Jays can't take on any money in trades, per Elliott.

he actually said no "extra" money, which might mean something different.

"can't take on any extra money"

Meaning the players traded must make as much as the players received.

What's the other possible meaning?

The payroll ceiling has been obvious for a while looking at the free agent spending and ceaseless probing of the waiver line.

Going forward, they should trade Buehrle over the winter for a reliever or some prospects and use to money recovered to field a complete team.

I'm really curious to see what happens in 2016.

It was obvious over the winter, when the players offered to defer money to sign Santana, that the Jays were tapped out. This year attendance is down so its tough to get more money.

Right now my pre-season prediction of 77 wins for the Jays feels about right. Yes, the team has dealt with some significant injuries, but they've really been exposed of late. With attendance down, no money to spare, an aging and injury-prone roster, and a shortage of tradable assets on the farm, the Jays pretty much have to weather the storm, look for half-decent upgrades that won't deplete the farm too badly, and hope the team will be playing meaningful games in a month or two.

It would be silly to write them off at this point, but they're falling off the pace at a distressing rate. There are a lot of question marks surrounding the ballclub. And, of course, they're losing a lot, which is the ultimate measure of how good or bad a team is.

It's a shame if they can't take on even a few million in salary to add a bat, because with what they have now, they have little chance against a good pitcher, let alone a star like Darvish. That bottom 6 in the batting order today looked very uninspiring, and that's against a righty. It's going to be tough at least until EE is back.

Where have all the top level power hitting left handed batters gone? Been watching mlb for a long time, and there have always been a lot of outstanding lefty power hitters, from guys like McCovey, Boog Powell, Norm Cash, Yastrezemski, Reggie Jackson, Willie Stargell when I was a kid, through guys like Griffey Jr., Barry Bonds, Palmeiro, George Brett, Jim Thome, Delgado, McGriff, Lynn, Helton, Giambi, Strawberry, Larry Walker, Mattingly - there were always a ton of them around. Plus guys who were really great hitters with decent power, like Gwynn, Boggs. It seemed like every team had 2 or 3 lefty power hitters in the lineup. Now, you look through the best power hitters in the game, and they're almost all righties or switch hitters. There are few older lefties still hanging around like Ortiz and Adam Dunn, who are just about done. There's Josh Hamilton and Prince Fielder, who aren't doing much, or are injured. Robinson Cano is a really good hitter, who has had a few good power years, one over 30, but not this year. Morneau is making a bit of a rebound this year, helped by Coors Field. Brandon Moss. There's maybe a couple of others, but there just isn't anywhere near the number there used to be.

There of course, is an advantage to hitting left handed, and there were always a much higher percentage of lefty hitters in mlb than in the general population. Perhaps young kids learning the game aren't being urged to hit left handed when they start out, the way they used to. Or maybe it's just a statistical blip and there will be a flood of lefty power hitters coming into the game in the next few seasons.

If Rogers really won't let AA add anything to the payroll, it's time to start discussing his and Beeston's dismissal for putting the roster into such an untenable position, despite a near 140m payroll. This shouldn't be pinned on Rogers.

The haul the Padres got for a year and a half of Huston Street makes me look back on AA's failure to cash in on a reliever or two last year with regret. I would hope similar packages weren't on the table 12 months ago for Delabar or Cecil (and neither of them has shiny closer dust), but yesterday's deal does demonstrate that sometimes a contender will get very desperate for bullpen help.

we can and probably should trade Janssen..

"... This shouldn't be pinned on Rogers...."

It should certainly be pinned on Rogers if the owners suddenly slammed a lid on the payroll after supporting a big increase in 2013.  How could any GM have anticipated such an irrational and ridiculous decision by the owners?  What kind of owners would allow the payroll to be increased once, and once only?  It completely defies logic.  The owners basically pulled the rug out from Anthopoulos. The entire sequence of events from 2013 to 2014, and all the public comments by the Jays executives, suggested clearly that Anthopoulos believed he was getting a new sustained level of increasing support from the owners -- and then was whacked with the unexpected news that the payroll was suddenly frozen.  (This is not something that AA could ever publicly admit, since he can't publicly criticize his employer, but it seems fairly obvious that he's been jerked around by the owners.)

