General Blue Jays Discussion Thread (2023)

[The Cats Ass]

Hopefully there’s some juice to squeeze out of Ryu

 

He looked a little slimmer in the most recent pictures and videos. That's an encouraging sign.

[BTS]

 

Sounds like a job for Cito Gaston

[Solaxys]

The Martinez Approach is okay but for some reason it falls short when men are on base/in scoring position.

[jaysblue]

 

Yeah the issue with this team has been power. Vladdy, Kirk, Jansen, Springer, Varsho etc.

 

Bo has been really their only power hitter which isn't ideal. Varsho is starting to hit for more power which is nice. Chapman has cooled down but yeah he even has had a power outage.

 

I'm not even sure if the Jays will have more than one 30 HR bat in their lineup this season. Maybe just Bo and one of Varsho or Chapman (if he goes on a hot streak). But at this pace, even Springer or Vladdy might not even reach 20-25 HR's.

[jaysblue]

Sounds like a job for Cito Gaston

 

Yeah the disappointing thing is this lineup does have the bats that could hit for power, and pretty much everyone other than Bo are underachieving in the power department. It's not just one bat, it's a majority of the lineup not hitting for power.

 

- Chapman should be a 30-35 HR bat

- Vladdy should at worst be a 30 HR bat, at best a 40-50 HR bat.

- Kirk should at least be on pace to hit 15-20 HR's

- Jansen should be a 20-25 HR bat

- Springer should be a 25-30 HR bat

- Varsho should be a 25-30 HR bat at worst

[wilko]

He looked a little slimmer in the most recent pictures and videos. That's an encouraging sign.

 

A little slimmer? Dude looks like a stick!

[Olerud363]

Yeah the disappointing thing is this lineup does have the bats that could hit for power, and pretty much everyone other than Bo are underachieving in the power department. It's not just one bat, it's a majority of the lineup not hitting for power.

 

- Chapman should be a 30-35 HR bat

- Vladdy should at worst be a 30 HR bat, at best a 40-50 HR bat.

- Kirk should at least be on pace to hit 15-20 HR's

- Jansen should be a 20-25 HR bat

- Springer should be a 25-30 HR bat

- Varsho should be a 25-30 HR bat at worst

 

How has Vlad gone from light tower power routinely hitting 450 foot shots to a .280 .350 .450 guy who needs to get back on track to 19 homers.... No homers at home?

 

2 years ago on this date I went to game at Fenway Park, first game after Covid. Great game all of the legacy guys homered. Here is what Vlad did in that 4 game series.

 

Game 1 - Pounded 1 majestic 450 foot shot over green monster, lined some singles and doubles off the monster.

Game 2 - I was there. First inning 450 foot shot over monster.

Game 3 - This was a blow out 18-2 or something. Hit a 400 foot no doubter shot to right field, like he was left handed.

Game 4 - Sox leading 1-0 I think 9th, 450 foot shot over monster to tie it (though Jays blew it in bottom of 9th).

 

Man. Just thinking about 2021. Do you remember last two games of the season? 450 foot shot to left for 47th, then next day 2nd deck to right. Another one of those oppo shots where he hit like a lefty.

 

How does this even make sense? 22 year old. Sets record for homers at that age, routinely hitting 450 foot shots, now on pace for 19 homers and goes weeks without hitting one, months without hitting one at home?

[Olerud363]

How has Vlad gone from light tower power routinely hitting 450 foot shots to a .280 .350 .450 guy who needs to get back on track to 19 homers.... No homers at home?

 

2 years ago on this date I went to game at Fenway Park, first game after Covid. Great game all of the legacy guys homered. Here is what Vlad did in that 4 game series.

 

Game 1 - Pounded 1 majestic 450 foot shot over green monster, lined some singles and doubles off the monster.

Game 2 - I was there. First inning 450 foot shot over monster.

Game 3 - This was a blow out 18-2 or something. Hit a 400 foot no doubter shot to right field, like he was left handed.

Game 4 - Sox leading 1-0 I think 9th, 450 foot shot over monster to tie it (though Jays blew it in bottom of 9th).

 

Man. Just thinking about 2021. Do you remember last two games of the season? 450 foot shot to left for 47th, then next day 2nd deck to right. Another one of those oppo shots where he hit like a lefty.

 

How does this even make sense? 22 year old. Sets record for homers at that age, routinely hitting 450 foot shots, now on pace for 19 homers and goes weeks without hitting one, months without hitting one at home?

