General 2019 Blue Jays Discussion Thread

[Daniel Labude]

That's the most clickbait-y article you'll see about the Jays this offseason.

 

For sure it was, was still interesting lol

[Captain Adama]

For sure it was, was still interesting lol

 

That's kinda the point of a clickbait-y article.

[Daniel Labude]

That's kinda the point of a clickbait-y article.

 

Nah, click bait is almost always the title with nothing behind it. If it has some substance I'd say its not click bait

[Captain Adama]

Nah, click bait is almost always the title with nothing behind it. If it has some substance I'd say its not click bait

 

Eh, it's really just speculating on 1 sentences Atkins said on a TSN interview.

[P2F]

Eh, it's really just speculating on 1 sentences Atkins said on a TSN interview.

 

Not only that, but the question was half-jokingly thrown at Atkins as they were signing him off the show.

 

https://www.tsn.ca/radio/toronto-1050/atkins-we-re-looking-to-be-competitive-as-soon-as-possible-1.1241412

[Ray]

The only interesting thing about it was that Atkins didn’t shut the door on Harper, when he just as easily could’ve dismissed the idea completely and nothing would’ve came out of it since everyone and their mother knows the Jays aren’t in on Harper.

[Dick_Pole]

They will probably trend towards s*** as they trade players and generally won't care about winning.

 

Could say the opposite about a team like the Phillies or Reds, who don't project to be much better but even if they are .500 they will be buying.

 

It would have to go "ALL RIGHT", man... I had hope two months ago, not anymore, it's a tank and moving assets at the deadline, nothing more.

 

It's a catch-22 situation. For the team to be able to move assets, those players would have had to perform well. And if those players perform well, that increases the chances that the team outperforms expectations for the first half of the year.

 

No one is trading for Smoak or Morales at anything less than a 120 RC+ year. Sanchez won't have any value if he's injured or s***** and it's less likely the Jays trade Stroman if he's garbage. That leaves bullpen guys as the only trade fodder in a down year.

[Laika]

It's a catch-22 situation. For the team to be able to move assets, those players would have had to perform well. And if those players perform well, that increases the chances that the team outperforms expectations for the first half of the year.

 

No one is trading for Smoak or Morales at anything less than a 120 RC+ year. Sanchez won't have any value if he's injured or s***** and it's less likely the Jays trade Stroman if he's garbage. That leaves bullpen guys as the only trade fodder in a down year.

 

Well, maybe Pillar or Grichuk, depending on the return and how the internal OF options develop

[KevinGregg]

I'm putting this here:

 

Introducing DRC+ and Using It to Evaluate the 2018 Blue Jays

 

https://www.radioscouts.com/blog/introducing-drc-and-using-it-to-evaluate-the-2018-blue-jays

 

Barring something unforeseen, we know that Vlad will make his MLB debut in the early part of the season, likely once he's surpassed the Super Two status cut-off that would give the Jays an extra year of team control before he potentially reaches unrestricted free agency.

 

The Super 2 cutoff is usually around late may or early June and it just relates to paying an extra year of arbitration rather than league min salary. Vlad will be up in the first couple of weeks of April once he has missed enough days to not make it to a full year of service time (172 days) so the Jays can keep him for 7 years.

[jays4life19]

Great Article from the athletic

 

 

‘It’s just better information’: Blue Jays’ new bullpen coach wants to give his pitchers the data he wishes he’d had

 

 

Matt​ Buschmann​ spent his​ career​ searching​ for​ an edge.​ He entered each offseason​ with the​ goal of evolving as a pitcher before​​ the following season began. And when baseball went through its modern analytics revolution, Buschmann found himself falling down the rabbit hole of data.

 

If it could make him a better pitcher, he wanted to know how.

 

But it wasn’t until Buschmann began working with Kyle Snyder, his pitching coach with the Triple-A Durham Bulls in 2015, that he learned how numbers on a page could translate to improvements on the mound.

 

“He was the first coach to show me how to use it and apply it, which I think is the most important thing,” Buschmann said.

 

Throughout that season, Snyder and Buschmann would sit down together and break down what the data was telling them. The coach could see his pupil had a strong aptitude for it.

 

“He was a sharp guy and it was trying to find ways to take information and how we see it and figure out the best way to simplify it in the application,” said Snyder, who is now the pitching coach with the Tampa Bay Rays. “We sat there and we talked about it. Looked at the information – this is how your stuff is best utilized, and then we just went to work. He recognized it is a tool, and something that could give him a competitive advantage. He wanted it.”