Any owner who expects an immediate result from a payroll increase -- an immediate playoff result -- knows nothing about the complexity of baseball.  If Rogers actually expected AA to use the 2013 money to produce an immediate playoff team, and then froze the payroll in 2014 because the on-the-field success wasn't immediately forthcoming, Rogers doesn't deserve to be involved in baseball.

To blame Anthopoulos for this problem, you'd have to assume that he was given $140-million and told to spend it wisely, in any way that he wanted, with years of planning available to him.  In reality, he couldn't get the $140-million until he approached the owners with the emerging Marlins trade scenario.  He told them that he could get Reyes, Johnson and Buehrle if they increased the payroll.  That seemed to be the key to unlocking the Rogers wallet.  They wouldn't have given him $140-million if he said he would spend it judiciously over a period of several years on smaller contracts and carefully targeted acquisitions.  In fact, that's what he was already doing from 2010-12 and it wasn't producing any increase in payroll.  If the dramatic moment of the Marlins trade was the only thing that could persuade Rogers to spend more money, it's hard to blame Anthopoulos for doing it.

Attendance is down, so we can't improve the team via trades for players with expensive contracts.  So we should trade our best, most affordable pieces for future help, give up on a season in which we are 4 back in a winnable division, and watch attendance and payroll plummet further?  I'm not sure how long suffering some fans round here are, but I've been 20 years without meaningful baseball in august.  thanks but no thanks. 

To follow up on my thoughts about the owners: I'm not saying that AA should be immune from criticism. Yes, the owners have handcuffed him, but the larger issue is the weakness of the Jays scouting and development system, which has failed to produce the roster depth that the Jays need today. The team seems incapable of surviving injuries. When a couple of key hitters go down, or when they slump, or when a 2B or DH is needed, there's nothing in the system to replace them properly. Anthopoulos has had several years to develop a proper pipeline of prospects. He's failed to develop the depth to back up the major-league stars. He focused on the pitching, and when the pitching finally improved, the hitters slumped, and there was little available in the system to replace them (except the waiver pickups and cheap acquisitions like Francisco and Tolleson and Johnson who inevitably have proven to be very inconsistent).

At this rate (2-8 in their last 10), you're not going to get meaningful baseball in august if they stand pat, either. Pitching has been pretty consistent - still around 3.9/4.0 in June/July, down from 3.7 in May, but better than 4.46 in April.  Batting has fallen off a cliff. OPS by month:
April: 735
May:  829
June: 707
July: 652

EE, Lind and Lawrie are on the DL with no imminent return. JBats is mired in a HUGE slump: OPS 592 over his last 28 days. Sure, he's been injured, but after a hot start, he's been declining all year:
April: 1.065
May:    948
June:   819
July:     576

Either he's hurt so bad he shouldn't be playing, or he's just not getting anything to hit (with EE and Lind out, not so surprising), or maybe the league has finally figured him out. It's painful to see him whiff on high-inside pitch after high-inside pitch. At this point, I know it's coming, you know it's coming, but Joey can't stop himself... Francisco can't hit a slider to save his life. Reyes is having an off year, or starting to decline badly. Melky and Rasmus can't lead this team with an OPS of 600 out of the catcher's slot, and under 700 for 2B and SS. 3B is at 724 and falling fast. CF is around 660 for the season. That's not many slots left for someone who can actually HIT.

I'm not saying they can't turn it around - but just that without Lind and EE coming back 100% in the next few days, we could find ourselves in a hole as big as the Rays had earlier. The Yankees are now tied with us, 4 GB. The current makeshift roster has too many sinkholes to have any chance of hanging with anyone in the AL East.

