. i.e. other than maybe donaldson and martin i don't see anyone dying for some rest.

John to follow up your Jays all-bwar team with an all fwar team...(I've moved a couple guys to different nominal positions)

CF Moseby '84: 6.9
RF Barfield '86: 7.5
LF Bautista '11: 8.1
3B Donaldson '15: 8.4
SS Fernandez '90: 4.9
2B Alomar '92: 6.1
1B Olerud '93: 8.1
DH Delgado '00: 7.4
C Whitt '83: 3.6 (Martin at 3.2 as of today)

that lineup would look something like this by their wRC+ in those same years:

1. 3B Donaldson '15: 156
2. 1B Olerud '93: 179
3. LF Bautista '11: 181
4. DH Delgado '00: 179
5. RF Barfield '86: 147
6. CF Moseby '83: 135
7. 2B Alomar '92: 135
8. C Whitt '83: 115
9. SS Fernandez '90: 108


SP Clemens '97: 10.7 (8.2 '98)
SP Halladay '03: 7.0 (7.0 '09, 6.8 '08, 6.8 '02)
(SP Price '15: 6.4 for 2 teams)
SP Wells '00: 6.2
SP Hentgen '96: 6.0
SP Key '87: 5.6 / Stieb '84: 5.6


RP Eichorn '86: 4.9
RP Ward '91: 4.1 (2.7 '88, 2.6 '93, 2.4 '92, 2.1 '90)
RP Henke '86: 3.5 (3.5 '89, 3.3 '87)
RP Murray '82: 2.6
RP Lamp '85: 1.9
RP Quantrill '87: 1.9
RP Koch '00: 1.8 / Wells '89: 1.8

Congrats to Donaldson on his 40/40 season. Only the 37th in major league history, and only the 27th player to do it.

man I hate the rays. just roll over already.

yeesh.

thought for sure longoria was gonna put one out there.

ugly win but they can't all be pretty.

"....Price up to 2.46. Need to hang on to that ERA for that shiny Cy Young Trophy...."

But he did get his 18th win, which could help to impress the voters.

Despite the fact that Price lasted only 5 innings, the Jays managed to avoid depleting their bullpen, since most of their relievers needed only 8 pitches or less.  (Osuna being the exception.)  So almost all of the bullpen should be available again tomorrow if Buehrle lasts only 5 innings.

Buehrle needs 14.2 IP to get to 200, and he'll be facing the Rays on getaway day. I'll be surprised if he doesn't go at least 7 innings tomorrow.

"When Osuna was shown warming up before coming into the game last night I noticed some balls the size of softballs and grapefruit"

yep, kid has serious cojones.


uglyone...for the win

That was an ugly win, but it maintains a lead and takes another game off the Schedule. New York isn't going away any time soon, so winning is still vital to the Team. Kansas City isn't playing very well lately - coasting? It's enterly well the Jays could take over 1st place in the A.L. before they clinch the A.L. East.

The most difficult Postseason decisions the Jays will make determine who the Pitchers will be. If the 4th Starter can also give them innings in Bullpen, they might only need 10 Pitchers, but that might indicate neither Mark Buehrle or Drew Hutchison makes the Postseason. Just that decision can solve more questions about who else needs to come. But this is not the best time to discuss that now, as too much still must happen first.

(real) FIRST PLACE

Well there it is, Blue Jays tied for first overall in AL and would get #1 seed for playoffs. Blue Jays are now in control of their destiny on keeping that position of being the #1 seed.

We should bear down and clinch the division before anyone gets a day off. There'll be days off before the ALDS.

With the Jays making theplayoffs and thus moving off the list of longest playoff waits who takes over? Expansion cousin Seattle it turns out who haven't been there since 2001 who had Pat Gillick as GM and Lou Pinella as manager (who Gillick wanted instead of Cito Gaston). John Olerud was at 1B just like with the 1993 Jays. Ed Sprague was on both teams too as was Pat Borders. That team won 116 games, the pace the Jays have been on since August started. Miami is next not reaching since they won it all in 2003. Then Houston who might break off that list this year.

The "reward" for having the best record is a substantially higher chance of playing NYY in the first round (best-of-5), which might be the toughest matchup you could pick.

(It's strange.  In hockey, I like facing division rivals in the playoffs.  But in baseball, it seems wrong, at least in the first round.)

Facing NYY might mean more of the LDS games are in prime time slots though.

The "reward" for having the best record is a substantially higher chance of playing NYY in the first round

Heck yeah!  Bring on the Yanks, we've owned them this year, and there's nothing sweeter than beating NY. 

I'm a terrible person for saying this, but I love seeing sad Yankees fans at the dome ....

Ha,ha, I guess I set you up that time. uglyone. And for the record, I think Osuna does have serious cojones, be they weighted or not.

Also for the record, weighted balls are the same size as regulation balls - they're just heavier, not bigger. Those larger balls might be used for stretching, maybe?

With larger balls you really do have to stretch more.

"The "reward" for having the best record is a substantially higher chance of playing NYY in the first round (best-of-5), which might be the toughest matchup you could pick."

When you get to the playoffs, all matchups will be hard. But the toughest potential playoff bound team to face might be the Rangers as they've been the second best team in AL post all-star.

yanks might be the easiest match up, actually.

+1 for NOT wanting to face the Rangers -- I'd much rather face the Yankees in a 5-game series. The Jays won the season series with Texas 4-2 - BUT both losses were to Yovani Gallardo, who we'd also certainly face him twice in the ALDS, plus Cole Hamels who we'd also face once or twice. That's a lot more daunting than what the Yankees have to offer.

I doubt the yanks would beat the stros....though i'd want them to.

Colabello is again not starting today. It's interesting that Gibbons seems to have settled on a straight platoon at first base rather than the 50/50 job-sharing scheme he had previously been employing.

No judgement here. Just an observation that Gibbons seems to have settled on a new way of setting his lineup.

Predicting the winner in a 1 game WC game is like predicting heads when flipping a coin.

Probably the ideal playoff is Yankees / Royals / Mets or Dodgers or Cubs (all poorly rated by SRS).

Royals just because it'd be a heck of a fun series due to the issues last time the teams played. Jays should be tempted to have a flame thrower in the pen as the 'enforcer' who buzzes Royals until ejected if needed.

One disadvantage to facing the Yankees would be that they could leverage Betances and Miller very effectively in a playoff series. Neither Texas nor Houston has the same quality at the back end of their bullpen.

One disadvantage to facing the Yankees would be that they could leverage Betances and Miller very effectively in a playoff series.

Yep. Good bullpens get used disproportionately in the post-season so teams so blessed definitely have something to leverage.

Buehrle is making a strong case for a playoff rotation of Price, Stroman, Estrada and Dickey.

gotta credit gibby for bringing in sanchez there, even though i was questioning the move.

Had to do a head shake when Colome came in. My first thought was, "he's still around?". Nope, this ain't Jesus Colome. It's Alex Colome. Both are from the DR and, according to BR, the only Colomes who have ever played in the majors.

Pillar manages to catch a ball that's in Revere's glove. is there anything he can't do?

lol.

what a season this is.

Wow.

Indians rallying in the 7th.

MVP. What a team. Last home game of the season ended perfectly.

That was an epic bungling if I ever saw one.

Pillar back up to 90wrc+ on the year. if he can maintain that, he's a legit starting CF longterm with that D.

within spitting distance of 4fwar now with a week to go.

In the playoffs you face good teams. We'll take what's given.

I'm guessing it's more pleasant playing Texas in October than in July.

"....Colabello is again not starting today....."

During yesterday's game, the Jays broadcasters mentioned that a flu bug had been going around the Jays dressing room in recent weeks, and Colabello was among the Jays who had caught it.  Might help to explain why Colabello has had a lot less playing time recently.  But more importantly, Smoak has been hitting far better than he did earlier in the season.  Over the past 30 games, his slash line is .270/.345/.568.   That's vastly superior to his slash line of .220/.289/.434 in his first 96 games of the season.

As an early Colabello fan, I used to argue that Colabello deserved to be playing ahead of Smoak (except for the defensive factor, which Smoak clearly has a big edge in).  But over the past few weeks, Smoak has turned into the 1B that the Jays had always hoped to be getting when they acquired him.  If he can continue the excellent hitting and good defence, he will deserve the full-time 1B position next season, while Colabello will be relegated to bench and occasional DH duties.

90 wins. I am celebrating big time. I have a beer. CHEERS !!!! Go Jays. High % , Bauxites. 5's all around too.

I love the name Darwin Barney. The counterpoint of great scientist with retrogressive Flintstones character appeals to me. Next up: Newton Wilma and Freud Fred.

On a somewhat related note, the Jays made some headway today on their Pythagoras record with the exciting comeback victory.

Newton Wilma is my new pen name. Hands off.

There came a time in the early 90's when the Jays learned the score didn't matter, the win did. The confidence in scoring in any inning, against any Pitcher, Starter, Relievers, Closer other Teams threw out there became legend. Very few could shut them down, even once. This Team is getting there.

The three biggest home runs in Blue Jay History?
#1: Roberto Alomar's game tying 2-run HR verses Dennis Eckersley after coming back from a 6-1 deficit after 7.0. Jays were leading the Series 2-1 and his HR forever ended the "choke" label the Jays had.
#2: Ed Sprague's comeback 2-run HR taking a 5-4 lead off Brave's Closer Jeff Reardon. That tied the Series at 1-1 and did not put them in an 0-2 hole.
NB: Without those two HRs, the 1992 World Series win doesn't happen.
#3: Joe Carter's 1993 World Series winning walk-off 3-run HR off Mitch Williams.
NB: That home run meant no game 7s ever for Toronto. That year, they weren't favoured to win Game 6 or 7.

Right now, a new legend starts.

So it would seem that Buerhle is likely not among the starters in the post-season. If that's the case (I know, I know, a lot can happen), does he bump Loup as the next LHP out fo the pen after Cecil? And if so, do you move him to the pen now and let Hutch or Francis take his final start (which will hopefully be post-division clinch)?

"And if so, do you move him to the pen now and let Hutch or Francis take his final start"

No you let Buehrle make his next scheduled start. Then if the last game of the season is meaningless, you let him come back in relief if he has a shot at 200IP.

Agreed. I suspect the Jays will give Buehrle a shot at 200 assuming it doesn't interfere with the Jays winning the division. He is now 8 2/3 IP away from it with one more start. Assuming 6 innings all he'd need is 2 2/3 on the final day. I'd be shocked if the Jays didn't give it to him unless he said not to. It'd keep him warm for the playoffs if needed thus not a problem that way. Ideally he just goes out and does a complete game shutout next time.

