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	<title>Toronto &#187; The Season That Was</title>
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	<description>Comprehensive coverage of the Toronto Blue Jays</description>
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		<title>Joe Biagini: From Rule 5 Draft Pick to Key Bullpen Piece</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/11/07/joe-biagini-from-rule-5-draft-pick-to-key-bullpen-piece/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/11/07/joe-biagini-from-rule-5-draft-pick-to-key-bullpen-piece/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 07 Nov 2016 16:34:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sean Addis]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Season That Was]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=7783</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Toronto made numerous deals prior to and during the 2016 season that had a large impact on the Blue Jays making a return trip to the American League Championship Series. These deals ranged from re-signing Marco Estrada and signing J.A. Happ to trading for Jason Grilli and Joaquin Benoit. Then there&#8217;s Joe Biagini. On December [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Toronto made numerous deals prior to and during the 2016 season that had a large impact on the Blue Jays making a return trip to the American League Championship Series. These deals ranged from re-signing Marco Estrada and signing J.A. Happ to trading for Jason Grilli and Joaquin Benoit. Then there&#8217;s Joe Biagini. On December 10th 2015, without much fan fare, the Blue Jays used the Rule 5 draft to select a man who would become one of the most important pieces in their postseason run.</p>
<p>These days, the Rule 5 draft is often a forgotten opportunity to improve a team, and for good reason. With changes to the rules in the last decade allowing for an extra year of minor league control, the players that are most often available just aren&#8217;t good enough to justify a roster spot, and most do not remain with the team for the entire season. They become an afterthought and are easily forgotten. However, this was far from the case with the former San Francisco Giants AA minor league starter from the Richmond Flying Squirrels.</p>
<p>By the end of the season, Joe Biagini would end up being John Gibbons&#8217; most reliable reliever in 2016, save for Roberto Osuna. He threw 67.6 innings with a 3.06 ERA, and do it all with 8.2 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9. His ability to pitch early in a game, to pitch late in a game, to record multiple innings, and to effectively come in with runners on, allowed him to become a trusted option for John Gibbons.</p>
<p>It didn&#8217;t start that way, however. Biagini was initially an extreme long shot to make the opening day roster. With Osuna, Storen, Floyd, Chavez, Cecil, and Loup, there was supposed to only be one spot available for a battle, and the smart money was on Arnold Leon. Biagini probably needed a great spring to win that job, but his 4.00 ERA in nine innings probably wasn&#8217;t going to be enough. However, luck smiled on the quirky Biagini (and frowned on a couple of others), as Loup and Marco Estrada went down with injuries that would force them to the disabled list. This opened up two more spots, and Biagini made the club (along with Leon and Ryan Tepera).</p>
<p>Once the season began, Biagini was very much the seventh man in the pen (poor Tepera). In key spots, the Blue Jays would turn to Arnold Leon before their rule 5 reliever. Biagini didn&#8217;t even make his debut until the home opener, which was the fifth game of the year. However, he didn&#8217;t waste his chance. Forced into action in a one-run game in the ninth inning (trailing), the rookie&#8217;s first big league task was Xander Bogaerts, David Ortiz, and Hanley Ramirez. Talk about your rude welcomes.</p>
<p>But Biagini was up to the task. He got all three hitters, and even struck out David Ortiz for his first big league punch out. That seemed to earn Biagini his manager&#8217;s trust, and he was sent right back out there the next day. Once again he got through his inning without allowing a run, and it seemed like perhaps the Jays had found something.</p>
<p>Gibbons began using him more and more (from five times in April to 12 times in May), and in higher leverage spots. The tall righty rewarded his manager&#8217;s faith, postin a 0.86 ERA through the first two months of the season. However, as the calendar turned to June, Biagini began to struggle. Batters hit .400/.455/.525 for the month and Biagini allowed ten runs (seven earned) in just 7 1/3 innings. It seemed like the league had figured him out. But then a funny thing happened: Biagini made an adjustment.</p>
<p>Back in August, Joshua Howsam wrote an excellent article detailing <a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/09/09/joe-biagini-a-starter-in-a-relievers-uniform/">how Biagini&#8217;s repertoire could play out well as a rotation option.</a>  In that piece, Howsam outlined how Biagini expanded his pitch variety as the season continued, and provided different looks to the opposing lineups.</p>
<p>This showed up in the numbers. After the disastrous June, Biagini rebounded heavily in July and August with his new repertoire, and posted ERAs of 1.46 and 1.76, respectively. He hit a bit of a wall in September, allowing his first three home runs of the season, but when he received some rest heading into the postseason, he showed that he was still just as dominant, allowing just three hits and no runs across 7 1/3 postseason innings.</p>
<p>The question now becomes &#8220;where does Biagini fit moving forward?&#8221; With his repertoire and history as a starter, he could potentially provide the Blue Jays with rotation insurance or as a multi-inning bridge reliever (as outlined in that link above), but there are others that would like to keep him in the late-inning role in which he has excelled.</p>
<p>Biagini has performed very well in high leverage situations, where opponents hit just .203 against him. Those numbers get even better with runners in scoring position, as hitters batted just .205.  Combine that with the fact he stranded 80.8 percent of inherited runners, and generates a ton of groundballs (52.2 percent) and that makes him an effective arm in the late innings of a ball game.</p>
<p>No matter whether the Blue Jays choose starting or relief, that is a decision that will unfold in spring training.</p>
<p>For now, we can reflect on the fact that we got to watch the development of a key piece before our eyes, and that is a rare treat.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>The True Legacies of R.A. Dickey and Josh Thole</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/11/03/the-true-legacies-of-r-a-dickey-and-josh-thole/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/11/03/the-true-legacies-of-r-a-dickey-and-josh-thole/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 03 Nov 2016 10:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Evan Peaslee]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Season That Was]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[alex anthopoulos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[josh thole]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[r.a. dickey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Toronto Blue Jays]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=7759</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TORONTO – The good, the bad, the ugly, and the great. That’s how Josh Thole described his time in Toronto over the past four years. It was a fitting description for the tumultuous times he and batterymate R.A. Dickey shared while in a Blue Jays uniform. The duo entered their time in Toronto with a [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>TORONTO – The good, the bad, the ugly, and the great.</p>
<p>That’s how Josh Thole described his time in Toronto over the past four years. It was a fitting description for the tumultuous times he and batterymate R.A. Dickey shared while in a Blue Jays uniform.</p>
<p>The duo entered their time in Toronto with a precipitous amount of fanfare and expectations thanks in large part to Dickey entering as the reigning NL Cy Young winner. They had a lot of ups and downs in the middle, and things ended quietly as they watched their teammates perform in the postseason without them.</p>
<p>Yet over those four years the landscape of Toronto Blue Jays baseball altered drastically; blue once again became a dominant colour on the uniform, Blue Jays fever swept the nation, an MVP became a household name, attendance skyrocketed and so did the wins. Both of those men were at the heart of it all.</p>
<p>Dickey started 130 games for the Jays over that stretch and threw 824 innings, and Thole played in 170 games, most of which came with Dickey on the mound. At this juncture, with their Toronto careers almost certainly over, their stats are a moot point. But what you’d find is a slightly above average innings-eater pitcher and a below average specialty catcher, the combination of which got a lot of scorn from Blue Jays fans and active social media users. But what fans also got were two trips to the postseason with two legitimate chances to advance to the World Series that fell just short.</p>
<p>“I take away in particular the last two years,” Dickey said reminiscing about his time in Toronto. “I mean, some of us have been together for four years so we have seen the process of how this thing has happened and getting to be in the playoffs in two of the last four years is a pretty remarkable feat in this day and age with how good these teams are.</p>
<p>“To be 50 percent of the time we go to the League Championship Series, that’s pretty good. Of course, you’re not satisfied, but it’s certainly a hard thing to do, so I really appreciate that.”</p>
<p>With the club achieving heights it hadn’t even sniffed in 21 years, the team’s success is the greatest argument for the duo despite what their personal stats might ultimately suggest. Even with neither making the 2016 postseason roster, without their accomplishments in the regular season the team simply doesn’t get to play beyond game 162 in either of the past two seasons.</p>
<blockquote><p>“To be 50 percent of the time we go to the League Championship Series, that’s pretty good. Of course, you’re not satisfied, but it’s certainly a hard thing to do, so I really appreciate that.” &#8211; R.A. Dickey</p></blockquote>
<p>However, the battery&#8217;s on-field performance is secondary to what their presence really meant to the Jays. Acquired from the New York Mets on December 17, 2012 by then-general manager Alex Anthopoulos for two elite prospects, Dickey and Thole were part of drastic shift in philosophy that aimed towards winning now. That move, along with the blockbuster Miami Marlins trade a month prior, influenced Blue Jays baseball more than any other and led directly to where the club stands today.</p>
<p>The first season with Dickey as the team’s presumptuous ace was underwhelming on the field, with the club finishing last in its division and with only a solitary win above than the previous year&#8217;s total. What paved the greatest dividends towards the win-now mode wasn’t the on-field product so much as attendance and a growing TV audience. Thanks in large part to the pre-season hype from those two trades, the Rogers Centre eclipsed 2.5 million paying fans in 2013 for the first time since 1997.</p>
<p>In the four years that Dickey and Thole were in Toronto the Jays averaged over 34,256 fans in attendance for home games, over 11,000 more per night than the average attendance in the four years prior to their arrival. In addition, this past season saw the team set a new record with over one million people per game tuning in to Blue Jays baseball on television.</p>
<p>With attendance at an unprecedented high for modern Rogers Centre times, and a surplus of money flowing in, Anthopoulos was allowed to stay aggressive on the trade market to keep the team competitive. Russell Martin, Josh Donaldson, Devon Travis, David Price, and Troy Tulowtizki followed, with today’s core of the club forming in large part because Anthopoulos was allowed to shed prospects for win-now talent &#8211; Something that wouldn’t have happened in the same aggressive and bold manner had the off-season of 2012 never happened.</p>
<p>Ultimately, those moves in the 2012 off-season precipitated the moves that followed, leading to the two most compelling seasons in recent Jays history.</p>
<p>“Special,” said Thole about his time in a Jays uniform over the last four years after being eliminated from the postseason by Cleveland in Game 5 of the ALCS. “Been through the good, the bad, the ugly, and the great. These last two years have been something you dream of. I’m not even on the playoff roster, but just to be part of it all season, it’s unbelievable.”</p>
<p>Now that their tenure in Toronto is likely over, and after experiencing two deep postseason runs with the Jays and a Cy Young campaign with the Mets, the ever intertwined duo are most likely headed for very different futures after seven years as batterymates that included 164 games together.</p>
<blockquote><p>“Been through the good, the bad, the ugly, and the great. These last two years have been something you dream of.&#8221; &#8211; Josh Thole</p></blockquote>
<p>“I mean, seven years together. Who knows what’s going to happen,” Thole said about their future. “He’s getting towards the end here. So, who knows. Who knows what’s going to happen. It’s unbelievable. Again, it’s something that you never dream of and it’s happened. I’ve been, you’re right, attached to him.”</p>
<p>“It’s hard to imagine a team without him because I’ve been with him seven years now,” Dickey said of Thole. “I consider him a friend before anything.</p>
<p>“He’s caught more of my starts than anyone in my whole career. I would venture to say he’s caught more of my starts than any catcher has caught somebody’s starts anywhere, regardless if they’re a knuckleballer or not. So, it’s been a special bond that we’ve had. We’ve been through a lot of ups and downs together. It’s been fun. I’ll miss it if it doesn’t continue.”</p>
<p>Without each other it’s unclear if there’s a place for them in Major League Baseball. One thing’s for sure though, the last two magical runs to the postseason don’t happen without them or the trade that preceded their arrival. Their on field performance may not have had the impact anyone envisioned when they were acquired, but their impact off the field and on management is unmistakable.</p>
<p>For that alone Jays fans should be thankful.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>The Blue Jays&#8217; Most Suprising Heroic Moments of 2016</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/11/01/the-blue-jays-unlikeliest-heroes/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/11/01/the-blue-jays-unlikeliest-heroes/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Nov 2016 10:01:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Elie Waitzer]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Season That Was]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2016]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blue jays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hero]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[walkoff]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=7641</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Everybody loves a Josh Donaldson walk-off. The anticipation as he rocks his front heel up and down, and the violent swing in which you have more faith than most things in your life. Then maybe you turn to your buddy, shake your head and smile in mock disbelief, and say something like &#8220;That&#8217;s just what [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Everybody loves a Josh Donaldson walk-off. The anticipation as he rocks his front heel up and down, and the violent swing in which you have more faith than most things in your life. Then maybe you turn to your buddy, shake your head and smile in mock disbelief, and say something like &#8220;<em>That&#8217;s just what he does.</em>&#8221; You love a Josh Donaldson walk-off the way you love the firefighters who show up to save you from your burning house. In the back of your mind you know there&#8217;s a chance they won&#8217;t make it in time, but then you hear the wail of the siren and think to yourself, &#8220;<em>Why was I ever worried?</em>&#8221;</p>
<p>The same goes for Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista, Miguel Cabrera, David Ortiz, and the rest of baseball&#8217;s giants. The fact that we&#8217;ve come to expect these moments doesn&#8217;t take anything away from their feats, but it&#8217;s the heroics we <em>don&#8217;t</em> expect that truly blow our minds. Think David Freese in Game 6 of the 2011 World Series or Travis Ishikawa in Game 5 of the 2014 NLCS. When your house is on fire and all of a sudden it starts raining, the sense of salvation is that much sweeter.</p>
<p>So it&#8217;s time to give some credit to the Blue Jays role players; to give props those who put surprised us by putting out some big fires; to the men that <a href="https://youtu.be/mDVND9PC8DQ?t=9m26s" target="_blank">work the trenches</a>.</p>
<p>Here are some of the biggest moments from to Toronto&#8217;s unsung heroes.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>April was a <a href="http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/justin-smoak-off-unusual-start-blue-jays/">strange month</a> for Justin Smoak. If you&#8217;ve got a good memory and were watching the Blue Jays closely, then you&#8217;ll remember that one of the bigger story lines for Smoak was the weird gap between his batting average and on-base percentage.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Justin Smoak: 19PA, 1H, 6BB, 1HBP, 11K. .083 batting average, .421 on-base percentage. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlueJays?src=hash">#BlueJays</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MLB?src=hash">#MLB</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Orioles?src=hash">#Orioles</a></p>
<p>— Scott MacArthur (@ScottyMacThinks) <a href="https://twitter.com/ScottyMacThinks/status/722569165807206400">April 19, 2016</a></p></blockquote>
<p>The beginning of the year is small sample size season and the media were having a field day with Smoak&#8217;s odd stat line. The first baseman was batting .189/.375/.216 at the end of April, and as May rolled around fans were divided on whether he should be batting lead-off or down in Buffalo.</p>
<p>On May 3, mired in a 6-for-33 slump, Smoak laced a single to center in his first at-bat. However, he followed that up with a strikeout and a fly out in his next two trips. The Rangers pitchers blanked Toronto&#8217;s offence through eight, and handed the ball to closer Shawn Tolleson to preserve a 1-0 lead against the bottom of the Jays order. Smoak, Pillar, Martin. This was a Tolleson who had converted his last eight save opportunities, not the Tolleson you know today. You groaned.</p>
<p>Smoak quickly got himself in a 1-2 count, and then lifted a ball to left field with an easy swing.</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><iframe src="http://m.mlb.com/shared/video/embed/embed.html?content_id=653806583&amp;topic_id=6479266&amp;width=500&amp;height=280&amp;property=mlb" width="500" height="280" ></iframe></p>
<p>Shock. Surprise. But game tied and extra innings. The swing was worth +0.438 WPA, the fifth-most clutch hit of the whole season by that measure. Joe Biagini made quick work of Texas, setting the stage for Smoak in the bottom of the 10th. You saw the easy swing on the game-tying dinger, but you still groaned again when he came to the dish with one out and Encarnacion on first. &#8220;<em>Double play</em>,&#8221; you thought.</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><iframe src="http://m.mlb.com/shared/video/embed/embed.html?content_id=654074983&amp;topic_id=6479266&amp;width=500&amp;height=280&amp;property=mlb" width="500" height="280" ></iframe></p>
