AL Wild Card Round: Toronto Blue Jays vs Tampa Bay Rays

[Stangstag]

Playoff roster for the series released:

 

 

Notable Omissions: Yamaguchi, Roark, Joseph, Romano, Font, Merryweather, Patrick Murphy, Zeuch

Notable Additions: Tellez, Davis, Espinal, McGuire

 

McGuire over Caleb Joseph is a damn shame. Caleb deserves to be there even if its as a backup and he only catches a couple innings late. McGuire can gtfo

[Carlos Danger]

McGuire over Caleb Joseph is a damn shame. Caleb deserves to be there even if its as a backup and he only catches a couple innings late. McGuire can gtfo

 

McGuire has been a nemesis to the Rays the past few years, he is also very good defensively and has a good arm. With all the one run games the Rays are involved in and especially with the Jays, defense will be paramount.

 

I hope they can at least let Caleb travel with the team to be a cheerleader... Doubt it with COVID rules etc..

[Ray]

One interesting thing to note is how amazingly bad Roark, Font, and Yamaguchi were. To the point where they significantly altered the collective ERA of this team. If you were to add Roark/Yamaguchi/Font to this postseason roster (who all logged significant innings during the regular season), our collective ERA would be 4.36. But if you compare the collective ERA of the Rays pitchers on the postseason roster vs. the Jays, it's not all that bad:

 

Season ERA for Jays pitchers currently on the postseason roster: 3.55

 

Season ERA for Rays pitchers currently on the postseason roster*: 3.35

 

*doesn't include Shane McClanahan, since he didn't pitch during the regular season

 

Of course if you remove the 3 worst pitchers on any team, it no doubt improves the ERA significantly. But what I'm getting at here is that those 3 negatively affected us more than most teams worst pitchers and not having them included improves us more than it improves any other team (including the Rays). To the point where maybe the pitching may be more even than we thought?

 

Or it could just be me grasping at straw trying to give our pitchers a chance. We'll find out.

[Orgfiller]

McGuire over Caleb Joseph is a damn shame. Caleb deserves to be there even if its as a backup and he only catches a couple innings late. McGuire can gtfo

 

Joseph was DFA'd. He's just a cheerleader lol, McGuire will play something like 2-3 innings tops and probably won't have a single AB. It's completely inconsequential.

[mellowgold]

No Zeuch is a little surprising. He's looked good.

[Laika]

One interesting thing to note is how amazingly bad Roark, Font, and Yamaguchi were. To the point where they significantly altered the collective ERA of this team. If you were to add Roark/Yamaguchi/Font to this postseason roster (who all logged significant innings during the regular season), our collective ERA would be 4.36. But if you compare the collective ERA of the Rays pitchers on the postseason roster vs. the Jays, it's not all that bad:

 

Season ERA for Jays pitchers currently on the postseason roster: 3.55

 

Season ERA for Rays pitchers currently on the postseason roster*: 3.35

 

*doesn't include Shane McClanahan, since he didn't pitch during the regular season

 

Of course if you remove the 3 worst pitchers on any team, it no doubt improves the ERA significantly. But what I'm getting at here is that those 3 negatively affected us more than most teams worst pitchers and not having them included improves us more than it improves any other team (including the Rays). To the point where maybe the pitching may be more even than we thought?

 

Or it could just be me grasping at straw trying to give our pitchers a chance. We'll find out.

 

Wow, they put McClanahan on the roster?

[Dick_Pole]

Given the choice of bunt or pitch hit to fulfill Montoyo's need for 80's baseball strategies, I'll take PH. The FO knows what it's doing putting Tellez and the defensive replacement guys on the roster over more pitchers.

 

But yes, I 100% want to see the Jays win Game 3 with a suicide squeeze to try to tie the game on the road as a major part of the game. And I know you all want to see it too.

[Orgfiller]

No Zeuch is a little surprising. He's looked good.

 

Not missing bats and pitching at the Trop seems like a disaster waiting to happen.

[wilko]

Given the choice of bunt or pitch hit to fulfill Montoyo's need for 80's baseball strategies, I'll take PH. The FO knows what it's doing putting Tellez and the defensive replacement guys on the roster over more pitchers.

 

But yes, I 100% want to see the Jays win Game 3 with a suicide squeeze to try to tie the game on the road as a major part of the game. And I know you all want to see it too.

