I hate to make this kind of statement in May, but that game felt like a real nail in the coffin. It’s way, way, waaaaay too early to say something like that, I guess, but it stings.
Things worth mentioning
- The Jays looked like they had this one wrapped up. It was a difficult pitching matchup, Oakland’s ace against Toronto’s seventh guy, but Sam Gaviglio was excellent, tossing five-and-a-third scoreless frames. The Jays pulled ahead in the fifth with a four-run inning powered by a Gio Urshela homer, Yangervis Solarte double, and Kevin Pillar sac fly. Again, up 4-0 going into the eighth, it looked automatic.
- But that wasn’t the case! Toronto’s ‘pen imploded as John Axford came in and issued a walk and a single. He struck out a guy but then Teoscar Hernandez made an error, putting guys on second and third with one out. After that, Tyler Clippard came into the game and got one guy out before issuing a walk and then a grand slam to Chad Pinder. Fuuuuuuuuck. I don’t know. Quite a bit went wrong. The Jays’ ‘pen has been largely good and this is one of the first times they’ve imploded for a loss this year. It’s frustrating, especially given how things have gone recently and how important this game seems.
— Cam Lewis (@cooom) May 19, 2018
such a cruel loss…high performance psychology department needed !!
Actually, I don’t know if I’m the only one feeling this way but this time last year I was more than happy to give the dynamic duo a solid chance to build a winner. I can only fucking hope their eye for young talent is better than their eye for major league talent. I say this because I don’t want the media or rogers talking heads to be laying this at the feet of gibbons and his staff..solarte, diaz, grichuk, benoit, feldman, floyd, grilli, morales (x2), upton, lariano, pearce, saltalamachia and a whole host of lesser players have been signed by these guys against the number of success’ which can be counted on one hand. The “high performance ” department is anything but and the talk of grass and enhancing the fan experience is just that. And what of the fan? less flexibility and options in tickets packages and rising prices each year…this is not a one – game rant but recognition of the slowly diminishing returns for the fan of the blue jays.
Damn this comment system – just lost a whole reply to you. I agree. We are basically in full rebuild. Morales is the biggest signing and was just to placate losing Edwin.
You better thank your lucky stars Stoeten isn’t around any more when you make comments like that.
hahaha, he’s behind the paywall now and the opinions of the masses are of lesser importance…I miss him quite candidly; there’s a lot of shitty click bait headline-with-no-substance writing going on. This isn’t about trotting out the stats and figures; it’s about the fact – obvious fact – that the people they have decided to populate their rosters with are not up to the task. And that leads me to questions the FO’s abilities. However you wish to measure it , the fan experience has been diminished each year, these are facts.
Maybe you should be the Front Office. Dotard!!!!
you sir, are a sub-literate mouth breather…
Tough day, but the bullpen has been the one bright spot in this team. They’ve won the team far more games this year than they’ve cost them.
This isn’t a full or even partial rebuild yet. I think if the Front Office had had their way that would have started years ago and perhaps we’d have an even bigger base of young talent poised for the next few years. Instead they self-admittedly tried to respect the fan base by keeping the team competitive and it looks like it’s not working. Now it looks like a lot of our most traceable chips are starting to lose their lustre. Bad luck by that’s baseball.
Hmmmm…how does that old saying go “If you listen to the fans, you’ll be sitting up there with them.”
They may have said something along the line of being respectful of the fans, but let’s be real. Rogers told them to keep trying, and keep the money flowing. I don’t think the FO would listen to fans anymore than any other FO in sports would. But the corporate owners, well, now that’s a different story.
That being said, as much as I want a winning season every year, to sign the best free agents and to just be the biggest spending club, we have Rogers. It will never happen. So, would you rather a tire fire for a few seasons along the lines of the astros and cubs, or something that at least gives us hope. Me, I choose hope. Because it’s baseball and you never know.
Yes, it’s hard, watching these gut wrenching losses. But think back to the dead of winter. We would have given our last loonie, to watch baseball.
With the Vlad, Bo, Cavan…..etc etc era just around the corner, I think taking the path we have (cheap contracts, lift the floor, offer hope), while letting some of these albatross contracts expire and then retooling, when we see what we have at the major league level in 2019 and/or 2020, makes more sense than trying to sign expensive free agents. (Sorry about the run on sentence.)
Not to mention, who knows, perhaps with next years FA class coming, Rogers has been convinced to open up the purse strings, while also welcoming the first big wave coming from the farm since the 90’s. So, although I get your frustrations…I feel em too, let’s, be real. Be patient and see what happens. Because really…what other choice do we have?
why did you write this: “much as I want a winning season every year, to sign the best free agents and to just be the biggest spending club, we have Rogers. It will never happen.” and then this, ” Not to mention, who knows, perhaps with next years FA class coming, Rogers has been convinced to open up the purse strings,”??? Run on sentences are nothing compared to the complete lack of sense you have….do you think all these guys coming out of MiLB will hit .300 right away with 30 home runs????
Idiot dotard!