Predicting the winner in a 1 game WC game is like predicting heads when flipping a coin.

I predict the head of Dallas Keuchel.

Besides generally being the 2nd-best pitcher in the league this year, he completely dominated Yankees the two times he faced them: 0 runs on 9 hits over 16 IP, 21 K and 1 BB.

The Yankees will counter with... TBD. That's a problem for them. As is the fact that Houston scored 36 runs to New York's 17 in their 7 games.

If the Jays clinch by the time Buehrle makes his next start, I'd assume that they'd let him pitch until he gets tired or until it's obvious that he can't get anybody out. They'd want to get him as close to his 200 innings as possible, and then let him pitch in relief on the last day.

I think the Yankees are a scary match-up, even with the Jays dominating the season series. They are the 2nd best team in the AL as far as I’m concerned, and have a strong back-end of the bullpen that they can leverage for 3-4 innings every game if need be. I’d prefer facing Houston or Texas (or the Angels if they sneak in to the Wild Card game). However, in the grand scheme of things, I don’t care who the opponent is. The Jays making the playoffs is a very special moment. Let the chips fall where they may.

90 wins with a week to go in the season. This almost feels surreal. I haven’t even thought of 2016 once, and usually around this time we’d be playing faux GM trying to find ways to improve the team next year. I must say, this reality is a lot more fun.

Yeah, next year is a long ways away and we all know what the Jays will be chasing - starting pitching as 3 of this years key starters are free agents (Price, Estrada, Buehrle). So watch AA go get a LF or something.

I think White might be the most underrated player in Jays history, from a variety of perspectives.

WWJDS?

I'm guessing but here's what I think:
"We can't predict who will finish where, so we just have to go out and play our better baseball for another 5 weeks".

The thing about defense and speed is that it always shows up. Devo OBP always made him look so bad as a leadoff, but he contributed in so many ways.

Hats off to Pillar this year. He was supposed to be our 4th outfielder and he really took the lead. He does so many of the little things right.

So very true. Devo was never fully appreciated when he was here. Watching guys like Jose Cruz Jr in CF for years helped us appreciate Devo more. Now seeing Pillar out there is helping me remember how nice it was being able to count on great OF defense. No one has come close to the old Jesse Barfield for pure 'wow' factor (for those too young, whenever someone was on 2nd or 3rd you'd want a fly ball to RF just because you knew a close play could happen if the runner was dumb enough to try it).

Next years team should be scary good for offense and defense if everyone gets healthy. Travis/Tulowitski in middle infield with Goins backing them up, Pillar in CF with Revere/Saunders/Pompey fighting for everyday in LF. A shame there isn't anywhere to move Bautista to as DH/1B is very full with Encarnacion/Smoak/Colabello. I think 2016 will see a solid bench with Goins/Barney for infield (Pennington is a free agent), the loser of the LF battle being #4 out there, plus Smoak or Colabello to pinch hit if needed. It is pitching that is the big question mark. Do you move Sanchez and/or Osuna to the rotation? Can the Jays resign Price? Should they resign Buehrle and/or Estrada? What to do with Hutchison (I suspect put him as #5 and leave him alone)?

I predict the head of Dallas Keuchel. Besides generally being the 2nd-best pitcher in the league this year, he completely dominated Yankees the two times he faced them: 0 runs on 9 hits over 16 IP, 21 K and 1 BB. The Yankees will counter with... TBD. That's a problem for them. As is the fact that Houston scored 36 runs to New York's 17 in their 7 games.

You're 100% right Jonny German, but you just know that if that was the matchup in the WC game the Astros would win 7-2. #Cantpredictball

Next years team should be scary good for offense and defense if everyone gets healthy. Travis/Tulowitski in middle infield with Goins backing them up, Pillar in CF with Revere/Saunders/Pompey fighting for everyday in LF. A shame there isn't anywhere to move Bautista to as DH/1B is very full with Encarnacion/Smoak/Colabello. I think 2016 will see a solid bench with Goins/Barney for infield (Pennington is a free agent), the loser of the LF battle being #4 out there, plus Smoak or Colabello to pinch hit if needed. It is pitching that is the big question mark. Do you move Sanchez and/or Osuna to the rotation? Can the Jays resign Price? Should they resign Buehrle and/or Estrada? What to do with Hutchison (I suspect put him as #5 and leave him alone)?

Very true John, 2017 will be the year of major changes.  We could return pretty much the same offence and bullpen next year with Arb raises and options for just over $100 million if we wave bye to Mark Lowe and Dionner, and we'd have decent to good OF / middle IF / 1B depth.  Sign a backup catcher and that's all she wrote.

But we need at least two big inning vets for the rotation to go along with Dickey, Stro and Hutch.  Price has to be the top target, and if we have a big run in the playoffs, I could see it happening - we have the salary room.  A QO for Buehrle unless the org thinks he's done, and perhaps another veteran flier like Estrada.  Osuna / Sanchez could be stretched out mid season if there is an injury or Hutch struggles, but they represent our only young starting depth that can be reasonably counted on next season - AA / AAA have been stripped pretty bare of prospects. 

That said, I have very limited ability to predict what AA will do.  Has he reclaimed ninja status with this recent run?  Any chance of Gibbons getting coach of the year votes?  Not that I have an opinion one way or the other on the topic, but it would be fun to watch some heads explode on the box if he dead ;)

I can see them letting Buehrle trying for 200IP in the final game, if the game doesn't matter and if he actually cares (it's not exactly a seasonal streak of epic proportions). But I think he might be done for the year at the end of the season either way.

