Tuesday Bantering - August 23

Tough off-day for the Jays with both the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles winning on Monday night. With their win, Boston now sits tied with the Blue Jays atop the AL East. Let’s take a look at what is in the news for the Blue Jays.

Over at Fangraphs, August Fagerstrom profiles Aaron Sanchez’s sinker. As you can probably ascertain by the title “The Ridiculousness of Aaron Sanchez’s Sinker”, the article is very complimentary. It’s a great read and Aaron is in some unbelievable company.

Late in the day yesterday, The Score reported that Edwin Encarnacion is being sued for battery after a woman claimed she contracted multiple STDs. TMZ is the source so grain of salt and all, but feel this needs a mention. My immediate takeaway is that he’s being sued and not criminally charged. Feel like I’ve seen this movie before with pro athletes and I suspect it will go away quietly. As Tom and Gerse reminded us yesterday, if you are going to comment on this story:

Very very important:

Do not accuse anyone of a crime.

Do not try to guess what other players might be involved.

And let’s try not to guess on anything.

Brendan Kennedy of The Star catches up with super Sophomore Roberto Osuna. No matter your feeling on the Save statistic, what Osuna has accomplished in his brief career is very impressive. The inevitable off-season debate about what to do with him long-term (starter vs. closer) will be interesting. You can put me in the you have to at least try him as a starter camp.

Kennedy also likes Josh Donaldson’s chances to repeat as MVP amid heavy competition in the AL led by Mike Trout.

Richard Griffin makes the latest argument for Joey Votto in Toronto. As good as that sounds now, that is one scary back-end of a contract.

There’s one less stellar mustache in the system as Shi Davidi reports on the Sal Fasano firing, the latest in some personnel moves in the Jays’ system.

Bad news for Stephen Strasburg who was placed on the DL Monday. This news indirectly hurt the Blue Jays as he was supposed to start against the Orioles on Monday night.

I thought I’d take another look at MLB Trade Rumors’ list of players that have cleared revocable waivers and could therefore be traded in August. Some new names appear on the list since the last I checked (James Shields, Matt Wieters, Scott Kazmir), but it’s pretty slim pickings on the list which by MLBTR’s own admission isn’t exhaustive. I wonder if we’ve had any discussions with the Twins about Kurt Suzuki who could be insurance as a backup catcher.

Mike Trout is excited to come to Toronto, though the city only received 4 airplane emoji’s on his seemingly arbitrary scale. In any case I’ll take that as a sure sign he wants to play here (DJ Davis + ???).

Maybe Goose Gossage was right about Jose Bautista as a role model. Check out this young lady’s bat flip. Let’s hope Matt Bush wasn’t watching.

Futures Report

Bob Lipman of the Fisher Cats gives a nice rundown of Conner Greene’s seven scoreless innings on Monday.

Reese McGuire (4) returned to the New Hampshire lineup Monday, going 1-3 with a walk. Vladimir Guerrero Jr (7) went 2-5 for Bluefield; average up to .279. Rowdy Tellez (9) went 1-4 with a single; now batting .296. As mentioned, Conner Greene (10) had a nice start for New Hampshire working 7 strong innings, though he only struck out 1. Joshua Palacios (18) is currently 1-4 as Vancouver is playing in the 8^th inning; batting .352 for the year. Jose Espada (20) worked a tidy 5.2 innings for Bluefield, allowing 0 runs on 2 hits and 3 walks while striking out 2.