Gausman's last start was excellent. He faced Oakland and pitched seven innings, one run, four hits. He could be the Jays toughest opponent of the series.

In other earth-shaking news, Tuiasosopo has been traded to the White Sox for cash.

Thats a really wierd trade.

Alejandro Solarte is a big young LHP with presumably some upside, Chambers is a late draft pick who's upside is a 5th outfielder who signed as a free agent this winter.

Luhnow was with STL when Chambers was a prospect, so its not like the Jays might see something the Astros are missing.

Blue Jays did a Press Release on Draft Picks signed. Draft Day 3 Post will have the results.

Depending on how Toronto and New York do this weekend, Toronto has a 4.5 game lead on Baltimore and New York. They can finish this Series plus only one half game on Baltimore or plus eight and a half games on Baltimore. Time for another streak to start, especially with New York on Monday. The next seven games will determine Toronto's future.

yeah, Impossibles, I thought Solarte had some upside too.

we look just as bad at the plate when we're trailing this year as we did last year.

we've just been trailing less.

The next seven games will determine Toronto's future.

Why, is that the end of the season?

Relax, people. Breathe regular. Think of 1993, and how that team lost 12 of 14 at one point, with a smaller divisional lead to work with than this team has.

Eephus' use of the phrase "death spiral" maybe might have encouraged these apocalyptic thoughts.  It would be nice if the club started to play some better baseball nonetheless...

I am not sure who is having the worse night, the Jays offense or Jerry Layne.....cover your eyes.

Nice to see Buehrle pitching well after some early-inning hiccups.

It will be mighty annoying if the Jays end up losing this one 3-1 or 3-2.

Phew - I feel much better knowing that neither of those outcomes will happen.

Hodgie, he's been pretty embarassingly one sided tonight, that's for sure. nice to see the pitch f/x support for my lying eyes.

for those who won't click on the link....

Orioles Pitching: 11 balls called strikes, 0 strikes called balls

Jays Pitching: 2 balls called strikes, 2 strikes called balls


this in a matchup of control specialist veteran Buehrle vs. command-challenged rookie Gausman, no less.

It looks like Britton got a couple more.  Oh well.  This one was better than most of the recent losses...

The umpiring tonight didn't help matters for the Jays.

http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/zoneTrack.php?month=6&day=12&year=2014&game=gid_2014_06_12_tormlb_balmlb_1/&prevDate=0612

Final count:

BAL: 16 balls called strikes, 0 strikes called balls
TOR: 2 balls called strikes, 2 strikes called balls

with no exaggeration, that might be the most lopsided zone I've ever seen on brooksbaseball.

If you get a minimum of:
1) One stolen Base and no caught stealing;
2) 3 Bases on balls;
3) 10 hits with three for extra bases (HRs not necessary);
you will win most games; if,
5) Starter doesn't bury you, max 3 runs;
6) Relief doesn't forget how to pitch, max 1 run.

If you get better pitching you might get by with a little less offense. If you get better offense the pitching might not be quite as good. You should still win a lot of games.

Everyone seems to be trying to do more than the situation requires. Get on, get over, get in. It's easier than they think.

It will be interesting to see how the trade market shapes up. Will the Jays have the pieces necessary to acquire the player(s) they need? I imagine teams will be interested in Stroman and Hutchison (as was reportedly the case with the Cubs in the Shark talks), but the Jays probably shoukdn't be moving those players.And while I'm sure lots of teams would like to have Sanchez in their system, he might not be enough to bring in the kind of player the Jays want/need. And I doubt the Jays will want to overpay by shipping off their best A-ball prospects.

I guess we'll see how it all goes down. But just as I predicted AA would have a tough time acquiring players in the off-season, I could see some similar impediments to a major upgrade in July. At least we know that AA is being picky about finding the right deal.

Should the Jays be thinking about upgrading at catcher?

I think Cameron mentioned Carlos Ruiz as a potential fit in the trade market for the Jays.

Ruiz is a good hitting catcher but...
1) $8.5 mil this year and for each of the next 2 years with a $4.5 mil option or $500k buyout for 2017
2) He is 35

Might be worth it, but odds are the Jays would want to dump salary or get cash relief from the Phillies.  They are a very expensive team which is 9 games sub 500 6 1/2 back of 1st and 5 1/2 out of the wild card race. 

Perfect world Rogers says 'go for it' and the Jays get Cliff Lee and Ruiz out of Philly and see payroll jump or con them into taking Morrow & Romero as salary relief in the trade.  Santos is the only other real anchor on the finances (ie: not producing and costing a lot).  It'd be a heck of a risk but boy would it be exciting.  Don't see it happening though.

When Navarro was hitting well, thru the beginning of May, everyone was raving about what a stabilising influence he was on the pitching staff. Has that changed now that his batting line for the season is in line with his career rates? Did the Blue Jays sign him thinking his 266 PA in 2013 represented a sustainable major step forward in his offensive game?

All of which is to say I don't think Navarro has under performed to any significant degree and and I don't think acquiring another catcher is something this team should be considering. I do think they should do the obvious and simple things of giving Thole 1 more start per week and shipping Kratz back to Buffalo. Kawasaki would be my choice for that roster spot, but I'd also be fine with Diaz or Goins.

