Can't help but to look forward to a battle between Rogers Communications and Liberty Media.

The fat cats will be lighting cigars with burning hundred dollar bills.

we've kinda given $10m Garcia a pass this year but boy is he terrible.

I'm officially declaring Garcia is toast.

from your lips to God's ears!

I liked the Garcia signing, especially considering how bad the SP market was this past winter, but he does not look good at all. Declining the option, barring a 2nd half resurgence, seems like a no brainer at this point.

I'd rather see gaviglio pitch than Garcia. and I don't even like gaviglio.

but I'd definitely rather see borucki pitch.

Hunter Strickland is gone from the Giants 6-8 weeks - Jays should not let this opportunity slip away - all relievers should be available.

Sportsnet has an article saying that Tepera is generating trade interest. They are quoting Morosi, who I don't trust at all, so take it for what it is.

I think Tepera is a logical trade candidate at this point, and the Jays might be able to get a better than average return given his salary and the amount of control he has left.

It must be satisfying for the resurgent AA and his 43-29 Braves to come to Toronto, talk to the media about 2015 as well as the progress of Guerrero Jr. (the #1 prospect in baseball whom AA acquired), and then roundly defeat Shapiro and his mediocre 2018 Jays team.

Most of all he defeated Gibbons, his own guy.

What I didn't like was the quick hook on the starting pitcher which left him 1 out short of a win in front of his friends and family. Hopefully Happ is good and the Jays even the score in today's game which I'm not permitted to see.

Deck McGuire is a Ranger (and designated for assignment)
Carlos Ramirez is with the A's minor  system (can't really find anything on him since he was demoted)

Tepera is still cheap and under control for 3 more years.
Return would have to be good to trade him. Barnes and Biagini have struggled. Osuna will probably go for whatever they can get. Mayza is the only other guy with a future beyond next year.
They Yankees wouldn't be where they are with a dime a dozen bullpen.

Took about 30 seconds to find a stream for the 1st Facebook game.

I learned the play-by-play guys all-time favourite movie was "The Social Network" and he thought the Justin Timberlake character was great, though he couldn't remember the characters name. I stopped watching because streaming is wrong.

"Real or Not" on the idiotic beanball crap the Giants keep starting.

Also the problem with a short bench and the answer to "Who leads MLB in extra-base hits?" I'm guessing if someone's not heavily into fantasy baseball, they will be very surprised.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23848073/real-not-giants-disgrace-game-latest-beanballs

Interesting article about AA missing out on Zobrist

https://bluejaysnation.com/2018/06/19/alex-anthopoulos-regrets-letting-ben-zobrist-get-away-at-the-2015-trade-deadline/

One of the things I liked about AA was that he was circumspect and kept challenging himself on his approach and decisions. He clearly matured In the role and it will be interesting to watch him with the Braves.

Ben Nicholson-Smith @bnicholsonsmith
Josh Donaldson won't travel west with #BlueJays tonight. He'll continue working out in Florida with a view toward getting into rehab games once his calf permits



you know, the High Performance Department doesn't seem to be so good about not rushing players back from injury.

How exactly is this HP dep't rushing players back?

I wouldn't be casting stones about this issue, UO.  We just don't know what happened.  Donaldson hardly played at all in spring training after last season's calf problem early in the year.  He said that he would be ready.  I have no idea whether it was his idea or the HP's to go very light on spring training.

I know people keep saying players should be held back until they're 100% healthy.

I also read last year a comment from someone who had joined an MLB team's baseball ops from outside the industry. When asked what surprised him most, his response was that he'd never realised almost every single player was playing hurt.

Cubs just DL'ed Brandon Morrow with back spasms that started when he was taking off his pants.

Happened to Stroman, too.

and pretty much every injured player seems to be out longer than expected.

Jays better dump Morales soon. He keeps hitting like this we'll win too many games and ruin our draft position.

That was a fun game to be at, despite the late Atlanta rally.

Well, Donaldson turned down a contract extension at least in the 100M ballpark looking for something closer to 200M in free agency. It's probably not the organization that is forcing him to play injured. He had a lot riding on an other MVP year.

