2017 Toronto Blue Jays (est. 2017)

[rpriske]

A new edition of OOTP means a new Blue Jays Dynasty. (This makes 7 active Dynasties, each one of which I play out every game. I may have a problem...)

Owner's goals

Achieve a Winning Record (okay)
Upgrade at 1B (agreed)
Sign Steve Pearce to an extension (wait... what?)
Reach the World Series in the next 5 seasons

Playing Steve Pearce at 1B would solve the upgrade, but I do not consider him a 'key piece'.


Starting Roster

Rotation

Marcus Stroman
Aaron Sanchez
Marco Estrada
J.A. Happ
Francisco Liriano

Bullpen

Roberto Osuna (C)

Joe Smith
Joe Biagini
J.P. Howell
Jason Grilli
Mat Latos
Mike Bolsinger

Line-up

CF - Kevin Pillar
SS - Troy Tulowitzki
3B - Josh Donaldson
RF - Jose Bautista
DH - Kendrys Morales
LF - Steve Pearce
1B - Rowdy Tellez
C - Russell Martin
2B - Darwin Barney

Bench

C - Jarrod Saltalamacchia
1B - Justin Smoak
OF - Melvin Upton Jr.
OF - Ezequiel Carrera

DL

Dalton Pompey (1 week)
Devon Travis (4 weeks)
Glenn Sparkman (7 weeks)

Primary change from what the game started me with: They had an 8 man bullpen, which I consider an abomination, so I demoted Aaron Loup and called up Ezequiel Carrera.

Pompey will be back before the season starts but he will be at AAA.

Tellez, eh?

[rpriske]

The World Cup of Baseball is on!


DAY ONE

Australia beat Japan 10-5!

The Dominican beat Colombia 5-3.

DAY TWO

The Netherlands beat South Korea 16-5
Cuba beat China 3-1
Puerto Rico beat Mexico 2-1

And the United States beat Canada... 16-1

DAY THREE

South Korea beat Israel 4-2
Taiwan beat the Netherlands 6-4
Puerto Rico beat Venezuela 5-4
Italy beat Mexico 4-2
Japan beat Cuba 4-3
Canada beat Colombia 9-7 (YAY! Already better than the real WBC)

Puerto Rico is the first 2-0 team.

DAY FOUR

Australia beat China 10-3
Taiwan beat Israel 5-2
USA beat Dominican 5-2
Venezuela beat Italy 9-2

Australia and Taiwan are both 2-0

DAY FIVE (some key games today!)

Japan beat China 14-0!
Israel beat the Netherlands 12-9 (Both waaaay underperformed compared to real life)
Venezuela beat Mexico 6-1
USA beat Colombia 11-1

USA went undefeated in the prelim round.

DAY SIX

Canada still has a shot, but they need to beat the Dominican Republic. Uh, about that...

Cuba beat Australia 18-1
South Korea beat Taiwan 4-3
Puerto Rico beat Italy 4-2
Dominican Republic beat Canada 9-1

Puerto Rico joined the USA as the only undefeated teams.

Moving on:

Group B - South Korea & Taiwan (exact opposite from real life as Israel and the Netherlands are eliminated)

Group C - USA & Dominican Republic

Group D - Puerto Rico & Venezuela

Then there is Group A with a 3-way tie for the two spots between Cuba, Japan, & Australia...

Australia is eliminated on tie-breakers. Too bad for them. They started strong.

[rpriske]

SECOND ROUND

DAY ONE

Cuba beat South Korea 11-4

DAY TWO

Taiwan beat Japan 10-9 (Upset!)

USA beat Venezuela 5-2

Puerto Rico beat the Dominican Republic 8-7 (Big game!)

DAY THREE

Taiwan beat Cuba 5-4! (Taiwan appears to be the surprise team of the tournament!)

Japan beat South Korea 7-1

USA beat Puerto Rico 9-8

DAY FOUR

South Korea beat Taiwan 21-4. (What did I say about Taiwan? Ouch.)

Venezuela beat the Dominican 15-1. (What happened today?)

Cuba beat Japan 4-0.

DAY FIVE

USA beat Dominican Republic 3-2

Venezuela beat Puerto Rico 7-0


Going to the semi-Finals: Taiwan vs Venezuela and USA vs Cuba

[rpriske]

SEMI-FINALS

Venezuela beat Taiwan 2-0


USA beat Cuba 13-5


The United States are heavy favourites.

[rpriske]

WBC FINALS


UPSET!!!

Venezuela won the tournament by beating the United States 5-4... with a 5 run 9th inning!

[rpriske]

The experts are not kind to us this year, predicting a 78-84 record.

AL Division winners: Red Sox, Indians, Mariners
AL Wild Cards: Tigers, Yankees

NL Divisions winners: Nationals, Cubs, Dodgers
NL Wild Cards: Mets, Giants

AL Top Hitter: Miguel Cabrera, Tigers (Josh Donaldson #5)
AL Top Pitcher: David Piece, Red Sox

NL Top Hitter: Bryce Harper, Nationals
NL Top Pitcher: Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers

Top Prospect: Andrew Benintendi, Red Sox

Blue Jays' Top Prospect: Vlad Guerrero Jr. (31st overall)

[rpriske]

April 3rd, 2017

A Rowdy Tellez error led to FIVE unearned runs and a 5-4 loss to the Orioles on Opening Day.

Great showing by Marcus Stroman, but it was for naught.

Jose Bautista hit Toronto's first homer of the season.


WP - Kevin Gausman (1-0)
Save - Zach Britton (1)
LP - Marcus Stroman (0-1)

Record - 0-1

[eck.nicholas]

Following. You've been my inspiration to do my own. Excited to see how your guys fare this season here and IRL.

[rpriske]

TRADE

To CARDINALS

Ezequiel Carrera
Melvin Upton Jr.
Jarrett Grube
Gavin Floyd

To BLUE JAYS

Matt Adams
Ryan Helsley
Starlin Balbuena


Activated from the D.L.

Devon Travis

Adams joins the Jays.

[rpriske]

April 5th, 2017

Another untimely error (this time by Kevin Pillar), cost Toronto the lead and then Adam Jone showers int he 9th for a walk-off Baltimore win, 4-3.

Kendrys Morales hit one out for the Jays.

WP - Zach Britton (1-0)
LP - Jason Grilli (0-1)

Record - 0-2

[rpriske]

April 6th, 2017

The Jays got some big homers but the Rays teed off on Marco Estrada and Toronto batters struck out 12 times as the Rays beat the Jays 7-4.

Toronto got homers from Jose Bautista and Devon Travis.

WP - Taylor Jordan (1-0)
Save - Alex Colome (2)
LP - Marco Estrada (0-1)

Record - 0-3

[bigsmooth]

Defensive problems. Why would you trade for Adams after 1 game? Curious - I think Telez will do great, if in the lineup every day. Yes his defense is not great, but he provides solid pop.

[rpriske]

Originally Posted by bigsmooth

Defensive problems. Why would you trade for Adams after 1 game? Curious - I think Telez will do great, if in the lineup every day. Yes his defense is not great, but he provides solid pop.

Tellez is the key here. I have absolutely zero faith in Smoak as a productive player but I am concerned that I am leaning on Tellez too early.

Besides, I gave up completely fungible players.

[rpriske]

April 7th, 2017

The Jays finally got one in the win column on the strength of a solid outing by J.A. Haps and home runs by Kendrys Morales and Rowdy Tellez (his first career dinger!)

WP - J.A. Happ (1-0)
Save - Roberto Osuna (1)
LP - Alex Colome (0-1)

Record - 1-3

[rpriske]

Matt Holliday of the New York Yankees collected career hit #2000 in a gave vs the Orioles.

[BringerofRain20]

Following! Looks good!

[Perceptor]

I love following your Blue Jays save. I am running one as well. At least you got something for Upton Jr. which the Jays couldn't claim IRL

[rpriske]

April 8th, 2017

The Rays roughed up Marcus Stroman, chasing him in the 3rd and eventually winning 7-1.

Rowdy Teller hit his 2nd homer of the only Toronto run.

Jose Bautista left the game with a calf strain. It does not looks serious.

WP - Alex Cobb (1-0)
LP - Marcus Stroman (0-2)

Record - 1-4

[rpriske]

April 9th, 2017

The Jays rallied in the 9th to grab and 8-6 win over the Rays.

WP - Jason Grilli (1-1)
Save - Roberto Osuna (2)
LP - Alex Colome (0-2)

Record - 2-4

[rpriske]

Players of the Week: Miguel Sano, Twins & Josh Harrison, Pirates

The Jays sit at #26 on the Weekly Power Rankings.