General Blue Jays Discussion Thread (2023)

[JaysAllMighty]

Richards sucks, Nate needs to be on the active roster. We need to play our best players if we want to be a championship team.

[John_Havok]

Tercet is not smart. It’s clearly an options game and it happens with every single team in the league.

 

I agree with Keggy that having a bunch of RP’s who are out of options makes it tough to shuffle around the pen. If Richards sucks hopefully they just cut their losses and open up that roster spot

 

If there’s one thing the Jays have very nice depth in, it’s the bullpen. They have plans B through L sitting in Buffalo ready to at the earliest sign of someone sucking.

 

Would be nice to have someone that throws with their left hand though

[max silver]

Am I the only one who think Pop f***ing blows? He’s literally nothing. As long as Thornton doesn’t make the team. I actually feel Richards could bounce back and be effective because he actually misses bats. Problem is when he doesn’t.

 

It sounds like you think basically everyone f***ing blows though. Espinal's bat f***ing blows, Pop f***ing blows (half win season in only 39 innings f***ing blows apparently), and if I remember correctly you were the idiot harping on constantly about how Romano f***ing sucked and would be the third reliever at best on most contenders.

[Pendleton]

Am I the only one who think Pop f***ing blows? He’s literally nothing. As long as Thornton doesn’t make the team. I actually feel Richards could bounce back and be effective because he actually misses bats. Problem is when he doesn’t.

 

I think the intrigue with Pop is more due to the arm than his results so far (although the results have been fine). He's young and has big velocity on a fastball with movement, without being a complete wild man. That combination of traits is a foundation worth trying to build from. This was his first off season, ST etc with the Jays performance staff, hopefully they have been working on some methods to help his big arm translate to missing more bats.

[max silver]

I think the intrigue with Pop is more due to the arm than his results so far (although the results have been fine). He's young and has big velocity on a fastball with movement, without being a complete wild man. That combination of traits is a foundation worth trying to build from. This was his first off season, ST etc with the Jays performance staff, hopefully they have been working on some methods to help his big arm translate to missing more bats.

 

Pop is likely a slider adjustment away from becoming a really effective leverage reliever. He's has a pretty similar profile to Clay Holmes of the Yankees but still needs to find a more effective secondary pitch to complete the package.

[connorp]

Pop is likely a slider adjustment away from becoming a really effective leverage reliever. He's has a pretty similar profile to Clay Holmes of the Yankees but still needs to find a more effective secondary pitch to complete the package.

 

Every hitter and pitcher in mlb is an adjustment away.

[L54]

If there’s one thing the Jays have very nice depth in, it’s the bullpen. They have plans B through L sitting in Buffalo ready to at the earliest sign of someone sucking.

 

Would be nice to have someone that throws with their left hand though

 

Exactly which is why if Richards sucks they should cut bait and bring in the next guy

 

He’s more effective against lefties though so he has some appeal on this roster since the only other option is Mayza

 

Idk, the bullpen looks decent. Top 4 are solid, Cimber seems steady and then after that the rest at least look average.

[Dick_Pole]

Interest in the Jays absolutely tanked in the early 2000s and the Canadian dollar was killing us. There were a lot of rumours and articles written about potentially losing the franchise, especially after the Expos left and the stands were looking like Tropicana Field for several years. I remember being fearful of losing the team, even into the 2010s when we were doing fairly well and still averaging under 20k fans. We went to a weekday game for my 16th birthday and there couldn't have been more than 4000 people there. It wasn't a good time for the franchise, but the TV revenues and a lot of extra help from MLB surely kept the team afloat. It was one of our darker periods, that's for sure.

 

There was 0% chance the Jays were going anywhere. First off, where would they go? That was all just sentiment around the Expos, the way the Delgado situation was handled and the anti-Canadian sentiment pushed by some Americans. It was also about the ownership issue when Interbrew took over Labatt's. Someone else would have stepped up and did.

[Dick_Pole]

As for the Jays being the national team. We need a team back in Montreal or in Vancouver so that narrative ends. For the NBA as well. Like our sports teams, hate our city. The GTA is second to New York in terms of market size. We have plenty enough people here to support our own franchises.

 

As for the Raptors/Jays popularity. They are tied as #2. There's a massive difference in the demographics of each fan base and I don't think they overlap nearly as much as they would on this board, for instance.

[Stangstag]

Every hitter and pitcher in mlb is an adjustment away.

 

Sure, but as-is Pop isn’t bad. He’s a decent back-end BP guy at worst.

[L54]

As for the Jays being the national team. We need a team back in Montreal or in Vancouver so that narrative ends. For the NBA as well. Like our sports teams, hate our city. The GTA is second to New York in terms of market size. We have plenty enough people here to support our own franchises.

 

As for the Raptors/Jays popularity. They are tied as #2. There's a massive difference in the demographics of each fan base and I don't think they overlap nearly as much as they would on this board, for instance.

 

Ya nobody in western Canada is going to flip allegiances for a team in MTL. Vancouver is a complete long shot. Same odds as an Orioles World Series in 2023 probably less

[Krylian]

Sure, but as-is Pop isn’t bad. He’s a decent back-end BP guy at worst.

 

At worst he's back in AAA.

[Grant77]

As for the Jays being the national team. We need a team back in Montreal or in Vancouver so that narrative ends. For the NBA as well. Like our sports teams, hate our city. The GTA is second to New York in terms of market size. We have plenty enough people here to support our own franchises.

 

As for the Raptors/Jays popularity. They are tied as #2. There's a massive difference in the demographics of each fan base and I don't think they overlap nearly as much as they would on this board, for instance.

 

The narrative that you're trying to create is that people who like the Blue Jays hate Toronto for some reason? Spanky had the same misguided attitude and it's not true.

 

The fact that the majority of the Blue Jays support comes from outside of the city is not some kind of negative comment on Toronto. It just shows how unique the fanbase is and how the nation has adopted the team.

 

Toronto reaps the benefits of outrageously high TV viewership and thousands of fans from out of province for each game. It should be seen as a positive. That's why the team makes such an effort to distance itself from the city and embrace it's national appeal in advertising, which is the complete opposite of what the Raptors do. Their slogans and advertisements fall flat and are laughed at elsewhere.

[Jonn]

Yankees took Pop’s sinker deep twice today lol. It fits perfectly in the modern game with those uppercut swings. Swing and miss is King.

[Laika]

Yankees took Pop’s sinker deep twice today lol. It fits perfectly in the modern game with those uppercut swings. Swing and miss is King.

 

Pop has given up 5 home runs in 93.2 big league innings

[Jonn]

Pop has given up 5 home runs in 93.2 big league innings

 

He doesn’t got that dog in him too miss bats though. He’s in the AL East now.

[Laika]

Be more open minded

[Jonn]

Be more open minded

 

I’m trying but there’s better bullpen options. Jay Jackson was one of them.

[Stangstag]

I’m trying but there’s better bullpen options. Jay Jackson was one of them.

 

Lollll you can’t be serious. Hit us up in September and we can compare their stats

[Jonn]

Lollll you can’t be serious. Hit us up in September and we can compare their stats

 

Gladly.

[Jimcanuck]

Jonn >> Jays FO, obv

[Jonn]

Jonn >> Jays FO, obv

 

Yup. Always have felt this way as well.

 

You should see the teams I have built on MLB The Show.

[L54]

I’m trying but there’s better bullpen options. Jay Jackson was one of them.

 

I would’ve taken a look at Jay Jackson over Pop 100%

[Jonn]

It sounds like you think basically everyone f***ing blows though. Espinal's bat f***ing blows, Pop f***ing blows (half win season in only 39 innings f***ing blows apparently), and if I remember correctly you were the idiot harping on constantly about how Romano f***ing sucked and would be the third reliever at best on most contenders.

 

You listed 2 players lol. Pop I didn't consider part of the main roster. Was actually surprised he made the team. But to clarify Espinal sucks against RHP. Which is true. And Pop sucks in general. I actually really happy with the rest of the roster at the moment. Deepest Blue Jays team is recent memory.

 

EDIT: Oh yea f*** Mitch White. I was very clear I disliked that trade from the moment it happened.

[Brownie19]

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2023-positional-power-rankings-bullpen-no-1-15/

 

Fangraphs ranks us with the 13th best pen in baseball.

[Jonn]

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2023-positional-power-rankings-bullpen-no-1-15/

 

Fangraphs ranks us with the 13th best pen in baseball.

 

Middle of the pack sounds about right.

[Grant77]

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2023-positional-power-rankings-bullpen-no-1-15/

 

Fangraphs ranks us with the 13th best pen in baseball.

 

It's strange that the article says our bullpen is better, but they project a roughly 25% drop in WAR from 3.0 to 2.3

 

For the Dodgers they project a masssive 60% drop in productivity from 8.6 to 3.4 WAR.

[Jays24]

Sounds about right... bullpen is still pretty weak when only focusing on our direct competition. We've increased our floor but our ceiling is still pretty low.

[Krylian]

Sounds about right... bullpen is still pretty weak when only focusing on our direct competition. We've increased our floor but our ceiling is still pretty low.

 

Who in our bullpen can be classified as an 'elite' arm?

[Laika]

The have the wrong projected WAR for Pearson

 

Note that if they used Pearson's best projection The Jays jump like, 6 or 7 spots.

 

Meh, projected WAR for RPs is kind of dumb. For this type of stuff I would just be looking at two things: elite relievers, and total depth.

 

Yeah WAR kind of captures it but it's probably better to just use your own brain. Like with the Dodgers, they have some high end SP prospects who will probably contribute as good RPs and guys like Jimmy Nelson, Shelby Miller, Alex Reyes, Victor Gonzalez, J.P. Feyereisen who are almost inexplicably all projecting for zero WAR on this but should on balance be positive contributors.