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OT: The Toronto Blue Jays

MyNameIsJonas said:
Boston might want a Shoemaker in the deal to replace Price. Swappibg Grichuk and Bradley is an idea too
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Yeah, it could definitely get bigger and more complicated as part of the financial/competitive side of it. Boston is trying to clear payroll so that they can keep together their veteran contending team. Any pieces we can send them that helps further that would be of worth to them, absolutely.
 
MindzEye said:
His D was basically average last season (slightly below, but so slightly it basically doesn't matter). I'll take a strong side platoon stick who can play the corner OF in a pinch and gives us meh but functioning defence at 1B, as long as he's cheap.
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They have Shaw and sort of Tellez as the strong side platoon 1B/DH already.

I’d look at someone like Wilmer Flores as a platoon partner/bench depth. He’s a lefty masher and has some defensive versatility as well.
 
manny said:
They have Shaw and sort of Tellez as the strong side platoon 1B/DH already.
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Shaw was beyond being a blackhole last year and can play a bunch of different positions. Probably a better utility knife than he is an everyday 1B. Rowdy also might not be a MLB player at all.

I guess it depends on whether or not the point this is season is trying to be good or not. There is a really good chance that Thames would be the best of the 3 of them, getting the strong side platoon duty. If you're trying to be good, Thames is probably the right call.

I’d look at someone like Wilmer Flores as a platoon partner/bench depth. He’s a lefty masher and has some defensive versatility as well.
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Eh? Flores is probably a DH on the weak side of a DH platoon. Hard pass. Both DRS and UZR have Thames as a much better fielder than Flores at 1B.
 
A ton depends on how much rope if any they want to give Teo, Fisher and Rowdy because there are decent FA they could bring in to replace them be in Thames, Dickerson, Puig, or EE.

They dont need to go huge term on Ozuna or Castellanos ( i would look hard at him though)

Shaw should be looked at as a Drury replacement floor with the opportunity to win 1B starts but he shouldnt be given anything. He can spell 2B and 3B which has value.

Im kinda over Rowdy, he offers zilch in the field, and on the bases and the stick wont ever make that up. Id bring in EE/Thames/Dickerson to compete for 1B/DH PA.

Its not popular but id run the same OF group out and give Teo a chance to prive his second half was legit, and see if Grichuk can get back to a 2 win guy while seeing if one of Fisher/Alford/McKinney can become a proper OF4 or better. My main problem is i want a CF and the market sucks, save for tradibg for 2 years of Marte.

If you pass on the EE/Thames route you could DH Teo, make Randy CF and sign a Puig/Dickerson to platoon with Fisher or go get Nicky C
 
Going to steal a post from another board. With the Ryu signing its brought in new fans of the team from Korea. Posts like this get e really excited:

Greetings, I am a new fan of the Toronto Blue Jays, along with the rest of my countrymen who have any interest in Major League Baseball. Ryu's recent signing with the Blue Jays has given me an exciting buzz, and as someone who has followed Ryu since his debut I wanted to share my experience.

1. Clubhouse influence : Ryu is a down to earth type of individual. Never creates any trouble, always says the right things at press conferences and interviews. Similar to Mike Trout in a way, he was a superstar in Korea but never acted as one. While he gets along well with his teammates, his English isn't very good and he at best leads by example. Thankfully the Toronto pitching staff seem to be quite experienced, and his calm personality will not be much of an issue.

2. Clutch Mentality : Ryu is the ultimate clutch pitcher. They say batting avg. in RISP doesn't matter and eventually catches up to your career numbers, but I disagree. I just can't ignore guys like David Ortiz or David Freese, and Ryu is the pitcher's version of them. In South Korea, he played in one of the worst teams in baseball history. We had a defence more incapable than having 4 left handed starting pitchers stationed randomly across the infield. As a result, Ryu became a guy who could NEVER be tilted. During the 10+ years of watching him, the most emotion I saw him display on the mound was shaking his head and smiling at a non called strike. He also thrives in pressure situations. In my opinion there is no reason to not trust him to pitch his way out of trouble, unless he is clearly fatigued.

