The Angels series is a week later. The Blue Jays are going to New York to play the Mets on Tuesday and Wednesday.

wow that swing call on Donaldson looked terrible but there wasn't much replay to get another look. Anybody with a better look?

It was a clear strike. At the game 10 rows behind home plate.

I'm not sure why they put in Alford instead of Pompey against a tough lefty like Sale.

Some really ugly defense. Jays really trying not to win this one but still in it in the 6th.

A young boy channels the base running of Kendrys Morales.

"now that Maile is Maile again, can we start the Danny Jansen countdown?"

ugl-ye of little faith.

Maille now at 140 wRC+. Which other player in today's lineup has been better?

Tyler Clippard has pitched for eight major league teams and has recorded a save for every one of them now that he has a save with the Jays.

Has any pitcher pitched for more teams and also recorded at least one save for every club?

The best I could come up with Fernando Rodney, who has nine clubs on his resume, but he never got a save with the Cubs.

I'm totally a homer but that tag looked like it was over Pillar's arm. Would be a tough call to make and definitely not anything clear enough in the replay to overturn the call. That's a shame though, would have been exciting to have a runner on 3rd with 1 out.

I think Urena might get a start at shortstop tomorrow.

yeah this defense won't do.

but be thankful for small blessings.....like the red Sox having a manager who hits both Benintendi AND Hanley (both below league average hitters the last calendar year) ahead of JD Martinez, one of the elite bats in baseball.

Buck: Bunt it over the pitcher.

Has anyone ever seen that???

heh buck.

"just bunt it HARD"

Pompey is that much better of a bunter than Gurriel that you have to waste 2 players in extra innings to put one down?

If he is, why is he swinging away 0-1 and then bunting 0-2? That was horrendous.

If Barnes is your best middle reliever...

now that's a painful squander.

Over-managing R Us.

yeh the worst is the 3b coach came down and told him to swing on pitch 2. then they put the bunt sign back on. bizarre.

just let the guy hit.

I do feel a bit sorry for Alford and Pompey. They both missed the start of the season and were called up before they were really hitting well in AAA. Then they play every second game in the majors. Its tough to get into a good groove with that back story.

One didn't need to be a homer to think Pillar was safe at third - the Sox broadcast was surprised the call wasn't overturned. The replay system seldom makes any sense, and it seems the Jays have been on the wrong end of the need for conclusive evidence far too often. If Pillar wasn't safe at 3B, then Betts wasn't safe at 2B. Some consistency, please.

agree Jerry. neither should be up. Smith would make more sense right now.

sorry Gerry.

If Pillar wasn't safe at 3B, then Betts wasn't safe at 2B. Some consistency, please.

It seems there is cosistency though. Yankees and Red Sox consistently gets rulings in their favour.

I actually think they got both calls right.

(ducks)

Less is Morales

I’ve tried to stay off the “dump Morales” bandwagon. But...ahhhh....I give up.

Sale though is some kinda wicked.

gaviggly-iggly-igglio

lmao.

LUUUKEEE.

sorry Danny you'll have to wait.

nice game. got past sale and still managed to wear out their bullpen a bit.

Luke Maile is a pod person.

I feel sorry for Gurriel too. I don't think that he's really a ML SS. Defence is definitely a problem.

It's very very likely a small sample size fluke like Smoak's fist half last year, but Maile looks completely different at the plate and full value for his line. He's hitting the ball hard. Hard not cheer for the guy until the air goes out of the balloon.

I don’t want to be in the Boston locker room after losing their third game in four days.

Boston's 9-10 since their "historic start", actually.

So we have the best hitting catcher in the American League and we have a long man.

Why was tomorrow's SP Biagini on the MLB roster for tonight's game, with Buffalo playing down the road? They could have recalled Barnes, and sent down Petricka or Gaviglio for Biagini tomorrow. And why was Mayza optioned down ahead of Petricka?

Biagini and Gavliglio a long awaited tandem start?

Gurriel has an incredible arm though and his approach at the plate is pretty advanced.
Since he's on a long contract, service time doesn't matter with him.
Overall, only Maile's triple throw cost a run.

I'd rather have guys like Pompey and Alford up here than at Buffalo.
It's not like Pompey needs more development time.
They'll be back in AAA soon enough.
Ideally, they get an extra month before they get called up, but Pearce got injured too fast,
What can you do?

Gaviglio was a breath of fresh air. A guy who can throw strikes.

I had both Pillar and Betts safe, but I don't think Pillar would have been able to score anyway.

There comes a time when a winning streak is called for, say 10-12 games. I wish it starts now.

Gio Urshela visa problems seem to be taking a long time to resolve - I think he will play much more than fans think with Donaldson Dhing - his glove could certainly help the pitching staff especially with a shaky SS - Shatkins must have liked his 2014 milb season - interesting acquisition.

Notes from 229 last night:

That was a great game, and terrific entertainment.  The fielding was subpar, but everything else was there- pitching, hitting, close plays all over the place, and dramatic tension the entire game.  If the Jays keep playing like that, the fans will be back by June.

Sanchez was throwing more four seamers and sitting at 95-96.  His control still wasn't there, but I felt that he took a step forward. The relievers were, as usual, great, and Gaviglio made quite an impression- in and out with excellent control and just enough variation in velocity to keep the Sox off-balance. 

Gurriel and Solarte is not a double play combination that you want to see out there except on an emergency basis- both are challenged at the positions and DP efforts are painful to watch. (on the positive side, I guess that it created an incentive for Sanchez/Maile to ease up on the two seamers).  Solarte could work in with Donaldson in the third base/DH roles.

Teoscar Hernandez is settling into right field.  He no longer looks like is exploring a foreign and dangerous planet in the outfield when chasing fly balls.  He knows where he is going and moves well, and has a decent awareness of where Pillar is. 

The Sox wanted no part of Curtis Granderson; his leadoff walks late set the tone for what happened.  What a signing that was- an excellent player and a fine role model.  He's 37 and I think that he will still be effective when he's 40. 

It's not just me.  All of my neighbours in the stands have had enough of Kendrys Morales.  It's not just the batting struggles.  In the second inning, he doubled off Sale, smartly going the other way.  Alford hit a medium depth fly to right and Betts had to move toward the line.  I was surprised to see Morales tag, but he correctly judged that Betts would not be able to make a good throw because he'd have to turn around on the move.  Morales ran hard, faster than a potted plant on a skateboard given a gentle push, and made it to third quite easily as Betts' throw was off-line.  On the other side, he led off the seventh inning (Jays down 3-2) with a routine ground ball to third that Nunez booted badly.  I looked up and there was Morales jogging to first base.  He was thrown out, and there was no excuse for that. 

Technically, the game does not go into the one-run category but it really was (as all extra-inning games are).  Any number of small things- a lucky break, a questionable call- could have changed the result. 

From a recent BA Prospect Hot Sheet chat with Josh Norris:

Matt (Ohio): ... The Vlad Jr. hype couldn't be bigger. How does he stack up against previous greats to come through the minors? Could he be as good/better than Trout??? I guess that's not a fair comparison because Trout is a 5 tool guy and Vladdy just mashes.

Josh Norris: I said this on Twitter and I'll say it again here: The hype and love from scouts on Vladdy Jr. is insane. 80 hit and 80 power are thrown around fairly often. Scouts who have decades in the game are saying that Vladdy is among the best prospects they've ever seen. Comparing Vladdy and Trout doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but names like Miguel Cabrera, Manny Ramirez and Frank Thomas have come up as far as his offensive potential. So, yeah, he's going to be really freaking good.

I think one of the biggest tests that this front office will face is how long they can keep Guerrero Jr. in Toronto (and at what price). If he walks after his age-25 or 26 season as a free agent, that will likely be viewed as a colossal failure on the part of the organization. As I've said before, this is a unique situation that Rogers needs to make it a priority to address, sooner rather than later. If they need extra motivation to do so, they can always contemplate Vlad Jr. posting stellar numbers on an annual basis (and possibly building his case for being in the HOF) as a member of the Yankees or Red Sox from 2024-2034.

The longer the Jays stay above .500, the worse it is going to look to keep throwing Morales out there everyday. I guess the logic is he can't be this bad for too much longer and a hot streak is coming, but he's 35 and when the bat slows down there's nothing much you can do as a player (see Jose). I am looking forward to Urshela coming on board for no other reason than it will force Donaldson to DH more and Morales to not see a plate appearance. Pearce coming back would help as well.

The bullpen signings have been excellent so far, albeit a bit lucky in Clippard's case. I liked the Petricka signing as well so if he's healthy I'd expect him to improve also. Too bad Osuna is in the situation he is in.

We are almost at 40 gms played this year per team. 25%.

Someone will win the AL Central.

Boston, NYY, Houston and LAA are in good position for the other 4 playoff spots. I looked at each rotation's current performance. Only us and LAA have nobody performing as a #1. The others have at least 2 good enough #1 performances.

It is a long season and performance and injuries will play their part.

Curtis Granderson... What a signing that was

Granderson walked twice last night without once swinging the bat. He now appears to go to the plate with a free pass as his primary objective (10 BB in last 28 PA). I say this not to disparage the man, but to praise him. And to ridicule opposition pitchers for so easily allowing Granderson to meet his objectives.

I like to see crisp baseball that is well played, physically and mentally, by both sides. I understand that those are humans out there. Homo sapiens is not yet homo deus, so mistakes will occur. But I have to confess that witnessing mental errors, from either side, infuriates me.

Granderson steps to the plate. You know what he is trying to do, especially when leading off an inning. And then you throw him a first pitch breaking ball (which inevitably misses the strike zone). Why? The man's not going to start swinging until he has a strike on him, maybe two. So recognize his behaviour and adjust yours accordingly. Why are you nibbling with a guy who you KNOW is not going to bite? Surely your team's army of number-crunchers has alerted you to this. You are not entering the situation blind.

I am curious to see how far Granderson can push this walk thing he is doing. And I'm curious to see how much longer he can go without swinging the bat. He reminds me of a kid I knew in little league who literally did not swing the bat once all summer, yet walked in almost every PA since kids had such trouble finding the strike zone. Granderson is viewing major league pitchers the same way, as chumps who can't possibly hit the strike zone three times.

I don't think that's quite right, Chuck.  Granderson has always hit fastballs very well, and still does.  The home run off Kimbrel put an exclamation point to that.  I think he sits dead red early in the count.  If the pitcher can throw an off-speed pitch or a fastball in a good location, he'll take it.  The Red Sox didn't throw him a single fastball, and none of them have great control of their off-speed stuff (how many pitchers do?). 

Sale, of course, would have had a different pitching pattern to him.  Off-speed for a strike or two, 97 mph in a tough spot and then another off-speed pitch.  Odds are that the count would be 2-2, and Granderson would be just fighting for a single- which he is doing well these days. 

Donaldson DHs, Martin at third and Maile behind the plate again this afternoon against Price.  Works for me. 

Granderson has always hit fastballs very well, and still does.

I'm not disputing that. And I'm not suggesting that he is looking to walk because he feels he can't hit. I'm just saying that it's not by accident that he has the same number of walks as hits despite his highest batting average in a decade. He is at the plate with a very deliberate strategy that is working exceptionally well. At some point, though, pitchers are going to have to risk throwing him fastballs for strikes.

i think definitely I and maybe we underrated grandy's power.

here are the leaders in isolated power over the last calendar year, minimum 500pa:

1.Martinez .358
2.Stanton .337
3.Trout .324
4.Gallo .312
5.Judge .310
6.Ramirez .283
7.Donaldson .281
8.Davis .276
9.Arenado .275
10.Bellinger .274
11.Blackmon .269
12.Granderson .266***
13.Upton .266
14.Cruz .265
15.Harper .265
16.Sanchez .265
17.Encarnacion .258
18.Bryant .256
19.Moustakas .254
20.Goldschmidt .250

I think Urshela playing short today is a direct result of Gurriel's sloppiness in the field yesterday. I agree that the bench needs to see some Gurriel to send the right message.

tbh I'm not sure there's any good reason why gurriel is in the bigs right now.

maybe it's because Pat & Buck drool over him so much?

Once Pearce is healthy, I hope they never return him to the field. Hernandez, Pillar, Grichuk, and Granderson are just fine in the outfield, and if we’re stuck with Morales, they can platoon the two of them and use whichever one is on the bench as a pinch hitter. It would be nice to get a couple of consecutive months out of Pearce and dropping him in the outfield just increases the injury risk.

On another note, it’s interesting that Pillar and Maille are putting together career offensive seasons, when both of them would have heard loud footsteps in spring training. It could be a total coincidence of course, but I’m sure there was extra motivation. Are you listening Devon?

