Donaldson to the DL, Mayza up.

And because we can't get away from Atlanta, John Smoltz just qualified for the US open. Neat.

I'm afraid we're going to start hearing that the turf is responsible for Donaldson's condition, even though he showed up with this problem in spring training.

In the latest on former right-handed pitchers for the Blue Jays: Drew Hutchinson was designated for assignment by the Phillies; Carlos Ramirez pitched 2 scoreless innings for Oakland and then was sent down to Triple-A; and Scott Copeland resurfaced in the majors, three years after he made 5 appearances for the Blue Jays, pitched 1.1 scoreless innings for the Mets and was also designated for assignment.

Who's going to rep the Jays in the All Star game?

Happy obviously  is the all star

I wonder how many more starts Jamie Garcia has. It sure would be nice to have Sean Reid-Foley up here to at least get a shot. Anything is better than this.

"Who's going to rep the Jays in the All Star game?"

Maybe Dan Shulman.

I feel sorry for John Gibbons.

I think its a distinct possibility that not one of the past offseason's acquisitions is on the opening day roster next year. The best chance is probably that one of Solarte or Diaz is the back-up middle infielder next year. I think next best is that Grichuk is the 4th OF.

SRF is not ready at this time.

The tuef can both be not the cause of and simultaneously an aggravating factor contributing to the current injury (and his problems with his other calf last year). No need for the narrative to be a simple as cause/not cause...

Refresh my memory - are there competitive balance picks or something like that that can be traded?

Geez, it was meant as a friendly post, Gerry; but I’m not sure it was received as one.  Them’s the breaks around here, it seems.

I didn’t know English had evolved so far,  however, that a single cube could now be referred to as “a dice” though.  I suppose anything is possible.  Whatever. 
Too bad about Pompey.  He just can't stay un-injured.

"Who's going to rep the Jays in the All Star game?"

Maybe Dan Shulman.

Truer words cannot be said about the 2018 Blue Jays.

Does it start his service time if we send Vlad Jr as our all star rep?

In a bizarre way, I'm actually looking forward, as much as can be possible the way things have gone, to today's match-up between Happ and Boyd.

I never would have imagined Boyd would have a pitching breakthrough before Daniel Norris.

Shulman comments that the Jays are 6th in scoring despite being 9th in SLG and 13th in OBP. Why is that, he rightfully wonders?

Everyone's favourite cutting edge thinker and Chatty Cathy doll, Mr. Martinez, then answers: they were hitting a lot of homeruns earlier but not so many recently.

Which is an answer, of course, but to an entirely different question (Are the Blue Jays hitting a lot of homeruns?).

Despite their recent woes, the Jays' 713 OPS (the AL average is 734) is still broken down quite favourably:

• 787 OPS with men on base (40% of total PAs)
• 660 OPS with bases empty (60% of total PAs)

Their offense has been, overall, the benefactor of clutchiness. Things could continue to get worse as that flattens out.

Gibby loves his hit and run a lot more than I do.

Are there any publicly available stats on attempts/success rates?

So is Travis back for real? He's been hitting great since he's been back and his supporting numbers are back to norms.

The walks and taking pitches in general are especially encouraging for Travis. He was hacking at everything and his walks had dissappeared completely for a bit there.

best outing of the year for Sanchez.

I'd almost be tempted to let him try to squeeze in one more inning against the bottom of their order.

Grichuk hadn't done much in his return until the hits today, but on the other hand, he hasn't struck out in the 3 games either.

How does Barnes still have a ml roster spot?

So any chance Morales pitches better than Barnes? Or for that matter that Barnes hits better than Morales?

I don't know about the flattening  out. They still have too many guys with really bad hitting averages. Hopefully, that turns around too.

I don't know about the flattening out.

What I meant is that the gap between their OPS's with men on base and without would likely shrink, presumably one number rising and the other falling.

The league split is 749/726 (men on/nobody on). The Jays are at 787/660. They are doing disproportionately well in the highest leverage situations. This is surely chance and not a skill.

but that may just as easily be bad luck with the bases empty - and there might be more reason to believe that.


Based Empty: .240babip (50-55 points below league median)
Runners On: .311babip (7-8 points above league median)

but that may just as easily be bad luck with the bases empty

Oh, I agree. An argument could be made that the expectation is that the team's 660 will increase far more than the 786 will decrease, resulting in an increase to the overall 713 OPS and likely to the R/G as well.

I'm just saying that the current 713 OPS is a "loud" 713 because the crazy constituent 787/660 split has resulted in more runs than could be expected. That answers Shulman's original question.