It's all in the past now.

Stroman wanted to be the opening day starter. He had earned it. He's a workaholic. He did everything he could to be in the rotation except rest.

They've put Martin and Travis on part time schedule to keep them healthy.

Let me jinx it by saying that pitcher health has been pretty good over the last 3 years.
Blisters and chronic back issues? Not much they can do about that.

So, rushing injured players back? I don't see that. Only Gibbons needs to win now.
The only things you could blame them for is loyalty to veterans players.

Huh, from looking at that picture I just realized Timlin is a righty. For some reason I always thought he was a southpaw.

scottt, are you sort of suggesting that the star players are making the decisions on when they can return from the DL? You could be right.

In the case of Tulo a doctor is involved. For Donaldson and Stroman no doctor is seriously involved I believe.

Donaldson played a lot in 2013-2016. 4 years. In 2017 almost 200ABs less. 2018 will be about the same. Pillar and Solarte already have about 140 ABs more than him. The FA contract is a big factor for him.


Stroman had just over 200IP in each of 2016 and 2017. That is a lot for his arm to handle. I believe that he will start this Saturday. He may be coming back too soon.

bpoz - do you have a doctor? I do. He asks me how I'm feeling. I say "good". My doctor believes me, even if I'm not telling the truth. I could be having back pains, but he won't and can't treat me unless I'm honest with him.

Same goes for ballplayers, not just stars. A lot aren't totally honest, maybe because they're so used to playing hurt. Remember back in 2013, Melky had back pains for months, but never told anyone? It wasn't until he hurt his ankle and was done for the season, he had the pain checked out and they found a tumour on his spine.

Mets wanted to send Thor for an MRI last year, but he refused, saying he knows his body. Next start he was bombed, lasting just over an inning. Took the MRI and they found a torn lat, he spent the next 5 months on the DL.

But I thought the point of the High Performance Department was to keep better tabs on this stuff.

What stuff exactly?

health stuff.

There's so much they can do.  Let's say the HP staff knows that the hard RC surface is going to be tough on a chronic left calf injury over the long haul, and has told management that.   They really don't know how long "the long haul" is.  Donaldson doesn't want to play much in spring training (to spare his shoulder or his calf or both), so his left calf is pretty good when the bell rings.  He goes on the DL with his shoulder after 2 weeks and remains there (on a throwing program) for 3 weeks, returns in early May and three weeks after that (most of which is spent in the RC, plus 3 games in the Trop and 3 in Philly), his calf is barking. 

Thanks hypobole, UO and Mike Green for your insights. That explains a lot. The players don't reveal everything.

So the RC turf is a negative to the players playing the most on it, which would be the home town stars.

I dunno if Donaldson is an isolated incident, Mike.

But it sounds to me like you are arguing that the High Performance Department might not be worth the investment?

It was indeed a great afternoon for baseball. Morales continues to be one of the best hitters on the team over the last 6 weeks.

Why is Urshela on the roster if he isn't even used as a defensive replacement at 3B when the Jays are up 5-2 in the 9th? Solarte booted a potential game-ending DP ball.

People get rushed to the hospital. Sometimes they die.

I thought the purpose of hospitals is to prevent people dying?

As Mike pointed out, some things just happen. And they happen for a myriad of reasons.

Steve Pearce has had muscular problems in the past. The HP specialists stopping him from his usual weight lifting and worked on flexibility and limbering exercises. And then he got another muscle injury.

Just like with hospitals, you can do all the right process, but you won't always get the right results.

And I think hospitals are worth the investment.

Jonah Keri has an interesting column on the Jays as buyers (of medium-term starting pitching) at the deadline.  I also wonder if they will extend Estrada for another year. 

but Hypo, it's not like there wasn't already a medical department already in place.

there was a big deal made about the new High Performance Department....and I'm not sure we've seen any results from it - or even anything different from it - either at the MLB or MILB levels.

The HP department is a new thing. It may improve over time as the team builds it up and learns what works and what doesn’t.

