General Blue Jays Discussion Thread (2022)

[AttackOfTheJays]

Like I said before, if missing the playoffs means Atkins is gone, I'm all for it. The sooner we shed ourselves of this f***ing clown, we can then move forward. I'll keep mentioning it until this goof is gone. There are way too many hardcore fans that deserve better than this.

 

The most embarrassing thing about Atkins was when he was on Tim & Friends after the deadline Tim straight up asked him "The Yankess, Astros, Mariners, Twins all got significantly better. Did you do enough at the deadline to compete for a World Series" and he laughed at him. He has zero self awareness and that's his downfall here. Him and Shapiro also ripped Anthoplous "giving up the farm", yet now Atkin's has pretty much sold the farm(what little we actually have from his drafts) and we won't even make the playoffs. At least Alex had us in them.

[Dagagad]

The condescension of ripping AA and then being here for 7 years and not being able to develop pitching to the level where we have a good bullpen is galling. He is pretend smart. Says the right things, talks about baseball in a really clinical smart sounding way,.. but yea… maybe smart in 2010.

 

AA spent a few years in the dodgers system and is polished into a pretty good GM. And we got the guys from Cleveland who can’t do pitching.

 

It’s like we hired some guys from Apple but they were the ones who designed the logo not the iPhone.

[BigCecil]

The condescension of ripping AA and then being here for 7 years and not being able to develop pitching to the level where we have a good bullpen is galling. He is pretend smart. Says the right things, talks about baseball in a really clinical smart sounding way,.. but yea… maybe smart in 2010.

 

AA spent a few years in the dodgers system and is polished into a pretty good GM. And we got the guys from Cleveland who can’t do pitching.

 

It’s like we hired some guys from Apple but they were the ones who designed the logo not the iPhone.

 

I actually think Ross is really smart and competent. I know a lot of guys, especially who do a lot of fantasy, seem to love what appear to be his smaller incremental low cost moves. Personally I can't listen to him for a second. If he comes on TV or radio I literally cannot shut it off fast enough. He reminds me of Ned Flanders on the Simpson's or that Lego Movie I watched with my kids song,,,"Everything is Awesome", when he speaks. Whether he is talking about Derrick Fisher and 42 years of control or signing Springer everything is awesome. It's all pablum. I know that's GM speak but he is a special kind of annoying. I do agree the chortling at AA grinds my gears still. Especially when you compare the prospects they have sold, FA spending, signings and actual results. Oh well let's see what the rest of '22 and '23 bring. I'm in no rush to see him gone but im not looking for the "competitive team" award. We have been there before. Many times since '93.

[jaysblue]

The Blue Jays best window to win a World Series is over the next two-three years. The Blue Jays should be fielding the best teams possible over these next two-three years, no excuses. You can't let this roster go to waste by cheapening on other areas such as the bullpen or roster depth. Vladdy and Bo become FA's in 2026 and will start becoming expensive through arbitration 2023 onwards or if they sign an extension which will tie up the payroll from the Blue Jays spending on other players. Teoscar Hernandez is a FA in 2024. George Springer is getting older and want to take advantage of his so called prime years before he declines. You want to capitalize on Gausman in the early part of his contract because who knows how he pitches at an elite level when he's 34 or 35 years of age. Manoah is pitching fantastic and showing he's healthy - want to take advantage of that as we know with some young pitchers how injuries can pop up and they're MIA for a good year or two possibly.

[Dagagad]

I actually think Ross is really smart and competent. I know a lot of guys, especially who do a lot of fantasy, seem to love what appear to be his smaller incremental low cost moves. Personally I can't listen to him for a second. If he comes on TV or radio I literally cannot shut it off fast enough. He reminds me of Ned Flanders on the Simpson's or that Lego Movie I watched with my kids song,,,"Everything is Awesome", when he speaks. Whether he is talking about Derrick Fisher and 42 years of control or signing Springer everything is awesome. It's all pablum. I know that's GM speak but he is a special kind of annoying. I do agree the chortling at AA grinds my gears still. Especially when you compare the prospects they have sold, FA spending, signings and actual results. Oh well let's see what the rest of '22 and '23 bring. I'm in no rush to see him gone but im not looking for the "competitive team" award. We have been there before. Many times since '93.

 

Really smart and competent isn’t near the cutting edge though and we are in a really tough division.

 

At the end of the days Cleveland’s MO was being absolutely elite at developing pitching and there is very little evidence that we are anywhere near them in that regard. We aren’t bad,,, we might be getting better… but we definitely didn’t get the best and brightest in that deal.

 

I was 100% into this move at the time. I thought it made a ton of sense to be ‘Cleveland with money’. That’s a sustainable winning formula. The dodgers basically (and simplistically) became the rays with money and we all see how successful that turned out to be. However, enough time has passed to say we are a LONG way from that goal.

 

The good thing about baseball is you can still win a World Series like that. But it’s basically impossible to be a sustainable winner like that.

Edited August 13, 2022 by Dagagad

[MikeM3]

The condescension of ripping AA and then being here for 7 years and not being able to develop pitching to the level where we have a good bullpen is galling. He is pretend smart. Says the right things, talks about baseball in a really clinical smart sounding way,.. but yea… maybe smart in 2010.

 

AA spent a few years in the dodgers system and is polished into a pretty good GM. And we got the guys from Cleveland who can’t do pitching.

 

It’s like we hired some guys from Apple but they were the ones who designed the logo not the iPhone.

 

AA has added more value to the Braves just on all those ridiculous contracts then Atkins ever could add to us. Atkins is jealous that AA is a greasy, fast talking salesman with charm. And he does old school s*** like call up his ol' buddy Jesse Chavez to give his team 0.8 WAR for nothing.

 

Atkins can't figure out how all this stuff happens to AA because he has no interpersonal intelligence or street smarts.

[G-Snarls]

I actually think Ross is really smart and competent. I know a lot of guys, especially who do a lot of fantasy, seem to love what appear to be his smaller incremental low cost moves. Personally I can't listen to him for a second. If he comes on TV or radio I literally cannot shut it off fast enough. He reminds me of Ned Flanders on the Simpson's or that Lego Movie I watched with my kids song,,,"Everything is Awesome", when he speaks. Whether he is talking about Derrick Fisher and 42 years of control or signing Springer everything is awesome. It's all pablum. I know that's GM speak but he is a special kind of annoying. I do agree the chortling at AA grinds my gears still. Especially when you compare the prospects they have sold, FA spending, signings and actual results. Oh well let's see what the rest of '22 and '23 bring. I'm in no rush to see him gone but im not looking for the "competitive team" award. We have been there before. Many times since '93.

 

OTOH I love listening to Shapiro

[DigitalRock]

This is one of the more frustrating seasons , team has talent but way too streaky and inconsistent

[Stangstag]

This is one of the more frustrating seasons , team has talent but way too streaky and inconsistent

 

More frustrating than last year? Idk. Both years have been extremely annoying though outside of a few good win streaks

[glory]

The Blue Jays best window to win a World Series is over the next two-three years. The Blue Jays should be fielding the best teams possible over these next two-three years, no excuses. You can't let this roster go to waste by cheapening on other areas such as the bullpen or roster depth. Vladdy and Bo become FA's in 2026 and will start becoming expensive through arbitration 2023 onwards or if they sign an extension which will tie up the payroll from the Blue Jays spending on other players. Teoscar Hernandez is a FA in 2024. George Springer is getting older and want to take advantage of his so called prime years before he declines. You want to capitalize on Gausman in the early part of his contract because who knows how he pitches at an elite level when he's 34 or 35 years of age. Manoah is pitching fantastic and showing he's healthy - want to take advantage of that as we know with some young pitchers how injuries can pop up and they're MIA for a good year or two possibly.

 

Hernandez, Chapman, and Gurriel are all FA's after 2023, and I can't think of one prospect today who looks like he might be ready to take one of those spots by 2024. Maybe Orelvis if his 2023 looks better than 2022 but expecting him to hit the ground running if he does make it is probably going to end in disappointment, and the Jays can't afford to spend the last two years of Vlad/Bo's control (2024-25) with a 3B who may need a few years to develop. I don't see any OF's on the horizon unless I'm forgetting someone. The Jays really need a CF but that's the toughest OF position to fill. That's not even factoring the more obvious holes, which are bullpen (clearly), and the rotation which will not have Stripling and Ryu next season, and we have no idea what is happening to Berrios. Kikuchi also sucks right now, so that's an issue.

