5 Thoughts on the Toronto Blue Jays - Hey It's November and stuff has happened edition

Hey!  How's it going?  Good....So.....The Blue Jays have pretty much been the busiest team so far in Major League Baseball in terms of actually getting things done!  Nice to see that they are keeping with the philosophy of not letting other teams dictate their off-season path.

5 thoughts on things so far!

1.  The Blue Jays signed JA (Don't call me Jay) Happ to a 3 year 36M contract on Friday night!  Lots going on with this signing as it undoubtedly has a whole bunch of ramifications behind it.  Yes it is alot of Money for JA Happ, but all mediocre pitchers get more money than they actually are probably due. If you're really angry about it, your just mad that this means that the Jays are not going to resign David Price and that's ok, but the Blue Jays were never going to resign David Price anyways....so get over it.

2.  The Blue Jays made a trade with the Oaklands where they sent Liam Hendriks to the A's for one time Blue Jays Jesse Chavez!  This is one of those trades that make you go hmmmmm, but the Blue Jays were in desperate need of some SP depth and this in one way give them an extra arm that has been able to throw innings with some kind of regularity over the past 2 years. That being said he was doing it in Oakland which isn't exactly the same as doing it in the AL East.  If the Jays are able to make another deal to add to their starting rotation and that moves Chavez to the Bullpen in a long relief role where he can be used as insurance for other SP during the year I think this deal ends up giving the Jays the depth that they will need to make it through the year!

3. On another note the Jays were quick to resign 2015 breakout star Marco Estrada to a 2 year 26M contract!   I don't think there's really any negative to this contract as it stands right now!  Dude got a nice raise and a bit of security and if he is even 75% of what he was last year the Blue Jays will end up with a nice deal in this one!  Yay team!

4.  With the way the team stands right now I wouldn't be surprised to see the Blue Jays turn their attention to cleaning up the Bullpen for 2016.  Right now we won't have Hendriks, Hawkins or Lowe back so that leaves some fairly big holes to fill and who knows they still may want to push one of either Sanchez or Osuna to the rotation.  The question on how to build the Bullpen in the offseason is always the tricky one!  I'm not a fan of throwing muliple years and big money to bullpen arms since they tend to flame out way too often, but If they Jays plan on going into a season where they'll be competitive they better make sure they get some lock down arms back there!  +1 for bringing back Mark Lowe!

5.  Rumblings are starting to come out that the Blue Jays are close to signing their new GM in the next week or so!  Very exciting times indeed.  I won't pretend to really know any of the front runners outside of Lacava, but the I will say that I hope either Lacava or Ross Atkins are the guys to get it.  I think Lacava more from a consistency stand point and he's proven to be competent so far in his handlings, but on the Mr. Atkins front, I want someone who is going to be comfortable in his new surroundings and the connection with Shapiro will definitely help there and I also like that he is routed in a player development!  Let's face it.  this GM role will be remarkably different than the GM role that AA had and I think if we can get a guy who is about scouting an development of players it's a good thing!

One last thing.....I get that people are a little angry with Rogers/Shapiro right now about the state of the SP rotation/budget going into 2016, but please remember that this is a direct result of "Going for it" in 2015.  The Jays had to tear down the Farm system in order to do that and regardless of how you want to think the Blue Jays are to be run, they still need to be a club that drafts and develops it's players and signing middle of the road starters for 2-3 years is a matter of giving the team time to build back up their farm system!

Peace Out!

5 Thoughts on the Toronto Blue Jays - Shapiro said some stuff edition!

Mark Shapiro was introduced today to the media as the President and CEO of the Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Club and he said some stuff!

Yesterday I went over a few things that I was hoping we were going to hear about in Shapiro's 1st public appearance as the leader of the Jays, so today i'll give 5 quick thoughts on some of the things that he talked about on this 1st day on the job!

1. As he pretty much had to Shapiro started out the press conference speaking about Alex Anthopoulos and had to deal with about half of the questions thereafter being ones about AA and how things went down. For me in both of these insistence's I think he did a great job of talking to the topic and providing enough detail/respect to the topic that I expected.  I really think we all should just move on.  AA isn't coming back and it does nobody any good to keep dwelling on it.

2. I think it's very safe to say that the organization is in for a big change!  Shapiro remarked for the need of structure, process and collaboration.  I can't comment on whether or not these things were present or not in the previous admin, but I can't see why you would comment on it rather vigorously if your assessment of the team that it was something that was noticeably missing to the point to comment on the need for it. 

