Toronto Blue Jays pitching prospect Matt Boyd struggled while making the transition to Double-A in 2014, but feels that he's found positives from the experience.

Blue Jays prospect Matthew Boyd Reflects on the Value of Demotion in 2014

Getting to the Double-A level, where so much is proven, is considered one of the biggest jumps in professional baseball. For Toronto Blue Jays prospect Matthew Boyd, the promotion to Double-A was one that he embraced, but soon felt overwhelmed by. His approach began to change. His mind wasn’t on the game he’d played all his life; instead he’d lost touch with a very simple mantra all players learn to live by.

"The game is the same no matter what level. And I didn’t think it was the same game," he said Sunday. "That was the biggest thing working against me."

That mental struggle, as well as foot pain that he’d been playing through, led to consistent struggles. In six starts through May, he surrendered 20 earned runs.

"The second time I went up to Double-A, in July, and got three or four good outings, I felt a lot better. I gained a lot of confidence back," he said.

The idea that the game speeds up the higher the level sounds a bit mystical. But, realistically, players in Double-A will have more finely tuned instincts, sharpened through repetition, making them quicker to figure things out. Sink or swim thinking caught up to Boyd. Players talk about the change in atmosphere, and a more professional manner overall . Everything looks a bit more major league.

"The pace is different. And not just the level of hitters, but even what the locker rooms are like is different. I had to learn my routine," he explained.

Boyd’s journey began when the Blue Jays drafted the two-position player in 2013 in the sixth round out of Oregon State University. He went 11-4 with a 2.04 ERA for the season, while striking out 122 in 123 innings, and was named to the Baseball America All-America Third team and the All-Pac 12 First Team. He played first base and made an impact at the plate throughout high school and college, but he was fully converted to a starting pitcher as a senior for Oregon.

"It was time to focus completely on pitching. They didn’t want to burn me," he said.

He’d been a reliever through parts of college, but it’s the rotation where he feels most comfortable.

"You kind of control the game when you’re a starter, and I love that. You’re leaving your stamp on it. I could easily convert back to the pen if they need me to. But starting is a joy for me."

In his first season of pro-ball he split time between the Florida State and Midwest leagues, making just five starts, with 24 innings pitched. He started the 2014 season repeating Class-A Florida State League with Dunedin, but received an early season promotion to the the Eastern League. While some players can skip Triple-A, Double-A performance tends to dictate a lot.

Boyd struggled with New Hampshire, posting an 8.31 ERA in 22 innings in six starts in May. He was sent back to Dunedin, then moved back up to New Hampshire again in July. His ERA was still high in five starts there at 5.57 in 21 innings, but his K/BB was greatly improved at 23/2. He returned to Dunedin in August. Overall, he posted a 1.39 ERA with a 103/20 K/BB in 91 innings for Dunedin, but 6.96 ERA in 43 innings for New Hampshire, though his K/BB at least was good at 43/13. The problem was 55 hits in Double-A.

Boyd’s issues seemingly lock him up for a season back with New Hampshire. However, if fully healthy and consistent, he adds more depth to a system already deep with solid young arms.

Boyd’s difficult transition to Double-A, back to Class-A, then back up again was a lesson in keeping it simple. He’s focused now on developing his slider more, and picking up from where he left off in take-two of the Double-A experience.

"The second time around, I could see where I made mistakes, and I was able to build off of that. I got back to taking it one game at a time."

Sometimes an oft-used statement to sum up playing the game just works.

Words you think you'll never type: the Kansas City Royals, led by Dayton Moore and Ned Yost are Amercian League Champions. Dayton Moore, the man that has spent the last several years being the punch line for jokes that include the words Jeff Francoeur, is the general manager of the American League team that is going to the World Series.

So what can the Blue Jays learn from the Royals?

1. Just get in.

I think this is the big lesson from the Royals getting to the World Series is you just gotta make the playoffs. I've always kind of discounted the Wild Card spots because you go into the next round having just used your best starter, you are going into the Divisional Series with a handicap. But, in reality, just get into the playoffs and your team can go on a hot streak and anything can happen. Just get in, good things can happen. Easier said than done. I guess the other half of this one is get hot at the right time. There was a Tweet from Sportsnet saying that this time in MLB history that neither World Series team won 90+ regular season games in a non-shortened season.

2. Have a good bullpen.

You know, you don't need an incredibly deep bullpen. The Royals have had the same 3 guys come out of the bullpen in each of their 4 wins over the Orioles: Wade Davis, Kevin Herrera and Greg Holland threw 14.2 innings of baseball, allowing just 1 run, over 4 games. They allowed 7 hits, 3 walks with 15 strikeouts. Jason Frasor chipped in with a scoreless inning of his own. Brandon Finnegan was the one guy out of their pen that had a bad time of it, pitching in 2 games, getting just 1 out, while allowing 3 hits and a walks.

3. Build from your minor league system?

Of their regular starting 9:

• Perez was a amateur free agent signing.
• Hosmer was a Royals first round draft pick (number 3 overall).
• Infante was a free agent signing.
• Escobar came in the Greinke trade.
• Moustakas was a Royals first round draft pick (number 2 overall).
• Gordon was a Royals first round draft pick (number 2 overall).
• Cain came in the Greinke trade.
• Aoki came in trade with the Brewers for Will Smith.
• Billy Butler was a Royals first round pick (14th overall).

Greinke was a first round pick too, number 6 overall. It seems like the moral of the story is to have picks in the top 10 of the first round of the draft. But also, if you aren't going to be the Yankees or Dodgers, you have to develop players through your system to keep a reasonable payroll.