<p>Not quite a twin-killing. This was arguably the biggest Jays moment of the season to that point, and would send Smoak on a hot streak. The switch-hitting 1B would go on to slash .309/.375/.526 in the month of May while starting a season-high 24 games before things fell apart in the dog days of summer.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>Not all heroes wear capes, but I&#8217;m betting Ezequiel Carrera has a cape emblazoned with the letters B-U-N-T in gold. By the end of the ALCS, there might not have been a more <em>likely</em> hero than Carrera, where he hit .303/.343/.515 over the postseason, but back in April he was a nobody. There&#8217;s no scientific way to pinpoint exactly when he went from zero to hero, but a pretty good date to start with is September 25.</p>
<p>Toronto held a one-run lead and an 83 percent win expectancy heading into the top of the ninth against the Yankees before Roberto Osuna came in and coughed up the lead on three singles and a sac-fly off the bat of former-Jay Ronald Torreyes. Osuna stopped the bleeding at 3-2 New York, but with Melvin Upton Upton, Kevin Pillar, and Carrera due up against Dellin Betances, things looked grim.</p>
<p>Even after Upton drew a <em>gift</em> of a walk to knock Betances out of the game, even after Pillar singled on a two-strike pitch from Tyler Clippard, you thought, &#8220;<em>If Zeke can just turn the lineup over without messing things up, we&#8217;re in good shape.</em>&#8221;</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><iframe src="http://m.mlb.com/shared/video/embed/embed.html?content_id=1188397883&amp;topic_id=6479266&amp;width=500&amp;height=280&amp;property=mlb" width="500" height="280" ></iframe></p>
<p>Sometimes bunts do work out well! All the headlines went to Encarnacion&#8217;s game winner, but Carrera&#8217;s bold bunt out-WPA&#8217;d Edwin&#8217;s eventual game-winning infield single +0.266 to +0.167. The Jays went 64-46 in games in which Carrera appeared, which adds up to a .719 winning percentage that barely edges the 116-win 2001 Seattle Mariners. Really makes you think&#8230;</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>May 25th was the beginning of the end of Ryan Goins&#8217; season. Devon Travis&#8217; nagging shoulder injury had left second base open for Goins on Opening Day, but Travis was cleared to return to the field that day. With Troy Tulowitzki getting a day off, Goins would be starting at shortstop, but it was only a matter of time before he would be headed to Triple A.</p>
<p>Marco Estrada was dealing early, but allowed the Yankees to scrape together a run on a couple of singles and a wild pitch in the third. The Jays had gone 3-6 over their last nine games, including a devastating sweep at the hands of the Rays, and needed a big hit to turn things around before heading to Boston.</p>
<p>Smoak and Russell Martin led off the next inning with two outs on two pitches from Ivan Nova, but Pillar and Travis followed with a pair of two-out singles. Goins came up and patiently worked the count to 3-1, at which point you begged him silently, &#8220;<em>Don&#8217;t take the bat off your shoulders, pretty please.</em>&#8221;</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><iframe src="http://m.mlb.com/shared/video/embed/embed.html?content_id=738261283&amp;topic_id=6479266&amp;width=500&amp;height=280&amp;property=mlb" width="500" height="280" ></iframe></p>
<p>Well, he did remove the bat from his shoulder, and good things happened. The go-ahead double was worth a game-high +0.249 WPA, but again the ink was spilled not on Goins&#8217; heroics but on Russell Martin, who picked this day of all days to break out of a 124-AB homerless drought to open the season.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>Quick. Who had the most clutch hit of the season according to WPA? Did you answer <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/statsp.aspx?playerid=5015&amp;position=OF&amp;season=2016">Melvin Upton Jr.</a>? For some strange reason, Upton destroyed elite relievers this year, homering off Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances, and haunting Kenley Jansen with a .667/.750/.2333 line (over 4 PA) and a two-run walk-off shot worth +0.695 WPA.</p>
<p>Melvin Upton Jr. doesn&#8217;t strike out on your schedule.</p>
<p>Ryan Pressly isn&#8217;t quite Kenley Jansen, but Upton came into August 27th with a .263 OBP in his first 27 games as a Blue Jay. With Toronto trailing the Twins by a run in the 8th, you saw Saunders, Pillar, and Upton coming up and thought, &#8220;<em>Boy, it&#8217;s a shame the top of the order couldn&#8217;t get it done for us.</em>&#8221; You probably know where this is going by now.</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><iframe src="http://m.mlb.com/shared/video/embed/embed.html?content_id=1102908483&amp;topic_id=6479266&amp;width=500&amp;height=280&amp;property=mlb" width="500" height="280" ></iframe></p>
<p>Upton&#8217;s little-league homer was the most exciting play of the season, capping the team&#8217;s second-largest comeback of the season. It wasn&#8217;t always pretty for Mr Upton, but he&#8217;ll always have that quick trip around the bases.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>Traditional analysts love to talk about the importance of contributions from your role players. Maybe you&#8217;ve seen Gregg Zaun name &#8220;Get The Bottom of the Order Going&#8221; as a Key to the Game? Of course, it&#8217;s a classic meaningless sports platitude. The key to every game is &#8220;Get Everyone Going.&#8221; That&#8217;s obviously the ideal situation.</p>
<p>You can win games where Josh Donaldson hits three homers and the rest of the lineup goes hitless. You can lose those games just as easily. The beauty of baseball is just how disjointed it is. The Cleveland Cavaliers aren&#8217;t winning a single game without Lebron James dropping at least 20. The New England Patriots aren&#8217;t making it to the Super Bowl without Tom Brady. Baseball claims to be a team sport, but really it&#8217;s nine guys with entirely separate fates. For all we know, Justin Smoak could come up with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth in Game 7 of the World Series next season. And you&#8217;ll groan and tweet &#8220;Thanks for a great season, #BlueJays.&#8221;</p>
<p>But secretly your heart will be racing because you&#8217;ll be thinking, <em>&#8220;What if?&#8221;</em></p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Saying Goodbye to an Unexpected Era</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/10/31/saying-goodbye-to-the-unexpected-era/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/10/31/saying-goodbye-to-the-unexpected-era/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 31 Oct 2016 14:42:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Passador]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Season That Was]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Edwin Encarnacion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jose Bautista]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=7724</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I was about a month old when the Blue Jays last won the World Series. It’s been mostly downhill since. Cursed with the burden of rooting for Toronto’s teams while growing up around New York and spending my college years in Boston, it’s been two decades of watching everyone else and their teams celebrate various [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I was about a month old when the Blue Jays last won the World Series. It’s been mostly downhill since.</p>
<p>Cursed with the burden of rooting for Toronto’s teams while growing up around New York and spending my college years in Boston, it’s been two decades of watching everyone else and their teams celebrate various stupid championships. It hasn’t been ideal, and I have the Frank Thomas jersey in my closet to prove it.</p>
<p>Technically the Jays have reached the summit in my lifetime. I obviously have no recollection of the moment. Truthfully, it’d be cheap to count it. It wouldn’t have been earned.</p>
<p>The last two seasons might not have brought the same pinnacle of success but there’s a certain exhilaration that the Toronto Blue Jays have brought to the surface for me. Last season’s first ALDS game against the Rangers was literally the first time that I, as well as hundreds of thousands (and possibly millions) of Jays fans, got to see playoff baseball in Toronto. Given everything that had preceded it in my baseball-conscious lifetime, it seemed insane. Maybe it was. Maybe it’ll always feel that way because of the way things played out.</p>
<p>They finally put it together after years of collecting interesting groups of players that produced the same third and fourth place results. No season ever goes to plan, and that’s been readily apparent in the wild run that the Blue Jays have been on since 2015. Perhaps it’s the mental conditioning of seeing so many seasons reach the same disappointing end or hanging around in the same division as baseball’s biggest money wielders that set the bar for performance. Regardless, the Blue Jays are set to say goodbye to an era of the unexpected.</p>
<p>It’s tough to pinpoint when this all kicked off, though Alex Anthopulous’s acquisition of Jose Reyes, Mark Buerhle and Josh Johnson seems like a good start. Following it up with reigning Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey only increased anticipation. For the first time in a long time, the Blue Jays were favorites. When the Jays were finally expected to run roughshod through the AL East, they faltered. We zigged, the team zagged. For all the hoopla surrounding the team, the fondest memories may be of Munenori Kawasaki and his cult hero status.</p>
<p>But maybe it goes back before all that. After all the run of success is built upon Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion turning into <em>Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion</em>. A journeyman and a salary dump turned this thing around. That’s pretty cool.</p>
<p>Then there’s Anthopolous’ ninja acquisitions of Josh Donaldson, Troy Tulowitzki and David Price. My simple mind could barely comprehend acquiring one of the game’s best players, let alone three within a year. A year whose signature moment was built on a throw back to the mound that bounced off Shin-Soo Choo’s bat. And that includes Toronto’s first AL East Division title in a long while, only for the mastermind behind the moves to depart during the honeymoon phase.</p>
