I'm predicting a series split.

Bell vs. Kison was highly entertaining when I was a teenager.

If Gibbons really is replaced with a more new school manager it will be be a very awkward fit with Pat and Buck. If the Jays really are moving more analytical then maybe the voices of the Jays should shift with it.

Travis’ line since his return to the team looks an awful lot like his pre injury line. The eye test also suggests that his defence is closer too, although not all the way back.

Kendry Morales-proves that 90' at a time is real.

Should seal John Gibbon’s fate.

Is it just me or has Tepera been getting worse as the season progressed?

It's a little bit you, a little bit him. He was good in April, mediocre in May, good in June, awful in July.

August isn't exactly off to a roaring start.

a very awkward fit with Pat and Buck

They expressed surprise that an unnamed coach of the Red Sox actually considered Betts the team MVP, and not Martinez. Let's see. You've got two guys hitting the same, one plays gold glove RF and one is a DH. It should be a no-brainer, right? Hardly need to be a quant to suss that one out.

But of course they are like old timey BBWAA MVP voters fixating on RBI (or what Buck and Pat like to call production), so they are having a hard time seeing past that.

Yes, time to move on from these two clowns. But I don't see it happening.

With Tepera, Biagini, Barnes, and Leone (in St. Louis) we are seeing just how volatile relief arms truly are. They are not dependable year to year, they get hurt often, they have short shelf-lives, etc. That is why I like the Shapiro/Atkins method of building a bullpen. Take a bunch of stabs in the dark with relievers who strike hitters out and have no issues with velocity and see what happens. Some will flame out, some will stick.

I would love to see what Hazel could do with the play-by-play....

If Gibbons really is replaced with a more new school manager it will be be a very awkward fit with Pat and Buck. If the Jays really are moving more analytical then maybe the voices of the Jays should shift with it.

I haven't been able to have the TV audio on in a very long time because of these two.

Fortunately streaming on a device/laptop and picking up the radio broadcast is super easy.

Send Mose Schrute back to the beet farm.

Pat and Buck need to be put out to pasture and if Gibbons goes with them all the better.

I'd like to see the Jays put in a claim for Chris Bostick whom the Pirates just designated - seems an interesting utility guy capable of playing 2B/outfield and no service time and optionable.

Giles looks like he'll fit right in.

Giles looks like he'll fit right in.
I'm waiting for the announcement that he's been having shoulder issues and was trying to pitch through it and will now go on the DL..

Travis’ line since his return to the team looks an awful lot like his pre injury line. The eye test also suggests that his defence is closer too, although not all the way back.

Was this written before or after the routine ground ball error?

Pomeranz has been terrible all year. The blue Jays should have scored more than 2 runs against him.

The thing that stood out for me was the biased strike zone. I think I saw about 7 balls  called strikes for Boston and 6 strikes called balls for Toronto. At home of course. The fact that Gibby didn't bother complaining tells me he's probably done.

Just saw that the NCAA, after a bunch of scandals, will allow some players to hire agents.

Haven't seen anything on the baseball side, even though the current "adviser" system is a total mockery.

s/b will allow some *basketball* players to hire agents

Seems like they can hire agents--before their first class and once they don't plan on returning.

I don't really see the need since the money is capped. It probably complicates pre-draft agreements.

scottt, they're already using agents, you're just not allowed to call them agents.

Solarte has an option for 2019 at $5M. If I was the GM I might not pick it up. He is not a good fielder, he doesn't run hard, he hits into a lot of double plays. He is frustrating to watch.

This stuns me, but the Jays came 5th out of 31 in the ranking of tv announcers:

http://awfulannouncing.com/mlb/2018-local-mlb-broadcaster-rankings.html/3#main-content

Gerry, how come Solarte often hit into double play? At this moment, can the Jays still trade Gran and Clipperd for assets?

I certainly don't expect the Jays to pick up Solarte's $5M option especially with the team budget expect to be lower and if they expect Tulo to play and Martin may play more of a utility role - that's why I was surprised that the Jays didn't trade Solarte but maybe there wasn't a market. If the option is picked up, it may be an Adam Lind situation where they expect to move him.

Solarte hits the ball on the ground a lot and is a slow runner.

