Catching controversy on horizon for Blue Jays?

[Skin Blues]

There were lots of reports and speculation about whether JP would catch the opener. Clearly a lot of people cared and were paying attention to the situation. Whatever it was they thought, based on the WBC (which from what I watched, didn't look like JP was particularly effective with Dickey, but whatever), clearly it was the wrong decision. And a bad sign if this is how he performs when he's still familiar with it. I'd hate to see him when he's rusty, haha.

I mean seriously... they acquired three catchers with the express purpose of catching for Dickey, and they go with the incumbent on Day 1 in front of a packed dome and he mercilessly flops. It was a terrible decision. And when I'm there on Sunday I hope we don't see JP behind the plate again. Luckily I'm pretty sure they learned their lesson.

[akakalakin]

Home Opener you have your starters start, with Lawrie out they had to throw JP in there for the fans sake.

Sunday -Blanco can start more palatable.

JP wasn't the difference anyways, the crapass hitters were and Dickey was subpar.

[Randle McMurphy]

And I know JP is gonna have to catch Dickey at some point. But to force it in game 1 is just silly, and the only possible reason to do it was to please JP and the fans and hope that he didn't screw up too badly. oops.

And the fact that JPA caught Dickey just fine for a month and a half with no problems, of course. But acknowledging that ruins your rather ridiculous premise that the only possible reason to do something like this was to appease JPA and the fans (why they would even care, I'm still not sure).

[Redeemer]

although i never liked jp catching dickey, it see it from a marketing perspective. its the home opener the whole country is watching that game and with the a sold out crowd you have to put in your stars.

[Randle McMurphy]

although i never liked jp catching dickey, it see it from a marketing perspective. its the home opener the whole country is watching that game and with the a sold out crowd you have to put in your stars.

Arencibia isn't a star. He's a below average starting catcher. AA and John Gibbons aren't basing their lineups around marketing.

[Redeemer]

although i never liked jp catching dickey, it see it from a marketing perspective. its the home opener the whole country is watching that game and with the a sold out crowd you have to put in your stars.

Arencibia isn't a star. He's a below average starting catcher. AA and John Gibbons aren't basing their lineups around marketing.

IN TERMS OF THE JAYS ROSTER, he's a star in the fans eyes (not mine, he's trash). what evidence do you have to prove otherwise. move it along wilner game time is coming up.

[Randle McMurphy]

IN TERMS OF THE JAYS ROSTER, he's a star in the fans eyes (not mine, he's trash).

He isn't. Of the most recognized players on this year's team, he falls somewhere behind at least Bautista, Reyes, Lawrie, Dickey, Morrow, Encarnacion, Cabrera, and Johnson. If not a few others. But yeah, I'm sure AA/Gibbons totally had marketing in mind when they set up their opening day lineup.

[Redeemer]

IN TERMS OF THE JAYS ROSTER, he's a star in the fans eyes (not mine, he's trash).

He isn't. Of the most recognized players on this year's team, he falls somewhere behind at least Bautista, Reyes, Lawrie, Dickey, Morrow, Encarnacion, Cabrera, and Johnson. If not a few others. But yeah, I'm sure AA/Gibbons totally had marketing in mind when they set up their opening day lineup.

recognizable to who you? i said typical fan. they would recognize jp out the gate along with lawrie. you can have more than 5 stars on the team you know?

always gotta be right, eh wilner?

[Randle McMurphy]

recognizable to who you? i said typical fan. they would recognize jp out the gate along with lawrie. you can have more than 5 stars on the team you know?

The guy much of the fanbase was clamoring away to trade all offseason is more recognizable than some of the best players in baseball. Makes sense.

always gotta be right, eh wilner?

When I'm defending common sense over baseless, nonsensical theories such as the Jays starting a player for marketing over winning games, yeah, I usually am.

[Redeemer]

so it makes sense your wilner you work within rogers so you must be right. thats fine. you have no idea what the bluejays management wants with this season. your just a fan with an opinion.

[Randle McMurphy]

so it makes sense your wilner you work within rogers so you must be right. thats fine. you have no idea what the bluejays management wants with this season. your just a fan with an opinion.

I've criticized Rogers more than just about anybody on this forum, so no, that makes no sense either.

[Redeemer]

so why would it be absurd that playing jp in the opener be a marketing decision since it is the opening game which is usually viewed by a larger audience compared to the rest of the season? if they lose its one game right? to the canadian fans jp is among the top recognizable with his twitter, winter appearances throughout canada and his last 2 years plus his debut game.

[jaymeister15]

So, at the beginning of Spring the jays openly state there is a good chance JP won't catch Dickey this season....but then JP does a good job catching him during Spring training and the WBC...they then decide to let him start the opener. To me it is pretty clear the decision was based on his performance and the fact they felt he would have no issues.

Honestly not sure how the string of events could lead anyone to believe it was any sort of marketing decision.

[Redeemer]

So, at the beginning of Spring the jays openly state there is a good chance JP won't catch Dickey this season....but then JP does a good job catching him during Spring training and the WBC...they then decide to let him start the opener. To me it is pretty clear the decision was based on his performance and the fact they felt he would have no issues.

Honestly not sure how the string of events could lead anyone to believe it was any sort of marketing decision.

if that was the case why bring up blanco and send down thole? granted thole is a horrible catcher but blanco is 41.

[satyr9]

This thread needs to die too. JP had a terrible night catching Dickey. Why was he starting opening night? Because the Jays thought he could. And they were wrong.

Whatever conspiracy machinations you divine for why they were wrong, they came by them honestly and thought he was good enough. They didn't think, "how great will it be for our club to use a terrible catcher on opening night?" There's no other purpose well-served by JPA looking like a clown on opening night. So move the **** on.

[Skin Blues]

And I know JP is gonna have to catch Dickey at some point. But to force it in game 1 is just silly, and the only possible reason to do it was to please JP and the fans and hope that he didn't screw up too badly. oops.

And the fact that JPA caught Dickey just fine for a month and a half with no problems, of course. But acknowledging that ruins your rather ridiculous premise that the only possible reason to do something like this was to appease JPA and the fans (why they would even care, I'm still not sure).

A month and a half? How many actual games did JP catch for Dickey? I saw one of the WBC games and he was anything but good at catching him.

And why would management care about the players and fans? I don't know. Ask every single manager that ever ignored pitch counts when a guy has a no-hitter going. I know you love John Gibbons and you think he's the ultimate manager, but he makes mistakes. He's already made at least one, and it's gonna happen again, and that's fine. I don't know why something so simple as putting one of the faces of the franchise into the lineup for home opener is such a foreign concept to you. If it was purely a baseball decision then he'd be catching Dickey the majority of the season, right? And we know that sure ain't gonna happen. I could probably count on one hand how many times that battery will be together throughout the season.

[Redeemer]

+1