Blue Jays 2018 Season (Good Riddance 2017)
- Thread starter shack
- Start date
For all intents and purposes you are correct. I still have some respect for historical tradition and I don't believe a thread for the next season has ever begun before the current season has ended...for probably any sport.
Kinda sad, actually.
Do you remember when the Jays fired Jimy Williams in 1989 after they went 12-24. Cito took over who had ZERO coaching experience and Jays wind up winning the division. Sometimes a change is just needed for a team to start performing well.
But there's no point in firing him in July or August when we're clearly out of it already, might as well wait till end of season now.
EDIT: and obviously Gibby cant be faulted for JD's injury, thats a stupid question to ask. But he can be partially faulted for how terrible Jays have been this year. And while we're at it fire the pitching coach as well
Partially faulted? so which parts are Gibby's fault and which aren't? The strong point coming out of training camp was suppose to be the starting pitching, for the most part it has sucked! Osuna: not Gibby's fault. Hitting can't hang that on him either. Defence he can only play what players he is given to play with and a number of these guys are suspect.
As for Pete Walker, he is one of the most respected pitching coaches around. The ERA's are up because of the turn over and in some cases the poor performance of some of the guys he had to work with for example trying to convert Biagini to a starter.
I expect Gibby will move on at the end of the year and that may mean the bulk, perhaps all, the coaching staff moves on. Wonder how long it will take for "Blue Jay fans" to want him fired?
You're making it sound like its all the players fault and the coaches hold no blame.
Stroman was very good last year, this year he looks totally lost. Is he getting the right guidance??
I have never been big on Gibby even at the best of times. This is his 2nd suckage year in a row, but no blame for him in your opinion. Its all on the players, right?? By your logic coaches and managers should never be fired then, we should just release or trade all the players.....LOL
For once, I agree with you. It is not completely the players' collective fault that they suck. It is shapeero and Atkins for cheaping out on player acquisitions. They should be fired. They gave Gibbons crap to work with.
BTW, when you referenced how Cito turned the team around, maybe we should compare that '89 roster to this year's.
Remember the old adage, when a team wins the manager gets too much of the credit and when the team loses the manager gets too much of the blame.
Gibby, the 2nd best manager in team history.
Stroman was injured for a good part of the year and may have been hurt coming out of training camp but pitched anyway. Not smart! now he has a blis were signed as back ups but enter, how do you put the blame on the coach or manager for that.
A manager can only play the players the front office gives. If the players are crap you get a crappy season. Hernandez: Personally I thought he should have been on the roster when they left Florida, little did I know he had trouble catching fly balls and at times had no idea what base to throw a ball to. His hitting, which was what got him here has dropped off as teams finds holes in his swing. Who do you blame that on? Diaz and Solarte were signed as utility players that ended up replacing Donaldson and Tulo(remember him?).
In Baseball the manager will win you a few and may lose you a few but if you don't have top quality players you probably are not going to be competitive. Shack and I are on the same page, Fire Atkins and Shapiro, they were the architects of this roster.
Morales heated up his game with his team going nowhere in the season. Next season,will someone reminds him that the season starts in April or at least wake him up in late May!
The 2015 team collapsed with age, injuries and the bizarre loss of EE. There is nothing left of that team and the Jays had to be rebuilt from scratch. Shatkins aren't doing a bad job. If they added Stanton to the current journeyman roster, would it make a difference?.... Not much.
They need better - or more developed - players at every position. Their pitching staff is reamed with injuries. Nothing Shatkins could possibly do would make this team compete with Bosox and NYY this year. May as well suck it up, draft high and bring up prospects.
I have high hopes for Vlad Jr and Gurriel next year. Ditto Borucki. I think Shatkins has the right approach.
Shitty for fans, but in the long term things will improve.
A & S are only given x-amount of funds to spend by Rogers though.
I get what you guys are saying, the Jays will never sign free agents like Stanton or Chris Sale, and thats not Gibby's fault.
So instead of 10's (like Stanton) we have to make due with 8's (like Morales).
But IMO a really good manager can get the most out of his players. Like turn an 8 into a 9.
And I dont see that in Gibby.
Just my $ 0.02
A lot of teams are shying away from hiring high priced long term contracts for free agents.
Great analysis. I think everyone knew that the 2015 team was living on borrowed time in terms of age of the team. They had 2015 and maybe 2016 to make a go of it, then the shelf life life would expire and the frankly the cupboard was too bare to fill up the needed spots.
The farm system has actually been replenished much faster than I would have thought.
2017 was the year that as fans we hung on to any last possible hope, but quickly realized the team had to rebuild.
Give Shatkins some time to see what this group can do.
