2015 Baseball Thread

[Acountdeleted]

So AA is gone... Who is still on the team:

 

Revere

Donaldson (Hank Aaron Award winner BTW)

Bautista (who is getting old, now 35, may not have many more years left anyway)

Encarnacion

Collabello/Smoak

Tulowitzki

Martin

Pillar

Travis

 

Osuna

Stroman

Lowe

Sanchez

Cecil

Hendricks

 

Yeah sure, a couple holes to fill in the rotation/bullpen but it's not like they're in complete shambles. Last I checked AA doesn't play on the field (I doubt he ever has in his life lol). Sure he is well liked by the team too, but when the players go out for a pint after the game I highly doubt they invite AA to come. I think the problem here is too many people get caught up in the corporate/front office politics of a team ala Toronto Maple Leafs and tend to forget that baseball is played on the field by the players more than any of the other big 4 sports.

 

Looking back at that lineup I posted there I am still very confident going into next season. Shapiro has never had a budget to work with in Cleveland, and has had success in the past. Think what might be possible when he's overseeing a team that has some money to spend. Up until July 31, everyone wanted AA's head anyway. I just hope they can strike gold again in scouting and development so we're not basement dwellers in a couple years.

 

PS: We don't even know who the next GM might be anyway.

I don't think Revere is back.

 

Also I disagree with the value of a good GM. He's not on the field but he essentially created this time and gave it an identity.

 

If we look at a bad GM in Brian Burke in the leafs, he made a horrendous trade for Kessel that set the team back 5 years minimum. Probably more like 10 (how would we look with Seguin and Hamilton?).

 

I can't think of one deal that AA made that made such a negitive impact for the team. That's the big thing. The Dickey, Johnson, Reyas and Buhrle trades weren't great but the team was able to recover. The Donaldson and Tulo trades, AA looks like a wizard doing those.

 

GMs are like managers are like bench coaches. I don't believe they can win you games, but they sure can lose you a heck of a lot. Let's hope the new guy doesn't lose the Jays too many important ones.

[FloatnFly]

I don't think Revere is back.

 

Also I disagree with the value of a good GM. He's not on the field but he essentially created this time and gave it an identity.

 

If we look at a bad GM in Brian Burke in the leafs, he made a horrendous trade for Kessel that set the team back 5 years minimum. Probably more like 10 (how would we look with Seguin and Hamilton?).

 

I can't think of one deal that AA made that made such a negitive impact for the team. That's the big thing. The Dickey, Johnson, Reyas and Buhrle trades weren't great but the team was able to recover. The Donaldson and Tulo trades, AA looks like a wizard doing those.

 

GMs are like managers are like bench coaches. I don't believe they can win you games, but they sure can lose you a heck of a lot. Let's hope the new guy doesn't lose the Jays too many important ones.

 

 

You're forgetting about the Halladay trade, Halladay for Kyle Drabek, Micheal Taylor and Travis d'Arnaud, where are these players now?, that right, Drabek faultered and is no longer around, Taylor??????? and we turned d'Arnaud and one of the best pitchers in baseball into a .500 40 y/o pitcher in the form of RA Dickey

[hutch4113]

 

 

You're forgetting about the Halladay trade, Halladay for Kyle Drabek, Micheal Taylor and Travis d'Arnaud, where are these players now?, that right, Drabek faultered and is no longer around, Taylor??????? and we turned d'Arnaud and one of the best pitchers in baseball into a .500 40 y/o pitcher in the form of RA Dickey

 

He did about the best he could do - Halladay asked for a trade, and despite that being Public AA at least got something for him. AA traded Taylor for Brett Wallace - who he then traded for Anthony Gose - who he then traded for Devon Travis. Pretty sure fans are going to love that deal long term.

 

At the time the Dickey trade looked great (I was not a fan of trading Syndergaard though), when combined with the Marlins trade, but it never worked out.

But Dickey was instrumental in getting the Jays to the playoffs this year - was lights out in the 2nd half - unfortunately he had a bad game against KC.

Be an interesting press conference - that is for sure.

