Blue Jays Discussion: Off-Season Madness the 15th: How's that dream job now, Farrell?

[Nasty Nazem]

JIM BOWDEN ‏@JimBowdenESPNxm
Sergio Santos told us there is a 100% chance that he will be ready by opening day for the Blue Jays. Santos has been throwing for 4 months

 

[Eyedea]

Can't wait to see Dickey go 8 strong, then Santos come in and throw fireballs at the batters.

 

[topched]

David Price ‏@DAVIDprice14
lol with all this Jays talk from everyone, does this mean people are coming to games now?! I've always wanted to see that place packed

David Price ‏@DAVIDprice14
Why you attend them?! tons of room at least lol RT @Ooosh_E: @DAVIDprice14 David, as someone that attends games, I am mildly offended! Haha!

David Price ‏@DAVIDprice14
hahahahahahah RT @dwscaity_cakes: @DAVIDprice14 lol maybe their spies can blend in more.

Good stuff haha...when's the first time we play them at home (not that anyone willl care about it come three hours from now, nevermind April)

Haha alot of smack talk (although playful) coming from a guy whose team regularly averages the worst attendance in the league... although their interstate rivals may have something to say about it.

But yeah I'm pumped, its going to be weird not being able to make the morning of decision to head down to the dome on a saturday or sunday afternoon. Although we won't see sell-outs every game, If this team plays well I don't think we'll be able to pick up great seats on game day.

If we play as anticpated I'm expecting 40k on weekends. With season averages around 35k which I think would put us in the top 10.

 

[canucksfan]

Cubs sign Edwin Jackson for 4yrs/52M. Man, pitching is expensive. I still don't get why Nats didn't give him a qualifying offer though.

Glad the Jays didn't sign him for that much.

Not sure what the Cubs are doing. I thought they were rebuilding?

 

[Stats01]

Haha alot of smack talk (although playful) coming from a guy whose team regularly averages the worst attendance in the league... although their interstate rivals may have something to say about it.

But yeah I'm pumped, its going to be weird not being able to make the morning of decision to head down to the dome on a saturday or sunday afternoon. Although we won't see sell-outs every game, If this team plays well I don't think we'll be able to pick up great seats on game day.

If we play as anticpated I'm expecting 40k on weekends. With season averages around 35k which I think would put us in the top 10.

WTF is Price going on about haha. The fan base he plays for have to give out tickets for free to playoff games and even then they can't sell out...GTFO David.

 

[Stats01]

JIM BOWDEN ‏@JimBowdenESPNxm
Sergio Santos told us there is a 100% chance that he will be ready by opening day for the Blue Jays. Santos has been throwing for 4 months

Great to hear. The back of our BP along with our starters are going to eat up teams.

 

[Nasty Nazem]

Glad the Jays didn't sign him for that much.

Not sure what the Cubs are doing. I thought they were rebuilding?

They are but Jackson is young enough to be part of their core for the next 3-4 seasons. Their farm system is mostly loaded on position players as well so they need pitching. I like what they've done this off-season, getting good pick-ups like Feldman and Baker who could be used as trade chips at the deadline. I don't like the amount of money they are giving to Jackson but Cubs have enough money that even if they are overpaying a bit, its worth it. Not exactly an attractive FA destination right now and Jackson is young, throws hard and could still perhaps improve a bit. If not, he is a 3-4 starter that gives you innings.

 

[topched]

They are but Jackson is young enough to be part of their core for the next 3-4 seasons. Their farm system is mostly loaded on position players as well so they need pitching. I like what they've done this off-season, getting good pick-ups like Feldman and Baker who could be used as trade chips at the deadline. I don't like the amount of money they are giving to Jackson but Cubs have enough money that even if they are overpaying a bit, its worth it. Not exactly an attractive FA destination right now and Jackson is young, throws hard and could still perhaps improve a bit. If not, he is a 3-4 starter that gives you innings.

I feel like we've said this about every single FA pitching signing this year. Seems like we should stop cause its just become the norm, the nature of the best... market value has SKYROCKETED.

Makes what AA did so much more impressive. Sickens me to think what some team is about to pay Kyle Lohse.

 

[Borschevsky]

Is there actual talk of putting in real grass?

Bob McCown mentioned it the other day. Pretty much said there have been discussions about it and if it happens, it'll be either 2014 or 2015. Argos would have to find a new home though.

Don't know how legitimate that rumor is.

 

[Bravid Nonahan]

They'll probably have put it in the roster vault as well, so I believe you can search for it there.

this is going to sound stupid

but how do you get to the roster vault

 

[CommonMeans*]

Bob McCown mentioned it the other day. Pretty much said there have been discussions about it and if it happens, it'll be either 2014 or 2015. Argos would have to find a new home though.

Don't know how legitimate that rumor is.

Have to find a new home due to the wear and tear of football? That could be a huge sticking point if that's the case.

 

[AlienWorkShop]

I certainly expect a boost in attendance this year, but I'd temper some of your expectations... I'd be very surprised to see the Dome start selling out most Saturdays/Sundays (outside of Red Sox/Yankees games) one year after averaging 25-30k on said days the year before.

Jumping from an average of 25k last year to say 35k this coming year would strike me as a major accomplishment. Just looking at 2011 to 2012 changes (http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/current_attendance.shtml), the biggest increase came from Miami at 8k, the factors surrounding last year making it a bit of an outlier, with the next biggest increase coming in Texas at 6k.

