I have to send my condolences to the family of Scott Sanderson. I remember watching him pitch for the Expos back in the day when the Expos were good.

I probably watched Montoyo play for the Lynx.
I don't remember him, though.
The popular player here, back then, was FP Santangelo,

We get the opener tonight before bringing in a lefty.
We'll see what Montoyo do. Maybe put Tellez in the bottom?

Socrates is still without a hit and he tries to golf everything like his eyes are closed and he's holding the wrong end of the bat. Yesterday he was running circles around Grichuk, which wasn't very helpful.

The Rays big hitter is Austin Meadows, a lefty who doesn't start against left handed pitcher.
He'll be the prime target for Mayza, since we don't have Borucki.

The Rays are pesky hitters, nobody amazing, but they pitch really well, so this might not be a continuation of the scoring we saw at Fenway.

Somebody will have to make way for Buchholtz Saturday.
Tepera is getting close.
Guerrero is likely days away. I don' t think they debut him on the road.
They return to TO on the 23 against the Giants. That seems like a long wait.

Notice Tepera pitched the 1st inning for Buffalo. 3 up, 3 down.14 pitches, 9 strikes, 1 K.

How do people even watch games anymore? Nothing seems to be broadcast.
I refuse to pay for MLB AtBat to listen to the radio and while I'm at my in-laws it's not on any of the 3 sports channels in their cable package. I seriously feel like the Jays want me to just go to Christie Pitts and watch the Maple Leafs.

Funny, works fine for me - MLB At Bat. I'm in London, Ontario so any local black outs should hit me too.

Moonshot mania

Prior to tonight, there were 20 home runs at the Skydome that reached the 500 level -- meaning it happens about once every 120 games or so. To see two in the same inning is something that will likely never happen again. No pitcher had ever given up two 500-level homers before, so now Trent Thornton holds that distinction.


http://bluejayhunter.com/2017/05/update-fifth-deck-home-runs-rogers-centre.html

I wouldn't cry if the Rays win the division. It's pretty early, but the 12 players on the IL in NY is no joke.

Wonder why he brought Thornton out for the 4th. He clearly didn't have it today. Probably because he was just at 63 pitches. I can see trying to give the kid every chance. If wins/losses mattered this year then it would've been a big mistake. Instead it was just a learning experience.

Because how else will the kids learn? You can't take them out of the game or else they won't be able to make their mistakes and take their "bumps."

It's early but the most important acquisition of the off season, our coach, is getting out-coached in most of his games. His team is consistently outplayed, and I'm not talking about losing.

Pompey must be grinding his teeth on the sidelines watching the dearth of quality outfielders on this team. Hard to believe he could be worse.....if only he was healthy.

Never quite understood how they figured they could ever keep a mediocre 19yr old rookie ball pitcher and develop him in the majors and do anything but ruin him.

They're murdering his career for no reason.

Happ has now an ERA of 8.76 and if he takes the loss will be 0-2.
It's like the AL East is the weakest division this year.

He's getting 500K/year to pitch above his level.
If he gets through the year, he'll go to A ball but will still make 200K or 300K.
It could be worst. 

Hey, Luciano has a ERA of 9.00 vs Happ's 8.76. Not bad while saving millions :)

Luciano has to be super-happy to be in the majors. No guarantee he would've ever got a shot otherwise. He shows enough to make me think he will be good long term. Expect AA or AAA next year and a September call-up if he does well. I like the kid.

If he gets through the year, he'll go to A ball but will still make 200K or 300K.

How would Luciano make that kind of money in the minors. The minor league average is $2K a month. During the season. If you're lucky.

No matter what this is fun. 8-6 now after losing 8-0. This is what I love in baseball. The old you never know rule. Hockey, football, basketball you can just run out the clock. Big comebacks are much much harder to make happen. But baseball...there is always a chance.

"It's early but the most important acquisition of the off season, our coach, is getting out-coached in most of his games. His team is consistently outplayed, and I'm not talking about losing."

Now Montoya has a chance to show us wrong.

I actually thought Luciano had a great momentum building inning.

Not exactly great baserunning there.

Geez, two of those 3 strikes were not on the plate if that box is right. Frustrating. Umps can have a big influence even if they try not to.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/home-plate-umpires-make-the-wrong-call-on-a-shocking-20-of-pitches-2019-04-08

https://www.bu.edu/today/2019/mlb-umpires-strike-zone-accuracy/

It makes sense. Most of the umps are as old or older than most managers. Get some young blood in the ranks and maybe that can improve things.

God this team is frustrating. If only Atkins gave a wooha maybe this team could win some of the winnable games. Get rid of the dumpster dives. Giving away games so we can recoup more fodder *if they pitch well, which clearly, Javy Guerra isn't.

That's the thing about using multiple pitchers in a game. Sooner or later, you always find the guy who's got nothing that day.

One pitch changed the entire game. Instead of 8-8 with the bases loaded and 2 out in the bottom of the 8th, and likely Giles pitching the 9th for the Jays (whether the Jays kept it tied or took the lead), it stayed 8-7 and Guerra pitched instead.