 

Sac bunts or GTFO!

[Carlos Danger]

Wow, they put McClanahan on the roster?

 

Yup... Didn't they do same with Price? Or did he pitch a little regular season??

[Ray]

Yup... Didn't they do same with Price? Or did he pitch a little regular season??

 

He pitched 10 or so innings during the regular season in 2008.

[Orgfiller]

Yup... Didn't they do same with Price? Or did he pitch a little regular season??

 

They're not that comparable. Price was a 1-1 pick out of college who pitched all at levels in the minors before having a short stint in the majors are the end of 2008, and he was a highly touted prospect. McClanahan topped out with 18 IP in AA last season and not nearly as highly touted (one could argue maybe he should be).

[jerb]

[bones10]

 

Right players, wrong order. I'm indifferent though, this should be able to get it done

[Spanky99]

Doesn't seem a very diverse group.. Only one Latino and the rest a bunch of Crackers: Lance, Larry, Paul, and Chris, sounds like a Bowling league team. Good thing we have a Caucasian guy pitching tonight, but I am sure our Latinos will get discriminated against at the plate and on the bases. #Whiteprivilege to have four white men holding the playoff future of a bunch of young Latinos and blacks in their hands! #@MLBDIVERSITYNOSALTINECRACKERS

 

Wtf? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Spanky99]

No Angel Hernandez, Joe West or CB Bucknor. There's other bad umps aside from those three but certainly a positive that they're not involved in this series.

 

Iassogna... *shudders*

[RobinThicc]

Hernandez needs a threat behind him so he can get fastballs.

 

No point in throwing a fastball to hernandez today if you're the rays.

[Jays24]

I can't believe we'd move our best hitter this year to the 6th spot. I would have put Kirk at Catcher and Shaw at DH even if we're going against a Lefty.

[Spanky99]

either was Spanky! I really wanted Romano there though. I'm guessing if we somehow get through he hopefully will be there next series.

 

If he gets an AB I'd be shocked. Probably want him working with the trainers, he hasn't even run the bases yet???

[Stangstag]

I can't believe we'd move our best hitter this year to the 6th spot. I would have put Kirk at Catcher and Shaw at DH even if we're going against a Lefty.

 

Yeah i’d swap Teo and Grich in the order. I like Jansen at C and Kirk DHing

[glory]

No idea why the Jays place less importance on who bats 3rd, maybe there's some analytical reasoning behind it. I feel like they've made some weird decisions on that spot in particular a lot of the season (Jansen, Tellez when he was struggling, Shaw, and for some reason I vaguely remember Villar in that spot). Whatever. At least the right guys are playing.

[Jays24]

Yeah i’d swap Teo and Grich in the order. I like Jansen at C and Kirk DHing

 

Thats fair. Maybe I would have put Shaw at 1B and have Vladdy DH even though Vladdy has been playing better there as of late. Just dont want to lose this game because of any mental errors or defensive situations we could have avoided.

 

Ah well, let's see how it goes. Should be a fun one!

[Spanky99]

 

Wow... heals quick, man!

[Jays24]

 

Wow... heals quick, man!

 

Unless Kirk rakes today, id expect Tellez as the DH tomorrow, and probably pinch hit late in the game today.

[Spanky99]

 

 

 

Ross spittin today...

Edited September 29, 2020 by Spanky99

[Spanky99]

Unless Kirk rakes today, id expect Tellez as the DH tomorrow, and probably pinch hit late in the game today.

 

Yup, that's what the tweet says, lol. Kirk might catch tomorrow, who knows.

[Orgfiller]

Yup, that's what the tweet says, lol. Kirk might catch tomorrow, who knows.

 

Kirk is 100% not catching Ryu when Jansen who's been with him since ST in February/March still can't get on the same page as him.

[G-Snarls]

I like Jansen at C and Kirk DHing

 

Me too

 

And by exclusion, no Shaw

[Jays24]

Kirk is 100% not catching Ryu when Jansen who's been with him since ST in February/March still can't get on the same page as him.

 

Lol ya, there's one guy on the team Kirk wont catch for sure and thats Ryu. So id expect him on the bench tomorrow unless he goes off today.

[Spanky99]

Kirk is 100% not catching Ryu when Jansen who's been with him since ST in February/March still can't get on the same page as him.

 

Yeah that's right, my bad.