2024 Toronto Blue Jays Season Thread

[bizaro86]

Glad to see the bullpen continuing to hold firm after another great showing from the starter. Second win of the season without Schneider starting. Not that Varsho or KK did anything with the bats, although Varsho had a couple of pretty solid defensive plays - in particular the catch on the foul line off Verdugo in the 7th is probably a double if Schneider is in LF. Really good to get some momentum going in the homestead, and even better to be picking up wins against the other AL East teams. If the top of the order can get something going this could be a really good team.

[KelVarnsen]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

A win

3rd in a row

Based off the replies from the game, I see only 1 bat did anything again.

Pitching can only carry you so far. The batters need a change. A shakeup. Something.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by KelVarnsen

Based off the replies from the game, I see only 1 bat did anything again.

Pitching can only carry you so far. The batters need a change. A shakeup. Something.

Now that Jansen's back Kirk has gotten hot, which certainly helps.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

Now that Jansen's back Kirk has gotten hot, which certainly helps.

The skeptic in me wonders how long Jansen will take to be back on the IR. He doesn’t even have anything chronic. He just randomly tweaks things and is out much of the year. At this point the hot streak aside I’d love if he replaced Kirk, but alas, those injuries. How good would Moreno look today having the most appearances?

[KelVarnsen]

Jansen needs to learn how to get his hands out of the way

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by bluejays

The skeptic in me wonders how long Jansen will take to be back on the IR. He doesn’t even have anything chronic. He just randomly tweaks things and is out much of the year. At this point the hot streak aside I’d love if he replaced Kirk, but alas, those injuries. How good would Moreno look today having the most appearances?

Yeah, it would pretty clearly make sense to trade Varsho, Kirk, and Jansen for just Moreno, but Arizona wouldn't take that deal.

They did say on the broadcast Jansen has some new protective gear he'll be wearing while batting, so hopefully that helps him stay healthy. His numbers prorated to 162 games are quite good, but he never gets close to that.

[Jason14h]

Moreno has been really bad this year and Gurriel has been worth effectively as much as Varsho


Moreno : 0.1 WAR
Kirk : 0.0 WAR
Jansen : 0.0 WAR
Varsho : 0.3 WAR
Guerriel : 0.4 WAR

Very surprised when I looked this up.

The trade sucked. But in reality is having almost zero affect on our record

[Blaster86]

As if having Varsho instead of Gurriel and Moreno is why Guerrero can't ####ing hit

[flamingred89]

Kirk's little hot streak has been nice. But his lack of XBH is alarming. We all know what a liability he is on the base paths(save for the hustle on the passed ball yesterday) so he needs to be hitting for more power and line drives rather than slapping singles through the infield. His penchant for drawing walks later on the game has been great though.

[Roof-Daddy]

So many Jays fans complain about Atkins, they complain about that trade, they complain about Varsho, they complain about so many other things, but the biggest detriment to this team is having a $20 million replacement level 1B.

He was supposed to be the franchise player. He is the reason the Jays FO sacrificed some offense to bring in better D and pitching. He should be the biggest cog in the offense but instead he's fizzled out and is basically completely useless. All he does is hit 100+ mph ground balls at the infielders. Can't even play a high level 1B, and gets picked off on the base paths constantly and at key moments.

It also doesn't help that Bo is super streaky and only an average SS, or that Springer is on steep descent offensively if prime Vlad was a perennial 6 WAR superstar it would transform the offense. But he's not, and time is pretty much up.

[Inferno]

Romano and Swanson have been re-instated.

Pearson has been sent down and White has been DFAed.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

So many Jays fans complain about Atkins, they complain about that trade, they complain about Varsho, they complain about so many other things, but the biggest detriment to this team is having a $20 million replacement level 1B.

He was supposed to be the franchise player. He is the reason the Jays FO sacrificed some offense to bring in better D and pitching. He should be the biggest cog in the offense but instead he's fizzled out and is basically completely useless. All he does is hit 100+ mph ground balls at the infielders. Can't even play a high level 1B, and gets picked off on the base paths constantly and at key moments.

It also doesn't help that Bo is super streaky and only an average SS, or that Springer is on steep descent offensively if prime Vlad was a perennial 6 WAR superstar it would transform the offense. But he's not, and time is pretty much up.

Yeah. I think Spencer Horowitz could put up similar numbers for $19MM less. Hopefully he gets things turned around because otherwise there are going to be some tough choices.

[Blaster86]

It's just not that tough. While he may turn it around, it very clearly isn't happening with the Jays.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Inferno

Romano and Swanson have been re-instated.

Pearson has been sent down and White has been DFAed.

Surprised they kept Bowden Francis instead of Pearson, but I suppose they need a long man. Might just be waiting to see how it goes with Rodriguez as well.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

It's just not that tough. While he may turn it around, it very clearly isn't happening with the Jays.

I'd be patient with Vlad still to be honest.

The process is looking better at least. Longer at bats, taking pitches, drawing walks at a great rate (top 10 in the MLB)

Strikeouts remain an issue, but generally it's because he's getting deep in counts.

His walk rate is the highest of his career (14.5%)
His Hard Hit % is the highest of his career (58.0%)
His pitches per plate appearance is the highest since 2019.
Strike Percentage is the 2nd lowest of his career (to 2021)
Percentage of pitches swung at is the lowest of his career.

The results aren't there at all so far this season, but it feels like the process and approach at the plate is so much better than it's been the last couple seasons. Issue is the hard hit balls have been right at defenders, and he still hasn't quite figured out the launch angle to turn those hard hits into home runs.

[Blaster86]

The entire tense of my post was off as I was responding to "If he doesn't turn it around you have a hard decision to make," trying to say it's not a hard choice if he doesn't, but it came off as though that decision is already made in my mind. I'm not saying you cut line asap and deal him when you can. I meant if we get through this season and see the same stuff we've seen for the last couple seasons.

I think if we don't see him start to get some of that ability back this year, it's not a difficult choice to walk away.

[Galakanokis]

Vladdy was touted for his eye at the plate as much as anything and that is completely gone. Swinging at brutal, down and away pitches every game. It is all mental with him. Maybe too many cooks in the kitchen trying to straighten him out? He looks lost up there to me. No other homerun threat in the lineup to take the pressure off of him isn't helping. I sure hope he finds a grove soon.

Feel for Pearson. Looked like he was turing things around quite nicely. I know the demotion is not perfromanced related I just hope it doesn't kill his confidence. Glad to see Swanson and Romano back. Jays have a deadly bullpen right now.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Galakanokis

Feel for Pearson. Looked like he was turing things around quite nicely. I know the demotion is not perfromanced related I just hope it doesn't kill his confidence. Glad to see Swanson and Romano back. Jays have a deadly bullpen right now.

Yeah, tough to go down after striking out the side in a close game in the 9th.

[Galakanokis]

If you don't follow Chris Black on twitter you should. He has some great stuff. Did an excellent breakdown of small changes to Pearson's delivery yesterday. Just fantastic stuff. I know he had options and that is why he was sent down but I would have kept him over Francis. Not a fan of Francis. Long man vs short man I guess.

[flamingred89]

Yeah that's tough for Nate. I get it from a business perspective. But he's struggled with confidence issues and he's finally pitching lights out. So hopefully he doesn't get in his head about it