<p>This past year gave us more unexpected happenings. The team had just put up an offensive performance that rivaled the best in baseball history. So of course they struggled to consistently put up runs and left games in the hands of a strong pitching staff. A staff who faced tons of questions and merely needed to be “good enough” at the outset of the season wound up being <a title="Building the AL’s Best Pitching Staff on a Budget" href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/10/25/building-the-als-best-pitching-staff-on-a-budget/" target="_blank">the league’s best on a budget</a>. The perceived weak spot was the thing that saved Toronto’s season. Even the staunchest believers in Estrada, Happ and Sanchez wouldn’t have banked on that kind of collective performance.</p>
<p>We’ve heard about <a title="On Michael Saunders and Defying Expectations" href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/10/24/on-michael-saunders-and-defying-expectations/" target="_blank">Michael Saunders defying expectations</a>. There’s also Joe Biagini, the Rule V pick that actually panned out. All the moves made to bolster the bullpen last offseason made a fair amount of sense, and yet the new arrivals failed spectacularly. The team sought out fixes and nailed every single one. Then there’s the fact that one of those fixes tore his calf running into a brawl. You can’t predict baseball, truly.</p>
<p>Despite that, the safe prediction is that at least one of Bautista or Encarnacion will be reporting to someplace other than Dunedin when camp opens. Placing the baseball decision concerns aside, that stinks. It almost certainly doesn’t make sense to fork over the money it would take to keep the band together, which is something that everyone seems to have accepted. From an emotional standpoint, it’ll be a strange sensation.</p>
<p>For the nebulous timestamps that mark the beginning and ending of this part of Blue Jays lore, I’d be remiss to not recognize this as Bautista’s team or Edwin’s team. It won’t be the same next year. It’ll be a new look team in a few ways, and they should be fine going forward. There will be fewer big bats, the Blue Jays have completed a quick turnaround and will now remain competitive on the back of a truly phenomenal pitching staff. Who would’ve guessed that a year ago?</p>
<p>That&#8217;s great. A lot of people thought the Jays might need to reset a bit following the ravages of the upcoming offseason, but it&#8217;s looking more and more like Shapiro and his management team have found a way to cut the line and get right back into things. I can&#8217;t wait for next season to start, but, sentimentally, I don’t think I’m ready for this version of the team to be finished. I don’t think I’m alone in that corner either.</p>
<p>No team’s good fortune ever comes solely from a plan coming together. Every successful season has a few good bounces. It just feels like Toronto’s have come from a crazy confluence of events. I suppose that deep down, we all assumed the Blue Jays would compete eventually, but not like this, on the back of so many unforgettable personalities and unbelievable stories. Riding this roller coaster, even if it ends just shy of the World Series, has been worth the price of admission. The Jays’ success feels earned this time around. To have experienced the full climb to relevancy makes this part of Blue Jays history extremely special, perhaps even more so because of all the pleasant surprises along the way.</p>
<p>As for truly unexpected, the Blue Jays are now a baseball <em>thing</em>. Something to talk about. Something to be loved and hated in equal measure, depending on where you&#8217;re from. Toronto is a baseball destination. The next wave is looking just fine, but the unexpected era authored Toronto’s baseball revival.  This era, even if it’s seen its conclusion, has been something to remember. Not like you could forget it if you tried.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Re-Imagining the Blue Jays&#8217; Year End Awards</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/10/28/re-imagining-the-blue-jays-year-end-awards/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/10/28/re-imagining-the-blue-jays-year-end-awards/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 28 Oct 2016 10:18:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Nick Dika]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Season That Was]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=7711</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The 2016 Toronto Blue Jays season is now over. Despite a successful and entertaining run, Eric Owens became the official fall guy for a 2016 Blue Jays team that lost in the American League Championship Series for the second year in a row. As we are now forced to endure a four month stretch without [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The 2016 Toronto Blue Jays season is now over. Despite a successful and entertaining run, Eric Owens became the official fall guy for a 2016 Blue Jays team that lost in the American League Championship Series for the second year in a row. As we are now forced to endure a four month stretch without Blue Jays baseball, we have plenty of time to reflect back on the season that was.</p>
<p>Instead of firing up the hot stove a bit too prematurely, I’ve created some alternative end of season awards to hand out to some of the many deserving Jays.</p>
<h4>Kevin Pillar Sneeze Award For Most Bizarre Injury: Joaquin Benoit</h4>
<p>The Blue Jays have a celebrated history of bizarre injuries. Whether it was the sprinkler that TKO’d Michael Saunders or Maicer Izturis falling down the stairs, plenty of Blue Jays have made some unpredictable disabled list trips.</p>
<p>This season, Russell Martin provided some fierce competition– hurting himself both in the sauna and on a celebratory high five. But Benoit rushing the field to join a brawl takes this year’s prize.</p>
<p>Benoit’s injury will act as a continual warning that nothing good comes from a baseball brawl and reminder that next time Joaquin needs to rush the field in a fit of rage, he should use the ramp instead of trying to hop the fence.</p>
<h4>Don Cherry ‘Good Old Canadian Boy’ Award: Russell Martin</h4>
<p>Despite a strong field of challengers (Mikey Saunders, Dalty Pompey), Russell Martin once again takes home the hono<span style="text-decoration: underline">u</span>r. No one embodies a good, old, Canadian more than Russell: he guts through injuries; plays the position that most resembles hockey; has a beard. We just need to make sure we don’t let Don Cherry know he’s French Canadian.</p>
<p>Fingers crossed Joey Votto wins this next year. If only….</p>
<h4>&#8220;We Lost to Who?&#8221; Award: An Assortment of Number Five Starters from Around the League</h4>
<p>With a defeat at the hands of Ryan Merritt still fresh in our minds, we present this award to the most unlikely pitchers to stymie the fearsome Torono offence and beat the team.</p>
<p>With the Jays’ offence performing in fits and starts there were many worthy candidates this season: Luis Perdomo (5.71 ERA, Padres), Pat Dean (6.28 ERA, Twins), Daniel Wright (6.13 ERA, Angels), and of course Ryan Merritt (3.70 ERA, Columbus Clippers).</p>
<h4>It’s Never His Fault Award: Josh Thole</h4>
<p>It just isn’t. He doesn’t play enough. With R.A. Dickey leaving via free agency, Josh Thole is likely leaving behind him. What better way to honour the departing catcher than with the award he earned and deserves?</p>
<h4>Forget Me Not Award &#8211; Best Performance by a Free Agent: Jose Bautista</h4>
<p>Jose, not only will we miss you as a player, we will miss your braggadocious temperament. Whether it was trolling Steve Simmons on twitter, skipping around the bases after a homer or telling umpires how to do their jobs properly, Jose Bautista was a performer, playing the game with passion and flair. A passion led to some of the team’s most meme-able moments and sound bites far more entertaining than your standard post-game clichés.</p>
<p>Like a true performer, Jose saved some of his best material for last, making claims throughout the 2016 ALCS that were so unsubstantiated they are usually reserved for American Presidential nominees. Anyone in Cleveland will be happy to remind us that Ryan Merrit’s boots are firmly planted on the ground as he makes his way to the World Series.</p>
<p>And to any media who feigned offence at Jose’s colourful comments and style of play: good luck trying to squeeze this much gold out of Kevin Pillar next season.</p>
<h4>Rollie Fingers Award for Facial Hair: Aaron Sanchez</h4>
<p>Since Eric Thames’ departure for Korea, the Rollie Fingers Award has lacked the same caliber of nominees*. Nonetheless, the award continues to be handed out.</p>
<p>Despite coming to work in an environment of fully bearded colleagues, Aaron Sanchez opted for the goatee look in 2016. The American League ERA champ should receive full points for originality and just as importantly, determination. 2016 proved that Sanchez doesn’t give up – whether it&#8217;s on his dream of becoming a starting pitcher (when others wanted him in the bullpen), or on his commitment to his facial hair (even when it comes in patchy at first).</p>
<p>*Note: Josh Johnson only <a href="https://twitter.com/BravesAmerica/status/634098675740905472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">grew his hair</a> out after leaving the Blue Jays</p>
<h4>Bryan LaHair Monster First Half Award: Michael Saunders</h4>
<p>After spending the majority of his 2015 recovering from a vicious sprinkler attack, Saunders hit the ground running in 2016. The Victoria-native posted otherworldly first half numbers that landed him in the All-Star Game and consequently, in the middle of a pseudo national anthem controversy &#8211; one that introduced an entire generation of people under 70 to the Canadian Tenors.</p>
<p>While Saunders came back to earth in the second half, we will always have spring 2016. Jays fans will look back fondly on screaming line drives to all fields and the ginger baserunning that immediately followed.</p>
<h4>Doogie Howser Child Prodigy Award: Roberto Osuna</h4>
<p>Osuna has been so effective and consistent at the back of the Blue Jays’ bullpen that we almost take him for granted. Oh and he is still just 21 years old.</p>
<p>The Jays leaned heavily on Osuna down the stretch and in the postseason, frequently asking him to pitch more than one inning at a time. The increased workload is likely why Osuna turned to Michael Phelps&#8217; trusted cupping therapy; hopefully the new baseball market inefficiency in keeping pitchers healthy.</p>
<p>Expect more of the same from Osuna next season. He is still years away from his prime and thanks to an early arrival in the Major Leagues, two years closer to a big pay day in free agency.</p>
<h4>Alex Anthopoulos Executive of the Year Award: Mark Shapiro</h4>
<p>Making several reasonable, yet criticized decisions, Mark Shapiro enjoyed a very successful first year as President of the Toronto Blue Jays.</p>
<p>Things did not get off the best of start for Shapiro in Toronto as he was condemned by a section of the fan base that looked suspiciously on his decision to recruit and hire front office staff from Cleveland.</p>
<p>It’s hard to fault him for hiring people from his old stomping grounds; partly because it ignores the people he’s hired that DIDN’T work for him in Cleveland, and partly because I wouldn’t want to sit alone in the Rogers Centre cafeteria either.</p>
<p>Regardless of the rocky start, the Blue Jays made a deep postseason run in part due to the acquisitions that Shapiro and company made to strengthen the roster (Gil Kim, Angus Mugford, Joe Biagini). We recommend he accept his award before he increases the prices on single-game tickets for 2017.</p>
<h4>Marty York Memorial Hottest Take of the Year Award: Troy Tulowitzki to First Base</h4>
<p>Over the course of his first full year in Toronto, Troy Tulowitzki has been the topic of many ‘colourful’ opinions: he is finished offensively (we’re looking at you Dave Cameron), he hates Toronto and wants to be traded, and the oddest of them all: <a href="http://andrewstoeten.com/2015/11/20/ffs-stop-talking-about-moving-tulo-to-first-base/">whispers that he should be playing first base</a>.</p>
<p>Watching Tulo play defense for three innings should put to bed any notion of moving him off shortstop just yet. For that matter, so should watching the guy who played shortstop before him. Or the guy hit who would have played shortstop instead of him.</p>
<p>Like with any good team (or awards show), there are more deserving candidates than there are awards to be handed out. The Blue Jays’ would not have gone as far as they did without contributions from everyone on the roster, coaching staff, and front office.</p>
<p>Whether it was head trainer George Poulis somehow being able to keep Michael Saunders, Tulo and Russ Martin on the field for 130-plus games, or team chef Nigel Batson, who willingly allowed a professional athlete to eat pasta with mayonnaise on it, the Blue Jays received contributions from the entire organization en route to their second straight ALCS appearance.</p>
<p>2016 was a successful and entertaining season, and one that will be remembered for so much more than Justin Smoak&#8217;s weird culinary choices (it was totally him) or Joaquin Benoit’s bizarre injury. Here’s to what was a great 2016 and hopefully an even better 2017.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Mark Shapiro, Alex Anthopoulos, and the Failures of Change</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/10/26/mark-shapiro-alex-anthopoulos-and-the-failures-of-change/</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 26 Oct 2016 11:53:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Matt Gwin]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Season That Was]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[alex anthopoulos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blue jays]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=7676</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[History as we know it is defined in eras. Sports history is no different. When we think back to dynasties in baseball’s past, they’re asssociated with something specific. First, it was managers as the face of teams; like the Connie Mack A’s or the John McGraw Giants. That eventually gave way to the player era: [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>History as we know it is defined in eras. Sports history is no different. When we think back to dynasties in baseball’s past, they’re asssociated with something specific. First, it was managers as the face of teams; like the Connie Mack A’s or the John McGraw Giants. That eventually gave way to the player era: the Babe Ruth Yankees, the Stan Musial Cardinals, and the George Brett Royals.</p>
<p>In each of those cases, the team was defined by the most influential guy in the clubhouse. He was the one that fans saw driving the success of their beloved franchise, and therefore the one that they admired. However, we have now moved into the third age, where the clubhouse is no longer where baseball fans look to evaluate team success.  Franchises are now defined by the executives that built the team. One need look no further than one half of the current World Series matchup. It&#8217;s not Arrieta&#8217;s Cubs or Rizzo&#8217;s Cubs; it&#8217;s the Team that Theo Built. For the Blue Jays, the same was true of Alex Anthopoulos. Josh Donaldson was the Blue Jays&#8217; star talent and Jose Bautista was the soul, but it was Anthopoulos&#8217; team.</p>
<p>Our perception of Alex changed over time, and it followed along with changes in his demeanour. He came to us young, baby-faced, and as a memory of the previous generation. But he left us <a href="//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg9fdxQUcjc&amp;ab_channel=xaveruth”">older, bearded, and as the man who brought playoff baseball back to Toronto</a>. Things <a href="//www.bluejaysplus.com/the-season-that-will-be-its-judgement-year-for-alex-anthopoulos/“">weren’t always as rosy as the reaction to Anthopoulos’ exit seemed</a>, but he will be remembered for how he finished: (nearly) on top.</p>
<p>As the new Blue Jays decision makers, Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins have made additions to this team, but the core of the roster is entirely Alex Anthopoulos&#8217;. As such, that creates an attachment between the Jays and the Anthopoulos&#8217; era that isn&#8217;t easy to break. Shapiro has learned that the hard way while the fanbase has gone thought the Kübler-Ross model’s five stages of grief.</p>
<p>The first four stages came in fairly quick succession. Fans <a href="//twitter.com/Correia47/status/659727500407238657”">denied the possibility that AA could truly be gone</a>. Then they <a href="//twitter.com/n_thurm/status/677584561841176576”">angrily criticized the replacement</a>, Mark Shapiro. But Shapiro didn’t care, he knew what was really at stake.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Mark Shapiro is more concerned with winning than being well-liked, writes John Lott. <a href="https://t.co/OmWv4ODIUG">https://t.co/OmWv4ODIUG</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) <a href="https://twitter.com/Buster_ESPN/status/682160481101045761">December 30, 2015</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>When you think about it, it’s actually kind of remarkable how well Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins transitioned in to the helm of the Blue Jays. Regardless of how hard they tried, the fanbase as a whole was still opposed. There were instances in which <a href="//twitter.com/BFinleyy/status/685668661265313793”">they got some credit</a>, as Jays fans bargained with themselves on whether or not to believe. But, there were always others trying to find <a href="//twitter.com/KyleMeloTSN/status/714962254521896961”">something to protest</a>. We were sad.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Anthopoulos leaving the Jays.  <a href="https://t.co/dKLcO8d6At">https://t.co/dKLcO8d6At</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Gruber&#39;s Mullet (@GrubersMullet) <a href="https://twitter.com/GrubersMullet/status/695334802627497987">February 4, 2016</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>In general, each of the five stages in the Kübler-Ross model comes one after another, but a particular time period is not stipulated for each. Above, we’ve run through the first four, but that leaves the last stage: acceptance.</p>
<p>As you might imagine, Jays fans have been reluctant to accept the Shapiro-Atkins (or Shapatkins) duo, and there are a few different reasons behind this. For starters, the transition could not have come at a worse time. When he left, Alex Anthopoulos was at the peak of his popularity. Not only had he taken the team to the playoffs for the first time in two decades, but, more importantly, he finally made Toronto feel like a big market team. In David Price and Troy Tulowitzki, the Blue Jays had acquired the two biggest pieces on the midseason trade market. If Canadians like anything, it’s feeling important. Alex made that happen.</p>
<p>Mark Shapiro on the other hand is the American whose first major Blue Jays headline was a report that he <a href="//www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/toronto-blue-jays-alex-anthopoulos-leaving-team-denied-extension-mark-shapiro-102915”">staunchly opposed those very same trades that reinvigorated the fan base</a>. He may end up being right, that the Jays’ 2015 deadline trades won’t end up being worth the prospects they cost, but being right isn’t the only thing that matters. Public perception is important too, and Shapiro&#8217;s lack of public relations perceptiveness has only made the transition of leadership worse.</p>