 

I guess it happens. Adrian Beltre, Cody Bellinger, George Bell if you want to back to the Jays 80s (went from 47 to 18 homers in 3 years).

 

As a hitter Vlad's statline is looking like a better Adrian Beltre. One monster season surrounded by OKish ones... Beltre had much better defense, Vlad better average and walk rate in the OKish seasons.

[Delgalladay]

Yeah the issue with this team has been power. Vladdy, Kirk, Jansen, Springer, Varsho etc.

 

Bo has been really their only power hitter which isn't ideal. Varsho is starting to hit for more power which is nice. Chapman has cooled down but yeah he even has had a power outage.

 

I'm not even sure if the Jays will have more than one 30 HR bat in their lineup this season. Maybe just Bo and one of Varsho or Chapman (if he goes on a hot streak). But at this pace, even Springer or Vladdy might not even reach 20-25 HR's.

 

I don't really understand what happened to Chapman this season. Has he lost his early season approach? Do you think he'd be better off just taking the Jansen approach and accepting he's better as a pull hitter? Whatever was working the first month hasn't been working for a while now.

[Daniel Labude]

How has Vlad gone from light tower power routinely hitting 450 foot shots to a .280 .350 .450 guy who needs to get back on track to 19 homers.... No homers at home?

 

2 years ago on this date I went to game at Fenway Park, first game after Covid. Great game all of the legacy guys homered. Here is what Vlad did in that 4 game series.

 

Game 1 - Pounded 1 majestic 450 foot shot over green monster, lined some singles and doubles off the monster.

Game 2 - I was there. First inning 450 foot shot over monster.

Game 3 - This was a blow out 18-2 or something. Hit a 400 foot no doubter shot to right field, like he was left handed.

Game 4 - Sox leading 1-0 I think 9th, 450 foot shot over monster to tie it (though Jays blew it in bottom of 9th).

 

Man. Just thinking about 2021. Do you remember last two games of the season? 450 foot shot to left for 47th, then next day 2nd deck to right. Another one of those oppo shots where he hit like a lefty.

 

How does this even make sense? 22 year old. Sets record for homers at that age, routinely hitting 450 foot shots, now on pace for 19 homers and goes weeks without hitting one, months without hitting one at home?

 

Short answer is...can't homer at home. Whether its the pressing big time, batters eye (why he loved Dunedin and Buffalo), wind/air changes, wrong opponents/wrong time, or the super humidor the Jays use

 

If he matched what he did on the road at home he would be on pace for 40/50 HRs

 

Such a weird thing this season

[Terminator]

 

9th in runs is a lot higher than I thought we were. If we break out of this slump soon we could make a move toward the Top 5 or so and that would be pretty good considering we made a concerted effort to focus on defense and baserunning in the offseason.

 

We also have a fair amount of guys who am I fine with not pulling the ball. Bo obviously. Kirk, Merrifield, KK and Espinal as well. Seems like the other guys pull the ball like they should.

 

Everyone other than Vlad, that is. He could hit oppo homers all day so it's not like he needs to strictly pull the ball. But his very good hit tool seemingly precludes him from tapping into his power fully. I think the answer is better pitch selection which is extremely hard to change. Lay off the borderline strikes and look for your pitch. It's amazing how many times Judge will get a meatball. Pitchers will do it eventually, and he just never misses them. Vlad just doesn't look for his pitch like this.

 

I wonder if Vlad would benefit with two different approaches like Bo. First two strikes look to pull the ball (Bo doesn't look to pull the ball he looks to drive it but same theory). Then with two strikes Vlad can use his plate coverage and hit tool to try and just put good wood on the ball to get a hit.

[Stangstag]

I don't really understand what happened to Chapman this season. Has he lost his early season approach? Do you think he'd be better off just taking the Jansen approach and accepting he's better as a pull hitter? Whatever was working the first month hasn't been working for a while now.

 

With Chapman, he's just striking out more now and swinging at bad pitches. Also missing the ones he was crushing earlier. Also maybe opposing teams have updated their OF positioning to account for him being more of an oppo hitter now.

[Terminator]

I don't really understand what happened to Chapman this season. Has he lost his early season approach? Do you think he'd be better off just taking the Jansen approach and accepting he's better as a pull hitter? Whatever was working the first month hasn't been working for a while now.

 

This is just who he is. A great defensive player and a good but not great hitter. He was never going to be able to keep up that hot start.

