Saturday: Tigers @ Jays

[Looogie]

JP has let all depth on this team walk away or paying them to play for other teams.

We're left with a bunch of AAA players now

[davkad]

JP has let all depth on this team walk away or paying them to play for other teams.

We're left with a bunch of AAA players now

as much as i'd like to believe this, it's just simply not true. Lind played great for us today. Janssen, Marcum, Frasor have picked up the slack so far in the middle-relief and set up... this is just another blow save, simple as that! BJ's control has been off so far this year, and maybe he just isn't fully healthy from that back injury! but for the jays to have such good games, fighting to keep that lead after the Tigers kept climbing back... it's just so demoralizing to have one of your top performers blow the game, and have the blame squarely on his shoulders.... BJ will find out soon how quickly the fans in this city can turn on their favorites

[Michael Bradley]

It's too early to bail on Ryan. He has a good history. Barring injury or a complete mental collapse, he should be back to his norm at some point.

With that said, the reason why closers generally don't get contracts like Ryan did is because they are very unpredictable. I said even before the 2006 season that if an internal closer option ever presented itself, that selling high with Ryan would be a practical move. Closers are usually very hard to predict year to year.

Hopefully Ryan's struggles are just temporary.

[davkad]

just to throw some salt into the wounds, i think Hinske just had a stand-up triple

[saturn28]

What is going on with this team blowing todays game. Who is to blame for this shameful lost.

[saturn28]

It's time to start worrying about Bj Ryan. I can't believe how bad he has been this year

[Kid.Canada.23]

Instead of 6-5, we should be 8-3, but BJ has lost 2 games for us now.

At 8-3, we would have been for now, the best team in baseball

[keunganator]

damn i miss spier! he was awesome. BJ is clearly struggling...absolutely unacceptable.

[Raptor_Guy]

The sad thing is that this should've been a blowout. It was a no name pitcher against our 2, we had a 3-0 lead before he even recorded an out! Then eventually they chase him and Leyland brings out the garbage bullpen guy and the Jays kinda sat back and let him cruise along.

The deflating thing (even worse than the Hill miscue) is how Burnett couldn't finish off innings. With a 4-1 lead he gets a K to get him out of a runner on 3rd only 1 out situation, but then gives up a 2 run HR to Inge. Then the next inning with 2 out no one on, he hits Sheffield then gives up a double to Ordonez. If not for those its a different game, its like Burnett thinks, "I'm basicly out of the inning, I just have to throw some strikes and I'm back in the dugout."

I'm not so pumped about this team, they seem like they keep finding ways to lose very winnable games. If we can't win when its our 2 vs their 5 how are they supposed to contend for the playoffs?

[vaff87]

damn i miss spier! he was awesome. BJ is clearly struggling...absolutely unacceptable.

Every player in baseball struggles at times, but it's "absolutely unacceptable" for BJ to struggle? Mariano Rivera seems to go through a crappy stretch where he blows like 3 of 4 saves every year, and he's the best closer of all time.

[Looogie]

Hinske > Stairs

[Holmes]

AJ Burnett should be more the cause of concern than anything. Burnett gets ripped twice by a fairly above average offensive team like Detroit but pitches well in victory over the lowly Royals. If he doesn't pick it up when we play offensive powerhouses like the Yanks, Sox, Sox, Rangers...it's discouraging. Dude has to pick it up.

[jalenrose#5]

Hinske > Stairs

Ditto....what did we get for him anyways??

[Michael Bradley]

-= original quote snipped =-Ditto....what did we get for him anyways??

Nothing. The Red Sox picked up about $3.9 million of Hinske's contract, while the Jays pay the remainder (approx $2.81 million). Hinske was very valuable as a bench player. I understand the Jays wanted to save $3.9 million, but it still hurt the depth on this team considerably. Hinske alone would make Stairs and Smith expendable. Mediocre starter, excellent utility bench player.

[Holmes]

What's compounding the depth problem is the fact there was no adequate signing to replace a replace a body like Frank Catalanotto. Last year we had Johnson and Catalanotto swapping back and forth and always available for pinch hitting or replacements in late innings. This was on top of what we had in the versitile Hinske. Stairs just doesn't work because his best position is DH and he can't even play defense if he were to be on the field.

[The-Insider]

It's unknown to what lies ahead for this club, but if their motives are to be a serious threat in the AL and go as far as winning our division, we need to get on top of these games. I doubt they're going to come into every game with a high level of intensity for the course of 162 games, but now we could be as far as 2 games back down the stretch. These games in April certainly shouldn

[Griff83]

On a good note Lind had a very good day.

When Reed gets back get rid of Fat Stairs and give Lind some much deserved PT.

[Raps_Swingman]

Anyone have any idea whats up with BJ? Was it the missed time in spring training? He doesn't look like himself out there. I never expected to see him blow 2 saves in 1 month.