[netminder]

Revere is arbitration eligible this year, but his contract doesn't expire until 2018. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/reverbe01.shtml#contracts

 

If Shapiro was brought in to make money, there's no way he can think it's a good idea to throw all that good will the Jays gained in the last two months away to stock up on prospects for next spring. The team is basically in place for next year and I'm pretty sure most everyone was ready for spring the day after the last game. There is no reason to believe whatsoever that anything has changed for the worse on the field. Yes he created the current team, and it will be the same team for a little while yet. Funny how I brought up the hockey disease in this city when Brian Burke was the face of the Leafs as opposed to the players, and then Jeremy brings it up when quoting me, lol. But to that point, you can still see Burke's finger prints all over the current Maple Leafs team. The only thing that has changed in BJ land so far is there is no GM. And personally I think it was just AA being stubborn and foolish. Or, maybe it was just him taking a stand against the way they handled Beeston's "retirement". Which is honourable, I guess. To some extent

 

Either way, one or two top tier starting pitcher free agents being signed will make everyone forget about AA. He sent us on a nice ride to finish off 5.5 years of mediocrity. Let's still support the TEAM that actually plays the game and forget about the front office.

Edited November 2, 2015 by netminder

[FrankTheRabbit]

Frank, you have to look at the time lines....

Last November, Rogers tried to replace Beeston with The Cubs GM. They had to ask permission to do so from the Cub's owner as their GM was under contract. Turns out that the owner of the Cubs is a very good friend of Beestons and he let Beeston know about the call.

Frankly (no pun intended!), that pissed off both Beeston and AA. Showed a complete lack of class and given Beeston's loyalty to the Jays, it was a really stupid move.

Fast forward to May/June timeline and now Rogers has a full blown search on, to replace Beeston. Remember, at that time, the Jays were a sub 500 team with a fairly large payroll. Their record at the indicated that they weren't going to be a playoff team and that they would again, lose money this year. Rogers finds Shapiro, who is accustomed to dealing with a limited budget and he tells Rogers what they want to hear... he can make the Jays a money maker.

I took the better part of two to three months to get Shapiro's package together and guess what, the Jays are on a roll and people are coming to the park and watching on TV. The folks at Rogers were probably the most surprised people on the planet. They were caught completely off guard and have been in damage control since August, when they announced the signing of Shapiro.

A little back history here... AA worked in his family business, HVAC and left it as he didn't feel it was the right career for him. He is a man of simple needs and is steadfast in his belief that he has to enjoy what he is doing. He could not see himself working for Rogers after the way they treated Beeston.

I'm wiling to be that AA had made his mind up long before Shapiro was announced and that's why both he and Beeston, opened up and made the big trades.

Hope that makes sense.

HH

Thanks bud for the insight. Today's conference really sounded like damage control. I'm sure Shapiro & Rogers have heard an earful of complaints and he's probably walking on eggshells.

 

I still don't like Shapiro...he reminds me of Paul Weller when he played Robocop, without the visor.

[Headhunter]

Yesterday's news conference did little to ease my concerns over the hiring of Shapiro. There is not doubt that the man has the gift of the gab and is a polished exec. He sure does know what people want to hear!

His announcements regarding Lacava and Gibby may or may not have been genuine, but in my mind, he had little to no other options if he was in any way going to play to the hostile crowd.

I'm still on the fence about this guy, but given the lack of choices the fans have at this point, I'm still going to give him the benefit of the doubt. I hope he doesn't disappoint.

HH

 

On a side note, I have to wonder if AA will attend the upcoming baseball meetings where historically, the Exec of the Year receives their accolades. Probably yet another "awkward moment".

[netminder]

I think people are looking way to hard at this to find something negative. I went to the MLB website and his introduction didn't even make the news there! The future of this team, especially this year, is going to be heavily dependant on who the next GM is. Sure, Shapiro is a "baseball guy" but there's a lot more to it than just him, and besides, baseball moves are much more up to the GM than the CEO.

 

After the last trade deadline this team is going to be very difficult to manage after this season. Very little in true talent coming down the pipeline and a big chunk of the core is getting old and beaten down. Hopefully free agency goes well. I'm still on the fence with this guy too, but I'm very much more on the positive than negative, especially after some of the things he said yesterday.

[Acountdeleted]

I'm nervous when a guy takes over a team with talent, aging vets, and a struggling division and says 'My main focus is prospects'.

 

It's interesting though, if AA hadn't made any deals, the Jays had missed the post season, Shapiro comes in and says his focus is on prospects, my tune would be totally different. I believe though that you have to play the cards you are delt, and focusing on prospects with the Jays right now is swimming upstream on an already fast current.