I can't see much of a role for Buehrle in the playoffs at this point. He's been terrible in first innings this year (6.3 ERA, 8 HR). He has a reverse platoon split this year and very little split in his career (as expected with a changeup pitcher). I mentioned a month ago somewhere it would be one of the more awesome things ever if Buehrle the reliever could dial it up to 95mph, but that's not happening. He's been hurting, he's the 5th best starting option.

This Jays team has, as it appears to me, a very small window. There are no playoff starts to waste on sentiment. No one on the team is guaranteed good playoff starts, but Buehrle seems the least likely to me.

Devo is definitely one of the most under-rated Jays. He's 14th in team WAR (on bbref) in history, and clearly the best defender the team ever had for an extended period - others have been good, but Devo has an argument for top-5 or 10 all time at just defense in the OF. The weird certainty that any flyball near CF would be caught was a big part of following the series-winning Jays teams.

Weirdly, I also feel Bautista might be under-rated as well - he has a pretty strong argument for best position player in team history at this point (he's basically tied for third in Toronto WAR with Fernandez and Delgado). Delgado has best hitter as of now on bulk of career (2000 extra PA), but he was dreadful in the field a lot of the time, and a poor base-runner as well (slow poor, not stupid poor). Bautista has been an AS the last 6 years (excludes a pretty decent 2009 season, which had that legendary September that changed everything for him - did anyone think his .944 OPS that month was likely to keep happening for 6 more years?), which I think constitutes the best "peak" for any Jays position player (34 WAR, 157 OPS+, 226 HR, .268/.390/.556). Hope he manages a long decline, and doesn't mimic the Delgado career path from here. Very glad there won't be a "lets make the playoffs for washed-up Jose" moment 5 years from now...

The club is now 87-20 stealing bases.  That's a terrific record (and easily the best in the league) and reflects very well on the coaching, as well as the players.  It doesn't hurt that Tim Raines is around, I suppose (87/20 would be not quite as good as a prime Tim Raines season, but it's pretty impressive to put up a team mark that would fit in with Raines' career without looking out of place). 

The club is now 87-20 stealing bases. That's a terrific record (and easily the best in the league) and reflects very well on the coaching, as well as the players.

All true, and I think it also reflects on the fact that the Jays don't use the hit and run much (which often results in a CS if the batter doesn't make contact). The Jays aren't a team that really needs to use the hit and run to get things going.

Devon White is the best centre fielder I have ever seen in a Jays uniform. He was better than Pillar, and that's not a criticism of Pillar. White didn't make spectacular diving plays, as he didn't need to - he had enough speed to outrun the baseball, and he had the instincts to know how hard he needed to run to get there.

Did White ever climb the wall to rob a hitter of a home run? I don't recall him doing that, at least not regularly.

Seconding John Northey on Jesse Barfield's arm. Easily the best I have ever seen in the outfield. Strong and accurate - baserunners who attempted to advance soon regretted it.

Hope he manages a long decline, and doesn't mimic the Delgado career path from here.

Delgado aged very well, actually: in 2008, when he was 36, he had 38 home runs and finished ninth in the NL MVP race. He got hurt the next year and retired after that. Oddly enough, it was his strike zone judgement that deteriorated most - possibly, his bat speed had slowed a touch, which gave him less time to decide whether a pitch was a strike.

Bautista is already aging well - he's 34, and some players show significant signs of decline by that age. (Shawn Green, for instance, played his last season at age 34.) His bat speed is still outstanding, so he should be able to hit major league pitching for a few years more. His range will continue to decline in right field, but the Jays can probably live with that if they put either Pillar or Pompey in centre.

Thoughts before the final victory lap, er, road trip...

1. Devo ran much like top sprinters do, with an effortless grace; it is unsurprising that he spent the first 9 years of his life in Kingston, Jamaica, the country that has spawned many world class runners like Usain Bolt and Ben Johnson (derp). Devon was my favourite player during the WS years (helped in no small part that trading for him meant the underwhelming Junior Felix was removed from the team).

2. The Manalyst had his usual shallow thoughts about his "exclusive interview" with Price prior to the game, that most FAs when they aim for their final payday look for a destination that they'd feel most comfortable in, and although the Jays have "a shot", Canada is a different country. Fact is, the closest ML team geographically and culturally to Murfreesboro, TN is Atlanta, and they will be poor for a long time. Besides, Price has never expressed any sort of regional preference other than accommodation for his French bulldog, a consistently winning team, and a boatload of $$$$$, so it's not like this is Buehrle leaving his family and illegal pitbulls across the border and being a Missou boy at heart. Maybe we should be more paranoid that said dog's name is Astro. Sigh.

3. Gibby won't win COY because the team is stacked and thus not really a surprise to surge into playoff contention, as opposed to shiny new manager Hinch with the 'Stros. But I most definitely think AA will be in-line for EOY, given the fact that pretty much every trade he's made in the past year has turn to gold, from Russell to the present day. In fact, let us celebrate the fact that today is the 10-month anniversary of MVPJD for Lawrie and the Pu Pu Prospect Platter, which means that AA's "ninja status" should never have been revoked, at least, not since this past off-season began.

