2021 Blue Jays Season Thread

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by flames_fan_down_under

They're simply better than us. They have better pitching, their bullpen is dynamite, they don't have a Vlad Jr in their line up but they also don't have a 7,8,9 black hole like us either. Their line up has length. They draw walks when we strike out constantly. Today they drew 7 walks to our 0, and yesterday they drew 7 to our 1 walk. They defend better than the Jays. They do everything better. They were pretty damn close to winning a WS last year.

The Jays are close. They have a ton of talent. But the standard in the AL East is higher than in any other division. It sucks but it is what it is.

Reality has also caught up with our bullpen. That great outing from Stripling was nullified by going into extras and using all our arms again.

What’s telling is HOW the Rays strike out vs the Jays . The Rays lead the league in Ks

The Rays put constant pressure on the pitcher and work counts and draw walks . Sure they strike out , but it’s getting deep in counts and then swinging hard

Compare to most of the Jays . Hack at first pitch no matter where it is . Already in a 0-1 hole or a quick ball in play .

Guys like Bichette and Gurielle are prime examples . They aren’t bad players , but their style doesn’t lend itself to putting pressure on the pitchers

Bichette will get hot and hit HRs and Doubles , but hacks at the first pitch every time . A .300 OBP is embarrassing for a 2 hitter

Then our role players seem incapable of working a count .

It’s isn’t rocket science - but throw strikes and swing at strikes is what makes the Rays successful

[Blaster86]

Everyone knew this stretch was gonna be a really hard one. They need to shake this off and get back to it. If they keep their record close into July and they have a good chance to try and sneak into a Wild Card, but again, this season was never about the play-offs. That starts next year.


The bull pen has been amazing all year, but I think the short starts and all the injuries have caught up to them

[flames_fan_down_under]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

Everyone knew this stretch was gonna be a really hard one. They need to shake this off and get back to it. If they keep their record close into July and they have a good chance to try and sneak into a Wild Card, but again, this season was never about the play-offs. That starts next year.


The bull pen has been amazing all year, but I think the short starts and all the injuries have caught up to them

That's kind of how I view it too. This is a bonus season, any success is gravy. Vladdy Jr being 22 and looking like a generational hitter is also very good news.

Sounds like Hatch will be coming back soon. Borucki as well. Merryweather is about 40 days into his 60 day DL stint.

So that's something.

Manoah might as well come up and just see what happens. We need all the arms we can get really.

[flamingred89]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

Bichette will get hot and hit HRs and Doubles , but hacks at the first pitch every time . A .300 OBP is embarrassing for a 2 hitter

Yeah Bo has taken a step back this year. Somewhat understandable with how ridiculous his first 80 games were. His defense has some big time warts and he needs to cut down his swing at times. I have all the confidence that he'll figure it out. But they really could've used some big AB's from him this series.

Hard to fathom that in their 6 game losing streak they could've easily won 5 of them. Just some poor situational performances late in games.

Also a huge shoutout to Pete Walker for standing up for his players in the 1st inning. Should be a managers job but someone had to do it. The Jays are lucky to have him and I wouldn't be surprised to see him get a crack at a managerial role at some point.

[nixon45]

Holy #### I recorded the game again.

By the time I sat down it's 5-0 so I looked at the score and deleted it.

#### this team cannot figure out a way to win. They score enough runs to win and STILL find a way to cover the bed and duvet in SH*T.

[KelVarnsen]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1396968825459986434

[bluejays]

Interesting move with Manoah. These aren’t ideal times so I understand why they’re calling him up against the yanks. Ideally I’d bring him up against a lesser team. I have little doubt he’ll do well though.

[Roof-Daddy]

I'm excited to see Manoah, but cautiously optimistic after Pearson's struggles.

It's good though. This team has enough weapons to be dangerous and fight for a wild card but this is still a development year after all really.

Hopefully by years end both Manoah and Pearson are making regular MLB starts and looking good while doing it.

[flames_fan_down_under]

Yep I imagine they would rather keep him in AAA but with the fact that this team only has what appears to be 3.5 starting pitchers it's fairly desperate times.

I for one am very excited though.