<p>Things started with the opposition to the trades–a report that <a href="http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/11/shapiro-president-blue-jays-retain-john-gibbons.html" target="_blank">Shapiro has since denied</a>– and further continued throughout his first year as President and CEO. In the first month of the offseason, with David Price, the symbol of the Blue Jays&#8217; big-marketedness, set to sign, Shapiro kept the team <a href="http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/shapiro-blue-jays-didnt-aggressively-pursue-price/" target="_blank">firmly out of strong negotiations</a>. In a vacuum, that&#8217;s a pragmatic decision. David Price is unlikely to be worth the $217 million that he&#8217;ll be paid over seven years, and with three big sluggers set to hit free agency over the following three years, the Jays could use the financial flexibility. However, Price wasn&#8217;t just any other pitcher to Toronto. Not only was he the crown jewel of the trade deadline, but he <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2015/09/05/baseball-contenders-strengths-could-also-weaknesses/OWkq0Yt8QCMWRikkgvwkFL/story.html" target="_blank">repeatedly iterated how much he loved the team and the city</a>. For a Toronto sports market that has historically been told that American sports stars aren&#8217;t jumping to sign north of the border, Price was the messiah. If it doesn&#8217;t make good baseball sense, you don&#8217;t sign David Price. But, you can at least make it look like you tried.</p>
<p>The issues continued through the end of the offseason, as Shapiro once again rejected something that fans held dear: <a href="http://news.nationalpost.com/sports/mlb/toronto-blue-jays-mark-shapiro-says-grass-at-rogers-centre-is-not-a-top-priority" target="_blank">real grass at the Rogers Centre</a>. He didn&#8217;t say that it wouldn&#8217;t happen, just that it wasn&#8217;t one of his priorities. However, he didn&#8217;t <em>need</em> to say anything at all.</p>
<p>Later yet, a similar situation occurred in-season, this time from the mouth of his right hand man Ross Atkins. For what seemed like months, the Blue Jays pondered whether or not to place Aaron Sanchez in the bullpen. Again, pondering is good. It&#8217;s an important decision that the team needs to consider as there are implications for both the present and the future. That discussion didn&#8217;t need to happen in public, however. The result was a flip-flopping front office that ultimately handled Sanchez well, but made no friends along the way.</p>
<p>This isn&#8217;t to say that Mark Shapiro&#8217;s first year has been a disaster, in fact it&#8217;s been anything but. Here are all of his major transactions:</p>
<ul>
<li>Signed <strong>Marco Estrada</strong> for two years, $26 million</li>
<li>Traded Liam Hendriks to Oakland for <strong>Jesse Chavez</strong></li>
<li>Signed <strong>J.A. Happ</strong> for three years, $36 million</li>
<li>Drafted <strong>Joe Biagini</strong> from San Francisco in the Rule V Draft</li>
<li>Traded Ben Revere to Washington for <strong>Drew Storen</strong></li>
<li>Traded Sean Ratcliffe to Atlanta for <strong>Jason Grilli</strong></li>
<li>Extended <strong>Justin Smoak</strong> for two years, $8.25 million</li>
<li>Traded Drew Storen to Seattle for <strong>Joaquin Benoit</strong></li>
<li>Traded Hansel Rodriguez to San Diego for <strong>Melvin Upton Jr.</strong> and cash considerations</li>
<li>Traded Jesse Chavez to the Dodgers for <strong>Mike Bolsinger</strong></li>
<li>Traded Lupe Chavez to Houston for <strong>Scott Feldman</strong></li>
<li>Traded Drew Hutchison to Pittsburgh for <strong>Francisco Liriano</strong>, <strong>Reese McGuire</strong>, and <strong>Harold Ramirez</strong></li>
<li>Traded Colton Turner to the White Sox for <strong>Dioner Navarro</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>That&#8217;s thirteen relatively significant transactions. If you evaluate them to this point, you could argue there&#8217;s only one bad one in the bunch: the Justin Smoak extension. There would be those who&#8217;d argue against the Revere, Upton, Feldman, and Hendriks trades, but each of the four have mitigating circumstances of their own. Drew Storen, while very bad, actually finished with a higher WARP than Ben Revere. Melvin Upton and Scott Feldman had troubles of their own, but each cost very little to acquire, and one could therefore argue that their upside was worth it. The Liam Hendriks trade is the next closest to being given a thumbs down, but the Jays&#8217; turned Jesse Chavez into Mike Bolsinger, who at least has a shot at being the best value of the three.</p>
<p>If we were partying like it was 1999 and executives weren&#8217;t in the media spotlight, we&#8217;d probably have evaluated 2016 as a good first year for the new Blue Jays&#8217; front office. Unfortunately for Mark and the gang, that isn&#8217;t the case. It&#8217;s the Executive Era and a passionate Jays fanbase that has a thirst for knowledge is something that they&#8217;ll have to learn to adjust to. The fanbase seems to have accepted the fact that Shapiro and Atkins are the new normal, but doesn&#8217;t yet approve of all their methods. Is that fair? Empirically, probably not. This doesn&#8217;t mean that we should let the new front office off the hook, but they deserve time to do their work. After two full seasons, they will have made their impression on the team, and it&#8217;s direction. They&#8217;ve made the task of wooing the fanbase as hard for themselves as possible, but that&#8217;s nothing that a successful 2017 season can&#8217;t fix.</p>
<p><em>Over the next week or so, other writers at BP Toronto will be sharing their thoughts on the 2016 season in our series &#8220;The Season that Was.&#8221; <a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/category/the-season-that-was/" target="_blank">You can read them all here</a>. Look for a new one every day.</em></p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Building the AL&#8217;s Best Pitching Staff on a Budget</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/10/25/building-the-als-best-pitching-staff-on-a-budget/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/10/25/building-the-als-best-pitching-staff-on-a-budget/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 25 Oct 2016 14:19:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Joshua Howsam]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Season That Was]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Coming into the 2016 season, if you asked fans/writers about the biggest weakness on the Blue Jays roster, you’d probably get a near unanimous answer of “pitching.” The hitting was coming off an historic run-scoring season, and the defense was only going to be improved by a full season of Troy Tulowitzki at shortstop. Meanwhile, [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Coming into the 2016 season, if you asked fans/writers about the biggest weakness on the Blue Jays roster, you’d probably get a near unanimous answer of “pitching.” The hitting was coming off <a href="https://twitter.com/JoshuaHowsam/status/703661513257529344" target="_blank">an historic run-scoring season</a>, and the defense was only going to be improved by a full season of Troy Tulowitzki at shortstop. Meanwhile, the starting staff had questions marks up and down the staff, with the only predictable performer being the man with the unpredictable pitch, R.A. Dickey. Everybody else had enormous variations in their projected performance, which left a lot of people chewing their nails.</p>
<p>Obviously things worked out a little differently than expected. The bats were up and down all season, but the pitching ended up leading the American League in ERA (3.78) with the starters also topping all of baseball in innings pitched. It was an incredible feat for many reasons, but the most impressive was the cost.</p>
<p>Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins knew they had to be careful with how they spent their money. Yes, the payroll was going to go up off last year’s pennant chase, but they still had very finite resources. They had to watch David Price walk out the door, instead choosing to fill the rotation by bringing back J.A. Happ and Marco Estrada. Fans saw this as a betrayal from the front office and Rogers, but it turns out these people knew what they were doing.</p>
<p>Finding cheap production is the goal of all front offices. The idea of Moneyball tends to be thrown around in casual circles as “stat nerds who focus on on-base percentage,” but the real idea is simply finding a skill that the league doesn’t value properly. The Jays did that over and over again, and ended up with a league-leading rotation for just barely more than the cost of David Price by himself. What’s even more impressive is that they exploited multiple different inefficiencies to get there.</p>
<p>The first move the team made was bringing back last year’s standout Marco Estrada. You’ve probably read about it multiple times (I&#8217;ve definitely <a href="http://www.bluejaysplus.com/how-much-should-we-believe-in-marco-estrada/" target="_blank">written</a> <a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/05/10/marco-estrada-is-using-the-change-in-more-ways-than-one/" target="_blank">about him</a> a<a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/07/08/how-marco-estrada-dominated-baseballs-first-half/" target="_blank"> bunch</a>), but the Estrada’s pitches don’t quite move like anybody else’s; his extreme spin rate makes his fastball “rise” more than anybody else in baseball (They stay up 13” higher than the expected fall due to gravity). But that spin doesn&#8217;t just help the fastball; it lends itself to the to his most famous pitch as well. Estrada’s changeup stays up a whole 2.1” more than the next highest slowball in baseball (10.7” vs 8.6”). Its &#8220;rise&#8221; is so unusual that it would even place among the top 20 <em>fastballs</em>.</p>
<p>As a result of this unusual break, Estrada generates popups at an extreme rate. Among pitchers who threw at least 80 innings, the Jays’ righty generated 10 percent more popups <em>than the person in second place</em> (16.2 vs 13.6 percent). With release angle and spin data, the Jays would have been able to see that Estrada’s “rise” has been trending upwards every year as his arm slot became more vertical. As a result, it was possible to identify this skill as being repeatable and coachable, so the club gave him a qualifying offer and ended up with an elite arm on a two year, $26M deal.</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/10/Brooksbaseball-Chart-1.jpeg"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-7652" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/10/Brooksbaseball-Chart-1.jpeg" alt="Brooksbaseball-Chart (1)" width="500" height="333" /></a></p>