Well, first it helps if you know what the department actually encompasses, which you don't seem to - only part of it. Nutrition, sleep and a lot more. Majors and minors.

Players are buying in, - more are spending their offseasons in Dunedin to be around the facilities. This department is probably the reason why the Jays are thought of as treating their minor leaguers better than any other team, at least by the one outside observer whose comment I posted a few weeks ago.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/big-read-inside-toronto-blue-jays-high-performance-department/

I suspect if Estrada does well he will be kept another year as he seems to like it here and the Jays will need pitchers next season.  I love the idea of the Jays getting young controllable arms via trade but don't see it as likely since it would cost a lot of prospect capital.  Still, one hopes the Jays are talking with the Mets and anyone else who is dumping talent.  Perhaps trade Happ, get some quality prospects, then use those and some minor league B's or C's to get Noah back depending on the extent of his injuries/ability to stay healthy.  Then try to resign Happ this winter.

hypo you're the one who said you think hospitals are a good investment. I just responded that we already had one.

I thought the purpose of hospitals is to prevent people dying?

Some might posit that hospitals are where people go when it's time to die.

Re: health
I (at least seem to) remember Wayne Gretzky saying that he took time off from hockey in the summers to play baseball, soccer, etc. Not saying he's a medical professional or anything. But I think there's something to it: these days, it seems like kids do "their sport" (with the exception of a few like Alford) "as many days as possible", hence all the players from Arizona, California (or moving there) due to the weather. Which seems logical that it could lead to more RSI / chronic issues than in years past. I also hear about how much better shape players are in these days coming in to spring training, compared to say, the 1970s. So they're already pushing themselves much harder for weeks/months BEFORE the season starts.

My point is this: if you are a pitcher, and you throw 300 days a year, it does seem likely that you'd get more wear and tear on your shoulder than throwing 180 days and doing something else athletic 120 days. And maybe it's not true for some. On the other hand, it seems there are more candidates than ever. For example, when the Jays started in 1977, there where what - 26 teams? And approx 220 million people in the USA (Canadian / international players ignored for the sake of this exercise). Now there are 30 teams, and 325 million. So, before, there were 8.5 million residents per team, now 10.8. That's like 25% more competition than in days past. Meaning it's harder than ever to make it. So maybe you have to now work nonstop and hope your body holds up just to make it? Because there are a ton more AAA players ready to jump in at any time than before. And they're all pushing hard, all the time - if they don't they quickly get removed.
Or, I'm totally wrong and this is totally incorrect. Enlighten me.

...and I'm not sure we've seen any results from it - or even anything different from it - either at the MLB or MILB levels.

You said it yourself - you're not sure you've seen any results. How could you be sure one way or the other?

It's pretty difficult to quantify results or lack thereof.

uo is right in a way on the High Performance. Major leaguers have long had trainers and doctors just like every other team. I think where the HP holistic approach will have the greatest benefit will be in the minor leagues. Ensuring proper nutrition, proper sleep etc. has never been much of a priority in the minors - they were often described as frat parties. That's where the greatest opportunities reside.

I agree. I just disagree with the deductive leap of players taking longer than expected to return from injury as a failure of the High Performance department.

Yeah, especially because first, that's mostly the realm of trainers and doctors which we've always had and second, we have no way of knowing whether our expectations have any basis in fact.

The jays are expected to be sellers in July (and I hope BIG sellers) - Seattle has command of the 2nd WC but what if by the all-star break the Jays while still far back of Seattle (8/9 games) have overtaken the other teams ahead of them and only Seattle is ahead for the 2nd WC.What to do?

Well, if the Jays were only 8-9 games back of the 2nd WC with no teams in between, I guess the ebst thing to do would be to trade for Price & Tulowitzki (provided, of course, Toronto's run differential is in or close to triple digits to the good).

I don't see the Jays being in anything unless both Donaldson and Stroman come back in top shape.
That's like a 2% chance.

Although the WC might not be close, NYY and Boston will still be fighting over first place.
The real market for the Jays is likely the NL.