The 2013 do-over Toronto Blue Jays (AKA the 2014 Blue Jays Thread)

Hey, we won something. SweetSpot ranked each team according to its worst position in the lineup:

30. Toronto Blue Jays C: 0.6 wins below average

Congrats, Blue Jays fans: You had the best worst position in the majors! This was actually a big upgrade from 2013, when J.P. Arencibia led the Jays to 2.6 wins below average at catcher. Blue Jays catchers ranked 19th in wOBA with average-ish defense.

Our second basemen weren't worse than that?

i'm for starting 2015 team threads now

just traded Gose to the Tigers for Devon Travis (who i'd never heard of before just now)

Brook Jacoby signs on as new hitting coach--author of one of the infamous freak seasons of the '80s.

1987: 540 AB, 32 HR, .300/.541, 69 RBI.

Easy to figure out why. 1) Hit mostly sixth and seventh, behind the likes of Joe Carter (.304 OBP), Mel Hall (.309), and Cory Snyder (.273); 2) Was lousy himself with RISP: .221/.362/.295. (Better with men on--.274/.383/.393--but still slugging under .400.) A perfect storm.

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/53786/jays-acquire-donaldson-as-fans-unhappy

I think we're still a frontline starter away. Who knows what Buehrle will do next year. Probably the same thing he does ever year--pitch 210 innings, win 13-15 games, and pitch pretty well overall. He's our #1 starter, though...

Stroman could be our #1 by the end of the season tho! would prefer to add an innings eater kind of guy that won't blow our budget, but LF/CF, 2B and the bullpen are bigger areas of concern for the J's to concentrate on imho.

I totally agree. We pretty much need Hutchinson and Stroman to become co-aces to be serious WS contenders. We're better off spending money on shoring up the weak-ass bottom of our lineup than dropping $150M on a Lester or Scherzer.

"I was up in my man cave playing some old school Mortal Kombat and watching The Golf Channel at the same time," Donaldson said. "I looked down and my phone just started exploding. I decided to check it out. The first text I see is 'Blue Jays?' I was like, 'Yup, I just got traded.'"

I'm not liking our new third baseman's offseason training regimen thus far.

Good point about the change in parks.

I wasn't even thinking about payroll earlier--and I should have been; payroll controls a lot--just looking at the starters and wondering if that's a starting five that can advance far. If Stroman and Hutchinson make significant progress, yes; if they don't, I don't think so.

One thing that's great about Martin and Donaldson is the obvious urgency attached. But better than two years ago (Dickey/Reyes/Johnson), which just seemed kind of random to me. I'm sure KC's success last year--as a reminder of how close so many teams are in the wild-card era, but even more so the embarrassment of now being the longest non-playoff team--has something to with it.

And not to go on about my less than ecstatic response to Donaldson, but on 590 today, a commentator said that Jays gave up a guy with unfulfilled potential (true) for a "proven All-Star." Really? I'd put the bar a little higher than two years before I'd attach the word "proven."

i dunno. he's proved himself pretty well. over 15 WAR over those two years.

also you shouldn't listen to call in shows. it'll rot your brain.

You guys sound engaged enough to make a 2015 thread eventually.

*checks calendar* we still got time.

This time we know it's for real - the win now 2015 Toronto Blue Jays thread.

There's a Stroman waiting in the sky, we'd like to win the pennant, it'd really blow our minds - 2015 Toronto Blue Jays thread.

Old school Mortal Kombat and the Golf Channel -- with more proven all-Stars than we can count, it's bound to be our year. The 2015 Toronto Blue Jays thread.

that last one

Duane Ward was on 590 yesterday, and he did something hardly anybody ever does: openly lobbied for the bullpen coach job. He started off like he was partly joking, but went on to say that he planned on calling Anthopoulos to see if they'd have any interest in hiring him. I'd love to see Ward get the job.

Winning the WS one round of Mortal Combat at a time.

It's Déjà Do-Over All Over Again.

Another Canadian Icon Sullied - The 2015 Toronto Blue Jays Thread

Crackstarter - Gawker crowdfunding the 2015 Toronto Blue Jays: good or evil?

Lol

xpost that one is legendary

John Dewan on Buehrle's durability:

http://www.billjamesonline.com/mark_buehrle_%E2%80%93_one_of_the_most_durable_pitchers_of_all_time_/

Some amazing context:

On that list, Buehrle became the current Rotation Emperor when Justin Verlander missed a start in late August of this season. Buehrle currently has 228 consecutive starts, which dates back to September of 2007. What’s interesting is that Buehrle did not miss a start then because of an injury. Instead, manager Ozzie Guillen skipped Buehrle to allow rookie John Danks to get a start off the DL...Had Buehrle’s streak not been snapped in 2007, his active streak would be 452 consecutive games. That would have been the longest streak, by far, of any pitcher Bill studied, going back to 1955...

(I'd probably look for another name other than the rather clownish sounding "Rotation Emperor.")

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/marcus-stroman-discovered-roy-halladays-sinker