Bold Predictions for the Second Half of the Season

As the calendar turns to July, half of the baseball season is now in the rearview mirror. In watching the first half of the Jays’ 2016 season, we have come to establish a new set of ideas about what the 2016 team is. Things that we would have never believed at the start of the season now seem set in stone. On the positive side, Aaron Sanchez is establishing himself as one of the better starting pitchers in the American League. Marco Estrada’s 2015 was no fluke and Michael Saunders is a legitimate middle of the order bat. On the negative side, Drew Storen seems to have lost the miles per hour required to pitch as a high leverage reliever. All these developments, good and bad, were close to inconceivable three months ago.

Three months may seem like an eternity, but the levels of performance we’ve come to expect from the 2016 Blue Jays are still subject to change – some will continue to be positive, and some will be negative. So, in celebrating both the halfway mark of the MLB season and all of the surprises that have come with it, here are some bold predictions for the second half.

Marco Estrada Becomes the Endorsement King of Toronto

Given his continued dominance on the mound this season, the now grossly underpaid Marco Estrada decides he needs to cash in off the field and lends his likeness to a smattering of products promoted throughout Greater Toronto. Expect to see Marco as the new face of Canadian Tire, Jack Links Beef Jerky, Sport Check (alongside 14 NHL players), and of course, Obus Forme back supports.

MLB Commemorates John Gibbons Record Setting Ejection Around the League

As time marches on, so many of baseball’s most treasured and storied records seem all the more unbreakable. In an era with so many player limitations (pitch counts, frequent trips to the disabled list and maybe fewer performance enhancing drugs?), Cal Ripken, Cy Young, Joe DiMaggio and Barry Bond’s records seem almost untouchable. Knowing this, MLB will pull out all of the stops when John Gibbons breaks the single season record for managerial ejections this September.

Currently on pace to challenge Bobby Cox’s mark of 11, Gibbons has been thrown out six times already this season. Expect MLB to go full Ripken on the coverage: additional media following the club, commentary from umpires that have tossed Gibbons out of games, and of course, nationwide, in-game cutaways to Jays’ games whenever a Toronto player is called out on strikes. Hopefully the media circus around the team won’t prove to be a distraction for a team that is fighting for a playoff spot and a manger who is often forced to manage from the clubhouse.

Connor Greene Makes His Debut

…in his first feature length film. Using connections he built through his friend Charlie Sheen, Greene’s feature length debut is released straight to video. The Jays’ prospect plays a supporting role in a kitschy heist thriller opposite Tara Reid and Mark Paul Gosselaar that is received with limited critical and commercial success. While the movie doesn’t move the needle on his acting career, Greene continues to thrive on the mound, showing solid results at Double-A New Hampshire. While the front office decides to keep Greene in the minors, some Blue Jays fans still pining for Alex Anthopoulos furiously point out how he would already be in the major leagues if AA was still running the team.

Hockey Night in Canada Hires Gregg Zaun

As well as things have been going for the Blue Jays in the ratings department, the same cannot be said about Sportsnet’s flagship winter program: Hockey Night in Canada. In an effort to increase viewership and boost ratings, expect Rogers to bring the popular, but controversial Gregg Zaun, onto the newly overhauled HNIC team. While many suggest that it is the improved product on the field driving baseball’s ratings resurgence, some Rogers’ executives view Zaun’s flashy wardrobe and straight talk man-alyzing as the drivers of higher ratings. With no Canadian NHL teams poised to make the playoffs, Zaun should be returned to his Blue Jays Central studio in section 134 of the Rogers Centre just in time for opening day 2017.

J.A. Happ Continues to Adjust His Approach

While Happ’s return to the Blue Jays was not met with Lebron James returning to Cleveland-level excitement, Happ was expected to provide innings for a Blue Jays’ rotation that sorely needed them. Happ has exceeded expectations in a very successful first half with the Blue Jays – winning 11 games and pitching to a 3.54 ERA so far this season. Somewhat surprisingly, Happ has spent much of the year generating more groundballs and working deeper into games than the J.A. Happ Blue Jays’ fans came to know and love watch from 2012-2014. Happ’s ability to change his approach should come as no surprise. JA Happ has always valued making adjustments – like when he decided to change the pronunciation of his name from “J.A.” to “Jay” a few seasons ago. Having already lived baseball lives a both a strikeout and now sinkerball pitcher, Happ, under the guidance of R.A. Dickey, surprises us yet again and begins to work as a knuckleballer in the second half of the season.

Man in White is Revealed as Informant in Red Sox International Signing Ban

Having mysteriously disappeared from his perch in the centerfield bleachers at the Rogers Centre, notorious Blue Jay aid the Man in White, is revealed to be the chief informant assisting Major League Baseball in their prosecution of the Boston Red Sox for international signing violations. While many had assumed the Man in White had left the team to take a similar position with the Dodgers under AA, he was in Venezuela uncovering and exposing the Red Sox’s prohibited signing practices. Like many front office personnel who have remained with the team, the Man in White is said to have a strong working relationship with new team president Mark Shapiro and General Manager Ross Atkins.

Blue Jays Trade Ryan Goins to Tampa

The year has not gone as hoped in St. Petersburg. As the Rays limp into to All-Star Break, their attention has once again turned to retooling for next season. As the proliferation of sabermetrics and other analytical measures have made finding value on the trade market more difficult than it once was for small market teams, the Rays will turn towards what they believe is the new market inefficiency: position player pitchers.

Where others see only a fringe utility infielder, the Rays see a potential relief ace with a plus breaking ball that can contribute on both defense and the mound . While it may not look like it on the surface, exchanging the controllable Goins for the arbitration eligible Jake Odorizzi would be a savvy and forward thinking move for an organization that needs to make savvy moves to survive. I’d bet Ross Atkins would think so too.

Jose Bautista Finally Plays First Base

It’s no secret that Jose Bautista has lost a step or two in right field as he’s moved into his mid 30s. The same pride and competitive spirit that make Jose such a feared hitter, has also prevented him from acknowledging that a move to a different position might serve both him and his team well. This season, motivated by his impending free agency and his team’s playoff aspirations, Jose agrees to play first base, still in a walking boot, in order to facilitate a quicker return from his Turf Toe injury.

There you have it. Some bold predictions for the second half of the Blue Jays’ 2016 season. I know they don’t seem likely right now, but part of the beauty of baseball is that it is far from predictable. Even if you think these predictions fall outside of what can be reasonably expected, baseball is damn near impossible to figure out. Let’s just hope that means its Marco Estrada and not Steven Wright who is accepting The AL Cy Young Award come November.

Lead Photo: Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports