2019 Blue Jays General Discussion Thread

[Nik]

In other baseball news. Machado has agreed to join the Padres for 300M/10 Years

Kind of a weird one considering they have Tatis ready to go in a bit but I guess one of them moves to 3B?

[Deebo]

In other baseball news. Machado has agreed to join the Padres for 300M/10 Years

Kind of a weird one considering they have Tatis ready to go in a bit but I guess one of them moves to 3B?

Machado only played SS full time last season and has better defense numbers (fangraphs) at 3B and Tatis has played SS almost exclusively in the minors. Based on that, I'd guess Machado will play 3rd but he may have gotten assurances that he'd be at SS, at least to start, in order to convince him to sign.

I get the feeling that now that he has his money, Machado probably won't care what defensive position he plays.

[hockeyfan1]

Blue Jays 2019 Schedule:  Clear        - away
                                       Coloured  - home



(Click on image to enlarge).


Source:  Toronto Sun Sports

[hockeyfan1]

Youth movement!  Bo Bichette in the Jays exhibition action in Montreal against the Brewers:

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More here:
https://www.mlb.com/bluejays/news/blue-jays-youth-movement-the-focus

[Arn]

An interesting read that references the Jays and their handling of Guerrero Jr

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/mar/26/how-baseball-owners-came-to-value-profits-over-world-series-titles

[The Empire]

An interesting read that references the Jays and their handling of Guerrero Jr

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/mar/26/how-baseball-owners-came-to-value-profits-over-world-series-titles

Plain and simple, they are manipulating his service time to get an extra year of control.  Atkins won't come out and say it but that's exactly what it is.  This is what Atkins said recently:

"Our vision is it really comes down to development, so I just don't see him as a major league player, right? He's 19," Atkins said.

"We're just trying to maximize and do everything that we can to do what's best for him," he continued. "We genuinely feel it would be a disservice to the organization and to Vladdy if we weren't thinking about it that way, to maximize his full potential."

An 80 hit tool not ready for the majors, yea ok.

[hockeyfan1]

There will be a committee (set up by MLB Commissioner) that will take into account among other things:

They will explore efforts to prevent teams from manipulating service time that delays their top prospects from being called up to the major leagues.

Source:   USAToday

[hockeyfan1]

Okay Blue Jays fans, it's officially "Playball!" time, meaning the boys of summer are baa-cckk!

Having come off a losing season in which the Jays began to 'rebuild' (dare we called it that then), by initiating selected trades beginning with stalwart starter J.A.Happ going to the Yankees at the deadline in return for two youngsters Brandon Drury & Billy McKinley.  Near season's end, Josh Donaldson, "The Bringrr of Rain" No More went to the Indians in exchange for a later named player which turned out to be pitcher Julian Merryweather.
Aledmys Diaz traded to Houston Astro's for pitcher Trent Thornton, Yangervis Solarte, Troy Tulowitzki, Marco Estrada, Tyler Clippard all to free agency.

And on the Blue Jays continue.  This 2019 year, so far, Russell Martin was shipped to the L.A. Dodgers, and Kendrys Morales to the Oakland A's , in return for some young minor leaguers.

Blue Jays fans should be prepared to see some new faces such as veteran pitchers Clay Buchholtz & Clayton Richard including Matt Shoemaker.

There will be no Bo Bichette nor Vladimir Guerrero, not yet, as they both will continue to toil with Triple A Buffalo.  Expect speed thrower Danny Jansen to share the catcher's position with Luke Maille.  Teoscar Hernandez, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Billy McKinley, Brandon Drury, Grichuk, Pillar, Smoak, Ureña are the familiar outfield & infield returnees.  Newcomer on roster is Freddy Galvis.

Buchholz, Richard, Elvis Luciano (a Rule 5 Draft Pick), Shoemaker, & Thornton are the new mound occupiers, plus the usual array of starters in Stroman, Sanchez, Borucki, and the relievers Biagini, Tepera, Gaviglio, Pannone, Mayza.

The team has a mix of veterans and youngsters and since the Blue Jays are now on rebuild mode, there will most certainly be more trading come the deadline.  Who will stay and who will go?  That will be answered at some point in the season should it come to fruition.

It's going to be a tough season for this team once again, barring any debilitating injuries.  Rebuilds are always tough to bear but the positive spin on this is that the Blue Jay organization is focused on forging a team that will eventually be competitive again.

GO JAYS GO!


25-man(active) roster:
http://m.mlb.com/tor/roster/

40-man roster:
http://m.mlb.com/tor/roster/40-man/

Blue Jays depth chart (active roster):
http://mlb.mlb.com/team/depth_chart/index.jsp?c_id=tor

[hockeyfan1]

**********Season Opening Weekend********


vs



Starting Pitchers:
Thursday March 28   3:30pm
Jordan Zimmerman  RH Tigers vs Marcus Stroman RH Blue Jays

Friday March 29         7:00pm
Matt Boyd  LH  Tigers  vs  Matt Shoemaker  RH  Blue Jays

Saturday March 30     3:00pm
Spencer Turnbull  RH  Tigers  vs  Aaron Sanchez  RH  Blue Jays
   
Sunday March 31         1:00pm
Matt Moore  LH  Tigers  vs  Trent Thornton  RH  Blue Jays

All games on SN/SN1 & 590 The FAN.


Source:   theStar.com,  MLB.com,  ESPN.com



The Detroit Tigers are the opening day visitors at the Rogers Centre here in Toronto.

Detroit too is in rebuilding mode much like the Blue Jays.

The Jays final (active) roster will feature either one of Bud Norris or Javy Guerra, both relievers.  Decision will be made today.

Jays starter Trent Thornton will be making his Major League debut Sunday.

Injuries are already plaguing the Jays as starter Ryan Borucki, Clay Buchholtz and reliever Ryan Tepera are on the shelf, along with Devon Travis (60-day DL).

Should be a fun opening day for the fans.

GO JAYS GO!

[hockeyfan1]

A pitcher's duel between starters Marcus Stroman of the Jays and Jordan Zimmerman of the Tigers, ended up with Detroit needing a two-run homerun off Jays reliever Daniel Hudson in the tenth to win it 2-0.

Impressive start for Stroman in that he pitched favourably with a no-hitter going at one point in the game up until the start of the sixth inning.   He finished with seven strikeouts over seven innings pitched before giving way to Biagini & Giles, and Hudson who took the loss.

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Hi-lites:
https://www.tsn.ca/stewart-homer-in-10th-leads-tigers-over-blue-jays-in-opener-1.1281402

[hockeyfan1]

Jays manager Charlie Montoyo gets his first MLB win, as the Blue Jays shutout the Tigers 6-0 on starter Matt Shoemaker throwing seven scoreless innings.

Freddy Galvis and Justin Smoak with 2 RBIs each along with an RBI from Teoscar Hernandez, were the driving forces behind the Jays offence.

[tweet]1111829086983188482[/tweet]

Hi-lites:
https://www.sportsnet.ca/videos/teams/toronto-blue-jays-video/

[hockeyfan1]

Score one up for Jays starter Aaron Sanchez!  Five scoreless innings pitched for the Jays starter — a near perfect start — as Toronto shutout the Tiger 3-0 Saturday afternoon. 
Justin Smoak's two-run homerun was probably all the offence the Jays really needed for the win.

Relievers Mayza, Biagini, and Hudson did their part in keeping Detroit off the scoreboard, while Ken Giles closed out the ninth for his 32nd save.

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Hi-lites:
https://www.mlb.com/bluejays/video/blue-jays-blank-tigers

[hockeyfan1]

Yet another pitcher's duel between Jays starter Trent Thornton and the Tigers Matt Moore.

Moore shut down the Blue Jays bats in allowing only two hits for seven innings.

Meantime, Thornton, in making his MLB debut, lasted well into five innings, allowing two hits and striking out eight.  The latter is a Toronto Blue Jays club record for a starter making his Major League debut.

The Jays were down 3-0 by the end of the seventh until Rowdy Tellez placed Toronto on the scoreboard in the eighth  inning with a three-run slammer.
The game then went to extra innings and the Tigers emerged the victors on none than other an error.

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Jays reliever Elvis Luciano becomes youngest pitcher ever in Blue Jay history.

Hi-lites:
https://www.tsn.ca/mlb/video/mlb-tigers-4-blue-jays-3-11~1649274

[hockeyfan1]

vs



Starting Pitchers:
Monday April I    7pm
David Hess RH Orioles 0-0 0.00  vs  Sean-Reid Foley Blue Jays

Tuesday April 2    7pm
Andrew Cashner RH Orioles  0-1  13.50  vs  Marcus Stroman RH Blue Jays  0-0  0.00

Wednesday April 3 7pm
TBD  vs  Matt Shoemaker RH Blue Jays  0-0  0.00


All games on SN/N1 & 590 The FAN.


Source:   MLB.com


The Baltimore Orioles (3-1) come to visit the Toronto Blue Jays (2-2) at the Rogers Centre for a three-game series.

The Jays fresh off an Opening Weekend split with the Detroit Tigers, hope to continue to be a force to be reckoned particularly on the mound.  Though the Jays started their home opener Thursday going 1 for 37 in the first four innings, their offence has come through with some clutch performances and key runs.

It's way too early to even assess this Blue Jays team.  Besides, they've played a team (Detroit) that wouldn't necessarily be considered a challenge in that sense of the word. 

The Baltimore Orioles are coming off an Home Opening three-game sweep of the NY Yankees.  They will prove a tougher opponent than the Tigers for the Jays.

GO JAYS GO!

[hockeyfan1]

Orioles starter David Hess pitched a no-hitter going through 6 innings before giving to reliever Pedro Araujo in the seventh.  That's when the Jays Randall Grichuk smashed a two-run homer to put Toronto up on the scoreboard. 

That followed Freddy Galvis' solo shot in the eighth and Teoscar Hernandez triple in the ninth, as the Jays came within a run of nearly sending the game into extra innings.  Too bad the final score read 6-5 in favour of the Orioles.

Jays starter Sean-Reid Foley was dinged for five runs (three earned), while reliever Sam Gaviglio allowed one.

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Hi-lites:
https://www.tsn.ca/mlb/video/mlb-orioles-6-blue-jays-5~1649547