 

Though his playing days are over, Buschmann is still interested in how data and technology can improve a player’s performance. Rather than using it to better himself, his mission will be to get the best out of the Blue Jays relievers in his first season as Toronto’s bullpen coach.

 

The 34-year-old is one of six new Blue Jays coaches; the team overhauled their major-league staff following the disappointing 2018 campaign.

 

The role is a first for Buschmann, who arrives in Toronto with 11 years of experience in professional baseball as a pitcher — primarily in the minors — and one year working in the player development department with the San Francisco Giants. Both are experiences he’ll dip into as he navigates this new position.

 

Buschmann is well aware he has a lot to learn, and he’ll lean on the experienced members of the staff, especially pitching coach Pete Walker. Still, he knows the Blue Jays brought him on staff for a reason.

 

“There’s going to be a lot of experience in that staff, and for me, being as young as I am, it’s just listening and being open to anything and everything,” he said. “But also, just saying, ‘look, there are things I know I can help with.’”

 

He has a passion for technology, which Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins raved about after his hiring. He understands modern metrics and can decode them for players and coaches alike. Only three years removed from playing, he should relate to players on the roster, which also skews young.

 

As the old and new worlds of baseball continue to coexist, Buschmann can not only walk in both, but help guide others through them, too.

 

“He’s going to be an impact guy,” said Snyder.

 

“Cerebral” is often the adjective of choice to describe Buschmann.

 

Gil Kim, the Blue Jays director of player development, played with Buschmann at Vanderbilt University. He remembers a student of the game, often chatting up his pitching coach to discover any which way he could get better.

 

“He was always asking questions and he always had this positive energy and this eagerness to learn. That’s really what stood out about him,” said Kim, who remained close with Buschmann in the intervening years.

 

The education did not stop after college.

 

“As he pitched in professional baseball, he really almost took that learning to another level,” said Kim. “What has stood out to me about Matt in recent years is how much he reads, how much he reads about the game, how much he reads about pitching, how much he reads on new resources available in today’s game.”

 

Buschmann didn’t just read. He wrote, too.

 

In the latter stages of his career, he filled in for Buster Olney — a fellow Vanderbilt alum — as a guest columnist at ESPN a handful of times. He explored his appreciation for analytics in that space, imagining what baseball might look like in the year 2045. Another piece was a personal essay on what it was like to receive his first — and only — call-up to the major leagues at age 32.

 

“It’s always an interesting conversation with Matt,” Kim said.

 

As studious as he was off the field, he was a competitor on it, according to Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo, who managed Buschmann for parts of two seasons with the Durham Bulls. He was a hard worker and a devoted teammate — a “gamer,” as Montoyo put it.

 

“Matt could give me five, six, seven innings today and I knew that I could ask him, ‘Hey Matt, we don’t have any pitching tomorrow — can you give me an inning or something if I need you?’ And he would say yes in a heartbeat,” said Montoyo.

 

Drafted in 2006 in the 15th round by San Diego, Buschmann pitched for six different organizations over his career, primarily as a starter in the minors. After 279 minor-league games, he got that call to the show.

 

He appeared in three games in 2016 for the Arizona Diamondbacks, pitching 4 1/3 innings in relief, allowing two hits, one run and one walk with three strikeouts.

 

The following year, Buschmann signed a minor-league deal with the Blue Jays. But just before what would have been his 12th minor-league season, he decided that was enough.

 

He retired with 1,468 2/3 innings pitched in the minors.

 

When he reflects on his career now, Buschmann believes it could have been different if he had access to the data today’s players have. Tracking technology, high-speed cameras, a fuller grasp of the biomechanics of pitching — it all would have given him better information. And with better information, you can make better decisions. It likely wouldn’t have equaled a 10-year career in the majors. It’s possible, though, that an adjustment early on could have altered his path.

 

But he does not dwell on what-ifs.

 

“It’s easy to go back and just say, I wish I had this then, or I wish I knew this then, or I wish I had this technology five years ago,” he said. “But at the end of the day, I think I’m grateful for it because it just created who I am. For whatever reason, the amount of time I spent in the minor leagues, the amount of hurdles that I had to continually go through, or the ups and downs of it, I’m grateful for that because it created who I am, I think in a positive way.”

