Mr. Biagini, Mr. Joe Biagini: The 2017 Toronto Blue Jays

But then using fangraphs leaderboards, in k/9, Stroman isn't far away from Porcello, Quintana and Tanaka in 2016, I mean if he becomes that kind of ace over the next 3-4 seasons, the Blue Jays are over the moon.

Hard to say where he settles in--he's had two years over 7.0, one year between 6.0-7.0, and this year he's at 5.6. Maybe there are still (rare) exceptions, but Buerhle at his best goes back 10-15 years, and even there, he was ever one of the 10 best starters in the game? Maybe he grazed that list once or twice. I'd use Baseball Reference's list of last year's best starters for the same comparison, but their new design (which I hate) makes that difficult.

Maybe Stroman can have a Buerhle-like career, I don't know. I think he needs to keep his K-rate up near 7.0, though, to be anything more than a #3 starter.

("was he ever one of the 10 best"--transposition)

i've never seen a runner score like Coghlan just did! Leapt right over Molina (clipping him on the head).

That was unbelievable

Instant classic

Lovely.

Can't believe that worked

no bench for extras :/

I want to go to bed, but now I'm worried I'll miss some other ridiculous play.

Stroman pinch hitting. I can go to bed now.

!

Pinch hit double

Double?!?!!?!!!

Man or ass Stroman

man

lol i don't think coghlan touched third

classice mookie comment

yes, classice.

that slide was amazing

First jays game I've caught this season that I've enjoyed but at the back of my mind is the thought "they won this with a crazy slide, a pinch double by a pitcher, and two(?) runs scored via errors. Don't get excited".

welp

;_;

ah it's ok the next game starts in 1hr 45m. sure it'll go swimmingly. and no, there will be no relievers doing double-shifts today.

Team looks into the abyss, abyss looks back.

I'm ready to write off the season now.

the abyss boo's.

my facebook as awash with friends trying to unload tickets.

come see the Mets and i'll try to get up there this summer

'sanctuary ballparks'

ha ha! my partner is brown - 100% not crossing that boarder anytime soon. sorry. would love to come back to new york tho, maybe i'll come down for a long weekend with my kid post-impeachment.

well i'll have to rob a bank and come to Ontario then.

well, we have an air b n b bachelor in our basement that comes with a hefty ilx discount if it helps!

apparently jarrod saltalamacchia's jays career is over

1-for-25, 1 BB, 16 K, -80 wRC+, 0-for-9 vs base stealers, -0.7 bWAR, -0.5 fWAR in 10 games

RIP saltalamacchia

He had a good name

Sanchez was pulled after 13 pitches today.

Didn't realise how bad of a season Devon Travis is having, holy mackerel.

tbf, it is hard to discern who's doing especially bad in that lineup right now.

Mr. Biagini, Mr. Joe Biagini.

I don't get it. The more guys get injured - the better they do!

... and the wheels have fallen off again. I'm not one to get uptight about stuff like bat flips, but the last innings of a third straight blowout loss on the road against a last place team is a *really* bad time to start showboating.

It's so egregiously uncalled for (still haven't seen the clip) that I almost wonder if it was meant solely to stir up the Jays.

I think it was meant to stir up José.

the first bench-clearing incident which was precipitated by pillar calling the pitcher a faggot seems like a greater problem to me but ymmv

yikes.

Dumb comment I made about Bautista. You can't stir up the team when probably most of them thought the bat-flip was ridiculous.

Surprised at Pillar--just doesn't go along with everyone's perception of him. In general, I have mixed feelings about suspensions for saying stupid or hurtful things. If other players want to treat him like a pariah, fine, if sponsors want to bail, that's fine too. If a pitcher wants to drill him with a pitch, fine; if the pitcher's gay, even better. A suspension just seems like an empty gesture that's meant to wish away the incident. I don't know, maybe it's the best of a bunch of imperfect options.

his apology was a bit crappy, "i was angry blah blah" instead of you know, just straight up saying "i shouldn't have said that thing because it's offensive". but like, i dunno, the jays as far as i know don't do pride stuff or basically any hat-tip to the gay community at all - when even hockey teams do so- so maybe they could consider those kind of steps?

assiduously avoiding social media hot-takes about this which will be all pc/snowflake etc. lot of dumb fucks who want sports to be their safe space

(badly phrased i specifically mean dumbasses using the terms pc and snowflake complaining that he's even been made to apologize)

If the apology's sincere, I'm all for it; if he's apologizing for no other reason than he's supposed to, it's meaningless. When some student gives me a fake apology over something--the behavioural teacher often standing beside him/her, prefacing it with "Such-and-such would like to say something..."--I usually respond with the most lifeless "Fine" I can muster. It's meaningless.

I was thinking about Elvis Costello. He said something really stupid in 1979. The record company didn't fine or suspend him (that I can remember anyway); he did spend the next couple of decades and beyond haunted by the comment, trying to explain it and live it down. That's a much better consequence.

i still tell that story about elvis costello to anyone who will listen!

I should have been watching--Teheran plunked Bautista.

he took it like a champ. then scored.

big story from tonight is the Stroman home run!

also: Ceceliani (sp?) dislocated his shoulder hitting a home run. our b-team is starting to go down now.

All of last year's great teams had, and still have, a lot of depth. The Jays don't have much depth, especially on offense. They might luck into a WC spot if everything goes right, but that doesn't happen most years.

If there was ever a year for throwing in the towel, it's this year. Trade Donaldson, get Sanchez healthy again, commit to Stroman, get in on next year's historically great batch of free agents, and get Vlad and Dante Jrs ready. We could have a kick ass team in 2019-2020. Instead they'll hedge their bets and fall behind teams that stuck to their plan all along.

I don’t think they’ll be able to spend much until Martin and Tulo are gone in 20/21

As I see it there is three teams that will fight for the wild card spot: Twins, Angels and Jays. That's a low amount of odds to get in a one play-off game against either the Red Sox and the Yankees. It does not seem really worth it.

IT IS WORTH IT WE HAVE SO LITTLE HERE!

Also maybe I should do a new thread...

I wonder if we could have gotten McCutchen. The two guys San Francisco gave up look pretty good. Obviously, I wouldn't want the Jays to give up Jesus or Godot.

Anyway, we are making moves:

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/22110273/toronto-blue-jays-announce-plans-extended-protective-netting-rogers-centre

They did... signed Granderson.

They've plugged the 25 HR/.220 hole left by Bautista.

Sooner or later the Jays front office is going to learn that every cheap player they sign on a flier doesn't always pan out.

But it might take another ten years of mediocrity for that to happen.