Robo umps are long overdue, but I don't know if we are any closer to seeing it.

Yes, that's the thing about sports that frustrates me the most, when your team loses in large part due to a bad call by the referee/umpire. Replay reviews have gotten rid of most of the problems, but several still remain, the worst of which is probably bad ball/strike calls. The 2nd strike to Maile was obviously a ball, and the outcome of the game was quite possibly changed because of the mistake. Galvis getting thrown out trying to advance to 3rd with 2 outs was also a huge play.

Two 500 level HR's in one inning is astonishing. Likely will never be done again.

Too bad about Thornton and Guerra, they were both pitching really well before today.

Will be interesting to see which 2 get dropped to make room for Buchholz and Tepera.

Major leagues players are unionized. Luciano is one of them. He'll have a full year of seniority if the Jays keep him. I think the rule is that the salary can't be cut by more than 60% or something like that...

Replay reviews have improved things, but for some reason they seem to be getting the review wrong half the time. I think hitters would do much better if they didn't have to expend the zone to cover pitches that are balls but that the ump might call strikes.

Tepera and Buchholz are both already on the 40 list. Hudson and Guerra are the only ones without options, but obviously Giles, Biagini and Mayza should be safe. Pannone and Gaviglio are the obvious targets, but once Guerrero is up they have to drop a position player. Hanson and Brito are just place holders. Urena keep doing well. Drury looks lost again. If you keep Drury around, he might have to play some left field.
Or maybe Gurriel. For all the talks about making Biggio a super utility player, he's still playing 2B every day.
So far he's earning that.

A quick google only got me this:

collective bargaining agreement sets minimum salaries for players on 40-man rosters: $545,000 for those in the major leagues this season, $88,900 for 40-man roster players in the minors signing at least their second big league contract and $44,500 for 40-man roster players in the minors signing their first big league contract.

Those are last year's numbers.

Urena optioned to make room for Buchholz.

With all the trash on the roster, they option one of the two infielders actually hitting.

I have no clue why you’d keep Hansen over Urena. If the idea is that Urena can get more regular playing time I’m not sure that’s true with Vladdy, Bichette and Biggio in Buffalo. And it’s not like 3B and 2B on the Jays have got players who deserve full time usage. Totally unnecessary fringe asset hoarding.

Montoyo’s in game decision making has definitely given me pause on more than one occasion so far this year, so I understand the concern, but it’s early and putting all the blame on him for his team getting “outplayed” with this roster seems unduly harsh. A manager can only put so much lipstick on a pig.

"Totally unnecessary fringe asset hoarding."
- Bingo


Montoyo’s in game decision making has definitely given me pause on more than one occasion so far this year, so I understand the concern, but it’s early and putting all the blame on him for his team getting “outplayed” with this roster seems unduly harsh. A manager can only put so much lipstick on a pig."

All true. I still expect Montoyo to do better though. I still have hope that he can learn very quick on the job.

The Urena/Buchholz switch gives us an 8 man pen. It is probably needed but could generate debate.

Urena will get his ABs. A day off and the DH position should be sufficient. We will see. Vlad did play 3B last night. Maybe Vlad stays down for another 2 weeks.

Urena can also learn how to play the corner OF spots.

They chose Hanson and Brito over Urena and Alford? Wow! You'd think they would favour our homegrown kids than those newcomers who can't hit beachballs. You can't learn what you have in Urena and Alford if you just don't give them an extended look in the majors.

No, it's not about not being major league ready. It's the obsession for these fringe AAAA players who don't even show any kind of promise.

i actually think urena belongs in AAA. he hasn't had a real stretch at an age-appropriate level in years. 23yrs old in AAA is fine. last time he played at an age appropriate level is when he was an 18yr old in Bluefield, and posted a 129wrc+, and then followed that up with 2 great seasons while being a year young for his levels 107wrc+ as a 19yr old in Lansing, and a 132wrc+ as a 20yr old in dunedin.

wouldn't mind seeing him get an actual mostly-full season at an age appropriate level again - i.e. 23yr old in AAA - before I completely write him off as an mlb player.

Alford? he's old for AAA but was so bad last year that I don't mind him earning it.



that being said, the value this FO places in the likes of Hansen Drury Brito is frustrating for sure.

Uglyone- I have no issue with Urena in AAA for the reasons you mention. But he’s likely to mostly just sit on the bench there until Vladdy gets the call. I would have like them to option Hansen today, play Urena regularly (not ever day) until Vladdy gets called up and send Urena down then. It would have rewarded Urena for his start to the year, given him more regular ABs and moved on from one of the redundant fringe AAAA utility guys.

Geez, grammar went to die in my last post. Sorry Dewey.

Yea, you don't reward a guy who's actually hitting well by sending them down. That's just messed up.

Yes ugly, it sure is very frustrating to see Hanson, Brito and Drury being trotted out there every single day, and to think they were major part of the returns we got for our best trade chips. I would've preferred lottery guys in A ball for sure.

