Things have gotten a bit too Chicken Little lately...

A quick, nasty investigation of a fairly minor issue.

It was asked in a recent thread if the Jays this year have swept many series and how that is vs what a division leader should do. Figured lets check.

As I mentioned in the Series Thread, I was looking at the standings at the close of business yesterday and something struck me upside the head. Because there sit the Texas Rangers, with the best W-L record in the entire American League. They've done this by scoring 554 runs and allowing 555 runs.

Which seems a strange formula for success to be sure.

Amazing. Just freaking amazing.

In light of the news out of New York this morning, it's time for me to enter the Way Back Machine and recycle something I wrote here back in June 2006, having first eliminated all references to whatever the Jays happened to be doing that day...

The Blue Jays open up their Canada Day weekend series against the AL Central Division leaders.

Sean Reid-Foley was awesome in Dunedin.

Devon Travis made his debut for the season at AAA and did not disappoint. Angel Perdomo was less impressive than previous outings, but is still in the conversation for best pitching prospect in the organization.

We obviously need one. Colabello is eligible to return around the All-Star Break, although he won't be eligible to play in any 2016 post-season games.

So what will happen? What should happen?

Decision day is fast approaching for the Blue Jays. Today the biggest question was answered, Aaron Sanchez was named the number five starter. Gavin Floyd and Jesse Chavez will be in the bullpen and Drew Hutchison has been optioned to Buffalo. For Sanchez, his hard work over the winter paid off with his selection. For Hutchison, his hard work over the winter did not pay off as he has been dispatched. The Hutchison decision shows that spring training often does not change pre-conceived ideas. Since January everyone has been talking about Hutch heading to Buffalo but he came into camp and pitched very well. Credit to him but it changed nothing. It is reassuring that there is a good sixth starter in Buffalo when the need arrives.

The stories out of Florida suggest that Gibbons wanted Sanchez in the rotation. Presumably Floyd's previous employers, Atkins and Shapiro, were on the other side of the discussion. Sanchez will not be a starter for a full 32 starts, he will have to go to the bullpen at some stage if he remains uninjured.

This time it's for real.

Tonight season ticket holders and other invitees will be at the Rogers Centre for the annual state of the franchise event which has been re-branded as "The Leadoff". Expect Mark Shapiro, Ross Atkins and John Gibbons to speak. In previous years the front office would answer some carefully selected and preapproved questions. I expect many of the questions this year will be about whether the Jays will re-sign Jose Bautista and EE. And the answer will be we would like to but it takes two sides to make a deal and we won't break the bank for any player, or words to that effect. I also expect some questions around the roles for Aaron Sanchez and Roberto Osuna this year. I don;t feel confident we will get a straight answer to that.

With the year almost at an end, I thought this was as good a time as any to revisit the magic that came before.

The winter meetings start today and run through the rule 5 draft on Thursday. Discuss all the blockbuster action here. Also Fangraphs has released the ZiPS projections for the 2016 Jays.