Toronto Escorts

Blue Jays 2018 Season (Good Riddance 2017)

shack

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Oct 2, 2001
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mynameisearl11

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Alex Anthoupoulos hired by Atlanta Braves (GM or Prez?)

I'd be willing to bet that he builds a winner before Shapeero. I would consider Toronto and Atlanta to be similar in terms of market size/spending ability.
LOL! You steal my thunder! However, we continue to pay for higher prices of cables and the internet. LOL
 

gww

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Somewhere but not here.
Alex Anthoupoulos hired by Atlanta Braves (GM or Prez?)

I'd be willing to bet that he builds a winner before Shapeero. I would consider Toronto and Atlanta to be similar in terms of market size/spending ability.
Except Atlanta is miles ahead in the farm system with players ready for the big show. Lots of them not just a few like the jays. Braves are a good 2-3 years ahead of the jays in rebuilding.
 

shack

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Except Atlanta is miles ahead in the farm system with players ready for the big show. Lots of them not just a few like the jays. Braves are a good 2-3 years ahead of the jays in rebuilding.
The flip side is that Shapeero inherited a much better team and has he not only not been able to maintain it, they are clearly on the downslide under his administration (barring some bold moves this off season). Shapeero has shown no creativity. All he does is acquire low to mid (at best)-level players and hope they play over their collective heads.
 

eguapo

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The flip side is that Shapeero inherited a much better team and has he not only not been able to maintain it, they are clearly on the downslide under his administration (barring some bold moves this off season). Shapeero has shown no creativity. All he does is acquire low to mid (at best)-level players and hope they play over their collective heads.
So what did Anthoupolus do in all those years he was in the scouting dept. (since 2003) later as assistant GM of the Jays before he took over for his mentor?

Isn’t he somewhat responsible for that “bad” team he inherited?

By the way his first year as GM the win total was the highest other than the last year. If only he hadn’t stripped the farm system on his way out the door they might be in a better a spot to make moves.
 

shack

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So what did Anthoupolus do in all those years he was in the scouting dept. (since 2003) later as assistant GM of the Jays before he took over for his mentor?.
What he did was greatly improve the scouting and development departments of the team to bring up some young talent as well trade some of their talent pool to acquire player for immediate help which then got them to the playoffs and within a win or two of reaching the World Series. The most exciting time we have had in almost 25 years. The city was electric. And AA's team was good enough to make the playoffs a second year even with Shapeero letting it implode bit by bit. He did nothing significant to make us better. Like I said before, all low to mid-level acquisitions.

Isn’t he somewhat responsible for that “bad” team he inherited? .
Sorry if I was vague. I meant that Shapeero inherited a much better team from AA than AA is now receiving in Atlanta and in spite of that I believe AA will build a winner in Atlanta before Shapeero builds one here.

If only he hadn’t stripped the farm system on his way out the door they might be in a better a spot to make moves.
Sounds like a trade off. He made the moves in 2015 and we had a couple of amazing years. I didn't hear anybody complaining as they reached the playoffs. If he waited until now, those two years we made the playoffs would have been more of the same mediocrity.

As well, how many of those prospects that he traded away have really amounted to a lot. Maybe I am wrong, but I think Syndegaard may end up being the only impact player and he has been rather fragile. So they really did not sacrifice a lot of their future.

I also had confidence that he could draft and develop well enough that our farm would have been regenerated in 3 years to repeat his previous game plan that brought success in terms of a very competitive team if not a WS. Young talent is a renewable resource. If you draft and develop well it keeps a team in a competitive position.
 

gww

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Not saying AA is a bad GM - simply Atlanta is 2-3 years ahead in terms of restocking the farm. AA sold the farm for 2015 and it paid off somewhat in 2016. Steep price for Price but otherwise the 2015 trades were decent value - yes even Tulo was a good pick up.

As for for the current ones kind of agree they fucked up a bit. At the end of 2016 they said they wanted to get more left handed and more athletic. Signing Morales, Pearce and JB went backwards given there were lots of players available. Signing EE instead of those 3 would have been better. They also failed to go out and get starting pitching and lost that one badly. You never have enough but they didn't even have 1 or 2 decent options. Give them credit for believing in Smoak, getting Estrada resigned, picking up a couple of decent arms for the pen.
 

shack

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Not saying AA is a bad GM - simply Atlanta is 2-3 years ahead in terms of restocking the farm. AA sold the farm for 2015 and it paid off somewhat in 2016. Steep price for Price but otherwise the 2015 trades were decent value - yes even Tulo was a good pick up.

As for for the current ones kind of agree they fucked up a bit. At the end of 2016 they said they wanted to get more left handed and more athletic. Signing Morales, Pearce and JB went backwards given there were lots of players available. Signing EE instead of those 3 would have been better. They also failed to go out and get starting pitching and lost that one badly. You never have enough but they didn't even have 1 or 2 decent options. Give them credit for believing in Smoak, getting Estrada resigned, picking up a couple of decent arms for the pen.
What bothers me is that AA seemed so focussed on bringing us a winner he went out and made bold moves. It was so exciting and Shapeero does nothing like that.

Shapeero makes absolutely no moves of the kind. It is all, as I said before, low to mid-level acquisitions. Get a bunch of these guys and hope that some work out. Has he made even one move in the last two years that excited us?

Let's see how much attendance drops this year, as the team becomes less competitive (my speculation) with this modus operandi. Let's see how much this helps Rogers' bottom line.
 

black booty lover

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What bothers me is that AA seemed so focussed on bringing us a winner he went out and made bold moves. It was so exciting and Shapeero does nothing like that.