And can we talk about playing guys out of their obvious future positions? i.e. Grichuk and Gurriel. This very slow start is getting to me lol.

Last Calendar Year:


1B Smoak (32): 579pa, 14.0b%/25.9k%, .281bip/.233avg, .215iso, 117wrc+, 1.6war650
CF Grichuk (27): 473pa, 6.1b%/26.2k%, .292bip/.254avg, .270iso, 125wrc+, 3.7war650
DH Tellez (24): 109pa, 5.5b%/29.4k%, .355bip/.290avg, .300iso, 148wrc+, 4.2war650
LF Teoscar (26): 574pa, 8.4b%/30.3k%, .309babip/.237avg, .218iso, 103wrc+, 0.2war650
RF McKinney (24): 175pa, 9.1b%/25.1k%, .280babip/.231avg, .173iso, 95wrc+, 0.0war650
3B Gurriel (25): 303pa, 4.0b%/23.1k%, .316bip/.267avg, .154iso, 95wrc+, 0.4war650
SS Galvis (29): 655pa, 6.1b%/22.6k%, .306bip/.252avg, .149iso, 89wrc+, 1.7war650
C Jansen (24): 134pa, 9.0b%/20.1k%, .253bip/.216avg, .138iso, 86wrc+, 3.9war650
2B Hanson (26): 327pa, 3.1b%/23.9k%, .305bip/.249avg, .165iso, 83wrc+, 0.8war650

UT Drury (26): 108pa, 4.6b%/31.5k%, .224bip/.149avg, .059iso, 11wrc+, -4.8war650
OF Pompey* (26): 11pa, 9.1b%/54.5k%, .500bip/.200avg, .000iso, 35wrc+, 0.0war650
OF Brito (26): 59pa, 6.8b%/27.1k%, .158bip/.130avg, .056iso, -2wrc+, -8.8war650
IF Travis* (28): 341pa, 4.4b%/14.7k%, .264bip/.248avg, .161iso, 89wrc+, 0.0war650
C Maile (28): 229pa, 10.5b%/29.7k%, .336bip/.239avg, .124iso, 90wrc+, 5.7war650

UT Biggio (24): ---
OF Alford (24): 24pa, 8.3b%/41.7k%, .167bip/.091avg, .000iso, -25wrc+, -5.4war650
IF Urena (23): 135pa, 5.9b%/28.9k%, .434bip/.301avg, .081iso, 101wrc+, 2.9war650
C McGuire (24): 33pa, 6.1b%/27.3k%, .350bip/.290avg, .290iso, 146wrc+, 7.9war650

UT Vladdy (20): ---
IF Bichette (21): ---

Some miscellaneous Saturday observations:

On Hypobole's comment in a previous thread:

He mentioned that in the Midwest League (Lugnuts): Kirk (at age 20) was 4th in Midwest League Batting, Groshans (age 19) was 7th and Lopez (age 20) was 11th.

We've the trio of Vlad, Bo and Bichette (with a nearly equal Biggio) knocking on Toronto's door and now at the lowest level of full year ball we've Kirk, Groshans and Lopez. Sweet, exceptionally wonderfully sweet... and in at least one case one might even say "Precious."

Old men and the strike zone:

I, like all of us I'm sure, am so exhausted watching the blind misjudge the strike zone while those who have spent most of their childhood, teen and young adult years learning the strike zone for a living watch bewitched, bothered and bewildered.

I believe we need - when we are sure of the technology - and (to quote the take away line from "The Six Million Dollar Man") I believe "...we have the technology." That was a movie reference from 1973 - YES I know many of you weren't even born then! Sigh...

I believe a 100% accurately called strike zone will have more than a few surprises for hitters and pitchers. "Surprises" both expected and dreaded. BUT - at least however it shakes out the pitchers and hitters will get consistency. Both will adjust to fit their games into a robotically consistent framework. Fans will still be incensed - but for most of us that is our default emotional state.

I apologize for the old song and movie references. At my age I struggle with contemporary references. Lost on me are such wondrous Millennial twitter creations as: Phubbing, Hundo P, Bae and of course the ever ubiquitous V. They all leave me "pining for the fjords" (an oblique reference to a 1969 Monty Python skit). Ya I know - from before you were born. Sigh.

At least I'm "woke," "with it" and I always "stay woke." Having marched in demonstrations, and kept a commitment to racial justice, since I was a little one. Unless of course I've misunderstood what "woke" means. Sigh...

Jansen has struggled so I can understand giving him a couple of days of mental rest. The Tellez part makes zero sense. Honestly, it really feels like throwing things at a wall. If that’s true, I can’t say I’m a fan.

Just above I said: "We've the trio of Vlad, Bo and Bichette (with a nearly equal Biggio) knocking on Toronto's door" I meant: We've the trio of Vlad, Bo and Biggio knocking on Toronto's door.

Told you I was old!

