d an upstart projected at the top
Joey Gallo Jersey , the Blue Jays seem likely to be left in the dust, much like the Orioles."The Blue Jays finished last season 16 games below .500 at 73-89 — good for fourth place in the AL East — with the Orioles acting as the only buffer between them and the division cellar. As far as run differential in 2018, the Blue Jays were in the red (-123). Since last year, Toronto has slashed its payroll by roughly $44 million, from about $150 million last year to about $106 million this year, according to Spotrac. They also cut ties with manager John Gibbons at the end of the 2018 season after six years running the ship, which doesn’t include the four years he managed the club from 2004-2008.Expectations don’t seem to be that high this year, seeing as the Blue Jays had virtually zero impact signings during the offseason, opting instead to acquire veterans on minor league deals or one-year pacts.Even Marcus Stroman voiced his frustration with the offseason in general, pointing out all the able-bodied free agents and calling for his team to add more pieces.Additions and SubtractionsThe Blue Jays’ offseason additions started with a new skipper — Charlie Montoyo — who is a first time MLB manager. He previously served eight seasons as Tampa Bay’s Triple-A manager, then two years as the big league third base coach, and last year as Kevin Cash’s bench coach.Over the winter, the Blue Jays signed infielder Eric Sogard and reliever John Axford to minor league deals. Starter Matt Shoemaker, reliever David Phelps and shortstop Freddy Galvis were added on one-year deals, while left-hander Clayton Richard was acquired from the San Diego Padres. Reliever Bud Norris was added during spring training on a minor league contract as well.Toronto also jettisoned a few notable veterans. Infielder Yangervis Solarte was non-tendered, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki was released and catcher Russell Martin was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers.Starting RotationMarcus Stroman headlines the Jays’ rotation
http://www.rangersfanproshop.com/authentic-matt-moore-jersey , and he will look to bounce back from a poor 2018 where he posted a 5.54 ERA in only 102.1 innings. After Stroman, there’s Aaron Sanchez, who didn’t fare much better in a similar amount of innings last year — 4.89 ERA in 105 innings. Toronto will need these two to pitch up to their abilities in order to have any hopes of competing this year.Rounding out the rest of the rotation is newly acquired lefty Clayton Richard, who will have to prove he can pitch effectively when on a mound other than that of the spacious Petco Park. Last year with the Padres, he had a 3.94 ERA at home and 6.67 on the road. Matt Shoemaker is in Toronto on a one-year deal but he’s a question mark considering he pitched fewer innings than Stroman and Sanchez last year. Newcomer Sam Gaviglio projects for the fifth starter spot and he’ll look to establish himself after debuting in the bigs last year at age 28.Bullpen Flame-throwing right-hander Ken Giles profiles as Toronto’s closer after taking up that role when acquired from the Houston Astros last summer. He had 14 saves in 19.2 innings with the Jays last year. Bud Norris is a potential set-up man who also happens to have closer experience, having registered 28 saves with the St. Louis Cardinals last year.Ryan Tepera and John Axford are two potential late-inning pitchers, as long as their health cooperates. Both have been dealing with sore elbows recently. David Phelps figures to see action in some high-leverage situations as soon as he is fully recovered from last year’s Tommy John surgery.LineupToronto may have scored only 709 runs as a team last year — ranking them 17th out of 30 teams in baseball — but they showed a lot of pop at the plate. The Jays had the fifth most home runs in baseball (217) and they are returning four starters who had at least 20 home runs last year — Randal Grichuk, Kendrys Morales, Teoscar Hernandez and Justin Smoak. But the Jays’ lineup will miss second baseman Devon Travis, who has been snake-bitten by the injury bug early on in his career. His latest knee setback will cause him to miss the start of the year. Danny Jansen will have the chance to prove himself as Russell Martin’s replacement behind the plate, having put up a .269/.367/.410 batting line across six minor league seasons.Freddy Galvis slots in at shortstop, bringing with him a .246 lifetime batting average. Brandon Drury will look to improve on his meager showing in limited action last year after being acquired in a midseason trade with the New York Yankees and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. will look to improve on a modestly successful rookie year that saw him hit .281 with 11 home runs in 249 at-bats.DefenseHuman highlight-reel Kevin Pillar anchors Toronto’s defense in center field. After six years in the show, how does this guy not have a Gold Glove? Looking closer at Pillar’s UZR over the past few years, he may have peaked in 2016 at 12.2, considering that he put up a 5.4 and 2.3 in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Last year