[FrankTheRabbit]

From the view of Mr José Bautista regarding the Game 5 homer vs Texas:

 

http://www.theplayerstribune.com/jose-bautista-bat-flip/

[fishing n autograph]

 

 

You're forgetting about the Halladay trade, Halladay for Kyle Drabek, Micheal Taylor and Travis d'Arnaud, where are these players now?, that right, Drabek faultered and is no longer around, Taylor??????? and we turned d'Arnaud and one of the best pitchers in baseball into a .500 40 y/o pitcher in the form of RA Dickey

Taylor got traded for Gose who got flipped for Devon Travis

[hutch4113]

I am really getting the feeling AA left, not because of autonomy, but because of Budget. The message seems to be prospects - which is what a small payroll team has to focus on - see Oakland, Tampa, and "gasp" - Cleveland.

 

It appears AA's hands were tied the last couple of years, but he got smart this past season, and did not spend to his budget, which then let him do what he did in July. But I think he knew that it was unlikely Rogers would change their minds, even after they saw what a post season run was like. He met several times - did not like the message he was hearing, and saw the writing on the wall.

 

Pure speculation on my part -> but going to call it now. Rogers will reduce operating budget on the team for next season, with Tulo probably being the trade. The reason will be they need pitching (and I am ok with Goins at short), but I expect it will not be top tier pitching, but "controllable" arms, which means lower cost.

[Headhunter]

There are two major telecom companies in Canada and both don't exactly have the best customer experience happening. Roger's, if they were smart would take advantage of the good will obtained by the Jays and fund a winning team.... never mind, I did say "if they were smart".

HH

[AKRISONER]

jeez Jose Reyes in rough waters...

 

Seems like that trade outta Toronto did some serious damage to his psyche

[FrankTheRabbit]

Regarding comments about Rogers, and I'm totally agreeing with you guys, but what has Rogers ever done that was in favour of the customer/fans/clients? If their storied past is of any indication, they're in the business to make money. The increase in cell plans/cable/internet/mobile data all providing less services for more money. I'll take a wild stab and say they're doing the same thing with the Jays.

 

Tupelo is calling it and The Sun was also mentioning the same thing, but there won't be any surprises if Rogers reduced payroll going forward...they've always been trying to provide the least product to make the most money, which is so sad and makes it even more of a tough pill to swallow considering how many loyal Jays fans there are in Canada. The Jays deserve much better than what Rogers is providing and I'm hoping in the near future, the team is owned by someone who actually cares about the team and doesn't see them as just another "product" adding to their bottom line.

Edited November 10, 2015 by FrankTheRabbit

[Headhunter]

jeez Jose Reyes in rough waters...

 

Seems like that trade outta Toronto did some serious damage to his psyche

It will be interesting to see how MLB responds to this incident. They have fairly recently employed a policy as to how they will deal with this sort of thing... Looks like Jose is going to be the first to see it in action.

HH

[FloatnFly]

Geez.....bunch of the sky is falling guys here. The budget is not decreasing, it looks like its going to be 140 mil or more if they can get the right pieces, they aren't stupid, the writting is on the wall, 2016 is their time. The trade rumours around Tulowitzki are just that, rumours, he has an activated no trade clause in his contract, it went active the day he was traded from the Rockies.

[Acountdeleted]

I hope they budget goes up. Lots of good pitchers out there, but you gotta spend.

 

Anyone know what the jays have to do to get comp picks if they don't end up signing Price?

[fishing n autograph]

None for Price.

[FloatnFly]

I hope they budget goes up. Lots of good pitchers out there, but you gotta spend.

 

Anyone know what the jays have to do to get comp picks if they don't end up signing Price?

 

 

they get nothing in return for him, he was a rental pitcher. have to be there a full year to get a comp pick

[Acountdeleted]

Ah ok. That stuff always confuses me. I'm in a sim baseball league but the rules are very different from the MLB. It's a shame but I get it though

[John Bacon]

Jays sign Estrada.

 

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/blue-jays-reach-two-year-26m-agreement-with-estrada/

[fishing n autograph]

Estrada resigned

[davey buoy]

Nice,good to get that done.!!!!

[John Bacon]

If he can maintain that 1.85 ERA over the long haul; this will be good.

 

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/blue-jays-sign-pitcher-happ-to-three-year-contract/

[Acountdeleted]

Ugh. We signed Happ for 3 years and waaaay too much $. So long Price.