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http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/Jose ... pot-063012

“Let’s go for it,” Bautista told FOXSports.com. “Hopefully, the change is made now. We’re in a position, in the middle of the season, to compete for a playoff spot. A lot of people maybe have forgotten about the extra wild card, but I certainly haven’t. There was a lot of talk about it in spring training, and I haven’t heard much since.

“This next month is crucial,” Bautista said. “The trade deadline is coming up. I’m sure the team would like to know which way we’re headed so they can decide if they want to be buyers or sellers. Hopefully we become buyers and get the players we might need to accessorize the team and fill some of the holes in the starting rotation created by injuries. That way, we can have some of the guys in the starting rotation go back to their usual role, which is the bullpen.

“When you keep having four, five, six guys adjusting to new roles, trying to perform at this level, in this division, with the competition, it’s hard to do. So far, we’re doing great. But sustaining that is a difficult task. Hopefully we can get some more bodies in here so we can have everybody go back to their usual role.”

i feel bad for jose. i mean obviously nothing he said is really surprising but i doubt they go for it. this guy is so good...he's gotta be pissed about having another monster season go all for naught with sh*tballers like coello, igarashi, pauley, cecil, chavez, laffey, richmond, farrell, etc. tossing games. nonetheless the next month will definitely be interesting.

It's tough. I hate the idea of giving up some of our best prospects for one starter (especially if it's a one year rental) when our starting rotation has been pretty bad 1 through 5, but at the same time our offense is good enough that a rotation of Morrow-Starting Pitcher x- Romero- Alvarez- Cecil/Villanueva might not separate us too much from teams like the Red Sox, the Angels and the Rays. Obviously Morrow's health plays a big part of it- if he isn't able to come back and be at the same level he was at earlier in the season by early August then none of this really matters.

Also, if it's true that Santos won't be available for the rest of the season the bullpen will need one more solid piece, so another trade would be necessary. That could be as many as 5 or 6 prospects for just two pieces, and then we'd still have to hope that Romero has a second half surge and that Alvarez pitches every game like he's pitching against the Angels.

Yeah, I just talked myself out of it. But as you said, the next month will be interesting. If somehow the Jays stay within 2 or 3 games of the wildcard by the end of July, I would kind of be OK with being a "buyer" at the trade deadline. But it would probably be incredibly stupid.

Rogers/AA are too cheap to do anything. I'd be surprised if they pick up anybody but scrubs. I'm sure they'll sit on their hands as always...

I know this probably isn't a popular opinion, but, I'd be okay with us giving up one of our pitching prospects for a good starting piece. Think about all of the top shelf pitching prospects we have (Syndergaard, Nicolino, Sanchez, Norris, Cardona, Osuna, Musgrove, Robson, Gabryzywski, Comer not to mention the 2012 class and the likes of Hutch and Alvarez, Carreno), we only have room for so many in the rotation and if we can acquire a good SP we can control then that fills one rotation spot right there, hopefully for at least a few years.

Take one of those guys out, plus a Deck Mcguire. Just have to trust AA and Co. to select the right guy to deal. I hope we don't deal any of our positional prospects though. We have greater depth at pitching.

Graham's Cracker wrote:I know this probably isn't a popular opinion, but, I'd be okay with us giving up one of our pitching prospects for a good starting piece. Think about all of the top shelf pitching prospects we have (Syndergaard, Nicolino, Sanchez, Norris, Cardona, Osuna, Musgrove, Robson, Gabryzywski, Comer not to mention the 2012 class and the likes of Hutch and Alvarez, Carreno), we only have room for so many in the rotation and if we can acquire a good SP we can control then that fills one rotation spot right there, hopefully for at least a few years.

Take one of those guys out, plus a Deck Mcguire. Just have to trust AA and Co. to select the right guy to deal. I hope we don't deal any of our positional prospects though. We have greater depth at pitching.

But do you think one of those guys plus Deck Mcguire gets us anyone who can put us in a playoff spot?? Garza is the most obvious trade candidate, and the Cubs are apparently looking for a Jimenez type deal. I don't know if anyone in the Jays system outside of D'Arnaud is at a Pomeranz level.

