Another Canadian Icon Traded - The 2015 Toronto Blue Jays Thread

ya – i was listening on the radio and assumed he had turned around (as he will do).

How the hell did Hutchison get to nine wins?

I was at the game last night--friend's sister got us seats right behind home, 10 rows up from field level. Good game, moved along pretty briskly (relatively speaking). Travis made a great leaping catch.

I fell in love with the usher girl; she was playing a part that I could understand.

Buehrle's defying logic these days. He's actually pitching well, not just doggedly hanging around and getting runs.

Buehrle's June/July:

5-1, 1.52, 34 K, 6 BB, .228/.249/.344 slash line for opposing hitter.

it's like the reverse of last year, where he started off amazing and then trailed off.

My first thought was, "Yes, in terms of W-L record, but last year it was primarily because of run support." But you're right--he pitched really well, too.

2014, up until June 1 (his last win before slumping):

10-1, 2.10, 46 K, 20 BB, .253/.301/.355 opposition slash line.

They both pivot on June 1. Put them together...

Jays lose on an walk off infield hit in extra innings. The play at first that would have ended the inning couldn't have been closer. Now that's a tough loss.

Terrible. Jays had bases loaded in the 9th, none out, down a run, Donaldson/Bautista/Encarnacion coming up. They scored one run.

One of the worst offenses in MLB just averaged 5+ runs/game in taking two out of three, but it's OK, we don't need to add pitching at the deadline!

OTOH, as usual with this team, these moves should have been made in the offseason.

Would be happy if the Jays went after Kimbrel.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/138986044/craig-kimbrel-and-5-potential-trade-partners

I don't know what you'd have to give up, but you'd get him for the rest of this year, plus 2016/17. I know that closers are thought of as highly replaceable these days, but Kimbrel is closer to Rivera than to the parade of one-year success stories. His numbers are a little down this year, but he got off to a slow start--maybe just the transition to a new team. His June/July numbers are back to normal.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?id=kimbrcr01&year=2015&t=p#month_extra

it just seems like every team wants Stroman and/or Norris. it's just too much to cough up a premiere future piece when you're a team that's three games out of playoffs. Essentially you'd need to add a 7+ WAR pitcher and then pray for some better luck just to scrape into the wildcard at this point.

It's maddening when you look at the Yankees pulling away...on the backs of A-Rod and Teixera, no less.

I've pretty much given up on this year; at least we'd have Kimble in place for two more. But then I a) look at Osuna's numbers, who looks like he's up to the closer role, and b) think about how few save opportunities the Jays have actually had this year (they must be last in baseball). Picking up Kimbrel might be completely beside the point.

They're tied for fourth fewest SO with 32 (they're last in baseball in save percentage--50%); the Cardinals lead with 50 SO.

http://www.sportingcharts.com/mlb/stats/team-save-percentage/2015/

i do not understand this trade, but gratz on the tulo

Hoffman along with Castro and one other prospect are apparently going with Reyes.

I've got to hand it to Anthopoulos -- this is a gutsy trade. Only Russell Martin is signed past 2016, so taking on Tulo's contract isn't much of an issue. Hopefully we'll still have a decent offense to support the pitchers that are supposedly too valuable to trade because we won't be ready to compete until 2017 (after Bautista and Encarnacion are possibly gone or not as productive).

I am super stoked about Tulo playing for the Jays though. I just don't see how this addresses our most important needs either this season or next.

it's definitely a win-now trade, and if they went on another big run they could easily give the yankees real trouble. (my red sox certainly won't.) c'mon, the other shoe, marked with OLD in big capital letters, has to drop for the yankees at some point right?

They now move into the youth-movement phase of the master plan and ship out LaTroy Hawkins for Bartolo Colon.

I had no idea that Hawkins was still pitching. The Jays will be his 11th team -- I think the record is twelve teams?

13 - Octavio Dotel

Though to be fair I think he actually chased that particular record and welcomed trades for that reason. still pretty cool.

I'm surprised that Hawkins is still going too, but I remember him being surprisingly solid at 38 & 39

my friend who is #1 jays fan is rabidly defending this trade, and is kind of convincing

or rather he WAS kind of convincing until he said the dickey trade wasn't bad at the time

it wasn't terrible (at the time). hurts like fuk now tho.

dude, it was definitely bad at the time! weren't d'arnaud and syndergaard like the top 2 guys in the system (even before the marlins trade)? all for some parts and a pitcher whose best years were based on a pitch we don't understand and can't predict future success of?

