2018 Toronto Blue Jays General Season Thread

[sickbeast]

The Dickey trade was the one clearly bad trade AA made.  Considering how many moves he made that's not a bad track record IMO.  Plus it's easy to look back on the trade.  He was trading for the Cy Young award winning pitcher.  It wasn't a total bust either.  Dickey was a workhorse and an innings eater for the Jays.

I'm just really frustrated with the way Shapiro is running the team as a business currently.  He shouldn't have raised ticket prices two years in a row.  Raising ticket prices by 17% after a losing season is asinine.  The fans are going to turn on this team, wait and see.  It's the same legacy Shapiro and Atkins left in Cleveland.  They were losers there and they're losers here.

 

[Kin]

It seems like Shapiro and Atkins left the Indians in pretty good shape, all things considering.

edit: Also, fwiw, it seems pretty likely that any decision re: ticket prices would come from Rogers, not Shapiro.

 

[sickbeast]

It seems like Shapiro and Atkins left the Indians in pretty good shape, all things considering.

edit: Also, fwiw, it seems pretty likely that any decision re: ticket prices would come from Rogers, not Shapiro.

Cleveland was a ghost town while Shapiro and Atkins were there and they had a lousy team.  Their new GM made some nice moves such as signing Edwin.  Having Edwin instead of Morales sure would be nice right now.

 

[bustaheims]

edit: Also, fwiw, it seems pretty likely that any decision re: ticket prices would come from Rogers, not Shapiro.

Probably. Also, it's going to be pretty heavily influenced by the economic realities of trying to field a competitive team over the past few seasons - regardless of the success of the endeavour - and changes to economy as a whole. Prices aren't - and never have been - based on the team's actual on-field success. Nor should they be. You gotta have money to be successful, and you get that by keeping ticket prices lower because the team was bad.

 

[bustaheims]

Cleveland was a ghost town while Shapiro and Atkins were there and they had a lousy team.  Their new GM made some nice moves such as signing Edwin.  Having Edwin instead of Morales sure would be nice right now.

3 straight winning seasons before Shapiro left, but, sure, lousy team.

Also, Encarnacion and Andrew Miller are the only additions of any significance made by the new management. Their current team was very much built under Shapiro.

 

[Kin]

Cleveland was a ghost town while Shapiro and Atkins were there and they had a lousy team.  Their new GM made some nice moves such as signing Edwin.  Having Edwin instead of Morales sure would be nice right now.

When Shapiro was GM he traded for Kluber, signed Carrasco, signed Ramirez, drafted Kipnis and Cody Allen, signed Santana...basically built the spine of the deep, young contending team they've got now. Just about all of the parts(Lindor, for instance) that weren't added when Shapiro was GM would have been when Atkins was running their player division.

Or you could be arguing that Shapiro won Executive of the Year for no reason then. Twice.

 

[Andy007]

Cleveland was a ghost town while Shapiro and Atkins were there and they had a lousy team.  Their new GM made some nice moves such as signing Edwin.  Having Edwin instead of Morales sure would be nice right now.

When Shapiro was GM he traded for Kluber, signed Carrasco, signed Ramirez, drafted Kipnis and Cody Allen, signed Santana...basically built the spine of the deep, young contending team they've got now. Just about all of the parts(Lindor, for instance) that weren't added when Shapiro was GM would have been when Atkins was running their player division.

Or you could be arguing that Shapiro won Executive of the Year for no reason then. Twice.

And with that the nail met the coffin to end the discussion for the unforeseeable future.

 

[sickbeast]

Fine guys, I admit Shapiro did ok in Cleveland but I'm not a fan of what he has done with the Jays.  I hope this season turns out ok for them but I can really see it going sideways fast and the attendance is going to plummet.  That means the payroll is going to have to drop and they Jays could effectively turn into a small market team.  The drought will continue.

 

[Kin]

Probably. Also, it's going to be pretty heavily influenced by the economic realities of trying to field a competitive team over the past few seasons - regardless of the success of the endeavour - and changes to economy as a whole. Prices aren't - and never have been - based on the team's actual on-field success. Nor should they be. You gotta have money to be successful, and you get that by keeping ticket prices lower because the team was bad.

Well, the Jays' financial realities are always going to be a little murky because we just won't know what they mean to Rogers through Sportsnet(I know they say they move a "competitive" broadcasting deal from one pocket to the other but???)

Even still though, it's pretty hard to imagine that a baseball, or at least player development guy, like Shapiro is out there deciding to raise ticket prices by himself. At best it's a direct order from above, at worst he knows Rogers wants the team to be more profitable. Whether Rogers' reasons are good or bad isn't up to him.

 

[Captain Canuck]

Superman steals 3 bases in an inning! What a boss move!  8)

Oddly enough, the only American League players to do it since the Jays have been in existence are Paul Molitor, Devon White, and Chris Stynes. All are former Jays, just none of them accomplished the feat with the Jays.

 

[Arn]

That was fun and exactly the kind of way the Jays are probably going to have to play this season. Hope they learned from it

 

[sickbeast]

Yes it was a very entertaining game and the Jays played great.  What I didn't understand was leaving Gift Ngope in the game when they could have easily pinch hit Morales for him.  I like Ngope's defense but he can't hit.  Gibbons is making some mistakes IMO.  He left Sanchez in the game too long yesterday.  It was clear he had lost his command.