Gurriel looks like a talented but raw player, and I think he's presently better than Urena or Urshela. He will probably go back down once one of the regulars is ready, but he hasn't been a bad option when our top three middle infielders are all off the team. I think he looks like a future regular, actually.

It was shocking to see Morales thrown out on the ball Nunez booted, but then SN showed the replay and it looked like Kendrys was hustling as best as he could, not jogging.

The Jays better pounce on Price today, he's been nothing short of awful his last 5 starts.

Gabriel, I hope you are right about Gurriel. I just don't see him as a future regular. His only viable position seems likely to be 2B (I guess LF is possible). Other than a handful of ABs at AA this year, there isn't anything in his professional history (including Cuba) that suggests that he can actually hit. He seems to know a ball from a strike though so that gives him a shot. I would feel differently about his prospects if he had a good chance to stick at SS. I think he stays in the bigs for a while for the same reason as Morales - he has a large ML contract.

I dunno if gurriel has shown any more with the bat than Urena....and from what I've seen urena can actually play a decent SS.

I'm still a bit surprised we have up on Espinosa so quick.

The Jays didn't give up on Espinosa. Espinosa exercised his option and became a free agent just before Diaz got hurt.  Mind you, Espinoa doesn't really hit more than Urshela.

good call Scott. forgot about that.

Out at 3b the rare tri-catcha. Catcher throws to catcher (at 3b) tagging catcher (runner).
I was sure he was safe until they showed the angle with the accidental helmet tag while the catcher slid off the bag.
I wouldn't want to be an ump.

maybe it's because Pat & Buck drool over him so much?

I can't watch a broadcast with the volume on. Those are just ... they're so bad.

On a positive note, pairing Ben with Wilner has been a revelation for me. I find the latter so much more tolerable than previously in-game.

If the Jays’ Starters could limit their multi-run gifts to the opponents to just one run each time, they’d be in first place. All these innings are just mental lapses, loss of concentration/confidence. Marco Estrada is one of the main contributors to the multi-run gifts, but not the only gift giver.

Do they Jays win Game two with better pitching? Maybe not. With runners on in 7of 9 innings, only scoring two runs say no.

To help the bullpen Deck McGuire has been recalled. Lourdes Gurriel has been sent down.

The bullpen does need help and Biagini is starting today so another releiver could be useful.

The Bisons have lost three of their starting pitchers in the last few days, Biagini, Gaviglio and now McGuire. That leaves Borucki and Rowley as starters in AAA. Justin Dillon will get another start but with all these moves the Jays might be in the market for a free agent or a "for cash" trade to help the rotation.

Interesting that Gurriel is sent down while Urena remains. The Jays have probably realised that Gurriel is not ready to be a major league shortstop. Solarte seems entrenched at second for now.

Gurriel to buffalo this time, I hope?

Good for Deck. Hope he brings his AAA success to the majors.

Surprise: Carlos Ramirez DFA. Someone will claim him if a trade not worked out.

Thinking about this and wondering if the Jays know something we don't - failed PED test perhaps?

I don’t think Gurriel was hitting as bad as his line shows. He was making good contact for the most part. Not sure how his defense looked at short, that may have been the reason for his demotion.

Frustrated with teams inability to drive in runners this series.
so many squandered opportunities.

This strike zone is crazy today. The Red Sox are getting the calls below the zone and everyone off the plate to the left. The Blue Jays are not getting those strikes today.

Buck and Tabler wondering why a player does just take a hit by bunting against the shift and then see what can happen when a player tries to do just that...

...and of course they're going to call for bunting against the shift again, maybe not today, but soon.

On point -- just finished Russell Carlton's book "The Shift" which was a tremendous read. It is like the Bullpen Gospels + The Book... in that the quality of the prose is high and the stat analysis clear and insightful.

I don't understand keeping Tellez on the 40-man and DFAing Ramirez.

Because Tellez is a $850,000.00 investment. You don't give up on a 23 year old guy in AAA (Turned 23 in March) that has shown the ability to hit everywhere but AAA thus far.

is tulo's contract insured? i would assume so - i am curious about the terms. anyone know any good sources on business of baseball re: this/similar issues?

