General Blue Jays Discussion Thread (2022)

[Sorrow]

I don’t believe but we’ll see.

 

Espinal has had to deal with some outrageous umping seemingly aimed squarely at him as well. Also, I just flat believe in his swing more against more types of pitching.

 

Espinal could use a day off though.

 

Espinal has a 93 wRC+ since I think April 26th. We're at 2 months of a below replacement level bat. His defense is good but he should be playing off the bench giving Biggio, Bichette and Chapman days off or moving to 2B so Biggio plays 1B and gets Vlad off his feet. He shouldn't be penciled in 5 days a week and he shouldn't be hitting any higher than 8th in this lineup.

[Jimcanuck]

Espinal has a 93 wRC+ since I think April 26th. We're at 2 months of a below replacement level bat. His defense is good but he should be playing off the bench giving Biggio, Bichette and Chapman days off or moving to 2B so Biggio plays 1B and gets Vlad off his feet. He shouldn't be penciled in 5 days a week and he shouldn't be hitting any higher than 8th in this lineup.

 

Agreed, his optimum role has always been this

 

Is 93 wRC+ replacement level though? Isn't 100 the average, meaning replacement level is somewhere below that?

[Laika]

Agreed, his optimum role has always been this

 

Is 93 wRC+ replacement level though? Isn't 100 the average, meaning replacement level is somewhere below that?

 

Yes replacement level middle infield bats are like 80 wRC+ maybe worse

[Spanky99]

I noticed that the other day, there's only 106 qualified players at 100 wRC+ in all of MLB... Woof!

[Dagagad]

Bad calls aside he's flailing at everything and making horrible contact

 

We’ll see I guess. I personally would trade biggio first chance I get when his line is good.

[Eat My Shatkins]

Biggio 124 wRC+

Espinal 99 wRC+

 

What a turn around there.

 

Luckily Espinal provides solid defensive value.

 

Of course Montoyo bats him f***ing lead off during his coldest stretch of the season.

 

How about putting the guy with a .373 OBP (.432 OBP since he came back from AAA on May 26th) in the lead off spot you f***ing simpleton?

[Dagagad]

I was thinking about the bullpen and pitching this morning, and I just can’t see how this front office does big trades early or even at the deadline ASSUMING our playoff odds are similar to what they are now.

 

Our bullpen sucks but our bullpen sucked worse last year, and we had worse playoff odds. In that situation we put minimum prospects into improving the pen. We pulled off a big trade for berrios, but honestly we needed that type of acquisition just to have a chance to make the playoffs.

 

With our kind of odds this year, that kind of deal would be irresponsible from a team building POV. So, unless a lot goes wrong between here and the deadline, I don’t see it.

 

Possibly if they have a mandate to make the playoffs or else but it would be a pretty weird move.

[Eat My Shatkins]

I was thinking about the bullpen and pitching this morning, and I just can’t see how this front office does big trades early or even at the deadline ASSUMING our playoff odds are similar to what they are now.

 

Our bullpen sucks but our bullpen sucked worse last year, and we had worse playoff odds. In that situation we put minimum prospects into improving the pen. We pulled off a big trade for berrios, but honestly we needed that type of acquisition just to have a chance to make the playoffs.

 

With our kind of odds this year, that kind of deal would be irresponsible from a team building POV. So, unless a lot goes wrong between here and the deadline, I don’t see it.

 

Possibly if they have a mandate to make the playoffs or else but it would be a pretty weird move.

 

I don't see them making any "big" pen acquisitions.

 

They will probably eventually give Hernandez/Eisert a promotion, and aside from that they will make cheap acquisitions for the bullpen.

[Dagagad]

I don't see them making any "big" pen acquisitions.

 

They will probably eventually give Hernandez/Eisert a promotion, and aside from that they will make cheap acquisitions for the bullpen.

 

I don’t see how they could justify a montas/Castillo level starter either. If we have good playoff odds, you really only need three starters once you are in .

[Jimcanuck]

I don’t see how they could justify a montas/Castillo level starter either. If we have good playoff odds, you really only need three starters once you are in .

 

They can go in a lot of different directions. A big trade would not surprise me at all. Trust in Shatkins.

[Deadpool]

Did Rosenthal's showcase just really, really suck? I'm surprised he hasn't signed ANYWHERE yet.

[Eat My Shatkins]

Did Rosenthal's showcase just really, really suck? I'm surprised he hasn't signed ANYWHERE yet.

 

Yeah no kidding, I was wondering the same thing.

 

I read that his showcase ended with him getting a hamstring cramp but I really hadn't heard any other news about it and was like three weeks ago now.

[Dagagad]

They can go in a lot of different directions. A big trade would not surprise me at all. Trust in Shatkins.

 

Unless, it’s highway robbery like the LA Washington deal last year, I’d lose some trust. Assuming we still have high playoff odds.

[Eat My Shatkins]

Unless, it’s highway robbery like the LA Washington deal last year, I’d lose some trust. Assuming we still have high playoff odds.

 

Highway robbery would mean the Jays gave up something for nothing.

 

They pretty much gave up nothing for nothing in that trade.

[Eat My Shatkins]

I don’t see how they could justify a montas/Castillo level starter either. If we have good playoff odds, you really only need three starters once you are in .

 

Yeah, I kind of agree, the only reason I can see to add a starter like that right now would be to hedge against injuries I guess.

 

Part of me wants them to add a Montas/Castillo type SP, but another part of me would rather they hold onto their bullets so they can make a legit play for a true difference maker should one suddenly become available, like Shohei Ohtani for example. Of course, that's the pie in the sky, unicorn type pipe dream, but if an actual ace SP were to hit the market you'd hate for the Jays to have already blown their wad by adding another Berrios. Guys like Montas and Castillo will be free agents in a year and a half. Wait and try to sign them if you want them down the road, but for now I'm kind of OK rolling with Manoah/Gausman/Berrios plus whichever other starters they have to round out the rotation. Stripling has been solid, Kikuchi might figure it out and be more consistent in a good way, maybe Tiedemann pulls a "Manoah" and is in the Jays rotation by June next year. Or maybe Frasso does.

[Dagagad]

Highway robbery would mean the Jays gave up something for nothing.

 

They pretty much gave up nothing for nothing in that trade.

 

I meant the dodgers nationals turner/scherzer deal. Sorry, I wasn’t clear.

[Spanky99]

Did Rosenthal's showcase just really, really suck? I'm surprised he hasn't signed ANYWHERE yet.

 

I've been wondering the same, lol. That makes sense.

[Stangstag]

Biggio 124 wRC+

Espinal 99 wRC+

 

What a turn around there.

 

Luckily Espinal provides solid defensive value.

 

Of course Montoyo bats him f***ing lead off during his coldest stretch of the season.

 

How about putting the guy with a .373 OBP (.432 OBP since he came back from AAA on May 26th) in the lead off spot you f***ing simpleton?

 

This yeah lol. Clown behavior. Remember Tapia leading off with Espinal hitting like 7th earlier in the year?

 

And now Espinal is cold and Tap hot, and Espinal is leading off.

 

Charlie is just clueless. Could argue Tapia would be a better leadoff bat right now.

[Dagagad]

I don’t know if anyone listens to the Rates and Barrels podcast (if you play fantasy you should) but they talked about Berrios.

 

It was interesting even though they could draw no firm conclusion. Basically, the things that jump out are that his four seam fastball stuff plus number jumps kind of wildly start to start from above average to well below, and that his release point on that pitch is down 2 inches. The latter is sometimes a sign of someone carrying a niggle.

[John_Havok]

Did Rosenthal's showcase just really, really suck? I'm surprised he hasn't signed ANYWHERE yet.

 

If I remember right, it ended early with some sort of slight strain or something to the same hamstring area that he had injured previously.

[Eat My Shatkins]

If I remember right, it ended early with some sort of slight injury/strain.

 

Hamstring cramp

[John_Havok]

Hamstring cramp

 

Yeah that. Probably made any team interested just back right off right away

[Eat My Shatkins]

Yeah that. Probably made any team interested just back right off right away

 

Must have been a bad cramp lol

 

It's been almost 3 weeks and still nothing but crickets. they probably said it was a cramp, but more likely something more serious I'm thinking.

[Stangstag]

Glad to see Kirk back in the lineup today

[JFD]

Biggio leadoff nice

[max silver]

Espinal has a 93 wRC+ since I think April 26th. We're at 2 months of a below replacement level bat. His defense is good but he should be playing off the bench giving Biggio, Bichette and Chapman days off or moving to 2B so Biggio plays 1B and gets Vlad off his feet. He shouldn't be penciled in 5 days a week and he shouldn't be hitting any higher than 8th in this lineup.

 

Your start date of April 26th is basically irrelevant. Espinal is in the throes of a deep slump which extends over the last 8 games. Over these 8 games he's really struggled to the tune of a -74 WRC+. From the start of the season until June 15 he produced a 125 WRC+ and was the second most valuable position player on the team behind Kirk as he was worth 1.9 FWAR. As a whole Espinal was a tremendous contributor over the first 2 months of the season and I don't see any reason he won't eventually emerge from this mid-season slump. I certainly don't think he should be hitting at the top of the lineup right now but benching a player who was as productive for an extended period as Espinal was is only going to weaken the team long term.

[gruber92]

Good job Thorton

[Spanky99]

Good job Thorton

 

Wrong thread, meat.

[Dagagad]

So…. we kind of can’t afford another Kikuchi start, right? Until he sorts it out somewhat.

[John_Havok]

Your start date of April 26th is basically irrelevant. Espinal is in the throes of a deep slump which extends over the last 8 games. Over these 8 games he's really struggled to the tune of a -74 WRC+. From the start of the season until June 15 he produced a 125 WRC+ and was the second most valuable position player on the team behind Kirk as he was worth 1.9 FWAR. As a whole Espinal was a tremendous contributor over the first 2 months of the season and I don't see any reason he won't eventually emerge from this mid-season slump. I certainly don't think he should be hitting at the top of the lineup right now but benching a player who was as productive for an extended period as Espinal was is only going to weaken the team long term.

 

Yeah, but he should never be near the top or middle of the lineup with the other bats on this team. Hit him 7th-9th. The top 6 (assuming health) should be about as close to being written in stone as it gets. Springer, Bo, Vlad, Kirk, Teo, and Lourdes are all superior hitters and a pretty solid case for Biggio also. Chapman is also a far more dangerous hitter overall, though he’s a bit volatile.

 

And for the love of Christ on a cracker can we stop hitting Tapia 6th?