2023 Toronto Blue Jays Season Thread

[expo2428]

It was a three run game and it's almost like the blue jays just threw in the towel and gave up.

[KelVarnsen]

The over/under of the Jays getting swept by the Red Sox is what? 100.5? 110.5? 99.5?

[Roof-Daddy]

I'm really starting to dislike this team.

2-14 vs the O's and Red Sox?

Really?

####ing REALLY?!

[browna]

Os are a good team, but they need a series win vs the Red Sox.
When you have bases loaded and 1 out as they did today in the 6th when down by 2, you have to capitalize against any team, never mind good ones.

[KelVarnsen]

At this point Latifi has better odds of winning the 2023 F1 season than the Jays have at making the playoffs.

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

I'm really starting to dislike this team.

Like the Flames I started to dislike this team pretty early into the season. Probably even more so because atleast the Flames had to deal with losing their two best players.

Every team goes through slumps but there's no excuse for them to struggle like they have this season.

[bluejays]

It's gotta be a culture thing for this to continue this long. Batters haven't had a good approach in general, so I would have to look at the batting coach mostly but even that's hard to imagine. I really don't get it because they don't seem confident in themselves for the most part. Varsho shouldn't be consistently this bad, where I don't think he put up even a stretch of games where he looked decent. I was laughing when one of the commentators for tsn or sportsnet said the Jays would do that trade again - solidified in my mind how controlled the media is. Anyway, Vlad's been less confident too which is a concern. Springer will continue to be injury ridden but you live and die with him at this point. At a loss all around how collectively they could have a bad approach. We blamed the coaches last year and it continues this year. Could it be them again? Sure. But I'm more inclined to blame the players too now. On the surface I could see Bo rubbing people the wrong way but I think generally guys are not cocky or anything so it really has to be a variety of factors playing into this.

[KelVarnsen]

The Varsho trade is essentially the Sirotka trade. Both trades so incredibly terrible that just keep getting worse and worse.

[Beninho]

Makes you appreciate the 2015 and 2016 teams that much more. Having a team of power hitters who could explode at any time was so much more fun than watching a team built to hit for average scuffle to even do that properly. It’s unfortunate because this is one of the better pitching staffs the Jays have had. Seems like this franchise rarely ever has both firing on all cylinders.

This version of the Jays needs Vlad to be an elite hitter to be a contender, him just being above average has to be the biggest issue long term for this club. They built the team with the expectation that he would build off of 2021 but so far his regression has been eye opening. He has legendary power but does not seem to have the elite pitch recognition like other elite hitters. It doesn’t matter that he can hit balls 480 ft if he cannot adjust. He is still very young but there are lots of worrying signs. If he is not going to be elite I struggle to see how the Jays can be a contender this season or even within the next several.

[bluejays]

I said it since the start of the year, I think going defence first in the OF is overrated if a guy can't hit for close to average if not better. I like Varsho the person. He tries and he's not once complained. It's admirable. But he wasn't a sure thing and surely it's failed so far. They really wanted LHBs for the sake of having them and they grossly miscalculated the effect of the shift ban. If it were me, I'd have sold high on both Chapman and Kiermeier at the deadline. Do their thing this off-season including getting one of them back but retool such that Varsho would come off the bench next year and truly earn his spot. I'd also now start to sell on Kirk and Biggio. I didn't expect a sell at the deadline because pro sports is always weary of doing that if close enough, but sometimes fans know better than just rose colour management.

[Mathgod]

The good news in all of this is that there could potentially be a path to the WS for the Jays that doesn't involve playing an AL East opponent.

Finish in the 3rd WC spot.

Round 1: Minnesota

Round 2: AL West winner

Round 3: AL West WC team (defeated Tampa and Baltimore en route)

WS: The Dodgers, a team the Jays seem to be able to beat

[browna]

The Bichette injury seemed to eliminate the ability to get another bat. They bolster the bullpen, but there's a missing an element/ talisman that brings the team together. It's not usually a star player but one that will command respect in the room. Burhle and Price come to mind from days gone past, but this version of the Jays need one that can swing a bat.

I guess it could or was thought to be Keirmier. It's not Springer.

I think this will be it for Schneider if they don't make it or hit the 3WC and exit quickly. He and the hitting coaches are done, in comes Mattingly next year and that's where I think Atkins and Shapiro take a proper look at things on the offensive side of things, and, like the 2014 Jays which didn't get support, and AA ramped it up for 2015, I think the management will push harder next year like they did in 2015...leaving this year to hope to catch a wave and get in the playoffs and make noise, but resigned to the fact now that it may not happen, which is why they didn't pay for another bat/leader that's required.

