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Game Threads Game Thread - 4/21 vs. New York Yankees
It all keeps adding up, I think I'm cracking up!

Ivan Nova (1-1, 5.59) toes the rubber for the Yankees. Josh Johnson (0-1, 6.91) will be set to go for the Fightin' Jays at 1:07 p.m. Eastern.
Posted by #2JBrumfield on Sunday, April 21 2013 @ 08:02 AM EDT.
Game Thread - 4/21 vs. New York Yankees | 39 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
JB21 - Sunday, April 21 2013 @ 10:45 AM EDT (#270679) #
Kawasaki leading off, Bautista in RF. Lind back in the lineup as there's room for him aa DH and Lawrie has been moved down to 8th versus the righty.

I'm happy with today's lineup as a whole.
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John Northey - Sunday, April 21 2013 @ 12:32 PM EDT (#270682) #
I really, really hope they pull it off today.  Getting swept by the Yankees when they are playing Vernon Wells, Lyle Overbay and Jayson Nix would just be bad.
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electric carrot - Sunday, April 21 2013 @ 02:28 PM EDT (#270686) #
Best catch I ever saw Vernon make. 
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JB21 - Sunday, April 21 2013 @ 02:49 PM EDT (#270687) #
Best I can remember is Vernon robbing a bomb straight away CF in old Yankee stadium.
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Kasi - Sunday, April 21 2013 @ 03:19 PM EDT (#270689) #
Yeah it is sad to see players we cast off come back and fill in for the Yankees and suddenly become good again. But the problem with this team is none of the parts are clicking. Pitching is improving a bit, but hitting and fielding are still big issues with this team right now. Not sure fielding is fixable given how this roster is constructed.
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Chuck - Sunday, April 21 2013 @ 03:52 PM EDT (#270691) #
Arencibia and John Buck each have 7 HR.
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Kasi - Sunday, April 21 2013 @ 03:52 PM EDT (#270692) #
I think our bullpen is fine (and will be better once Santos returns) and I think Dickey and Beurhle will be fine as well, and Happ will be a good enough 5th starter until Romero/McGowan/etc is fine. But Johnson and Morrow need to start pitching well. Johnson's stuff is fine, he's just not pitching well. Morrow's velocity is a bit down and that is worrisome.
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JB21 - Sunday, April 21 2013 @ 03:54 PM EDT (#270693) #
Obviously today's 4 walk game helps quite a bit but Lind's BB% is almost 20% vs. a K% of 6.5%.
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hypobole - Sunday, April 21 2013 @ 03:59 PM EDT (#270694) #
Lind's .370 OBP is now the highest on the Jays current 25 man.
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mathesond - Sunday, April 21 2013 @ 04:03 PM EDT (#270695) #
I have to say, I am enjoying watching this game.
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JB21 - Sunday, April 21 2013 @ 05:53 PM EDT (#270699) #
Funny how Jose in RF makes everything go a little smoother. Easy to say after a win but everybody is now playing where they should be playing.
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Alex Obal - Sunday, April 21 2013 @ 06:10 PM EDT (#270700) #
Nice win today. I'm just glad I'm not still scratching my head about that 3-2 curveball to Overbay.

This year, David Wright walks up to bat to "I Got 5 On It." I think... I think we have a winner.
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Chuck - Sunday, April 21 2013 @ 06:36 PM EDT (#270701) #
I'm just glad I'm not still scratching my head about that 3-2 curveball to Overbay.

You and me both. Even if it's peak level Lyle Overbay you've got to throw a fastball. Never mind that it's end of his career Lyle Overbay. What an odd, odd choice of pitches. Way too much respect shown to Overbay and Lind today.
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Gerry - Sunday, April 21 2013 @ 07:45 PM EDT (#270703) #
Travis Snider is hitting .357 with a .979 OPS. I am happy to see him have some success.
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Richard S.S. - Sunday, April 21 2013 @ 07:55 PM EDT (#270704) #
Nice to see Lawrie getting his timing slowly back.

As much as the season, so far, is undecided, I'd like to see this team string some wins together. They need to get over .500 first, but it would be a good start.
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rtcaino - Sunday, April 21 2013 @ 10:00 PM EDT (#270706) #
It will be interesting to see if Travis can keep it up.