What I do hope Anthopolous is doing in regards to trades is gauging the market to see if Lind or Francisco have significant value. One can't argue with how the Francisco - Tolleson platoon has performed thus far, but it seems foolhardy to count on it continuing as well as it has - Tolleson hitting, Francisco not killing the team on defence, Lawrie not getting hurt turning the DP. If Lind or Francisco can make the difference towards getting an impact starter or solid second baseman the team should pull the trigger.

Many trades at the deadlines will be pure salary dumps. Hopefully, the Jays will have money to invest. Don't the playoffs generate revenues?

Toronto drew approximately 2.5 million fans to the Park last year. Earlier this year Beeston was talking about how attendance was down.

As of the June 11th Game, Toronto's attendance went 40,299 fans short of having one million fans attending. They have a three-game set with NYY, Monday the 23rd - Wednesday the 25th. That should bring in 100,000 or more fans. Then they have a four-game set with Chicago WS, Thursday the 26th - Sunday the 29th. That should bring in 120,000 or more fans.

By month end, Toronto should be at least halfway to 2.5 million fans. I expect that by mid-to-late August, the Jays will exceed two million fans.

Even the "Big Wigs" should be able to figure that out, so I fully expect the finances to be there.

Right now it is hard to say what the Jays need most.  A #1 starter of course would be nice (thus the 'wouldn't Cliff Lee be nice' bit). 

• Navarro is down to a 78 OPS+ which is the lowest of any regular by a good margin (outside of Gose I guess if you count him as 'regular' for now).  Brett Lawrie is the only other guy with 100+ PA and a sub 100 OPS+ (at 94 now).  So the lineup is pretty solid.
• Rotation sees ERA+'s of 179, 97, 103, 94, 80 for Buehrle, Dickey, Hutchison, Happ, Stroman respectively.  Getting a guy like Lee would sure push it to the next level, allowing Happ or Stroman to be moved to the pen or minors or elsewhere.
• The pen is solid with Janssen, McGowan, Loup, Cecil.  Delabar worries me a bit, Redmond has good stats but never seems to do well when it matters, the 7th slot is now a rotating one with lots of decent but nothing great options.  Not a big worry area.

So for now AA is smart to keep ready but not to pull the trigger unless forced or a wonderful deal shows up.  No glaring weaknesses, just a desire for another ace for the rotation.  Keep ready for Francisco or Tolleson coming back to earth or for an injury I'd say - then a quick trade would be very useful.  Rasmus should be back soon, Morrow I don't know what the Jays should do with.  A better RH DH to mix with Lind would be nice instead of having Kratz here but again, not a critical piece.

Francisco is now at about sea level.  His IsoP is at .295, well above his career norms but consistent with his observed power and age improvement.  His W rate is now at 9%, a little higher than his career norm.  His K rate is at his career norm.  His BABIP is .312, a little above his career norm.  It all adds up to .245/.321/.540.  He's been playing decent enough defence at third base.

Navarro's 2014 line against RHP is consistent with his career norms, but his line against LHP is missing all of his power.  In his career, Navarro has had significant power from the right side- 31 doubles and 25 homers in 642 at-bats.  This year it's 2 doubles and 1 homer in 65 at-bats.  It might be pure fluke in the same way that last year's line was fluke.  I wouldn't be trying to acquire a catcher. I concur with Jonny about needs and assets.

The Jays have the 2nd biggest drop in attendance in the majors with just 3 more games to the mid-point.  4,113 fans a game less than last year at this time (152k fewer overall).  Why? Because of the horrid season last year stopping people from pre-ordering this year I suspect.  31,316 per game last year overall.  This year 8 times so far over 40k, last year 11 times by now.  The summer is the big time - if the Jays can hold onto first and without the election eating up the media time they might see crowds start to grow.  Often when the Jays do well they take over the front page of the Sun and get tons of free advertising - that will hopefully happen again and the fans will start coming.  The big condition is not to go into a deep swoon now.  Win 5 of the 9 games left on this road trip and they should be OK, do better and 'woohoo'.  The late June mid-week series vs the Yankees should see 30k+ each game, then hopefully big end of June crowds for the ChiSox and July 1st vs the Brewers and the Jays will be looking good to Rogers for extra cash. 

First place in July should make it happen, not to mention how it'd make all of us very happy too :)

John, congratulations on finishing 4th in your constituency in the Ontario election -- and for beating the Libertarian candidate!  (I think ZiPS was predicting a 5th-place finish, but your peripherals were excellent and your FanGraphs WAR was impressive.)

I'm always impressed when people are civic-minded enough to volunteer their time for a cause, even when they know they are unlikely to topple the established political parties. 

Seconded, CF.  And the voter turnout province-wide was up noticeably.  Now about this minor bad spell that the home nine is going through?  That too shall pass.

From April 8th (included) to April 19th (included), the Jays were in First Place or tied for First 7 out of 11 Games. On May 20th, the Jays tied for First again, but took over sole position of First Place on the 21st. That has continued for 22 straight games.