[Whynotnow]

The bottom of the first and top of the second told the tale of this game and the difference between these teams. Jays have a great start, getting the first 2 men on. Vlad then steps up, against a pitcher who’s having a tough start, who he’s never seen and swings at the first pitch which is a medium depth fly out. Advances the runner to third as a positive but wasn’t a great approach. Springer comes up and is the black hole he has been, striking out swinging. Chapman follows with a strikeout, I don’t think he even took the bat off his shoulder so he was totally lost. Danger averted for the Orioles.

The top half they come up, Mountcastle gets a hit, of course, the Os string together a few hits and outside of a bad base running decision at home they cash in two runs, enough for them to win the game.

Pretty striking swing of momentum.

[ForeverFlameFan]

This team is still a good team. It's just an absolute crime that we are in arguably the toughest division not only in the MLB, but sports in general. The Red Sox and Yankees are always fighting for a playoff spot in the majority of seasons. When the other two teams in your division start becoming good, well, it becomes extremely hard to gain any kind of ground when you play a great chunk of ball games against the division. Our division record shouldn't be this bad, but it is and is ultimately the downfall of this club for this year. We really need to figure out something with this core.

[flambers]

Jays GM is the next one who should be gone, he had a terrible trade deadline, uses assets to strengthen the pitching (all UFAs)

Then keeps the biggest area of weakness the same, hitting.

Jays are not a tough team to pitch against, this is a huge issue.

Unless some of the key players can turn around their season (Springer, Kirk, Chapman, Guerrero, Varsho)

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by flambers

Jays GM is the next one who should be gone, he had a terrible trade deadline, uses assets to strengthen the pitching (all UFAs)

Then keeps the biggest area of weakness the same, hitting.

Jays are not a tough team to pitch against, this is a huge issue.

Unless some of the key players can turn around their season (Springer, Kirk, Chapman, Guerrero, Varsho)

I actually think he had a good deadline. With the assets he gave up I don’t think he could bring in a legit bat. Dealing their better prospects would’ve been a disaster as they’d be left with nothing prospect wise. So I think the hope from jays management is strengthen the pitching and cross your fingers that hitting figures it out in the next month and a half.

You’d have to think that the core is adjusted this off-season if the season continues as is. There is no plate discipline. Raw hacks at everything.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

This team is still a good team. It's just an absolute crime that we are in arguably the toughest division not only in the MLB, but sports in general. The Red Sox and Yankees are always fighting for a playoff spot in the majority of seasons. When the other two teams in your division start becoming good, well, it becomes extremely hard to gain any kind of ground when you play a great chunk of ball games against the division. Our division record shouldn't be this bad, but it is and is ultimately the downfall of this club for this year. We really need to figure out something with this core.

Yeah, thay are clearly a good team.

They are .623 win % and a +88 run differential against every other team in MLB that isn't Baltimore or Boston.

It's the most ridiculous thing ever. How do you pull a 2-14 record against two teams like that?

It's like setting an NHL record for 1 goal losses while out shooting your opponent and then missing the playoffs by two points.

My sports teams this year are weirdly cursed.

[Roof-Daddy]

Hopefully they can snap the Red Sox curse and sweep them.

Coming out of this stretch 4-3 would be fantastic, but even 3-4 would good from where we are currently sitting.

[ben voyonsdonc]

Originally Posted by bluejays

I actually think he had a good deadline. With the assets he gave up I don’t think he could bring in a legit bat. Dealing their better prospects would’ve been a disaster as they’d be left with nothing prospect wise. So I think the hope from jays management is strengthen the pitching and cross your fingers that hitting figures it out in the next month and a half.

They should have pushed all of their chips in after getting Hicks. In for a penny, in for a pound. Instead, management half assed the deadline.

This team’s window is closing really quickly. We are going to lose a huge chunk of the team this off season and don’t have any stud prospects coming up to take their spots. We didn’t get guys who could address the issues that we have now or controllable assets to help replace those we are losing after this season. We only have a few years left with Bichette and a possibly declining Vladdy so we can’t afford to let these years slip by.

It’s a lot easier to get prospects than championships. If we were to make the World Series or even win it, would we regret losing Tiedemann who has been injured much of the season? This team has a VERY clear hole which is a good right handed/switch hitter. They have a solid rotation and a very good bullpen. A really good bat to put in the cleanup role and having DeJong to upgrade on Espinal’s spot could have put them over the top.

When we moved Martin and Woods-Richardson for Berrios, I was not a fan at the time. It felt like we were short cutting our rebuild for a guy who only had a year left on the contract. It felt like a move we should have been making last year or this year.

Management moved assets when we weren’t quite ready to move assets and as a result, we were left a bit too bare to move assets when we needed to move them and left us overvaluing the assets that we had left.

[KelVarnsen]

Davis Schneider added to roster, Hatch DFA'd and other moves

https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article...and-dfa-hatch/