Jays resigned to playing out string
Team faces big decisions with 67 games left
There is no mercy rule in baseball. The games and the drama must go on.
For the 2018 Toronto Blue Jays, the post all-star break still has 67 games to be played, most of them with minimal consequence beyond future development.
Of course, with this team, it’s been that way for a while with back-to-back dreadful seasons.
DOG DAYS
The Jays kick off the nominal second half of the season on Friday with a sixgame homestand and they do so trailing the AL East leading Boston Red Sox by 23 1/2 games and the Seattle Mariners — holders of the second AL wild card spot — by 14 games. Grim indeed.
But on with the show indeed and with that in mind, here’s our list — both good and bad — of what to look for from the Jays between now and the Sept. 30 merciful end to the season.
JOSHIN’ AROUND
When will we see 2015 MVP and once perennial allstar Josh Donaldson return, if at all?
It’s been a lost season for the starry third baseman, who has played in just 36 games. His latest stint on the DL, which has now reached 41 games due to a strain in his calf, has brought with it residual damage both to Donaldson, a pending free agent, and the team.
When (if?) he returns, there won’t be enough time for Donaldson to display the form that would make him attractive as trade bait prior to the non-waiver deadline. Beyond that, will the team have an interest in re-signing him, or would he even want to stay?
ANYBODY OUT THERE?
Through 49 home dates thus far, the Jays are down a whopping 523,106 from last season, a year in which they led the league in attendance for the second straight season.
While that’s not a disaster as they are still rank fifth in the league, it’s not a stretch that it could get worse the rest of the way and that close to a million fewer fans will fill the Rogers Centre seats by the time the season is over.
Consider, for example, that 10 of the remaining home dates are against the Tampa Bay Rays, who may be in third in the AL East but are hardly a big draw. There are also six games left against the Orioles, now without Manny Machado, beginning with a three-game set on the weekend.
Want to see the New York Yankees? Wait till next season.
CLOSING TIME
Since the early hours of May 8 when Roberto Osuna was charged with domestic assault on a woman, the Jays have been without a true closer.
Osuna, who is pitching on an MLB-approved rehab assignment in Dunedin, is eligible to rejoin the Jays roster on Aug. 5 when the team is in Seattle. It is there, if he sees game action, that we’ll get an indication of how the fan base is going to react.
Osuna has served his time with MLB in the form of a 75-game suspension, but with his case currently unresolved in the courts, fan reaction to the 2017 all-star figures to be intriguing at the very least.
HAPP TO IT
Speaking of all-stars, how many starts will Jays fans see of lefty J.A. Happ?
With his first all-star game behind him, the 35-year-old is scheduled to pitch Sunday against the Orioles.
But now that Machado has been dealt, Happ is one of the highest-profile names remaining on the trade market heading toward the July 31 non-waiver deadline.
So where will Happ end up and what will he bring? Buzz in Washington was that the Jays are asking for a lot — including a top tier prospect — with interest said to be scattered far and wide. The Yankees appear to be at the top, but Milwaukee and the Chicago Cubs also have been mentioned prominently.
And still with trade talk, there’s plenty of other trade possibilities including a number of arms in the Jays bullpen, fellow starter Marco Estrada (if he recovers from a glute injury) and outfielder Curtis Granderson.
STRO SHOW SNAPS?
Will Marcus Stroman completely lose it before the season ends?
Considering he’s coming off of back-to-back 200-plus inning seasons and was on a trajectory towards becoming one of the elite starters in the game, a sentiment he expressed in the off season, Stroman has to classify as one of the biggest disappointments of this season.
His 5.86 ERA has soared to almost double the careerbest 3.09 of 2017 and the struggles have been plenty.
He admitted he rushed back from a shoulder injury in the spring which led to a DL stint that was a mental break as much as anything. And four starts back after his first win of the season boldly declared his swagger is back.
Following his most recent outing in Boston, however, Stroman lost his cool, stating in an interview the Jays were “f—ing terrible.” Can’t imagine that played well in the clubhouse.