Dein erstes Forum » After two straight seasons of decline i

TORONTO (AP) —n Toronto http://www.philliesfanproshop.com/authentic-pat-neshek-jersey , it’s time to tear down and start over.The Blue Jays had hoped to coax one more competitive push out of the core players remaining from 2015 and 2016, when Toronto made back-to-back appearances in the AL Championship Series. Things looked promising after a 16-12 start, but it didn’t last.A 9-19 mark in May, and injuries to key players including infielder Josh Donaldson and right-handers Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman, combined to sink Toronto’s season. The Blue Jays finished 73-89, three wins fewer than the year before, and announced manager John Gibbons won’t be back next year.Once out of contention, Toronto traded eight players from its opening day roster, including Donaldson, left-hander J.A. Happ and closer Roberto Osuna.In early September, team president Mark Shapiro acknowledged “there is no longer any gray about where we are” regarding a rebuild. A return to playoff contention, he said, is two to four years away.“The only way to find out about who a player is at the major league level is to commit that opportunity and commit to those players,” Shapiro said. “We’re embarking on that process now.”Toronto’s youth movement will take a big step forward when top prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr. arrives Aaron Nola Jersey , likely before the end of next April. The son of the newly enshrined Hall of Famer hit .402 with 14 home runs and 60 RBIs in 61 games at Double-A, and added six more homers in 30 games at Triple-A. Guerrero Jr. is still refining his play at third base, but his bat should help the Blue Jays as soon as he joins the lineup.Other young players to watch in 2019 include infielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr., outfielder Billy McKinney and left-hander Ryan Borucki, all of whom made an impact in their Toronto debuts this season.“I like where we’re going,” said outfielder Randal Grichuk, who hit a career-high 25 homers. “We’ve gotalot of young guys. We’ve got guys in the minor league system that can impact us up here in the future. We’vegota lot of guys up here that performed well this year but will perform even better.”GOODBYE, GIBBY!Before their final home game, the Blue Jays said Gibbons won’t be back to serve out the final year of his contract. Gibbons went 793-789 in two stints with Toronto.“I appreciate all the guys hanging in there,” Gibbons said. “It’s been a tough season.”Gibbons’ departure gives Shapiro and GM Ross Atkins their first opportunity to hire a Blue Jays manager. A potential in-house candidate is 38-year-old John Schneider, a former catcher whose Double-A New Hampshire team won the 2018 Eastern League title.ROTTEN ROTATIONWith four holdovers from their 2016 playoff team in the rotation, starting pitching was supposed to be Toronto’s strength. Instead, Blue Jays starters posted a 5.14 ERA, third worst in the majors. Happ was an All-Star before being traded to the Yankees Juan Samuel Jersey , but Stroman struggled with shoulder and blister issues and Sanchez missed more than two months because of an oddball injury suffered when his finger got stuck in a suitcase. Righty Marco Estrada was mostly healthy, but went 7-14 with a 5.64 ERA.DONALDSON DONEIn his final season before free agency, the Blue Jays hoped Donaldson would help them push for the playoffs or deliver a decent return at the trade deadline. Neither option panned out. The 2015 AL MVP missed time early because of a sore shoulder, then went down again with a calf injury. Donaldson was rehabbing in late August when he was traded to Cleveland for a player to be named.THE BIG MONEYToronto may be going young, but it still has a pair of pricey veterans. Catcher Russell Martin has one year at $20 million left before his five-year deal expires. Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki is owed $20 million in 2019 and $14 million in 2020. There’s a $15 million club option for 2021 with a $4 million buyout. Tulowitzki didn’t play at all this season after surgery in April to repair bone spurs on both heels. He expects to be ready by spring training. The five-time All-Star has missed at least 30 games in seven straight seasons.THE SONS ALSO RISEBesides Guerrero and Gurriel, other ‘Juniors’ in the Blue Jays system include Cavan Biggio, son of Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, and slugger Bo Bichette, son of four-time All-Star Dante Bichette.