2026 Toronto Blue Jays Season Thread - Page 25 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Roof-Daddy · 12-07-2025, 02:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluejays

Why Yariel and not Little? If they don't want to single him out after putting him in a rough position, that's admirable. But do they really think Little has any future with the team?

They don't have to DFA Little of they want to outright him to the minors. He has options left.

browna · 12-07-2025, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluejays

Why Yariel and not Little? If they don't want to single him out after putting him in a rough position, that's admirable. But do they really think Little has any future with the team?

I guess but Little was on the WS roster. Not his fault for the impossible position his manager put him in.

Rodriguez came into games into situations he should’ve come in into and was far too jacked up and couldn’t throw strikes.
The 3 batter rule isn’t his friend either, because of that. He’s a one batter one out type of pitcher.

Little showed far more during the last couple years as far as being effective.

Roof-Daddy · 12-07-2025, 11:52 AM

Little and Yariel are both guys that struggle with control and walking batters, but when Little is on he has much better stuff, misses way more bats and racks up way more Ks. Plus hes a lefty and to top it all off Little has an option left and isn't even arb eligible yet, so will cost the Jays near league minimum in 2026.

Jays put Yrod on waivers probably hoping someone would take him, but likely wouldn't and then they could outright to the minors, which opens up a spot on the 40 man and gives them more flexibility going into the winter meetings.

Caged Great · 12-07-2025, 12:01 PM

It also saves them 3.5 million which isn’t a small amount.

Roof-Daddy · 12-07-2025, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caged Great

It also saves them 3.5 million which isn’t a small amount.

It does? How so?

Caged Great · 12-07-2025, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

It does? How so?

If he’s optioned down to AAA he doesn’t count in terms of the luxury tax threshold.

Roof-Daddy · 12-07-2025, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caged Great

If he’s optioned down to AAA he doesn’t count in terms of the luxury tax threshold.

According to fangraphs that's not correct. His AAV of $6.4 million is still being counted against the luxury tax threshold.

"4. Players no longer on the 40 man roster are included in all cases, regardless of whether they were optioned or released."

Caged Great · 12-07-2025, 01:50 PM

I read that wrong from the comments in the jays Reddit which is where I got that from.

JTech780 · 12-07-2025, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluejays

Why Yariel and not Little? If they don't want to single him out after putting him in a rough position, that's admirable. But do they really think Little has any future with the team?

Why wouldn’t he have a future with the team? He was 15th amongst RP with a 11.99 K/9 last year. He had a 3.03 ERA. He needs to fix his walks for sure, but if they can get that dialled in, he is one of the best lefty RP in baseball.

Roof-Daddy · 12-07-2025, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JTech780

Why wouldn’t he have a future with the team? He was 15th amongst RP with a 11.99 K/9 last year. He had a 3.03 ERA. He needs to fix his walks for sure, but if they can get that dialled in, he is one of the best lefty RP in baseball.

100%

Many fans are down on Little because he struggled in the 2nd half and then had a disastrous playoffs with the whole country watching.

He's got nasty stuff though. Hopefully he can adjust, improve his control and have a good year. With the right tweaks and improved control he could be an elite lefty.

ben voyonsdonc · 12-07-2025, 08:41 PM

Little needs to use his cutter more. I’d be willing to trade some swing and miss for improved control and more ground balls. It’s become an easy at bat for hitters. If the ball is down, it’s a knuckle curve and will likely be a ball. If it isn’t, it’s a fastball so swing away. If he can use his cutter more effectively, I think he can be a solid contributor.

howard_the_duck · 12-08-2025, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JTech780

Why wouldn’t he have a future with the team? He was 15th amongst RP with a 11.99 K/9 last year. He had a 3.03 ERA. He needs to fix his walks for sure, but if they can get that dialled in, he is one of the best lefty RP in baseball.

His overall numbers were hugely inflated by his first half. Second half his K/9 fell a ton and his BB/9 spiked over 6. Players just learned to lay off his breaking ball that he rarely can throw for a strike.

So, some mechanical adjustments are likely needed, and more importantly some mental ones. I saw a guy in the regular season and playoffs that looked like he had the yips.

I'm not as confident what we have in Little is anything resembling an elite relief pitcher.

Jiri Hrdina · 12-08-2025, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by howard_the_duck

His overall numbers were hugely inflated by his first half. Second half his K/9 fell a ton and his BB/9 spiked over 6. Players just learned to lay off his breaking ball that he rarely can throw for a strike.

So, some mechanical adjustments are likely needed, and more importantly some mental ones. I saw a guy in the regular season and playoffs that looked like he had the yips.

I'm not as confident what we have in Little is anything resembling an elite relief pitcher.

That's my concern too. Once teams knew to lay off his breaking stuff, because it will probably be a ball, he became really ineffective. Either walks or hard hit balls. Not much else.

bizaro86 · 12-08-2025, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

That's my concern too. Once teams knew to lay off his breaking stuff, because it will probably be a ball, he became really ineffective. Either walks or hard hit balls. Not much else.

Yeah. He needs a pitch that looks like his curve out of his hand that he can throw for a strike. Basically he has to redevelop his whole approach. It isn't impossible but I agree his first half stats are more "potential" than a candidate for regression to the mean.

Nobody can hit his curve but that doesn't matter if nobody swings at it and its never in the zone.

bluejays · 12-08-2025, 12:01 PM

Yup, once teams got used to his flaws he didn't adjust. To me the situation they put him in this playoffs would've killed his confidence. Certainly a few months away may help him recover but will he really? To me there's likely too much of an experiment there where for both his own sake and ours we should move him.