Toronto Blue Jays 2015 Season

[Dr.Funk]

Almost go time!

[BRabbiT]

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Drew Hutchison made his final full outing of the spring on Friday afternoon & pronounced himself ready for the regular season.

Hutchison technically has one more start remaining, but Toronto is expected to limit him to either 2 or 3 innings. It will be an abbreviated appearance that is designed to keep him sharp without exerting too much energy.

The Blue Jays likely will be taking a similar approach with all of their starters. R.A. Dickey will be doing the same thing in his next outing, as the spring work is basically complete & it's time for the real games to begin.

Hutchison tossed 5 innings before the game had to be called because of rain. He was scheduled to go another inning but the game lasted just long enough to get most of his work in.

The 24-year-old officially tossed 15 innings this spring & allowed 3 runs on 10 hits & four walks with 11 strikeouts. He also recently threw 7 strong innings during a Minor League start against the Yankees & feels good about his current level of stamina.

Overall, the starting five of Hutchison, Dickey, Daniel Norris, Mark Buehrle & Aaron Sanchez have all enjoyed strong springs. Pitching has been an early strength & while that technically doesn't mean anything at this time of the year it's at least encouraging as Opening Day approaches.

7 more practice games left

[BRabbiT]

2 more practice games left

Roberto Osuna
Thanks to god , thanks to the blue jays & all the fans for supporting me I made the team! so excited and ready to work even harder .. #god

Osuna will be the youngest pitcher in Toronto's history.

[BRabbiT]

Anthopoulos deserves an 'A' for 2010 draft performance

....Anthopoulos' first draft as GM. 2 picks that year will be among the 6 rookies on Toronto's Opening Day roster.

The Jays had 7 of the first 80 selections in '10 due to free-agent departures & the failure to sign a pick, James Paxton, the previous year. They had drawn industry-wide attention by dramatically increasing the size of their scouting staff.

And even though they whiffed on their 1st choice at No. 11 overall, Deck McGuire, they hit on a bunch of others, including several high school pitchers -- the highest-risk category in the draft.

Consider the Jays' best picks, a number of whom were used in trades that helped form the current major-league roster:

* Aaron Sanchez, Barstow (#34)

* Noah Syndergaard (#38)

* Asher Wojciechowski (#41)

* Justin Nicolino, University (2nd round)

* Sam Dyson (4th round)

* Sean Nolin (6th round)

* Dalton Pompey (16th round)

* Kris Bryant (18th round) - * chose to attend the University of San Diego instead.

[COLOR="White"]...[/COLOR]

[BRabbiT]

2 out of 3 in NY was nice.

4/10 (3:05pm) - Mark Buehrle (13-10, 3.39 ERA) @ Bud Norris (16-8, 3.65 ERA)


bats have been mostly cold (13/66, .197/.280), but pitching has been effective (27 IP: 22 Ks/11 BBs/8 ER).


kids have looked good.

Miguel Castro continued his improbable journey through baseball Thursday night by recording the 1st save of his career.

Castro pitched a clean 9th to close out Toronto's 6-3 victory. It was revealed earlier in the day that Toronto had taken the full-time closer's job away from Brett Cecil.

The 20-year-old Castro has been on quite the trajectory for the past couple of months. He arrived at Spring Training as a longshot to crack the big league roster and now finds himself as the closer for a team with aspirations for the postseason.

Castro had never even pitched above Class A prior to this year but that hasn't stopped Toronto from moving him along at lightning-quick speed.

Castro possesses upper-90s velocity on his fastball & also has a devastating high-80s changeup that has similar downward action to that of a splitter. In 3 innings this season, Castro has yet to allow a hit while striking out 2 & walking 1.

[Qwyjibo]

Hey guys, do you remember when the Jays traded for Josh Donaldson? Yeah... that was awesome.

[kmart]

Hey guys, do you remember when the Jays traded for Josh Donaldson? Yeah... that was awesome.

Brett who?

[BRabbiT]

[QUOTE]
...there are rumours and links between Toronto & Cincinnati & the supposed availability of starter Johnny Cueto

[Jballer]

It is somewhat frustrating a a Toronto guy and Jays fan - that the team can no longer go out and make a deal for "the guy".

Sorry I refer of course to the mid season move for David Cone who was instrumental in the Jays championship 93... (or signing Jack Morris, etc)

Seems we have to look for "incremental additions" or "upgrades" with value.

Sigh.

Never the less two guys I would be interested in seeing here would be

1) Taijuan Walker ~ Seattle
2) Brad Hand ~ Miami

Not that they are the "best guys available" but because I think those teams would take Navarro + "something else longer term" back in way of compensation or trade.

There wouldnt be a need to include one of our young arms.

They could be slotted into the 4 -5 starter rotation and therefore improve the bullpen by moving guys back for example.

Neither are closers but I am not sure I agree with making a move for a "closer" in the bull pen.

[kmart]

http://deadspin.com/josh-donaldson-d...tch-1713675823

Donaldson with an unbelievable catch today.

[BRabbiT]

http://deadspin.com/josh-donaldson-d...tch-1713675823

Donaldson with an unbelievable catch today.

awesome catch.

2 clutch wins in TB, playing good baseball right now.

[kmart]

Matt Boyd has been putting up spectacular numbers in the minors and it looks like he might be getting a call up for a start on Saturday.

[BRabbiT]

Matt Boyd .....

wow, those #s are impressive ( 70/18 K/BB ratio in 73.2 innings, 1.10 ERA)

nice, smooth delivery, too

[Qwyjibo]

Matt Boyd is trade bait. Hopefully teams in big ballparks and NL teams watch him closely and like what they see.

[BRabbiT]

41-36

Toronto has won 2 straight series for the 1st time since June 2-14, but are just 7-6 since the end of an 11-game win streak.

The Jays have won 18 of the past 24 games. Toronto is now 25-15 at home & 16-21 on the road, including 7-3 in the last 10 away from the Skydome. The Jays during the upcoming Pan-Am Games will play 16 of 19 games on the road surrounding the All-Star break.

Toronto is now 18-7 in the month of June with 2 games remaining. The club record for wins in June is 19-9 ('93). During the past 24-games, the Jays have outscored opponents 152-87. The Jays are 24-16 over the past 40 contests since May 16 & on Sunday, won only their 3rd game of the season when scoring three runs or less.

The Jays in those 40 games have outscored opponents 227-150, averaging 5.7 runs per game. Toronto has lost 19 of their last 22 games in which they score 4 runs or fewer & are 5-30 for the season in those low-scoring contests.