3. Injuries : Until his second season in the majors, Ryu was heavily dependent on his Fastball/Changeup combination. His third and fourth pitches were thrown early in the count for cheap strikes, and often hit hard. However MLB hitters finally got his number, waited off his other pitches and started to focus on his changeup and attacking it. Ryu had to improve his other pitches, his curveball and slider, and this is what I believe caused his recent long term injury. He started throwing a hard slider, and while it proved effective, gave a burden to his shoulder that was too much. Ryu also had a huge workload in his career, pitching as an ace for both the national team and his club. I think the mileage just caught up to him. However he no longer throws this slider, and him having 2 years off will have helped him superbly. Personally I don't feel long-term injuries will become an issue. Oh and he also had TJS in high school but recoverd quickly and was the MVP and ROTY in his first year in pro ball.

4. Recent Success : If you look at his numbers before and after his injuries, you will notice that he seems to have much better efficiency. This is not a case of FA'roids. Instead, he was so determined to prove that he could come back from injury, and was diligent. Take a look at LAD pitching coach Honeycutt's interview on him, where he says that before he never gave effort in analysing the opposing team. He also wasn't a player keeping himself well conditioned. After the injury, he improved on both of these aspects, hiring a personal trainer and doing research on hitters and presenting them to Honeycutt. Basically he was a lazy genius type who had become fully motivated. The trainer mentioned will be following him to Toronto from what I read, and hopefully he continues to prepare well for his outings.

5. Aging : In my opinion this is the last thing to worry about with Ryu. While me being his biggest fan will remove some creditibility, I personally think he could be a Jamie Moyer and pitch efficiently even into his fourties. What makes him great are his control, repertoire, and natural feel of the ball. It took Ryu 1 spring training to be fully used to his circle changeup which he learned from one of our veterans, and I read the story of a LAD pitcher who was dumb founded that Ryu learned his cutter overnight. This guy is one of the world's biggest talents in terms of a pure feel as a pitcher. Heck he doesn't even throw bullpen sessions, and once was out for multiple weeks without any competitive pitching and then started in the post season only to outperform. He also has the ability to change his velocity at will. Not just throw softer, but deliberately alter it with more movement in order to offset the hitter's timing. He has brilliant pitching IQ and will be great for a long time. I wouldn't be surpried if this isn't his last contract in the big leagues.

6. Downside : Yes he will have his off nights, usually with his control. Unfortunately, guys who throw triple digit fastballs can leave stuff right in the middle and batters can still miss, but when he is off he can be hit pretty bad. He has gotten better with this though, because now all four of his pitches are pretty effective it isn't as bad it used to be. The period in August-September where he was continuosly hammered and lost his Cy Young was a fatigue issue. Having had 2 years off the workload had caught up to him, so this year it won't be so bad. Ryu also performs much better on 5 days rest. I don't know about this year's stats but believe me watching his whole career this is true. It's a problem with almost all Asian pitchers but I read that Toronto has a lot of depth which will help him stay in good shape. My biggest worry is him relying on DP's to get out of pressure moments. Your infield isn't very good but at least he's been through much worse.

Anways this is all I have, feel free to ask more questions on him and I'll answer the best I can. This is the first time I've ever posted on a online forum. It's so exciting to see him move from the Dodgers where he wasn't really appreciated and on a team almost guaranteed to win the division. Toronto is a rebuilding team ready to redeem and there will be so much expectations on him. You guys will be on TV everyday and I'll be watching. Hopefully the Blue Jays can make a push for the wild card spots. Good luck!

+Oh and TV broadcasting won't increase revenue by much, but you'll definately see many Koreans at the home stadium as well as some sponsorships. Cheers
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Some cool shit right there imo.
 
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