4.Speed kills?

I think picking your moment kills. In the Wild Card game against the A's they stole 7 bases caught once. In the Divisional Series against the Tigers, the Royals stole 5 bases without getting caught. Against the Orioles, they only stole 1 base and were caught twice (Jarrod Dyson both times). The Royals seem to be very smart at figuring out when they can run and when they can't. On TV they made a big deal about how smart Rusty Kuntz was a picking up signs from the pitcher about when he was going to the plate. I'm thinking that maybe they just were very good at timing how long it took the pitcher to throw to the plate and used that information to decide whether to steal or not. I think that's a good lesson, some teams you can steal against, some you can't.

5. Defense is important.

The Royals had exceptional defense in center field (Lorenzo Cain had a 18.7 UZR/150 there and yet Jarrod Dyson was even better in center, 36.6 UZR/150), left field (Alex Gordon had a 22.6 UZR/150). Alcies Escobar and Salvador Perez are very good at short and catcher. Of course, the group of them are pretty good on offense too. It isn't like they are putting out 9 guys like Ryan Goins and Anthony Gose, who are great on defense, but can't hit enough to keep in the lineup, but they are putting out guys that play great defense and can hit enough to

What lessons would you like the Jays to learn from the Royals?

Shi Davidi tells us that bullpen coach Bob Stanley won't be returning to the Blue Jays next year, but the rest of the staff will, unless DeMarlo Hale gets the Twins manager job, for which he interviewed.

Alex Anthopoulos was very clear that he blamed the bullpen for the Jays not making the playoffs this year in an interview on the Jeff Blair show, last week, so I guess that Stanley is taking the fall for that not that it is really fair, but then that's life in the big leagues. It isn't like the pitching coach only works with the starting pitchers and the bullpen coach only works with the relievers.

Shi tells us that pitching co-ordinator Dane Johnson, roving instructor Rick Langford and Bisons' pitching coach Randy St. Claire are the top candidates to take the job. I'm hope they would leave Johnson in the role he has, I'd think bullpen coach would be a demotion from his role.

I did kind of expect Luis Rivera might not be asked back, but maybe the Jays see stuff that I don't. It does seem we lose a lot of runners at the plate, often unnecessarily.

There's some excitement in Blue Jays land today as two players are celebrating birthdays on this fine Sunday October 19th. Superstar Jose Bautista turns 34, which means he's getting up there in years as he goes into the final guaranteed year of his contract. For his birthday he most certainly asked for a better team to play with next year and maybe a call from his General Manager, since it sure sounds like he doesn't get enough of those as he'd like.

The other birthday boy is lefty J.A. Happ who turns 32-years-old today. Maybe it's just me but....Jose Bautista is TWO years older than J.A. Happ? I'm not sure how I never realized that, but I would have certainly guessed the opposite was true. The southpaw heads into an option year for $6.7 million, which is one of the key decisions the Blue Jays brass will have to make this offseason as they try to keep a strong core together. Happ has done everything expected of him during his time in Toronto and I wouldn't be too angry to see the option picked up for the solid back of the rotation workhorse.

It also happens to be the birthdays of two former Blue Jays as well in Rajai Davis and Michael Young who turn 34 and 38 respectively. Davis has another year on his free agent contract with the Tigers for $5 million after having a solid 2014 campaign that included going 2-6 in the playoffs against Baltimore.

Another Blue Jays related birthday is Marcus Stroman's dad who turns I'm not sure how old and I'm not about to ask (justification in the photo below):

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DAD! That man is unbelievable. Without him, I'm not me. Forever grateful for his presence in my life! #BigEarl

— Marcus Stroman (@MStrooo6) October 19, 2014

Fatherly love! #LaFamiliapic.twitter.com/IA7jWsiAbJ

— Marcus Stroman (@MStrooo6) October 12, 2014

Happy birthday Jose, J.A., and Earl!

Happy Monday! Here's your Twins manager hunt update.

I had a conversation with my parents over the weekend regarding the Twins' search for a new manager. A lot of it revolved around who I thought could get the job and why, but we also speculated about which coaches could be retained - if any. The gist of our conversation? We have no damned idea what this team is going to do.

Here's the latest anyway.

The Lies

We had a good thread on this over at the Twinkie Town Facebook page, where - based on a heads up by a friend of the website - we started to wonder whether somebody had stumbled upon the covert news that the Twins had actually hired Torey Lovullo as their new manager. You can still see the page here.

@TwinkieTown@DarrenWolfsonhttp://t.co/mvrhRwY6SF'

— Cory (@enge0280) October 16, 2014

Of course, that ended up being false. Thanks to the ability for clever websites to clone pages, we were taken for a bit of a premature ride. Because if that page was true, then also true is the hiring of Babe Ruth as hitting coach and Cy Young as pitching coach.

I just figure that, if we've somehow found a way to reanimate Babe Ruth and Cy Young, we could probably find a better coach than Torey Lovullo. No offense to Lovullo.

The Speculation

These are a few of the questions my parents and I wrestled with this weekend. I'm curious to see what you think.

• Is there any way that Tom Brunansky returns as the Twins' hitting coach?
• If Paul Molitor doesn't want the manager's job, would he still be willing to return in another capacity?
• What are Brunansky and Molitor's chances of returning if the Twins hire an external candidate versus an internal one?
• What would it take for Lovullo to "nail" his interview, as it was put by Wolfson?

