Former Blue Jays Thread

[Brownie19]

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1816gZ79hw/

[Laika]

The Mets have 0.5 total fWAR from their position players

79 team wRC+ with negative DEF and BsR

3 WAR from the pitching staff but McLean - Peterson - Peralta - Holmes have 2.5 fWAR combined 

So 4 players have 2.5 WAR and the rest of the team has 1 WAR 

Soto is just coming back and Lindor is down for a month. Their only starting hitters with a wRC+ over 100 are Francisco Alvarez and Soto 

[Pendleton]

https://www.mlb.com/amp/news/shannon-stewart-talks-blue-jays-career.html

 

MLB.com interview with Shannon Stewart about his time in Toronto 

[G-Snarls]

Randall Grichuk 

.194/.212/.323 

Has been released by the Yankees and elected free agency 

[Brownie19]

Former Los Angeles Times writer, Mike DiGiovanna reported on “Halo Territory” that sources have told him Yusei Kikuchi (shoulder) is “gonna be out for several months, if not the whole season.”

DiGiovanna covered the Angels for decades when he was working with The Times, so it would make sense for him to still have sources connected to the organization. A multiple-month absence for shoulder inflammation is also not an unrealistic outcome, so much of this makes sense. The Angels have not yet confirmed any timeline for Kikuchi, but if he were to miss an extended period of time, Caden Dana would figure to get a chance to stick in the rotation until Grayson Rodriguez (shoulder) or Alek Manoah (finger) make their season debut.

[Laika]

Manoah is going to soak 10 horrendous starts this year and it will be absolutely glorious 

[Spanky__99]

The Angels have 5 ex Blue Jays.

[Spanky__99]

Manoah the primary tonight, should be interesting, I like the guy, a bit delusional, but still.

[Laika]

Manoah has "position player pitching" stuff now 

Top is overall. Middle is his most recent bulk appearance 

 

[Olerud363.354]

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/horwisp01.shtml

Awesome to see Horwitz doing good.  Really like the guy.

He has the profile that fancy people like to say won't work.   Kind of like Roden.

But it does work, or at least just as often as any other profile.

Not a clear fit for him here anyway.  I guess maybe if we wanted a first basemen with a bit more pop we could use him.

[Olerud363.354]

Horwitz - .878 minor league OPS, .790 MLB

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. - .945 minors .855 majors.  

Both lose 90 points off of minor league OPS.  Despite massive differences in bat speed, exit velocity and tools, baseball reference  casual fan stats scout still works for both.  At least in this case. 

[Spanky__99]

3 hours ago, Olerud363.354 said:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/horwisp01.shtml

Awesome to see Horwitz doing good.  Really like the guy.

He has the profile that fancy people like to say won't work.   Kind of like Roden.

But it does work, or at least just as often as any other profile.

Not a clear fit for him here anyway.  I guess maybe if we wanted a first basemen with a bit more pop we could use him.

The trade was fine, we had VGJ and Santander rostered, and brought in Gimenez, Cleveland funny enough's main piece in that 3 way deal was Luis Ortiz, he became bros with Clase and now both will likely never pitch in the MLB again. 

Not sure what you mean about fancy people, lol. I too am glad for Horwitz and I don't believe anyone didn't like him.

[Olerud363.354]

13 hours ago, Spanky__99 said:

The trade was fine, we had VGJ and Santander rostered, and brought in Gimenez, Cleveland funny enough's main piece in that 3 way deal was Luis Ortiz, he became bros with Clase and now both will likely never pitch in the MLB again. 

Not sure what you mean about fancy people, lol. I too am glad for Horwitz and I don't believe anyone didn't like him.

Not complaining about the trade.   I heard recently, I think from fangraphs, that they were down on Alan Roden, a very similar hitter to Horwitz, because they didn't think that type of profile would translate to the majors well.   I think they are diving deeper, maybe too deep, into exit velocities, bat speed and other mechanical metrics, which teams are more and more.  How else to explain the Lenyn Sosa experiment?

[John_Havok]

3 hours ago, Olerud363.354 said:

Not complaining about the trade.   I heard recently, I think from fangraphs, that they were down on Alan Roden, a very similar hitter to Horwitz, because they didn't think that type of profile would translate to the majors well.   I think they are diving deeper, maybe too deep, into exit velocities, bat speed and other mechanical metrics, which teams are more and more.  How else to explain the Lenyn Sosa experiment?

I think its like anything else, they identify an underlying skillset they think they can polish into something useable with the right tweaks. 

