General Blue Jays Discussion Thread (2023)

[Solaxys]

[G-Snarls]

I like our BP depth

[Grant77]

The Perfect Game for the bullpen ends with the walk to Ty France. It ends at 12 innings and 23 strikeouts.

 

The no-hitter continues with 15.1 innings and 26 strikeouts along with 1 walk and 1 HBP. The last hit was against Adam Cimber in the Yankees series.

[Eat My Shatkins]

The Perfect Game for the bullpen ends with the walk to Ty France. It ends at 12 innings and 23 strikeouts.

 

The no-hitter continues with 15.1 innings and 26 strikeouts along with 1 walk and 1 HBP. The last hit was against Adam Cimber in the Yankees series.

 

That's incredible stuff.

 

I thought the bullpen was solid overall, but didn't think they could dominate like that.

 

Although this run is against two teams that are hitting like s***, but still, love that they are dominating.

[L54]

On top of the Biggio fanboys finally giving up I’ve also noticed the Jansen fanboys are awfully quiet but the “swing and miss” whiners have been completely blown out. Jays bullpen leads the league in whiff percentage. Lol

 

I couldn’t help but notice that the people who said Bellinger sucks and that the Orioles were going to be bad have been awfully quiet.

 

153 wRC+ and 17-9 lol

[Solaxys]

Over the last two weeks (4 IP), Richards has negative FIP at -0.65 (xFIP of 0.53) and... 18 K/9.

 

Silver Fox is on a tear.

[M.E.]

I couldn’t help but notice that the people who said Bellinger sucks and that the Orioles were going to be bad have been awfully quiet.

 

153 wRC+ and 17-9 lol

 

Can we hold off with their parade? They have 1 3 game series with what would be considered a contending team (Yankees). Otherwise it has been; Detroit x 2, Boston x 2, Texas, Oakland, CWS, Washington.

[connorp]

I couldn’t help but notice that the people who said Bellinger sucks and that the Orioles were going to be bad have been awfully quiet.

 

153 wRC+ and 17-9 lol

 

If Bellinger stays good, the time to get him was that 1 year deal. I wouldn’t want any part of a huge deal. He’d probably get one. Not mega or anything, but better than Nimmo say

[Terminator]

I couldn’t help but notice that the people who said Bellinger sucks and that the Orioles were going to be bad have been awfully quiet.

 

153 wRC+ and 17-9 lol

 

Taking that Orioles gonna be contenders prediction to the bank already huh?

 

And while we're on the topic of offseason predictions, how's Trevor Bauer's season going as the staff ace of the Dbacks? lol

[Terminator]

Over the last two weeks (4 IP), Richards has negative FIP at -0.65 (xFIP of 0.53) and... 18 K/9.

 

Silver Fox is on a tear.

 

Yeah he is. He seemed like the odd man out at certain points this offseason too. Goes to show how stacked our bullpen is.

[L54]

Taking that Orioles gonna be contenders prediction to the bank already huh?

 

And while we're on the topic of offseason predictions, how's Trevor Bauer's season going as the staff ace of the Dbacks? lol

 

You said they weren’t going to be any good. I said they would be a pain in the ass. Find the quote where I said they would be contenders

[L54]

If Bellinger stays good, the time to get him was that 1 year deal. I wouldn’t want any part of a huge deal. He’d probably get one. Not mega or anything, but better than Nimmo say

 

Neither would I but he has 1 WAR in a month

 

I said I would give him 12M

 

Would’ve been a good value signing ala Semien

[L54]

I bet the Dbacks would love Bauer in the front of their rotation right now lol

 

Gallen

Bauer

Kelly

Pfaadt

Jameson

[L54]

Can we hold off with their parade? They have 1 3 game series with what would be considered a contending team (Yankees). Otherwise it has been; Detroit x 2, Boston x 2, Texas, Oakland, CWS, Washington.

 

A team that sucks wouldn’t be 17-9 even against those teams

[Jimcanuck]

Sheriff needs to turn the badge in.

[BigCecil]

Seriously though, who were the idiots running the “Atkins can’t find swing and miss” brigade? Let’s drag them

 

Holy. Settle down on the troll and dunking drive by shooting spree lol. We are streaking, and most importantly it’s not even May 1st.

[Terminator]

Holy. Settle down on the troll and dunking drive by shooting spree lol. We are streaking, and most importantly it’s not even May 1st.

 

Well I didn’t really mean for it to be a troll. I wanted to discuss our bullpen leading the league in whiff rate after a lot of the board being so pissy about Atkins not finding enough “swing and miss” for months last season. I can’t remember who it was but some newer guy posted about Atkins inability to build a bullpen multiple times each and every day. It gave me a headache.

 

But then when I typed it out I started remembering all the other things I was right about as well so I stuffed them in there too. I should probably just keep it to one topic at a time though. My bad.

[BigCecil]

Well I didn’t really mean for it to be a troll. I wanted to discuss our bullpen leading the league in whiff rate after a lot of the board being so pissy about Atkins not finding enough “swing and miss” for months last season. It gave me a headache arguing about that last year.

 

But then when I typed it out I started remembering all the other things I was right about as well so I stuffed them in there too. I should probably just keep it to one topic at a time though. My bad.

 

I can appreciate that it must be difficult to keep track of all the things you are always right about. Perhaps even exhausting.

[Terminator]

I can appreciate that it must be difficult to keep track of all the things you are always right about. Perhaps even exhausting.

 

Thank you sir. Sheriffing the board isn’t as easy as I make it seem.