 

After baseball, Buschmann settled in with his young family in Nashville. He and his wife, Sara Walsh, a former ESPN anchor who now works for Fox Sports, welcomed twins — a boy and a girl — in January of that year. Raising two babies took up a fair bit of his time, naturally. In spare moments, he played golf, an attempt to fill the competitive void left behind when there is no mound to climb every fifth day.

 

But his time away from the game taught him that he wanted back in.

 

“The only thing that really got me really excited to talk about, brought out passion in me, was baseball,” he said. “I think I needed to go through that to find that out.”

 

In 2017, he became the Giants assistant director of player development, run prevention. It was a unique and specific position that essentially meant, together with the team’s pitching coordinator, he oversaw the development of the pitchers in the Giants system.

 

“The coordinator was very much into the day-to-day,” he said. “That freed me up to look at the very big picture of how we develop a pitcher in the minor leagues. That gave me time to think on a grander scale: How would we implement new technology? How do we implement new principles of development? How do we create a bigger overall blueprint for how we take kids from short-season all the way up to the big leagues?”

 

When the Blue Jays came calling about the open coaching gig, they were impressed by what Buschmann had gained from his year in player development.

 

Meanwhile, the more Buschmann talked to people in the Toronto organization, the more impressed he became with the direction the team was heading in.

 

So much so that he wanted to join in

 

“I’m excited to be a part of that whole system and excited to just meet players and create relationships on an individual basis for each one of them,” he said.

 

For the uninitiated, the advanced statistics that have overtaken the game can seem intimidating.

 

Buschamnn is conscious of that. So how do you introduce these new concepts?

 

“I think you look at it like it’s not anything new,” he said. “Really it’s just better information. I don’t think it’s new. It’s just better, more objective information.”

 

In other words, pitchers always spun the ball. Now there is just a term — spin rate — and an accurate way to measure it.

 

“It can seem like a lot because there is a lot of numbers and there are all these different things,” Buschman continued. “But the reality is, it’s the same thing, it’s just you can feel more confident about the information you’re getting. Instead of asking the catcher, ‘what did that look like?’ I can tell you objectively, what it was.”

 

“I think that takes the scary mask off of it. All this stuff seems like it’s new, but we’re just getting better information to make better decisions off of it.”

 

Translating the better information to his pitchers won’t be a “one-size-fits-all,” he said.

 

“It’s just constantly learning how different players take in information and how they apply it themselves,” he said. “It just takes time and creating relationships.”

 

When Buschmann does offer explanations, Atkins is certain he will do so effectively.

 

“I think players in today’s game are more open to development at the big leagues and in large part, it’s because we’re better as an industry at explaining the why,” he said. “We have ideas and opinions on how to improve or how to get better, and I’m confident that Matt will be very strong in that area — in explaining the why.”

 

The task ahead of Buschmann is not an easy one. In preparation for the upcoming season, he has watched video and dug into some data on the pitchers on the team’s 40-man roster. Some of those numbers might not be pretty.

 

Blue Jays relievers ranked 21st in the league last season with a collective ERA of 4.45. Of course, the bullpen is among the most fluid areas of a major-league roster. A lot can change in a year — at least, that is what the Blue Jays’ brass are hoping.

 

If there is a man up for a challenge, it is Matt Buschmann.

 

“He’s going to constantly be looking to find any resource available to develop himself into the best pitching coach possible so that he can best impact those individual pitchers,” said Kim. “He’s the guy who’s going to do everything possible to try and help you get better.”

[Spanky99]

Donaldson on departure from Jays: ‘It didn’t end the way I wanted it to end’

 

MLB

 

ATLANTA BRAVES

2h ago

 

Donaldson on departure from Jays: ‘It didn’t end the way I wanted it to end’

TSN.ca Staff

 

 

 

 

It’s no secret that things didn’t end the way they started between Josh Donaldson and the Toronto Blue Jays.

 

After winning the American League MVP in 2015 – his first season with the Jays – Donaldson played in just 36 games last season before he was dealt to the Cleveland Indians for minor league pitcher Julian Merryweather. Donaldson expanded on the way things ended Friday in a sit-down with SportsCentre’s Kara Wagland.

 

“It didn’t end the way that I wanted it to end in my time [in Toronto],” Donaldson said.

 

“The last couple years I’ve had to deal with injuries that happened on the field and that happened off the field and on rehab assignments. That’s not going to make me too thrilled about things. So at the end of the day I’m in control of my own body. I’ve learned some lessons and I’m just going to continue to try to adapt to the situation and continue to make myself the best that I can be.”