The Truth

As time marches on and candidates start to fall out of the running, a new name came up late last week: Demarlo Hale. Hale is the bench coach for the Blue Jays, and has been coaching since 2002. His resume includes four years as a first base coach with the Rangers, followed by four years at third and then two as a bench coach with the Red Sox, one year as the third base coach for the Orioles, and now he's just finished his second season as a bench coach for Toronto.

Just a reminder: you can keep up with all of the candidates and their most recent status via our Twins' manager tracker. To the best of our knowledge, the Twins have now interviewed seven candidates (three internal; four external with McEwing now out of the running). Be sure to swing to that post for the latest on everyone.

The conventional wisdom for RHP is to throw a lot of changeups against opposite-handed hitters. That's not working for Drew Hutchison.

Entering the 2014 season Drew Hutchison had an absolutely gargantuan range of outcomes.

Coming off Tommy John surgery with a very limited MLB track record, it was very difficult to to pin down a realistic projection for the young right-hander. The fact that he would up pitching 184.2 innings and posting a WAR of 2.6  has to considered a very pleasant surprise.

With a fairly potent high fastball and an effective slider Hutchison struck out almost a batter per inning and showed himself to be a mid-rotation option going forward. However, like many pitchers that throw largely fastballs and sliders he posted pretty significant batter handedness splits.

In short, Hutchison turned left-handed hitters into sluggers and right-handed hitters into scrubs. While the narrative throughout the season was that he couldn't pitch at home, the more concerning issue was the he couldn't get opposite-handed hitters out. This was especially problematic because he only had the platoon advantage 44% of the time.

What the 24-year-old hurler did to combat lefties was what a lot of right-handers do, try and beat them with the changeup.

Unfortunately, knowing that throwing a changeup is a smart idea isn't  enough. It turns out that having a good changeup is also important, and that's where Hutchison ran into some trouble.

The table below shows how left-handed hitters fared against Hutchison's changeup in 2014:

The whiffs here aren't half bad, but otherwise this is ugly. FanGraphs' pitch values put Hutchison's changeup at 10.7 runs below average, or -2.97 runs per 100 pitches last season, a number that make it the "worst pitch" in any Blue Jays' arsenal.

That's not to say that he should give up on the pitch entirely. Perhaps he can find a grip that suits him better, or do a better job of making his change indistinguishable from his fastball coming out of his hand.

Neither of those possibilities are out of the question. However, it is also unfair to assume his changeup will magically improve. For now, Hutchison might consider using his slider more often against left-handers.

On the surface it's a counterintuitive idea. Sliders have well documented platoon splits and very rarely are they effective against opposite-handed hitters. That being said, there are exceptions.

In recent years Blue Jays fans have witnessed Brandon Morrow at his peak mowing down lefties with his slider down and in, and if Hutchison can replicate that style perhaps he can improve his numbers when he has the platoon disadvantage.

Although the sample size is small, it appear's he's already done so with some success early in his career.

Although he has gone to his slider infrequently against left-handers infrequently in his career, the success he's had has been pretty remarkable, especially compared to his change.

The sample sizes here are small as Hutchison's career is in it's infancy, but it appears that the changeup really isn't working so far. Whether his slider is special enough to a be weapon against guys hitting from either side of the plate remains to be seen, but the early returns are good.

This season Drew Hutchison arrived as pretty reliable option in the rotation. If he's going to take the next step towards being a really good one he needs to figure out how to attack lefties.

What he's doing right now just isn't working.

Unfortunately the season insisted on continuing past May.

After an amazing May the Blue Jays returned to earth in June.

It seems that as Jays fans we just never get to have nice things, at least not lately. Mark Buehrle went 1-4- with a 2.79 ERA to be fair- Juan Francisco began his long and painful descent, and the Blue Jays clung to their division lead waiting for the next hot streak.

Record: 12-15

Just like April, but with expectations to make it more painful.

Best Position Player (by fWAR): Edwin Encarnacion (1.0)

He might not have been superhuman, but he was pretty close. It would have been really nice if he hadn't gotten hurt this year... These are the type of numbers that aren't even that far out of line from what Encarnacion is at the height of his powers.

Best Pitcher (by fWAR): Marcus Stroman (0.5)

These kind of numbers are what Jays fans came to expect from Stroman over the course of the season. This was the first time the rookie looked like the team's best starter, but certainly not the last.

The Team Hit Like... Eric Hosmer

Do not be deceived by Hosmer's postseason, this comparison is not especially flattering. The Blue Jays bats were unremarkable in June, just like Eric Hosmer is 99% of the time.

The Team Pitched Like... Jorge De La Rosa

Regardless of what the Colorado Rockies think, De la Rosa is by no means a special pitcher. The fact the Jays were comparable to the middling veteran is indicative of the mediocre work the pitching staff did in June.

GIF That Best Summarizes the Month

This one might be a bit personal. In June more than anything I wanted the Jays to go to Yankee Stadium and win a series, or at least a game there. I wanted it because it sucks to lose to a divisional opponent, especially the Yankees, but mainly I wanted it so Buck and Pat would shut up about how much more professional the Yankees were than the Jays for one second.

That's all I desired in the world.

On June 17th the Jays traveled to New York, ran into Masahiro Tanaka's brick wall of a splitter and on the way to yet another sweep. The streak continued and the misery it caused as counted in raw Tabler-isms was astounding.

That depressing anecdote concludes part three of the "Blue Jays Year in Review Series", check in later for future installments that range from bearable to unfathomably depressing.

Baseball seems incredibly trivial at the moment. I wish the best for the the police and military in Ottawa, and everyone one in Ottawa.

Here are a few links, if you want to take your eyes off the news for a moment or two.