Not sure if you mean specific terms within the contract or dollars over the contract. Here's a link of the dollars:
http://www.spotrac.com/mlb/toronto-blue-jays/troy-tulowitzki-278/

I don't think you'll find a copy of the contract and the language within it.

i mean: who is the insurer (if there is one) and what are the terms of the policy

This is the only thing I could find, again it's just a generalization:

Quote: Most policies cover between 50-80% of the total contract value with premiums as high as 10% of the contract’s annual value. No insurer will cover the entire value of the contract, so there will always be some sort of risk on the teams part.

If you read on, there's an interesting tidbit about Albert Belle's contract and the 40 man roster spot.

https://metsmerizedonline.com/2013/02/understanding-the-business-of-baseball-insurance-on-player-contracts.html/

Anthony Alford has been returned to Buffalo. There will be a corresponding move on Tuesday.

Granderson is back which reduces at bats for Alford but the Jays are probably still looking for a right handed platoon partner. I am not sure who that would be. The Jays could also recall Travis.

In 600 Triple-A plate appearances, Tellez has posted a .633 OPS. He's a one-dimensional player who is limited to 1B. I appreciate the age and his past track record (the "investment" is a sunk cost), but he strikes me as someone who was less likely to be claimed than a reliever with a 2.84 ERA in 20 major league innings and a career 3.47 minor league ERA.

I could have also seen them DFAing Dwight Smight over Ramirez.

Evidently, they must see something they don't like in Ramirez and/or be willing to extend Tellez a significant discount on his 2017 due to his personal issues.

If the Jays score 1 or 2 runs in the first two innings, 1 or 2 runs in the middle innings and 1 or 2 runs in the late innings they tend to win.
Verses Boston:
Game 1: 1st: leadoff double, RBI single, 0-3; 2nd: leadoff double, 0-1, RBI single, 0-1, reached on error, 0-1;
3rd-6th: 0-12;
7th: 2 out HR, 0-1; 9th: 1 out double - ran into out at 3B, 0-1;
10th: walk, walk, 0-3; 11th: 2 out single, 0-1; 12th: walk, walk-off HR.

Game 2: 1st: 1 out walk, 0-2, 2nd: 0-3;
3rd: 1 out single, double play; 4th: 1 out walk, 0-1, walk, RBI single, 0-1; 5th: 1 out double, 0-2; 6th: leadoff HR, 0-2, reached on error, 0-1;
7th: leadoff single, 0-3 includes double play; 8th: 2 out single, stolen base, 0-1.

Game 3: 1st: 1 out double, walk, 0-3; 2nd: leadoff single, walk, 0-3;
3rd: 1 out walk, balk, 0-2; 4th: 1 out walk, wild pitch, 0-2; 5th: leadoff single, single, 2 RBI single, walk, 0-1, RBI single, double play; 6th: 1 out single, 0-2;
7th: 1out single, 0-1, double, runner out at home. 8th: leadoff single, 0-3.

Scoring early and often can stress out opposition pitching, make pitching easier for your Starter and making people happy.

the animosity towards tellez is so strange to me.

I cannot understand why people keep thinking they're going to dump him in order to keep some late 20s milb relievers.

If there comes a time when his spot jeopardizes a real asset, then he'll be in trouble.

I think it makes sense to hold on to both Tellez and Ramirez (in that order). What I don't get is why they felt the need to make a 40-man move at all, they could have brought back Danny Barnes rather than promoting McGuire.

I think the Alford move must be for Dwight Smith. Otherwise you're looking at Martin as the 4th outfielder.

hey finch,

thanks for that - this is surprisingly sparse given how much chatter goes on in every city about a team's payroll. it would be nice to know if some/any of tulo's $20million is recoverable.

the FO came in talking a lot about risk. and this seems like the exact kind of area where teams need to be smart. and i'm curious to know more about how these things are put together.

let's say tulo ends up missing the season, and the jays get $14 million back (($20*0.8)-(20*0.1))from the insurer...that could in theory change some things at deadline time. but it seems unlikely that those #s would go public given that we usually don't hear about them as far as I know. or is the assumption that the insurance is only on career-ending injuries?

anyway, if anyone else knows of good sources on the financial side of mlb contracts, i'd love read up on it.

You wonder how long the Jose Bautista experiment is going to last in Atlanta. He's hitting even worse than last year so far.