 

It's going to be very interesting to see what they do this winter. If they are seeing the same thing I'm seeing as far as the overall state of the roster/farm system, then I think they do some riskier things this winter to maximize 2023-25 wins. By riskier, I mean "sign Edwin Diaz to an insane contract" type of risky. Of course, if the Jays go on a magical run this October, then obviously that changes things.

[BigCecil]

OTOH I love listening to Shapiro

 

Ya, he is good. Sounds good. But I feel like he is wasted too much talking about the new raised pens in the OF.

[Terminator]

[Laika]

 

Ross Atkins won today's game

 

1 WAR for Ross

[L54]

Ross Atkins won today's game

 

1 WAR for Ross

 

Only 17 behind Friedman for the league lead

[mellowgold]

Weird lineup today. Tapia in cf, Merrifield 2b, and Biggio rf.

 

If those are the guys we're going with, I think I'd prefer Tapia rf, Merrifield cf, and Biggio 2b.

[BigCecil]

Only 17 behind Friedman for the league lead

 

I guess this is the post deadline signings WAR counter. Things like Yimi's blown save vs the O's Tues, who he also signed(ya, overall been pretty good) don't count.

[G-Snarls]

Berrios ERA

 

Home 4

Away 7.5

 

His BA against is 130 points higher on the road

[G-Snarls]

Ross Atkins on MLB Network this morning

 

"I feel good every time Jose Berrios goes out there"

 

Chapman is rhe best defensive 3B he's ever seen

 

He and Vladdy expect Vladdy 2021 numbers every year

[Solaxys]

 

its his release point; some hypotheses.

[John_Havok]

Weird lineup today. Tapia in cf, Merrifield 2b, and Biggio rf.

 

If those are the guys we're going with, I think I'd prefer Tapia rf, Merrifield cf, and Biggio 2b.

 

Yeah that lineup is not the most defensively optimized for sure. For a contact snappy team I’d probably just stack the best defensive lineup I could. Even if it takes 1 better bat out of the lineup, you don’t need to score 8 against Cleveland to win. Pitch around Ramirez and basically their entire lineup is light hitting aside from Naylor, who you can K often enough to not really matter so much.

[Buster]

I dont think I've seen a management team/org that is inept at assessing pitching talent as this one. There's no way this is a statistical anomaly rather than incompetence.

[keggy]

Weird lineup today. Tapia in cf, Merrifield 2b, and Biggio rf.

 

If those are the guys we're going with, I think I'd prefer Tapia rf, Merrifield cf, and Biggio 2b.

 

Purely going by eye test Biggio looks very good in the OF and 1B. Merrifield looks better at 2B. I wish they would play Biggio in CF. He can really run and he can't be worse than Tapia.

[Jonn]

Purely going by eye test Biggio looks very good in the OF and 1B. Merrifield looks better at 2B. I wish they would play Biggio in CF. He can really run and he can't be worse than Tapia.

 

Been saying Biggio should get reps in CF for 3 years.

[G-Snarls]

Been saying Biggio should get reps in CF for 3 years.

 

We have like 4-5 guys who can probably play CF now and Tapia MIGHT be the worst one

Edited August 14, 2022 by G-Snarls

[G-Snarls]

CF options

 

Springer

Bradley Jr

 

Merrifield

 

Biggio?

Tapia

Edited August 14, 2022 by G-Snarls

[Stangstag]

We have like 4-5 guys who can probably play CF now and Tapia MIGHT be the worst one

 

Lol yeah. Part of Tapia’s problem IMO is he is very lazy majority of the time. He always looks like he’s dogging it in the OF and on the bases, especially on groundouts. Like my dude, speed is the one thing you do well you need to bust your ass down that line every single time. He could easily have a handful of infield hits if he put more effort in.

[Ehjays]

[jaysblue]

 

Giles would be a nice pickup for the Blue Jays. They really could use him.

[G-Snarls]

Yes to Giles please

[Sorrow]

I wonder who would have provided more value at 300 PA this season, Tapia who has -0.1 fWAR or Ziimmer. I think Zimmer's defense and speed would provide a bit more value but he's also not going to hit as badly as he has over the course of the season.

 

It's frustrating watching Tapia get as much playing time as he is.