Toronto Blue Jays

[The Black Panther]

Enjoyed this piece in the paper today:

Demotion last season helped Kevin Pillar become better player

STEVE BUFFERY, Postmedia Network

Aug 31, 2015 , Last Updated: 11:53 PM ET
TORONTO - Before pretty well every game now, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons is asked about the play of centrefielder Kevin Pillar, particularly the third-year pro’s stellar defence, which continues to amaze fans.
“I just think the more he plays, the more experience he gets (in the big leagues), he’s going to get even better,” said Gibbons, while raving about how the West Hills, Calif., native’s bat has almost caught up with his outstanding glove.

Read the rest here:

http://slam.canoe.com/Slam/Baseball/.../22546940.html

[blayze]

Ryan ****ING Goins!!!

Amazing game today... I love that the Jays are finding different ways to win and getting contributions from everyone.

Can't believe Osuna choked up like that... I guess it was bound to happen eventually, but he definitely looked shaky the entire inning. Very un-Osuna like!

I really think these kind of victories are huge momentum turners throughout the course of a season. Loving it!

[LawMan]

Great win, Goins crushed that ball in the 11th.

Sad Encarnacion's hit streak came to an end just shy of the franchise record, he was robbed of a hit in the 7th.

[bondon]

Man has Ryan Goins really stepped up since Travis went down. Could it really be a late breakout for the guy? I hope so. There weren't a whole lot of fans before this season that believed in him, many thought that at 27 what you see is what you get. Maybe the Travis injury was a blessing in disguise? Nah, don't think I can go that far. But if Goins manages to put together a really strong finish to the year/potentially post-season maybe you use the guy as a trade chip for futures after this season. Who knows.

How about Dalton Pompey. First game after the callup and the guy pinch runs and swipes second AND third to set up the go-ahead run. Guy has wheels and knows how to use em. He got a great jump from second to third.

Said it before and I'll say it again, everyone's talking about Donaldson for MVP, Encarnacion's monster August, Martin's hamstring, Osuna's amazing job as a closer at 20 years old...but Marco Estrada is by far the BEST story of this season that isn't getting any hype. The guy is churning out quality start after quality start and I'm loving every minute of it. Gotta love when a guy battles to earn his spot and runs with it.

[The Black Panther]

Marcus Stroeman 1st rehab start. Lansing Mich.

4 2/3 IP 1 WALK 7 Ks

Next start Buffalo '90' pitch count.

Next start after that falls against yankees.

[bondon]

Fingers crossed that the kid doesn't suffer any setbacks on his rehab. Getting him back would be absolutely huge but I don't want them to risk his long-term durability just to get him back a bit early.

This game has been absolutely hilarious. I always find it funny when a manager plays the percentages and it completely blows up in their face. Francona takes Bauer out of the game in the second because of control issues to replace him with Jeff Manship who has only issued 4 walks in 26 innings this season. Manship proceeds to walk both Bautista and Encarnacion to load the bases.

DONALDSON IS ABSOLUTELY INSANE LOL JESUS. Dude is a GAMER

[bondon]

Absolutely sick game from Dickey last night. Final line was CG 9IP 4H 1ER 0BB 6K. The bolded stat is my favourite.

Donaldson showing off his moves on the basepaths. I still think him tagging up from third on Tulo's fly to deep 2B was absolutely idiotic, Pat and Buck were gushing over how Donaldson probably read that Kipnis was backpedaling and knew he would have difficulty making the throw but playing the percentages you're gonna get nailed on the plate more often than not trying to do something like that, and he very nearly did. That being said, his read on Michael Brantley to extend that single to a double was the polar opposite. Absolutely beautiful display of baserunning. More people need to think the game on that level because these kind of opportunities are actually more common than one would think. A lot of the time outfielders treat plays like they're routine and dog it (see me ripping on Pillar a few days ago for not backing Bautista up which resulted in the DeShields inside-the-parker), assuming that the runner is just going to stop. Similar to how Andrus stole home the other day, if you pick up on players' tendencies and habits you can exploit them to ridiculous ends.

It's awesome to see Revere bringing it. That monstrous 4/5 game in LA was really his breakout for this team. Since (and including) that game, he's gone 23/51 (.451). The energy that this guy brings is awesome too. I still remember when I went to that KC game a few weeks ago, it was his second game on the team. He had gone 0-5 in his first game, and he was already 0-2 to start this one, and he hits a sac fly in the 8th. Walking back into the dugout Revere has the BIGGEST grin I've ever seen on a Blue Jay. You can tell this guy wants to win when he plays the game, and I'm not talking about just the game, I'm talking about the whole thing.

Edit: Just of note, Buerhle's start has now been pushed to Sunday to give him an extra days of rest, and Price will start on Saturday on regular rest (thanks to the off-day today). Buehrle is definitely dealing with some injuries. Would be a big boon to be able to give Buerhle a start or two off down the stretch *cough* Stroman *cough*

[The Black Panther]

I'm worried about putting Stroman back into the rotation too soon. I don't understand the urgency to get him back in there... the starters have all been terrific for 2 months.