White made this catch, which I remember seeing live on TV. It was incredible.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fUuuVhzvyo

He made a few like that (Although that was the best one), and of course his triple play (stupid lack of replay...) inducing WS catch is his most famous. Not as many fences where it is even possible 20 years ago - and no one was climbing the old puffy fences in Skydome, and now Davis and Pillar have both managed to rob HRs there in the past few years.

"....I can't see much of a role for Buehrle in the playoffs at this point...."

I agree with this.  He doesn't seem suited for a high-leverage bullpen role (because of his poor first-innings record and his reverse splits, as mentioned).  And it's clear that Estrada has substantially out-pitched Buehrle in the past few weeks, and is also better-suited for a bullpen role if he's not in the rotation, so Estrada becomes the 4th and final guy in the rotation.  Could the Jays be unsentimental enough to leave Buehrle entirely off the 25-man playoff roster?  We will see, but I certainly wonder if Buehrle would be less useful on the playoff roster than someone like Dalton Pompey (for pinch-running and defence), or Aaron Loup (for LOOGY duties).  However, the Jays do need a long man in the bullpen in the playoffs, in case a starter is shelled, so there's room for either Buehrle or Hutchison, but not both.

Here's a tentative guess at the playoff roster:

Starters:  Price, Stroman, Dickey, Estrada.
Bullpen:  Osuna, Sanchez, Cecil, Lowe, Hendriks, Hawkins, Loup, Buehrle.
Regular lineup:  Revere, Donaldson, Bautista, Encarnacion, Martin, Smoak, Tulowitzki, Goins, Pillar.
Bench: Navarro, Colabello, Pennington, Carrera.

This is obviously an 8-man bullpen, so I could see a strong argument for leaving Buehrle or Loup off the roster and adding Pompey to replace him.  If the choice is between Loup and Buehrle, it depends whether you want a LOOGY for one or two outs -- a role which Loup is best-suited for -- or whether you want a long man for mop-up duties if the starter is knocked out early.

Thoughts?

1000% agreement from this corner on Bautista being under-rated.  It's crazy to me that he doesn't get more mention in the "top all time Jays" list that you see filtering around.  Assuming he re-signs in Toronto, I think he'll be viewed in retrospect as the greatest Blue Jay to date (factoring in longevity with sustained excellence). 

Can't see Pompey not on the roster in any circumstance.  Whether that's in for Carrera or an RP is debateable.  Personally, I'd want 2 bench OF for the purposes of replacing Revere for defence and having a pinch running threat on top of that, so I'd be cutting one of Loup or Buerhle.

".....Can't see Pompey not on the roster in any circumstance....."

The thing is, Gibbons has consistently chosen Carrera ahead of Pompey all season (except for April) when he needs a 4th outfielder.  And Carrera is a pretty good pinch-runner.  And the Jays have never shown much of a desire to replace Revere for defensive purposes late in the game.  (Have they even done that once since Revere arrived?)  So, realistically, Pompey's main value is that he seems better able to steal a base than Carrera, but that's an opportunity that might arise once every 3 or 4 games at the most.  It's a nice luxury to have, but do you give up a LOOGY or a long man in the bullpen in order to accommodate a pinch-runner who might steal a base once or twice in an entire playoff series?  I could see it possibly happening, but it's not a clear choice.

It's unfortunate for Buehrle, but the playoffs aren't the time for sentiment. There's no need for an 8-man bullpen and he's not suited for relief work.

Kawasaki obviously replaces Tulowitzki if he's not healthy. I think Pompey has to be on the roster over Carrera as the primary backup outfielder.

I'd also give consideration to putting Matt Hague on the roster in place of Carrera. The Jays have shown no inclination to replace Revere on defence and Hague has impressed me in his limited number of at-bats. It may depend on the set-up of the other team's bullpen and whether you would prefer another right or left-handed hitter - or whether you would prefer a second "big" bat or a second pinch-running option - but it seems most of the position player substitutions, assuming Tulo is healthy, would be to pinch run for the slower runners or to pinch-hit for Goins or Revere against a lefty. In that case, another right-handed bat might be useful, particularly if Colabello was already in the game against a left-handed starter.

I think everything depends on who the Jays face and what kind of games they expect. If you expect low scoring affairs then a high end pinch runner/defense guy has a lot of value. If high scoring then he doesn't and a LOOGY could be very useful as could a long man as you'll probably need a long guy at some point. Wouldn't be shocked to see Gibbons pull off a trick like the Royals did to the Jays years ago if it makes sense - start a LHP for 1-3 innings then switch to a RHP for the rest, totally screwing up platoons and matchups for the other guy.

You are probably right (re: Gibbons picking Carrera over Pompey, not replacing Revere, etc).  I was more saying what I would do, but I would tend to agree that Gibbons is far more likely to go with the 8 man BP approach.

According to Gibbons, Pompey was not going to be brought up and used sparingly. So he stayed down to play everyday. That made perfect sense to me.

It should be interesting what happens next year. I am quite sure that Cito's philosophy was that if he did the job for me last year then he will not lose his job. This do not tinker approach seemed to work for Cito.

"...Kawasaki obviously replaces Tulowitzki if he's not healthy...."