The only thing I ever  remember reading about mega contracts was a Jays exec talking about self-insuring (aka writing off any loss) because it was too much money. No memory of context to be able to search for it again. Maybe in relation to Wells? Maybe things have changed as well.

"the animosity towards tellez is so strange to me."

I haven't seen any animosity. Just the realization that he's a pretty nothing prospect at this point. Even if he turns things around, 1Bmen with a good bat, no defense are extremely easy and cheap to find. On the other hand, I don't particularly care about cutting Ramirez either. His reputation is built on 37 good innings last year. Other than that, he's been very mediocre. He also doesn't have great stuff and is already in his late 20's. He could be a fine middle reliever but so could tons of pitchers. Where is he on the current Jays depth chart. 10th among relievers? The ends of 40 man rosters are usually pretty fungible unless you are a team with tremendous depth. (i.e. Astros lost an entire not bad starting OF-DeShields, Teoscar, and Kyle Tucker to having a crowded 40-man)

well, the FO that you usually have so much faith in clearly disagrees....so I can only assume it's animosity that would prompt you to disagree with them so strongly on this one issue.

The FO seems to have an inordinate amount of love for these one-dimensional types. Extending Smoak, signing Morales and holding on to Tellez.

Two comments from yesterday's game.  I would not have brought on Gaviglio yesterday on one day's rest after throwing 3 innings (44 pitches) on Friday, and with him being used as a starter in Buffalo this year.  I hope that his appearance yesterday signals that he will take Biagini's next start with Joe moving to the bullpen. 

Also, I would have pinch-hit Granderson for Morales with two runners on and one out to face Velasquez with the Jays down one.  It's a terrible situation for Morales (because of the DP), and a good one for Granderson, and I have more confidence in Alford than in Morales.  Mike Wilner tweeted that Rivera's decision to send Solarte later on (when the chances were 50-50 at best)  made sense given that two were out and Morales was up next- I don't know whether that is true, I'd much rather have Morales coming up with runners on second and third and two out than first and second, one out, although at this point, he's not good in either situation.

Cutting Tellez for someone as fungible as Ramirez would have mode zero sense.

Tellez still has upside. Ramirez is no better or worse than any five other guys who are readily available.

IIRC correctly the comment on "self-insurance" was JP on BJ Ryan's contract. The inference I drew from the contract was that premiums were too high to bother and it made more sense to eat the contract if something went sideways. I haven't read anything to suggest that the economics of baseball contracts has changed since JP.made this comment in 2005. I am skeptical Tulo's contract is accompanied by any insurance.

I've been a Tellez believer for the longest time and I still am. That said, I don't think that he is likely to be picked up if we DFA. I do think he would have been picked up in the rule 5 draft but he has an .071 ISO right now.

So I am not that worried about losing him, even if I think that he still has potential.

Prince Fielders contract was partly insured by the Rangers.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2016/08/09/as-prince-fielder-leaves-texas-rangers-heres-what-happens-with-his-96-million-salary/#65608e9c1484

Evidently others don't share my surprise at losing Ramirez (and i phrase it as losing as I believe some team will take a flier on him).

I'm surprised some people are so confident that Tellez would have been claimed. Renato Nunez has been waived twice (and claimed twice) and in some ways he's an interesting comp for Tellez. They had similar lines in A-ball, roughly speaking, and both came to Double-A as a 21-year-old.

Nunez put up an .812 OPS in a full year. He went to Triple-A the next year and posted a .690 OPS during his first season. He posted an. 837 in 2017, his second year at Triple-A. He also had 30 major league at-bats, in which he struggled. Nunez is more defensively versatile than Tellez, as he can play 3B and corner OF. He was DFA'd at the end of spring training, and Texas claimed him. Texas has already DFA'd him and he's been claimed again by Baltimore.

By comparison, Tellez has a better year at Double-A with a .912 OPS, but struggled in his first exposure at Triple-A with a .628 OPS. He's limited to 1B and he has a .656 OPS in his second exposure to Triple-A. To finish the year with an .837 OPS, similar to Nunez, he'd need to post an OPS well north of .860 the rest of the year.

I'm somewhat skeptical that in a world where Adam Lind and Chris Carter can't find jobs, and Nunez is being passed around, that teams would pounce on a Tellez at a time when he is still struggling at the plate.

"You wonder how long the Jose Bautista experiment is going to last in Atlanta."

