Happy Birthday, J.R.!

See, I don't understand that last sentence.

It doesn't make sense for them to GIVE him away.

But I could name tons of packages the Blue Jays could offer for Carrasco that the Indians would jump on, die for. So, do reporters really understand trading??

The Blue Jays didn't meet their price. Simple. So you move on.

We may have a surplus of starters, so if we want to get anything good back trading one of the starters gives us the biggest possible plum to hold out.

Actually I don't think that we do have a surplus of starters, since behind the guys now in the majors all we have at AAA at Murata and Marcum who we've seen already; Roth and Maronde and Roberts who are worse. AA Ryan Merritt is a soft-tossing lefty; Shawn Morimando a harder-throwing lefty with iffy control, and two RH who have more upside: Mike Clevinger and Adam Plutko, but not at least until middle of 2016 and at best are back of the rotation arms.

Top Blue Jay prospects, from the Top 50 BA posted.

18 Daniel Norris lhp Blue Jays Norris’ speedy ascent to the big leagues suffered a setback, but he only needs improved control to return.

29 Dalton Pompey of Blue Jays Pompey quickly showed he’s not ready for Toronto, but he’s bounced back following a demotion to Double-A.

33 Jeff Hoffman rhp Blue Jays It’s early in his return, but his stuff has bounced back nicely from last spring’s Tommy John surgery

I guess Pompey would be the guy we'd want; although that little description of his 2015 performance is not too exciting.

A Ba question on Pompey today:

Ed V (Surrey): Dalton Pompey has had a up and down season this year but he has hit the ball really well of late. What kind of numbers do you think Pompey will be able to achieve in his prime? Is .280 Ave 15HR 30SB to much to expect? Thanks

Ben Badler: He was in over his head at the MLB level at the start of the year, but he's still one of the best prospects in the minors. He's still young, athletic, he can hit, controls the strike zone. He does need to get stronger to be able to do more damage when he hits the ball, but that can come naturally over the next few years.

Indians “Not Motivated” To Deal Starter; Dodgers, Red Sox Have Inquired

By Jeff Todd [July 24, 2015 at 3:17pm CDT]

The Dodgers and Red Sox have expressed interest in the Indians group of controllable, high-quality starters, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports on Twitter. But Cleveland is “not motivated” to move an arm unless a “very compelling deal” is presented, per the report (and as GM Chris Antonetti recently said himself).

We heard yesterday that the Blue Jays were looking hard at Carlos Carrasco, with the Indians willing at least to listen. But it seems that Toronto’s efforts have fallen short, at least for the present.

It’s not surprising to hear that Cleveland is getting hits on its starters, which include Carrasco, reigning Cy Young winner Corey Kluber, and younger arms such as Danny Salazar and Trevor Bauer. (Which particular pitches are receiving the interest has not been reported.) With lengthy and affordable control over all of those pitchers, it would surely take a very significant offer to get something done.

While the Dodgers are an obvious buyer, the Red Sox are not — at least in the traditional sense. But we’ve heard that Boston is considering future-oriented buy-side moves, and that makes Cleveland an interesting potential trade partner.

While both of those clubs are obviously among the larger-budget teams in the sport, that doesn’t make productive, cost-controlled pitching any less valuable to them. Of course, Los Angeles and Boston are also among the organizations best-equipped to take on other salary commitments from the Indians in order to facilitate a trade.

Shocker, Quintana throws his first shut out against our offense tonight. It's not that bad though. He's only been in the majors 4 seasons.

It's not that bad though. He's only been in the majors 4 seasons.

LOL!

Hmm, what pitcher's stats are we going to pad tonight?

(Oops, it's Chris Sale. Doesn't need the padding. Oh well, he's getting it anyways)

Could be worse, we could be Tito having to watch this every night. At least I can turn the channel.

Anything Francona could do differently? No one's accusing him of running a too close clubhouse like with the Red Sox are they? Team certainly seems to lack inspiration; although it might be just that it lacks talent.

Well, he's the same manager that managed a team the past 2 years that OVERachieved, if anything. I doubt he is getting worse at his trade.

So no, I don't think that inspiration/manager is the problem.

To me, Antonetti is responsible for this one, if anyone. Yes, Santana and Moss in particular let him down. And the Gomes injury.

Needless to say Swisher and Bourn...well, it's all been said. Disasters.

So people have let him down. But to think A Ram and Chiz were adequate on the left side of the infield?? On a team that (IMO of course) overachieved the last 2 years anyways, that was really cutting it close. Not much margin for error. So that was another disaster.

That said, the laundry list that I referred to above is quite the large list. Some years, shit happens. This is such a year. And we didn't have much margin for error.

PS - I wouldn't hesitate to move Santana. Once he moved from catcher, he had to hit WAY more than this to even be average at 1B.

So there's a LOT wrong with this team. Kipnis and Brantley and Gomes are starting points for a rebuild of the every day player side of the ball. Lindor, we'll see, hopefully.

Sell, sell, sell and start over. The albatrosses of Swisher and Bourn still remain one more season. The ghost of Travis Hafner's long term contract course continues.

How could I forget?? We need Giambi!!

I guess the best way to judge this year's result is your conclusion that last year we overachieved. I remain disappointed that the starting pitchers, despite lots of talent and setting records for strikeouts, are just middle of the pack in their performances.

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports highlighted the Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants and Houston Astros as the chief pursuers of Gomez, with the former two standing out as the most likely options.

A two-time All-Star, Gomez is hitting .266/.334/.431 with eight home runs and 42 RBI. He's markedly off the pace he set over the last two seasons, where he emerged as one of baseball's best all-around hitters. The 29-year-old posted 47 home runs and 74 steals in 2013 and 2014; this season, he's on pace to fall well short of 20 in either category.

A hamstring injury in April and an ongoing hip problem have been the root causes of Gomez's problems, limiting his mobility on the basepaths and his power on his swing. If his current pace continues, Gomez may finish with a WAR of under three for the first time since 2011.

"I don't ask. Because if I ask, then I have it in my mind," Gomez said of the rumors, per Todd Rosiak of the Journal Sentinel. "It's not my problem. The only thing I have to care about is today, and I'm part of the Milwaukee Brewers. It's nothing I can control. If the Brewers want to trade me, they're going to do it. Even if I cry and say, 'Don't do it.' It's not something that I can control."

Despite his struggles, it's easy to see why Gomez would interest teams. He should slowly round back into form as his hip injury has more time to clear up, and he has an extra year of team control in 2016. Wrote Rosenthal: "A team could gain control of him for two pennant races and also have two opportunities to trade him—this offseason and next July."

At an almost nonexistent salary for someone of his caliber ($9 million in 2016), Gomez is a steal—even if he's not quite playing at an All-Star form. It should take a pretty sizable haul for Milwaukee to consider pulling the trigger on a move

does anyone think we're going to offer a significant haul for anyone.