ST: Game 3- Dodgers vs Blue Jays, July 24, 7:07pm (pg 14)

[Michael Bradley]

These pitchers we got can't seem to hack it in the AL East. When scouting pitchers, it's important that they show legit success against this division. And it has to be more than a small sample size.

Dickey's ERA against the AL East was 1.71 in 42 innings from 2010-12. The problem with him this season has been that his knuckleball velocity is down (whether due to injuries or age is anyone's guess) so he has become more prone to the long ball. Other than that, his strike out rate is almost exactly the same as his 2010-12 rate, and while he is walking a batter more per 9 over his three year splits, it is still a manageable number. The homers are killing him. Ironically, it is the same problem that Josh Johnson is having.

Whether it is due to Skydome, luck, velocity drop, division....who knows. If those rates normalize next season for both pitchers, I'd imagine their seasons would be remarkably better than 2013.

It's also worth mentioning that every pitcher doing worse can at least be somewhat attributed to team defense. I sincerely hope AA starts to value defense this off-season. I guess you have to live with Reyes at short (he won't be moving any time soon), but keeping Lawrie at 3B, getting a good defensive 2B, and upgrading defense at catcher would probably help the rotation as well.

[Schad]

The primary issue is that he's leaving the ball high in the zone far too often, and high knucklers. His groundball rate has been in decline for a couple years, but it's really pronounced this season; he's pretty close to GB/FB parity for the first time since adopting the pitch. It may be related to the velocity drop, simply because missing up with the fast knuckler is less likely to get destroyed, or it might be that his back trouble has him throwing on a downward plane.

Whatever it is, if he can't get people to hit the top half of the ball, he's not going to be terribly useful...vulnerability to the long ball is what has made knucklers rather less effective in the home run era versus their hayday of a generation ago.

[NissinNoodles]

The moment they decided to keep JPA and let go of D'Arnaud, I knew this team is going to **** up. And it did.

No you didn't, stop making sh*t up. Your coming out now because this team has lost 7 in a row. This team is flat out pathetic, but don't make stuff up.

[Randle McMurphy]

Ol Gibby needs to be fired.

Today, tomorrow, end of the season, doesn't matter... I just don't want to see him back next year. Bringing him back was a boneheaded decision, and the first real stain on AA's resume.

I wonder if Colangelo scapegoating Mitchell and Triano while avoiding the real issue ended up working out for him.

[Randle McMurphy]

Maybe it's just the curse of Kawasaki. Seven straight losses since he was sent down.

He should be under consideration for the 25th man/backup infielder role next year. They could do a lot worse.

I also don't want to see AA go out and get a token veteran for "clubhouse presence" next year.

Yep. When people say he is one of the most glorified scrubs.... etc I actually think its the exact opposite.

For all the bench trash this team has sported over the years, Kawasaki actually gets too much hate from some fans and "experts". They could do, have done, and in fact are doing worse than Kawasaki.

At least they seem to have realized Bonifacio shouldn't be starting any longer. Don't know why it took until the ASB to figure it out. Next step is just getting rid of the guy.

[s e n s i]

someone tell buck that there's no such thing as a "free agent draft"

[LittleOzzy]

Ol Gibby needs to be fired.

Today, tomorrow, end of the season, doesn't matter... I just don't want to see him back next year. Bringing him back was a boneheaded decision, and the first real stain on AA's resume.

I wonder if Colangelo scapegoating Mitchell and Triano while avoiding the real issue ended up working out for him.

So this is AA's fault in your opinion?

I thought everyone agreed he had a great off season, the only real question mark going in was Gibby.

[Schad]

So this is AA's fault in your opinion?

I thought everyone agreed he had a great off season, the only real question mark going in was Gibby.

Everyone thought that he had a great offseason, but when you bring in several starters at high cost and end up with a rotation ERA north of 5.00, that's not on the manager. The only thing the manager does with a starter is take them out of the game.

[Randle McMurphy]

Ol Gibby needs to be fired.

Today, tomorrow, end of the season, doesn't matter... I just don't want to see him back next year. Bringing him back was a boneheaded decision, and the first real stain on AA's resume.

I wonder if Colangelo scapegoating Mitchell and Triano while avoiding the real issue ended up working out for him.

So this is AA's fault in your opinion?

I thought everyone agreed he had a great off season, the only real question mark going in was Gibby.

I think it is the players' fault. They're the ones who have underachieved and gotten hurt. But yes, AA is far higher on the pole of responsibility than a manager considering he actually brought those players in.

[Santoki]

I wonder if Colangelo scapegoating Mitchell and Triano while avoiding the real issue ended up working out for him.

So this is AA's fault in your opinion?

I thought everyone agreed he had a great off season, the only real question mark going in was Gibby.

I think it is the players' fault. They're the ones who have underachieved and gotten hurt. But yes, AA is far higher on the pole of responsibility than a manager considering he actually brought those players in.

He also brought in the manager without an interview. This is on AA and the players. Gibbons will be scapegoated but AA isn't far behind. When this window closes, and the team is dead last in the AL, heads will roll. He'll be given a chance, like Colangelo, to come out of this though.

[Randle McMurphy]

He also brought in the manager without an interview.

So? Cito Gaston was also hired by Godfrey/JP without an interview in 2008. What's the point of AA doing it with Gibbons if he knows that is who he wants?

Gibbons will be scapegoated but AA isn't far behind.

Gibbons will likely be scapegoated by the frustrated fans/media who don't know what they're talking about and want to look for an easy target to assign blame. As far as scapegoated by AA, though, I'd consider it doubtful unless Beeston puts pressure on him to bring somebody else in.

[Santoki]

He also brought in the manager without an interview.

So? Cito Gaston was also hired by Godfrey/JP without an interview in 2008. What's the point of AA doing it with Gibbons if he knows that is who he wants?

Gibbons will be scapegoated but AA isn't far behind.

Gibbons will likely be scapegoated by the frustrated fans/media who don't know what they're talking about and want to look for an easy target to assign blame. As far as scapegoated by AA, though, I'd consider it doubtful unless Beeston puts pressure on him to bring somebody else in.

Sure, but Cito is a legend in this city and won two rings. You don't need to interview for a midseason takeover when you've done that. Gibbons was another average manager in a long line of them since Cito's first departure and was strategically hired during the single most important season of AA's tenure and arguably in close to 20 years. They're very different scenarios. AA made it very easy to scapegoat Gibbons if he really needs to. I think Gibby will survive the season and start the next, but at any sign of trouble he's gone.

[Randle McMurphy]

Sure, but Cito is a legend in this city and won two rings. You don't need to interview for a midseason takeover when you've done that. Gibbons was another average manager in a long line of them since Cito's first departure and was strategically hired during the single most important season of AA's tenure and arguably in close to 20 years. They're very different scenarios.

In both cases, the organization targeted the managers they wanted and signed them. And in both cases, their managing styles and tactics were well known to the Jays based on their past experiences with the team. Considering those factors, interviewing either one of them wouldn't have changed anything and would have been quite unnecessary.

Perhaps the biggest difference between the two hirings is that Cito was more of a nostalgia play aimed at the fanbase in a difficult season than anything else, while AA actually very much liked the job Gibbons did in his first run (as many others did who followed his decisions/tactics).

AA made it very easy to scapegoat Gibbons if he really needs to.

Oh, there's no question that it's easy. There's a reason why so many GMs in sports scapegoat managers/coaches when things go wrong. It can often buy GMs another year or two of job security (or in Colangelo's case even longer than that). It doesn't actually solve anything, though, especially when that manager/coach is doing nothing wrong.