Canadian Chat → Official 2014 Blue Jays Thread

So, with lowered expectations this year: will the Jays make the playoffs?

Only if the starting pitching holds up... They havent made any new acqusitions to fix the problem.

They are hoping on unproven and injury prone 3-5 starters. good luck.

Oh look, that was quick. Janssen to the 15-day DL.

»www.sportsnet.ca/basebal ··· -day-dl/

I am not a believer in a closer so saves mean nothing to me. However he is a solid pitcher. Is this a harbinger of what's to come again this year?

They could be the surprise team of the year.

They are really no different than last year, with the exception of Arencibia & Johnson not on the team. Johnson is on the DL with the Padres, so likely it was smart for the Jays not to give him a qualifying offer for 2014. Arencibia, well, he hasn't changed. He doesn't want to change. That's his legacy, and so he took his crappy offence to the Rangers (he's hitting .208, OBP is .222) and his manager is less than impressed with his defence. So Jays 'gained' by losing. Technically Happ wasn't supposed to start this year, and won't be this year. Hutchinson and McGowan are an upgrade (major) over Johnson and Happ.

They will be starting Monday with the whole team intact. Unlike last year. Melky doesn't have a tumour anymore. Lawrie isn't hurt. They have defence now at 2nd base. Bautista and Encarnacion should both be 100%. They upgraded behind the plate. And I think the starting rotation will perform much better than expected. McGowan's arm might explode into a million itty, bitty, tiny pieces at some point, but by then hopefully Romero or Happ have had figured their junk out.

As for Janssen and his injury, not arm/shoulder related. I think they want Kratz up during the first 15 days and Janssen was the best choice for putting on the DL, since Santos is supposed to be the closer of the future anyway. Josh Thole, Dickey's "personal" catcher will be on a short leash, so I expect to see Kratz getting some time. We also not 100% sure if the fat kid from the candy store (Dioner) can play every day anyway.

Not saying the Janssen thing is intentional, like Happ, but...he shouldn't be a big chug in the wheel this year.

Ok, this is pretty awesome. I don't even speak French and I'd rather listen to this guy than Buck Martinez.

»deadspin.com/former-expo ··· 54509299

They're stinking it up in the 1st game already... Dickey gives up 4 early runs, and Jose Reyes hurt on his 1st atbat... They're saying hamstring tightness.

Wouldn't expect anything less!

Reyes to the 15 day DL.... »www.tsn.ca/mlb/story/?id=447927

heh we cant catch a break with this guy...

Not like this type of thing wasn't expected when we signed him. He is ALWAYS injured with these little things.

Jose Bautista said it best before the game yesterday "We are the exact same team as last year"

Yes Jose, you guys sure are.

Jays won a nice game yesterday 3-0, with Buehrle pitching a near complete game shutout, stupid gibbons pulled him with two outs in the 9th, brought in Sergio "Shaky" Santos who promptly walked a batter and Cecil had to come in and save it. I hope Janssen is back soon.

Bautista had two moster solo homers as well.

Jeez, mcgowan really stinkin it up in the first inning...

Why is this guy still on this team? He has pitched less than 50 innings total since 2008...

Boggles the mind.

Solid game by Dickey, and the bats were alive.

2 of 3 from the O's, bats come alive, I'll take it!

Mark Beurhle throwin up balls and letting the defense do the work....I like it....3-0 with a really low ERA!....

Just wanted to put it out there, much better than last year after facing 3 American League east Teams that they need to do better against and they're bringing it.

Yeah Buehrle has been stellar so far. I'm happy to see that, and the young pitchers have been pretty decent too... Bullpen has been great and the defense has been stellar.

Dickey has been, well, Dickey. Unpredictable.

Yes, I don't agree that he's the "Ace" of the staff, but what can you do? When you pay the big bucks and put his star in lights, you have to make him your #1....but glad that the pitching has been pretty sharp, reminds me of 2 years ago...but a bit better, a better McGowan this time out, a better Drew Hutchinson, a better Buerhle, and an OK Morrow and an OK Dickey, is not too bad...

A laffer on Getaway day is always good for the team...just hope they keep it up in Minny, Jose and Edwin though play well at the Tarjay field....so I'm hoping they heat up...

What a blast by Lawrie in the 9th for a GS............9-3 final .

Yeah, kind of funny the pitcher got two quick outs, then walked 3 straight batters to load the bases and then Lawrie connected.

Talk about paying the price for the walks!

»www.theprovince.com/spor ··· ory.html

Nice win last night, 9-3 over the Baltimore's.
Home runs by Edwin (3-run shot), Brett (3-run shot) and Melky (3-run shot).

I'm only catching bits of games because of hockey and ball.........but they look pretty good so far.

They're 11-9. They *should* be 13-7, if not for the two bullpen meltdowns.

They have been decent, especially compared to last year, but they (starting pitching) need to go in further into the games. Pitching 5 or 6 innings per game won't cut it.

The Blue Jays have a good shot their year of going places, their defence is awesome, their offence should be good and the rest of the AL East isn't going to be cracked to all that they first thought.

Oh man, that bullpen meltdown was brutal, 8 walks and 3 wild pitches in one inning...

Yesterday it was 3-3 in the 8th when the Jays were batting, and Sergio "Shaky" Santos was warming up... Maybe the rest of the team saw that and said damn we need to score a few more runs or this game's a goner. Boom 6 runs in the inning heh...

I had one huge beef with Gibbons and why he let RA Dickey start the next inning after he gave up 3 runs... And presto like clockwork, Dickey puts the first two batters on 2nd/3rd. He just can't go deep into games, he just gets hit around... Lucky for him the bullpen shut the door and he ends up with a no decision.

Pitching has completely melted down the past couple games vs the orioles... The starters not going deep enough has worn down the bullpen.

Even Cecil got beat down, yeesh

Anyone have a reliable streaming link for jays games? Mlb.com is asking waaaay too much $$$ for the small amount of games I'm actually going to view.

20 minutes wasted so far, link after link of spam.

Edit-omfg...mlb.com teevee blacks out every jays game in Canada? unreal!

»atdhe.me/baseball

try this one

Another horrible starting pitching performance today, Morrow with 8 walks in 2.2 innings... Jays had an early 3-0 lead, but blew it in the 3rd.... still only in the 4th inning...