They presently have a 3.5 game lead over both Baltimore and New York. Detroit leads by 2.5 games over Kansas City. Oakland leads 3.5 games over L.A. Angels. Washington leads by 1 game over both Atlanta and Miami. Milwaukee leads by 5.5 games over St. Louis. While San Francisco leads by 8.5 over L.A. Dodgers.

This set over Baltimore (3 more games) and then 3 games at New York will have a lot to say about how this Season goes. Toronto is better than both those Teams, they just have to play better.

Thanks for the kind words about the election.  I more than doubled the vote for Greens up here which feels good, although I was briefly up to 9% in the local polls (finished at 3.4%) I feared the fear campaign would suck votes from me to the Liberal and it did (he had his best result every by a mile).  You learn a lot when you run, and see that often the candidates are good to each other behind the scenes before going full out when in front of the cameras.

As to the Jays - this is a big, big week.  The next games vs Baltimore and NYY could shift things from being a winner to being back to a 500 team.  Perception is important and with the election over the front pages of the papers are ready for the Jays to fill them with (hopefully) good news.  Publicity wise this would be a perfect time for someone to do something amazing for the Jays (3 HR game, near no-hitter, whatever).

The bats have to wake up but a strong outing by hutch (on normal rest!) would quiet all the panic about him recently.

It's funny - any other team getting this kind of performance from two 23yr old SP with stellar milb track records and clear bigleague stuff would be celebrated for their youth movement.....yet for some reason these two are being portrayed as big weaknesses on our team.

Morosi wrote an article today extolling the virtues of jimenez/norris/tillman/gonzalez as compared to the jays.....not because they are good or anything, but just because they are in their "prime years". Bizarre.

This is a non-home Start for Hutch, these he does well in.

What do the Jays need at the deadline? Chase Utley.

They can probably get away with hoping that Santos and Delabar figure things out in the pen, especially if Jenkins proves to be a solid relief option, but I don't know how much longer they can get away with Lawrie at 2B and Francisco/Tolleson platooning. Utley would turn the lineup into elite status, and I think that would put the Jays ahead without even adding anyone else. Any pitcher they could possibly acquire at the deadline wouldn't be as big of an upgrade as Utley at 2B.

Although, with no-trade clauses and payroll uncertainty, etc, who knows what is realistic and what isn't.

Utley would be excellent for this year but… he’s got $15M coming to him next year (or $10M if he spends more than 15 days on the DL with a knee injury this season), and then vesting options for 2016-2017-2018 that pay him $15M per year if he makes 500 PA the previous season. That’s through age 39.

Sounds too rich for me.

".....It's funny - any other team getting this kind of performance from two 23yr old SP with stellar milb track records and clear bigleague stuff would be celebrated for their youth movement.....yet for some reason these two are being portrayed as big weaknesses on our team...."

I'm not sure if I'm one of the fans that you're referring to in this comment, but I should clarify:  I'm a big fan of Hutchison too, and I agree that he's been one of the best pitchers on the team this year.  At his age, to be doing what he's doing this year is extremely impressive.  And I have high hopes for him in the future.  I certainly don't see him as a "big weakness" at all, and I don't see any Bauxites portraying him as a "big weakness" either.  The only potential issues are his long-term recovery from TJ surgery, the limits on his innings this year, and the statistical indication that he does better (with some exceptions) in games when he has additional rest.  We saw how McGowan suffered as a starter this year, and how he's much better as a reliever than a starter -- partly for health reasons.  And I hasten to add that I'm not suggesting that the same is true of Hutchison at all.  I'm just suggesting that Hutchison is not yet at the same level of heath as a Buehrle or Dickey and he might not be able to pitch at a high level of endurance every 5 days for the entire season.  That seems a reasonable point to discuss and monitor.  Hutchison only pitched 35 innings last year, plus the extended games in Florida in the first half of the year and the Arizona games at the end.  It seems reasonable to wonder how many innings he'll be able to pitch at a high level this year, and whether the Jays should do anything to give him additional days of rest.

What do the Jays need at the deadline? Chase Utley.

I sure wouldn't sneeze at Chase Utley if he became a Blue Jay.  That does seem like an upgrade and I like Laurie a lot more at third base than 2nd at this stage in his career.  (I want him to focus most on hitting.)  Also, I agree the platoon we've been playing so far is unlikely to continue to cede the results it has so far. 

Still, it seems clear to me at least that the thing the blue jays would most benefit from is a #1 or #2 starter in the Cliff Lee, Jeff Samardzija model.  Let's be realistic, this team doesn't really have a lights out starter.  Buehrle has been great but my guess is the rest of the year will look more like a normal Buehrle year than the what he's shown so far this year.  I think Happ is best suited as a #6 or long relief guy who starts in a pinch or when I guy goes down. 

The offense is great.  The starting pitching looks shaky.  Let's address that.

China I was referring to the baseball media at large, not the fans.

Why do these guys make struggling Pitchers look like "Cy Young"? 1st and 3rd with no one out and you get nothing. People shouldn't get paid for this.

Francisco is now at about sea level

The sea level just rose a couple of feet.

The incompetence behind the plate is quickly becoming absurd in this series. I didn't think the strike zone could be more one-sided than last night, apparently I was wrong.

Compare and Contrast:

Drew Hutchison v. Dave Steib

GO!

