SN: Behind the Price/Tulo Moves

[CarltonTheBear]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/inside-the-48-hours-that-transformed-the-blue-jays/

Even as a non-hardcore baseball fan I really enjoyed this article. It's a behind the scenes look at those moves Anthopoulos pulled off.

 

[herman]

I just read this as well.

AA showing class in how he broke the news to Reyes. He is both a ninja and a gentleman.

 

[digdug]

awesome article

thanks for posting

 

[Joe S.]

Great article thanks.

 

[Highlander]

As said before these trades will in retrospect.  Hard to lose both Norris and Boyd whom have had stellar starts with Detroit.  I think we may come to regret this if we don't go into the playoffs.

 

[Joe S.]

Jays fans have been waiting for 'tomorrow' for over 20 years.

I really don't care at this point if this is regrettable in the next 5 years.  Then what? The team has a bunch a great pitchers and no hitters?

You can't waste the core of this lineup and their time is running out.

 

[Peter D.]

Jays fans have been waiting for 'tomorrow' for over 20 years.

I really don't care at this point if this is regrettable in the next 5 years.  Then what? The team has a bunch a great pitchers and no hitters?

You can't waste the core of this lineup and their time is running out.

While I agree it was imperative the team took advantage of this offence, I would no longer say time is running out on the core of this team.  AA has done an excellent job in lengthening the window beyond 2016 when both Bautista and Encarnacion could leave with the additons of all-stars Donaldson, Tulowitzki and Martin.  All added within the last 8+ months.  That's pretty impressive.

 

[Captain Canuck]

Jays fans have been waiting for 'tomorrow' for over 20 years.

I really don't care at this point if this is regrettable in the next 5 years.  Then what? The team has a bunch a great pitchers and no hitters?

You can't waste the core of this lineup and their time is running out.

While I agree it was imperative the team took advantage of this offence, I would no longer say time is running out on the core of this team.  AA has done an excellent job in lengthening the window beyond 2016 when both Bautista and Encarnacion could leave with the additons of all-stars Donaldson, Tulowitzki and Martin.  All added within the last 8+ months.  That's pretty impressive.

This is how I feel as well. As long as the Jays can add 1-2 more younger starters to replace Buehrle and Dickey then this team should be competitive for the next 5 or so years.

As for playoffs this team has tried to fool us before (most recently after the Mets and Marlins trades), but I honestly feel that this team will make the playoffs. It's really more a matter of which spot they get, but honestly after waiting 22 years I would gladly take a 1 game playoff on the road and enjoy every minute of it.

 

[hockeyfan1]

It doesn't hurt to get back some of the successes of the Jays glory days of yesterday when they were once billed as one of the best organizations and teams in baseball (under Pat Gillick & their winning ways enroute to their eventual WS championship wins in '92 and '93).

Anthopoulos has certainly rediscovered a winning formula but has added credibility to an organization that had to often been in a sense of 'disarray' in the past.  Good job, AA.

According to stats provided on SN Jays broadcast, the Jays sport the one of the biggest & best improvements in offence, defence & pitching  (in terms of their respective percentages in those categories) since the All-Star break in the A.L. (and MLB).

 

[L K]

The Blue Jays broadcast numbers over the last week in comparison to the average prime-time viewership of 27 American teams last year.

1. MLB, Twins at Blue Jays, Monday, Sportsnet: 1,390,000
2. MLB, Royals at Blue Jays, Friday, Sportsnet: 1,080,000
3. MLB, Royals at Blue Jays, Sunday, Sportsnet: 997,000
4. MLB, Royals at Blue Jays, Saturday, Sportsnet: 981,000

 

[Peter D.]

The Blue Jays broadcast numbers over the last week in comparison to the average prime-time viewership of 27 American teams last year.

Makes one wonder what kind of broadcast deal the Jays would get if their rights were open on the market.  Rogers will never confirm what paper figure they use for the money they take from one pocket and put in the other (speculated at $36 million).

 

[Joe S.]

kind of unrelated - but something I think Anthopoulos doesn't get enough credit for (or maybe just isn't thought about) is the move he didn't make - re-signing Cabrera.