Sometimes theyre right (Clement, Lukes), other times theyre wrong (Sosa). No team gets it right every time

Except the f***ing Rays and their voodoo soul-selling overlords 

[Spanky__99]

9 hours ago, Olerud363.354 said:

Not complaining about the trade.   I heard recently, I think from fangraphs, that they were down on Alan Roden, a very similar hitter to Horwitz, because they didn't think that type of profile would translate to the majors well.   I think they are diving deeper, maybe too deep, into exit velocities, bat speed and other mechanical metrics, which teams are more and more.  How else to explain the Lenyn Sosa experiment?

Longenhagen's a dingleberry. 

[G-Snarls]

 

 

[G-Snarls]

Martin is also putting up 130 WRC+ and 1.1 fWAR so far this season

Good for him after a slow injury plagued start to his career

[Olerud363.354]

Imagine day of Berrios trade in 2021 I told you in 5 years Austin Martin and Vladimir Guerrero would have the same numbers at age 27.   I would have thought, I guess Vlad didn't turn out to be a regular 50 homer guy, and Martin must have developed some pop.  Maybe both .300 hitters with 25 homers.

Who could have saw that 2 months in their age 2027 season both are .287 .385 .375 (or so) hitters.  The only two I think with on base above slugging. 

We've had it all wrong,  Vlad isn't Luis Aaraez, he's Austin Martin, if Martin didn't develop power (which he didn't). 

 

[jmomcc]

Vlad has been worth 21 WAR and Martin 2 rounding up. 

[Olerud363.354]

49 minutes ago, jmomcc said:

Vlad has been worth 21 WAR and Martin 2 rounding up. 

Not talking about their younger years.  Just the player they became at full baseball maturity (age 27)

Martin .285 hitter, .385 on base, .380 or so slugging with neutral defense.  3 WAR player

Vlad .285 hitter .385 on base, .380 or so slugging with slightly negative defense.  2.5 WAR player.

I do concede they took different paths to get to about the same place, with Vlad winning a homerun title and hitting balls at 117 mph for his early 20s and Martin working hard to get promoted form Wichita at the same age... but that was then, different paths to the same place. 

[Olerud363.354]

Now that Vlad had a nerve in this elbow nuked and can't feel his fingers do we really think the homerun race with Austin Martin will get any better?  

[bronson44]

Not too bad of a Dodger debut for Lauer

 

[G-Snarls]

Interesting article on ESPN:

How bad can an MLB player hit in 2026 and stay in the lineup?

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/48881417/mlb-2026-bad-hitters-stay-lineup-study-bailey-clarke-ortiz-scott-semien

Highlights:

With the MLB batting average sitting at .239, the lowest since 1968, and home runs falling to their lowest per-game rate since 2015, managers across baseball are facing this question: How bad can an excellent defensive player hit and remain in the lineup?

Bailey, C, Guardians (.140/.207/.206, 20 OPS+): With Naylor hitting just .143 with a .200 OBP at the time of the trade, after hitting just .195 as the regular Cleveland catcher in 2025, the Guardians figured if they weren't going to get much offense from their catcher, they might as well go all-in with Bailey's pitch-framing skills.

Marcus Semien, 2B, New York Mets (.216/.264/.312, 65 OPS+): Semien has finished third in MVP voting three times and won his second Gold Glove at second base last season while with the Texas Rangers, but at age 35, his offensive production continues to slide.

Fascinating:

Since the expansion era began in 1962, the honor for the worst-hitting player who forged a career of at least 3,000 plate appearances belongs to catcher Jeff Mathis, who played 17 seasons in the big leagues, posting a .194/.252/.299 batting line for a lifetime OPS+ of 48.

 

[43211234]

Austin Martin suddenly has a 108 wRC+. Breakout on pause for now.

[Brownie19]

Foul Territory (@foulterritoryshow) • Instagram reel

WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM

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4,862 likes, 88 comments - foulterritoryshow on September 6, 2024: "Joey Votto on why he was never going...

 

 

[R.O.]

 

[jaysblue]

The Dodgers recalled Nick Frasso from Triple-A Oklahoma on Saturday 😂

[jaysblue]

On 6/5/2026 at 11:51 AM, R.O. said:

 

Hopefully he can Hatch on somewhere else soon.

[max silver]

28 minutes ago, jaysblue said:

The Dodgers recalled Nick Frasso from Triple-A Oklahoma on Saturday 😂

His 6.92 BB/9 walk rate would fit in perfectly with the Buffalo pen.