Jays v. BoSox, Aug 25-27

[BigLeagueChew]

Lol Kawasaki!

[Fairview4Life]

Who doesn't love small ball and Pillar's superman dives?

[Lateral Quicks]

Valencia can stay... he's cheap and doesn't suck against lefties.

[Fairview4Life]

Valencia can stay... he's cheap and doesn't suck against lefties.

Or righties, at random moments.

[dagger]

Who doesn't love small ball and Pillar's superman dives?

Pillar seems to be laying off some of the outside stuff he used to swing at. He's a doubles machine in AAA, and that may be his fate in the majors.

[Fairview4Life]

Just to continue with this, because what the hell else do we have to talk about? I just hate the idea that the Jays could trade two of the best hitters in baseball on fantastic team friendly deals because, in my mind, it is the easiest way to get rid of expectations and criticism, not because they want to build a winning team. That's the goal if it happens. Quieting the fan base for a few years, not getting into the playoffs. Getting into the playoffs is reasonably difficult, tearing the team down by trading those two guys isn't.

'Tear it down so the fans stop pestering us for a winner for a few years',

[Schad]

Hell, having early season Izturis and Lawrie back might be significant enough. Or having some of the bullpen not be a pack of ****, which seems easy enough to accomplish. Combine that with some minor starting pitching improvements and you don't even have to gut the farm.

From 2012 on, Izturis is hitting for an OPS+ of 72, which is John McDonald territory but without the defense. Lawrie's difficult to rely on given his injury problems.

In terms of upgrading the starting pitching, there's really no such thing as a minor upgrade; the market is so nuts that you're either hoping that a fringy guy has a season above league average, or you're paying through the nose in players or dollars. And improving bullpens is never, ever easy, simply because bullpens demonstrate so little year-to-year consistency, unless you're willing to hand out $4-5m a year to three or four different guys, but we don't have that sort of coin.

[Randle McMurphy]

Who doesn't love small ball and Pillar's superman dives?

Pillar seems to be laying off some of the outside stuff he used to swing at. He's a doubles machine in AAA, and that may be his fate in the majors.

He only has 4 BBs in 160 career MLB PA (and none this year). He's still a long way from being anything yet.

[Schad]

Just to continue with this, because what the hell else do we have to talk about? I just hate the idea that the Jays could trade two of the best hitters in baseball on fantastic team friendly deals because, in my mind, it is the easiest way to get rid of expectations and criticism, not because they want to build a winning team. That's the goal if it happens. Quieting the fan base for a few years, not getting into the playoffs. Getting into the playoffs is reasonably difficult, tearing the team down by trading those two guys isn't.

'Tear it down so the fans stop pestering us for a winner for a few years',

Tearing it down wouldn't be easier (which is why it almost certainly isn't happening), because right now they're likely making money thanks to a couple months of excellent viewership numbers.

Easy is what they'll likely do: spending a trifling sum, pretend that the team is a contender, and meander along in the hopes that we have enough good spells to juice attendance/ratings and end up in the black.

[Geddy]

Couldn't help but look at the standings

[Graham's Cracker]

Jays win!

[Graham's Cracker]

Couldn't help but look at the standings

The good thing about being behind so many teams now, is that we're likely to gain ground on someone when we win.