In the Unlikely Event Drew Hutchison Posts a Sub-5.00 ERA, How Will You React? (Toronto Blue Jays 2016)

Sorry Thermo, we can't wait any longer.

Great Toronto Star headline out of Florida that I posted on an SCTV thread yesterday: "Count Floyd among Jays' hopefuls."

Sounds like a scary story.

So is this Bautistas last year as a Jay? As things stand right now I like EE's odds of sticking around much more.

There's no way they give both of them $100M contracts, and if they re-sign only one before the season starts (which they both seem to want) then they've probably blown their shot of signing the other.

I think the team should either sign both and say "see, we like our core players and are committed to fielding a winning team year after year" or publicly say that they won't be held to arbitrary deadlines and won't rush to sign anyone before the season starts, "distractions" or not. Of course Rogers has done neither (if I'm wrong, and Shapiro has taken a clearer stance on this, let me know).

I think what management wants to do is wait until the season is over and then decide about EE and JB (and locking up Donaldson long term). In the real world that will piss off just about everyone who isn't a blood relative of the Rogers family but I can see them following through on it.

Ordered some tickets at work for a Dodger game in May. Really hoping for Kershaw--will start tracking the Dodgers rotation weeks ahead.

waiting to see how they age this year makes total sense to me. i don't see why any fan would be pissed off about that, aside from both players wanting to have this done before the season, but that's obviously because they want to lock up those $$ before they age another year in front of our eyes.

Good guy Jose! (Or some timely PR...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Pl5p9L8LBE

If I'd been the Phanatic, I certainly would have worked a bat flip in there.

https://cdn3.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/H9umRQ2y3o5EMXhIqFKv-KcyHog=/16x0:692x451/709x473/filters:format(webp)/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/49075479/Screen_Shot_2016-03-14_at_4.52.52_PM.0.0.png

O Canada
We stand on guard for w33d

i'm not normally one for hats... but am considering this.

I don't understand the last two posts, and VHS's is a broken link.

Shows ok for me, and makes me want a hat.

Tulowitzki update: Bone bruise to right hand on knuckles. X-ray came back negative and he is listed as day-to-day.

Any reason to think Smoak's spring (.364/.462/.818) isn't a total fluke? He could certainly help cushion some off the expected drop-off from the big three.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CeZ8PG-UEAET7eS.jpg

drew hutchison will get to work on his sub-5.00 era in buffalo

also the blue jays have (at least momentarily) won the michael pineda-jesus montero trade

feel bad about Hutch, tho we all knew this was inevitable. he's pitched well – takes a ball to the noggin, then gets demoted. i still think he has it in him to become a solid #3/4 starter.

My FB feed says Sanchez is in the rotation.

yup. which is good. i likey.

has anyone made the JESUS HAS RISEN ON EASTER MONDAY joke yet

aside from me

"Estrada has been dealing with back tightness all spring training after injuring himself attempting a martial arts move"

smh

martial. arts. move.

this kind of journalism is unacceptable in 2016

i need to know if it was karate

Osuna's closer. I was kind of hoping Storen, although I don't have any evidence to support that--I just didn't feel very confident with Osuna down the stretch last year. Anyway, I imagine, or at least hope, they view the situation as very fluid.

was never any doubt in my mind it would be Osuna. he'd have to pitch his way out of the job for Gibbons to name another closer.

Stroman's the third-youngest Opening Day starter in club history, behind Hutchison and Todd Stottlemyre. Having a hard time reconstructing a point in time when Stottlemyre was given an Opening Day start...I thought his time here fell entirely within the great decade.

1990: pitched poorly, lost to Ryan. Not sure why Stieb, coming off a very good year, didn't get it--he started the next day.

Minor injury perhaps?

Had 'em, um, all the way.

Stieb slept on his moustache and was pushed back, yes.

Mystery solved. I should have paid attention to where the games were (from a Toronto Sun piece last year):

And there were extenuating circumstances as to why Stottlemyre was given the ball in the opener...his 35th career start.

There had been a work stoppage that spring, so when the season began the Jays opened with a one-game series in Arlington against the Texas Rangers and the next afternoon played the home opener at the SkyDome.