Granderson could be traded but the return will be minimal. Clippard is unlikely to be traded, he is not pitching well enough for a team to pick him up.

Seattle better hurry up and acquire Marco Estrada to start Sunday in Houston,they can't afford another Felix start - that WC is slipping away.

Even when Solarte was a 1-2 WAR player after 2017 all he was able to command was a low minors lottery ticket in Olivares. Now his team options become more expensive and he's a worse player at age 31. I doubt there is any market for him, especially when infielders as good or better than him were having trouble getting deals in free agency.

With Drury on board now, who if nothing else is five years younger and cheaper, it really doesn't make sense to pay $5M for a back-up infielder.

As far as the waiver deadline, Granderson was a 2 WAR player when he was traded last August and the Mets got back a 24-year old reliever in AAA. I wouldn't expect much for him. Maybe something similar to what the Jays got for Axford/Loup if we are lucky. A healthy Donaldson and possibly Estrada are the only players I'd expect to have any value in a trade (more so Donaldson than Estrada).

Granderson's OPS have been going downhill since a .983 in April. There is a platform of more stable OPS in late June and early July. Maybe he shall be traded at that time to a term such as the Padres whose farm system is loaded with young players but need maturity in the MLB parent club.

To those who think the Jays going to drop in the overall standings, who exactly is going to pass us? The 2 teams closest are Texas and Cinci. Cinci has 10 games left vs teams below us in the standings. Texas has 3. We have 16.

I don't know if I've ever seen a team have worse luck with their trade assets. Donaldson has missed all the year, Osuna has a black cloud over his head, Stroman has been bad, Sanchez has been hurt all year, even Estrada got hurt before the deadline, etc... This was not a team with a lot of valuable trade assets in the majors, but they had a few and all saw massive crashes in value.

This stuns me, but the Jays came 5th out of 31 in the ranking of tv announcers:

http://awfulannouncing.com/mlb/2018-local-mlb-broadcaster-rankings.html/3#main-content

Buck and Pat were 21st last year. The only thing that changed was the addition of Dan Shulman - I have to attribute the dramatic improvement to the only change made. Not nearly enough for me, but apparently more than enough for many!

I don't know if I've ever seen a team have worse luck with their trade assets. Donaldson has missed all the year, Osuna has a black cloud over his head, Stroman has been bad, Sanchez has been hurt all year, even Estrada got hurt before the deadline, etc... This was not a team with a lot of valuable trade assets in the majors, but they had a few and all saw massive crashes in value.

Agree that's a long list of bad luck, except for Donaldson - I think that was just a combination of poor judgment and pandering to the fan base, which Ross has completely mastered in interviews.

FG has a piece about the bargain signing of Trevor Cahill, who we faced a few days ago. He's usually been pretty good or injured and he's been both this year. One elite skill he has is generating ground balls, and he couldn't have landed in a better situation than Oakland.

There is a bar graph showing the A's on the far left - they're the best team in the majors at generating ground ball outs by wOBA.

So where are the Jays? Yeah, we're far to the right, next to 30th place KC and closer to KC than to the 28th place Orioles. Small wonder Stroman has an ERA/FIP differential around a run and a half.

"Agree that's a long list of bad luck, except for Donaldson - I think that was just a combination of poor judgment and pandering to the fan base"

How exactly did you know that Donaldson was going to be hurt for almost the entire season?

How exactly did you know that Donaldson was going to be hurt for almost the entire season?

You didn't have to know exactly if or when Donaldson would be hurt prior to the start of this season. All you needed to know were two things:

- The Yankees and Red Sox had vastly superior teams and the AL West would very likely produce more than one strong team
- Donaldson appeared in 113 games in 2017, turns 33 in 2018 and is a FA after the season

I think the risks were pretty clear and it's not as if Donaldson's future wasn't a topic of conversation leading up to opening day.

It's the mistake many teams make, not just in MLB, because the perception is that trading away your star is unpalatable to fans and will cost butts in the seats. Oh well.

As long as Rogers owns the team, situations like this season will happen. Especially with the return in the Happ trade as a hint, I see it happening again next year.

Shapiro admitted there should have been a teardown, but spouted some bs about trying again for the fans. He knew it was bs, because it wasn't for the fans, it was because that's what Rogers wanted. And he knows doing what your bosses want you to do is a crucial factor in holding on to your job.

