General Blue Jays Discussion Thread (2021)

[max silver]

He’s just extremely bad at going back on balls hit over his head. Seems to be fine playing balls in front, and his arm is excellent. But he definitely looks to be getting worse compared to last year. Maybe he should play deeper than normal? Idk... but he definitely needs to get better.

 

I would bet some of the bad defensive numbers can be attributed to those brutal sunny games in Dunedin, and I don’t blame him for those missed plays.

 

Overall not a good season for him so far.

 

I remember that Gurriel was stationed deeper earlier on when he was first learning to play the outfield. The deeper positioning creates it's own set of issues as it ends up with weakly hit shallow fly balls would end up dropping in front of him on a regular basis as he doesn't have very good closing speed. It's totally a pick your poison scenario, you play him at normal depth and watch him misplay easy fly outs into extra base hits, or you die the death of a thousand cuts with the multitude of bloop hits that end up dropping in front of him. I don't give him too much credit for the sun conditions in Dunedin, he's misplaying balls on a regular basis on the road and at home in Buffalo as well.

[wilko]

It's bad when you play worse than Hernandez. He worked his butt off though and you can see it. Gurriel looks lazy out there.

[max silver]

Missed the sell high window for both Jansen and Gurriel.

 

Jansen has never really hit much at the MLB level, so I'm not sure if he ever had a ton of trade value in the first place.

[Jimcanuck]

Jansen has never really hit much at the MLB level, so I'm not sure if he ever had a ton of trade value in the first place.

 

His first season in the bigs was pretty good.

[max silver]

His first season in the bigs was pretty good.

 

That was basically just a brief cup of coffee style scenario so I intentionally disregarded that portion of his career. At point he was still the heir apparent to take over from Martin, so trading him at that point in time wouldn't have been in the cards.

[Virgil_Hiltz]

One of baseball's mysteries is how a player can hit a 100mph fastball, sliders and curveball from 60'6" away but can't catch a hit ball in the outfield in which he a few seconds to adapt to.

[Stangstag]

Biggio back from the DL

[Angrioter]

He's getting worse in the OF, though.

 

The guy has been playing baseball his entire life. Couldn't handle the infield. Getting worse in the OF as time goes on. The worst qualified OF in baseball by OAA.

 

It seems like he just has terrible defensive instincts.

 

I guess he only has like 200 pro games (all leagues/levels) in the OF though. That's not a massive amount of reps.

 

Still, he's a DH when Springer is back.

 

Gurriel brothers overrated. Los cubanos no saben jugar al béisbol

[G-Snarls]

Before this game, Jays starters had a better collective ERA than the Red Sox starters

 

Bullpen is the problem

[43211234]

So who inevitably gets DFA'd tomorrow to bring up Patrick Murphy or Thomas Hatch?

 

Beasley?

Edited June 12, 2021 by 43211234

[THANOS]

A few guys of note in AAA we could call-up:

 

- Kirby Snead

12.83 K/9 2.70 BB/9 1.45 FIP 2.13 xFIP

- Thomas Hatch

- Patrick Murphy

[spats]

A few guys of note in AAA we could call-up:

 

- Kirby Snead

12.83 K/9 2.70 BB/9 1.45 FIP 2.13 xFIP

- Thomas Hatch

- Patrick Murphy

 

I say give Snead a shot. Can't be worse than the s*** they're using now

[THANOS]

I say give Snead a shot. Can't be worse than the s*** they're using now

 

I agree. The peripherals look really good for him. Today's performance makes them look even better too.

[43211234]

The only reason Snead isn't already on the team is because he's not on the 40-man.

 

The front office f***ed up back in May when they put Nick Allgeyer on the 40-man and wasted a roster spot.

 

Allgeyer and Beasley seem like easy DFA candidate. Both likely clear waivers.

[Eat My Shatkins]

What about Saucedo?

 

2.20 ERA / 1.57 FIP / 2.12 xFIP / 11.57 K/9 / 1.10 BB/9

 

Or Hobie Harris?

 

1.50 ERA / 4.06 FIP / 2.96 xFIP / 13.50 K/9 / 3.75 BB/9

[Spanky99]

The only reason Snead isn't already on the team is because he's not on the 40-man.

 

The front office f***ed up back in May when they put Nick Allgeyer on the 40-man and wasted a roster spot.

 

Allgeyer and Beasley seem like easy DFA candidate. Both likely clear waivers.

 

Lots of these guys can be kicked to the curb on the 25 man, shouldn't be a problem.

[saskjayfan]

Roberto Osuna's available, just saying. I'm pretty sure he could be bought out of his contract.

 

He has 0.0 ERA in 5.1 innings so far this year.

[Spanky99]

Roberto Osuna's available, just saying. I'm pretty sure he could be bought out of his contract.

 

He has 0.0 ERA in 5.1 innings so far this year.

 

Huh, where's he pitching? Toronto's too PC for that type of move, never happen.

 

Oh, he's in Mexico.

[saskjayfan]

Huh, where's he pitching? Toronto's too PC for that type of move, never happen.

 

Oh, he's in Mexico.

 

The whole ordeal is shrouded with mystery. Didn't the incident happen outside his apartment. The defense was citing video evidence would help his case. People deserve second chances unless what they've done is so egregious that you can't go there. There's nothing to suggest this is the case. You're probably right. Toronto's to PC for this move, but this is the type of reliever we need.

[Spanky99]

The whole ordeal is shrouded with mystery. Didn't the incident happen outside his apartment. The defense was citing video evidence would help his case. People deserve second chances unless what they've done is so egregious that you can't go there. There's nothing to suggest this is the case. You're probably right. Toronto's to PC for this move, but this is the type of reliever we need.

 

He was recommended for TJS as well, I bet he's asking for too much.

[saskjayfan]

He was recommended for TJS as well, I bet he's asking for too much.

 

I can't imagine he's asking too much now. He opted for rest and rehab? Did it work? Not sure. He's pitching now. If the velocity is there, I'd give him a mil or 2 to finish out the season. Seems like a sensible gamble if you can get past the other stuff.

[Spanky99]

I can't imagine he's asking too much now. He opted for rest and rehab? Did it work? Not sure. He's pitching now. If the velocity is there, I'd give him a mil or 2 to finish out the season. Seems like a sensible gamble if you can get past the other stuff.

 

Right, but his time in Toronto's done. I was just spitballing. Damn, MLBTR needs to update there FA tracker list, I thought Greene was available. Signed back with the Braves a month back.

[G-Snarls]

An Underrated Reliever Who Could Find Himself On The Trade Market

 

By Anthony Franco | June 10, 2021 at 10:37pm CDT

 

Still amidst a multi-year rebuild, the Orioles are one of a handful of teams around the league certain to trade players off the big league roster in advance of the July 30 deadline. Much of the discussion about the club in the coming weeks figures to revolve around the potential availability of staff ace John Means and first baseman Trey Mancini, with good reason. But there’s a lower-profile Oriole whose excellent performance should draw plenty of attention from contenders: lefty reliever Paul Fry.

A former 17th-round pick of the Mariners, Fry was traded to Baltimore for international signing bonus space back in 2017. He made his MLB debut the following year. While Fry began as a rather nondescript middle reliever, he’s quietly been lights-out for the past two seasons. Since the start of 2020, Fry has pitched to a 2.22 ERA that ranks twelfth among big league relievers (minimum 40 innings).

 

Relievers can sometimes fluke their way into strong ERA’s given their generally small sample workloads, but that doesn’t appear to be the case with Fry. He’s among the top 25 bullpen arms in strikeout rate (33%), strikeout/walk rate differential (22.9 percentage points), SIERA (2.98) and ground ball rate (55.3%) over the last two years. Quite simply, he’s done almost everything teams want from a pitcher. He’s shown the ability to both miss bats and keep the ball on the ground, so it’s no surprise he continues to post scoreless innings. His 10.1% walk rate, while slightly worse than league average, is far from disastrous.

 

Fry was very good in 2020, and he’s seemingly taken his game to another level this season. Fry’s punching out hitters at a career-best 36.7% rate this year, helping him pitch to a 1.99 ERA across 22 2/3 frames. He’s averaging a career-high 93.5 MPH on his four-seam fastball, which is missing bats at an elite level. And Fry’s been equally dominant against hitters from both sides of the plate, holding left-handed and right-handed batters alike to a sub-.500 OPS.

 

That level of on-field dominance is interesting enough, but Fry’s contractual status makes him all the more appealing a trade target. He’s making just more than the league minimum salary this season and comes with three additional years of team control via arbitration. Even the lowest-payroll contenders would have no issue adding Fry to the books; the same is true of big-market teams seemingly set on staying underneath the luxury tax threshold (i.e. Astros, Red Sox and Yankees).

[G-Snarls]

He'd be an amazing get but the Orioles never trade players at the right time. They always wait to the last minute and get little in return.

[Ryu In My House]

Jansen has never really hit much at the MLB level, so I'm not sure if he ever had a ton of trade value in the first place.

 

He created a little buzz when he was first called up, and then he won a gold glove. That off season he had decent value. Hind sight is 20/20, but I wonder what they could have gotten for him that offseason. That was when his value was about double it is now.

[max silver]

He created a little buzz when he was first called up, and then he won a gold glove. That off season he had decent value. Hind sight is 20/20, but I wonder what they could have gotten for him that offseason. That was when his value was about double it is now.

 

I'm sure the club was still hoping for some improvement with the bat at that point though. Jansen had good success with the bat in the minors and still showed some remaining upside at that point, so I think he was more valuable to the organization at that point than the return that would have likely came back. With Kirk, Adams and Moreno in the pipeline now trading Jansen for whatever he can bring in return is more palatable, but before last season the only other catcher in the organization that was close to MLB ready was McGuire. I sure as hell wasn't interested in seeing him as the starting catcher, he's just barely passable in my view as a backup.

[Spanky99]

He created a little buzz when he was first called up, and then he won a gold glove. That off season he had decent value. Hind sight is 20/20, but I wonder what they could have gotten for him that offseason. That was when his value was about double it is now.

 

Jansen was a finalist, he never won a gold glove.

[spats]

I am so tired of seeing Springer joking around in the dugout. I don't want to be reminded that he is there but not playing. We should have a pool to pick the date that he eventually is in the lineup.

[connorp]

He created a little buzz when he was first called up, and then he won a gold glove. That off season he had decent value. Hind sight is 20/20, but I wonder what they could have gotten for him that offseason. That was when his value was about double it is now.

 

I’m going to say it was more than double as the wise guys here were against moving him for Lynn last season

[Jimcanuck]

I am so tired of seeing Springer joking around in the dugout. I don't want to be reminded that he is there but not playing. We should have a pool to pick the date that he eventually is in the lineup.

 

Yes, I don't get it. Isn't the Dunedin complex the best place for him to be rehabbing?