2023 Toronto Blue Jays Season Thread

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by Hockey

It feels that there was way more hype last off season on this team. This off season haven't really heard much, but I feel this team will be even better this year.

Losing the way they did to Seattle last year can do one of two things. It can either destroy a franchise or it can smack them in the face as to what they were doing wrong. I hope it's the latter this season.

I liked Teoscar and Gurriel a whole lot, but I did get an 'inmates run the asylum' vibe with the team the last couple of years where having fun seemed to be as or more important than winning. Replacing those players who seemed to most embody that behavior could help the rest of the locker room get more serious about fundamentals and result in more consistent baseball day in day out. That said I do worry about what happens to players like Vladdy when baseball becomes too much of a job. He seems like a personality that performs best when the locker room is loose ala the last few years compared to when he first came up with all of the expectations put on him.

[bluejays]

If Vlad is anything like his dad he’ll be fine. If his conditioning is in order I have little questions about him comparatively to others. I completely agree with you on it all. Teoscar had to go.

As for the team, todays game against the Yanks is what I’m concerned about for the team. If a team like the Yanks get out ahead, the stars seem to have to align for our batters to come back. Meanwhile last year the hitting more or less had a better chance of coming back. Last year wasn’t really good but this year in defensive responsibility first guys like Chapman and Keirmeier really have to focus to make sure they don’t come out flat at the plate. I’m very concerned about them specifically. Varsho should be fine eventually but is also a question with whomever will be playing 2nd.

[ben voyonsdonc]

I’m not worried about the results from today - we sat almost all of our stars…no Vlad, no Bo, no Varsho. We started the guy who looks like an offensive lineman at first base and had Bowden Francis as the starting pitcher. Definitely not a representation of the team we will be on opening day.

[flames_fan_down_under]

Just a teensy bit concerned about Berrios looking very much like the Berrios of last year.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by flames_fan_down_under

Just a teensy bit concerned about Berrios looking very much like the Berrios of last year.

It'll be pretty frustrating if he doesn't bounce back.

[ben voyonsdonc]

Originally Posted by flames_fan_down_under

Just a teensy bit concerned about Berrios looking very much like the Berrios of last year.

This is valid. The backend of the rotation is definitely a question mark. If they are good, this team will go far. If not, it’s going to be a struggle.

[Jiggy_12]

Kikuchi’s spring numbers were eye popping. 0.92 WHIP is as encouraging as you can hope for.

[KelVarnsen]

https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article...s-making-team/

Nathan Lukes and Zach Pop made the 26 man roster for opening day.

[ben voyonsdonc]

Yeah, if Kikuchi pitches 75% as well as he did in spring training, Berrios’ struggles will be less of a concern. The problem with Berrios is that nobody really knows why he’s just become terrible and it’s hard to fix a problem without really understanding it.

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

It'll be pretty frustrating if he doesn't bounce back.

Pitcher trends the same way he's been trending


shocked pikachu face.


Guy is washed. The real saving grace will be if Kikuchi has turned it around.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

Pitcher trends the same way he's been trending


shocked pikachu face.


Guy is washed. The real saving grace will be if Kikuchi has turned it around.

He wasn't "trending" in any direction.

He was just a solid work horse pitcher for multiple seasons until last season where he fell off a cliff.

Which is why it would be disappointing if he doesn't bounce back to the level he was at before 2022.

[ben voyonsdonc]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

He wasn't "trending" in any direction.

He was just a solid work horse pitcher for multiple seasons until last season where he fell off a cliff.

Which is why it would be disappointing if he doesn't bounce back to the level he was at before 2022.

Agreed. Berrios was a solid 2-3 pitcher for his entire career. He wasn’t exactly an ace but he definitely carried a heavy workload admirably. He fell off a cliff last year and hopefully he can get back up. Kind of reminds me a little bit of Markstrom.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

Pitcher trends the same way he's been trending


shocked pikachu face.


Guy is washed. The real saving grace will be if Kikuchi has turned it around.

Except it wasn't a "trend" prior to 2022, even though you keep trying to push that narrative. It was one bad season.

2017: 1.9 WAR (25 Starts)
2018: 3.5 WAR (32 Starts)
2019: 3.6 WAR (32 Starts)
2020: 0.7 WAR (12 starts in shortened season)
2021: 3.3 WAR (32 start - 1.4 WAR in 12 starts as a Blue Jay)
2022: -0.6 WAR (32 starts)

2022 was the first really poor season of his career.

This site is pretty good breakdown of Barrios - https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savan...r-pitching-mlb

Velocity hasn't dipped. Movement is relatively the same. He's not even really throwing many more bad pitches. But when he has missed they are jumping on it more and are hitting it hard. So maybe he's not disguising things as well.

[Blaster86]

He peaked in 2019, fell off hard in 2020, slightly rebounded in 2021, but no where near is 2019 numbers, pre-trade to the Jays. Became a tire fire post trade to the Jays that carried on into 2022. It's literally what Baseball Savant tells us and usually what I am reading when I talk about how he sucks now.

Or assume that it's not a trend that a lot of other people saw as well, and that I'm crazy. Your guys' call. Jays traded two overrated prospects for one over rated pitcher. It's a wash and it happens.

[ben voyonsdonc]

My call is not to write off the 29 year old pitcher that we have signed for the next 6 years at about $20m per season. You can choose differently.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

He peaked in 2019, fell off hard in 2020, slightly rebounded in 2021, but no where near is 2019 numbers, pre-trade to the Jays. Became a tire fire post trade to the Jays that carried on into 2022. It's literally what Baseball Savant tells us and usually what I am reading when I talk about how he sucks now.

Or assume that it's not a trend that a lot of other people saw as well, and that I'm crazy. Your guys' call. Jays traded two overrated prospects for one over rated pitcher. It's a wash and it happens.

1. He didn't fall off hard in 2020, that was the COVID shortened season where he only pitched 63 innings and had 1.1 fWAR, which is still paced for 3.3 fWAR over 190 innings pitched

2. He was not a tire fire for the Jays after the trade in 2022. He put up 1.7fWAR in 70.1 innings which is a 4.6 fWAR pace over 190 innings pitched

That is top of the rotation production

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Except it wasn't a "trend" prior to 2022, even though you keep trying to push that narrative. It was one bad season.

2017: 1.9 WAR (25 Starts)
2018: 3.5 WAR (32 Starts)
2019: 3.6 WAR (32 Starts)
2020: 0.7 WAR (12 starts in shortened season)
2021: 3.3 WAR (32 start - 1.4 WAR in 12 starts as a Blue Jay)
2022: -0.6 WAR (32 starts)

2022 was the first really poor season of his career.

This site is pretty good breakdown of Barrios - https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savan...r-pitching-mlb

Velocity hasn't dipped. Movement is relatively the same. He's not even really throwing many more bad pitches. But when he has missed they are jumping on it more and are hitting it hard. So maybe he's not disguising things as well.

Was he a pine tar victim? Serious question. Seems like a lot of pitchers got burned once pine tar was banned.

[activeStick]

Sigh

https://twitter.com/user/status/1640420966281953283

[ben voyonsdonc]

The star of the ump show there is a triple A ump who calls a few major league games. My guess is that MLB says nothing about it but he doesn’t get called up for many (if any) games this year.

[bluejays]

Just curious if anyone knows of any forums with leaks on what the Jays are looking at doing next off-season with the 100-level infield? I'm sure the foul ball areas will be cut dramatically to make room for premium dugout type seating, but are there any other rumors of what they're looking at?