Jays make moves

So we have had quite the week. Added a few key pieces.

David Price , I hope he can handle the pressure of leading this team to the post season.

Tulo has to make the 6-3 play every time and likely touch off another 15 bombs.

Lowe will help to stabilize the 5th to 8th innings. He is a pro, and been through the wars

Oh and then there is the addition of a left fielder, and a guy who adds speed to the line up.





So , the whole thing will work if :

1}  Team stays healthy and the bats stay hot.
2}  The starters can all go 6 innings plus
3}  The Jays can string some strong series wins together. Winning 2of 3 is critical.

And maybe , just maybe, if Marcus Stroman returns in early September, and can contribute.

It is a roll of the dice, but at least we are trying.

Second Half

A chance to make a fresh start. An opportunity to make a run. A way to make a deal to vault from 3rd to first, and many teams see salvation in the 4-5 days of rest and recuperation.

If you are a team that is honest that you have a shot, are you a buyer at the trade deadline.  Are you really a smarter GM and you think the owner is fooling himself, that your team is 6 games out of the wild card, but who's kidding who, you have a team of holes, of missing parts, and kids that will have to be rested. That to make up the ground, you have to move controllable young talent for aging potential free agents. Money in, but not money out.

The fan base knows you have bought the farm, sold them down the river. You could just push the plunger and blow the whole thing, right Luke ? Or you could deal some kids for vets, right Mike?

But is a gamble, and it does not always work.  In 93 the Jays dealt Steve Karsay for Rickey Henderson, and they won.  Had a great team that year, could they have won w/o Rickey?  In Oakland last year, with the best record in MLB, the A's added Samardija & Lester, and Hammel, and they ended up losing their division and in a one game playoff to KC. So you never know.  The A's are cellar dwellers again, so do their fans feel it was worth it ?

Would the Jays fans if they knew they would only get 1wild card and then exit, only to drop to last the following year agree it was worth dealing Sanchez, Hoffman, Norris, or is dealing an Encarnacion to Seattle or Oakland, or Cleveland worth the roll of the dice to get rental pitching. 

Managers have to make decisions, and GM's must give the team the best chance to make the post season, but it is the hardest thing to pull the plug on the fans.  To admit that you don't have what it takes, it is not easy.

You can tinker, I advocated trying to pick up recently released Jason Fraser, but the Braves snatched him up.  I am sure if asked Anthopolous would have said that he is not an upgrade on Delabar, Hendricks, Schultz, Cecil, Loup or Osuna. But, and there is always a but, Fraser has experience these others do not have.  The Jays pen combined has not pitched a meaningful inning in August, let alone September.

Sanchez had a rough triple AAA outing last night, so the speculation abounds that he would be better in the back end of the bullpen, but I am not so sure.  Osuna has settled in there, and if you make Sanchez an 8th inning guy, it has a ripple effect on the entire bullpen.  Insert him as a starter allows you to send Doubrant back to Buffalo, straight swap out, doe not effect anything else.  At least you get your future guy back in the rotation.  If you are not willing to deal, and you have to replace Buerhle next year, might as well get Sanchez started.

More to come.