Shapeero makes absolutely no moves of the kind. It is all, as I said before, low to mid-level acquisitions. Get a bunch of these guys and hope that some work out. Has he made even one move in the last two years that excited us?

Let's see how much attendance drops this year, as the team becomes less competitive (my speculation) with this modus operandi. Let's see how much this helps Rogers' bottom line.

You can't possibly judge these Shawtkins (or whatever they're calling these two guys) for another 2 or 3 years. The first year has pretty much nothing to do them, as they're just inheriting someone's club/team. The second year is still more of the same with a bit more wiggle room. You start getting into years 3, 4 and 5, now most of the moves and team is there's, and they have to be accountable for it. You have to judge someone on there body of work, not two years. Especially in this business.
 

Phil C. McNasty

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Dec 27, 2010
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You can't possibly judge these Shawtkins (or whatever they're calling these two guys) for another 2 or 3 years. The first year has pretty much nothing to do them, as they're just inheriting someone's club/team. The second year is still more of the same with a bit more wiggle room. You start getting into years 3, 4 and 5, now most of the moves and team is there's, and they have to be accountable for it. You have to judge someone on there body of work, not two years. Especially in this business.
So in other words, Sharpiro has another 3 years left to prove himself, right??
 

gww

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What bothers me is that AA seemed so focussed on bringing us a winner he went out and made bold moves. It was so exciting and Shapeero does nothing like that.

Shapeero makes absolutely no moves of the kind. It is all, as I said before, low to mid-level acquisitions. Get a bunch of these guys and hope that some work out. Has he made even one move in the last two years that excited us?

Let's see how much attendance drops this year, as the team becomes less competitive (my speculation) with this modus operandi. Let's see how much this helps Rogers' bottom line.
In order to make those bold moves in the trade market you need to give up something good. Since the 2015 trades Jays farm system was kind of bare at the upper levels so not much to give up. In the free agent market we don't know what they tried to get that would be bold other than a low class handling of EE.
 

shack

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In order to make those bold moves in the trade market you need to give up something good. Since the 2015 trades Jays farm system was kind of bare at the upper levels so not much to give up. In the free agent market we don't know what they tried to get that would be bold other than a low class handling of EE.
As previously mentioned, of all the prospects that AA traded, I can only think of Syndegaard as potentially an impact player. So basically he got all those players (that virtually everyone in town applauded when acquired) so he really did not give up much that was very good. He knew (and presumably still knows) how to deal. He was very young when he inherited the job and there was obviously a learning curve.

As to bbl's post, why could management not have made some stronger moves last year? They'd had a whole year to evaluate what they had on hand and they still had a playoff team so it would not have taken a whole lot. But they tanked.

Maybe I'll be proven wrong, but I believe AA would have tried to build on what we had seeing as we were so close to the WS. Current management has done zero. I don't believe the team would have done this poorly under AA's leadership.

Let's see what they do this off season. If it's more of these rinky dinky signings (and hoping some play over their heads and also hoping some of AA's draft picks continue to mature) when they have clearly claimed that they were "going for it" (the reason that Estrada said convinced him to sign) then I will be pissed and I'd suspect that the good will that AA had built with the fan base will be eroded in 2 short years and will probably be reflected in diminishing attendance and viewership.

Time will tell but I don't believe that the fans will be willing to wait 5 years, especially when Shapeero came in with such a big reputation, to voice their approval or lack thereof.
 

gcostanza

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Three years ago today Russell Martin signed with the Toronto Blue Jays:

For what it's worth:

In that time, he leads AL catchers in WAR (7.2), is 2nd in wRC+ (105) & 3rd in OPS (.753).
 

Dawgger

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EE not signing with the Jays, IMO, should be blamed on his agent, not Blue Jay management. Agent was greedy and mis-read the market!
 

shack

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Oct 2, 2001
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In the meantime, it would have benefitted the Jays if they had merely waited an extra day or two.
 

shack

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Blue Jays claim Gift Ngoepe from the Pirates as well as release Refsnyder.

I think Shapeero is trying to boost attendance with this move. He is the 1st player born in Africa to play in the majors and I believe that Toronto has a significant African community. Then with the increased revenue he can sign some major free agents.
 

black booty lover

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Blue Jays claim Gift Ngoepe from the Pirates as well as release Refsnyder.

I think Shapeero is trying to boost attendance with this move. He is the 1st player born in Africa to play in the majors and I believe that Toronto has a significant African community. Then with the increased revenue he can sign some major free agents.
Are you being serious???
 

shack

Nitpicker Extraordinaire
Oct 2, 2001
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Are you being serious???
I realize that the serious off-season wheeling and dealing has not yet begun, so the verdict is still out as to whether the Jays are serious about "going for it" this year.

However at this point, this is just so typical of the types of moves that Shapeero seems enamored with and that I have predicted he will continue with. He likes acquiring low to mid-level pieces who he can get for cheap and then hope they can play over their heads.

So I was trying to paint a scenario in which picking a 27 year old with 54 career at bats is part of Shapeero's plan of "going for it". Actually, the fact that you weren't sure if I was serious or not means it was pretty good/almost believable.

So the answer is NO. I was not being (completely) serious. It was mainly meant to get a chuckle.
 

smitherz

Team Player
Dec 9, 2002
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Not a whole lot of activity so far. I suspect many teams are saving their money for next year’s free agent crop which is supposed to be the best all-time.
 
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