I hope Biggio ends up on another major league team, and not a tire fire one.
Pitching-wise, I guess we’re currently holding the 5th spot for another week with Bowden Francis (and maybe Trevor Richards) before Yariel Rodríguez presumably gets it going forward the next time through. We do not have a lot of depth.
It’s sad news for Manoah. It seems like he’d worked really hard to get back here after disastrously falling off last year. Now injury. Get well Big Puma!
Should: Sell!!! Bring up your top prospects and get them some big league experience. Perhaps those hitters at triple A can spark the offense. Move the pending free agents while you still have some value in them.
Will do: nothing. Management will keep on picking up trying reclaim projects hoping for some spark.
We have talent, unless I’ve been sorely mislead by the sports writers about our future stars… And they seem to be doing well in the minors. Bring them up.
Move George down in the lineup! They should definitely do it. I think they will do it eventually, and perhaps they’ll do it soon. I wouldn’t be surprised if they do it to start the series with the Twins
I think it’d be interesting to make the order based on OPS or something. Reward the guys producing with the higher spots.
The commentators said today that guys are in the cages/BP for several hours, and while I’m definitely an armchair coach, perhaps that’s the issue… more practice doesn’t equal better performance if it’s poor practice. Was hitting not the issue at the end of last season? Did they get a new hitting coach?
Many commentators don’t see this as a new season, but as an extension of last season as the hitting issues are largely the same as last year’s. Re: changes to hitting coaches, they sent 1 coach (Dave Hudgens) down to AAA and they promoted Don Mattingly from bench coach to offensive coordinator.
I think either Blair or Barker mentioned this. Hitters who’ve just joined the Jays seem to perform pretty well compared to hitters who’ve been with the organization a while. Top 3 hitters by OPS+ ranked 1, 2, 3 (min 2 plate appearances per team games played): 2024: Davis Schneider, Justin Turner, Daulton Varsho (who was ice cold until he started working with his ex-MLB dad this season) 2023: Brandon Belt, Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Jays hitters suffer from two much information, which as Barker points out may be even more unhelpful when you’re already struggling (and prone to over-thinking). (We also know Vladdy is calling all sorts of hitting coaches outside of the organization; Bo’s been working with his ex-MLB dad lately.)
Watching the Phillies last night was something. They seem to have a simpler, see ball-hit ball approach. They pull soft, they push hard to the opposite field. Rough outing for Berríos.
Agreed, it’s like golf, if you’re into that. If you’re thinking about 1000 different mechanical things, you’ll never have a nice swing. If you just make one fluid motion using your entire body for power, it turns out pretty well.
Let’s see what comes up tomorrow. A wake up call to the offense and just hit the shit out of the ball and score runs, or stay anemic and let the great starting pitching down. Bullpen no good, we need serious offense to save this season. It’s been gone for 3 years now.
In the last 3 outings, Gausman had a decent one, Kikuchi was outstanding and Bassitt found his old self back. What’s more to ask. If the starters can keep having quality starts, we’re in business.
I love what I see at bat right now, guys are hustling their asses off, way more than what they did a week ago.
I still believe they’ll end up third or fourth in the AL East and won’t make the cut for the playoffs though.
I hope Swanson and Romano get their groove back, as you stated, Garcia is the most effective closer right now.
Having Jano back behind the plate is somewhat comforting, I prefer his calling of the game rather than Kirk’s but that’s just my feeling.
I hope they get 4 out of the next 7 games; one against the Padres and three against the Royals.
Agreed that our pitching and bats appear to be trending in the right direction, and it’s exciting to see. Taking 4 out of 7 would be sweet! The Royals are off to a hot start and have the 2nd best pitching in the MLB right now. I could see us taking 2 from the Dads and splitting the Royals series. I think your ‘just missing the wildcard’ prediction is pretty sound. But-- if we keep winning series… :) (and I told myself I wasn’t going to get unreasonably optimistic this year lol)
Not gonna lie, you had me in the first half… For a short moment I thought that a rare species of bird saw their population increase due to the implementation of adequate environmental policies. Anyway, enjoy your team winning!
The rogers sportsnet broadcasts are increasingly annoying. As soon as the formal commercial break ends, there’s another commercial for skydome tickets. They’ve also started overlaying silly banners that are intended to look like they’re part of the stadium, and they give these silly graphics air time instead of showing what’s happening on the field. And there are more in-game banner ads to the broadcast 😒
Favourite moment: In one of the matchups against the Yanks – the first game against Gil I think – the Jays were struggling to get runs in. Daulton Varsho – typically a great baserunner – had missed an opportunity to score from 3rd on a ground ball earlier in the game. Now, the bases were loaded. Alejandro Kirk who is one of the league’s slowest runners was on 3rd. Springer was at the plate. There was a wild pitch. Springer let Alejandro know that he should steal home on the wild pitch: “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!!!” He was louder and more emphatic than any other player I’ve heard at the plate do this, probably because he knows Kirky is slow and has little room for error. It was a little amusing but mostly it was a heartwarming display of great and effective teamwork to me!
Coming into the season I forecast that the Jays would get a bottom wildcard spot or just miss the wildcard. Performance this year has been hot and cold (e.g., runs scored per game, quality of starting pitching), and I’m beginning to think things could perhaps go worse for the club this year (e.g., 4th/5th in the AL East and/or trading Vladdy mid-season). Two causes of concern:
Gausman quickly coming back from an injury, having an ERA of almost 12, and a noticeable drop in his velocity. As a two or three pitch starter, small drops in his speed or command might greatly reduce his effectiveness. There are downstream effects on the rest of the pitching staff if the Jays’ presumed #1 pitcher in their rotation performs like a #2-4 arm.
There are serious conversations between Vladdy and Edwin Encarnacíon in the dugout during games when we’re only 14 games into the season. I think a lot in both Vladdy’s and the Jays’ future depends on whether Vladdy can return to his 2021 or even 2022 form this year. That Eddie has been brought in this early seems sobering.
Good news is that we’re due to receive reinforcements soon: Danny Jansen, Alek Manoah, Jordan Romano, Erik Swanson!
I don’t perceive the thirst for wins they once had, mainly when Teoscar and Gurriel Jr. were still in TO.
I think the players might be aware that the team might not be good enough (offensively) and is on the brink of a rebuild without many ingredients for a promising future; they might have a tough time weathering a cold streak as a result. Looking back it’s amazing how much the front office took run production and supporting Vladdy (e.g., protection, friends on the bench, coaching) for granted and how costly that’s been
Based on the last couple of seasons, I was expecting Vladdy, Bichette, Davis the mustache, and even Kirk to be putting the ball over the fence a bit more often.
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