(yes, this is the "glass was never full and is now 3/4 empty" viewpoint :-)

I agree with China Fan. The development of their draft picks have absolutely killed the Jays. You would have thought that a Justin Jackson or a Kevin Ahrens would have been a useful piece for the Jays by now.

I can see why Rogers has cash strapped AA. Having $17 million of dead money to Romero and Morrow kills!! Looked like great signings at the time but has come back to bite them in the arse. Of course hindsight is 20/20

"How could any GM have anticipated such an irrational and ridiculous decision by the owners? What kind of owners would allow the payroll to be increased once, and once only? It completely defies logic."

Anthopoulos was here when this happened to the previous GM with the same owners. So even if Rogers did pull the rug out from under him and he made the Marlins trade assuming payroll would be 150+ this year (an assumption I'm uncomfortable with), it was still a mistake.

Attendance is down.
I don't think it's serious. Last season Jays drew roughly 2.5 million fans. Through June 26th, game 81, Jays were drawing 1,154,592 fans. They would go through 1.25 million on June 29th, game 84. The BIG attendance months are July and August, establishing whether or not attendance is truly down, not small sample size down.

...can't take on money.
The problem is clearing "cap" space, for lack of a better term. Sergio Santos needs to go somewhere for a change. He is an expiring contract if he doesn't improve; with reasonable options if he does improve. That has value. Someone will take Santos for just cash. His cost (our savings) is at July 31st $1.435 MM remaining of a $3.75 MM salary.
Clear out the underachievers as fast as you can for as much cash as you can get. To achieve value, a Bautista, a Dickey, a Buehrle or a Reyes must headline a package to bring in a Starter and a 2B/3B. The Salaries will match. But I don't think A.A. will do that. I don't trust him to do that.

Midseason Acquisitions
Brad Mills is our pitching acquisition. Aaron Sanchez will be our Bullpen help. Alfonso Soriano might very well be our Big Bat acquisition. Dan Uggla will be the 2B acquisition. Why? I don't think A.A. can do enough fast enough to fill pre-existing holes, let alone the new ones. He's not a quick mover when under restrictions.

And that's sad.
There may never be another time when Tampa, Boston and New York are insignificant to the Pennant Race. Never another time when just Toronto and Baltimore were. Toronto's a better team than Baltimore despite what others think. Toronto's epic slide out of 1st Place started June 7th vs St Louis. It took 25 games to fall out of first place going 11-17. Where was everyone else in the Division - 25 games is almost a Month?

"To blame Anthopoulos for this problem, you'd have to assume that he was given $140-million and told to spend it wisely, in any way that he wanted, with years of planning available to him."

Or you can suggest he brought the Marlins trade to ownership as a way of improving the team in 2013, and that he figured its success (as opposed to absolute failure) would allow him to continue building into the next season. After seeing the Dickey and Marlins trades Rogers ownership has legitimate concerns that Alex Anthopoulos has zero clue how to spend his own capital.

"... After seeing the Dickey and Marlins trades Rogers ownership has legitimate concerns that Alex Anthopoulos has zero clue how to spend his own capital..."

The "zero clue" thesis is always going to be wrong.  It's too easy to point out all the evidence to the contrary.  The below-market contracts to lock up Bautista and Encarnacion are just the most obvious examples of smart spending. The cheap acquisitions of Rasmus, Lawrie, Cabrera, Happ and others are further examples of good acquisitions at a relatively low cost.  Anthopoulos has generally spent his capital quite wisely, with some possible exceptions.  He also knows that sometimes he has to make gambles and take risks.  Those gambles, obviously, don't always succeed.  But the reality is that the Jays payroll was too low for far too long, and that has handicapped him.  A one-time increase in 2013, followed by a ruthless lid on spending, doesn't alter the fact that the owners were too cheap for too long.

The truth about Anthopoulos, as always, is a little more complex than the simplistic ideas of the haters and fan-boys who have occupied the extremes of the spectrum.  Anthopoulos is neither a ninja genius nor a clueless moron.  He makes good moves and bad moves.  It would be nice if we could move beyond the sweeping generalizations.

It should certainly be pinned on Rogers if the owners suddenly slammed a lid on the payroll after supporting a big increase in 2013.  How could any GM have anticipated such an irrational and ridiculous decision by the owners?

The payroll increased from $70M to $83M to $119M to $137M from 2011 to 2014. I can absolutely understand an owner saying "You're not getting any more money until you actually improve this team."

Any owner who expects an immediate result from a payroll increase -- an immediate playoff result -- knows nothing about the complexity of baseball.  If Rogers actually expected AA to use the 2013 money to produce an immediate playoff team, and then froze the payroll in 2014 because the on-the-field success wasn't immediately forthcoming, Rogers doesn't deserve to be involved in baseball.

But they made the big jump from 2012 to 2013 and saw no improvement. The 2012 Jays won 73 games. The 2013 Jays won 74 games. If you are Rogers, and Anthopolous comes to you and says "I need more money to build a winner," isn't the first question out of your mouth "How is this different from the last time you said you needed this money to build a winner?"

Yes, the owners have handcuffed him, but the larger issue is the weakness of the Jays scouting and development system, which has failed to produce the roster depth that the Jays need today.

I think this is the actual issue. The Jays aren't getting much excess value from the contracts they have because they are largely paying market-value for players. They might be getting $50M worth of value from Encarnacion and Bautista this season, but they are still paying them $23M. Buehrle, Dickey and Reyes are combining to make $37M this season, and are probably going to combine for around $40M in value. Everyone else is more or less being paid fairly, but they don't have anybody, other than Brett Lawrie, who is making next to nothing, and providing lots of value to the team.

I'd expect the payroll to be around the same next year as it was this year, but that's mostly because I have no idea how they can get rid of Reyes (whose contract jumps $8M). They will probably roll the dice with the same group again for 2015, and if that doesn't work, well Dickey and Buehrle come off the books and the GM after Anthopolous' first task might be to trade Bautista or Encarnacion.

As well, the great thing about Rogers being the owner is that there is virtually no way that the Jays can lose money because Rogers is perfectly suited to monetize them throughout their media empire. Rogers pays nothing in rights fees, but get all the advertising revenue. The not-so-great thing about Rogers being the owner is that spending in other departments can have an effect on the Jays. Rogers has recently shelled out $533M to buy 37.5% of MLSE (a cash-cow, if there ever was one), and will be shelling out $5.4B (Canadian) for the NHL rights for the next 12 years. I don't know how the payment structure works for that, but I doubt Rogers will see a profit from the NHL deal for a few years. That money has to come from somewhere, so I wouldn't be shocked if the Jays take a haircut from $140M to $100M or below in 2016 and beyond.

The attendance isn't really an issue. It's higher than 2012, and the Jays still have 7 home dates against the Red Sox, 3 against the Yankees, which will include a sell-out for Jeter's last game in Toronto and a weekend series against the Tigers. If the Jays are done and dusted by early September, then they might draw actual flies for their weekday series against the Cubs and Mariners, but that would still probably leave them higher than the 2012 season.

The Bautista & Encarnacion contracts ARE awesome, but there was a significant amount of risk assumed by the team in each scenario. It'd be a real shame to waste the prime years of two great hitters.

I'm not really sure I'd consider the acquisition cost of any of the players you mentioned to be cheap, considering what the Jays received in return. They were moves that I agreed with (except for Happ, which got worse when he was extended), but I didn't think the cost from the Jays perspective was negligible.

I really hope Bob Elliott is wrong and the Jays could figure out a way to add a bat or two to the lineup, because it's been an entertaining season thus far and I'd hate to see them fall out of the race by the time September rolls around.