[Kasi]

Wasn’t expecting him to be up quite so soon but it seems from AAA he wasn’t getting challenged and he was being efficient and going reasonably deep unlike Pearson. He was going to come up sometime this year and no need wasting his innings in Buffalo so welcome aboard. Him along with Ryu, Ray and Matz should be a solid top four.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Kasi

Wasn’t expecting him to be up quite so soon but it seems from AAA he wasn’t getting challenged and he was being efficient and going reasonably deep unlike Pearson. He was going to come up sometime this year and no need wasting his innings in Buffalo so welcome aboard. Him along with Ryu, Ray and Matz should be a solid top four.

If they are promoting him because he's not being challenged then ok. If they're bringing him up to save the season, that's totally wrong.

[Kasi]

Pitchers can get injured at the drop of the hat. You never know. He clearly wasn’t being challenged at AAA. So to me the criteria to move up depends on two things. One is eh being efficient? I think his starts show he has. Second which I don’t know about is he just blowing them away with stuff they can’t deal with and not using an approach that will work in the majors. Like is he using all his pitches and developing secondaries well. Hopefully he’s advanced enough with that.

[Ducay]

If you told me 14-8 was the scoreline for the game, I'd say its uncommon.

If you told me it was 14-8 in extra innings, I would say unbelievable.

If you told me it was 14-8 after 2 big comebacks only to be let down by horrible pitching in the final innings - I'd believe its Jays baseball©

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

What’s telling is HOW the Rays strike out vs the Jays . The Rays lead the league in Ks

The Rays put constant pressure on the pitcher and work counts and draw walks . Sure they strike out , but it’s getting deep in counts and then swinging hard

Compare to most of the Jays . Hack at first pitch no matter where it is . Already in a 0-1 hole or a quick ball in play .

Guys like Bichette and Gurielle are prime examples . They aren’t bad players , but their style doesn’t lend itself to putting pressure on the pitchers

Bichette will get hot and hit HRs and Doubles , but hacks at the first pitch every time . A .300 OBP is embarrassing for a 2 hitter

Then our role players seem incapable of working a count .

It’s isn’t rocket science - but throw strikes and swing at strikes is what makes the Rays successful

I disagree.

Their guys have to grind to be successful because they aren't naturally talented. When you have guys like the Jays do, you swing at the best pitch available. If that's pitch #1, you go for it, but you have to hit it if you go for it. Don't get worked up about OBP, look at OPS and any of the other numerous stats that really illustrate player performance.

Yes, the role players need to be more selective and work counts. I agree with that 100%, but if you're the other guys, swing away.

It's a slump. Don't get too worked up about it.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Oh great.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1397280325789790211

[Roof-Daddy]

Brutal.

Hopefully Manoah shines, and Hatch is back soon so the bullpen gets some help one way or another.

[flambers]

Just don't understand why the Jays have not added a starter earlier in the season.

Not sure about recalling Manoah, would rather see him play more games at AAA

They should be trying to find a middle of the rotation type of a guy

Their relief pitchers look like they have pitched to many innings.

Tough weekend for the Jays.

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

I disagree.

Their guys have to grind to be successful because they aren't naturally talented. When you have guys like the Jays do, you swing at the best pitch available. If that's pitch #1, you go for it, but you have to hit it if you go for it. Don't get worked up about OBP, look at OPS and any of the other numerous stats that really illustrate player performance.

Yes, the role players need to be more selective and work counts. I agree with that 100%, but if you're the other guys, swing away.

It's a slump. Don't get too worked up about it.

Our team OPS is .746 vs TB at .727. (7th vs 10th)

BUT!! Don't forget where the Jays are playing home games right now! We are 1st in the MLB in OPS at home with .840!

Road? 24th

TB has also have walked 50!! more times then the Jays (6th vs 25th).

So while you may disagree and think that hacking at the 1st pitch is a good strategy, TB walks 33% more then the Jays , has a better road OPS, and almost identical total OPS on the year.

And the Jays have a guy named Vladdy who is... 1st in all of baseball in OPS. If you remove the freak of nature that is Vlad as a team we have a lower OPS AND have been playing in the most hitter friendly park in history!

So maybe everyone BUT Vlad should change their strategy. Cause it clearly isn't a recipe for long term success.

[Strange Brew]

Yeah first pitch swinging across the lineup is not great. Seeing more pitches is pretty much a universal strategy for good hitting and for getting into your opponents bullpen. Some guys are definitely more aggressive and like to go after the first pitch but you still have to pick your spots.

It’s perhaps a symptom of young hitters but that is definitely something the club should be working on.

[nixon45]

Vladdy again.

He's absolutely mashing..