Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperMatt18
The three year evolution of this team is quite something to behold TBH.
2022: Too one dimensional, bad defense, great offense but overly reliant on the HR, poor pitching (Berrios and Kikuchi both had poor seasons)
2023: Good pitching, good defense, average hitting
2024: Great pitching, good defense, terrible offense
It's actually kind of funny looking at this thread - https://forum.calgarypuck.com/showth...=189696&page=2 - most people actually were saying moving on from Teo or Gurriel was needed.
In the end the return on those deals is more the issue, but the managment team did what a lot of fans and media were calling for at the time...improve the defense and pitching/bullpen at the expense of the bats...they just overrotated on that and the trades they made were questionable.
The one telling thing though is it's three seasons now where Vlad hasn't been able to figure out his launch angle issues...I can't believe this team is hesitant to try a new batting coach (or even just try to bring Dante Bichette back). |
Just reading this now, I think the Jays transition from being an offensive team to a more balanced team with improved D was the right idea after the 2022 playoff loss to the Mariners.
They sacrificed the offense from Teo and Gurriel to improve the D. Not a bad plan IMO, but what nobody saw coming was at the exact same time they also saw a huge dip in offensive production from Vlad, Springer and Kirk. So instead of just losing Teo/Gurriel on offense which would have been fine, they
had basically 5 bats either gone or not producing like they had in 2021 and 2022.
Because the pitching was healthy and strong they were still able to win 89 games in 2023, which IMO is a testament to the depth on the roster, but so far this season those bats haven't really bounced back, plus Bo has also scuffled and the pitching hasn't been healthy.
Still time to turn it around though.