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Blue Jays Podcast (VIDEO): #19- Pitching, Deals & More!

By Shaun Doyle |

This week’s episode of Jays’ Nest featured witty banter and great discussion from our co-hosts, Keegan and myself. We talked about the fantasy deal that he and I had been trying to iron out for weeks. Then, we moved into talking about real baseball. The topics we looked at ranged form the starting rotation, specifically, R.A. Dickey, a possible mid-season upgrade, the coaching situation, the outfield and more. We also handed out our Weekly Awards.

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.

So, in our Jays Journal fantasy baseball league, Keegan and I have been working the trade discussion pretty fiercely. I have been trying to pry Devon Travis from him for quite a while. Our negotiations took a long time to develop with offers going back and forth. I have plenty of salary room on my team, so I was even willing to take on a Max Scherzer deal to entice Keegan. Ultimately, we were able to isolate what each other wanted and I sent Mike Moustakas and Yasmani Grandal for Travis. What do you think? Did I get taken? I actually have depth at both catcher and 3B. Take our poll below!

When we moved into talking about real baseball, we started with a look at R.A. Dickey and his apparent struggles. We wondered if there was concern around the fact that his strikeout rates have dropped. Over the last few seasons, there has been a decline in his K/9 from 7.09 in 2013 to 4.14 this season. Perhaps what is even worse is that Dickey’s knuckleball has been quite hittable. Regardless of whether the strike outs pile up, he hasn’t been able to get that weak contact, or those terrible swings. Hitters have been able to get solid contact off him this season. This is unsettling considering the Blue Jays’ starting rotation has been disappointing in 2015.

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Perhaps an addition to the rotation is in order. In fact, if we were to look ahead to the July 31st Trade Deadline, we said that the rotation would be the one spot that could use attention. If GM, Alex Anthopoulos is going to hedge his bets that this offense will be just fine when all of its parts are healthy, he can’t be so sure about the rotation. That’s why we discussed the news that the Blue Jays had scouted Johnny Cueto.

Obviously, this type of deal would be a great addition. However, we talked about the challenges that come with any kind of deal of this magnitude. The Blue Jays would be getting less than half a season of Cueto, who will become a free agent at the end of the 2015 season. How much would they be willing to give up for a rental? The Blue Jays will have to part with some serious talent. Perhaps Dalton Pompey, Aaron Sanchez or Daniel Norris could be involved. We have an idea as to who is off limits, though. Take a listen to find out. 

Toronto Blue Jays
Toronto Blue Jays /

Toronto Blue Jays

As part of a look at the fallout of Michael Saunders heading to the DL for 4-6 weeks, we looked at the depth the Blue Jays have. Here’s a hint: it’s as good as it gets right now. But, we also talked about the minor league deal signed by Luke Scott. While he may bring a tough mentality to the Blue Jays, which would be welcomed, Keegan wonders if his personality would have the opposite effect on the clubhouse that AA has worked to establish. Scott’s personality prompted Keegan to invent a stat: Quality Personality Index (QPI). According to Keegan, Scott would measure quite low in this area.

We then moved into some great fan questions.
– Cory Cake asked: “Is this the worst pitching staff the Jays have ever put together?  Would Dickey ever get taken out of rotation?
-Jason Pepper asked:“Boston has fired there pitching coach could the Jays be the next team to make some coaching moves ? or better question is why have the Jays NOT made any coaching changes?”
-And: “Clearly this is not a team worthy of contending. What needs to be done in order for the Jays to turn this season around or is it too late and should we be thinking towards next year?”

Check out our responses to these really interesting questions. They provided us lots of debate and discussion. We also handed out our awards for Hitter of the Week, Pitcher of the Week, Play of the Week and Misplay of the Week. Edwin Encarnacion took home some hardware, Liam Hendriks gets some love and Kevin Pillar takes home multiple awards that would appear to contradict each other.

AUDIO:

Jays’ Nest- Jays Journal- Podcast about Toronto Blue Jays – Jays’ Nest #19- Blue Jays rotation, Trades, Deals & more!

VIDEO:

Take our poll and let us know what you think about out Devon Travis trade:

Next: Blue Jays have MLB #1 Offense, So Why Aren't They in 1st Place?

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