So far it looks likely that Tulo will be back in time for the playoffs.  His defence and running are already back at 100 per cent of his normal level, according to media witnesses and Tulo himself.  That leaves his hitting, which should be back to 80 or 90 per cent of his normal level within the next few days.  And even if his hitting is not at 100 per cent, he'd probably still be a better hitter than Kawasaki, and certainly a better defender.  So the solution might be for Tulo to share the SS role with Goins for the first playoff series. Goins could start at SS, and then could shift over to 2B later in the game to make room for Tulo.  But even if Tulo is not up to scratch as a hitter, his defence makes him too valuable to leave him off the roster.

One of the great things about the Jays at present is their position player depth.

Next year, they will have Bautista, Pillar, Revere, Pompey, and Saunders in the outfield. If Goins's improvement at the plate is real, they will have Tulo, Goins, and Travis as middle infield options. Pennington and/or Barney are serviceable backups. 1B/DH is covered with Smoak, EE, and Matt Hague (who hit .338 in Buffalo!) as backup. 3B is, of course, rather covered by a bringer of rain. :-)

Starting pitching will be the problem: they will probably exercise Dickey's team option, but they might need to replace all of Price, Estrada, and Buehrle. Eek.

Travis d'Arnaud is having a weird September. In the first half of the month, he went 16 for 37 (.432), raising his average from .268 to an even .300. He's given it all back in the second half, going 4 for 35 (.114), and is back down to .271. Baseball is a strange game.

It's unfortunate for Buehrle, but the playoffs aren't the time for sentiment. There's no need for an 8-man bullpen and he's not suited for relief work.

I guess we'll see how he is doing.  A healthy Buehrle would be one of the top 4 starters on the club.  As it is, he might be the best option to give you 3 or 4 decent innings if a starter gets knocked out early.  I guess we'll see how he does in his last start. I concur that an 8 man pen is not needed in the playoffs.

As for the bench, Navarro, Pennington and Colabello are pretty clear.  It doesn't look like the club is about to pinch-hit for Pillar, so that means you don't really need more than one left-handed bat off the bench (potentially to pinch-hit for Pennington in a game started by a LHP and you will have Goins and Navarro there anyway).  Matt Hague and Pompey would make a lot of sense.  

I guess it's a testament to how well the other SP are doing but it's kinda funny that since his extended break Buehrle's come back with 3 starts and posted a 4.24era and 3.85fip, only once failing to 6ip...and it now feels unacceptable....when in the first half, that would have been our best SP numbers.

The jays will probably figure out their needs by the end of November. Plan A, B, C...

While we will not know what their plans are, I do not expect to be informed, we can always speculate.

Payroll for one. Excess depth. Who plays every day and who are the extras. Young OFs probably will not be part timers but put down on the farm. Revere, Pompey and Dwight Smith Jr should play everyday some where.

Then again, there may be an affordable super star that we could trade for.

Did White ever climb the wall to rob a hitter of a home run?

I don't think anybody did. I'm pretty sure the wall was two feet higher than it is now.

Buehrle is a) very proud of his 200 IP streak, but b) has said he doesn't want to come out of the bullpen for no other reason than to keep it alive. It's as if that would taint it for him. So I guess he either pitches a CG to end his season, or it's over.

In the there-but-for-the-grace go we department - weren't the Jays mentioned as inquiring about Papelbon at the deadline?

Loud sighs of relief, all around.

"....So I guess he either pitches a CG to end his season, or it's over....."

Both Gibbons and Buehrle yesterday mentioned the hypothetical possibility that he could start the final Jays game of the year on short rest (if they have already clinched the division) and could pitch 2 or 3 innings or whatever he needs to get 200 innings.  But only if it wouldn't cost the team anything in terms of playoff home advantage or playoff preparation.

the pompey carrera thing is a bit weird. Pompey is clearly the first choice pinch runner, and easily the better fielder.

in terms of bat carrera has slightly better small sample mlb numbers this year while pompey has the better larger sample aaa numbers. but even that doesn't matter as we never pinch hit for our OF anyways.

it makes no sense to prefer carrera on paper, so this is obviously a move based entirely on psychological factors.

".....Matt Hague and Pompey would make a lot of sense....."

Perhaps, but I just don't think it's likely that both of those guys would make the playoff roster, since it would force Carrera off the roster.  All season, Gibbons has preferred Carrera over both of those guys.  Carrera is a good pinch-runner, a good defender, and a decent hitter from the bench.  Hague is rendered redundant by Colabello's presence.  I could see Pompey being chosen over Buehrle, or over Loup, if the Jays go with a 7-man pen, but I don't see him being chosen instead of Carrera.  In the playoffs, experience and versatility are more important than raw speed, and Carrera is only slightly behind Pompey on the raw-speed metric anyway.

"The club is now 87-20 stealing bases. That's a terrific record (and easily the best in the league) and reflects very well on the coaching, as well as the players. It doesn't hurt that Tim Raines is around, I suppose (87/20 would be not quite as good as a prime Tim Raines season, but it's pretty impressive to put up a team mark that would fit in with Raines' career without looking out of place)."

along with martin and navarro both having career throwing years i'm convincee the jays' eggheads have figured something out here but i have no idea how to investigate it.

I dread the idea of an 8 man pen for the playoffs, but concede that with Gibbons at the helm, it may come to fruition. Who takes that final spot either as a LOOGY or long man in the pen will be determined by who the opponent is IMO. If it's the Yankees I could see Buehrle off the roster and replaced with either Hutch or Loup. If the opponent is anyone else, I think Buehrle will be long man out of the pen.

Definitely in favour of Pompey on the roster be it over Carrera or in addition to. October playoff baseball is typically tight low scoring affairs, you need to have that base stealing threat available when u need it.