Maybe not just one + Deck. I guess what I'm saying is I hope we don't gut our system for a player or two, but we've built depth so if we can add an above average MLB contributor who will be with us for a couple of years then we should go for it. I'm confident that AA and Co. will continue to re-stock the minor league cupboard.

I wouldn't deal D'Arnaud though. I think we're to thin with positional prospects at the moment.

except that we're still dealing from a position of weakness. every team knows the Jays depserately need pitching help.
how can they make a trade for a pitcher w/o being bent over the barrel?

YogiStewart wrote:except that we're still dealing from a position of weakness. every team knows the Jays depserately need pitching help.
how can they make a trade for a pitcher w/o being bent over the barrel?

True, but I think the acquisitions are with next year in mind, even more so than this season. If we present the best offer, but other teams want to stick it to us because of our situation, I'm sure that the Jays would walk away.

Bautista should have said this in the off-season when the team pencilled in Alvarez, Cecil, and McGowan as their bottom three in the rotation without acquiring a single piece of depth to cover for potential injuries/ineffectiveness. Way too late to do anything now.

Unfortunately I think we are going to be neither buyers nor sellers. We will consistently win 3, then lose 3, win 2, lose 4, win 4, etc. and end up somewhere slightly above .500 with terrible starting pitching. I feel bad for Bautista. We have the offense to be a top team in the AL. Unfortunately with our pitching limitations we never had a chance to compete. AA won't sacrifice the future, and at most he'll make one move to gather some prospects, such as when someone becomes very desperate for hitting and blows us away with an offer for EE.

Despite being close, I wouldn't do it. Team isn't consistent enough to pull that off, even if all our starters were healthy. Perhaps if we were actually first/second in the division, but not where we're currently at in the standings.

In fact, I'd still rather we sell on some of these guys, if possible.

I think we are slightly passed the keeping prospects for later. Our Offense has never been better. Well slightly wit few wholes still in the line up but if we had some good pitching like I mentioned earlier in the year we are a contender. We really need to close in on those Yanks and with the Orioles having picked up Thome we need to make the push. I think we have a good team we are a few pieces away from winning. You can always trade/draft/free agent sign if you want to fill a void left by a prospect in the future you trade away.

At the same time what if that guy never becomes anything. Cecil, McGowan, Towers, Drabek. These are all guys we were very high on but just never turned it up or couldnt get healthy.

the Jays missed the boat big time in the offseason by not strongly pursuing SP talent this past offseason apart from Darvish (supposedly).

I always thought an Edwin Jackson would look good in this Toronto rotation, would be a very solid 3. Maybe AA did put out an offer sheet to Jackson, I guess we'll never know, but given our rotation coming into the season, it would have been prudent to try to land at least 1 SP FA, and not jokers like Laffey.

Hindsight is 20/20, but that's why they pay AA the big bucks.

Good on Jose for waiting until his bat turns around to suggest we need to replace some of the players who aren't performing.

I guess it all depends on Morrow. If he can return after the all star game, and his first start is great like he's been pitching all season. Than i would trade a prospect for a starting pitcher. With the top 4 in our line up hitting really well, i think Morrow/Romero (if he can recover)/ Decent Pitcher from trade could get us one of the wildcard spots.

If we were in it without all of these injuries to our pitching staff then it is an easier sell to the front office as presumedly, Hutchison or Alvarez might have been included in a deal. Not sure how they can offer MLB ready players in a deal, as teams don't only want prospects.
On the otherhand if we are talking a Guthrie type move, then a Cooper and / or Thames might suffice. I doubt he is what Bautista had in mind, but it might help stem the tide until Morrow returns, but even then, we still need to fill more spots in the rotation

Jose doesn't want to become another of the superstar players who wasted their best years in Toronto while the organization did nothing. Good on him!

His first step towards wanting to bolt this dump. Awesome.

I wonder how he will react this off-season when AA says we are going all in.... for 2014.

jrsmith wrote:His first step towards wanting to bolt this dump. Awesome.

Yeah, I don't like to hear these things from players. So he's competitive. Well, he's a professional athlete; he'd better be competitive. Play the game the right way, and leave personnel decisions to management. If you have a problem, talk to management - don't spout off to the media.