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I was at the airport, but got home in time to see this. Nice when their closer blows a save.

I really wonder why it's so hard for major league teams to teach Latin American players they sign as mid teens to speak enough English to speak to the media. Are there any of the Latin Blue Jays who can speak it with the media. Maybe Morales. Jose, of course, was raised in a bilingual situation. Lack of English limits these kids so much, will cut down their earning power from endorsements, makes it harder for fans and teammates to relate to them, etc. Edwin Encarnacion, after a long major league career, wouldn't give interviews without a translator. So Aaron Sanchez, Kevin Pillar and Jose Bautista - native or fluent English speakers - all get endorsement money, Edwin never did a commercial here. Maybe if he had made a little more on the side, especially with the parrot liet motif, he might have had a different outlook to his financial situation. Vlad Guerrero Jr needs a translator. But the Raptors made sure Bruno learned English and he's now a decent speaker of English as a second language. He may not make it as an NBA player long term, but he has another life skill - reasonable fluency in a second language - that can help him wherever he goes in life.

Urena 3-5 with a loud out to the right field wall. I did not expect him to look so good so early.

Urena is a the real deal!

Use him at 2B next year put Travis in LF?

We are likely going to be broke asses this winter so may make sense.

Wo1verine wrote:Use him at 2B next year put Travis in LF?

We are likely going to be broke asses this winter so may make sense.

He just put up a .247/.286/.359 line in 129 games in AA so lets not get carried away with his .435 BABIP in 9 games.

Urena's likely going to spend most of 2018 in AAA, and likely needs it. Heartening results -- hasn't been chasing pitches at a crazy rate, has made a lot of hard contact -- but he's still a work in progress, which isn't a shock given that he's still just 21. I thought he'd be totally overmatched though, and he hasn't been.

Trade bait imo

Schad wrote:Urena's likely going to spend most of 2018 in AAA, and likely needs it. Heartening results -- hasn't been chasing pitches at a crazy rate, has made a lot of hard contact -- but he's still a work in progress, which isn't a shock given that he's still just 21. I thought he'd be totally overmatched though, and he hasn't been.

His explanation is that pitching is more precise in the bigs, ball stays closer to the strike zone more of the time, so he's lunging less to make contact. Something pretty close to that. I'd like to see him in Buffalo. The fans there deserve to see more real prospects, not the monkey crap the Jays have been giving them since they became our top affiliate.

Schad wrote:Urena's likely going to spend most of 2018 in AAA, and likely needs it. Heartening results -- hasn't been chasing pitches at a crazy rate, has made a lot of hard contact -- but he's still a work in progress, which isn't a shock given that he's still just 21. I thought he'd be totally overmatched though, and he hasn't been.

Agreed 100%. Still, encouraging to think we may have a better option than Goins/Barney in house when Travis/Tulo inevitably miss half the season or more. Though I still think we should be looking at a more established bench/semi-regular guy via free agency/trade to start the year. It's well past time to part ways with both Goins and Barney.

dagger wrote:

Schad wrote:Urena's likely going to spend most of 2018 in AAA, and likely needs it. Heartening results -- hasn't been chasing pitches at a crazy rate, has made a lot of hard contact -- but he's still a work in progress, which isn't a shock given that he's still just 21. I thought he'd be totally overmatched though, and he hasn't been.

His explanation is that pitching is more precise in the bigs, ball stays closer to the strike zone more of the time, so he's lunging less to make contact. Something pretty close to that. I'd like to see him in Buffalo. The fans there deserve to see more real prospects, not the monkey crap the Jays have been giving them since they became our top affiliate.

Next year Buffalo will probably start with Alford, Jansen, Urena, Tellez, Borucki, Pannone, Rowley and a few others. Much better for them, and much better injury depth for the big club. Losing is one thing, but watching the likes of Coghlan/Parmley/Tepesch/Valdez and other scrubs get regular playing time is interest-killing. Show me the some rawish young talent that actually might contribute to a winning team down the line.

dagger wrote:I really wonder why it's so hard for major league teams to teach Latin American players they sign as mid teens to speak enough English to speak to the media. Are there any of the Latin Blue Jays who can speak it with the media. Maybe Morales. Jose, of course, was raised in a bilingual situation. Lack of English limits these kids so much, will cut down their earning power from endorsements, makes it harder for fans and teammates to relate to them, etc. Edwin Encarnacion, after a long major league career, wouldn't give interviews without a translator. So Aaron Sanchez, Kevin Pillar and Jose Bautista - native or fluent English speakers - all get endorsement money, Edwin never did a commercial here. Maybe if he had made a little more on the side, especially with the parrot liet motif, he might have had a different outlook to his financial situation. Vlad Guerrero Jr needs a translator. But the Raptors made sure Bruno learned English and he's now a decent speaker of English as a second language. He may not make it as an NBA player long term, but he has another life skill - reasonable fluency in a second language - that can help him wherever he goes in life.

A P.S. Even Sebastien Giovinco has learned enough English to do a commercial. And he came over as an adult.

dagger wrote:

dagger wrote:I really wonder why it's so hard for major league teams to teach Latin American players they sign as mid teens to speak enough English to speak to the media. Are there any of the Latin Blue Jays who can speak it with the media. Maybe Morales. Jose, of course, was raised in a bilingual situation. Lack of English limits these kids so much, will cut down their earning power from endorsements, makes it harder for fans and teammates to relate to them, etc. Edwin Encarnacion, after a long major league career, wouldn't give interviews without a translator. So Aaron Sanchez, Kevin Pillar and Jose Bautista - native or fluent English speakers - all get endorsement money, Edwin never did a commercial here. Maybe if he had made a little more on the side, especially with the parrot liet motif, he might have had a different outlook to his financial situation. Vlad Guerrero Jr needs a translator. But the Raptors made sure Bruno learned English and he's now a decent speaker of English as a second language. He may not make it as an NBA player long term, but he has another life skill - reasonable fluency in a second language - that can help him wherever he goes in life.

A P.S. Even Sebastien Giovinco has learned enough English to do a commercial. And he came over as an adult.

I think the problem with baseball is that the rosters throughout the minors and then the majors have so many Latin American players that each level they'll develop cliques and just speak to each other in Spanish. It's like in school here in Toronto with ESL students..those that hung out with other that dont speak their language eventually grow-up losing their accent. In the NBA, Bruno only had 1 teammate that spoke his language and then in the 905 Bebe he really was alone as Bebe didnt spend much time there. With Seba, I don't think there's any other Italian players on the team.

Then again..with Edwin, I don't know..his English was fine..he just was never comfortable in front of the media (I think he was fine with conversing with guys like Pillar and Stroman).

It's a problem in that they may never become proficient in English, but at the same time it's probably far better for their overall development than being thrust into that environment (generally as 17 or 18 year olds) without the ability to communicate with a sizable portion of the team.

A lot of guys can speak English, but just don't feel comfortable doing interviews in English. Who can blame them, with the way the media twists words.

wamco wrote:Trade bait imo

why's that? we could use a shortstop sooner than later. and for cheap.