Bob Elliot tells us that Adam Lind is 'attracting plenty of interest'. And as proof he tells us this:

"I hear the Blue Jays are getting a lot of interest on Lind and not just from American League teams. I've heard three or four clubs," one executive said.

I was tempted to try to stretch that into a full post (there really isn't anything for Blue Jays news lately), but to try to build a a 500 word post off one sentence from an unnamed executive was just too much for me. I am curious about the 'executive'. Obviously he isn't a GM or an assistant GM or Elliot would have said 'a GM told me'.

It is kind of several levels of hearsay isn't it, an unnamed person, from an unnamed club, whose job title is unknown, hear from someone, also unnamed, that 3 or 4 separate clubs are interested in Lind.

I mean, I have no doubt that Lind would be someone that teams would be interested in, but that line doesn't really give us any real information.

Jose Bautista told Ben Nicholson-Smith of SportsNet.ca that he thinks there is a 50-50 chance that Melky Cabrera will be back with the Blue Jays next year:

"I think he's going to allow the team a chance to come and match any offer that he might get out on the free agent market," Bautista said. "I think the Blue Jays are going to have a shot at bringing him back, so hopefully for our fan base and for my sake - making my job easier and having him on base a lot, because he does get on base a lot with his bat - hopefully the team does take that chance and re-sign him somehow."

We'll see. I think it's more like a 20% chance that he re-signs. I have a feeling someone is going to overpay for the guy.

Alexis Brudnicki reports, for the Canadian Baseball Network, that Dwight Smith, Jr may be moving from the outfield to second base.I like the idea. He would be a much better prospect at 2B (if he can learn to play the position) and he'd have a much clearer path to the majors, as we don't have much for prospects at the position (other than Franklin Barreto, who has played only shortstop so far in his minor league career).

With just over two weeks so far in the prospect-laden circuit, Smith has spent a significant amount of time every day working at the new position, learning mostly from Mike Mordecai, Smith Jr. (9)manager of the Mesa Solar Sox and also the Blue Jays minor league infield coordinator, though he hasn't played second base in a game as of yet.

I missed this on the weekend (I had a nice weekend visiting my son and parents in Edmonton, and pretty much ignored baseball), Alexis Brudnicki tweeted that Max Pentecost had surgery on a partial tear in his labrum. The Drunks had a longer post on the subject.

Pentecost was a first round pick in this years draft. We hoped that he would make a quick raise through the Jays minor league system, as we really could use a good catcher. He should be able to play next year, but it is likely to slow his ascent, at least a little.

Pentecost is 21, he'll be 22 in March, he hit .324/.330/.419 in 25 games, splitting time between the Gulf Coast League Jays and the Vancouver Canadians, but he only played 6 games at the catcher position, so the shoulder problem was obviously apparent during the season.

Jesse Spector has a post up at the Sporting News about the Giants and Royals'bunt-happy' ways. Interesting story. I tend to think that managers understand that they are being watched closely and try to play 'safe' with all the eyes on them.

Dave Cameron reported on the 'worst at bat of the playoffs'. Not a post that Alcides Escobar will be printing off and taping to the wall in his den.

I'll add my thoughts and wishes for the family of the soldier who was killed at the National War Memorial. A reminder of how much our military does for us. It is just hard to believe. People that can even consider doing such a thing are beyond my understanding.

One of the downsides to running a team like the Toronto Blue Jays (or any other team with a tight budget) is that every baseball decision made must also come with heavy considerations towards the financial impact of the move as well. Alex Anthopoulos will once again be reminded of that fact this offseason when he tries to upgrade his team while spending a relatively small amount of money. This results in potential good baseball decisions not being made because it doesn't add up financially (unlike the trade deadline when apparently every possible move didn't add up baseball-wise). In the case of Brandon Morrow and his $10 million 2015 option with a $1 million buyout the best decision for the team would actually be a pretty bad decision for the budget.

It's clear that most people would like to see Morrow remain in a Blue Jays uniform next season, with his high heat and nasty slider either starting in the rotation or coming into the game from the bullpen. The problem is that Anthopoulos and company are pretty well handcuffed by tight financial restrictions meaning they can't blow $10 million on a pitcher who will likely come out of the bullpen. To quote the wise Grant Brisbee, "Spending for relievers rarely works out. That's not a theory, it's not a personal belief. It's somewhere between a truism and a physical law of the universe." While I originally wanted to write about how Brandon Morrow could be a good option for the closer role next year, I realized that actually he can't be a good option because he'd end up being more expensive than the entire core of the 2014 bullpen was. That just won't fly in the current financial climate of the Blue Jays which is a shame for everyone that likes watching the righty pitch.

There's no doubt that Morrow impressed in his brief bullpen stint at the end of 2014, showcasing increased velocity and an effective two-pitch mix that obviously becomes much less sustainable when starting. In fact, when he returned from injury in September he never threw a splitter at all so he was either told to scrap the pitch or he felt more comfortable becoming a straight-up fastball and slider reliever. The signs are there that Morrow could transition fairly seamlessly into a high leverage bullpen role, but unfortunately it's the contract part of the equation that ends up not adding up for the Blue Jays.

Paying Brandon Morrow to be a $10 million reliever is essentially betting he becomes Craig Kimbrel, while praying that he doesn't become any other reliever in the history of baseball that has gotten a huge contract and then absolutely imploded. That's not a bet that a general manager like Anthopoulos can make. Even if the goal was to make the righty a starter again (which is Morrow's plan), the injury risk is huge and doesn't make a ton of sense for a team with a slew of young pitchers waiting for their chance in the spotlight.

It's unfortunate when a likeable player like Morrow ends up in a situation like this, where the only thing keeping him from returning to a team that could use him is money. If healthy, he could be a dominant closer or an overpowering starting pitcher, but he's not going to be either of those things for the Blue Jays. There will be teams lining up to inquire about Morrow when free agency gets underway in a few weeks and a team with money to spend will probably take the risk that Morrow will finally be able to stay healthy for a full year as a starter. There's not more that Blue Jays fans can do other than watch from afar wondering what Morrow could have done in a Toronto uniform in 2015 while muttering that life is unfair.

Jon Heyman tells us that the Blue Jays have started contract talks with Melky Cabrera.

The Blue Jays have begun contract talks with free-agent outfielder Melky Cabrera. Toronto is very interested in bringing back Cabrera, and is said to be willing to offer at least a three-year deal following Cabrera's fine 2014 season in Toronto.

One might have imagined that the Jays would have talked to him before now. Heyman says that Melky might be able to get a 5-year deal somewhere:

Considering his big comeback and improving reputation (he was said to fit in well in Toronto in the two years since his PED suspension), plus an oddly weak outfield market, industry insiders wouldn't be surprised if Cabrera were to seek a five-year deal.

I wouldn't want to go 5-years, but, as Heyman says, there isn't much for corner outfielders on the free agent market, and the other good corner outfielders on the market are all older than Melky's 30 (though Melky seems to play older than his age).

Heyman mention that the Jays need to find a second or third base baseman and fix their bullpen this winter, so there is a question to how much they will want to spend on Melky.

The outfielder is engaged in preliminary discussions with the Jays.

The Blue Jays and soon-to-be free agent outfielder Melky Cabrera have engaged in preliminary contract talks in advance of Cabrera hitting the open market, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. It does not appear that the sides are close to a deal at this time, but they will likely continue talks until five days after the World Series, when Toronto's exclusive negotiating period expires.

According to Heyman, the Jays are thought to be willing to offer Cabrera "at least" a three-year deal, though Cabrera could look to sign a four- or five-year deal on the open market. Toronto is likely to extend a $15.3 million qualifying offer to Cabrera, though he would decline that in search of a long-term deal on the open market.

Cabrera performed well in his second season with the Jays, hitting .301/.351/.458 with sixteen home runs and 73 RBI in 139 games. He will draw interest from lots of teams looking for outfield help on the free agent market, so the Jays are trying to get a jump on re-signing him before other offers can come in.

Toronto seems focused on Cabrera instead of outfielder Colby Rasmus, who is also a free agent after the conclusion of the postseason. Rasmus appears likely to move on from the Jays, with whom he has spent the three-and-a-half seasons.

Also! Expect to see more Posey, less Aoki, but probably the same amount of bunting.

Happy Friday, LGTers. Are you ready for some World Series "baseball?" I sure am. Here's some stuff to read while you try to contain your excitement:

World Series news

World Series ratings are low, but so what? | Hardball Talk - Craig Calcaterra discusses why no baseball fan should give a [redacted] about low ratings for the Fall Classic.

Sixth sense for Royals and Giants | Sports On Earth - Almost every manager has his bullpen guys for the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings. It's a relaxing and reassuring plan, even if it's often a bad one. But what about the 6th inning? But the 6th has been pivotal in this post-season, and the way Ned Yost and Bruce Bochy manage their early inning relievers may play a big role in the outcome of the Series.

One enduring reason why the Royals are still playing | Fangraphs - It's not defense, it's not pitching, it's not even bunting. Durability is the name of the game for KC.

Giants need more out of Posey | CBS Sports - If the Giants want to win the Series, they're going to need more from tehir star catcher. Posey has 15 hits this post-season, but all of them are singles. Where's the power?

Aoki may be benched for Game 3 | Twitter (Andy McCullogh) - Ned Yost is considering starting the Jarrod Dyson, the better defensive player, in his place.

The 10 unlikeliest World Series heroes | Sports On Earth - Omar Infante broke Game 2 open with his clutch hitting. Yes, Omar Infante. And he's far from the least likely World Series hero. David Eckstein, anyone?

Joe Carter's walkoff happened 21 years ago | Hardball Talk - Doesn't get much better than this one.

Indians news & notes

Bringing Victor "home" | Did The Tribe Win Last Night? - What would it take to bring Victor Martinez back? A lot of things. A lot of things the Indians probably won't or can't do, according to DDTWLN.

Tony Awards: minor league pitcher of the year | Indians Baseball Insider - Tony Lastoria runs down his list of organizational pitcher of the year candidates, including Mitch Brown, Shawn Morimondo, and Adam Plutko among others. Note that the winner is the pitcher with the best performance, regardless of prospect status.

Other MLB news

How international free agents killed offense | Burning River Baseball - BRB takes an in-depth, unorthodox look at the influx of international players and how that wave plus the lack of expansion has indirectly led to a decrease in offensive production.

Jays open negotiations with Cabrera | CBS Sports - The Blue Jays appear willing to offer Melky Cabrera a three-year contract but "insiders" think Melky could be looking for a five-year deal.

Phillies re-sign Sizemore | Twitter (Jim Salibury) - Everyone's favorite LGFT Grady Sizemore is back with Philadelphia on a one-year deal.

Awesome posters of famous baseball plays | CBS Sports - Striking graphics depicting a bunch of great plays and also Derek Jeter's flip.

Good news: Blue Jays will continue the best ticket offer in MLB. Bad news: it will only be offered to current pass holders.

