Jays Roster Discussion

[herman]

ICYMI: Yesterday's afternoon game featured Donaldson and Gibby getting into a bit of a situation.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/17331098/blue-jays-josh-donaldson-uses-humor-brush-dustup-manager-john-gibbons

Here's more of a write up: https://sports.vice.com/en_us/highlight/josh-donaldson-john-gibbons-and-a-tale-of-four-innings

Edit: Gibby's side of the story:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/gibbons-flare-donaldson-bat-choice-not-big-deal/

WHO TO BELIEVE?

 

[Kin]

I like Donaldson the player but he does come off as a guy who probably says "Brah" a lot.

 

[herman]

I like Donaldson the player but he does come off as a guy who probably says "Brah" a lot.

Playing third base kind of gets to you after awhile.

 

[Joe S.]

I like Donaldson the player but he does come off as a guy who probably says "Brah" a lot.

Maybe - he seems more like the kind of guy who'd be wrangling gators if he wasn't playing ball...

I see Lawrie more as the 'brah' type

 

[Kin]

I like Donaldson the player but he does come off as a guy who probably says "Brah" a lot.

Maybe - he seems more like the kind of guy who'd be wrangling gators if he wasn't playing ball...

I see Lawrie more as the 'brah' type

I've always thought of Lawrie as more of a "Bro" kind of guy. The difference is subtle but serious.

 

[herman]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyWNCrxVzPU[/youtube]

He's actually quite well spoken, at least on matters of kinesthetic mechanics. He rebuilt his swing pretty late (based on Bautista's) and that put him on the board.

It's more of a softball swing than a traditional baseball quick hands swing.

 

[Boston Leaf]

I know this is not popular around her but I find Donaldson kind of a meat head.. albeit a talented one

 

[herman]

I know this is not popular around her but I find Donaldson kind of a meat head.. albeit a talented one

I see him as more hot headed than meat headed, but I totally get where you're coming from. There is still a tremendous intelligence behind his talent: how he re-tooled his swing despite decades of coaching otherwise, his routes and footwork to balls chopped his way all indicate a very sharp, analytic mind behind the gusto.

 

[Joe S.]

I like Donaldson the player but he does come off as a guy who probably says "Brah" a lot.

Maybe - he seems more like the kind of guy who'd be wrangling gators if he wasn't playing ball...

I see Lawrie more as the 'brah' type

I've always thought of Lawrie as more of a "Bro" kind of guy. The difference is subtle but serious.

I was unaware there was a difference. Tmlfans.ca,  a treasure trove of information.

 

[herman]

Gradually renewing my Stroman hype, to match my Sanchez/Estrada/Happ hype.

http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/08/19/stroman-is-sliding-back-to-the-front-of-the-rotation/

More ground balls in front of Donaldson, Tulowitski, and Travis is a good thing.

 

[cabber24]

Ugly lineup today:

1 Travis
2 Saunders
3 Edwin
4 Martin
5 Upton
6 Carrera
7 Smoak
8 Barney
9 Goins

No Bautista, Pilar, Donaldson, or Tulo

 

[Captain Canuck]

Jays just traded for Dioner Navarro! Welcome back!
Indicates Thole and Dickey not likely to be part of the post-season roster.
White Sox get minor league LHP Colton Turner in return.

 

[hockeyfan1]

Jays just traded for Dioner Navarro! Welcome back!
Indicates Thole and Dickey not likely to be part of the post-season roster.
White Sox get minor league LHP Colton Turner in return.

Glad Navarro's back!

 

[Joe S.]

 

[Kin]

In the parlance of our times "The last two weekends of the Blue Jays be like:"

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPVLyB0Yc6I[/youtube]

 

[herman]

Hat trick

 

[Kin]

Hat trick

It's going to be a fun MVP race.

 

[Joe S.]

You think so? I thought altuve pretty much had it wrapped up... Unless he falls off a cliff in September...

 

[Kin]

You think so? I thought altuve pretty much had it wrapped up... Unless he falls off a cliff in September...

I think he's probably the favourite but just for reference sake:

AL WAR leaders:

Trout 8.2
Betts 7.5
Altuve 7.3
Donaldson 6.3
Machado 6.1

So you'll have some stats guys arguing for Trout, you'll have the East Coast media presence probably in Betts' corner and you'll have the very real possibility that the Astros don't make the playoffs potentially hurting Altuve(which shouldn't matter but tends to.)

 

[Kin]

For some context, some players WAR totals for their first five years:

Mike Trout: 45.4 WAR

Ted Williams: 45.1

Willie Mays: 39.4

Mickey Mantle: 39.4

Lou Gehrig: 38.7

A-Rod: 38.6

Hank Aaron: 37.2

Joe Dimaggio: 33.5

Barry Bonds: 33.2

To find ahead of Trout you basically have to go back to Babe Ruth who, remember, spent the first 5 years of his career pitching and didn't become an everyday hitter until he was 24.

Trout's led the league in WAR each of his first five seasons and put up years that significantly eclipse most of the best players in baseball history. He'll probably have one MVP to show for it.