I before e especially in "slider" and "Stieb".  Hutchison is intense, but a long ways from Stieb.

facial hair, wideload stance, slider, temper, cockiness....I like it.

That was satisfying.  I hope Cecil's OK.

I'd be surprised if he's OK.

Not a bad night for Gose.

And if you get great pitching (see earlier post), you need very little offense to win.

At least Dickey likes to pitch at home.

Stieb was fiery & showed it. He had a glare & stomped about a lot.
Key was very cool, he never lost it IMO.
Both Stieb & Key believed in themselves. I am quite sure Hutch also believes in himself.
I always thought of both Stieb & Key as Aces. I think Hutch can also become an Ace.

Bud Norris has larger than usual platoon splits.  If you had a left-handed middle infielder on the bench, it would have been a good time to give Brett Lawrie a day off.  You could give Edwin Encarnacion a day off, DH Navarro and let Lind play first base; somehow, I don't think that is going to happen.

i too noticed the similarities between Hutchison and Stieb. But Sir David was more demonstrative on the mound - he led the league in rosin bags slammed to the ground after base hits. Hutchison has the same intensity, but seems to use it to increase his focus.

Another comparison would be with Hentgen, who also seemed to enjoy the competition and who didn't seem afraid of major league batters.

Hutchison looks really good out there. If he keeps this up, he's going to make millions in this game.

Sergio Santos has been activated. No corresponding move yet, they are probably waiting for a report on Cecil.

I'm just suggesting that Hutchison is not yet at the same level of heath as a Buehrle or Dickey and he might not be able to pitch at a high level of endurance every 5 days for the entire season.

Since leaving high school, Hutchison has pitched more than 100 innings in a season exactly once, and that was 149.1 back in 2011 . So, yes - this is an extremely valid thing to be wondering about.

Hutchison doesn't remind me of Stieb at all, not even a little bit. Probably because they're built so differently, I suppose. But Stieb also made Hutchison look positively mellow out there. Stieb always looked like he'd just finished a pot of really, really strong coffee.

Lawrie doesn't get the day off but lots of leftys in there. Mastroianni is being sent down I believe, as he's not on the lineup card and Cecil is.

I was surprised to see that Mastro still has options.  Cecil's injury is apparently improved today, and he could be ready to return to the bullpen in the next day or two, so I guess they didn't want to DL him, and the 8th reliever was needed for a couple days at least.  I hope Santos gets only low-leverage situations for a few games, until Gibbons can assess whether he is trustworthy or not.  Jenkins has pitched well, but I suppose he is next to be demoted (to make room for Rasmus) if Santos and Cecil are fine.  Unless the Jays finally decide to end the three-catcher situation.

If Francisco takes off when the ball gets by the catcher rather than hesitating, he makes it to first base.  He's a pretty miserable time of it today.

When the Jays don't have the lead, they seldom win, but I think when they lose the lead, they come back to win even less.

Rivera's decision to send Bautista turned out pretty badly.  It did take a great relay from Hardy to do it. 

Swinging at the first pitch is stupid, how do you know what he's throwing?

Dickey and Lind, who goes on the D.L.?

Swinging at the first pitch is stupid, how do you know what he's throwing?

Have to disagree. It depends on the pitch. If it is a good pitch to hit then players should swing. This is a game of percentages, and hitters have higher chance of recording hits if they swing at pitches in the middle of the plate regardless of count.

AL: swinging at first pitch: 270/292/426
AL: taking first pitch: 247/330/381

AL: plate appearance ends on first pitch: 351/357/561

All hitters swing at the first pitch at least sometimes. Because if they never did, all they would find out is the first pitch will always be a fastball right down the middle.

Stats, always getting in the way of great arguments.

Good thing nobody told this guy swinging at the first pitch is stupid. I remember reading a study about the myth of taking the first pitch and he had the highest swing % on first pitches in a particular 10 year period (02-12).

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/guerrvl01.shtml

REALLY! Toronto is famous for killing any type of rally by swinging at the first pitch when they need it to be successful. If you were watching the game, you don't need the crutch of stats to help you understand what you are seeing.

The previous 8 games Toronto has been out homered 9-3, outscored 32-15. Out-Pitched and Out-Hit they won Two games. Prior to these last 8 Games, the Jays had a six game lead on their division. At the close of the day they lead Baltimore by 3.5 and New York either 2.5 or 3.5. New York plays in Oakland this weekend. Oakland was 2-hit last night.

It's called a slump. It happens.

Hitters always post impressive numbers swinging at the first pitch, because no one ever strikes out on the first pitch. Nevertheless, the alpha and omega of hitting is, and always will be, "get a good pitch to hit." Most major league hitters are fastball hitters, and an awful lot of pitchers just want to get ahead of the hitter with a first pitch fastball. So if you see a good pitch to hit on the first pitch, you're well advised to take a whack at it. If you let it go, and let the pitcher get ahead in the count, you're sure not likely to get something better to swing at anytime soon. The pitcher's going to try to drop some nasty breaking ball in on the 0-1 pitch, and the next thing you know, you're behind 0-2 and just trying to survive.