Janssen needs to be extended or traded. It would be ridiculous to have him walk out for nothing.

When the trades were made, Romero was still in the mix for starting and he's still on the payroll.

Still, it's common sense that a contenting team will need to patch up a few holes at the trade deadline and money has to be allocated for that. You can't just depend on minor league players for depth because those guy are replacement level. This is like the French in 1940 putting all their troops in Holland and keeping no reserve.
Inexcusable.

Where is A.A.'s "cap"?
If it's $137,177,700.00 as per Cot's, A.A. must trade dollar for dollar or clear space. If it's $140.0MM, it means he could take on $3.0 MM if extra salary and that's about $7.8 of initial salary. It's all about managing the "cap".

Drafting badly.
In 2014, Toronto has picks #9, #11 and #49 that were A.A.'s most significant picks. He drafted a RHP out of East Carolina (NC) who fell from first overall (?) to 9th. That was luck. He drafted a Catcher out of Kennesaw State (GA) who can stay at his position and is very advanced. Nice pick. He got lucky when a HS RHP fell from early to mid-first to early second round. Very lucky to get this talent this late.
In 2013, Toronto had picks #10 (and) #47 that were A.A.'s most significant picks (and didn't sign #10). With #47, he drafted a HS RHP with injury concerns to fall here. This was the first of a long line of Pitchers drafted. This was by design.
In 2012, Toronto had picks #17, #22 and #50 that were A.A.'s most significant picks. He drafted a HS OF with pick #11 who may or may not have been a reach. This was by design. He drafted a RHP out of Duke (NC) with #22, under-sized pitcher with great stuff. This was by design. With pick #50 he drafted a HS LHP, big tall kid with injury concerns. This was by design.
In 2011, Toronto had picks #21, #35 and #46 that were A.A.'s most significant picks (and didn't sign #22). He drafted a HS OF with pick #35, who may or may not have been a reach. That was by design. He drafted HS RHP with pick #46, possible reach(?). This was by design.
in 2010, Toronto had picks #11, #34, #38 and #41 that were A.A's most significant picks. He drafted a big RHP from Georgia Tech with pick #11, (a safe pick). this was by design. He drafted a HS RHP with pick #34 (possibly a reach). This was by design. He drafted HS RHP with pick #38 (possibly a reach). This was by design. He drafted s RHP out of the Citadel with pick #41. This was by design.

I have issues with how A.A. drafts, but I'm not saying he's wrong. I firmly believe Top 50 picks are the most significant. These picks MUST BE RIGHT. This is first and second round, you must hit a grand slam with each pick. The other picks you hope you get right, but Top 50 must be right. Everyone ranks Prospects. Just take the top 5 and combine them and use the list to keep track who's falling in the draft (like Reid-Foley). Take the best available around the time it is to pick, no "flights of fancy" here. Your first round pick, if done right, should be in the majors within 3 years, or you've got it wrong.

I hope the Jays can win more games this year than in 2010. So at least 86 wins.
I was led to believe or just convinced myself without any outside influencing that the 2010 team was not going to be a good/decent team. Good = 90+ wins, decent = 84-89 wins.
But the Marlins & Mets trade convinced me and others ie some experts in the media picked the Jays to contend in 2013, that the Jays should be a good team.
I do not know why the 2009 team was so bad. Lind & Hill were outstanding and Halladay was good. 2012 & 2013 were also bad. 2012 I think due to lack of pitching depth and injuries. 2013 injuries most likely. You have to look at Morrow, Romero & Drabek as huge disappointments.
The 2014 team may do something EE, Bautista, Reyes, Lawrie, Rasmus are capable talent wise to produce very well. But there have been injuries in that group. Lind & Francisco are also capable of a hot streak. I think our rotation is good, except for innings limits. Hopefully the AS break has rested our pen.
Both Oakland & LAA have made moves to strengthen themselves and currently are by far the 2 best teams in the AL standings. The Jays have a shot at the 2nd WC and the AL East title. There are 6-8 teams in contention for these 2 spots. That includes TB & Boston.