It's obviously just conjecture on my part, but it felt to me as he was never really a teammate - he was just a player. He reminded me of Alomar near the end, remember when he sat out a game to preserve his .300 BA - that kind of player...

Anyway - just food for thought on my part, but sometimes the best moves are the ones you don't make, like including Sanchez or Stroman in any trades last season... 

 

[herman]

Also slightly unrelated, but I'd just like to express my admiration for AA's drafting plan of targeting high-upside pitchers with just about every pick, developing/hyping them for 2-3 years, and then spinning them off for premium talent when the opportunity arises.

 

[Bill_Berg]

kind of unrelated - but something I think Anthopoulos doesn't get enough credit for (or maybe just isn't thought about) is the move he didn't make - re-signing Cabrera.

It's obviously just conjecture on my part, but it felt to me as he was never really a teammate - he was just a player. He reminded me of Alomar near the end, remember when he sat out a game to preserve his .300 BA - that kind of player...

Anyway - just food for thought on my part, but sometimes the best moves are the ones you don't make, like including Sanchez or Stroman in any trades last season...

We had a hole in LF until Revere come into the picture and Melky is batting .282 this season. I wouldn't say not signing Melky was a bad move, but I wouldn't say it was a good move either. I think the biggest reason they didn't resign Melky was money.

 

[bustaheims]

We had a hole in LF until Revere come into the picture and Melky is batting .282 this season. I wouldn't say not signing Melky was a bad move, but I wouldn't say it was a good move either. I think the biggest reason they didn't resign Melky was money.

But, keeping that money available is what allowed them make moves like adding Price, Lowe and Revere. That is why it ultimately was a good move.

 

[herman]

We had a hole in LF until Revere come into the picture and Melky is batting .282 this season. I wouldn't say not signing Melky was a bad move, but I wouldn't say it was a good move either. I think the biggest reason they didn't resign Melky was money.

But, keeping that money available is what allowed them make moves like adding Price, Lowe and Revere. That is why it ultimately was a good move.

LF was supposed to be Michael Saunders too so it's not like AA just left it open on purpose.

 

[Bill_Berg]

We had a hole in LF until Revere come into the picture and Melky is batting .282 this season. I wouldn't say not signing Melky was a bad move, but I wouldn't say it was a good move either. I think the biggest reason they didn't resign Melky was money.

But, keeping that money available is what allowed them make moves like adding Price, Lowe and Revere. That is why it ultimately was a good move.

Sure, I agree the reason we didn't resign him was money related. If not signing Cabrera is the reason Price could join the team, then it was a good move, I'm not convinced of that.

Perhaps we could have included Cabrera in the trade for Price and saved a prospect. Or we could have traded him to a contender for a prospect to free up money for Price.

I don't mean to say we should have signed Cabrera, but I'm not willing to dance about how great AA is for not signing him. I'll dance about the Price trade though!

 

[Bill_Berg]

We had a hole in LF until Revere come into the picture and Melky is batting .282 this season. I wouldn't say not signing Melky was a bad move, but I wouldn't say it was a good move either. I think the biggest reason they didn't resign Melky was money.

But, keeping that money available is what allowed them make moves like adding Price, Lowe and Revere. That is why it ultimately was a good move.

LF was supposed to be Michael Saunders too so it's not like AA just left it open on purpose.

Tough to predict injuries, but if anyone is prone, it's that guy.

 

[Joe S.]

We had a hole in LF until Revere come into the picture and Melky is batting .282 this season. I wouldn't say not signing Melky was a bad move, but I wouldn't say it was a good move either. I think the biggest reason they didn't resign Melky was money.

Well technically (and I know it didn't work out) they got Saunders to play left.

And the thing with Cabrera, you mention his batting average, but that's all he seemed like to me, a high batting average and that's about it. He didn't 'make things happen' if you know what I mean...

 

[Kin]

Although didn't Anthopolous offer him a contract anyway? So the positive benefits of not signing him seem more like a happy accident than design.