Despite the bad news that the Blue Jays are increasing prices for season tickets and flex packs, there is some good news to report from the Blue Jays ticket office. Bluebird Banter has learned that the club has decided to continue to offer a Ballpark Pass for the 2015 season (the catch is that the sale will only be open to patrons who held a pass in 2014) however, we do not yet know the price of the pass, which has been $95 since at least 2006.

The Blue Jays' Ballpark Pass is probably the best ticket deal in Major League Baseball: the $95 pass, which is transferable, entitles the holder a specific 500-level seat for 80 home games (all save for the Home Opener) a season. Most pass holders would not attend all 80 games, but those who do would be paying just $1.19 per game. But unlike season tickets, pass holders would not get paper tickets but would have to swipe their card to gain entry, and they would also not have any priority for postseason ticket purchases (which has not been a problem, really).

The Ballpark Pass began as a Toronto Star dollar-a-game promotion in the 1990s. As far as we know, they were offered to the broad public until the 2013 season, when the Blue Jays only sold the passes to customers who already had a pass in the previous season. In addition, before 2013, fans would have to present their pass at the Rogers Centre box office on gameday in order to obtain a paper ticket for a 500-level seat; since 2013, fans have been assigned a particular seat for the season and they would simply present the card at the gate for entry.

Even though I hold the Ballpark Pass, I also purchase a 20-ticket flex pack in order to get good seats for the Home Opener and other popular games such as Canada Day and bobblehead giveaways. The 20-ticket flex pack is much better than the 10-, 15-, and 40-game flex packs as one could get multiple tickets for the same game.

The lucky ones who have a Ballpark Pass can expect an email from the ticket office in the next couple of months with details of how to purchase the 2015 pass.

Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo, gives us this little nugget of information:

Mark Buehrle, LHP, Blue Jays - Buehrle will be made available in a trade, though his $19 million contract will likely be a deterrent unless the Jays are willing to assume part of it. The Jays need to replenish their player depth and the quick-working Buehrle might be a way to do it. Buehrle seems more tradable than knuckleballer R.A. Dickey. The Jays will have youngsters Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez in their rotation to go along with J.A. Happ.

More tradable than a guy that turns 40 this week, seems like as damning with faint praise as you can get.

Stating that the Jays will have Aaron Sanchez in the rotation is either a guess, or he has information that I haven't seen. I think Sanchez would have to do very well in spring training to win a spot in the rotation. I'm not sure what the Jays will do. There are holes in the bullpen that need to be filled too. As much as I'd rather Sanchez be a starter, the draw of having someone with his stuff in the bullpen might be too much for the Jays to ignore.

Getting some more payroll flexibility  is likely high on Alex Anthopoulos' to do list. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if someone were to take Buehrle's contract off his hands, even if he has to send some money along with him. If he can save some money and fill in one of the several glaring holes the team has, I'm sure he'd be thrilled.

Last winter Alex didn't do much to fix the various holes the Jays had in their roster. I don't think he can afford to ignore the problems on the roster,

Hitting coach Kevin Seitzer is leaving the Blue Jays for the Braves for the same role, according to Braves beat reporter Mark Bowman.

The #Braves have hired Kevin Seitzer as their new hitting coach. An official announcement could be made as early as today.

— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) October 27, 2014

Seitzer, 52, was named hitting coach for the Blue Jays less than a year ago to replace Chad Mottola, who had also only served in that role for one season. Seitzer had previously been a batting coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Kansas City Royals, where he was a colleague of manager John Gibbons. He also has a connection with current Braves president Jon Schuerholz, who drafted and watched Seitzer play when he served as the Royals' general manager.

The Blue Jays have recently adopted a policy of only signing their coaches to one-year deals that expire at the end of each season. Indeed, Shi Davidi confirmed that Seitzer has departed from the club and was on a one-year contract. Essentially, unless extended, coaches are free to leave the club in a horizontal move if they please. Manager John Gibbons, however, is signed to a "permanent" two-year contract where if he is not fired by January 1 of one year, another guaranteed year is added to the deal.

We heard a lot about Kevin Seitzer's coaching influence on the TV broadcasts, especially at the beginning of the season. Indeed, he did stress making gap-to-gap contact at the plate and worked with his batters to hit the ball the other way to beat shifts. Coaches, especially at the major league level, probably do not make that much of a difference on wins and losses overall, but they can have tremendous effects on individual players. Seitzer seemed to have worked wonders for the pull hitter Jose Bautista in 2014, but his hitting philosophy did not go over well with Colby Rasmus. Although not popular with Rasmus, Seitzer was popular around here, with 87% of readers voting that the Blue Jays should retain him for the 2015 season.

The man who will replace Kevin Seitzer will become the Blue Jays' fourth hitting coach since 2012. I wonder what effect the recent high turnovers in the coaching ranks will have on the organization and whether that is just normal turnover or if it reflects something deeper about the way the club works.

UPDATE

Shi Davidi writes that the rest of the coaching staff will return to the fold in 2015 save Bob Stanley, who will be re-assigned within the organization, probably as a pitching coach somewhere in the minors. Mike Wilner was told that Seitzer and the Blue Jays had trouble coming to terms on his contract renewal. There isn't a lot of detail, but I have a feeling that it has more to do with term than dollars.

In other news, the Mets have hired long-time Yankees batting coach Kevin Long to a three-year deal, which is a significant amount of job security for a coach.

The Blue Jays Managers & Coaches Timeline will have to be updated.

With the World Series wrapping up as early as tomorrow night, there will finally start being real Blue Jays news to sink our teeth into (aside from the hitting coach leaving). Alex Anthopoulos and crew will be faced with four players who have team options for 2015 that the front office must either accept or decline. We've talked about the specific situations a little bit recently and it seems most people have reached a consensus on how they think the team will go about handling these four cases.

If you haven't been pouring over the contract statuses of the Blue Jays like some fellow Banterers have then here's a reminder of the 'option' options that the Blue Jays face in the coming days. Righty Brandon Morrow has a $10 million option for 2015 with a $1 million buyout. Adam Lind has a $7.5 million option with a $1 million buyout, as well as a $8 million buyout for 2016 with only a $500,000 buyout. Lefty starter J.A. Happ has a $6.7 million option for next season with a $200,000 buyout. Lastly, Dustin McGowan has a $4 million option with a $500,000 buyout for 2015.

Your job in the comments section is to give your best guess as to how each of the four major option cases are handled by the team. The third choice is that the team declines an option, but then re-signs the player on a different contract. There's no prize for getting all four correct, except probably some people emailing you for the next week's lottery numbers.

As I've written before, I believe the Morrow contract will be declined to free up the money to make larger upgrades to the team. It'd be nice to bring Brandon back on a more incentive-laden contract for a few years, but there's going to be a plethora of teams lining up to give him another shot as a starter while paying a lot more than the Blue Jays will be willing to offer.

I actually think the Blue Jays pick up the option on Lind, since he's provided pretty consistent value when he's used correctly. His type of skill-set will also certainly produce a ton of trade value near the deadline as a rental if the Blue Jays are out of the playoff race (please don't let this happen). It seems much more likely that the 2016 option is declined since it has a cheaper buyout and Lind's back issues will likely start to catch up to him eventually.

I think the Happ option is a no-brainer as he's done nothing wrong during his time in Toronto and provides fair value for a $6.7 million contract. He's a veteran fifth starter and no one is expecting anything more from him, so there isn't really any good reason to let him walk. Perhaps if you believe strongly that young guys like Aaron Sanchez can step right into the rotation then there wouldn't be a need for Happ, but that isn't going to be the case.

Lastly, the McGowan option comes down to what the front office thinks they can get out of the righty in 2015. If they see him as a possible closer or high-leverage reliever, then $4 million isn't too steep of a price to pay considering all of the other affordable contracts currently in the bullpen. The sentimental value of McGowan finally performing after so many years of struggle shouldn't play into the decision, but it would certainly be sad to see him go this offseason. I like to think that Anthopoulos will pick McGowan's option up.

Those are my predictions (yes to Lind, Happ, and McGowan, plus a no to Morrow), now it's time to hear what all you folks think.

The Blue Jays have picked up Justin Smoak off waivers from the Seattle Mariners.

Smoak was a 1st round draft pick by the Rangers (number 11 overall) in 2008.

Smoak has never lived up to that first round pick status. He has a .224/.309/.380 slash line, with 74 home runs, and 234 RBI in 566 games over 5 seasons. His best season was 2013, he played 131 games for the M's, hitting .238/.334/.412 with 20 home runs and 50 RBI in 131 games.

A switch hitter he hits RHP (.709 OPS) better than LHP (.650) career.

I'd imagine the Jays see him as a under performer, and will see how he does in spring training. He could be a replacement for Lind if he's traded.

There is this::

Smoak was out of options next year and wasn't going to be tendered after his option was declined, so this just saves some paperwork.

— Scott Weber (@LookoutLanding) October 28, 2014

But then, maybe the Jays will be able to slip him through waivers, since no one below the Jays made a claim on him this time. Smoak has a $3.65 team option for 2015, with a $150,000 buy out.

He'll give Seitzer a project this spring

Here are his career numbers:

Three weeks ago we asked you to go out to vote in the 2014 Minor League Baseball awards (the MiLBYs) after the Blue Jays received eight nominations. You obviously did so: out of the seven non-video nominations, the Blue Jays received two awards: Dalton Pompey is the 2014 Breakout Prospect and Daniel Norris is the 2014 Top Starting Pitcher.

Pompey received the plurality (42%) of the fans' vote in the Breakout Prospect category, way ahead of the first runner-up Kevin Ziomek (29%). His teammate Daniel Norris received just 6% of the votes, but was chosen as the MiLB Staff's Choice for the category.

In the Top Starting Pitcher category, Daniel Norris won a majority (51%) with teammate Kendall Graveman coming in second at 12%, tied with Lucas Giolito.

Arik Sikula had a solid season in relief, but he really had no chance in the Top Relief Pitcher with Akeel Morris's stupendous season with the single-A Savannah Sand Gnats. Morris received 59% of the votes (really should have had way more) but Sikula finished with a very respectable 10% in third place. The Blue Jays organization tapped with a nomination for Best Farm System, but they really didn't have a chance in that category. An overwhelming 66% of voters chose the Mets for this category. Brett Wallace's three-homer, six-RBI game during the Bisons' playoff push didn't get the recognition it deserved (1%) in the Best Performance category. Instead, voters (41%) voted for Grant Kay's cycle in his professional debut. I thought the 12-strikeout no-hitter effort by Andres Santiago would have taken the category, but I guess people have a fascination with cycles.

The Best Blooper category winner won't be announced until October 31, so we will have to wait to see if the 59% of you who predicted that the Blue Jays would get 1-2 MiLBYs guessed correctly or not.

Before the madness of the offseason gets underway tomorrow, the Blue Jays made a small signing this afternoon picking up right-handed reliever Gregory Infante. What do you need to know about the 27-year-old from Venezuela? He throws GAS. That's about all there is to know actually... The righty pitched with the Jays in both AA and AAA this season throwing 46.1 innings and ending with an ERA of 1.94. Most of his time was spent being the New Hampshire Fisher Cats' closer, resulting in a total of 22 saves with the team.

#bluejays announce they've re-signed minor-league RHP Gregory Infante to a minor-league deal w/ invite to spring training.

— Brendan Kennedy (@BKennedyStar) October 29, 2014

Infante has a fastball that runs in the high-90's along with a curveball and changeup. The reliever was originally signed out of Caracas, Venezuela as an amateur free agent in 2006 by the Chicago White Sox and was considered a solid prospect in his early years with the team. Going into the 2010 season, Infante was actually the #9 prospect for the White Sox according to FanGraphs who projected him to be a solid back-end of the bullpen guy.

He never really flamed out like some career minor leaguers (nor like our Minor Leaguer), but he never got much of a shot at the major league level (just five appearances in 2010). Likely the Venezuelan will continue to be a closer in the Toronto minor league system, but it's a name to remember if he happens to get a shot with the big league squad sometime next season.

Minor Leaguer dug up this nugget from earlier in the year:

Blue Jays Double-A reliever Gregory Infante hit 100 mph four times in one inning. Bit of a one-trick pony, but a pretty cool trick to have.

— Ben Badler (@BenBadler) July 9, 2014

One of the most talked about issues around the 2014 trade deadline was how the Blue Jays didn't make any moves due to their feeling that none of the potential deals made sense 'baseball-wise'. Most fans knew that money played a bigger role than any of the front office was willing to admit, especially when many of these traded players ended up performing extremely well with their new teams. Two players that were acquired by the Yankees at the deadline in Brandon McCarthy and Chase Headley ended up filling holes for New York that were left gaping for the Blue Jays, which irked more than a few people (including some Blue Jays players).

With Paul Beeston making it clear that money is still not an issue, we might as well give him the benefit of the doubt early in the offseason and assume that Alex Anthopoulos has all the resources he needs to upgrade the roster in the coming months. With that in mind, we can focus more on how much sense certain free agents make 'baseball-wise' and assume that cash is only playing a small role. The free agent under the microscope today is the former Yankees third baseman I already mentioned in 30-year-old Chase Headley. After the Padres got very little in return for the switch hitter, Headley went to New York and hit .262/.371/.398 with six home runs in 58 games making it hard to to believe that he wouldn't have made sense 'baseball-wise' on the Toronto Blue Jays.

Thankfully, Headley was just a rental for the Yankees and will hit the market as a free agent in the coming days looking to cash in on his consistent performance in the past five years. Over at FanGraphs the crowdsourcing projections assume he'll get somewhere in the neighbourhood of four years and $56 million this offseason, which could be on the lower end of the scale if we're being honest. On the surface, this doesn't exactly resemble a contract that the Blue Jays would ever agree to with a free agent, especially with their payroll already being pretty high. On the flip side, the rumours of Adam Lind and Mark Buehrle being on the trade block give the impression that the front office is shedding big salaries and will probably end up having some money to throw around this offseason. Whether they actually decide to use it is anybody's guess, but Anthopoulos is probably beginning to feel a little heat from upper management and may ditch his cautious style to save his job instead of facing a potential rebuild if things go poorly once again in 2015.

Assuming that the move fits on the financial side of the ledger, does Chase Headley make sense 'baseball-wise' in November of 2014 just three months after he apparently didn't make sense at the trade deadline? As we saw over the course of the past season the team is quite willing to play Brett Lawrie at second base which opens up some flexibility at the third base position, not to mention the fact that Lawrie is hurt most of the time anyway. Bringing a guy in like Headley, who has played at least 130 games in five of the last six seasons albeit with some troubling injuries, would potentially shore up the hot corner while also allowing Lawrie to fill the ever-present hole at second base as well as providing both players with rest at the DH position.

Headley's defence is phenomenal with a 48.1 UZR over his career at third base with 20.9 of that coming in this past season. While players like Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez will receive larger paydays this offseason thanks to their more impressive offensive numbers, Headley likely will slide slightly under the radar and probably be underpaid thanks to the un-sexiness of defensive numbers in free agency. By no means is Headley an offensive black hole though, as he has the ability to consistently get on base despite a high strikeout rate, while also providing a fair amount of power to boot.

With all of the roster inflexibility issues that cropped up during the 2014 season it would certainly help having another switch hitter in the lineup who can hit both lefties and righties equally well, considering the team could be losing another one of those players in Melky Cabrera. With the turf potentially causing an issue for a number of the Blue Jays players, this added flexibility would allow Lawrie and Headley to see more DH time leading to an increased chance that they both remain on the field more often going forward.

The days before free agency kick off are always the most optimistic for baseball fans beside Spring Training because nothing seems impossible and dreaming of Chase Headley manning the hot corner at the Rogers Centre helps you forget about the fact that baseball is done for four months. Although the Blue Jays will likely be too cautious in the free agency market, there's a real opportunity to pay below fair-value for Headley thanks to the other third basemen in the free agent class. The team hasn't had consistent performance from the third base position since Scott Rolen and eventually they will need to address the fact that Brett Lawrie can't stay healthy for extended periods of time. The coming months will really put into view how much financial flexibility the front office actually has and whether all this talk of a payroll increase is true or not. In my eyes the signing of Chase Headley would make sense "baseball-wise" but I also thought the same thing three months ago and look how that worked out.