 

While he struggled with a calf injury last season, Donaldson says he is feeling good after signing a one-year, $23-million deal with the Atlanta Braves.

 

“I feel great. I’ve had a tremendous off-season. This has probably been the best off-season I’ve had in, you know, four or five years,” he said.

 

“Body is feeling great. I’ve made some pretty huge improvements physically and I’m feeling great going into spring training.”

 

His deal in Atlanta reunites him with general manager Alex Anthopoulos, who originally brought him to Toronto in a 2014 trade with the Oakland Athletics.

 

“Alex and I have had a relationship and we’ve both spent a lot of time with each other with the Blue Jays,” Donaldson said. “Alex was pretty aggressive on us pretty early and he made a deal that I felt made sense for us and that made sense for them.”

 

Over 52 games last season with the Blue Jays and Indians, Donaldson had eight home runs and 23 RBI while slashing .246/.352/.449.

 

Much more content in the Video Interview over 5 minutes in the link... https://www.tsn.ca/donaldson-on-departure-from-jays-it-didn-t-end-the-way-i-wanted-it-to-end-1.1243155

[P2F]

I don't know who that person is, but please let this be true.

[THANOS]

Loved the Buschmann article above. If Stroman's peripherals and K/9 improve a lot this season I'll attribute it to to him.

[Krylian]

I don't know who that person is, but please let this be true.

 

He's been on TSN Radio. Guess he's jumping over to Rogers?

[P2F]

He's been on TSN Radio. Guess he's jumping over to Rogers?

 

I meant the person whose Twiter account that is.

[Krylian]

I meant the person whose Twiter account that is.

 

Don't know either, but seems like quite a few higher profile people follow this guy so there may be some legitimacy.

[TheHurl]

I meant the person whose Twiter account that is.

 

Toronto Sports Media has been around for quite a while now. Don't know why they write about Toronto while living in Boston and Seattle though

[P2F]

The Super 2 cutoff is usually around late may or early June and it just relates to paying an extra year of arbitration rather than league min salary. Vlad will be up in the first couple of weeks of April once he has missed enough days to not make it to a full year of service time (172 days) so the Jays can keep him for 7 years.

 

Thanks for the feedback, Kevin. Updated.

[SaskJaysFan_2]

On the latest Jays from the Couch (listen if you can get past the annoying sound issues on this episode) Pompey was discussed. I think the panel agreed it might be nice to give him a shot at 4th OF. And the fact that he is still on the 40-man is an indication that, for right now, the Jays see at least a short-term future with him. And then it was brought up that Pillar has two options left. Would it be a crazy notion to option Pillar to begin the season and give Pompey a month or two to s*** or get off the pot? Assuming, of course, Pompey's leg doesn't fall off or something. Pillar has ~ 4 years of MLB service. Can a guy like that be optioned?

[Jimcanuck]

On the latest Jays from the Couch (listen if you can get past the annoying sound issues on this episode) Pompey was discussed. I think the panel agreed it might be nice to give him a shot at 4th OF. And the fact that he is still on the 40-man is an indication that, for right now, the Jays see at least a short-term future with him. And then it was brought up that Pillar has two options left. Would it be a crazy notion to option Pillar to begin the season and give Pompey a month or two to s*** or get off the pot? Assuming, of course, Pompey's leg doesn't fall off or something. Pillar has ~ 4 years of MLB service. Can a guy like that be optioned?

 

Would be better, IMO, for Pompey to start the year in Buffalo, get some reps in.

[Laika]

I think the panel agreed it might be nice to give him a shot at 4th OF. Would it be a crazy notion to option Pillar to begin the season and give Pompey a month or two to s*** or get off the pot?

 

They aren't going to make a decision based on what's nice. they could justify optioning Teoscar or Billy if Pompey looks good all spring.

 

Yes, it would be batshit to option Pillar. Mentioning it doesn't even make sense.

(the rule is you can't option a player with 5+ years of service)

[Laika]

Would be better, IMO, for Pompey to start the year in Buffalo, get some reps in.

 

Best thing for Pompey is to start the year in [any other organization or maybe Japan]

[SaskJaysFan_2]

They aren't going to make a decision based on what's nice. they could justify optioning Teoscar or Billy if Pompey looks good all spring.

 

Yes, it would be batshit to option Pillar. Mentioning it doesn't even make sense.