Jays management gave Dave Stieb the option, start the opener Monday night in Texas against Nolan Ryan in Arlington or pitch the home opener Tuesday afternoon against Charlie Hough?

Stieb picked the home date and beat the Rangers 2-1, a day after Stottlmyre lost 4-2 to Ryan.

What a choice. "Let me give it some--Jesus, I'll go with Hough."

I'm sure a lot of pitchers might choose Ryan actually

At home, perhaps--not sure about Ryan in Texas vs. Hough at home.

Donaldson homered, Pillar dove headfirst into the wall, it's starting to feel a lot like 2015.

New for 2016, tho: Saunders also had himself a day.

Gibbons still doing his excellent folksy-guy-from-another-era routine. (Excellent when you're winning; maddening when you're not.)

If we lose the division title by a game, it's Chase Utley's fault.

I've seen arguments for both sides of yesterday's call, but to me it was clearly BS -- Bautista slid directly into the bag and didn't change the path of his slide with the intent to initiate contact with the fielder (or whatever the exact wording of the rule is). If they call that, then practically any slide into a base can be called as interference if the fielder is in contact with the bag.

Yeah. My first reaction, after hearing the play described but before I actually saw it, was "They changed the rule, and you can't have it both ways." But now that I've seen it, there was nothing at all reckless about Bautista's slide. What exactly is he supposed to do--make a right turn and help the fielder out?

i don't think there was anything wrong with the slide itself -- it was the fact that he needlessly reached out and grabbed the dude's ankle

also 'maybe we'll come out and wear dresses tomorrow' is nagl

If that small grab is illegal though, I don't see how anyone can legally break up a double play. On paper, the rules still allow a hard and potentially dangerous takeout slide directly to the bag, even if the fielder is there. Bautista's slide wasn't hard or dangerous, was directly into the bag, but the fielder came slightly off the bag to make the throw. I thought the rule change was about preventing injuries, not judging whether contact is incidental or not if the fielder steps half a foot off the base.

Wendy Thurm @hangingsliders
It must be confusing for the Respect The Game crowd to defend Jose Bautista.

If that small grab is illegal though, I don't see how anyone can legally break up a double play.

i'm cool with that. there is no other situation in baseball where it's okay to interfere with a fielder -- and it's particularly striking since the runner in question is already out. edwin sliding into first and grabbing the first baseman would break up the double play too; no one advocates that. it's just an 'it's always been this way' thing, and it should stop

there is no other situation in baseball where it's okay to interfere with a fielder

http://deadspin.com/yankees-protest-game-over-confusing-baserunning-call-1769350452

Normally not big on the Twitter, but I like that one above. If you want to read a great rebuke to the Respect the Game crowd, read the Posnanski interview with Dale Murphy I posted a few days ago (Dale Murphy thread).

Sliding into a base isn't interfering with the fielder. The runner has rights to the base, not the fielder, he has to slide there and his momentum will carry him into or through the base -- and through the fielder if he is standing there trying to make a throw. That is all perfectly legal, and more dangerous than Bautista's play. The rule is supposed to cover runners who intentionally slide away from the base and into the fielder, that's not what happened here.

"Already out" isn't relevant here, the runner can't stop dead in his tracks and disappear from the field the moment the out is recorded, he has to slide.

Donaldson just scored a 3 run homer :)

That end to the game last night was beyond deflating. Though perhaps in line with current stupid rules? bautista intentional touches - ever so slightly - the fielder with his hand, it wasn't a part of the slide etc. Infuriating anyway.

good stuff

Obviously Sanchez won't go more than seven. But this is like a perfect storm right now. When you weigh the game situation, the pitcher (entire rotation has pretty much revolved around him), how crucial the game is, and the state of our bullpen (five blown saves in seven games, set-up guy and closer over-used), I wouldn't want to be Gibbons right now. This is like the mother of guaranteed second-guessing.

feel bad for the kid

"What the fuck?!"

Gotta keep this from getting ugly now.

No idea how we come out of this with a win. I guess they go to Cecil and hope he can last two.

haha that's the spirit

I'm the Bee OK of Canada.

triple play time i can feel it

Thank god for that--Tigers lost 1-0.

this is a great game - despite the sudden lack of stakes it feels like the playoffs

Home field advantage for the WC game and the Boston - Cleveland series is still at stake.