Dan, despite homering Saturday, I would guess not long.

Meant to mention this (per a Jeff Z. chat a few weeks back) but Maile on Friday did something Jose, despite 338 career HR's, has never managed - a walkoff HR.

Nice comp with Renato Nunez, Thomas. Very interesting.

but imo: a) tellez was always better than him and b) nunez didn't get DFA'd until he was a year older than Rowdy, with a year more of struggles.

A

Rowdy (19-20): 348pa, 8.9b%/19.0k%, .357bip/.304avg, .147iso, 136wrc+
Renato (19-19): 546pa, 5.1b%/24.9k%, .315bip/.258avg, .165iso, 102wrc+

A+

Rowdy (20): 148pa, 9.5b%/18.9k%, .293bip/.275avg, .187iso, 143wrc+
Renato (20): 563pa, 6.0b%/20.1k%, .303bip/.279avg, .238iso, 117wrc+

AA

Rowdy (21): 514pa, 12.3b%/17.9k%, .324bip/.297avg, .233iso, 152wrc+
Renato (21): 416pa, 6.7b%/15.9k%, .293bip/.278avg, .202iso, 124wrc+

So not only was Rowdy the much better overall hitter than Renato at each level, but had much better strike zone control, whereas Renato was always just a power-only prospect.

AAA

Rowdy (22): 501pa, 9.4b%/18.8k%, .264bip/.222avg, .110iso, 73wrc+
Renato (22): 533pa, 5.6b%/21.6k%, .249bip/.228avg, .184iso, 78wrc+

Rowdy (23): 98pa, 14.3b%/17.3k%, .288bip/.238avg, .071iso, 96wrc+
Renato (23): 533pa, 8.8b%/26.5k%, .279bip/.249avg, .268iso, 109wrc+

Now Rowdy does look to be on a very similar path as Renato in AAA so far, though he still exhibits much better strike zone control.....and it's the total absence of power which is just killing him.

And the A's didn't DFA him until after he finished that 23yr old season.


of course, if we want to look in house for a comparable for Tellez' bad 22 year old season, we can just look over at Teoscar Hernandez and look at his near identically awful 22yr old season - except Teoscar was only in AA for that awful season, not in AAA like Rowdy.

Tellez won't be long for the org if he doesn't pick it up, but he's not yet at the point where he gets chucked just in order to keep yet another veteran borderline MLB reliever.

I don't think there's really much of a point to be made by comparing a corner IF/OF to a poor-fielding 1B, tbh.

“well, the FO that you usually have so much faith in clearly disagrees....so I can only assume it's animosity that would prompt you to disagree with them so strongly on this one “

You really think the reason I don’t like Tellez as a prospect is animosity? You don’t think it’s possible to not believe in a prospect and have no personal vendetta against them? Seriously, the more you post, the worse this board gets. Instead of disagreeemnts and discussions, the board is filled with stupid arguments about nothing simply because you feel the need to make endless idiotic posts and then try to defend them with made up numbers and a refusal to admit you are wrong on anything even though you are wrong on almost everything.

Tellez is pretty much the Rocky Balboa of baseball.
I find it very had not to pull for the guy, family circumstances and all.
That doesn't mean I think his chances are great.
However, the odds of Ramirez being successful in the long term are pretty slim.
He's got only 1 good pitch and right now he can't throw it for strikes.
Also, Smoak isn't playing at All-Star level right now either, so they probably should have an extra 1B type on the 40 roster.

I certainly don't see a shred of 'animosity' towards Tellez. there was a plausible argument to be made against putting him on the 40 man roster last year, and he's shown absolutely nothing this year, making that argument stronger. Clearly, as Thomas noted, the industry soured on similar players over the offseason, and in fairly dramatic fashion.

I really don't see a point in talking about Ramirez as a 27 year old, he's only been a pitcher since 2014. Talk about him as fungible given he's a reliever with average stuff and one great year - that could have been a fluke, and he's battled BBs every other season of his career.

But what a run he had last year - 25 games, 37 2/3 IPs at two minor league levels, no runs allowed.

well, I see it.

posters that defend this FO on everything are finally becoming critics when it comes to - of all things - Tellez vs late-20s minor league relievers.

The only posts coming across as having an axe to grind are those of uglyone. The idea that proposing a DH-only player with no power can be removed the 40 man with little risk of being lost is not exactly without merit.

