Tuesday Bantering: Jays Bits

We are taking a couple of days away from the world. Drove across the border to Great Falls, Montana. It isn’t the loveliest city in the world, but it is somewhere different. My wife likes looking in fabric shops. I sat in a casino (because they gave me a free beer to sit at a machine and doubled my money while she shopped, $10 to $23).

FanGraphs say the Jays have a 78.0% chance of making the playoffs now. The Angels helped us out yesterday, making a late comeback against the Yankees. And the Rays lost. But the Red Sox thumped the A’s.

There is a little bit of Jays' news. Casey Lawrence, who pitched 18 innings for us last year, and has been pitching in Buffalo this year, has opted out of his contract with the Jays. He was depth for the rotation, but he’s not been called up when we’ve needed a starter, so he’s looking in other places. The Yankees and Cardinals are already talking to him. He was an undrafted signing back in. 2010 and stayed in the Jays system until 2017, making it to the majors for a couple of starts that year. He signed with the Mariners, pitched 61 innings for them between 2017 and 2018, and then returned to the Jays.

I’ve always been a fan. Not too many undrafted players make it to the majors or keep at it for as long as he has. He threw a lot of inning in the minors (I think partly because the team didn’t have much invested in him, so they weren’t as worried about his arm). He’s 35 now.

The trade deadline is coming up quickly, and with the Jays in the race, there is a fair bit of talk about what the Jays might want to do. Marcus Stroman’s name has been mentioned, but I don’t see that happening. He wasn’t happy when he was traded, and there was some yelling and destruction of property. But I’d be thrilled to see him in a Jays jersey again, but it doesn’t seem like something the front office would want to go through again.

And if they are going for a pitcher, why not Shohei Ohtani (yeah, I know, no chance, we don’t have the prospects the Angels would want).

With Chad Green and Hyun Jin Ryu returning, I think they are more likely to look for a right-handed hitting outfielder (wouldn’t Teoscar Hernandez be an excellent choice?).

Several right-handed bats might be available:

• Randal Grichuk. He’d be fun to have around again.
• Tommy Phan.
• Nelson Cruz.
• Hunter Renfroe.
• Carlos Santana.

Maybe use the thread to discuss who the team might pick up.

The Mariner’s shop is getting ready for us Canadians to come flooding into their stadium: