General Blue Jays Discussion Thread (2021)

[Brownie19]

JJ Bleday and Travis Swaggerty have both been rather s***** so far eh? Looks like Swaggerty has been unlucky though. Good K/BB and decent ISO in AAA.

[SpeedyGose]

Random Vlad stat for your enjoyment: Vlad currently has .318 AVG .318 BABIP .318 ISO

[Spanky99]

Should be an interesting and hyped series with Vlad and Ohtani facing off, top 2 MVP candidates, especially Thursday when Ohtani will be taking the hill.

[Jays24]

Should be an interesting and hyped series with Vlad and Ohtani facing off, top 2 MVP candidates, especially Thursday when Ohtani will be taking the hill.

 

Both players were reeling recently. Seems like Vlad was the only one not enjoying going back to the Rogers Center lol

[Dick_Pole]

If the club can add most of Pearson, Merryweather, Mayza and Soria back to the pen it suddenly starts bordering on elite. If Borucki can get his s*** together as well that adds another potential fireman to the club to snuff out opposition rallies. These are 5 high quality potential reinforcements that will force the lower end options off the 26 man roster and hopefully make the constant bullpen worries a thing of the past.

 

Huh? Pearson, the man of 20 crappy career MLB innings. Merryweather, the 29 yo with 17 pretty good career MLB innings. Soria, the pitcher on the tail end of his career that hasn't been elite in a couple of years. And Mayza, who has had one decent year and has been alright this year.

 

Adding these four isn't going to take this bullpen to borderline elite. The best we can hope for is enough live bodies that some combination of them will lead to an average to slightly better than average pen from this point forward.

[Ray]

JB Wendelken DFA'd by the A's in a kind of surprising move.

 

He was fantastic last season and throws heat with a hammer curve. He's suffered a slight velo decrease this season, but I'd be all over trying to acquire him. Doubt he makes it through waivers though. He'd represent an upgrade for most bullpens. Numbers aren't even that bad this year.

[max silver]

Huh? Pearson, the man of 20 crappy career MLB innings. Merryweather, the 29 yo with 17 pretty good career MLB innings. Soria, the pitcher on the tail end of his career that hasn't been elite in a couple of years. And Mayza, who has had one decent year and has been alright this year.

 

Adding these four isn't going to take this bullpen to borderline elite. The best we can hope for is enough live bodies that some combination of them will lead to an average to slightly better than average pen from this point forward.

 

You are seriously underrating what these pitchers can bring when at the top of their games. In his 17 innings of MLB experience Merryweather has accumulated 0.9 FWAR. Extrapolate that to full 60 or so innings of work and you suddenly see a 4 win reliever. Does that sound "pretty good" to you? I'm guessing that's a hard no.

 

Remember what the reliever version of Pearson did in the playoffs to the Tampa Bay Rays? If he's fully healthy and effective he's a player that struck out 5 out of 6 batters against a good hitting Rays team. Don't you think that's an impact addition?

 

Mayza has been an absolute stud this season. He had a rough stretch of 5-1/3 innings from May 7-24 where he allowed 12 earned runs. But outside of that bad stretch he's been basically perfect. Outside the short stretch where he struggled he's given up a grand total of 3!!! earned runs in his other 30-2/3 innings. Does that not sound like another elite bullpen addition?

 

Soria admittedly won't have the same type of impact, but his presence removes the worst from the middle reliever stash on the club, removing the weakest link from the bullpen.

 

Having a bullpen of Romano, Pearson, Merryweather, Mayza, Dolis, Hand, Cimber, Richards and Soria has a very high possibility of elite production. With the starting rotation mostly pitching well there wouldn't be a ton of innings to cover, and each member of the bullpen would likely get ample opportunity for proper rest as well.

Edited August 10, 2021 by max silver

[Dick_Pole]

You are seriously underrating what these pitchers can bring when at the top of their games. In his 17 innings of MLB experience Merryweather has accumulated 0.9 FWAR. Extrapolate that to full 60 or so innings of work and you suddenly see a 4 win reliever. Does that sound "pretty good" to you? I'm guessing that's a hard no.

 

Remember what the reliever version of Pearson did in the playoffs to the Tampa Bay Rays? If he's fully healthy and effective he's a player that struck out 5 out of 6 batters against a good hitting Rays team. Don't you think that's an impact addition?

 

Mayza has been an absolute stud this season. He had a rough stretch of 5-1/3 innings from May 7-24 where he allowed 12 earned runs. But outside of that bad stretch he's been basically perfect. Outside the short stretch where he struggled he's given up a grand total of 3!!! earned runs in his other 30-2/3 innings. Does that not sound like another elite bullpen addition?

 

Soria admittedly won't have the same type of impact, but his presence removes the worst from the middle reliever stash on the club, removing the weakest link from the bullpen.

 

Having a bullpen of Romano, Pearson, Merryweather, Mayza, Dolis, Hand, Cimber, Richards and Soria has a very high possibility of elite production. With the starting rotation mostly pitching well there wouldn't be a ton of innings to cover, and each member of the bullpen would likely get ample opportunity for proper rest as well.

 

I guess small sample sizes only apply when it doesn't fit the narrative you want to tell. To just slot these guys in there and assume the bullpen is elite is a stretch. Better, most likely. Hopefully. Elite? No. Although I hope the Jays get lucky and they all do perform at an elite level for 2.5 more months.

[Scion]

My god, if the Jays get healthy they can run some absolutely electric arms out of their pen:

 

Jordan Romano

Julian Merryweather

Nate Pearson

Brad Hand

Adam Cimber

Tim Mayza

Trevor Richards

Joakim Soria

Rafael Dolis

[P2F]

My god, if the Jays get healthy they can run some absolutely electric arms out of their pen:

 

Jordan Romano

Julian Merryweather

Nate Pearson

Brad Hand

Adam Cimber

Tim Mayza

Trevor Richards

Joakim Soria

Rafael Dolis

 

That might even border on elite!

[InvincibleTiger]

My god, if the Jays get healthy they can run some absolutely electric arms out of their pen:

 

Jordan Romano

Julian Merryweather

Nate Pearson

Brad Hand

Adam Cimber

Tim Mayza

Trevor Richards

Joakim Soria

Rafael Dolis

 

Romano

Merryweather

Pearson

Mayza

Cimber

Richards

 

is a pretty damn good top 6

[Spanky99]

[max silver]

 

It's good to see Bo back in there today. That really deepens the lineup nicely. I just wish the club would give Kirk more of a chance to show what he can do. I can't see his development being helped out much by playing twice a week.

[Spanky99]

It's good to see Bo back in there today. That really deepens the lineup nicely. I just wish the club would give Kirk more of a chance to show what he can do. I can't see his development being helped out much by playing twice a week.

 

Agreed man, I want the Captain!

[Scion]

It's good to see Bo back in there today. That really deepens the lineup nicely. I just wish the club would give Kirk more of a chance to show what he can do. I can't see his development being helped out much by playing twice a week.

 

Kirk will get into the second game of the double header.

[Spanky99]

Kirk will get into the second game of the double header.

 

Yeah for today, but he should be playing more.

[intentional wok]

Yeah for today, but he should be playing more.

 

I wonder if they're giving his hip less of a workload, which I guess is not the worst thing since McGuire is doing a decent job and the rest of the lineup is totally crushing it.

[Spanky99]

I wonder if they're giving his hip less of a workload, which I guess is not the worst thing since McGuire is doing a decent job and the rest of the lineup is totally crushing it.

 

Fair point.

[Ray]

Yeah for today, but he should be playing more.

 

I thought this too, but the split between the two has been pretty even since Kirk returned (July 23rd)

 

Kirk: 8 games started

McGuire 10 games started

 

Kirk should be playing more, but maybe they're just trying to manage his hip injury? With Jansen & Moreno out, and Riley Adams traded, we don't really have a decent catcher to fill in if Kirk gets hurt again.

[Spanky99]

I thought this too, but the split between the two has been pretty even since Kirk returned (July 23rd)

 

Kirk: 8 games started

McGuire 10 games started

 

Kirk should be playing more, but maybe they're just trying to manage his hip injury? With Jansen & Moreno out, and Riley Adams traded, we don't really have a decent catcher to fill in if Kirk gets hurt again.

 

Yeah, that's smart, load management, lol.

[Jays24]

 

They won't be allowed fans for this game right? This should be OUR home game. Pretty dumb for it to be there in the first place.

[Spanky99]

They won't be allowed fans for this game right? This should be OUR home game. Pretty dumb for it to be there in the first place.

 

lol... it's the only thing they could do?

[Jays24]

lol... it's the only thing they could do?

 

Play the game at the end of the season if it's truly required, assuming there are 0 spots in the schedule that allow for it?

[Spanky99]

Play the game at the end of the season if it's truly required, assuming there are 0 spots in the schedule that allow for it?

 

And how many games would be played at the end of the season? Seriously, think about that clusterf***. Yikes.

[Grant77]

The Angels' 3-4 hitters are Phil Gosselin and Jose Iglesias. There's no excuses for Matz and Stripling tonight.

[Jays24]

And how many games would be played at the end of the season? Seriously, think about that clusterf***. Yikes.

 

You right, you right. Still s***** lol.

[Spanky99]

The Angels' 3-4 hitters are Phil Gosselin and Jose Iglesias. There's no excuses for Matz and Stripling tonight.

 

Let em pitch first Grant before we ostracize the guys... Geez.

[Slade]

[max silver]

 

Of course. That's just typical for how the Jays season has gone with respect to the bullpen.

[glory]

 

Julian Pearson or Nate Merryweather.