<p>This trust in PITCHf/x data likely also led to the signing of J.A. Happ. Much of the credit to Happ’s turnaround was attributed to his time in Pittsburgh with pitching guru Ray Searage. Searage certainly deserves a ton of the credit for cleaning up Happ’s mechanics, but it wasn’t the sole reason for his 2016 success. Heck, Happ pitched the entire season completely differently than he did with Pittsburgh (which we outlined in our early season roto reviews). No, the real reason is that, like Estrada, Happ possesses unique stuff.</p>
<p><a title="How J.A. Happ Evolved Into One of Baseball’s Best" href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/08/31/how-j-a-happ-evolved-into-one-of-baseballs-best/" target="_blank">As I first outlined back in August</a>, thanks to a mechanical change made by the Blue Jays prior to 2014 J.A. Happ’s two fastballs (fourseams and sinker) now have more separation in their sink (5&#8243;) than any other qualified starter in all of baseball (Bartolo Colon is second at 4.3&#8243;) .</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/10/Brooksbaseball-Chart-2.jpeg"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-7653" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/10/Brooksbaseball-Chart-2.jpeg" alt="Brooksbaseball-Chart (2)" width="500" height="333" /></a></p>
<p>With Pittsburgh, Happ was mostly just throwing fourseamers, but upon arrival in Toronto he immediately started throwing a bunch of sinkers (his 27.6 percent usage is a career high). That was almost certainly no accident. A man doesn’t just suddenly abandon the tactics that made him more successful than at any other point in his career unless someone smart give him a really compelling reason to do so. Using PITCHf/x data, the Jays had one.</p>
<p>By combining the two vastly different fastballs, the Jays were able to maximize Happ’s abilities. The two seamer generated grounders on 60.5 percent of balls in play, while the fourseamer’s miss rate spiked to 25.6 percent, by far the highest in Happ’s time as a full-time starter. That gave the lanky lefty the ability to get double plays to get out of jams (he generated 21 this year &#8211; 50 percent higher than his previous career high of 14), while also allowing him to deliver punchouts when needed.</p>
<p>When combined with the increased command from the mechanical tweaks in Pittsburgh, Happ turned into a legitimate front of the rotation starter. The Jays saw what nobody else did, and got one of the league’s best starters in 2016 for three years, $36M.</p>
<p>The Jays didn’t just exploit these inefficiencies in free agency, however. When it came time to improve the team during the season, the Blue Jays needed to find a way to get people who could help, but who would come cheaply not in dollars (thanks to the savings from those earlier contracts), but in players. With limited prospect capital thanks to the trades of 2015, the Jays had to be creative.</p>
<p>On the surface, the Blue Jays chosen method was easy; they went after players who weren’t performing elsewhere. But it wasn’t quite that clear. In picking up Jason Grilli, Joaquin Benoit, and Francisco Liriano, the Blue Jays seemed to target a very specific type of underperformer: players with inexplicable command issues.</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/10/walks.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-7654" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/10/walks.png" alt="walks" width="451" height="88" /></a></p>
<p>As you can see from the chart above, all three of those pitchers were walking hitters at rates that were extremely out of line with what they’d done previously in their careers. None of them had seen a dip in stuff (each was still striking out over a batter per inning &#8212; 12.2 per nine for Grilli), but each had been hit hard and had trouble with the strike zone.</p>
<p>The Jays bet that the small samples on which these numbers were based weren’t indicative of talent level, and that given time and work with Russell Martin and Pete Walker, these prior standout performers would start throwing the way they had in their entire careers.</p>
<p>The evidence speaks for itself. All three players quickly reverted back to walk rates that were closer to their career levels (well beyond, in the case of Liriano) and made massive impacts down the stretch. Grilli and Benoit stabilized the bullpen, and Liriano’s addition and success allowed Aaron Sanchez to stay in the rotation all year. The combined cost was a D prospect, the carcas of Drew Storen, and Drew Hutchison &#8211; with Liriano also bringing back two solid prospects in Reese McGuire and Harold Ramirez.</p>
<p>Add in Rule Five pick Joe Biagini with <a title="Joe Biagini: A Starter in a Reliever’s Uniform" href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/09/09/joe-biagini-a-starter-in-a-relievers-uniform/" target="_blank">his five pitches that grade as average-to-plus out of the pen</a>, and that’s six extremely important cogs in the pitching success that were acquired (or retained) at costs far below their value because the Jays identified things in them that others couldn’t see. Sure, not <em>every</em> move worked. Storen and Chavez were unmitigated disasters, but like the five mentioned above, their acquisition costs were almost nothing. As such, the only negative impact was their performance on the field, not to their ability to make other additions to the team.</p>
<p>It’s easy to build a team by picking up stars (if you have the money/assets). The 2016 Blue Jays exploited the market and were able to build a league-best rotation on the cheap. That’s impressive.</p>
<p>Well done, Messrs. Shapiro, LaCava, and Atkins. I can’t wait to see what you do for an encore.</p>
<p><em>Over the next week or so, other writers at BP Toronto will be sharing their thoughts on the 2016 season in our series &#8220;The Season that Was.&#8221; <a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/category/the-season-that-was/" target="_blank">You can read them all here</a>. Look for a new one every day.</em></p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>On Michael Saunders and Defying Expectations</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/10/24/on-michael-saunders-and-defying-expectations/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/10/24/on-michael-saunders-and-defying-expectations/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 24 Oct 2016 11:32:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Dave Church]]></dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[There were high expectations for the Toronto Blue Jays coming into the 2016 season. The end to 2015 was thrilling, and the Jays had made the playoffs for the first time in 22 years. Most of that exciting team was coming back, and there were even places a couple of places where you&#8217;d expect improvement. [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There were high expectations for the Toronto Blue Jays coming into the 2016 season. The end to 2015 was thrilling, and the Jays had made the playoffs for the first time in 22 years. Most of that exciting team was coming back, and there were even places a couple of places where you&#8217;d expect improvement. Notably, the Jays would get a full seasons of Troy Tulowitzki and Marcus Stroman, and acquisitions like J.A. Happ, Jesse Chavez, and Drew Storen were coming in to fortify the pitching staff.</p>
<p>No one knew what to expect from Michael Saunders. After a 2015 season where he had a disastrous injury, it wasn&#8217;t even certain he&#8217;d make the roster. But, the new front office extended a contract (at $2.9 million), ensuring he&#8217;d be on the team, by hook or by crook. The floor for Saunders was very low, and the ceiling uncertain for someone who had no cartilage in his knee. Would he start? Could they keep him as a bench player? He was <a href="http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/new-detail-emerges-failed-jay-bruce-blue-jays-trade/" target="_blank">almost traded to Cincinnati</a>, suggesting that the front office may have shared in the skepticism.</p>
<p>Yet, Michael Saunders had a career year&#8230;by every measurement. Though his bad second half might obscure our perspective, the whole picture tells a different story. Saunders had career highs in games played, doubles, home runs, and OPS. It led to a season that was a triumph for the player, and a very pleasant surprise for the team. For a few months, he provided a left-handed bat that the Jays sorely needed, hitting early on when several mainstays (Russell Martin and Troy Tulowitzki chief among them) scuffled badly. He helped keep the offense afloat while the pillars of the Jays found their way, earning a trip to the All-Star game for his work.</p>
<p>Saunders struggled after the break, and the Jays probably knew they were playing with house money. He&#8217;d been all All-Star for half the year. Although <a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/03/30/bp-toronto-bold-predictions/">many of us here had Saunders as a comeback candidate in our early season predictions</a>, I don&#8217;t think anyone expected Saunders to be THAT good in those first few months. He was a star, often the best hitter on a team that had several elite sluggers already.</p>
<p>The Jays have a lot of questions this off-season, with several important free agents. Most of the discussion has (rightfully) centered around Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion, with the occasional nod to the <a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/10/21/on-brett-cecil-ignorance-and-the-illusion-of-happiness/" target="_blank">longest serving Blue Jay, Brett Cecil</a>. Saunders, too, will hit the open market, and given his mixed season, it&#8217;s hard to predict what kind of contract he might get. At 29, he&#8217;s not too old, but he&#8217;s had several injuries, and that knee has to be worrisome in the long term. Saunders also probably plays older than he is, which will deflate his value. The fact that the team DH&#8217;d him over Bautista in the playoffs was a strategic move (because they were more likely to pinch-hit for Saunders), but also a commentary on his sub-par defense. The Jays carried five outifelders down the stretch so they could sub for both Bautista AND him late in games.</p>