[Terminator]

We might have to call up Davis Schneider.

 

Yeah he's definitely warranting consideration at this point but he needs ABs as he's turned himself into a real prospect at this point. Otherwise it would make sense to swamp out Lukes for him since he never plays anyway.

 

But we don't want him rotting on the bench. We all know how I feel about Biggio but he's been playing better since the start of May and I don't think we can give up on Espinal who has basically established himself as a 2 WAR a year player over the past 4 seasons now. The team might want to see if they can get either of them going.

[Laika]

I don't really understand what happened to Chapman this season. Has he lost his early season approach? Do you think he'd be better off just taking the Jansen approach and accepting he's better as a pull hitter? Whatever was working the first month hasn't been working for a while now.

 

Yeah, I was never bullish on his new approach.

 

You see it all the time with mid-career pull hitters who try to suddenly become all-fields guys. It's almost impossible to change your approach like that and find long-term success unless you have a plus plus hit tool. Defenses adjust and pitchers just change the way they throw to you, and you still have a rigid swing with technical issues/holes.

 

I think Grichuk did this every spring. He's cutting down on strikeouts, going the other way! Buck Martinez is jizzing his pants! He's going to be so good! And then end of the year his numbers are identical.

[Delgalladay]

This is just who he is. A great defensive player and a good but not great hitter. He was never going to be able to keep up that hot start.

 

That's disappointing. I was really hoping he had unlocked a new level with that April start. I mean Bautista broke out when he was 29 so there's always hope. Of course maybe Bautista had better tools to begin with and just didn't get the opportunity until he came here.

[Terminator]

That's disappointing. I was really hoping he had unlocked a new level with that April start. I mean Bautista broke out when he was 29 so there's always hope. Of course maybe Bautista had better tools to begin with and just didn't get the opportunity until he came here.

 

Yeah Bautista actually changed his approach to an extreme pull hitter mid career and that made him a HoF talent for the latter half of his career.

 

59 homers from age 23-28 and 285 homers from age 29 on. If he had that approach his entire career he probably would be in the HoF as a 3B/OF.

[Grant77]

Yeah he's definitely warranting consideration at this point but he needs ABs as he's turned himself into a real prospect at this point. Otherwise it would make sense to swamp out Lukes for him since he never plays anyway.

 

But we don't want him rotting on the bench. We all know how I feel about Biggio but he's been playing better since the start of May and I don't think we can give up on Espinal who has basically established himself as a 2 WAR a year player over the past 4 seasons now. The team might want to see if they can get either of them going.

 

He's got a 120 wRC+ in that time period, which is about what we saw in 2019 and 2020. That player is clearly still there, but we'll see if he can keep it consistent from now on. I gave him a pass for 2021, but 2022 was hard to write off as a fluke.

[Spanky99]

Hey look Spanx is being a troll again.

 

Everyone's tired of your s*** dude.

 

Hey look it's the pusso, hypocrite.

[Terminator]

He's got a 120 wRC+ in that time period, which is about what we saw in 2019 and 2020. That player is clearly still there, but we'll see if he can keep it consistent from now on. I gave him a pass for 2021, but 2022 was hard to write off as a fluke.

 

Doesn't seem like the underlying numbers are improving.

 

He's barreling the ball more in a small sample but the Ks have exploded. Even in May and June they are way up compared to '19 and '20 while the walks are down (though the latter has been better in 16 ABs in June). But even if he keeps this up and barrels the ball more he's got to get his Ks down because his numbers are worse than ever.

 

In 2019 he was legit good but 2020 (when they deadened the ball) is when the cracks started to show. His batted ball data tanked but because of the short season along with a career high BABIP and career low K rate, he was able to put up a mirage that tracked his 2019 season. But even if we give him that half season, it's been 1.5 seasons of good play and 2+ and counting of garbage.

 

He's similar to Didi Gregorious. He and Biggio run launch angles similar to Aaron Judge but they have poor exit velos. That can work with a live ball (or a high exit velo) but it won't work with a dead one.