3.  One interesting comment I took form the the press conference was when he mentioned that the organization's direction is determined by the resources that they have access to.  It's interesting to me as Shapiro has had to use the draft as their main focus in building their team in Cleveland since they wouldn't have the same financial commitments that would be available to Shaprio and the Jays in Toronto.  This tells me that Shapiro clearly knows that he will now be able to spend some $$, but still needs to respect the need for the team to develop it's own players.  Should be fun to see how he goes about it since it's not something he's been able to oversee before.

4.  Great to hear that John Gibbons is going to be back in 2015 and it's just as great that Tony LaCava will be the interim GM for the Org.  In a time that we will probably be seeing a bunch of change within the organization it's going to be very important to ensure that there is some sort of consistency.  Knowing what you have and how you've done it is just as important as knowing where your going!

5. I'm not sure if it was actually mentioned in the Press Conference or not, but I know it was mentioned in an interview there after, but Shapiro mentioned that his Family would be moving up to Toronto and his kids would be transferring to school in the area at the end of the school year!  I know this may seem like a non issue since there has been tons of Toronto Sports executives who have chosen not to live in Toronto but I think it should be taken note of since it's actually very telling on how Shapiro plans on making this a LONG standing job for him and he is going all in.

Huge Props to Shapiro for rocking the Poppy today!

Oh BTW, I think Shapiro did a great job in his opening Press Conference!  Really appreciated his approach and hope that people give him a chance to work without a net so to speak!

5 Thoughts on the Toronto Blue Jays - The Mark Shapiro Era Begins....Day 1

As of today Sunday November 1st, the Toronto Blue Jays are now officially in a new era! It's going to be an interesting time to say the least  over the course of the next few weeks as we start to get an idea of where Mark Shapiro plans on bringing this franchise.

Now I'm not sure, but I imagine that we are going to get a news conference on Monday with Shapiro and to be honest I unfortunately think that because of the nature of what happened with AA in the last week we aren't going to get as much of an outline of where this club may be heading simply due to the media choosing to shift questions towards the AA situation rather than where the club is going!

Here are 5 things I actually hope we cover in some way in this possible news conference!

1. Draft & Player Development! - I am a firm believer that teams that build through the draft and are able to cultivate their own players are organizations that are successful.  DUH.  The Blue Jays started out as an organization that did this and was successful through player development, but there were a number of dark times (COUGH JP RICCARDI ERA) that things looked bleak.   When Paul Beeston took over and AA was brought onto be the GM the team refocused on building up the farm and really put this team in a place that not only would they have home grown players on their major league roster, but still have enough prospect currency to make moves when it counted to bring in established veterans to compliment cheaper home grown players. Not only did they do this through the MLB player draft, but they also had a huge focus in Latin America.  I hope that we will see Shapiro keep a player development focus and continue to have the Blue Jays organization as one of the organizations with the most Scouts in the Majors and continue to ensure that they bring in Coaches to their farm systems that can help develop players.

2.  The organization has made huge strides during the latest Beeston era in expanding the Blue Jays brand in Canada but also in places like Buffalo!  The relationship in Buffalo may seem like an obvious partner, but it takes a smart leader to understand the tangible benefits of having your AAA club so close to it's Major League Ball club and how you can expand the growth opportunity by utilizing a fairly large market to it's advantage. I still think the push to get the Vancouver Canadians as a Jays affiliate was very underrated move on the Org's part. I hope Shapiro is smart enough to make mention of these ventures and ensuring that they are going to be expanded on going forward. 

3.  I think the 1st thing most fans who read up on the Shapiro hire found out that he has overseen Stadium renovations in Cleveland and we all should know that the Roger's Centre is in need of a bunch of reno's to bring it up speed with the rest of the facilities in the MLB.  I imagine things like Natural Grass and new seats may be covered, but I am hoping we get some real details on what plans are coming for the concrete jungle!

4. If you've ever been to the Blue Jays spring training facility you know why there is need for an upgrade....holed up..upgrade is too mild.....The Blue Jays facility in Dunedin needs a complete overhaul!  There are many reasons why Beeston was trying to get a new deal with the Town of Dunedin before he left office. Whatever the plans for the Spring Training facility are i hope we are able to get an idea of where they may be heading with it. 

5. This is a given and is only really a discussion point since last Thursday Alex Anthopoulos decided that he didn't want to be the Blue Jays GM any longer, but I hope we get some direction on who will be the acting General Manager of the Blue Jays (Tony Lacava) and whether or not Mr. John Gibbons will be back at the helm of the Blue Jays next year (who knows with the way Gibbons contract is structured).  

Sure Mark Shapiro's 1st press conference is going to be interesting, but i'm hoping that there will actually be some time to figure out the plans for the organization going forward.