Boiling it down to animosity is just absurd.

As is trotting out the tired "will defend this front office on everything else" schtick for like the umpteenth time.

Osuna's admin leave extended another week and will likely continue to be extended on a weekly basis until his court date, barring an earlier resolution.

One thing’s consistent. As the shine rubs off the Jays apple, Gibbons get more testy and this board gets increasingly grumpy.

Chill everyone. It’s finally spring.

There are rebuilding teams like Miami, Atlanta (*AA*), Cincy that have open 40 man spots and would claim Tellez on waivers. Even if they just try and sneak him though waivers themselves later in the year. You have to looks past the results with Tellez because the indicators of future success are still there in my opinion.

I think a 25 year old broken down Taylor Guerrieri with a 6.23 ERA, a high whip and a lot strikeout totals would be the easy DFA choice.

To be clear. I think it's perfectly reasonable to want to DFA Ramirez, Guerrieri or a few other bottom of the roster guys. I just think it's absurd to boil down the argument against Tellez to animosity.

every time it comes to DFAing someone, a bunch of posters start bleating about Tellez, even when there's always some no upside get cheap to dump instead.

can't wait to get rid of him.

I suspect the Jays view relievers as interchangeable outside of the premium ones and the Jays only have one who is not allowed to play right now for obvious reasons.  At this point I'd be looking at shifting Biagini back to the pen and see what other guys can do in the rotation as he really hasn't looked good there.  I wanted the Jays to give Biagini a shot as next year we will probably see a few open slots but I don't see him as a real option long term. 

As to Tellez - he is nearing the end of his chances here if he doesn't start hitting soon I figure.  His potential is still high but at this stage it will be hard to justify if he doesn't get an OPS over 800 soon.  If he fails to do that then no 40 man this winter for him, and maybe even knocked off earlier.

Not sure. There are a few guys walking out this winter, Pearce, Donaldson, Loup, Estrada, Happ, etc..
I don't know that anyone gets pushed out of the 40 roster for the rule V draft.

Good point scottt. As well T Hernandez and D Pompey would burn their last option this year if 20 days in the minors.
I somehow think that 18-22 40 man spots would be used on pitchers. 23+, I don't know. Your pitching talent could be incredibly good. But unlikely for most teams.

Dwight Smith Jr has been recalled to fill Alford's spot on the roster.

Good for Smith Jr. - he's doing all he can for a one-tool guy, and has done nothing but hit in the bigs.  I like the idea that the Buffalo shuttle includes position players this year.  I know for a guy like Barnes or Biagini it's likely mentally taxing, but for these young, unproven position players it might be good experience and motivation. 

Whoa.  Robinson Cano suspended for drug violation for 80 games.  Significant implications obviously for the Mariners' season and for his HoF case.   

I see this as an example of why drug testing in sport is silly and pointless. From the link, "The Mariners second baseman tested positive for furosemide, a diuretic better known as Lasix, which is often used to help mask banned substances in urine tests."

That's a mighty weak inference to go from a positive test for a substance that really ought not to be on the banned list to go to inferring that Cano's been using PEDs. I'm more concerned about the Adderall exemptions MLB is handing out at a rate more than double what would be expected given the incidence of ADHD in an age/sex-matched sample.

T.J. Quinn
✔
@TJQuinnESPN
IMPORTANT ON CANO: players are NOT automatically suspended for using diuretics. The suspension means MLB was able to prove he was using it to mask a drug. Cano tested positive before the season, appealed and dropped the appeal. https://twitter.com/tjquinnespn/status/996455974381776896 …

still can't believe they let Ortiz get away with it.

:)

It is strange to have a left-handed hitter up, in addition to Granderson.  The Mets are starting two RHPs, and so I imagine that Granderson will start both games with Smith as the 4th outfielder (or potentially to give Hernandez a day off) and then there might be further moves before the Oakland series beginning Thursday. 

4 Blue Jay updates from Shi Davidi on Rotoworld - possible returns for injured players - Pearce early June, Stroman and Tulo mid June, Grichuk next week.

Cano tested positive before the season, appealed and dropped the appeal.

And now he gets to serve it concurrently with his injury? Doesn't seem quite fair, but at least he's ineligible for playoffs..

Plus Cano forfeits about $10 million.