The Jays are indeed 3.5 games ahead as New York lost. Right now the Jays are the fourth-best Team in all of baseball, while 1.5 games back are the L.A. Angels.

The frustration arises from realising how much better they should be. Then looking at the issues the Jays have frustrates you even more.

If they Jays are leading within the first three innings, they usually win. If they need to come back early in the game, they usually do. If they are not leading within the first three innings, they win much less. If they need to come back after the early innings, they seldom do. If they need to come back more than once, they rarely win.

Until the Jays can resolve this issue, the difficulty remains. They could be 1 - 15 games better, perhaps more. This is not the only issue.

They could be 1 - 15 games better, perhaps more.

They are 40-30 but could well be 55-15 were it not for their "issues"? 55-15 is a 127-win pace. That seems reasonable and not, I don't know, delusional?

It's frustrating  that they're not hitting those sac flys when they have the chance.

Lind is having x-rays and is out of the lineup today. Curious to see if they use a catcher to DH.

In about 1 month when people start thinking about the trade deadline maybe we can discuss some oddities.
1) Doyle Alexander was traded Toronto to Atlanta for Dwayne Ward. He was also traded from Atlanta to Detroit for John Smolz. I think everyone was happy AND all the parts were very significant.
2) David Cone. That worked out sort of OK. Jays win & Mets?
3) Jose Bautista. Minor deal but today would anyone give up any 1 single player in the whole Jays organization that year for him. Who?

They are 40-30 but could well be 55-15 were it not for their "issues"?

Perhaps more! They could be 70 - 0 if they had ZERO issues!

Given this roster and health situation, i'd say the jays' record is right about exactly what it should be, and what we should expect going forward.

Curious to see if they use a catcher to DH.

They do indeed:

6 Reyes
7 Cabrera
9 Bautista
3 Encarnacion
5 Lawrie
0 Navarro
2 Kratz
4 Tolleson
8 Gose

I'm a bit surprised they're benching Francisco on a day that Lind is also out, but I approve.

It's frustrating that they're not hitting those sac flys when they have the chance.

The numbers do in fact bear this out. With fewer than 2 outs and a man on 3rd, the Jays hit a SF in 8% of their plate appearances whereas the AL as a whole is at 14%.

However, the Jays are out-hitting the AL in those situations: 354/418/513 vs. 331/361/493. So that presumably offsets the SF deficiency.

"....Toronto is famous for killing any type of rally by swinging at the first pitch when they need it to be successful...."

I have the opposite impression, at least for the 2014 season.  My impression is that the Jays hitters have been relatively patient, waiting for the right pitch to hit, extending their ABs by patiently working the count and fouling pitches off and getting more walks than previously.  It's as if Jose Bautista's patient OBP skills have translated down the lineup to other hitters (if not quite to the same extent).  But I'm sure this can be quantified.  I'm not sure exactly where to find the stats, but do the Jays have more walks at this point in 2014 than at the same point of previous seasons?  And are they seeing more pitches per plate appearance?  Maybe my impression is wrong, but I have a feeling that the Jays have taken more pitches in 2014 than in previous recent seasons.

It looks increasingly likely that Adam Lind will need to go on the DL.  Is this a chance for the Jays to see what they've got in Dan Johnson?  (His OPS in Buffalo is .933.)  Or should they promote someone with a greater level of defensive ability, like Pillar or Goedert?   Or is it even a chance to promote a Goins or Kawasaki, and instead use the DH slot for a rotating cast of hitters such as Bautista who might need a breather from the field?

would be odd for Lind to go on the DL with a bruise.

unless the x-rays were wrong.

ya, china's right, the jays certainly don't hack at the first pitch more than most teams do.

can't find first pitch swing rates but I can hack pitches/plate appearnace from mlb.com:


AL PC/PA:

1 MIN 4.09
2 BOS 4.04
3 NYY 3.95
4 OAK 3.93
5 CLE 3.92
6 HOU 3.89
7 TOR 3.87
8 TBR 3.87
9 CHX 3.86
10 LAA 3.85
11 DET 3.84
12 TEX 3.81
13 SEA 3.78
14 KCR 3.73
15 BAL 3.70

Thanks, ugly.  So the Jays are middle-of-the-pack when it comes to taking pitches.  I assume that's better than previous years, when they did indeed have the "grip-and-rip" reputation of over-eager hitting.

As for Lind: it might be just a bruise, but he's on crutches today, and had a second X-ray because the pain was getting worse today.  Some reporters saying he's likely to go on the DL.  But traditionally the Jays don't DL their hitters unless they absolutely have to do so, even if it means carrying an unavailable hitter on the bench for 2 or 3 games.  So that could still happen.

seecond xray is bad news.

though a DL stint would open up a spot to give Dan Johnson a try. He's been just awesome this year in AAA. fantastic plate discipline numbers and a whole lotta power.

1B D.Johnson (34): 279pa, 17.9bb%, 14.7k%, .276babip, .277/.412/.536/.948ops, .422woba, 164wrc+

It would have been possible to send Jenkins back, but there is no first baseman on the roster.

Dan Johnson is out of option so would probably be lost once Lind returns...

McDade? Might have been fun for a day. I'm guessing they don't have a uniform that fits.