From MLBTR:

David Phelps is set to begin bullpen sessions next week as the reliever continues his recovery from Tommy John surgery, with an eye towards a midseason return. Devon Travis is scheduled for baseball activities next week, though a 60-day IL placement in the wake of meniscus surgery means that Travis isn’t eligible to return to the Jays’ big league roster until late May.

Its important growth for Tellez to take his "bumps."

Not lumps?

Definitely not dumps.

Interesting segment on Blue Jays Central today about the play where Galvis was thrown out at 3B yesterday. Galvis signalled for them to challenge the call. Apparently, the Blue Jays' replay group looked at it and relayed to the dugout not to challenge. They showed a very good look at it today, and Galvis was clearly safe. Montoyo was upset that he didn't challenge, and the team is looking into their process for deciding on challenges. That was a crucial point in the game - the team has to make better decisions on challenges. All part of the process of becoming a good team.

I was a bit surprised to see Urena sent down. I hope this team doesn't become one where the current management will favour the players they have just acquired, like Brito, Hanson, etc. over others. I can see the idea of getting Urena regular AAA at bats. Certainly hope that Jansen is back in there tomorrow - Maile is not the long term answer at C.

dan, that's a great point on the challenges. The FO must do something - right now it's just an infuriation, but essentially meaningless with the rebuild. But we need a team in place that won't cost us when we do contend.

I remembered reading about one crew a while back and how they were just about the best in MLB. Then I took a look at this site and remembered it was the Royals - consistently at or near the top in winning challenges. And as you can see the Jays are at or near the bottom every single season from 2014 through 2018.

http://mlbreplaystats.com/

All of those dead weights are coming off the roster eventually and  likely with no return.
I don't see the point, but maybe Hanson becomes the new bunt guy.
Ultimately, Urena would have probably gone down once Guerrero is up, anyway.

Buchholz pitching well today and I mean actually pitching. Hopefully he can influence some of the younger pitchers.

Sure, maybe Urena was the next guy to leave anyway, but.. I hope they at least gave him the assurance he's first in line to be called up if needed, and/or will be back sooner rather than later.

He's probably been the #2 or #3 rookie / young player in terms of performance - not counting established guys like Smoak / Galvis / Grichuk - behind (depending on how you want to rank it) Jansen and Tellez. Maybe. 2nd best outfielder for sure, IMHO. And he gets sent down, while driftwood like Brito and Hanson stay. With all due respect to Brito and Hanson who are way more talented than I am.

It's like Kevin Millar without a past history of success..

I dont think I've ever seen anything as bad as those errors. The play at the plate made it pretty exciting, though.

Gurriel continues to make it clear that he has no business in the infield. If he can even handle the outfield defensively, one can rightfully question whether his bat is up to the increased demands.

I am not bullish on Gurriel at all.

Of course. Of course he doubles now.

I don’t foresee posting in the Gone but not Forgotten thread for Drury.

Could Biggio be worse than Gurriel defensively? It’s possible but I’d be surprised.

No matter how good it feels to watch the Jays win, it feels even better to come here for my fix of depressive chatter.

Drury was a major part of the return for Happ.
Hanson was a minor part of the return for Pillar who himself wasn't a major trade chip.
Pillar was traded to open a path for Grichuk to play some center field with Pompey and Alford eventually getting more playing time. This will still happen.
Brito was just an afterthought to satisfy one of his old coaches and the cost wasn't a ranked prospect.

Tellez doesn't play against lefties. Jansen has a bruised hand.

Biggio's best position is second base. He's hardly played anywhere else.
He's a lot like Galvis. Good hands, good instincts, good footwork, but limited range.
With all the shifting going around, he should be fine.

I thought Buchholz got hit hard and was actually fairly luck the score didn’t get run up.

I still remain bullish on Gurriel as a hitter. He is back to hitting the ball hard and I can see a good run for him in the next few weeks.

For positive news, Baltimore defeated Boston 8-5 and the Sox pitching was so bad that it ended Chris Davis's 0-for run at 0-54.

The Tellez decision seems obvious to me. They sat him both days because they expected to face a lefty most of the game.

It's not clear to me why a team that is rebuilding, and that sees Tellez as a possible part of their future, is not being given playing time against lefties. Maybe he's bad and always will be. Maybe he'll get experience and improve. Why platoon him? For what purpose?

What am I missing here? Rowdy did start vs lefty Snell today.

Right now the team is trying out everything and seeing if any of the guys 'stick'. I suspect they feel Urena is a good field/poor hit player and are only planning to use him as a utility guy long term. Hansen and Drury both are on the edge of being dumped and gone forever but the Jays saw something in them so they want to see what that is, can these guys move past their poor starts? I'm not betting on it, but can understand the Jays trying to see if they can find lightning in a bottle again.

Remember Grichuk was hitting 106/208/227 at the end of April (77 PA) last year, got hurt, then came back and hit 271/319/553 the rest of the way and now has a 5 year contract. Stranger things have happened.