Somebody posted an article about Colon on Facebook last month, and that led to finding out that it was Hawkins, not Colon, who was the oldest active player. His '99 season is an amazing steroid-era artifact: he got 33 starts with the Twins, apparently never missing a turn, with a 6.66 ERA--and still managed a 10-14 record with a team that won 63 games. Breakdown:

Wins: 10-0, 3.05
Losses: 0-14, 10.28
No-Decisions: 0-0, 5.67

that was fast!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CLA8uCmUYAE1iAV.jpg

that is a super odd year xp

https://twitter.com/Minor_Leaguer/status/625908950488121344

amazing

and Dickey was coming off a Cy Young season. and agreed to a super cheap extension!
i honestly wasn't crazy about it, but get why people liked it at the time.

a miraculous Cy season, at age 57.

cy young season's a cy young season.

but it was considered then unlikely to be repeated.

whatever. i'm not arguing that it was a good deal, just that i get why people saw it as one at the time.

If the Rockies don't flip Reyes, I'll be interested to see how both his and Tulowitzki's numbers are affected by the park change. I've always wondered if park-adjustments for Coors still come up a little short.

There are three takeaways here. The first is that rosters don’t have to be balanced to succeed: A great hitting team can still get better by upgrading its offense and out-bludgeoning its opponents. The second is that swapping Reyes and Tulo improves Toronto’s run prevention, no matter who’s on the mound. At age 30, Tulo probably isn’t as adept in the field as he used to be, but his defensive stats haven’t fallen as far as Reyes’s. And the third is that this deal doesn’t preclude the possibility of the Jays importing an arm this week.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/2015-mlb-trade-deadline-rockies-blue-jays-troy-tulowitzki-jose-reyes/

I was down for the game tonight (not specifically for Tulowitzki--it was already arranged two days ago, before the trade). The HR was pretty electric. Listened to the dreaded call-in show on the way home. Wilner made me laugh when he called the Twins (explaining to a caller why you can't compare the Blue Jays' situation to the Royals') "a little smokey and a little mirrory."

One call...had an unmistakable subtext (and I'm generally not quick to pounce on this kind of thing). Paraphrase: "Did you notice the Jays' dugout tonight? No high-fiving, no dancing, no theatrics--just a bunch of guys focused on baseball."

Happily, Wilner was quick to shoot him down.

going to the game tonight! must have been awesome to be there last night. crowd sounded awesome on the broadcast.

I'll be there tonight too, up in the 500s. I thought we were going to see Cueto, but no.

By the way, Baseball Prospectus has us at 37% for the postseason, 5th in the AL and well ahead of Minnesota's 25%. Can't we just call the season now and start the playoffs based on that? Those guys are pretty reliable.

ideally we're going to hustle our way into the 100s.

so that was a good game. we managed to secure ourselves some pretty great seats just past 3rd!

This has nothing to do with the Price trade, but I think I heard or read Rickey Henderson's name thrown out there three times yesterday, the implication being that trading for Henderson was key to winning in '93. People have evidently forgotten how terrible Henderson was after he came over, one of the most mysterious Jekyll-and-Hyde transformations I can ever remember.

Henderson with Oakland in '93: 90 games, .327/.469/.553--he was playing almost as well as in his '90 MVP season (slighter higher OPS).
Henderson with Toronto in '93: 44 games, .215/.356/.319.

He was even worse in the postseason:

ALCS: .120/.241/.200
WS: .227/.393/.318

He still had a knack for scoring runs--47 in 56 games--but this was one instance where I'm sure that more to do with the people coming up behind him. The Jays didn't, as it turned out, give up anything to get him--Steve Karsay (1993's Daniel Norris?) and Jose Herrara--but people are simply misremembering what Henderson did when he got here. I think he blurs together in people's memory with Cone, who actually was a key part of winning in '92.

fret not – the Jays just traded for Mark Lowe!

lol

@Buster_ESPN 3m
The Phillies have re-engaged the Jays on Ben Revere. Price could be dropping, as the deadline nears.

i don't get these last two moves. we already have some good right handed arms in the pen – why add Lowe? and we already have two speedy/meh-OBP outfielders in Pilar and Carrera (plus Saunders or Pompey could be back within a month) – why add Revere?

Boy, I don't mind Revere at all. I don't have a lot of faith in Bautista right now; he's probably still hurting, and when you mix in normal decline, he's pretty iffy in the three spot. I assume they're looking to get Tulowitzki or Donaldson in there and lead off with Revere.

Should note that I say that having no idea what they've given up to get him.