What I'm referring to occurred more noticeably these last 8 games. Small sample to be sure, but is it a start of something bad?

I'd think they'd put Adam on the DL if they had an easy callup. Without one, they'll give him another day or two before deciding. Juan Francisco is listed as 1B/3B.

I think the obvious choice with Lind going to the DL is to call up Kawasaki or Goins. Put Francisco's glove on the shelf and have him DH against righties, let Lawrie play third full time, and run a more traditional platoon at second.

do we really want to go back to that defensive setup? it didn't work at all for us last time we tried it.


p.s. Happ continues to be Happ. Solid back of the rotation starter. Still don't quite understand all the criticism of the Jays' rotation going forward.

I agree with ugly about the rotation.  Even in a mini-slump like this one (the Jays having lost 6 of the past 10 games entering today), the pitching has continued to be pretty good.  The Jays pitchers have allowed only 3.6 runs per game over those same past 10 games.  It's been the hitters, not the pitchers, who have slumped.  That's good news, in my view, because the hitters will inevitably bounce back, and the pitching is crucial.  The Jays season will depend on its pitching, and they'll do as well as the pitching allows, and the pitching this year has been much improved. 

Pitching is fine. Hitting is a bit of an issue lately. I much prefer Kratz and Happ as a battery, as opposed to putting Navarro in. I much prefer Buehrle and Navarro as a battery, they work so very well together. Let Thole and Kratz catch their men and DH two games and let Navarro catch three games - until Lind is back hitting.

Percentage of Plate Appearances with the batter swinging at the 1st pitch:

Hou 30.4%
Sea 30.0%
Bal 29.7%
CHW 28.5%
Det 27.8%
TBR 26.8%
NYY 26.2%
KCR 25.9%
Oak 25.4%
Cle 24.7%
LAA 24.4%
Tor 24.0%
Tex 23.6%
Bos 21.0%
Min 20.7%
Average 25.9%

For the Jays, it's about once an inning where a player swings at the 1st pitch of a plate appearance.

we deserved to lose the STL and MIN series, but I think we deserved better than a tie in this BAL series. we played pretty well, won two games fairly comfortable, and lost two very tight games.....and in that first loss pretty much got completely screwed by the homeplate ump.

If 2 series losses and a tie is the extent of our "slump", we should be pretty happy.

This Yanks series is some interesting pitching matchups. Both teams have their best starters going (Buehrle and Tanaka), and also their two younger, unproven, but next most effective SP this too (Stroman/Hutch, Whitley/Phelps).

For the Jays, it's about once an inning where a player swings at the 1st pitch of a plate appearance.

Of course, hitting into a double play or being part of a rally kill more than once in a game is much too much.

Finish June 6th, 6 games ahead. Over the next nine, go 3-6 and finish June 15th, 4.5 games up (Yankees are getting beaten 10-0 through 5.0 complete).

It's not so much the Starters, they're doing all right. It's not the Defense because they are playing well enough. It's not the Relievers as they are effective . Lack of consistent effort on Offense might be closer, but not the entire issue. Going away from what works is part of it as I think Teams are making adjustments. Trying to hit HRs instead of hitting well and letting them come is another part of it. It's just so hard to explain.

Umpiring issues have always be a Toronto problem, even when the Expos were still around.

Happ back to good Happ today with Kratz behind the plate.

Happ really delivered today in an important game for the Jays.

Yeah, Happ and Kratz are an item.

I though Thole would have been the obvious choice to DH, but Navarro stole the show.

The Blue Jays have just finished the first of two spells of 13 games in a row.  They went 7-6 against the Tigers, Cardinals, Twins and Orioles with 7 games on the road.  That has to be considered pretty decent performance.  Better yet, they emerged with their pitching staff looking better than at any time in the year.  The second spell has Yankees, Reds, Yankees, White Sox, and this time there are 7 games at home.  Stroman, Buehrle and Hutchison (probably) will get the extra starts in this set. Eight wins would be a good target for this set, which will take them past the halfway point for the season. 

I have been very impressed with Gibbons' handling of the bullpen during this stretch.  Today, he didn't hesitate to take out Happ who was still ptiching well because it made sense in the game situation- a runner on first and Hardy up.  He then left McGowan in for more than an inning and same with Janssen, given the day off tomorrow.  Perfect.

As for roster composition, let's assume that the club does decide to DL Lind and that Cecil and Dickey are good to go in NY.  I'd call up a left-handed middle infielder, and use Francisco as the DH (in a platoon with either Navarro/Kratz).  When Rasmus is ready, I would keep Gose up (and send down a reliever) until Pillar can be recalled. 

As of this game Toronto has the second biggest Division lead in all of Baseball with their 4.5 game lead. San Francisco has a 6.5 game lead. Does anyone doubt that this is Toronto's year? All they have to do is grab opportunity by the throat and never let go.

"Still don't quite understand all the criticism of the Jays' rotation going forward."

Probably because you're confusing criticism with skepticism about the rotation's ability to hold up over the course of a season. Such skepticism is warranted when you have a rotation with Dickey & Buehrle and then 3 arms that have never withstood 32 starts in a season.