It has only been 45 PA and he has a .448 BABIP (versus career .322). Otherwise, he is striking out less than his career average (22.2% versus 26.6%) and walking more (13.3% versus 8.0%).
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Mike Green - Sunday, April 21 2013 @ 10:17 PM EDT (#270707) #
Lind's W/K change from last year is outside normal small sample size variation.  He clearly has changed something (eye surgery?, approach at the plate?).  Now if he can hit for medium-range pop while doing this, we will have ourselves a  platoon DH after all.    He hasn't faced a LHP all season, and that is a very good thing.

Today's lineup can be repeated against lefties with Davis subbing for Lind.  Alternatively, you could get fancy by moving Kawasaki down, Davis to the top of the order and Lawrie higher.

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hypobole - Sunday, April 21 2013 @ 11:58 PM EDT (#270709) #
Tracy is doing with Snider pretty well what Gibbons is doing with Lind - only 2 of Travis' 45 PA's have been vs a lefty.
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John Northey - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 06:31 AM EDT (#270713) #
Snider sure has hit well so far - 357/449/524 so far over 49 PA in 17 games.  He has only started vs RH pitchers, with those 3 PA against LHP coming in later innings.  (1 for 2 with a walk - the hit was last night). 

Yeah, that trade had big time risk on it.  Snider might have turned the corner at last.  We'll see as the season progresses though as most players get a good 50 PA stretch at some point.


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John Northey - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 06:44 AM EDT (#270714) #
Interesting waiver wire guy - Hisanori Takahashi.  LH reliever who the Cubs are designating for assignment.  He is 38 and in his 4th ML season.  Lifetime 3.1 BB/9 vs 8.2 K/9 and 1.1 HR/9.  He only pitched 3 innings so far this year giving up 1 HR 2 BB 3 SO.  Might be useful in the pen or to be grabbed and sent to AAA if possible.  Has a $1 million deal for 2013 though so the Jays might just say 'thanks but no thanks'.
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Jonny German - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 07:38 AM EDT (#270715) #
If the Blue Jay pen needs anything it's a righty-killer. It's not just that the pen has 3 lefties in Oliver, Cecil, and Loup, but Janssen and Delabar are also historically better against lefties. Rogers' career splits are slightly better against righties, but in his one good season (2012) he was also significantly better against lefties. Even Santos, should he get healthy, is also a backwards-split guy.

Bring back Octavio Dotel!
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Chuck - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 09:31 AM EDT (#270717) #
Tracy is doing with Snider pretty well what Gibbons is doing with Lind - only 2 of Travis' 45 PA's have been vs a lefty.

The Pirates have three outfielders for the two corner spots. Marte and Tabata, both 24, are RHB and will start against LHP. That, more than anything, is keeping Snider away from the lefties. Snider will have to keep hitting to insinuate his way into the picture against RHP. Tabata has had early career struggles, like Snider, and would appear to be the one losing AB to Snider.

It's interesting that Snider bats second and that his numbers, albeit very early, seem to suggest a change in philosophy to match that spot in the order. He is hitting doubles and drawing walks, playing the role of a table setter. He has yet to homer and has dropped his K rate quite a bit. Maybe the Pirates are telling him to be John Olerud and not worry about being a middle of the order HR threat.
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Mike Green - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 09:47 AM EDT (#270719) #
Snider is so strong that the homers will come without any real effort on his part, provided he is making solid contact.  He's only 25. 
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China fan - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 09:58 AM EDT (#270721) #
Adam Lind is an interesting case. His OBP of .370 is mightily impressive, and he looks even better if you isolate the past 12 games, when Gibbons has begun to use him more selectively. Over those 12 games, Lind has an OBP of .471 and an OPS of .911. If he can sustain those numbers over a season, he's a useful guy to have around -- but he might need a different role in the lineup, because it's not really the ideal for a middle-of-the-order DH type.

If you look at Lind's season as a whole, his power has collapsed. Despite those gaudy OBP numbers, his season OPS is a mere .675 because of a miserable .306 SLG. He's only managed 3 extra-base hits (all doubles) in the entire season.