.

I was but after seeing him (replays of rehab game)making a play and running off the field the leg looked good to go. Smile on his face too.

No longer worried. I know it was lower minors but he looked dominant from what I saw.

Definitely need him for the playoffs. Hes our 2nd best SP!!!!

[LawMan]

Really? You'd rather start Stroman over Buehrle, Dickey and Estrada? My starters for the playoffs are Price, Dickey, Buehrle and I don't know if I could leave off Estrada, considering the season he's had. Even Hutch has been excellent at home. Who do you bump to make room for Marcus? I think nobody. Kid only has 20 starts in his career.

Good points. I really don't know much about Stroman other than that he's our top prospect and was supposed to be our ace this season. We're going to get a very small sample size of Stroman before the playoffs (knock on wood) which is going to mean there is a very tough call for management on how to use him.

In a 5 game series I'm starting: Price, Dickey, Buehrle, Estrada, Price. Having Stroman in the bullpen would be my preferred course of attack for two reasons:
1. He hasn't pitched a major league start all year, simulation games and rehab starts are fine but there is a reason single A hitters are not MLB hitters, the pennant race is not the time to be experimenting.
2. After Price all the SP's have the potential to get beat up early, if the Jays lose their starter after 2 innings you can bring in Stroman for a strong middle relief, the Jays are good enough hitters they are never out of a game if down early.

[The Black Panther]

Really? You'd rather start Stroman over Buehrle, Dickey and Estrada? My starters for the playoffs are Price, Dickey, Buehrle and I don't know if I could leave off Estrada, considering the season he's had. Even Hutch has been excellent at home. Who do you bump to make room for Marcus? I think nobody. Kid only has 20 starts in his career.

Obviously not right now but I stand by my claim that hes our 2nd best. But to take a chance(Hes still rusty) over those 3 right now, no.
Id want him for depth and possibly over Estrada if necessary. You cant have enough pitching in the playoffs.

[bondon]

The reason why people want Stroman in the rotation in the playoffs is because in terms of having the best "stuff", Stroman is the second best on this team behind Price and it's really no contest. Dickey's only as good as his knuckleball moves on any given day, Buehrle relies on execution because velocity-wise he's dumpster-tier.

Stroman is of the Price mold in that he doesn't rely on having the guy at the plate to put the ball in play to make an out, he's a strikeout pitcher that has a wide range of pitches, solid command of them, and great velocity to boot.

That being said, the concerns are warranted IMO. The club is definitely going to give Stroman a start or two down the stretch to assess his capability and will make their decision.

With respect to middle relief, I think we already have that guy in Liam Hendriks...and honestly it would depend on Stroman's psyche if he would even be good in a long-relief type of role. Some starters can't really adjust to that kind of role, some guys really rely on a starter's routine to get their heads in the game and pitch at their best. Where Stroman would actually best be suited IMO is where Sanchez is slotted right now, as an 8th inning heater setup man, so I'm not really sure what the team does with him in the pen if that's the way they go.

[blayze]

I'd love to see them give Stroman a few starts to better assess where he's at.

Given how Dickey, Estrada and to a lesser extent, Buherle have been playing however, I'm hesitant to bench any of those guys during the playoffs over Stroman unless he's really impressive in his few starts.

One thing's for sure... Hutch is the odd man out!

[bondon]

Honestly speaking, I think the only thing for sure is that the next month is going to dictate what the playoff rotation is if we eventually make it there. You pretty much have to run with the hot hands in this sport.

Like, Hutch has put together 3 consecutive starts that were actually pretty stellar. Granted all of them are at home, but a lot of things could happen over the course of the next month. Buehrle's injury may prove to be more than he or the organization are letting on...despite the fact that I've been pumping up Marco Estrada's strong starts since mid-June I don't think his position is completely solid yet either. I think there's still a very real possibility that Hutch will have a role to play in the rotation in the playoffs, maybe as a home/away platoon with Estrada as I've alluded to before.

I think the only way we see Stroman start (and maybe even pitch at all period) in the post-season is if he comes back and completely dominates. I think anything short of that (lower velocity, signs of fatigue, control issues, etc.) and he gets shut down, or at the very least relegated to bullpen duties.

[Axeman33]

Stroman is scheduled to make a 90 pitch start in AAA next I do believe so it will be interesting to see how he does going deeper into a game. I think he is there for the playoffs but other than that, i don't think they are in a hurry for him

[bondon]

Setting the table for this series, I wonder if any sparks are gonna fly this weekend. If someone gets plunked things are gonna turn ugly pretty fast with the history we have, and I'm sure the Os are probably really salty about their free fall + the Jays rise.


Jimenez has done pretty well against us this year in 3 starts. Hopefully we see the Hutch of the last three starts tonight.