Ferguson Jenkins Jersey , Teoscar Hernandez had a -8.6 UZR in left field and Randal Grichuk had a 2.9 UZR in right.Looking across the league, the Blue Jays actually had the fifth fewest errors in baseball last year (100). Catcher will be an important position to watch for defense, seeing as the steady veteran Russell Martin will be replaced by an unproven youngster. Shortstop Freddy Galvis seems to be on the downswing defensively, having peaked in 2016 with a 14.9 UZR but a -4.4 last year. Time will tell whether the Jays defense can be greater than the sum of its parts.ProjectionsPECOTA: 75-87Fangraphs: 76-86Bovada O/U: 74.5So the Blue Jays are projected to be bad this year, but not Orioles level bad. It looks like there’s a good chance again, like last year, that Baltimore will be the only thing between Toronto and the AL East cellar. Neither team has much of a chance to hang with the big boys of the East, or the Tampa Bay Rays for that matter.The Jays’ success will rest in large part upon the success of their pitching, like any other team. And that is a risky proposition for this starting rotation specifically. The offense and defense would have to be extra special to compensate for a suspect group of starters and allow the Jays to get within sniffing distance of their modest win projection totals. A Friday flurry of roster moves."The offseason always features a bevy of transactions and roster moves, and the Cincinnati Reds jumped into that process head-first on Friday with a series of notable moves. They announced that both Brandon Dixon (Detroit Tigers) and Austin Brice (Los Angeles Angels) had been claimed on waivers, that they had claimed RHP Matthew Bowman (St. Louis Cardinals), and that each of Dilson Herrera and Mason Williams had cleared waivers and been outrighted off the 40-man roster to AAA Louisville.Also, in a set of procedural moves, they activated each of Alex Blandino, Keury Mella, and Jesse Winker from the 60-day DL
http://www.rangersfanproshop.com/authentic-matt-moore-jersey , bringing the 40-man roster total to 38. You probably could’ve just read that in the tweet up there, but here we are.Losing Brice and Dixon is a bit surprising, though both were certainly on the fringes of the roster given the presence of other, similar peers. Brice, 26, came to the Reds in the Dan Straily trade alongside Luis Castillo, but despite a heavy fastball and a decent bit of promise in his arm he never quite got it going with the Reds. He posted a 5.68 ERA in 84 IP across three years for Cincinnati, and follows the likes of Blake Wood, John Lamb, and JC Ramirez as former fringey Reds pitchers scooped up by the Angels. Dixon, 26, bopped 5 dingers and chipped in with 1.1 scoreless IP after making his big league debut in 2018. The former Los Angeles Dodgers farmhand came to Cincinnati with Jose Peraza and Scott Schebler in the deal that sent Todd Frazier to the Chicago White Sox, but apparently didn’t do enough to cement a bench role for 2019 despite his great versatility.As for Bowman, the Reds get a righty reliever who is arbitration-eligible for the first time this year, largely based on the solid seasons he had in both 2016-2017. Over those two years, he fired 126.1 IP
Ryan Rua Jersey , posting a strong 112 ERA+ in that time. Of course, his 2018 was largely a disaster, as his 63 ERA+ in 23 IP rendered him expendable in the eyes of the Cardinals. At 27, the Princeton product isn’t a fireballer - his career fastball velocity sits at just 91.4 mph - and is fresh off a procedure on his finger to help with a circulation issue, but perhaps that was as much behind his off 2018 as anything.It’s also worth mentioning the Dilson Herrera and Mason Williams moves. Both were set to be out of options in 2018, meaning the Reds couldn’t just send them to AAA to marinate without exposing them to waivers and risking losing them to another organization. That both cleared now means they can open the year in AAA, meaning they’ve managed to keep serious depth around. (Also, that’s not to say that either won’t actually make the Opening Day roster, as both figure to have the inside track to bench spots.)At 38, the Reds 40-man roster now has the flexibility to add players in the run-up to the Rule 5 Draft, or to simply add free agents or players via trade.
