Yankees, Angels Discussed Vernon Wells

[rrzubnyy]

Tampa isn't as good this year as last... no shields, and their offense is weaker. They got some good prospects but this isn't the year they contribute.

I think Toronto right now is the team to beat... and if the O's play like last year, then they will be tough as well. I think we definitely have a shot at the division.

With Toronto you dont know how everyone will mesh just yet... may take some time but they are quite good, especially if they get Dickey - that will be a solid rotation.. should be nice to see that in the AL east and see if they perform.

Don't underestimate the Rays staff.....They are still rated as the #1 rotation in the AL East.

[rrzubnyy]

Jays fan here. The Jays could easily win 100 games if things click right, i'd say that's their cieling.

The Jays floor is probably around 75 wins this season if things go wrong.

The Yanks while not as strong as before will still compete and be a threat for the division.

I would be shocked if Baltimore got higher than 4th next year.

The division should be pretty interesting.

Toronto is not a 100 win team. 90 is their ceiling.

[iam brett favre]

Ugh. Vernon Wells trade talk scares me.
More than the Blue Jays - who will not make the playoffs. Guaranteed.

[Kerminator]

Wells is a bum! No need for him, they can keep him! Morales though is a different story. I believe Morales will be a better hitter than what he did last season. Remember that last year was his first full season after two injured years. I say that the Yankees should try and trade for him, not to mention that he's 29 years old which should translate to at least 5 good years left. That'll give us the DH we need and a backup 1B for Tex.

[Pinstripe power]

**** vernon wells

[sauronthepower]

True. See 2012 Miami Marlins.

Toronto already had some very good pieces in play and the addition of JJ, Reyes, and even a workhorse like Burhlhe will benefit them greatly imo.

Granted Bonifacio and JJ have been injured A LOT lately but their speed game with Davis, Emilio, and Reyes is just plain scary and they have Gose in the pipeline.

Look for Romero to bounce back (last year's numbers were scarily skewed downward) and Morrow is a phenom when healthy.

[nyyfan4life]

The Blue Jays have a very high ceiling but also a fairly high floor. They were decimated by injuries last year, particularly, in the starting rotation.

They can be a 100 win team but for that to happen:

- Lawrie has to take a step forward
- Encarnacion has to prove last year wasn't a fluke
- Johnson, Reyes, Bautista, Morrow, Santos have to stay healthy
- Dickey has to be a 4 WAR pitcher

There are a lot of things that suggest that they won't reach their ceiling but stranger things have happened. Honestly, health is the biggest issue given how snake-bitten some of their players are. If they are healthy, they will be very competitive.

[LeoYankee]

Ok, so we have three Angel outfielder threads along with three threads that have morphed into BlueJay threads and two others morphed into Itchy vs Swisher threads.

In summary, we only need three total threads.

[sauronthepower]

Josh Johnson
RA Dickey
Brandon Morrow
Mark Burhlhe
Ricky Romero

How do you not get excited about that rotation. Romero had a seasonal breakdown IMO because he was called onto be the staff ace. Now he's the number five in a low pressure order.

Then you have

Rajai
Reyes
Bonifacio
Gose

Four of the fastest guys in the game on one team.

Toronto has holes but they are looking A LOT better than us right now so all of this "well it's Toronto, so they're going to fail BECAUSE they're Toronto" is just ludicrous.....

[benzni]

Josh Johnson
RA Dickey
Brandon Morrow
Mark Burhlhe
Ricky Romero

How do you not get excited about that rotation. Romero had a seasonal breakdown IMO because he was called onto be the staff ace. Now he's the number five in a low pressure order.

Then you have

Rajai
Reyes
Bonifacio
Gose

Four of the fastest guys in the game on one team.

Toronto has holes but they are looking A LOT better than us right now so all of this "well it's Toronto, so they're going to fail BECAUSE they're Toronto" is just ludicrous.....

agreed

[popo85]

Bourn stinks. Don't want.

Gardner and Itchy are better for cheap loot.