Tomorrow's off day comes at a very good time. It might be small, but there's some value in the Jays having played 70 games already whereas BAL & NYY have dealt with early rainouts and are only at 67; their schedules will be a little more condensed down the stretch which provides less of an opportunity to roll your best 9 at all times.

Gose has been atrocious at the plate for over 2 weeks now, so it will be quite swell having Rasmus back in the lineup, especially with Lind hurting and Francisco regressing. They need that lefty thump to lengthen the lineup.

If Gibbons is ever looking to shake things up offensively, I'd suggest bumping Bautista back up to the #2 spot and having Melky hit lower down in the order. Melky just doesn't get on base or run well enough to hit in front of the boppers, so when he isn't red hot like he was in April it can have an effect on the top of the order's production.

"....Gose has been atrocious at the plate for over 2 weeks now...."

That's true.  Since May 30, his OPS is a miserable .445 (not counting yesterday).  But, for what it's worth, let's acknowledge that he had a very good series against Baltimore. In four games against tough pitching, he managed to get on base 6 times in 13 plate appearances.  He was walking, bunting nicely, sacrificing, etc.  He'll never be a power hitter, but he had a superb OBP against Baltimore, and that's what the Jays want from him.  He doesn't need to drive anyone in, he just needs to get on base for the top of the order to drive him in.  (His defence was very good against Baltimore too.)  Of course a good 4-game series doesn't mean that he's "turned it around" or "figured it out" but it does offer a glimmer of hope.  Rasmus is still a significant upgrade over Gose, but I'm optimistic that Gose could still deserve a starting job in the OF at some future point.  When Rasmus returns, it will be interesting to see if the Jays prefer to have Gose or Mastroianni or Pillar as the 4th outfielder.

Mastro has  been atrocious at the plate this year. (13 AB, 6 SO, 1BB 0H)

They might just keep Gose for a bit and switch him when he doesn't get enough play time. I hope they don't go for the 8 man bullpen in Cincinnati.

Just did a bit of digging and the Jays ratings are still solid - weekend vs the Royals had 598k, 549k, and 480k viewers... behind playoff hockey but well ahead of all other sports.  That was end of May/Start of June weekend.  Hard to find these numbers online - I'm sure there is a good source somewhere.  Last year averaged around 520k a game.

Mastro has been atrocious at the plate this year. (13 AB, 6 SO, 1BB 0H)

Are you seriously citing Mastro's 14 MLB plate appearances as the indication of what kind of year he's having, ignoring his 231 PA in AAA? Seriously?

Regarding ratings, I saw from Sportsnet twitter they pulled over 800k during the Rays series...and 996k for the Friday game against St. Louis. Haven't seen the #'s since then.

If Lind hits the DL, I'm in the Goins/Tolleson platoon camp, with Frank DHing v RHP.

Should be an interesting series versus the Yankees.

I didn't think Gose looked good defensively in Baltimore.  I thought that he was tentative on balls in front of him, overthrew the cutoff man and generally was not at his most focused.  At the plate, on the other hand, he looked better than he had in weeks.  I liked the bunts, but I also liked the ball ripped of the wall in right. 

T.V, attendance/viewership is good so overall numbers seem to be picking up. Or at least no one in the Big Office is complaining about it. Fan Attendance is 40,299 short of one million fans with 7 home games left; 23rd-25th June NYY and 26th-29th June CWS. And Schools are out. Attendance at 1.25 Million at month's end?

The Team is doing well, 4.5 game lead in Standings. Dickey's health is a concern, as this is his first groin pull. He thinks he'll make his next start. Lind is more significant, but I doubt any move gets made before arriving in New York.

I'm still undecided on any moves to be made, but will hold judgement until I know more.

"....I didn't think Gose looked good defensively in Baltimore..."

I suppose it's a subjective assessment, and maybe there was a miscue or two that I didn't notice.  But Gose robbed Adam Jones of a likely double or triple in the first inning yesterday, and he hauled in a couple of warning-track drives in the later innings that could have been trouble.  I don't think we need to worry too much about his defence.

I've been critical of gose this year, but i agree he looked good at the plate this series, and i was impressed that he bounced back a bit from that awful stretch, instead of just continuing a steady slide down. He's having legit quality at bats regularly, and is starting to make some hard contact. I'm still not a believer in that "bored in AAA" story...but i want to be.

Tony Gwinn has passed away today at age 54.

That's terrible.  Gwynn was a great hitter.  How many ballplayers hit .300 every year from age 23 to age 41?  Carew didn't do that.  Ted Williams didn't do that.  Stan Musial didn't do that.  The only player I could find who did was Ty Cobb.  To do it in an age when strikeouts were at an all-time high was awfully impressive.

Something I read today after hearing the terribly sad news.

Tony Gwynn faced Greg Maddux 107 times in his career (more than any other pitcher) and hit .415 with 0 k's. Maddux never struck him out once.

Another one, he had 287 career AB's vs. Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz. He hit .381 with 3's k's.

54 is WAY WAY WAY too young. Very sad.

Maddux walked him 11 times, including 7 times intentionally.

