Blue Jays Podcast (VIDEO): #18: Rotation, Trades & More

Episode #18 of Jays’ Nest touched a number of great Blue Jays topics. we talked about everything from the starting rotation and roster moves to the need for panic (or not) to potential free agent targets. We also handed out our weekly awards. As well, we announced that Keegan will be joining me on the show as co-host moving forward.

Remember, to catch all of our episodes, you can find us on Stitcher (for Android) and iTunes. If you’d rather watch our show, check us out on YouTube. If you like what you hear, please be so kind as to give us a good rating. Thanks! As always, you can tune in live on Google Hangouts to interact with our panel with questions, etc during our LIVE broadcast. We would also love to respond to your questions/ comments on air. You can submit them to @JaysNestPodcast or to JaysNestPodcast@gmail.com.

We began our discussion about the start to the 2015 season. As of air time, the club sat at 15-15 (4 GB). And, while this .500 record played out there were many fans who were raging about it. But, if you stop to think about it (or listen to us talk about it), the Blue Jays are at .500 despite performing the way they have. Their rotation has been brutal. their bullpen has contributed ineptitude at times. their offense has been off one night and really on the next. And, yet, they are playing .500 baseball. Add to that the fact that key players (Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Reyes have yet to contribute heavily. In fact, it can be argued that the bottom of the order has really carried this team. all of this points to potential pistivity moving forward.

An extension of this conversation was the debate as to whether John Gibbons is the right guy to lead this club. Many have said he should be fired already. Many wonder how he even made it back to Toronto. But, can we really blame him for injuries and underperformance? Obviously, not. What he has been blamed for, though is his management of the bullpen and roster shifting. However, we have to remember that he’s trying to figure out the best way to use what he has. And, some of what he has are not the best options. But, he has to make due anyway. We can’t fault him for that.

We then moved in to a discussion of Daniel Norris vs Aaron Sanchez. When Norris was sent down, it was a bit of a surprise that Sanchez wasn’t instead. Our discussion looked at the performance of Aaron Sanchez and the improvements he’s making. We couldn’t help but wonder if the high walk totals are going to be part of the package that is Aaron Sanchez. It has been an issue for him in the minor leagues and doesn’t show signs of stopping. Of course, he’s young and has lots of time to learn to work with his nasty stuff to better control the movement…maybe to work with it.

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From there, we looked at potential free agent targets to improve the bullpen. Our senior editor, Kyle Franzoni provided a list of 4 targets that the Blue Jays might want to consider from which we worked. He listed Matt Garza, Cole Hamels, Mike Leake and Scott Kazmir. From that list, we spent the most time debating the addition of Cole Hamels. We wondered if taking on the rest of his contract is a good idea. Would he decline badly between the age of 31 and 34? Would we be willing to give up much to take on that contract? It was a very interesting debate; one that did not really provide a consensus.

We also gave out our weekly awards for Hitter of the Week, Pitcher of the Week, Play of the Week and Misplay of the Week. Chris Colabello got some love for his first 3 games as a Blue Jay and Josh Donaldson got recognized for hitting the Windows restaurant. Sanchez walked 5 batters, but picked up some hardware from us this week. As well, we loved the glove of Ryan Goins.

So, sit back, relax and enjoy the 18th episode of Jays’ Nest. We offer several options for your listening pleasure. You can find us on Stitcher (for Android) and iTunes. If you’d rather watch our show, check us out on YouTube. If you like what you hear, please be so kind as to give us a good rating. Thanks! As always, you can tune in live on Google Hangouts to interact with our panel with questions, etc during our LIVE broadcast. We would also love to respond to your questions/ comments on air. You can submit them to @JaysNestPodcast or to JaysNestPodcast@gmail.com.

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