If Lind is morphing into an on-base machine with no power, he's not an ideal DH. His OBP is somewhat wasted because he has no speed on the bases. He's batting in the middle of the lineup, and his job is to drive in runs. It's weird to see him morphing into a totally different type of player, and I'm not sure how successful it can be as a role transformation in the long run.
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China fan - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 10:26 AM EDT (#270724) #
On another front: I know that a number of Bauxites have wondered about AA's frequent use of the waiver wire, and some have even ridiculed it. I don't have a strong opinion about it, but it's interesting to see the broader debate that it has generated. It's been established that the Jays have used the waiver wire more often than any other team over the past year (the Jays accounted for some 26 per cent of all personnel in waiver claims in that period, either through claiming players or losing players on waivers). And now some pundits are suggesting that the Jays have been getting an unfair advantage by using the waiver process so often. Here's one interesting analysis:

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/04/should-mlb-change-its-waiver-claims-rules.html
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hypobole - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 10:32 AM EDT (#270726) #
CF, how can you say "season as a whole" when Lind has had all of 36 AB's? There are zero conclusions that can be drawn from such a small sample unless it's a continuation of past performance vs RHP's, which it isn't.
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China fan - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 10:41 AM EDT (#270728) #
Yeah, I wasn't drawing any conclusions at all from it, actually. Just talking about possible scenarios if the numbers continue. (Which is what all of us have been doing since Opening Day, in fact, since Batters Box doesn't shut down its website until proper sample sizes are reached.)
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Thomas - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 11:03 AM EDT (#270731) #

I don’t buy the fact that the Jays are gaining an unfair advantage through the team’s frequent use of the waiver wire system. Any team is free to do what the Jays do and I think it’s a good way to add talent around the margins and make the club’s Triple-A team potentially more competitive. Nothing (aside from maybe budgetary consideration in an extreme case) is stopping any other team from doing the same thing.

 

What I am more persuaded by is the fact that the frequent use of the waiver wire system has negative effects to players who are caught in this waiver wire limbo and spend several weeks not playing competitive baseball. If every team used the waiver wire system like Toronto, players like Casper Wells could spend weeks passing from one team to another while not playing (or barely playing) if they are claimed and then sent down within a couple of days. This is clearly not what the waiver wire system was intended for. You could argue that Wells is receiving a major league paycheque during this time, which is to his advantage, or that this is no different from other methods in which players are harmed by team’s rule-abiding behaviour (such as delayed promotions because of service time and arbitration concerns). I’m not sure if there is a problem yet, but if other teams copy Toronto’s approach and players suffer as a result, I can see the merit in adopting a rule change along the lines of those proposed in that post.

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Beyonder - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 11:16 AM EDT (#270732) #
That's an interesting piece on the Jays' "Frivolous" use of the waiver system CF. Have to wonder whether they are making a problem where one doesn't really exist though. After all, the Jays appear to be the only team making such copious use of the waiver wire. It's not a systemic problem, and likely could never become one (it's a strategy that makes sense only when other teams are pursuing a different strategy).

Also have to wonder whether less mobility is better from the players' perspective. Being in limbo on waivers is undoubtedly no fun, but you have to wonder whether it's less fun than being stuck in an organization where you have no shot of making a big league club. Quaere whether the 30 days rule suggested in the article would do anything but strand players in places where they are not being put to their highest use.
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hypobole - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 11:18 AM EDT (#270733) #
If you want to talk Lind, let's talk trends. When he had his strong 2009 he only swung at 25% of pitches outside the strike zone. That jumped the next 2 years - 34.6 on 2010 and 37.1 in 2011. Last year he worked on selectivity and started showing improvement especially as the year wore on ending at 31.3% swings on pitches outside the zone. This year it's at 26.7%. His overall swing% also shows the climb and fall over those years. His contact% was the highest of his career last year and is even better this year.

