u/supremewuster

Of these 3 options :

1. Lean toward Rebuild: trade anyone who has trade value, ditch the journeymen, accept a possible losing season but get some young talent in the pipeline

2. Adjust: try to get a bat or two in offseason and restock pitching, but basically this team minus Springer, rely mainly on return of Santandar and Barger and return of pitchers from injury

3. Reunion tour: bring back Springer, Gausman and maybe even Bo and try to rebuild the same 2020s core that went to the World Series

Don’t downvote me just for throwing out options - I’m not endorsing any of the 3 just starting conversation.

(Formatting on a similar post got wrecked so had to rewrite it)

I am getting a weird form of whiplash from the back and forth, from total despair to feeling tiny but probably misleading sensations of hope (writing this as Jays are up 6-2 after losing 2 in a row to Texas)

It reminds me of dating in high school, come to think of it

(edit: I think it is in part the professionalism of our announcers Dan Shulman and Joe Siddall, who maintain the same upbeat tone no matter how badly we are doing. If I had the job there's no way I could stay calm during the first two Texas games)

Over the last few years NYPD has been engaged in more quality-of-life policing, via a Q-team, which targets things like open container violations, public urination, abandoned vehicles, noise violations, obstructions of sidewalks, sleeping on subways, and so on.

Here is a link to the stats for arrests last week under the initiative (they do weekly updates) https://www.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/qteam_data/qteam-statistics/qs-en-us-CITYWIDE.pdf

(Some crazy things in there, like handling over 800 "people in distress" PER WEEK)

The so-called Q-team has issued some 97,000 violations over the last year (per Gothamist). Are you generally in favor? Or do you think the NYPD should direct its attention instead to more serious crimes or other priorities?

And hey don't downvote me for just opening discussion .. feels like a topic we should discuss

As Caleb I think pointed out, the Jays keep managing to come back and win one after losing one, and that reflex is really serving them well right now.

I do think teams develop reflexes like that, weird as it is -- the best reflex is just to win all the time, but recovering from loses isn't a bad one

We’re in last place in the AL East, 15 games behind the division leader and its the end of August. By any reasonable assessment our season should be over but here we are gunning for the playoffs and hell maybe the World Series

I have some purist tendencies and the purist in me remembers when only two truly great teams in each league made it to the playoffs (4 total) — and I should aghast

.. but this way is way more fun. So many teams and their fans still in it

Some super intense series coming up in addition to the roller coaster of this month

Nathan Lukes was not gifted with the natural skills of a superstar. He’s never going to hit 40 HRs or steal 40 bases. But has grit, never gave up on baseball and in games like yesterday he is saving us

I can never get over the fact that he Lukes was drafted in 2015 (number 201), and then spent the better part of a decade in the minors earning peanuts

Most people I think would quit and try and get a normal job yet somehow he stuck it out. Came up some in his late 20s until finally breaking through as a Jays regular in 2025 at age 30 — two years older than Kirk is now and after some guys retire

That’s real grit and I think it shows in the way he plays .. every AB he puts the pitcher through it best he can. when he fields he gives it his all.

And lately he’s been saving our team along with Kirk and our pitchers and the younger guys. If the Blue Jays make the playoffs this year it’ll be thanks to guys like Lukes

I can never get over the fact that he Lukes was drafted in 2015 (number 201), and then spent the better part of a decade earning nothing in the minors

Most people I think would quit and try and get a normal job yet somehow he stuck it out and breaking through as a Jays regular in 2025 at age 30

That’s real grit and I think it shows in the way he plays .. every AB he puts the pitcher through it, when he fields he tries his best every time

And lately he’s been saving our team along with Kirk and our pitchers and the younger guys

Anyone remember Cavan Biggio? Noticed that at age 31 he signed a minor league contract with Houston’s AAA team to try and find his way back to the majors

So far he has a .234 AVG | .388 OBP | .427 SLG | .815 OPS with 16 HRS in about 100 games

Which is kind of like his rookie 2019 season for the Blue Jays (he was 6th in voting for rookie of the year)

.235 AVG | .364 OBP | .429 SLG | .793 OPS also 16 HR and also about 100 games

Except in 2019 that was major league pitching…

Anyhow well I wish the guy the best.

Houston was his father’s team so there’s that.

Gotta be tough to return to the minors in your 30s after playing big league ball but I guess he just loves playing baseball

Remember Cavan Biggio? I noticed that Biggio, now age 31, signed a minor league contract with Houston’s AAA team to try and find his way back to the majors

So far he has a .234 AVG | .388 OBP | .427 SLG | .815 OPS with 16 HRS

Which is really similar to his rookie 2019 season for the Blue Jays when he was #6 in rookie of the year voting

.235 AVG | .364 OBP | .429 SLG | .793 OPS also 16 HR.

Except 2019 was against major league pitching…

Anyhow well I wish the guy all the best.

Houston was his father’s team so there’s that.

Gotta be tough to return to the minors in your 30s but I guess he just loves playing baseball

I think it is unlikely, but even though we have done better lately, our offense sure has missed him this season.

A reminder that he batted .387 with runners in scoring position last year and has often had the most hits in the majors. Yes Vladdy and Springer have also gone missing, figuratively speaking, so his absence hasn’t been the whole problem. But he was so long a core contributor (other than 2024) and he and Vlad seem to do better together.

Yes he’d be expensive. I assume he’d be DH and sometimes play infield, depending on who else we keep or let go.

Edit: options for where he’d play (response to “there’s no room /where does he go?”) — he could rotate between :

1. DH
2. 2B with Ernie at 3B and Okamoto DH
3. 3B with Okamoto DH

I’m guessing the idea of this sub is to allow more free discourse than the regular Blue Jays sub — less of the mods deleting everything they disagree with or judge to be “low effort” (usually due to disagreement).

is that right?

Edit: if that is the purpose of this sub (as it seems to be) I am in favor and happy it got started. If people get sick of criticism they can always switch back to the regular sub and get the endless sunshine

Someone I know, who knows her and her family, told me that her family convinced her to enter treatment

I recall someone posting that they had wondered where she went and were worried. So good news at least for now

Starting to notice that some of the movies I loved as a kid (eg Stand by me) have been less successful. What 80s movies have your kids liked? (70s / 90s okay too)

Unless you ask for "room" it is typical for Barristas or other coffee servers to fill coffee cups all the way to the very top. That is not the case with other drinks you might order (water or soft drinks I think) and definitely not the case with cocktails beer or wine.

oldtimers, is this a newish thing? Former Barristas or servers do customers expect coffee to be served this way and complain if it is not?

bonus q: do you like it that way?

I'm staying with a friend near Truckee California and when you walk around everyone says "hi" or waves. (Edit: I am not in downtown Truckee though)

bonus q: what do people say if there's a stop and chit chat (here people say "nice day today!")

Also: where are you.

For some countries, Ive lived eg Switzerland or much of Latin America the answer is clear one way or another.

But the UK is a puzzle -- seems that some rules obeyed strictly while others are disregarded and definitely a lot of people saying that others are breaking the rules

Is there a pattern to it? Does it depend by region?

edit: why the downvotes? I did not mean to cause offense to what I consider a lovely place to live. (Perhaps I inadvertedly violated an unwritten rule)

My daughter is 1/4 chinese, looks a bit chinese but not very chinese. We are however in good touch with our Taiwanese relations and she thinks if herself as part Taiwanese.

She asked me if she is a "person of color." What is the answer or how would you handle?

esit: I didnt grow up in the USA so some of the phraseology is not native to me