The Red Sox, smartly, seem focused on getting home-field against the Indians; we didn't seem to consider that such a big deal last year.

i've never understood the emphasis. does it really matter?

I think typically teams play better at home.

this article is pretty convincing that it doesn't matter

http://www.hardballtimes.com/home-field-advantage-does-not-exist-in-the-postseason/

among the other evidence: a team with homefield "advantage" only realizes it if a series goes to all 7 games. a best-of 7 series decided in 5 games, for instance, has the non-advantaged team playing more games at home..

Huh.

Well. 54% odds for the home team, in general. Esp in a one-game elimination match, I'll take it.

Just realized after today, Sanchez is the era king!!

Heard on the radio the other day that three Jays may be going in for off-season surgery: Donaldson, Martin, and I forget the third--Travis, I guess.

that a little unnerving.

He will be missed: no Jay past or present ever made 6-inning, 4 runs-given-up starts sound so interesting.

So Donaldson is dodging the off-season surgery.

@DCameronFG
I guessed Morales would get 2/$22M and thought it would be an overpay. 3/$33M seems silly.

looks like the signed lourdes too (sry if that's upthread somewhere)

no, that's brand-new, unexpected news. pretty excited to see how he (Lourdes) turns out.
thinking this commitment to Morales spells the end for EE & Bats in Toronto. but possibly more money for Fowler?!

man, a fowler-pillar-whoever outfield would be prettyyyyyy dope

you guys love keepin this team thread goin eh

EE can still play first -- and they shouldn't bring bats back anyway

EE at 1B full time can work. Morales can be the full time DH.

I like how the Jays are making their moves early before the winter meetings and before the bidding for FAs gets ratcheted up. It worked for them last year too.

stained-glass edwin

http://imgur.com/a/KxGMf

EE had a press conference today (can't bring myself to post this on the Indians thread...) and had a funny answer when he was asked if the parrot was making the trip: (paraphrase) "I'll have to check with immigration."

so - Bautista likely returning. reading a one or two years deal at around 18 per.

I'm sure EE will be thrilled to see Bautista get a somewhat comparable deal.

@sportslogosnet
Full line from Marcus Stroman on why #BlueJays always wear blue in playoffs: "Tulo. Tulo likes the blue jerseys. He's the man, so he picks"

Having a hard time believing that Bautista turned down more money to return. That's what I heard on the radio, and the headline of this article corroborates that:

http://www.tsn.ca/bautista-turned-down-more-money-to-sign-with-blue-jays-1.655192

When you actually read the article, though, nowhere does it say that he was offered more money elsewhere.

I just played the press conference clips, and he doesn't seems to say it there, either. All he says is that were other offers.

Somehow the idea that he turned down more money is taking hold.

Heard a Joe Biagini interview clip on the radio yesterday (not Jimmy Kimmel--still haven't watched that) that made me laugh. The reporter asked him if he'd made any adjustments this year (paraphrase): "Well...I drove down instead of flying--that was an adjustment."

i want to adopt him.

I didn't pay enough attention to him last year--he's like a character from Ball Four, the living heir to Bill Lee and Moe Drabowsky and Dan Quisenberry.

I like the Latos ml deal.

I was just checking Russell Martin's career box, and something I'd never noticed before (although I've lived through it twice): among players with a decent sample size, he must be among the worst post-season players ever. In 57 games/320 plate appearances: .185/.300/.303. And his awfulness is very consistent between divisional series and league championships (never played in a World Series). He had a couple of good WC games.

Morales crushed the hell out of that ball.

also maybe new thread time, but also i'm lazy.

new season new thread boys

always so much pressure coming up with new thread names. i feel like i let everyone down with the fantasy thread one!

I really liked the Fantasy thread title...Was trying to think of something for the Jays, couldn't. Feels like some kind of hangover right now after two exciting years, and I don't know where the personality on the team is anymore.

loved the fantasy thread one.

can't be worse than mines!

Biangini. maybe something about him getting a high five? i dunno, i'm going to bed.

xpost aw, thanks!

JUST IN: Sportsnet baseball TV personality Gregg Zaun has been terminated by Rogers amid allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour.

— CP24 (@CP24) December 1, 2017