Whatever AA does, I hope he keeps all our good prospects because there is a lot of very good young talent coming up IMO. I know that some will be busts. I do not see our record improving enough, relatively, to be strong contenders for those 2 available spots. It could happen, if it does because Baltimore & Seattle come back due to losing, I do not change my mind.If we win all our games before the Trading deadline then I am tempted, even if it is just a hot streak. If it looks like we should be sellers in 10 days or so I do not trade our best players, like Bautista, Buehrle & Dickey. They are healthy and would fetch a lot of ML ready players but then IMO we would miss out on being a 90+ win team and possibly a decent, 84-89 win team as well. That would hurt attendance, that has to be avoided unless you can get an Alomar/Lawrie type prospect.

AA's drafts were heavy into HS players so it takes longer to develop them. They are just now arriving into the Big Leagues. Any college draft picks should arrive sooner, like last year & this year, but there were very few of them and some were traded, injured or lost in other ways. With the small % of college picks, I expect a small number of successes, eg 20 picks at a success rate of 25% is 5.

Is Marcus Stroman our ace?

Yes.

Drafting
When you draft College/University players, it's basically "what you see is what you get". There won't be great improvements and seldom any surprises. Here you can draft by position, because that's where they play, that's where they're best suited.
When you draft High School players, it's an adventure unfolding. There will be great improvements and great failures as well as everything in between. There will always be surprises, that why it's fun.

There's always issues at midseason that needs to be fixed and that should be budgeted in. It happens in all businesses, and are included in budgets. I can't see the Jays as being any different. Payroll increases/contracts are always included. Normal Payroll increases went from $70 MM to $83 MM, because nothing major was acquired. Those same normal Payroll increases went from $119 MM to 137 MM, because nothing major was acquired. The only major increase was from $83 MM to $119 MM, everything else was normal.

The one thing that bothered me the most, as time passed, was A.A. saying Navarro's contract was in keeping with what J.P.'s arby raise would be. Could that be an indication of trhings to come?

Yes.  That pitch to strike out Leonys Martin was a thing of great beauty.  Downward plane?  Check.

The pitch Stroman struck Choo out on in the 5th had some terrific movement on it.

If Stroman was doing ok in AA and we acquired a an "ace", for a couple prospects while taking on salary, that pitched like Stroman is now would everybody be happier?

In my opinion the Jays just need to get healthy to have a shot at the AL East.

The juxtaposition of Anthony Gose's incredible speed and terrible baserunning instincts is a wonder to behold.

Rajai Davis esque

man this team's confidence is fragile at the moment.

they better win tommorrow.

OK, so Marcus Stroman is developing into a Front-line Starter, but remember the word developing. He wins whether he's home or away, sometimes dominantly.

Is anyone better than him on our Staff? Who's the next closest to him in ability and performance? Oh, and be very objective if you can.

he looks awesome, but you gotta see what he does second time through the league before crowning him.

thing is he has enough pitches that he should be able to handle repeat viewings, but you can't be sure quite yet.

but the kid literally has 4 or 5 plus pitches with command, which is an ace type arsenal no matter how tall he is.

and some might be sleeping on Stroman because of those awful performances out of the bullpen this year.

His overall line: 3.58era, 3.24fip, 3.47xfip, 3.44siera.

Now that's a pretty sweet line, especially for a rookie. But it underrates just how good he's really been in his actual role.

As SP: 9gs, 6.0ip/gs, 2.50era, 3.04fip, 3.38xfip, 3.38sera

now that's just a plain dominant line, for any pitcher.

Kevin Pillar is a better hitter than Mastro and probably a better fielder. Sending Pillar down to discipline him is about as intelligent as beating your children and claiming you don't want to spare the rod at the risk of spoiling your child. How about a conversation, adult to adult about what kind of behaviour is expected of him. But to continue to carry a weaker player on your bench and to have a better player in Buffalo is simply pig-headed. The Blue Jays are struggling horribly on offense. Bring up Pillar.

