2016 Blue Jays #OurMoment

[SPTO]

A few things to kick off the 2016 thread.

- Jays lose their arbitration case with Jesse Chavez

- Conspiracy theorists are at the ready as Eric Wedge has been officially named player development advisor.

- I watched The Leadoff Fan Forum this past week. It was the usual PR fluff but a couple things caught my interest. Shapiro mentioned how the Jays will be using a holistic approach to sports science using top of the line medical, psychological and other kind of tools to help players be the best they can be. In fact, a lot of emphasis was made towards giving all the tools to players and allowing them to better themselves. This is a huge departure from the way the club did business before as they had the old methods of breaking things up in departments and not really interacting for a full comprehensive plan.

The other thing of note was just how skilled Atkins and especially Shapiro are at the PR stuff, one thing that really aggravated me about AA over the years was that he showed "honesty" by saying "I can't really speak to that" blah blah blah but at least Atkins and Shapiro know how to answer questions by spinning away from things that they can't outright answer. It's also nice to have a couple guys who can speak clearly as honestly, half the time AA sounded like he had marbles in his mouth.

Overall it was a fun event. Pillar is the new John McDonald, he's loved to an irrational degree by our fanbase but at least in Pillar's case he has major upside to be even better.

- Last but not least, I like the depth moves the team is making towards pitching and I have a feeling that if things break right Gavin Floyd may have a nice bounce back season. I'm not nearly as confident about Aardsma though but then again, being part of a historically bad bullpen is going to negatively impact your own performance.

[bad_philanthropy]

Thank god the season is almost here. I hope we don't have to use this thread to vent pessimism as has been the routine over the years.

Tulo and Martin must stay healthy. Imprison them in a hyperbaric chamber when not on the field.

I fantasize about Aaron Sanchez developing into a monster starter, and I have nightmares about either he or Stroman and the phrase "forearm tightness."

On paper the bullpen is the best it's been in years. Whenever say that it doesn't go so well. I guess that means Drew Storen is going to go Frank Francisco and Francisco Cordero on the Jays.

I hope Michael Saunders isn't the latest in a line of Spring Training superstars, but I'll admit he was infinitely more MLB pedigree than a lot of those characters.

Also, Opening Day on a Sunday at 4:00pm? Feels odd.

[Perceptor]

Well so far so good. Pitching has been relatively solid and Osuna making things look easy while Storen showed some gumption getting out of his jam. As BP said, health is key.

I just wanted to touch on something SPTO said about Atkins and Shapiro. I agree that they have really handled PR well. Hopefully their approach translates into sustained success moving forward.

My biggest worry is hoping that Bautista and Edwin's contract situations don't become a constant media topic. I love them both, but I get why Management doesn't want to pay big money. Neither are young and while they would be big losses in the short term, the team will be better free of the money they have to pay them when their production begins to decline

[bad_philanthropy]

Perceptor, I agree. I've been impressed with what Shapiro and Atkins have done across the board. Throw LaCava in there as well, which is also credit to Shapiro in a way.

I love what AA did last year, but the venom from the bandwagon fan base for Shapiro was absurd. Yes, it was idiotic how Rogers handled Beeston, and ended up with Shaprio, but there's no reason to assume the guy is an incompetent boob. I suppose some of the fear was that Rogers was replacing Beeston with a yes man who would be happy operating on a shoestring budget like Ricciardi (like Shapiro operating a small budget Indians team).

I like what I've seen so far. I can't pronounce I observe anything definitive about the team, but it feels like there is an element familiarity and continuity I haven't sensed before with the Jays. Let's be honest, the lineup is ridiculous. You have a team with four potential 30+ HR and 100+ RBI hitters that play 81 games at the Dome.

I like how the bullpen is structured in theory and early practice. I also like taking two in the 'Trop in April (or any time).

[SPTO]

Yes this team is looking good early on. The bullpen construction for the most part makes a ton of sense and I liked that they had the willingness to improve by signing Franklin Morales even after Ryan Tepera was told he made the team.

As for the EE/Bautista situation, I think as long as the season is going relatively smoothly it won't be a topic of conversation but once this team gets in a slump then the scrutiny will ratchet up on those two and there'll be a lot of hand wringing about what to do.

[Reckless559]

Jays were screwedthis new rule is stupid

[SPTO]

Yep tonight's "loss" was a robbery plain and simple.

[Perceptor]

That was f'ing terrible. Having said that, Sanchez pitched really well and while we lost, team isn't even playing as well yet. 2-12 RISP will only improve once guys start swinging better. Other than Cecil giving up the homer, pitching for the most part has been solid