After all, if the Jays DO want to sign an ace or two, or want to retain them once they’re established, they need to have players like Brett Lawrie under contract as cheaply as possible….right? You don’t want to wind up having 2 young aces growing up in Tim Lincecum/Matt Cain fashion only to not have the cash to pay them in the end! Bringing Lawrie up as much as a month early can mean at least $10 million more going his way in salary the year he becomes a FA, and he’ll probably ask for a very long term deal as well.

Trust me, keeping this kid in AAA for another month is the right move. It allows him to mature a little more, and it should help the Jays retain him for at least 1 more year. That extra year allows him the time to get over what could very well be Travis Snider style slumps, a real possibility. There’s no guarantee that Lawrie would come in and tear it up in the majors.

I entirely agree with you that the Jays will need to try to land 1-2 aces at some point if they can’t grow their own studs. But still, I’d rather have the home grown kids come up. There’s just something to be said about having, say a Roy Halladay kind of pitcher come through the system and ace it up. You cheer for that guy harder than you would….say CC Sabathia if he came over to the Jays after he opts out of his deal. (just an example)

As for your points Keith:
1 – I am no Rivera fan and absolutely believe he should go, so I agree with you entirely.
2 – EE WAS the best option out there. I like Vladdy, but he’s old and tired. EE is well liked in the clubhouse and has as much power as anyone else who was available on the market. This was the market’s fault, really, and you have to like the size of the contract which doesn’t hurt the Jays chances of signing a big gun in 2012.
3 – Snider was mishandled by JP Ricciardi and Cito Gaston, so blame them for his struggles, not the current regime. As for Lawrie – see point made above!

Love the comments as always Keith and I do hope that you land in the sunny side of that tunnel very soon! the Jays are now at .500, very close to the Wild Card spot, and are taking aim at 1st place. Worry not, we have a ton of great competitive ball to watch for the remainder of the season, and the Jays should be right there causing havoc for all other teams. What else can you ask for?

My disappointment has been starting pitching. I agree with Grouchy when he says that we may be best signing a true ace.

I hope Morrow and Romero develop into the devastating 1-2 punch they have the potential to be. Hopefully Drabek gets control over his incredible stuff and if Litch/ Stewart or one of the other kids come up and take control of the #5 spot. there is the potential to be a top 5 rotation in baseball. But we have a ways to go. My fear is Bautista in a couple of seasons, seeing he has a few productive years left, requests to take his career to a winner (ala Halliday).

Thus AA has to to start taking us to the next level he talks about so much. Playing Rivera and even Patterson everyday is not a winning long term formula. In addition, as much as I like Johnny Mac there is no way that he should be starting 29 of our first 39 games and have as many AB’s as he does.

Mat as much as I like Jays Journal there are several moves that AA has made/ not made that are causing us to sit at the bottom of the division in a year when winning is very achievable:
1 – Not DFA’ing Rivera
2 – Signing EE when there were several better options available for DH
3 – letting EE and Rivera work out their issues when some of our kids (Lawrie/ Snider) could be learning at the big league level

The reason fans were coming back to the Jays was the promise of the future. Throwing these “has or never has” beens out there, while the kids learn little in AAA is the point that I’m having difficulty with.

I hope that as with the Bautista deal, there is a light at the end of the tunnel and we will get to see some of the more major league ready kids this year.

Yup, jose has been fantastic, and at this pace jose would have been a 23 million dollar a year player for 5 years with someone, easy.

I doubt leaving money for the Jays to sign other players had anything to do with signing the contract. I hope the Jays do add the right players when we are close to winning but I am sure life security was the reason Batista signed the contract!! I won’t go on any further since Mr. Thomas said it like it is…..once you are talking about numbers over 60 million dollars, you will be living a very comfortable life forever!!

Let’s look at it this way. Yes, Batista has started off this year like one of the best players in the game. When he signed the deal, he had had only 1 GREAT year under his belt. What if he decided to not sign and play the year and go to free agency and got hurt or didn’t have the same type of year. Sure, he probably left some money on the table BUT, he and his family chose to sign for 65 million dollars, which will give them enough security for life!! Does it really matter when you are guarenteed 65 million dollars no matter what happens if you left money on the table. Even if he left 20 million on the table….is his life going to be any worse with only 65M instead of 85M. Come on, once you are in those numbers you don’t EVER have to worry about money again!!

I also think that watching hill, lind and vernon all struggle after having big years made him question if that might happen to him too.

Clearly, Bautista left many millions on the table. However, I think he’s OK with what he has. The real question is – as you say – will the team put the talent on the field with Jose. Clearly, the team can afford it.

With Lind back soon, Thames and or Snider up soon, Lawrie up soon – we may be seeing the end of Rivera, EE and JMac (he’ll still be on the team just not the everyday 3rd). When these guys get up and going will AA have to spend big bucks or will these young studs lead the way with Bautista and Escobar as the grizzled veterans leading them?

Soon Gose or Marisnick will overwhelm the Davis / Patterson duo and this team will be looking seriously good.

IF – money is to be spent – The best use might be a true ace…say…someone like Roy Halladay. Oh wait – we tried that already. Back to the future anyone?