This year looks, by those numbers, as a continuation of a positive trend. He's had over 10% of his flyballs go for HR's each of the past 6 years. He's still hitting plenty of flies. To me it seems only a matter of pure luck a couple haven't cleared the wall.
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John Northey - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 12:08 PM EDT (#270737) #
I think the big change needed for the waiver wire is the time frame.  Why on earth do you need more than 24 hours to determine if anyone wants someone?  So applied to Wells it would've been put on waivers March 31st, had to be claimed by end of day on April 1st, then if put back on waivers would've been in AAA by end of day April 2nd if unclaimed rather than the process taking a month.  Much more efficient and teams that take naps will miss out.  The 10 day rule (I think that is what it is) was needed back in the 1910's but this is the 2010's and information is instant now so lets catch up and speed up these things.  Just imagine how many more waiver wire claims AA could do then :)
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Gerry - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 12:35 PM EDT (#270738) #
Casper Wells is now an Oakland A.
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85bluejay - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 01:35 PM EDT (#270740) #
Frankly, I'd have rather the Jays traded Davis to Oakland and kept Wells, the better defender especially with Bonifacio on the team . If Kawasaki continues his all round quality play, when Reyes returns, I hope the Jays consider Kawasaki for at least a platoon at 2nd & ship Davis to another team - Bonifacio can be the new Davis.
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92-93 - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 02:16 PM EDT (#270743) #
"His OBP of .370 is mightily impressive, and he looks even better if you isolate the past 12 games, when Gibbons has begun to use him more selectively."

I thought when I read this that it would mean that Lind has stopped facing lefties, but then was surprised to learn Lind hasn't faced a LHP all season.
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China fan - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 02:46 PM EDT (#270744) #
I wasn't actually referring to the handedness of Lind's pitching opponents; I was referring more generally to the fact that Lind ceased to be seen as an everyday player in the mold of an Encarnacion or Cabrera.

Lind played every inning of the first 3 games of the season, and then he began to sit more often. Since April 5, Lind has had only 34 plate appearances, while Encarnacion had 66 PAs and Cabrera had 69 PAs -- twice as many as Lind. And I don't think Gibbons just randomly chose to sit Lind half the time -- I assume he sat Lind to some extent on the basis of the pitching matchup, not just handedness.

Was it a coincidence that Lind began to hit better when he was rested more often? Who knows, the sample size is too small to be certain of anything. But many people have said for the past year or two that Lind should be platooned more often. This year it's happening, and it seems to be helping -- if the trends continue.
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Chuck - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 02:52 PM EDT (#270745) #
Doesn't Lind only sit vs RHP when Bautista is forced to DH? I can't recall if there has been another reason he hasn't been in the starting lineup against a RHP.
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92-93 - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 02:56 PM EDT (#270746) #
I guess I just don't see what you think changed. The team faced 3 RHP to open vs. CLE, so obviously Lind made all 3 starts. Then they faced 2 LHP SP vs. BOS, so Lind sat, as we were told towards the end of spring training he was going to be doing. Lind then sat some games vs. RHP, but that was because he can't play defense and Bautista needed the DH spot. The only game I remember Gibby actually sitting Lind for a reason other than handedness/injuries was vs. Doug Fister, and that was due to Rajai's great numbers vs. Fister over the 30 or so PA. Gibby has been using Lind exactly how he should be, it's beautiful.
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Richard S.S. - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 08:19 PM EDT (#270753) #

Changes to the waiver system are all and good, but moaning about "being lost" in the system is stupid.   Find out what happens to the claimed first.

Guillermo Moscoso was claimed by Cubs.  Alex Burnett was claimed by Baltimore.   Todd Richmond, Dave Bush, Jeremy Jeffress, Edgar Gonzales and Mauro Gomez are in AAA.   Clint Robinson is in AA and Casper Wells was traded to Oakland.   So who's "lost" in the system?

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Thomas - Tuesday, April 23 2013 @ 12:02 PM EDT (#270786) #

Caspar Wells hasn't appeared in a professional game this year, mainly (but not entirely) due to being placed on waivers twice, and most teams have played about 20 games. That's about 1/8th of the season.

Regardless of where he is now, I don't think it's "stupid" to suggest that this may be a cause for concern if incidents like this become a pattern.

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Game Thread - 4/21 vs. New York Yankees | 39 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.