Jays Journal
FanSided

Blue Jays Morning Brew: ‘Twas the night before deadline…

By Keegan Matheson

facebooktwitterreddit

We’ve almost made it through deadline week, Blue Jays fans, and the ride has already been wild. The tremors have now settled after Alex Anthopoulos rocked the league by adding Troy Tulowitzki in the dark of night, turning the Blue Jays focus to pitching. At least, it should…

The Detroit Tigers seem ready to talk on David Price, but the prospect capital required for that deal might leave the Blue Jays completely void of a top-5 prospect. Perhaps a Price trade elsewhere benefits the Jays by eliminating one other team from the buyer’s market, thus allowing the organization to attack a secondary option with less competition.

Also on Jays Journal: Toronto in on bidding war for Price?

Felix Doubront‘s designation for assignment is a strong tell that Toronto is pushing to add, especially given that Daniel Norris isn’t exactly kicking down the door in AAA Buffalo. Ahead, we wrap up the best of Blue Jays news and stories from around the web. It’s been a busy week on that front.

Tulowitzki speaks  –  Toronto’s new shortstop met the media yesterday afternoon and said all the right things. He’s a far cry from the the jovial personality of Jose Reyes, more business-like. Both have their merits, and you can check out the full video here in Shi Davidi’s piece for Sportsnet.

“…I’m looking forward to it because I see a winning team, a winning culture and I know they haven’t won a World Series here in a while, so to be a part of something like that would be memorable. That’s what you play this game for, to win, there’s a great possibility that can happen here very soon.”

Tulo in the Dome!  –  Sportsnet’s Alex Seixeiro takes a look at Tulowitzki’s move through a fantasy baseball scope. Fantasy ball gets buried in an MLB world of fancy stats, but it’s a good language to speak in when ranking players or predicting forms of improvement or regression.

Allow me to pique your interest:  “…although he’s left the altitude of Denver, Rogers Centre is actually a better ballpark for right-handed power than Coors Field based on ballpark factors from Baseball Prospectus.”

Seixeiro also notes that Colorado should be a great landing spot for our old friend Jose Reyes. The spacious outfield will cause a few more balls to drop, allowing Reyes’ still-impressive speed to turn some singles into doubles. Let’s all do our best to not be bitter ex’s and honestly root for Reyes. Say what you will about his on-field play, but I still loved his “give-a-damn”. The guy cared.

More from Toronto Blue Jays News

A look at Hutch’s slider  –  Eno Sarris of FanGraphs takes a great look at what may be ailing starter Drew Hutchison. The article highlights that Hutch began to produce significantly more drop on his slider later in 2014, but has regressed back into a flatter version of the pitch this season. The depth of his slider also varies between right and left-handed batters. When you visualize his 2015 slider, it makes a lot of sense.

This could loosely resemble the situation of Aaron Loup, whose change to add greater velocity in 2015 has backfired on him. Growth and change is a necessity in baseball, but it needs to be of the right variety and it must be done successfully. While I’m encouraged by Hutch’s changeup, this slide needs some serious work.

Hip Hop loves the Jays  –  It’s been a long week, so we’ll leave you with some fun. Toronto rapper Drake recently referenced Joe Carter‘s famous World Series home run as part of a “diss track” towards fellow rapper Meek Mill. For those of you who aren’t fluent in Hip Hop, yes, Meek Mill is supposed to be someone’s name. I understand modern Hip Hop like I understand dieting, which isn’t well, but the general consensus has been that Drake is winning this adorable little feud by a billion.  GO. CANADA. GO.

The cover art for Drake’s song is the iconic image of Carter leaving his feet, arms raised. In this Sportsnet piece by Scott Lewis, we learn the top-12 Blue Jays references in Hip Hop (Yes, there’s 12!).  They aren’t all great moments in the history of English and literacy, but they all give some love to Toronto’s team.

Next: Blue Jays go all in, but not in the traditional sense

More from Jays Journal

Home/Toronto Blue Jays News