The only great pitcher who fared really well against him was Dwight Gooden, who held him to .243/.312/.314.  Gwynn walked 7 times and struck out 6 against Dr. K in 77 PAs. Ryan did pretty well too- .302/.328/.333.  Everyone else- Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz, Hershiser, Drabek, Tudor, Schilling- who faced him 40 times or more- got hit.  It's a nice example of good hitting defeating good pitching more often than not. 

I think Gwynn might have hit .400 in the strike year. He was hitting .394 when the strike was called.

Gwynn was among the group of players that kept me watching inter-league play. In his prime he was little more than a baseball card with gaudy stats to me, a player whose talents showed up at an all star game now and then... even as he aged his ability to hit was just, well, too obvious to miss.

Too young, too soon.

Colby Rasmus is still playing for Buffalo tonight but he could easily get from Columbus to New York tomorrow.

What I find sad is that he had been fighting cancer for several years.

Very sad to hear of Tony Gwynn's passing. (And a little startled: Gwynn was born less than a month before I was.) I looked him up in Baseball Reference just now: in 1987, he batted .370, collected 218 hits, scored 119 runs, stole 56 bases, hit 36 doubles and 13 triples, had an on-base percentage of .447... and finished eighth in the NL MVP voting. Eighth! (Ahead of him: Andre Dawson, Ozzie Smith, Jack Clark, Tim Wallach (!!), Will Clark, Darryl Strawberry, and Tim Raines.)

The Jays have to be happy with a split on the road against a divisional rival. And they should remember that there is more pressure on the Yankees in the upcoming series than there is on the Jays, given that Toronto is in first place.

".....Colby Rasmus is still playing for Buffalo tonight but he could easily get from Columbus to New York tomorrow....."

The Jays will recall Kawasaki tomorrow, according to a Wilner tweet.  Lind or Cecil will likely go to the DL.  So the Jays chose the infielder, rather than the power hitter, in the choices that we debated earlier.  Kawasaki, incidentally, is hitting .387 in his last 13 games at Buffalo.

As for Rasmus:  he has only 3 hits in 17 rehab hitting appearances.  I suppose he could still be recalled if the Jays decide to demote Gose or Kratz.  But they might prefer to give him a bit more practice to get his batting eye in shape.

And of course, the other implication from the Kawasaki promotion is that the Jays could put Lawrie back at 3B full-time, with Juan Francisco becoming the DH to replace Lind -- or perhaps becoming the part-time DH and part-time PH.

That would be my guess.  Lawrie at 3B full time to see if his bat gets to full strength, Tolleson mixed with Kawasaki at 2B and Francisco at DH. 

In June Tolleson has dropped a lot - 158/238/158 in just 21 PA after a May where he hit 300/375/580 in 56 PA.  He had a heck of a start but really shouldn't be expected to be that good.  Kawasaki, if he gets hot, can be an effective platoon at 2B I think.  Franciso also has cooled off, 161/217/411 in the last 28 days (May 21 to now).  Still useful, but down a lot.  Lawrie meanwhile hasn't been 'woohoo' either in June hitting 235/304/412 - again, good but not what we hope for.

So a mixup could be useful and Lind going down has allowed the Jays to do just that.  Improve defense, and get guys to the spots on the diamond they are best.  We'll see I guess.  Next will be Rasmus coming in and Gose going down most likely.

not gonna complain, but I'm not a fan of this callup.

With the way he's been hitting this year, Johnson has a legit chance to give us a hot streak like Francisco did. Kawasaki's not gonna give us anything.

P.S. Pillar's got a 1.091ops in 22ab since being demoted.

P.S. Pillar's got a 1.091ops in 22ab since being demoted.

Pressure's off?

In June Tolleson has dropped a lot - 158/238/158 in just 21 PA after a May where he hit 300/375/580 in 56 PA.

In May every other game was against a lefty, in June they haven't seen one to start a game. That made it hard on all the platoons.

There's 3 games coming up against the Reds, with no DH.

With the way he's been hitting this year, Johnson has a legit chance to give us a hot streak like Francisco did. Kawasaki's not gonna give us anything.

Less O, more D with Kawasaki in the lineup and Francisco DHing.

Johnson has certainly earned a role on a major league club.  I am not at all sure whether he or Francisco would be a better hitter than Johnson in a 50 game trial.  Johnson has always hit LHPs as well as RHPs, and continues to do this year.  He will be 35 years old in August, but does not seem to have faded at all.  On a playoff club with a 4 man rotation, I'd ideally like to have a 6 man pen and someone like Johnson on the bench.  Maybe his time will come in late August.

Maybe his time will come in late August.

You may be on to something!

Dan Johnson, MLB career:
Apr to Jul: 24 HR in 761 AB
Aug to Oct: 32 HR in 564 AB

What is it about Johnson that prevents him from translating his AAA dominance over into the bigs?  He's a AAAA monster but hasn't contributed in MLB since his one good season in 2005. 

No real platoon splits to speak of either.  I'd love to see him get a shot but then again I'm a sucker for underdog stories.  This feels like Negrych last year - no matter what he does, the Jays see something they don't like in his approach.

No real platoon splits to speak of either.

This would serve him well in a bench role since a LH reliever wouldn't chase him. But for his career, he'd have been better off hitting RHP very well and LHP not at all to at least get ABs as a platoon player (like Francisco is now).