(the rule is you can't option a player with 5+ years of service)

 

jesus, semantics. When I say "nice", I mean best for the org.

 

McKinnley (sp?) has two options left. There is almost 0% chance he makes opening day roster.

[BTS]

jesus, semantics. When I say "nice", I mean best for the org.

 

McKinnley (sp?) has two options left. There is almost 0% chance he makes opening day roster.

 

Unless someone is brought in from outside the org, there's nobody standing in McKinney's way

 

C - Jansen

1B - Smoak

2B - Travis

3B/2B/OF - Drury

SS/2B - Gurriel Jr.

LF - McKinney/Hernandez

CF - Pillar

RF - Grichuk

DH - Morales

 

C - Maile

SS - Urena

OF - Hernandez/McKinney

OF - Pompey

 

Not that I think that's a good thing. Christ that's a lot of bad players. Travis, Morales, McKinney, Urena, Hernandez, and Pompey are all awful.

[wamco]

Some haven’t even shown they have mastered aaa pitching yet

[Ehjays]

Article on Jansen

 

https://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2019/1/17/18186048/danny-jansen-russell-martin-toronto-blue-jays-catcher-projections-fly-ball-power?fbclid=IwAR0dstVyPdtvxXQtuQTqC0HKOvt-RQKN8EjSLxeWt9epjmJkpNre3cksALo

[SaskJaysFan_2]

Unless someone is brought in from outside the org, there's nobody standing in McKinney's way

 

C - Jansen

1B - Smoak

2B - Travis

3B/2B/OF - Drury

SS/2B - Gurriel Jr.

LF - McKinney/Hernandez

CF - Pillar

RF - Grichuk

DH - Morales

 

C - Maile

SS - Urena

OF - Hernandez/McKinney

OF - Pompey

 

Not that I think that's a good thing. Christ that's a lot of bad players. Travis, Morales, McKinney, Urena, Hernandez, and Pompey are all awful.

 

I think awful is a little strong for some of those players. Steamer predicts Travis (1.1 War), McKinney (0.8 WAR), and Hernandez (0.4 WAR) will do okay. I think you'll see Travis and Hernandez exceed those values for the year. I think Pompey could easily be a 2 WAR player. In a development year, I would like give a lot of these guys a fair shake. See who can maybe emerge and be a solid player. Morales needs to go. He is just taking up valuable ABs in a very important year for the Jays' future.

 

I'd be surprised if all of the awful players you mention all totally suck and are gone by 2020

[Bobthe4th]

Unless someone is brought in from outside the org, there's nobody standing in McKinney's way

 

C - Jansen

1B - Smoak

2B - Travis

3B/2B/OF - Drury

SS/2B - Gurriel Jr.

LF - McKinney/Hernandez

CF - Pillar

RF - Grichuk

DH - Morales

 

C - Maile

SS - Urena

OF - Hernandez/McKinney

OF - Pompey

 

Not that I think that's a good thing. Christ that's a lot of bad players. Travis, Morales, McKinney, Urena, Hernandez, and Pompey are all awful.

 

I know it doesn't really matter, but I wish we'd kept Diaz and got rid of Drury instead. IMO Gurriel is better as a 2B, and Urena and Drury are s***. Meanwhile Diaz can play SS and 3B and has 4 years of control left.

[Dick_Pole]

Stroman has the innate ability to look like a complete douche even when he is doing something meant to be nice or supportive:

 

https://vancouversun.com/sports/baseball/b-c-tattoo-artist-inks-toronto-skyline-on-blue-jays-pitcher-stroman

[Terminator]

Unless someone is brought in from outside the org, there's nobody standing in McKinney's way

 

C - Jansen

1B - Smoak

2B - Travis

3B/2B/OF - Drury

SS/2B - Gurriel Jr.

LF - McKinney/Hernandez

CF - Pillar

RF - Grichuk

DH - Morales

 

C - Maile

SS - Urena

OF - Hernandez/McKinney

OF - Pompey

 

Not that I think that's a good thing. Christ that's a lot of bad players. Travis, Morales, McKinney, Urena, Hernandez, and Pompey are all awful.

 

The good thing is that the roster undergoes a pretty big change mid April when it gets its best player in Vlad Jr. That frees up Drury to play some 2B where I think he's best suited. If Travis gets back to his old self, not completely unreasonable, then Drury can take on a UT role which is even better.

 

Regardless, I think this team is going to suck for the most part though.