And yeah, oh well.

how does the Jays' system stack up against the division once Vlad is promoted?

Hybobole, both of those last two posts are bang on.

When the history of the past two years is written, I hope stars appear next to the pitching statistics. Separating pitcher performance from team defence is, of course, an inexact science. But the Jays have had awful team defence the past two years and I think the impact on run prevention has been far more significant than most people realize. The part that is difficult to fathom (if you listen to Atkins go on and on about the importance of athleticism and defence) is that the poor defence was largely (not completely) a choice made of roster construction.

Pannone up, Hauschild gone.

Gerry beat me to the punch on the Pannone news. He's listed in the bullpen tonight.

To address Gerry's earlier comment, I wouldn't bring back Solarte. His batting line is the same as Pillar's, who people complain about non-stop. He'll likely make as much or slightly more than Pillar will in arbitration if his option is picked up. Furthermore, all the areas where Pillar adds value (defence, moderate speed, not hitting into an astronomical number of double plays), Solarte does not. One of his primary selling points was his versatility, but the Jays now have Drury and Gourriel who can both shuffle around the infield with varying degrees of success. I don't see what role he serves on next year's team.

I also think it's more likely than not the Jays can't find a taker for Clippard. Would you bring him back? If it's on the veteran's minimum, I think I would.

Hauschild gone or down?

Blue Jays PR tweeted Hauschild is going to Buffalo.

I have been hoping that they release Solarte before the year is over let alone exercise his option. He only has value as a DH and emergency substitute at 3B. This team doesn’t need either of those things right now let alone next year. He’s simply clogging up the 25 and 40 man rosters. Move on. However, I suspect that they will carry him until the end of the year for optics reasons.

Maybe the Jays find a taker for Estrada before his scheduled start tomorrow night - that would be nice.

Clippard is always just a couple of good outings away from finding a new home.
I'm pretty sure the Jays will offer him a minor league deal again regardless of what happens.
It's all a matter of clubhouse/bullpen presence. I wouldn't want Giles to be the elder out there.
Same thing goes for Axford.

Craig Breslow, the smartest man in baseball,  has an ERA of 5.9 after 10 innings in Buffalo.
I have heard his name as a possible successor for Gibbons.

It looks like if Pannome will be a bullpen guy if needed and if not it will be between him and SRF for the start on Monday! Finally something to get excited about, and hopefully a sign of things to come.

Something under the radar to consider. Fangraphs and B-Ref diverge on Martin's season using WAR. Fangraphs has him at .8 and B-Ref has him at 1.7. If you split the difference you have him at 1.3-1.4 on the year. It would only take a decent hot streak brought about by regression to his career BABIP for him to end the year with something like 2-2.5 WAR. With only one year on his contract left he could be moved and possibly for something interesting if the Jays ate some salary. The wisdom of that depends, to some extent, on your belief in the 2018 version of Maile at the plate.

This 2nd inning is the most excited I've heard Buck and Pat this year. Hit and run. Then an error, which apparently was because of the hit and run (make the defence make a routine ground ball play, and apparently that's harder after you execute a hit and run).

If they spend any FA money in the offseason on a new broadcast team, it will be the best use of their money this year.

Buck, on Granderson: "Look at his eyes. He's probably thinking about the next pitch that Porcello is going to throw him."

Honestly. If Curtis Granderson is thinking about anything else other than the next pitch while he's at the plate...something's wrong. Has nothing to do with his veteran status...

He wasn’t talking about Granderson, but about Jason Varitek in the Red sox dugout.

Blue Jays have a decision to make next year in centrefield. I hope Grichuk.

Borucki struggled but we survived.

Borucki looked fine. They decided to challenge Betts with an inside fastball and he hit a triple.
With 2 strike on Nunez they try to make him chase an outside fastball and he took it the other way, almost throwing his bat to reach it.

From ESPN:

The sacrifice bunt has fallen out of favor, and the Blue Jays are doing their best to make it extinct. The Blue Jays' three sacrifices are the fewest in baseball. Toronto is one of seven clubs in single digits. Teams are averaging 0.17 sacrifice bunts per game, the lowest mark in modern history and a 50 percent decline from 2011. By the way, none of the three Toronto sacrifices helped produce a run.