Yes, Tellez was in there against Snell and didn't look good at all - of course, none of the other Jays looked good against Snell, either. Drury looks even worse than I thought he was, and I thought wasn't very good. They've got a few position players on the 25 man right now who really aren't mlb quality. Gurriel hit that ball hard for the double off the wall - hopefully he starts hitting like he did last year, and hopefully management figures out that he's not a middle infielder. Not sure if I was more impressed by Teoscar's throw or more dismayed by his error. That's a terrible play by Hanson in RF trying to protect a 1-run lead - you can't allow a triple leading off the inning like that. Fortunately, Biagini and Mayza got him off the hook with some great pitching. Biagini looks outstanding. I liked the decision to walk Meadows there.

Buchholz looked really sharp. I figured he'd be a good acquisition, and could be a good trade candidate or a possible signing for a couple of more years. I saw 2 or 3 days ago that the Jays' starters were 3rd in the A.L. in ERA -that's a really strong group, they're going to get Borucki fairly soon, Tepera will help the bullpen, and if the team starts hitting a bit, with the help of Guerrero, they're going to be a decent team.

Brandon Drury is sure wasting his Window of Opportunity, isn't he?

" they're going to get Borucki fairly soon "

Borucki had a cortisone injection in his elbow on Friday and won't be able to pitch for two weeks. He won't be back until mid-May at the earliest.

What am I missing here?

Before yesterday's game, 34 of Tellez's 36 PA were against RHP. I have a feeling he played yesterday since Smoak was not deemed well enough to take the field. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Montoya is loosening the reins on Tellez (not that I think that Tellez is a slam dunk to succeed, mind you).

Montoyo. Montoyo. Montoyo.

Chuck, fully aware of Tellez usage. My reply was for comments stating he sat the past 2 games vs LHP.

Rowdy may be on the Adam Lind path. He did slash 277/378/347 vs lefties in Buffalo last season in over 100 PA's. So he did have a bit of success and showed some patience, but with very little power. In fact in over 270 PA's vs lefties the past 3 seasons in AAA and MLB, he's hit exactly 1 HR.

That said, his 2018 Buffalo line was a huge improvement over his 2017 line. This is a good time to give him some chances - roster construction when we are contending will be more flexible if the 1B/DH doesn't need a platoon mate.

I don't see why anyone would want Tellez hitting against lefties.
There' s nothing to gain there. Tellez is not going to develop amazing reverse split.
Even if he could be league average against lefties, they'll always have a right handed batter on the bench who's better than average. If you don't use your right handed reserve players against lefties than you have to give them some at-bat against right handed pitchers.
All it would do right now is make Tellez overall numbers look worse.

Bottom line, if you're doing number plays like shifting, 4th outfielder, etc, you also take advantage of platoon splits.

Btw, it looks like Biggio played his 9th game at first base.

I agree completely that Tellez should be given his chances against LHP to see if he can be an everyday player. I don’t agree that Snell was the place to start in that experiment.

I thought Buchholtz came exactly as advertised. If he can stay healthy he’s got a chance to be useful at the back of the rotation. Pitching to contact is generally his game and that’s going to include some hard contact.

If Tellez can be a league-average hitter against LHBs and a deadly one against RHB, he's a starter and you leave him in when a lefty comes on.  Pinch-hitters have a penalty- a league-average hitter hits 5% worse when pinch-hitting- and if you pinch-hit for a league average hitter, you use up a thin bench unnecessarily.  Obviously, it's different if you are able to acquire two better than average sides of a platoon like Roenicke/Lowenstein, but no one is doing that now.

Atkins will make additions and subtractions to the 40 man roster.

Just looking at the position players on our 40 man roster. At the end of this year Smoak should have 4000+ ML ABs, Galvis 3000+ ABs and Grichuck 2000+ ABs. Everyone else is 1500 and under ABs. All are good ML players. IMO Grichuk will be back but maybe not the other 2.

Some position players will be dropped because they have failed their trial.

Currently we have 8 IFs on the 40 man roster. Gurriel, Tellez and Urena IMO are locks to survive. The other 5 could be dropped for various reasons. Smoak and Galvis traded to make room for younger players to get protected and get ABs. Drury has a decent chance to stay because he is young and most likely be given a longer trial. Hansen stays if he can pass his trial. Travis along with anyone else that has health issues gets cut or non tendered.

Vlad, Bo and Biggio are making a case that they could be better than who is currently here.

Espinal needs to be added for 40 man protection. K Smith does not. Late Nov will answer this question. Pitchers seem to be the most popular rule 5 targets.

Kevin Pillar leads the Giants in HR, RBI, and SB. And his 81 OPS+ is second on the team. He has batted in several spots in the lineup including leadoff (his .190 OBP nothwithstanding) and most recently third.

His contributions may seem less than meager to a normal team, but to the Giants (team OPS+ of 59) he has been da manna (from heaven). In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

One more thing re Pillar... Remember when Baseball Prospectus used to hold their annual DiSars contest (so named to "honour" Gary Disarcina), where you had to vote for the player you thought would go the longest before drawing his first walk of the season? Pillar is now 59 plate appearances into 2019, still waiting for that first pass.

Yeah funny seeing Pillar's slash line with a higher BA than OBP.

Pillar's return on the 23rd may be close to a sellout. At least that's the speculation because of this, courtesy McGraph's Athletic piece today.

“If he’s playing good defensively and he’s swinging the bat, too, and he’s got 20 to 30 at-bats, whatever that is, then Bobby’s going to let us know,” Montoyo said.

Yeah, that's Vlad he's talking about.

I know that Galvis isn’t going to keep this pace up, but he is a much better player than I thought (having previously only seen him playing from time to time).

Very nice catch by Grichuk at the wall. DRS, baby!

Gurriel has the yips.

Steve Sax. Chuck Knoblauch.

Guerrero up, Gurriel down.

I really think they should use this issue as an excuse to get Gurriel into the OF.

I can’t imagine that a Drury for Biggio switch can be that far away.

Remember when they told Galvis he would be a part-time player and that he could forget all about his consecutive game streak? Man plans, god laughs.

Perfect lineup to kill rallies. Intentional tanking me thinks.

I really think they should use this issue as an excuse to get Gurriel into the OF.

Does he have options left? If so, much better to test him in the OF in the minors. Crikey, though, that throw to first one of the worst I’ve seen, ever. Even in little league.

His bat doesn't exactly demand that we find a position for him.

Who was that masked man. Mary mother of Jesus.

Pannone immaculates the Rays!

Perhaps a little life in the young team.

Great nominalcatcher.

Pannone gives me some serious Jimmy Key flashbacks. That’s a good thing.

Looks effortless. And definitely not over thinking.

Guerrero and Biggio should come up . There are so many good choices to send down.

Mckinney seems to had had a good game - 2 2b and a hr?Ha e been wondering how sustainable Galvis performance has been. I dont know how to interpret some stats cast stats, but hes hitting the ball harder than ever (increasing each year to above average this year) but has made a significant change in launch angle from 12.5 to 17.7 so he might not fall off too far in the power dept. Would not be surprised too see 20 hr from home this season.

Galvis has a swing that looks perfect for dealing with high fastballs.
I don't think he'll hit like this all year, but this team would have been terrible had they kept Tulo.

It's going to be tough to find a sport for Gurriel. His brother plays first base.
He has to be more than a platoon partner for Tellez, but it's hard to try him at different position in the majors.
It's pretty ironic that this happens after they demote Urena who has been looking like a decent super utility option.

Good game for Galvis, McKinney, Pannone and Luciano.
Galvis leads all of major shortstop in homeruns.

You can't have the threat of demotion or benching every time a player makes a mistake. So patience and more patience.

I remain hopeful on Galvis, but I remind myself that on April 14th last season Solarte had a 0.286/0.423/.500 slash line.

It's going to be tough to find a sport for Gurriel.
May I suggest soccer (football), or perhaps tennis?

Guerrero will move Drury out of third base, then Biggio, who is 24, should have a shot as second base.
Do  you keep Gurriel at second until then or do you play him somewhere else?

Of course, like Grilli in 2017, Gurriel has to remain on the team because of an upcoming promotion, the pinapower bobble head day. That's the only bobblehead they'll release this year.

I really don't like Brito. He's golfing everything up into high pop ups. Or trying to, anyway.
With his speed, he could be hitting for average just by slapping the ball around.
I don't see the point of having him if he's not playing center.

I see on Sportsnet that Gurriel has been demoted... For Eric Sogard.

Haha. We now have every AAAA utility guy on the planet on the roster. They’re just punking fans now.

Mckinney seems to had had a good game - 2 2b and a hr?Ha e been wondering how sustainable Galvis performance has been. I dont know how to interpret some stats cast stats, but hes hitting the ball harder than ever (increasing each year to above average this year) but has made a significant change in launch angle from 12.5 to 17.7 so he might not fall off too far in the power dept. Would not be surprised too see 20 hr from home this season.

I meant 25-30 HR. He's already hit 20 before.


I really don't like Brito. He's golfing everything up into high pop ups. Or trying to, anyway.
With his speed, he could be hitting for average just by slapping the ball around.
I don't see the point of having him if he's not playing center.

Statscast has him at a negative average angle this year, so mashing stuff into the ground when last year he was about 15%. So he's still doing that wrong. The point of him is speed and upside based on last year's minor league power breakout. This site was doing a lot of complaining about a lack of athleticism and he is the kind of player the team has lacked recently. I hope he figures something out but at a certain point the desert heat musta inflated his numbers.

I have no quarrels with this move. Clearly, Gurriel's head is not in a good place right now. He's having mental and physical challenges with his fielding and he's not hitting. While I generally am supportive of letting players work through their struggles at the majors, Gurriel looks lost in the field and this seemed to be reflected in his body language after the throw. There's no reason to keep him in the majors if you think that he can potentially regain his confidence and form, both in the field and at the plate, in Buffalo. This is a time that a short demotion seems like the right approach to me, or at least it doesn't seem like an overreaction by a front office.