His dog is named after the Jetson's dog, and not the Houston team. Don't let that be a concern.

China Fan, the rationale provided at the time for preferring Carrera was to give Pompey regular playing time. Whether that was the full rationale or whether there were other psychological factors involved isn't clear.

However, I don't think there's evidence to suggest that Carrera is a better defender than Pompey and he's certainly not faster than him. Furthermore, Pompey outhit Carrera at Buffalo this year, although it's also fair to note that the Jays have used Carrera as a pinch-hitter in September and not used Pompey for that role. That being said, I would still pick Pompey over Carrera if I was only taking one of them.

Second, you remark that Hague is redundant because of Colabello. As I noted in my initial post advocating for Hague, if the other team starts as a left-handed starter and Colabello starts, Hague becomes the team's best right-handed hitting pinch-hitting option. Furthermore, even if Colabello is on the bench, Hague gives them a second pinch-hitting option which would mean the team still has an option of pinch-hitting for Revere if he's facing a tough lefty, even if they've already hit for Goins earlier in the game. The two batters the team is most likely to pinch hit for are both left-handed batters, so more right-handed batters on the bench makes sense from that perspective.

It's pretty obvious, to me anyway, that Carrera will get the nod over Pompey. Gibbons gave Carrera the start the one game that Pillar didn't start, & Pompey has only had 2 PA's since he was called up (both coming in a blowout loss). Carrera has constantly been picked by Gibby over Pompey, except to pinch run. Pompey may also be selected as our Terrance Gore, but I think Carrera is a guarantee.

"....I don't think there's evidence to suggest that Carrera is a better defender than Pompey and he's certainly not faster than him..."

I agree with you on those points.  And in the abstract, if the season were beginning now (or next spring), I would certainly advocate for Pompey ahead of Carrera.  But I wasn't expressing a personal preference or an ideal-world scenario, I was simply giving a prediction for what the Jays are likely to do.  Gibbons clearly has a level of comfort with Carrera, and he doesn't have that same level of comfort with Pompey.  And I do think he probably prefers Carrera's experience over Pompey's raw speed. And Carrera might be someone who copes easily with a bench role, whereas the younger and less experienced Pompey might not adjust as well to that role.  Having said all of that, of course I could be wrong, the Jays could choose Pompey over Carrera.  And I would certainly love to see Pompey on the bench if the Jays decide that they only need a 7-man bullpen, which is very possible.  His base-stealing skills are a very nice weapon to have on the bench.

"....if the other team starts as a left-handed starter and Colabello starts, Hague becomes the team's best right-handed hitting pinch-hitting option. Furthermore, even if Colabello is on the bench, Hague gives them a second pinch-hitting option which would mean the team still has an option of pinch-hitting for Revere...."

Given the dramatic improvement in Smoak's hitting performance in recent weeks, and given the importance of defence in the playoffs, I really doubt that Colabello will start many games in the playoffs -- maybe none at all.  He'll be on the bench, available as a pinch-hitter.  As for Revere:  I just don't think the Jays are going to pinch-hit for him, regardless of the pitcher.  They haven't done it in September, despite the expanded rosters and the abundance of potential pinch-hitters, so why would they suddenly start doing it in the playoffs?  So I don't see much of a role for Hague in the playoffs, unless the Jays go with a 6-man bullpen, which seems unlikely.

I think the big question is what is more useful in a playoff series... a pen with Osuna/Sanchez/Cecil for 8th/9th innings, Hendriks/Lowe/Hawkins for 6th/7th, plus two others, LOOGY Loup, plus discarded starter either Hutchison or Buehrle for long relief. With Schultz/Tepera/Delabar hoping for a chance if someone goes down or pitches poorly or if the Jays go with a 9 man pen.

Or bench with Colabello (PH), Navarro (CA), Carrera (OF), and Pompey (PR/OF), Hague (PH), or Kawaski (IF/cheerleader). While Pennington or Goins is on the bench while Tulo is at SS.

Sadly I wouldn't be shocked with a 9 man pen and short bench as how often in the AL games would Gibbons hit for someone? Goins/Pennington are the only guys you'd hit for while PR would only be for catchers or 1B/DH types. Thus a bench isn't as critical as being able to force the other team to shift players.

In order not to become too predictable, Gibbons decides that Colabello gets the start today against Chris Tillman.  The current Jays as a whole are hitting .338/.396/.606 against Tillman, but Smoak has put up a relatively homely .167/.375/.167 line.  That might have something to do with it.  Kevin Pillar has 3 homers in 13 at-bats vs. Tillman. 

They haven't done it in September, despite the expanded rosters and the abundance of potential pinch-hitters, so why would they suddenly start doing it in the playoffs?

The Jays have pinch-hit for Revere three times in September. Even if the first occasion was likely just to give Matt Hague an at-bat, the other two times occurred in close games.

"....the other two times occurred in close games....."

Okay, thanks, I missed that.  Still don't think there's room for Hague on the playoff roster, but we will see.

Some good news:  Tulo is taking on-field BP today.   Seems reasonable to predict that he'll be back in the lineup within a few days.

Interesting tweet by Scott MacArthur that Gibbons would use Navarro to catch playoff games started by Estrada. While I considered Estrada an obvious choice as either the #3 or #4 spot, others weren't so convinced. So if true, this sounds Buehrle isn't starting in the ALDS.

