Another Canadian Icon Traded - The 2015 Toronto Blue Jays Thread

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.

‏@JSalisburyCSN 3m3 minutes ago
Hearing the Phillies will get pair of pitchers, Jimmy Cordero and Alberto Tirado, for Ben Revere in TOR deal

.334 obp not bad really, these days

@jgoldstrass
To recap: 11 Jays MiLB pitchers traded. All position-player talent remains. (And, trust me, there are big-time arms left in the system.)

^^^class a lansing broadcaster

why not put him at false leadoff? having a guy like tulowitzki lead off is not a bad idea at all when edwin, bautista (old or not), donaldson, martin, and whoever's hot between colabello/pillar/etc at the moment are all behind him.

the closest thing to a big-time arm i can think of in the minors is possibly Jon Harris - this years first round pick. or *maybe* *possibly* Sean Reid-Foley, Dawson or Castro.

i saw harris throw his first pitches after signing as a jay. one of them was 95.

I don't mind Tulowitzki leading off at all; he'd do fine there. Watching Bautista and Colabello come up 3-4 last night wasn't pretty, though--they're both slumping badly. I'd just like to see someone other than Bautista batting third. (By false leadoff you mean bat him 9th, right?)

yeah exactly, meant ninth. i mean i am not entirely opposed to putting the "prototypical leadoff" guy first, but when you have that many guys who can just hit doubles and home runs, why put a guy with a lower obp who might steal in front of them?

my thoughts exactly.

Wow. If not for Trout, Donaldson would be right there for MVP this year.

tulo > donaldson > bautista > e5 is p sick

everything about the jays' lineup is insane; i hope it works out because it's worth a shot

and tomorrow i imagine Revere will be batting leadoff.

i guess the odds are against it -- as they're against everyone -- but srsly look at this fuckin team

if only they played on grass i could love them absolutely. (and if buck martinez had a different voice). it's close nonetheless

just need one of the new guys to wear 17 in tribute to wendel and let's go

should be playing on grass by 2018 apparently.

I wouldn't count on Saunders contributing after being out for the entire season. Anyone is better than Colabello on defense.

Do people really remember Henderson as a key contributor to the '93 Jays? At the time everyone knew he was underperforming, but the team was winning so there was only so much complaining you could do.

At the time, sure. The people I heard yesterday seemed to be younger, with no specific recollection of '93 (or too young to have any)--just "Jays got Rickey Henderson, went on to win World Series." Just in general, from listening to the call-in show a couple of times last week (a sure sign I'm back on the bandwagon), I was surprised how many people had never seen the Jays in the postseason. It was 22 years ago, though.

Is it just me, or does Bautista seem to be in a weird place right now? Some combination of Reyes' departure, his own slump and injury trouble, and (maybe) a sense that he's less central to the team now? I'm sure I'm reading too much into things, but he doesn't seem especially happy. Probably just the slump/injury and wanting to contribute more.

i recall him as more of a rental mascot that anything. tho he was still evil on the basepaths.

sooo - as a result of the Revere deal, Jays just DFA'd Valencia. which sucks because he has been great so far.

My favorite thing about Henderson was how WAMCO (White-Alomar-Molitor-Carter-Olerud) became HAMCO overnight.

Agree about Valencia--he's been real good with the bat this year. How many pitchers are they carrying right now? Didn't they have a reliever who was expendable, or have they already made that move?

... and Revere is batting leadoff! (Tulo has the day off though)

Is it just me, or does Bautista seem to be in a weird place right now?

I think he's been playing hurt all season, but even at 75% he's still really good. The offense is so great that I'm fine if he settles into the Joe Carter role (low-BA with power, not good enough to carry the team but always a threat).

So Valencia's gone and Kawasaki's here (and starting today)? I seem to be the rare person who's not enamored of Kawasaki. I take it he's their sole backup infielder, otherwise I don't get that.

I'm not sure why Buerhle came out after only 89 pitches, I guess Gibbons felt obligated to use all his new toys right away.

Then again, contending teams with real bullpens should be able to turn leads over to the 'pen in the 8th, and Lowe had only given up one homer all season. I guess we're still not that kind of team.

I don't like him - this new guy.

Geez, when I ducked out it was 5-1 Jays.