Did Pillar cross a line regarding his demotion? Sometimes things are said/done that cross a line, from which point there's no return. I wasn't there, so it speculation on my side.

OR

Does Mastroianni have any option left? The Jays may be given him every opportunity to succeed, perhaps for much longer than this. Pillar's getting full time ABs in AAA? I just don't know who gets traded, so until then, minor moves may not be as swift. From now until the 31st, it's going to be interesting.

Btw, Janssen has food poisoning and is sick like a dog, if, like me, you're wondering.

Pillar's hitting 250/269/359 in AAA in July in Buffalo, and hit 225/220/300 in the majors, so I'm not sure he does much of anything for the team's offensive woes. Probably better than Mastroianni, but it's hardly an injustice that he's in AAA.

It looks like we have another unwritten rule according to Colby Lewis.

http://espn.go.com/dallas/mlb/story/_/id/11237346/colby-lewis-texas-rangers-problem-colby-rasmus-bunt

Lewis was upset Rasmus bunted for a hit in the 5th inning with 2 outs and the Jays up by 2 runs.

I'm sure we can all agree Lewis is %100 correct. The 5th inning is almost at the end of the game and when a team is up by 2 runs, it's already a blowout.

Agreed. It was important enough to the Rangers to put on the shift to increase their odds of getting Colby out; why shouldn't he bunt to try to defeat that strategy?

I liked Rasmus's response, which was that his goal is to do whatever he can to help his team win, not to please the opposition.

Shifting is spineless and reveals a fundamental flaw in character...

Last night, Kawasaki's ground-rule double was a treat to watch.  The Rangers had been shifting him (and Thole) quite severely to the opposite field of course.  Kawasaki lined a ground rule double off Darvish to straight-away right field to hasten Darvish's departure.  He has a  different approach at the plate this year, He is trying to square up the ball rather than simply stay alive.  It is working pretty well.  Thole could learn a thing or two from him. 

I liked Rasmus's response, which was that his goal is to do whatever he can to help his team win, not to please the opposition.

My response would have been far less family friendly.

I'm sure the quote got cut for space, but I'm assuming Colby Lewis also apologized for only thinking about his ERA when he intentionally walked Bautista in the bottom of the 3rd?

The AL East went 5-5 yesterday and now sits at 1 game below .500.  I'll venture a guess that it ends up over .500 but I can easily imagine a scenario where 86 games wins the division. 

I'd like to lodge a formal complaint that it took so long to call Dan Johnson up this year. Given how many injuries we've had, especially to a guy like Lind, and given how tremendous his year in AAA has been in terms of sustainable numbers like his amazing BB/K rates, not to mention his lack of platoon splits, I'm not quite sure what took so long to give him a shot as the potential hot bat callup. To me, it's yet another indication of our FO's underrating of the importance of BB%, for both hitters and pitchers.

and I say this in the full knowledge that Johnson is not a long term solution, and may not even be a short term solution.

Where have all the top level power hitting left handed batters gone?
...
There of course, is an advantage to hitting left handed, and there were always a much higher percentage of lefty hitters in mlb than in the general population. Perhaps young kids learning the game aren't being urged to hit left handed when they start out, the way they used to. Or maybe it's just a statistical blip and there will be a flood of lefty power hitters coming into the game in the next few seasons.

A guess: There of course, WAS (historically) an advantage to hitting left handed. However, with the knowledge the that LHP vs LHB is (in general) the most advantageous matchup for a pitcher, and the advent of the 8-man bullpen, which gave rise to the LOOGY, it has become much harder for a LHB to develop into a "slugger", because at least once or twice a game, he'll face a tough LOOGY, and possibly be pinch-hit for. Just a thought..

http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/story/?id=457573
A.A. speaks, saying not much, but maybe more for those who understand AA-speak.

