2024 Toronto Blue Jays Season Thread

[Karl]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

Varsho somehow looks worse this year .

That trade will go down as an all timer

Giving away Lourdes for Varsho is enough of an indictable offence, but Gabby too. That deserves a life in prison sentence...

[Karl]

Originally Posted by browna

Lack of offensive talent or not, these are major league hitters. So many changeups that dropped out of the zone and Jays hitter can't adapt?

Such freaking embarrassing crap.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by browna

Lack of offensive talent or not, these are major league hitters. So many changeups that dropped out of the zone and Jays hitter can't adapt?

Agreed, Jays lineup just is not scary. Very few dangerous hitters.

They will win one / lose one type of a season.

Bad luck for the Jays rookie starter, Astro's were due for a big game.

[Whynotnow]

That is awful, no other word for it.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

No hit by the 5th starter.

Ouch.

Okay, those of you that were worried about the offense, I'm listening.

Like the 7th starter, Verlander and Urquidy are hurt.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Karl

Giving away Lourdes for Varsho is enough of an indictable offence, but Gabby too. That deserves a life in prison sentence...

But but Kirk started the all star game and Jansen is good with pitchers.

[ben voyonsdonc]

Varsho probably is a platoon guy who should hit 7th or 8th in the lineup. Schneider should be taking away at bats from him whenever possible.

The only thing worse than making a disastrous trade is doubling down on it. Putting him in the middle of the lineup has never worked.

[Mightyfire89]

162 games. Hasty judgements are not yet justified. They may well be, eventually, but not yet.

Fugly game for sure, but as mentioned by others, they could win 9-1 tomorrow. That’s baseball.

[Galakanokis]

Originally Posted by KelVarnsen

I’m sure the Shatkins apologists will come in here and say the Jays had an amazing off season and that’s only the 5th game of the season.

While the latter is true the former isn’t. They had a terrible off season. They didn’t improve the team at all. I’d argue they made it worse. And we are seeing the results of that.

The team is flawed. And it starts with the front office.

100%. This is a terrible lineup and will waste another year of great pitching. It is absolutely a worse lineup than last year and is only going to get worse.

All of these players on the roster makes no sense. One DH and one utility player. Just a ridiculously constructed roster.
Biggio
Clement
IKF
Turner
Vogelbach

The load on Springer should have been lessened with the addition of a legit, full time outfielder that pushed Varsho to centre but they doubled down on the old ass outfield. Kiermaier should be a 4th outfielder at this stage taking time from Springer.

They will be lucky to finish 4th in this division. I don't put much stock in career minor leaguers, utility players and old outfielders being positive impacts on a contending roster.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by flamingred89

Jays gonna get no hit. For like the 6 time in the last 10 years. Unreal.

What a story for the Houston starter though. His wife gave birth this morning and he didn't want to miss a start because he's trying to make the team.

But also. Let that set in. A dude trying to make the rotation is pitching a no hitter. Meanwhile the Jays starter who was trying to make the rotation just let up meatball after meatball.

Not quite. His wife gave birth last week and Blanco decided to stay at spring training to try and make the team. He got 10 Ks in 4 innings and made the team as the 5th starter with injuries to Verlander and Urquidy. And last night, he was just as effective. He was locating well and had the Jays off balanced all night.

[mrkajz44]

There is always an element of luck with no hitters. Statcast says Jays had an expected BA of .112, which is very low for sure, but that translates into an average of 2-3 hits of the course of the game. As for the rest of the season, their BABIP is nearly league last at .204 - that cannot continue for any length of time.

The team is 2-3, starting the year on the road against some tough teams. The sky is not falling. I agree that the batting line-up doesn't look improved from last year, but the negativity around the team already is tiresome. Baseball is weird, so there shouldn't be any big reactions early on.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by mrkajz44

There is always an element of luck with no hitters. Statcast says Jays had an expected BA of .112, which is very low for sure, but that translates into an average of 2-3 hits of the course of the game. As for the rest of the season, their BABIP is nearly league last at .204 - that cannot continue for any length of time.

The team is 2-3, starting the year on the road against some tough teams. The sky is not falling. I agree that the batting line-up doesn't look improved from last year, but the negativity around the team already is tiresome. Baseball is weird, so there shouldn't be any big reactions early on.

Sure, I mean with average luck maybe they only lose that game 7-3 or something. And it's just one game out of 162. My opinion of the team isn't driven by a single game whether it's being no-hit in Houston or winning by 7 at the Trop the night before.