[Daniel Labude]

Chapman is 2nd in baseball with 33 barrels...only 9 HRs...LA of 16.6

 

Vlad is 7th in baseball with 29 barrels...only 9 HRs...LA of 10.1

 

Bo has a LA of 5

Acuna has a LA of 8

 

The HRs for Vlad and Chapman should start rising

[Laika]

Chapman is 2nd in baseball with 33 barrels...only 9 HRs...LA of 16.6

 

Vlad is 7th in baseball with 29 barrels...only 9 HRs...LA of 10.1

 

Bo has a LA of 5

Acuna has a LA of 8

 

The HRs for Vlad and Chapman should start rising

 

*if they start pulling the ball more

[Krylian]

*if they start pulling the ball more

 

MLB: "We're eliminating the shift"

 

Blue Jays: "Let's start spraying the ball around now"

[Spanky99]

Checks MLB leaderboard... Jays 4th in fWAR, 5th in wRC+... ISO is down, but the pitching has been the problem. HR's for and against, it's that simple.

[Stangstag]

Chapman is 2nd in baseball with 33 barrels...only 9 HRs...LA of 16.6

 

Vlad is 7th in baseball with 29 barrels...only 9 HRs...LA of 10.1

 

Bo has a LA of 5

Acuna has a LA of 8

 

The HRs for Vlad and Chapman should start rising

 

Hmmm interesting

[Stangstag]

Checks MLB leaderboard... Jays 4th in fWAR, 5th in wRC+... ISO is down, but the pitching has been the problem. HR's for and against, it's that simple.

 

Yup end of the day offense isn’t a problem. Its the major implosions from the Starters (mainly Manoah, sometimes Kikuchi and sometimes Gausman) and bullpen that’s making us lose games

[jaysblue]

I guess it happens. Adrian Beltre, Cody Bellinger, George Bell if you want to back to the Jays 80s (went from 47 to 18 homers in 3 years).

 

As a hitter Vlad's statline is looking like a better Adrian Beltre. One monster season surrounded by OKish ones... Beltre had much better defense, Vlad better average and walk rate in the OKish seasons.

 

Difference with Beltre is he was a gold glover at 3B like you said.

 

Vladdy needs to be a 40 HR threat almost every season. His floor should be 30 per season at least. Right now Vladdy is looking like a Lyle Overbay type bat at 1B, which would be a disappointment when all things considered. I wonder if Vlad even tops 20 HR's this season if he keeps this up.

[jaysblue]

Yup end of the day offense isn’t a problem. Its the major implosions from the Starters (mainly Manoah, sometimes Kikuchi and sometimes Gausman) and bullpen that’s making us lose games

 

Manoah and sometimes Kikuchi. Gausman has had 3 implosions I think, otherwise he's been the best pitcher in baseball.

 

Bullpen despite the depth and despite how some on here praised it as an elite pen, isn't one still. Romano is rock solid, Swanson has done a formidable job, Pearson looks like he has found a new home down in the pen, Mayza has been great and Richards is having a terrific season. The rest have been extremely disappointing (Bass, Cimber, Garcia, Pop). They've been dumpster fires when they're supposed to be arms you could rely on in the 6th/7th inning's. Bass actually looked like he was starting to turn things around, but won't go there. Otherwise, if they were posting solid numbers, this pen would look completely different.

 

Offensively, it's not the main problem but still is an issue. This team has underachieved offensively power wise and are also inconsistent on a day-to-day basis. Like I said before, you might be only looking at one 30 HR bat in this lineup which is Bo, who typically shouldn't be your team HR leader.

[Spanky99]

MLB: "We're eliminating the shift"

 

Blue Jays: "Let's start spraying the ball around now"

 

lol... well played.

[Spanky99]

Manoah and sometimes Kikuchi. Gausman has had 3 implosions I think, otherwise he's been the best pitcher in baseball.

 

Bullpen despite the depth and despite how some on here praised it as an elite pen, isn't one still. Romano is rock solid, Swanson has done a formidable job, Pearson looks like he has found a new home down in the pen, Mayza has been great and Richards is having a terrific season. The rest have been extremely disappointing (Bass, Cimber, Garcia, Pop). They've been dumpster fires when they're supposed to be arms you could rely on in the 6th/7th inning's. Bass actually looked like he was starting to turn things around, but won't go there. Otherwise, if they were posting solid numbers, this pen would look completely different.

 

Offensively, it's not the main problem but still is an issue. This team has underachieved offensively power wise and are also inconsistent on a day-to-day basis. Like I said before, you might be only looking at one 30 HR bat in this lineup which is Bo, who typically shouldn't be your team HR leader.

 

Who claimed this pen as elite? lmao... you do this all the time and never answer, par for the course on your rubber fence. Just stop, dude.