__ The Angels need a good home stand to get things moving"WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Angels PregameAngels PostgameGamethreadsHalos Heaven PodcastsShohei OhtaniMinor LeaguesInterviewsPregameAngels NewsSeries Preview: Rangers @ Angels (Finally Home)New,27commentsThe Angels need a good home stand to get things movingPDTShareTweetShareShareSeries Preview: Rangers @ Angels (Finally Home)Jennifer Buchanan-USA TODAY SportsIt’s been rough. Very rough. Five games into the season and the Angels are averaging around 2 runs per game. That makes it hard to tally up wins even if you had a guy like Jacab deGrom starting every day.Coming home is a good feeling. You know what I’m talking about. Say you’ve been gone on a long vacation and as great as it was, there is always something about the coziness of your own bed. Opening your own fridge. It’s no different for baseball players and the Angels really need to take that coming home feeling out on a lessor team to get some fire burning in this offense.The Rangers are coming off back to back series wins to start the season, besting the Cubs and Astros in 3 games sets and scoring (also giving up) 34 runs over those 6 games.Know your foe:Rangers - who’s hot (Japan Series):Elvis Andrus1HR, 3RBI, .429 OBPAsdrubal Cabrerra3HR http://www.philliesfanproshop.com/authentic-pat-neshek-jersey , 7RBI, .350 OBP Shawn Kelly3IP, 3K, 0.00 ERA, .111 BAAJose Leclerc3.1IP, 1K, 0.00 ERA, .100 BAA, 2 savesWeather ForecastGAME 1Pitcher vs. BattersNotable StatsSummary:Matt Harvey is coming off a pretty impressive start where he tossed 6 innings of 2 run ball. He did walk 3 and only struck out 1. Harvey has not yet faced the Rangers in his career.Pitch Data:Summary:Edinson gave up 4 runs over his 4 inning start agains the Cubs. He hasn’t pitched all that well in the limited times he’s seen the Angels and both Albert Pujols and Jonathan Lucroy have smashed off him.Pitch Data:GAME 2Pitcher vs. BattersNotable StatsSummary:Felix Pena didn’t have the start he had hoped for to start the season with 4 hits and 4 runs allowed over 3.2 innings. But have no fear! He faced the Rangers twice in September last year and held them to 3 total runs over 13 innings of work.Pitch Data:Summary:Lance Lynn made it through 5.2 innings in his 2018 debut but gave up 10 hits and 7 ER in the process. The Angels faced him twice last year when he was with the Twins - winning one game and losing the other.Pitch Data:GAME 3Pitcher vs. BattersNotable StatsSummary:Tyler Skaggs allowed only 2 runs in his first outing but also only lasted 4.2 innings throwing 86 pitches in the process. Not exactly the picture of efficiency. Those 86 pitches were thrown with only 1 walk. Here’s hoping he can be more effective with his pitches in this start. Pitch Data:Summary:This is like the battle of pitch nibblers. Drew Smyly threw 73 pitches over only 3 innings and that was with just 2 walks in his first start. If he and Skaggs both keep it up at this rate they could throw a combined 140-150 pitches or so in the first 3 or 4 innings in this game. Ouch. Despite that high pitch count and 3 innings of work, Smyly only gave up 1 run to the Astros. Note that Smyly hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2016. He’s a lefty though so don’t expect much from the Angels offense.Pitch Data:GAME 4Pitcher vs. BattersNotable StatsSummary:Summary:Can Chris Stratton part 2 be better than part 1? Let’s hope so. Stratton did settle down a bit after a bad first inning but he gave up 4 ER over 4.1 innings in his Angels debut. The Rangers offense has been pretty good so we’ll see if he can keep them at bay. Pitch Data:Summary:Like most of the Rangers pitching staff, Shelby Miller’s first start didn’t go so well. He allowed 2 runs and 6 hits over 3.2 innings.He also walked 5 batters. Miller has definitely has some control issues the past few years with walk rates in the 4.5 to 4.9 range per 9 innings in 2017 and 2018. Maybe the swing happy Angels can practice some patience in this one.Pitch Data:Overall Verdict: The Angels offense has been struggled in a huge way but this lackluster Texas pitching combined with a home stand may be just what they need to get moving. If they don’t take at least 3 of these games it’s going to be a bad sign because Texas just isn’t that good of a team and they are rebuilding.Current StandingsNotes/Credits:(ERA stats are from last season)(Pitch tracking data from baseballsavant.mlb.com)(Last 5 year splits from FanGraphs Splits Tool)