2021 Blue Jays Season Thread

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Now let's just sit back and watch the bullpen give this one away.

[flamingred89]

Jays pen just isn't good enough to compete with the big boys. As soon as Ray came out of the game tied it was almost a foregone conclusion that they would lose.

Lack of execution with RISP and inability for the pen to throw quality pitches cost them this game.

[flamingred89]

unbelievable how this team finds ways to lose sometimes.

[Karl]

crap. Couldn't get it done with RISP. This one's on the hitters.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

3-1 now. Frustrating night.

[Karl]

And the floodgates have opened.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Sorry, 5-1.

Bullpen is literally losing them games now. How long do we watch this until some moves are made? This is like a broken record.

[Karl]

Make it six.

[flamingred89]

Hahaha just complete implosion.

The Front office needs to make some changes to the pen in the next week or two or this season will be lost.

[Karl]

And now we're facing Liam Hendriks who still throws fireballs.

[Kasi]

Well Hatch, Borucki, Murray should all be back soon. Merryweather not too long after. That being said you’re not going to win many games going 1-10 with RISP or by scoring one run. If the bats had cashed in this game and inning would likely play out differently.

Edit: sure that was a bad inning but I’m putting the main blame here on the bats for only scoring one run.

[Karl]

Yes the bullpen blew chunks late, but ####ty hitting lost them this one.

[Ducay]

Jays gonna Jay. Last 2 innings' pitching (once again) seals their fate with a blown lead

[Kasi]

They scored one run. Expecting your pitching staff to hold the white Sox to zero is unrealistic. And Ray gave up his own lead although he pitched great. Just another case of bad situational hitting. They really need Springer back to give more vet presence to this lineup. Right now I feel many of our hitters, Vlad included choke up when games are close. We saw that enough in the games against the Red Sox and rays.

[flamingred89]

Yeah 1-11 RISP did them in. But also, teams win 2-1 sometimes. The bats have done more than their fair share of lifting until this point. The pen needs help and waiting for unproven arms like Hatch, borucki, and other farm hands isnt the answer. The Jays need to make a move to get some proven arms to help provide stability or this season will be lost.

[Kasi]

Really? Wasn’t the narrative a month ago that “The Jays need starting pitchers to provide stability or the season will be lost?” And then suddenly the starting pitching got better again. Not that I think this pen is great right now with their injuries, they’re quite thin on high end arms right now with Phelps and Chatwood issues. But I think things will get better when players return from the IR.

[flamingred89]

Originally Posted by Kasi

Really? Wasn’t the narrative a month ago that “The Jays need starting pitchers to provide stability or the season will be lost?” And then suddenly the starting pitching got better again. Not that I think this pen is great right now with their injuries, they’re quite thin on high end arms right now with Phelps and Chatwood issues. But I think things will get better when players return from the IR.

Uhh no? The starters have done their bit from the beginning. Ryu, Ray, and Matz were great from the get go. There were questions about what the 4th of 5th guy would bring. But that's like any team.

If you want the Jays to stay the course that's cool. But its obvious they need to make a few changes in the pen. Getting healthy would be great, but still a lot of unknowns in those arms. Why not give up some late prospect capital(which the Jays have an absolute ton of) to try and win some games with an MVP season from Vladdy, Semien killing it, and Ray owning those tight pants. Minnesota should be ripe for the picking soon with how poor they've been for example.

[Kasi]

Uh yeah I’m pretty sure people and most fan sites were pretty doom and gloom about the starters. Go back and look at when Pearson came up and struggled. Matz had come off his hot start and was struggling, Stripling was being shelled and they had Kay, Zeuch and Thornton all starting and struggling. Lots of articles came out about the Jays only having two starters and that no one was going five innings much less six. Anyway things were pretty dire back then but then Stripling got better and Matz mostly rebounded.

I’m fine trading for a mid level bullpen piece to stabilize thing but I don’t want them to spend anyone in their top 15-20 for that. Maybe something like what they have up for Walker last year, but this time for a reliever. But I don’t want them to touch the top ten for anyone like that.

[flamingred89]

Originally Posted by Kasi

Uh yeah I’m pretty sure people and most fan sites were pretty doom and gloom about the starters. Go back and look at when Pearson came up and struggled. Matz had come off his hot start and was struggling, Stripling was being shelled and they had Kay, Zeuch and Thornton all starting and struggling. Lots of articles came out about the Jays only having two starters and that no one was going five innings much less six. Anyway things were pretty dire back then but then Stripling got better and Matz mostly rebounded.

I’m fine trading for a mid level bullpen piece to stabilize thing but I don’t want them to spend anyone in their top 15-20 for that. Maybe something like what they have up for Walker last year, but this time for a reliever. But I don’t want them to touch the top ten for anyone like that.

That's a pretty specific period as Pearson only had 1 start. It was also a wtf is going on week or two with spot starts and openers. But I get what you are saying.

I think the pen is a different beast though. As no one knew what to expect coming in. They performed better than expected for a couple of weeks and then it all went to ####. And any reasonable person(outside of a Mets fan) wouldn't want to trade a top prospect for pen help. There's lots of other capital. But it should be pretty obvious that health or not this team needs some support at the back end of games.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Yep, they're such a young team that you don't want to just trade some good assets for 'win-now' rentals or something, but if you can trade some of your prospect depth for help that will be under contract for another year or two at least, why not. Vladdy is having an MVP season, Semien will be an All-Star this year, they might be a little ahead of schedule.

You don't want to push all your chips in this season, but it would be nice to at least get a little bit of help to get them in the playoffs. Watching some of these game lately have been painful. Even if the bats don't put up a ton of runs some games it would be nice if the bullpen could lock it down once in a while, or at least not completely blow the games.