[L54]

2022 Toronto Blue Jays relievers swinging strike rate - 11.6%

 

23rd in the league

 

How dare anyone question anything

[Dagagad]

Well I didn’t really mean for it to be a troll. I wanted to discuss our bullpen leading the league in whiff rate after a lot of the board being so pissy about Atkins not finding enough “swing and miss” for months last season. I can’t remember who it was but some newer guy posted about Atkins inability to build a bullpen multiple times each and every day. It gave me a headache.

 

But then when I typed it out I started remembering all the other things I was right about as well so I stuffed them in there too. I should probably just keep it to one topic at a time though. My bad.

 

Yea, Atkins couldn’t find swing and miss for several seasons. It was not a good thing for the blue jays.

 

This season they seem to have completely turned it around, that is a good thing for the blue jays.

 

I haven’t had a ton of time to watch games this season so I haven’t been very active. From what i remember, the consenus seemed to be that it doesn’t matter if you get swing and miss in the pen. I’m happy that at least one person is coming around. Good for you, man.

 

In all seriousness, I’m very happy with the pen this year. Looking forward to seeing more games. Today was the first full one. The pitching in general seems great.

[Laika]

Bassitt seems to have righted the ship. Kikuchi and Berrios have been surprisingly good. Cimber was bad but he got DL'd.

 

That means the only ostensible issue on the pitching staff right now is... Alek Manoah!

 

pressure is for tires!

[Laika]

Where is the new whiff talent in the pen coming from? Four places.

 

Yimi Garcia is throwing his FB harder than ever and throwing more breaking pitches than ever. Result, highest whiff rate of his career.

Zach Pop, similar story in terms of breaking ball rate. More sliders and more whiffs.

Trevor Richards - scrapped the slider. Now 57% changeups, up from 37.5%. His 20.1% whiff rate is wild.

Erik Swanson - is on the team.

 

Shows how silly relievers are. You can trade for one good reliever and just tell a couple guys in your pen to throw more sliders and boom, you go from 14th in MLB RP K% rate to 4th. You don't need to spend $60M on some 31 year old free agent closer.

[Stangstag]

Where is the new whiff talent in the pen coming from? Four places.

 

Yimi Garcia is throwing his FB harder than ever and throwing more breaking pitches than ever. Result, highest whiff rate of his career.

Zach Pop, similar story in terms of breaking ball rate. More sliders and more whiffs.

Trevor Richards - scrapped the slider. Now 57% changeups, up from 37.5%. His 20.1% whiff rate is wild.

Erik Swanson - is on the team.

 

Shows how silly relievers are. You can trade for one good reliever and just tell a couple guys in your pen to throw more sliders and boom, you go from 14th in MLB RP K% rate to 4th. You don't need to spend $60M on some 31 year old free agent closer.

 

We’ll see if it holds up. Its looking good but it can turn to s*** real quick. Hopefully Green can come in by July/August and also look good.

[Jimcanuck]

We’ll see if it holds up. Its looking good but it can turn to s*** real quick. Hopefully Green can come in by July/August and also look good.

 

yeah, the bullpen is a volatile area that needs constant tinkering

 

i seem to recall a great bullpen in the early going last year

[Sammy225]

yeah, the bullpen is a volatile area that needs constant tinkering

 

i seem to recall a great bullpen in the early going last year

 

I don’t know how much this makes a difference but was our starting rotation near the bottom in innings pitched? Could of wore out the pen as well

[Jonn]

I don’t know how much this makes a difference but was our starting rotation near the bottom in innings pitched? Could of wore out the pen as well

 

Starters going deeper into games definitely has a positive impact on bullpen performance. Not only does it keep them fresher and from being over worked. It establishes ideal roles where relievers can be slotted the way the manager wants opposed to having to use guys early in the game just to get certain spots in the game. We have seen this on display already this season. Yes the rotation and bullpen has been fantastic recently but it certainly didn't start out that way. Both areas of pitching got off to a bit of a rough start. What they are doing recently is nothing short of incredible. It's certainly not going to remain like this but if it can be more like this will be in a really got spot the rest of the Season.

[BigCecil]

We’ll see if it holds up. It’s looking good but it can turn to s*** real quick. Hopefully Green can come in by July/August and also look good.

 

Ya. We are rolling now. Rotation and pen. Hit a bad patch of games and stats can change pretty quickly early. Obviously I’d like it to hold up, but by say mid July well know more about the pen’s whiff rate ranking.

[jaysblue]

The rotation pitching deeper into games plays a huge role.

 

When you were having starters only pitching 3-4 innings in the early going, it had a negative domino effect on the bullpen. When you have your starters pitching 6-7 innings on a consistent basis like they have, it's having a positive effect on the bullpen.

 

Some tinkering and changes to some pitch arsenals like Laika mentioned with some arms, and adding Swanson have paid early dividends.

 

Also, the Jays just finished a series with the White Sox who are awful and a Mariners team which has greatly underachieved thus far. It's great they're beating up on these teams and banking these early wins!

[jaysblue]

Ya. We are rolling now. Rotation and pen. Hit a bad patch of games and stats can change pretty quickly early. Obviously I’d like it to hold up, but by say mid July well know more about the pen’s whiff rate ranking.

 

Yeah to use my favourite phrase, "it's still early." We'll have a better idea in July how good this bullpen really is.

 

Factor in this week the Jays had matchup against the White Sox and Mariners. Starters went deep into games, bullpen arms weren't utilized that heavy.