Current AL playoff teams


wRC+

TORONTO --- KANSAS CITY --- NEW YORK ------ HOUSTON -------- TEXAS

Revere 97 ------- Gordon 124 ---- Ellsbury 85 ------ Altuve 120 ------ Deshields 92
Donaldson 157 - Zobrist 130 --- Gardner 109 ---- Springer 117 --- Choo 126
Bautista 148 --- Cain 131 --------- Rodriguez 130 - Correa 136 ------ Beltre 101
En'cion 144 ----- Hosmer 125 ---- Beltran 117 ----- Gattis 97 -------- Fielder 123
Tulowitzki 98 -- Morales 130 ----- McCann 109 -- Rasmus 107 ---- Napoli 97
Martin 112 ----- Moustakas 122 - Headley 94 -- Gonzalez 104 - Moreland 119
Smoak 110 ---- Perez 87 ----------- Bird 133 -------- Conger 103 ---- Chirinos 100
Pillar 90 --------- Rios 79 ------------- Gregorius 89 --- Carter 97 -------- Odor 111
Goins 81 -------- Escobar 68 ------- Drew 76 --------- Gomez 94 ------- Andrus 77

Colabello 142 -- Gomes 87 -------- Ackley 90 ------- Valbuena 94 -- Hamilton 87
Carrera 89 ------- Dyson 85 -------- Young 105 ----- Tucker 105 ------ Venable 89
Pennington 57 - Infante 44 -------- Ryan 65 --------- Lowrie 95 -------
Navarro 84 ------ Butera 44 --------- Murphy 98 ------ Castro 81 ------ Giminez 132

Hague 205 ----- Cuthbert 89 ----- Heathcott 194 -- Duffy 19 --------- Gallo 87
Pompey 49 ---- Orlando 91 ------ Williams 140 --- Marisnick 80 --- Stubbs 67
Kawasaki 49 -- Colon 99 -------- Refsnyder 96 ---- Villar 98 -------- Alberto 27
Thole 48 --------- Pena -100 ------------------------------- Stassi 210 ------ Wilson 38


Average fwar / ra9war per 32gs

Price 6.8 --------- Cueto 4.4 --------- Tanaka 3.7 ----- Keuchel 7.1 ----- Hamels 4.2
Stroman 6.4 ---- Volquez 2.7 ---- Severino 3.7 --- McCullers 4.3 -- Gallardo 3.2
Estrada 3.4 ----- Young 2.6 --------- Pineda 3.5 ------ McHugh 3.5 ---- Lewis 2.4
Buehrle 2.9 ----- Ventura 2.4 ------- Eovaldi 3.2 ------ Kazmir 3.5 ------ Perez 2.0
Dickey 2.6 ------- Duffy 1.6 ---------- Sabathia 1.1 ---- Fiers 3.1 ------- Holland 0.9

Sanchez 1.9 ---- Medlen 0.2 ------ Warren 3.0 ----- Velasquez 3.4 - Gonzalez 1.9
Hutchison 0.6 - Guthrie -1.1 ------ Nova 1.1 ------- Feldman 2.5 --- Martinez 1.1


Average war per 65ip

Osuna 1.6 ------ Davis 2.6 ----------- Betances 2.5 --- Sipp 1.5 ----- Kela 1.7
Lowe 1.6 -------- Madson 1.3 ------ Miller 2.3 -------- Harris 1.4 --- Tolleson 1.6
Cecil 1.4 --------- Herrera 1.0 ------- Wilson 1.4 ------ Fields 1.1 ---- Dyson 0.9
Hendriks 1.4 -- Holland 0.8 ------ Warren 1.4 - Gregerson 1.1 - Ohlendorff 0.6
Sanchez 1.1 ---- Morales 0.5 ----- Shreve 0.7 ------ Qualls 0.6 ---- Freeman 0.6
Hawkins 0.8 ---- Hochevar 0.4 --- Pinder 0.2 ------- Neshek 0.4 -- Bass 0.3
Loup -0.2 -------- Guthrie -0.2 ------- Mitchell -0.2 --- Perez 0 ------- Diekman 0.3

Estrada 1.2 ----- Duffy 2.9 -------- Pazos 1.6 ------- Thatcher 0.9 -- Martinez 2.2
Tepera 0.3 ------ Medlen 1.1 ---- Rumbelow 0.2 - Chapman 0.6 - Faulkner 0.7
Hutchison 0.0 - Young 0.8 ------ Martin -0.2 ------ Deduno 0.3 -- Jackson 0.0
Delabar 0.0 --- Alexander 0.0 -- Cotham -0.4 -- Velasquez -0.2 - Gonzalez -0.7
Schultz 0.0 - Chamberlain -1.1 - Bailey -0.9 ---- Fiers -1.3 --- Scheppers -1.0

"Given the dramatic improvement in Smoak's hitting performance in recent weeks"

I think people overreact to streaks. Smoak has been pretty consistent this year, and even during slumps has maintained his patience and power. he basically had one bad month (Aug 78wrc+) and is making up for it with a great month (Sep 152wrc+), but the other four months he's been average to good (98/103/114/125).

Re: 1st round matchups. Would love for the Angels to sneak in and win the WC (assuming we finish 1st). I already announced we'd strongly consider a road trip to LA (5-6 hour drive) for a game against either the Angels or the Dodgers. Family cheered :-)

Of course, will have to see just how much tickets are..