 

[Ohio Jones]

Have to find a new home due to the wear and tear of football? That could be a huge sticking point if that's the case.

Not a sticking point for Rogers: the Argos' lease agreement has expired. It certainly might be a sticking point for the Argos, but they'll have to come up with something.

 

[topched]

Have to find a new home due to the wear and tear of football? That could be a huge sticking point if that's the case.

I don't really get this 100%... as there are alot of stadiums that still serve the purpose for both football and baseball. (albeit they're not great). I don't think Rogers would have a problem telling the Argos to take a hike.

I think the other issue is things like UFC, Concerts, Monster Jam etc. those things that make RC a multi purpose venue that lets them rake in money all throughout the year and not just for baseball. If you put in grass you're basically kissing $$ from those goodbye because you can no longer configure those events.

 

[canucksfan]

They are but Jackson is young enough to be part of their core for the next 3-4 seasons. Their farm system is mostly loaded on position players as well so they need pitching. I like what they've done this off-season, getting good pick-ups like Feldman and Baker who could be used as trade chips at the deadline. I don't like the amount of money they are giving to Jackson but Cubs have enough money that even if they are overpaying a bit, its worth it. Not exactly an attractive FA destination right now and Jackson is young, throws hard and could still perhaps improve a bit. If not, he is a 3-4 starter that gives you innings.

Ya good point. Always think Jackon is around 33

 

[theaub]

Jumping from an average of 25k last year to say 35k this coming year would strike me as a major accomplishment. Just looking at 2011 to 2012 changes (http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/current_attendance.shtml), the biggest increase came from Miami at 8k, the factors surrounding last year making it a bit of an outlier, with the next biggest increase coming in Texas at 6k.

If you take the Jays last 27 home games last year (once they were out of contention) they averaged 21,074 per game. If they're in contention lets say they average 40k. That's already a 6.3k per game increase right there for the entire season, not to mention that if they're winning you'd have to expect they won't be drawing 15-18k for weekday series against Baltimore/Tampa like they did last April/May.

If they win, its not unreasonable to expect a massive jump in attendance.

e: more fun stuff to help out my attendance theory. Grouping Jays games by category

45k+: 3 (4/9 vs Bos, 8/11 vs NYY, 6/17 vs PHI)
40-45: 8
35-40: 4
30-35: 9
25-30: 14
20-25: 17
<20k: 26

If you can greatly reduce that last category (and seriously, with no hockey and the Jays not crashing out of the gate there's a chance you could outright eliminate it), all of the sudden you have a pretty big jump

 

[Ohio Jones]

I don't really get this 100%... as there are alot of stadiums that still serve the purpose for both football and baseball. (albeit they're not great). I don't think Rogers would have a problem telling the Argos to take a hike.

I think the other issue is things like UFC, Concerts, Monster Jam etc. those things that make RC a multi purpose venue that lets them rake in money all throughout the year and not just for baseball. If you put in grass you're basically kissing $$ from those goodbye because you can no longer configure those events.

Also the Auto Show, etc. but you should be able to put temporary floors over grass during the off-season for certain events, as they do in other venues.

 

[p.l.f.]

Thought you guys might get a kick out of this. Night and day. Literally, and figuratively.


Photo-shop Real Grass:
(Credit to TheScore.com)

looks like a cattle barn

 

[p.l.f.]

great to see edwin jackson go to the NL

lohse and marcum are about all thats left ?

 

[p.l.f.]

JIM BOWDEN ‏@JimBowdenESPNxm
Sergio Santos told us there is a 100% chance that he will be ready by opening day for the Blue Jays. Santos has been throwing for 4 months

not sure about those odds

 

[pooleboy]

Have to find a new home due to the wear and tear of football? That could be a huge sticking point if that's the case.

the argos dont pay to play in the dome, so i would think the jays could kick them out whenever they want.

 

[Giuseppe Sallo]

David Price must be pissed Jays did some off-season cleaning... the Dome is actually bringing in people with excitement, while in Tampa... they're too busy sun tanning.

 

[jcollins]

Lost in all this is that Happ is a decent starter. We have a legitmate #4 starter in the pen at the first injury/Romero.

I cant decide what I'd rather see done with him. On one hand he could be pretty good out of the pen, although last year he wasn't great, he was much better as a starter.

on the other hand, he could stay stretched out in Buffalo which creates a spot for some of the other pen options.

 

[jcollins]

You're right, my bad.



My guess is that they'll try and sneak Storey through waivers later on. I said yesterday that we had 10 ready bullpen arms. I didn't take into account however the fact that Dickey moves Happ out of the rotation. This all but seals Oliver's future here unfortunately.

Current Pen Arms:
Jannsen
Santos
Oliver(?)
Delabar
Lincoln
Loup
Jeffress
Rogers
Storey
Cecil
Happ

How? If he wants to come back, he's got a spot guaranteed

 

[jcollins]

JIM BOWDEN ‏@JimBowdenESPNxm
Sergio Santos told us there is a 100% chance that he will be ready by opening day for the Blue Jays. Santos has been throwing for 4 months

Great news. If he's healthy, he's a great anchor for the back end of that pen. Will hopefully push Janssen to be that much better