<p>There doesn&#8217;t seem to be a reservoir of affection for Saunders from Jays fans; no segment of diehards clamoring for his return. That is both fine and understandable. Although he&#8217;s Canadian (which earns some extra points from the flag-waving section), he&#8217;s really only had one season with the team, and seems reserved on a club with loud personalities and social media stars. He doesn&#8217;t give memorable interviews, doesn&#8217;t have a must-follow Instagram account, nor does he have his own Twitter hashtag. He&#8217;s not visible. He just does his job.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s hard to picture Saunders being back with the team in 2017, given his past injuries, his potential cost, and the uncertain expectations that any team should still have of him. He&#8217;s always been more potential than actual, more sizzle than steak. He was easy to dream on, with all the physical tools one wants in an outfielder, though he was never as good as they hoped in Seattle. And now, there&#8217;s still a wide range of potential outcomes. Is he the All-Star, getting halfway to an elite season, slugging lefthanders and righthanders with equal aplomb? Or, is he more the second half Saunders, struggling as pitchers throw him soft stuff away, unable to adjust? A brief playoff renaissance suggests that Saunders still has the slugging gene in him, that the first half was not entirely a mirage, born of hot streaks and &#8220;seeing the ball well&#8221; as network analysts might say. Given his less than stellar defense, he might be best suited as a DH, which isn&#8217;t great for someone who will only turn 30 in November.</p>
<p>Expectations are a strange thing, at times. We expected the Jays to be better than they were during the season, though they still made it to the ALCS for the second year in a row. This was a team that could have made the World Series, but like in 2015, ran into a team that simply played better. After a bad September, most probably had the Jays ticketed for an early exit, so an ALCS berth was probably a pleasant surprise.</p>
<p>Michael Saunders was an afterthought coming into spring training, but definitely exceeded most expectations this year. An All-Star and a slugger, at times, more than earning the relative pittance the team paid him, and making up for a lost 2015 that had his career in jeopardy. If this is the end Michael, I bid you adieu, and provide thanks for your carrying this team on your back, while others were falling by the wayside. Brief as that time may have been.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>On Brett Cecil, Ignorance, and the Illusion of Happiness</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/10/21/on-brett-cecil-ignorance-and-the-illusion-of-happiness/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 21 Oct 2016 11:46:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Gideon Turk]]></dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[There is a famous French novel from the revolutionary period written by Claire de Duras titled Ourika. It deals with, among many other themes, the question of whether ignorance truly is bliss. Ourika is a black woman who was brought to France at the age of two from Senegal where she was orphaned and destined to become [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There is a famous French novel from the revolutionary period written by Claire de Duras titled <em>Ourika. </em>It deals with, among many other themes, the question of whether ignorance truly is bliss. Ourika is a black woman who was brought to France at the age of two from Senegal where she was orphaned and destined to become a slave in some western country. She grows up in a privileged white household and does not realize that she is different from those around her, until she one day overhears a conversation about how she is headed for a life of loneliness and solitude because no high class Frenchman will want to marry a black woman. Following that episode, her life goes into a tailspin that sees her spend the majority of the short novel questioning her existence, and whether or not she would have been better off being a slave anywhere in the world than being &#8220;free&#8221; in France.</p>
<p>***<br />
The Blue Jays season ended on Wednesday evening. It&#8217;s finished. They won&#8217;t be playing a regular season game again until April. When they do, the roster is likely to look different than it did at the Rogers Centre on that summer-like autumn day earlier this week. Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion will likely be hitting home runs for separate teams, unable to congratulate each other after each ball leaves their respective ballparks. R.A. Dickey is going to be fluttering his knuckleball in a different city, probably one that houses a National League team that could be more conducive to his style of pitching. Those players seem like they are the Toronto Blue Jays. What is this team without its bash brothers? What is it without the insight and stability that comes from its knuckleballer? So many memories have been made recently, and these guys were huge parts of it.</p>
<p>Then, there&#8217;s Brett Cecil. The longest tenured Blue Jays player on the roster in 2016 is set to become a free agent for the first time in his life once the World Series ends. The man has been with the organization since 2007. He&#8217;s seen J.P. Ricciardi, Alex Anthopoulos, and now Ross Atkins. Yet, the city has a strange relationship with Cecil. He&#8217;s been the epitome of familiarity to this franchise over the years; a symbol of the past and present. But, that has not been enough for some fans. Year in and year out, Cecil and his family have been the <a href="http://www.tsn.ca/cecil-wife-finished-with-social-media-1.261242" target="_blank">subject of hateful vitriol and online harassment</a> from the people of Toronto. It didn&#8217;t matter how good he performed, some people always found a way to blame him for the Blue Jays&#8217; shortcomings.</p>
<p>***<br />
After making his big league debut in 2009, Brett Cecil took a common route to becoming a relief ace. He failed as a starter for four seasons before finally making the full time switch to reliever. Normally, when starters do this, they do so to play up their fastball, allowing them to have more success with that pitch due to increased velocity. This was definitely true for Cecil, who averaged just 89.6 mph on his fastball as a starter, compared to 92.1 mph as a reliever. But what allowed Cecil to have success as a reliever wasn&#8217;t the fastball velocity &#8211; though it didn&#8217;t hurt. Rather, it was his curveball, the one he used just 10.23% of the time as a rookie in 2009, but as 46.13% of his pitches in his 2016 campaign.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s not just any curveball. It&#8217;s been one of the best curveballs in baseball over the past four seasons. It has been a thing of beauty &#8211; one of the reasons to turn Blue Jays games on over the years. Since becoming a reliever full time in 2013, Cecil pitched in 205 regular season innings across 243 games. He registered an ERA of just 2.90 in that span, including a period at the end of the 2015 season where he didn&#8217;t allow a run from June 22nd until 2016. In his four seasons as a reliever, Cecil used his repertoire to register a 30.5% strikeout percentage. However, his walk percentage in that time was 8.3%, and that is my best guess as to why he is so disliked.</p>
<p>There is something about walks that turns people off. I don&#8217;t understand it, because way more often than not, Brett Cecil was a sight to see in his Toronto tenure. He walked a few too many batters, but walks are just walks, and at the end of the day, if a pitcher is able to pitch over 200 innings with a walk rate of over eight percent but still limit the damage to under an ERA of 3.00, well, don&#8217;t you have to applaud that? Don&#8217;t you have to recognize him as one of the game&#8217;s elite relievers? Certainly one of baseball&#8217;s best left handed relievers, at the very least.</p>
<p>***<br />
If Brett&#8217;s time in Toronto ended on Wednesday night, it was a very fitting way for him to go out. He faced three batters, two of them lefties. 50% of the pitches he threw were curveballs. Three up, three down. No walks needed. As he leaped off the mound, the sluggish Toronto crowd seemed to be unaware that their longest serving player might have just ended his eight year career with the team. Few fans stood and clapped. Those who did, did so loud and majestically. It&#8217;s as if Cecil&#8217;s entire Blue Jays career took place within that thirty second span. He was fantastic, yet, to an outside observer, it would have seemed like he didn&#8217;t even exist. He could have done anything on that mound, and the reception would have been the same.</p>
<p>Maybe Brett is our Ourika. Fans have been ignorant about him since the beginning. They seemed to have been happy only when he struggled and they were able to aim their vulgarities at him. But what is that? That isn&#8217;t happiness. That&#8217;s some demonic feeling of being able to say &#8220;I told you so&#8221; once in a while. All this time, the people could have been appreciating Cecil for what he has been &#8211; one of the greatest relievers this franchise has ever seen. Instead, they chose ignorance and a false sense of happiness.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s ironic that the last quote Cecil gave to the <a href="https://twitter.com/michaelgrange/status/788902964849209344" target="_blank">Toronto media</a> was &#8220;If I don&#8217;t come back, seeing this place full is what I&#8217;m going to miss.&#8221; Of all the players on the Blue Jays, he never truly got to have that full stadium behind him, cheering him on as he did his job. Instead, there were always people who wished to see him fail, drowning out those of us who saw him for who he truly was &#8211; the <a href="https://www.thestar.com/photos/2013/07/25/jays_make_guest_appearance_at_bloorview_hospital.html" target="_blank">kind hearted</a> lefty with the get-me-over fastball and the devastating curveball.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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