Still though, the problem last year was the offense, and they downgraded that over the off-season. (IKF vs Chapman is definitely a downgraded bat even if you think Turner==Belt)

[flamingred89]

Originally Posted by mrkajz44

There is always an element of luck with no hitters. Statcast says Jays had an expected BA of .112, which is very low for sure, but that translates into an average of 2-3 hits of the course of the game. As for the rest of the season, their BABIP is nearly league last at .204 - that cannot continue for any length of time.

The team is 2-3, starting the year on the road against some tough teams. The sky is not falling. I agree that the batting line-up doesn't look improved from last year, but the negativity around the team already is tiresome. Baseball is weird, so there shouldn't be any big reactions early on.

I think the big reactions, and speaking for myself here, are because this is exactly what we saw last year. The inability to work good AB's and swinging for the fences once they're down a few runs. As evidence by the 3 blowout losses already. Throw in a putrid start by Varsho to put salt in still fresh wounds. And the fact that Vladdy doesn't have an XBH since his homerun in his 2nd AB of the season. And it all feels to familiar. Definition of insanity or something like that.

The pitching will be good enough to keep them in this. Well save for that 5th spot in the rotation. But we need something, anything, from the bats to show consistency to prove they're ready to contend.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by mrkajz44

There is always an element of luck with no hitters. Statcast says Jays had an expected BA of .112, which is very low for sure, but that translates into an average of 2-3 hits of the course of the game. As for the rest of the season, their BABIP is nearly league last at .204 - that cannot continue for any length of time.

The team is 2-3, starting the year on the road against some tough teams. The sky is not falling. I agree that the batting line-up doesn't look improved from last year, but the negativity around the team already is tiresome. Baseball is weird, so there shouldn't be any big reactions early on.

Agreed, sky is not falling. However the results so far should not be un-expected.

Pitching is the strength

As for the hitting, same concerns exist from last season.

i.e. lineup will be very inconsistent.

[Roof-Daddy]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1775256441659519275

Nice AAA debut for Yariel

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

https://twitter.com/user/status/1775256441659519275

Nice AAA debut for Yariel

Nice. Hopefully that translates to the MLB level.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

Nice. Hopefully that translates to the MLB level.

Yep for sure. Hopefully they can build him up too. It'd be nice to have a youngish cost controlled starter going forward to help the FO transfer some of the dollars spent into bats. If guys like Ricky T, Yariel and Francis actually turn into viable MLB starters the Jays will be in good shape as far as pitching goes for several years yet. Then if they can't develop bats at least they can spend on them.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Yep for sure. Hopefully they can build him up too. It'd be nice to have a youngish cost controlled starter going forward to help the FO transfer some of the dollars spent into bats. If guys like Ricky T, Yariel and Francis actually turn into viable MLB starters the Jays will be in good shape as far as pitching goes for several years yet. Then if they can't develop bats at least they can spend on them.

Yeah, ideally two of the young pitchers (Manoah, Ricky T, Yariel, Bowden, etc) work out as true starters, and then we can re-allocate the money from not keeping Kikuchi into the bats.

Adding Kikuchi's $12MM luxury tax hit to Bichette's current deal might get you close to buying his free agent years, giving you some extra time to find a 3B/2B/LF who can hit. Or IKF's 7.5 plus another 10-12 should be enough to get someone better most years...

[bizaro86]

It'll be interesting to see if the Jays adjust their approach to contracts now that they are a luxury tax payer. As an example, Berrios has a tax value higher than every year he's guaranteed to be a Jay on his contract, because he has an opt out of the last two years, which are both at $24 MM.

So even though the first 5 years on his deal only average $15.6 MM he counts for $18.7 MM against the cap.

If he doesn't opt out then that doesn't matter, but if he keeps pitching like he has been I think there's a chance his market value is more than $24MM x 2 at his age 33 season.

[bluejays]

The problem really comes to the tradeoff with offence in favour of defence. You have two positions guys should be hitting bombs from, who don’t. That’s KK and Varsho. Then you have uncertainty around third and second. So you’re relying on Bichette, Vlad, Turner and Springer to hit for extra bases if not home runs to get those runs from guys who just aren’t doing it. 2nd throughout the league is a challenge so I’ll give that to Biggio to work out. But those other positions should be either filled with power or guys who very well can get on base. Not to mention Kirk’s hitting troubles. It puts too much pressure on the four who can hit.

I have little problem if management came out and said it’s a show me year. But positioning this as a contender, is marketing. Those pointing out the KK signing are totally right. It’s the Riccardi days over again. I’m thinking now that Vlad and Bo are too young to walk away from in the grand scheme, but they have to retool by dealing one or two of their best pitchers. Meaning Gausman and or Barrios.