Colby Lewis is pissed that the Jays added those add on runs in the 8th #unwrittenbaseballrules

This was pretty much a must win game and series. Nice to see them get it done, even if they still didn't make it easy there for a bit.

Huge series coming up against a suddenly hot and hungry Red Sox team. Don't think the Sox are unaware that sweeping us gets them within a game of us, with another head to head series coming up next week.

we have to play a lot better against Boston than we just did against the rangers, that's for sure.

The Jays will play four against Boston starting Monday, but they will miss Lester, who pitched today (dominating the Royals with 8 IP of shutout ball and lowering his ERA to 2.50). Lucky break for the Jays. Now let's see whether they can take advantage.

Reading some the comments following write ups of A.A.'s press session is interesting. To paraphrase: "if A.A. was able to take on salary, a deal would already be done".

He doesn't realize his players read/hear his words too. You don't have to be too bright to be disappointed.

“I think we have enough resources to do what we need to do. I think there’s ways we can be creative. I don’t have any doubt that we have the ability to add players. How that gets done, obviously, we can always be creative. I will say this: We have a very healthy payroll, a very strong payroll. We’re thrilled with it. Ownership’s been outstanding for us from that standpoint. If a baseball trade lines up for us, I don’t see any reason why we’re not going to be able to add players at the trade deadline … if we can line up in terms of talent.”

Dan Johnson has sacrifice flies in back to back games, an exceedingly rare and welcome sight. The Jays are last in MLB in SFs.

It's pretty impressive that the Yankees are tied with the Jays for 2nd in the AL East, 3 GB. They're now without Sabathia, Tanaka, Pineda and Nova, and yet they're squarely in the playoff hunt, although it would be hard to consider them a favourite at this point. The McCarthy trade was a nice way to somewhat shore up a badly-depleted rotation.

It's pretty impressive that the Yankees are tied with the Jays for 2nd in the AL East

They're 4 wins better than Pythagoras would have them. Their hitting and (injury plagued) pitching are both below average, with their pitching to presumably get even worse. And looking at their roster, only McCann and Beltran are really below expectation.

It's as if they don't know enough to just wither away. Surely such withering must come. Surely. Surely?

Joe Girardi requests that you stop calling him Shirley.

The AL East is now above .500.  Finally.

+3 wins makes them the 3rd best division in baseball behind the AL West (+14) and NL Central (+12).

Who wants to bet the AL East catches at least one of them, and maybe both?

In the 7th inning over the last 2 years, opponents have hit .317/.390/.712 against Dickey (118 PAs).  There is no reason for Gibbons to keep throwing him out there when he has thrown 90-100 pitches after 6 innings and has given up a couple of runs or more.  "Ace" or "workhorse" is a myth the club cannot afford to maintain at this point.  If he can give them 6 good innings most times out, he would make a very useful contribution to this team.  That is precisely what he has done over the past 2 years- .236/.304/.398 over the first 6 innings (1345 PAs).  It is a shame that the good performance over 90% of the batters he has faced has been tarnished by the performance over the last 10%. 

One of the other notions that desperately needs to be obliterated is the idea of "giving a starting pitcher the opportunity to win the game". 

Sergio Santos has been DFA'd. That's a trade that didn't work out for anyone, though at least the Sox got the cheaper end of it.

It's pretty impressive that the Yankees are tied with the Jays for 2nd in the AL East, 3 GB. They're now without Sabathia, Tanaka, Pineda and Nova, and yet they're squarely in the playoff hunt, although it would be hard to consider them a favourite at this point.

It's truly impressive that McCann is so good a catcher that league average pitchers for the NL and AAA can jump to the Yankees rotation and deliver ERA+ of 288 and 310. Being an offensive catcher with an OPS+ of 86 is a bit less impressive, still a bargain at 17 million though.