So far I really like Solarte.  His defense has been good and he can hit.  He's a big upgrade over Goins from what I have seen so far.

 

[hockeyfan1]

Yes it was a very entertaining game and the Jays played great.  What I didn't understand was leaving Gift Ngope in the game when they could have easily pinch hit Morales for him.  I like Ngope's defense but he can't hit.  Gibbons is making some mistakes IMO.  He left Sanchez in the game too long yesterday.  It was clear he had lost his command.

So far I really like Solarte.  His defense has been good and he can hit.  He's a big upgrade over Goins from what I have seen so far.

Happy for Marco Estrada.  He was solid despite giving up three runs & four walks in seven innings.  Same praise for Tepera in relief & Osuna closing.  All three, well done.

I like what Solarte brings.  Hopefully, this is the start of something for him in a Jays uni.

Sanchez needs to get 'warmed up' before he gets his form back.  At least, the positive thing is no more blistered finger problems. 

 

[Andy007]

Yes it was a very entertaining game and the Jays played great.  What I didn't understand was leaving Gift Ngope in the game when they could have easily pinch hit Morales for him.  I like Ngope's defense but he can't hit.  Gibbons is making some mistakes IMO.  He left Sanchez in the game too long yesterday.  It was clear he had lost his command.

Well apparently Travis was unavailable because he is Carlo Colaiacovo on spikes and Gibbons is treating him as such so they didn't have an INF substitution for Ngoepe. But yea, Gift is pretty atrocious at the plate. He's only here for his defense.

 

[hockeyfan1]

The score should have read  Smoak 7  Yankees 4, as Justin Smoak had 6 RBIs today in the Jays' win.

Good to see some offensive explosion.  Smoak's grand slammer in the eighth, which followed his previous two-run homer in the third, won it for Toronto, and a split of this four game series.  Well, we can now say, take that, Yankees!

The Jays came back from a 4-0 deficit thanks to Smoak's heroics.


http://www.espn.com/mlb/game?gameId=380401114

 

[skippy]

The score should have read  Smoak 7  Yankees 4, as Justin Smoak had 6 RBIs today in the Jays' win.

Good to see some offensive explosion.  Smoak's grand slammer in the eighth, which followed his previous two-run homer in the third, won it for Toronto, and a split of this four game series.  Well, we can now say, take that, Yankees!

The Jays came back from a 4-0 deficit thanks to Smoak's heroics.


http://www.espn.com/mlb/game?gameId=380401114

.

Smoaks first home run was in the 7th.
It was never 4-0.

 

[cabber24]

Superman steals 3 bases in an inning! What a boss move!  8)

Oddly enough, the only American League players to do it since the Jays have been in existence are Paul Molitor, Devon White, and Chris Stynes. All are former Jays, just none of them accomplished the feat with the Jays.

So when Pilar was stealing home was throw to the plate a pitch? He broke before the windup so I would guess no?

Although entertaining... with two out and already in scoring position why are you stealing? Wouldn't the batter be like wtf? Do the coaches make these calls?

I love the Jays but I was already writing them off after the first two games thank god for the last two. It's just hard to get excited after last season and the off season they had. The pitching IS stellar on paper. Who knows, let's enjoy some ball.

 

[TML fan]

Superman steals 3 bases in an inning! What a boss move!  8)

Oddly enough, the only American League players to do it since the Jays have been in existence are Paul Molitor, Devon White, and Chris Stynes. All are former Jays, just none of them accomplished the feat with the Jays.

So when Pilar was stealing home was throw to the plate a pitch? He broke before the windup so I would guess no?

Although entertaining... with two out and already in scoring position why are you stealing? Wouldn't the batter be like wtf? Do the coaches make these calls?

You wouldn't try to steal home with less than 2 outs, and Pillar probably made the decision on his own.

 

[cabber24]

Superman steals 3 bases in an inning! What a boss move!  8)

Oddly enough, the only American League players to do it since the Jays have been in existence are Paul Molitor, Devon White, and Chris Stynes. All are former Jays, just none of them accomplished the feat with the Jays.

So when Pilar was stealing home was throw to the plate a pitch? He broke before the windup so I would guess no?

Although entertaining... with two out and already in scoring position why are you stealing? Wouldn't the batter be like wtf? Do the coaches make these calls?

You wouldn't try to steal home with less than 2 outs, and Pillar probably made the decision on his own.

Why steal third? To steal home?

 

[Kin]

Superman steals 3 bases in an inning! What a boss move!  8)

Oddly enough, the only American League players to do it since the Jays have been in existence are Paul Molitor, Devon White, and Chris Stynes. All are former Jays, just none of them accomplished the feat with the Jays.

So when Pilar was stealing home was throw to the plate a pitch? He broke before the windup so I would guess no?

Although entertaining... with two out and already in scoring position why are you stealing? Wouldn't the batter be like wtf? Do the coaches make these calls?

You wouldn't try to steal home with less than 2 outs, and Pillar probably made the decision on his own.

Why steal third? To steal home?

If he saw the opportunity then being on 3rd means you can score on a wild pitch or any single/error.