I agree there someone will overpay for Bourn. I think he ends up a Ranger it would be great if they took Wells for us lol but trading for Fonz is there best option at the moment.

[theslick1]

Josh Johnson
RA Dickey
Brandon Morrow
Mark Burhlhe
Ricky Romero

How do you not get excited about that rotation. Romero had a seasonal breakdown IMO because he was called onto be the staff ace. Now he's the number five in a low pressure order.

Then you have

Rajai
Reyes
Bonifacio
Gose

Four of the fastest guys in the game on one team.

Toronto has holes but they are looking A LOT better than us right now so all of this "well it's Toronto, so they're going to fail BECAUSE they're Toronto" is just ludicrous.....

The starting staff looks good on paper, but let's see how they do on the field.

Johnson and Dickey are NL guys coming to the AL East. Stop me if you've heard this story before...

Buehrle is 1-8, 6.38 vs. the Yankees in his career. Yes, please.

And after leading the AL in walks last year, Romero has to show he can still find the strike zone.

As for the fast guys, none except Reyes gets on base frequently enough to worry about.

[MJL80]

The starting staff looks good on paper, but let's see how they do on the field.

Johnson and Dickey are NL guys coming to the AL East. Stop me if you've heard this story before...

Buehrle is 1-8, 6.38 vs. the Yankees in his career. Yes, please.

And after leading the AL in walks last year, Romero has to show he can still find the strike zone.

As for the fast guys, none except Reyes gets on base frequently enough to worry about.

Agreed.

Everyone had high expectations for the Marlins last year, and look how that turned out. Johnson can't stay healthy.

The Jays will be better, but I still think they finish behind us and the O's.

[sauronthepower]

The starting staff looks good on paper, but let's see how they do on the field.

Johnson and Dickey are NL guys coming to the AL East. Stop me if you've heard this story before...

Buehrle is 1-8, 6.38 vs. the Yankees in his career. Yes, please.

And after leading the AL in walks last year, Romero has to show he can still find the strike zone.

As for the fast guys, none except Reyes gets on base frequently enough to worry about.

And yet everyone around here has no problem defending the "high ceiling" of a certain Joba Chamberlain whose resume in the good health department has been a comedy show compared to Johnson. I wonder if Loira had groomed Joba and Cashman had groomed Johnson what key this song would be sung in by the denizens of these boards.

Problem is that Burhle has to play the other teams as well so his career numbers on a severely diminished Chicago staff are almost moot seeing as he'll be facing a severely diminished Yankee staff in a position of less responsibility as he will be moved from the high pressure number one slot of the rotation to the four hole.

Burhlhe also eats innings which in and of itself carries value when slotted against the workload of the other four guys.

Johnson and Morrow are both high powered phenoms when healthy (granted that's been a big 'when' lately) but the potential is devastating if they fire on all cylinders and Dickey lives up to form.

Gose only played half a season so there's plenty of room to grow and learn there, plus he'll have better lineup protection (not that pitchers are going to be worrying about Anthony Gose anytime soon) but Davis, Bonifacio, and Reyes will severely disrupt a pitchers concentration and rhythm should they all mesh and get atheir running potential hammered out into a process.

Personally, while I'm NOT trying to start World War Slick or World War Sauron with this, I think you are underestimating what they have accomplished (and inversely what they Yankees have failed to address thus far) this offseason.

[sauronthepower]

Agreed.

Everyone had high expectations for the Marlins last year, and look how that turned out. Johnson can't stay healthy.

The Jays will be better, but I still think they finish behind us and the O's.

The Marlins also didn't have Morrow and Dickey to complement their stars AND they were dealing with an idiot GM and an even bigger idiot manager.

Johnson is the best young arm in the game should he stay healthy and while injuries are a part of the game his ceiling is devastating.

I love how all of the Cashman apologists were flooding these boards last year because Michael Pineda had such a "high ceiling" with virtually no resume to back up their blind defense of their administrative champion and then they come this year all but blindly ignoring Josh Johnson's actual resume.