As for Sogard, I think he's the right call (admittedly I'm partial to him going back to his time with Oakland). The foremost priority has to be not to mess with the plan for Vlad. This plan never included promoting him for the Minnesota series. You could tell that based on the comments Atkins has made publicly in the last few days. It makes no sense to me to alter that plan based on the unexpected need to demote Gurriel, especially with heavy rain forecast for two of the four days Toronto's in Minnesota.

If the team wasn't going to promote Vlad, I wouldn't promote Biggio at this stage, leaving Sogard as the logical choice since Urena hasn't spent 10 days in the minors. Sogard will require a 40-man spot to be opened up, but this was coming soon anyway with Vlad's impending promotion. Presumably, the likely 40-man candidate will be taken off the roster now, as opposed to a week or so later, and Sogard will then be removed when Vlad is added. (The only complication to this would have been if Hanson, or maybe Brito, was going to be removed from the 40-man when Guerrero was to be added, but presumably the Jays are going with their next lowest-ranked candidate.)

I was worried about the 40-man roster spot but then saw that David Phelps is on the 10-day IL but still has no timetable to return. They'll likely move him to the 60-day and that will open up space for Sogard; Probably jumping the gun, but Sogard would then be a logical candidate to DFA when Vlad Jr. comes up, as he'd likely to clear waivers and presumably return to Buffalo on his minor league deal (though he would have the right to be a free agent if he wanted).

The other 40 man option is to dump Javy Guerra and bring Tepera off the DL.

This would be a perfect time to try out Gurriel in the outfield. Get his mind off his throwing woes, give him chance to prove himself in a weak OF group, and at a minimum, improve his flexibility if they truly see him as a super sub. No better place to try it than the minors.

FWIW, Sogard has a positive DRS and positive UZR at 2nd base each of the past 7 years. Throwing a bone to the pitching staff.

If it hadn't been for the Travis injury - gosh, who saw that coming - Gurriel would have come out of spring as a jack-of-all-positions, no?

Does Socrates Brito have the longest hitless streak to start his Blue Jays career?

What am I missing here? Rowdy did start vs lefty Snell today.

I was definitely incorrect there. I just completely assumed that Tellez had been sat for both games. Sorry folks.

Does Socrates Brito have the longest hitless streak to start his Blue Jays career?

Where would you look that up? Here?

Ah, but according to Socrates, "True hitting exists in knowing that you hit nothing."

Oceanbound knows.

The club needs to make some decisions soon about who is playing where (over the medium term).  You don't want all of your young prospects to be super-utility players.   On a related point, I wish that the club would settle for less defensive challenging positions for some of the prospects.  Some can manage to push themselves both defensively and with the bat, and others are better just pushing in one direction. 

Pretty sure management does want everyone to be super utes.

Definitely a lot of negatives. The losing, weak offense and defense. The positives are low roster payroll and attendance yesterday was 20,512.

We were told that we were not going to compete this year. Many things done (recent acquisitions) bear that out. Definitely the position player roster inspires little hope. About one third of the lineup is a very easy out.

At least Jr. is batting 500 with an OPS in the stratosphere for the supposedly stacked - yet 2 and 8- Bisons. Surely we’ll have something to Cheer about soon

About one third of the lineup is a very easy out.

Hard to believe that the team's slash line 203/283/347 is only third worst in the league (Cleveland, Detroit).

Pretty sure management does want everyone to be super utes.

Lot of teams want the flexibility, and it's what smart teams do. The last item posted yesterday on MLBTR was Houston having Myles Straw at SS this year as well as his OF position.

Then again, don't think we'll see Rowdy patrolling centre field or Danny Jansen shortstop anytime soon.

I neither praised nor criticized it. Just pointed out that it seems a point of emphasis for this FO.

Changing subjects, the Donaldson contract is looking good for Atlanta so far. He's hitting .264/.400/.472 and has accrued 0.5 WAR in the first couple of weeks of the season. Between Acuna, Albies, and Donaldson, Anthopoulos has proven to be an effective dealmaker in the early going in Atlanta. It will be interesting to see which front office performs better over the next decade: the Process-driven Jays or the AA-led Braves.

AA is a terrific GM and the Rogers son who supposedly wanted Beeston to fire him is an idiot. AA also inherited an outstanding base for a sustainable contender.

IMO, no matter how well our FO does, it sure looks like Atlanta will be the better team over the next decade.

Interesting that Donaldson has played in every single game. It's hard to believe he's entirely over his injuries. Has anyone seen him play? Does he look as though he is moving and throwing comfortably?

"the Process-driven Jays or the AA-led Braves."

I'd call them the "Process-Obsessed Jays".

One question is, does the Process contain an override mechanism to allow for brilliant intuitive moves to be identified and executed (like those Anthopoulos would sometimes make)? And if the Process is such a boon, how did it lead to the gratuitous loss of an unorthodox but high-performing pitcher like Bergen? If the Process contains blind spots, who is going to see and fix the problem?

Love the OCD on this board.

Atlanta (AA) won the division (90 wins) over 2nd place Washington (82 wins). The 2nd WC won 91 games. But winning is everything.

Signing Donaldson is a very good move because a healthy Donaldson strengthens an already strong core. He can still QO Donaldson or sign him up long term.

Only Miami currently seems to be out of it.

How equal are the other 4 teams this year. By Aug 1 the record will reveal this years contenders for the NL East title and the 2 WCs.

This incessant harping on losing Bergen and deriding the so-called "process" is just silliness at max volume - baseball is a sport in which teams lose players that become productive all the time - it happens even to the best organisations - under AA the Jays lost Sam Dyson, Jeremy Jeffress because of poor roster management, let EE go and were lucky to get him back - Astros under the very successful Jeff Luhnow released J.D.Martinez,traded away Josh Hader & Domingo Santana for very little, Oakland released Max Muncy etc. - happens to every organisation because you cannot keep players forever - It looks early like losing Bergen was a mistake and I expect more mistakes will be made but if this FO builds a contender like the Astros,Cubs etc. then I think most fans will be pleased.

Given the emphasis this FO themselves place on process and depth, i think it's fair to hold them accountable to their own standards.

Funny, was reading about German Marquez 1 hit CG this morning, the first CG this season. Marquez really broke out after the AS break and recently signed an extension.

Tampa is a smart org. A few years back Marquez was traded with Jake McGee by Tampa for Corey Dickerson and a C prospect. Once Dickerson reached 2nd year arb, he was DFA'd and traded for Daniel Hudson and a C prospect.

No team has a crystal ball.

In the days of 25 man rosters and 12 man pens, players who offer some positional flexibility are definitely valuable and its hard to argue that smart management teams should look to add players with that profile. I have no issues with that. I do think that's a far different issue from flip flopping prospects back and forth (like Biggio or Gurriel) on development paths. Even worse is forcing players up the defensive spectrum (on a permanent or semi permanent basis) beyond their capabilities - which this management group has done multiple times.

Wonder at what point does the attendance/revenue drop worry rogers enough that they start pressuring the FO to sign players?

"Wonder at what point does the attendance/revenue drop worry rogers enough that they start pressuring the FO to sign players?"

Who do you think they should sign?

well i'm not talking about midseason.

but if revenue really does plummet this much, how much faith do you have in rogers to keep their hands off?

During their rebuild years, the Astros attendance dropped about 50% and last year the Marlins drew about 800K and didn't change their strategy - I doubt Rogers will change course unless Vlad/BO and company are disappointments.

looks like they might average less than 20k per game for only the 2nd time since 1982.

I expect the Jays to continue to add veteran depth to their team via free agency the next few years. Players like Galvis/Buccholz/Shoemaker/Norris/Richards/Sogard/Phelps/Garcia/Clippard etc.

This slows down the rebuild by keeping prospects in the minors for a little longer. It gives the FO prospect capital (ie. players they can trade for prospects), and it makes the team a bit better.

I don't expect any big splashes.

"teams lose players that become productive all the time - it happens even to the best organisations"

Absolutely true. Every team makes mistakes. Every team also gets into situations where they are forced to let somebody go. The issue with Bergen is that when they chose not to protect him, there were a few other players on the 40-man roster who had virtually zero chance of ever becoming even half-decent major league players. The team failed to recognize just how good Bergen had become in his 1st healthy season. It seemed very evident to me and a few other posters here.

Having said that, I'm not one of the people who seemed right from the start to have a negative attitude toward the new management group. I liked their track record of developing young players in Cleveland, and I think they have the right approach to building a long term strong team. I think they have done a good job of that here so far. But they have made some mistakes and losing Bergen was unnecessary, and seemed obvious to me. That's what bugs me about it.

Borucki to 60 day DL.

Ouch. Didn't see that one coming.

I'd say the biggest whiff by the FO is probably not Bergen, but Dwight Smith.

I'd say the biggest whiff by the FO so far is the failure to sell off in July 2017 - which I advocated for at the time and have criticised the FO for that failure.

Anyone else want to pile on?

It's amazing, there's been complete silence on Dalton Pompey's condition - it's like he's in witness protection.

Dwight Smith is hitting almost exactly the same for the Orioles so far this year as he did for the Blue Jays last year, in almost the exact same number of AB's. Last year .262/.347/.477/.824 in 65 AB's, this year .270/.324/.476/.800 in 63 AB's. That's a good slash line, but it is not in keeping with his performance in the upper minors. I suspect that his mlb numbers will come down substantially once the small sample size starts to disappear. His OPS in 2 AA seasons was .711 and .765. In 2 AAA seasons, it was .743 and .771. That doesn't translate into a guy who would OPS .800 in the big leagues. More like the low .700's. How many people have turned into good big league hitters at age 26 after spending 4 years in the high minors OPS'ing in the low to mid .700's? I mean that as a legit question - anybody know any examples?

Gurriel is only going to DH in Buffalo for now.

Bautista did not  have an OPS over 100 before the age of 29.

I was hoping they would try Gurriel in the OF. Maybe work with him in practice for a couple of weeks and then try him there.