General Blue Jays Discussion Thread (2024)

[The_DH]

don't know if he's on the roster, or just travelling in case of KK going 15-day IL.

[glory]

Barger in LF tonight.

[Eat My Shatkins]

Let's hope Barger has a Babe Schneider type of start to his career.

[bluejaysinternNo5]

I remember when they benched Acuna for being a dumbass. Twice!

[The_DH]

so KK to 10 day IL and Barger to LF. Could be a good start.

[Sorrow]

It’s worth noting Barger doesn’t have big splits in the past few seasons which is really nice.

[Sorrow]

There may actually be something to your theory Olerud. Kirk prior to being hit in the hand on June 18 2022 had a 149 wRC+ with a .469 slug and post that it was a 118 wRC+ with a .382 slug. To today he's had a 101 wRC+ and a .354 slug.

 

Vladdys injury happened so early in the season that it's hard to extrapolate a lot but before that he had 4 hrs in 24 PA, he was also hitting like .400. The balance of the season he obviously hit another 28 bombs and had a .460ish slug. But since that injury he's only slugged a total of .445.

 

I'd really want to see other players from the Jays and other teams that have had a hand injury and not been injured for 6+ weeks like Jansen gets to see how drastically their power has dropped off. It's a shame that Vladdy's 2022 sample was so small before the injury because it's noise.

[Stangstag]

I remember when they benched Acuna for being a dumbass. Twice!

 

Montoyo didn’t have the balls. And now it’s basically gone on too long for a benching to mean anything. Gotta teach these things in the formative years.

[keggy]

I remember when they benched Acuna for being a dumbass. Twice!

 

There are richer owners and brainier front offices but 29 MLB teams could learn from Atlanta's organizational culture. Accountability at every level

[Terminator]

 

Varsho is crazy good. This play had a 5% catch probability but because he got a 10 foot better than average jump he made it look relatively easy.

[burlingtonbandit]

 

Varsho is crazy good. This play had a 5% catch probability but because he got a 10 foot better than average jump he made it look relatively easy.

 

Reminds me of Pillar who just got such good reads/jumps on balls and played a great defensive CF without being relatively fast for the position. Varsho is even better.

 

Meanwhile you Rajai Davis was crazy fast and was just awful in CF when he was a Jay.

[BCZ]

Man Varsho just looks like a pure gamer this year... just giving 100% and really on top of his game.

[BCZ]

Mr Barger blew us the game today, don't blame him though.

[Orgfiller]

Reminds me of Pillar who just got such good reads/jumps on balls and played a great defensive CF without being relatively fast for the position. Varsho is even better.

 

Meanwhile you Rajai Davis was crazy fast and was just awful in CF when he was a Jay.

 

Good reads/jumps is like exactly the opposite of what Pillar was good at. He was fearless in throwing his body out in the outfield, and a big reason why he did that so often is he got poor reads so he made up for it in athleticism and highlight reel dives.

[OtisNixonFan]

Mr Barger blew us the game today, don't blame him though.

 

WTF? Guy never played LF in his life. He mucked one and then jazzy jeffed another. We didn't lose because of Barger. We lost because our bats were s***.

[BTS]

wRC+ of guys in our best lineup so far this season:

 

RF - Springer - 105

1B - Vlad - 105

SS - Bichette - 85

DH - Turner - 168

CF - Varsho - 164

C - Jansen - 113

LF - Schneider - 110

3B - IKF - 113

2B - Biggio - 113

 

Clement - 115

 

The offense has a chance to be good. Basically everyone is meeting/exceeding expectations except the team's two best players. The team is probably like 15-10 right now instead of 13-12 if Bo and Vlad are carrying their weight. These two rank 10th and 11th among the team's hitters in fWAR. They're exclusively responsible for the offense being bad so far.

Edited April 25, 2024 by BTS

[BigCecil]

wRC+ of guys in our best lineup so far this season:

 

RF - Springer - 105

1B - Vlad - 105

SS - Bichette - 85

DH - Turner - 168

CF - Varsho - 164

C - Jansen - 113

LF - Schneider - 110

3B - IKF - 113

2B - Biggio - 113

 

Clement - 115

 

The offense has a chance to be good. Basically everyone is meeting/exceeding expectations except the team's two best players. The team is probably like 15-11 right now instead of 13-12 if Bo and Vlad are carrying their weight. These two rank 10th and 11th among the team's hitters in fWAR. They're exclusively responsible for the offense being bad so far.

 

Yep. You have to add George to that list hitting lead off and being paid $25M. Overall we sit 13th in wRC+ BAL is 2nd and the Yanks are 8th.

 

Judge is right there with Vlad at 108. It still only April and some great hitters are off to slow starts.

 

We are still right where we started the year. To be a good offence we need those stars to heat up and be stars.

[Olerud363]

There may actually be something to your theory Olerud. Kirk prior to being hit in the hand on June 18 2022 had a 149 wRC+ with a .469 slug and post that it was a 118 wRC+ with a .382 slug. To today he's had a 101 wRC+ and a .354 slug.

 

Vladdys injury happened so early in the season that it's hard to extrapolate a lot but before that he had 4 hrs in 24 PA, he was also hitting like .400. The balance of the season he obviously hit another 28 bombs and had a .460ish slug. But since that injury he's only slugged a total of .445.

 

I'd really want to see other players from the Jays and other teams that have had a hand injury and not been injured for 6+ weeks like Jansen gets to see how drastically their power has dropped off. It's a shame that Vladdy's 2022 sample was so small before the injury because it's noise.

 

The 'effect' is like a 'delayed' one, because the initial hand injury gets worse from playing with it. So to measure it you may need to go a week out from the initial hand injury.

 

This might all be ******** on my part, but I got thinking about it literally 14 years ago when Travis Snider hurt his wrist, then apparently hit a homerun 3 pitches after the wrist injury, then missed 2 months https://www.cbc.ca/sports/baseball/jays-snider-on-dl-with-wrist-injury-1.904432.

 

Any of us who do any athletic activity, from running the local 5k, to pickup basketball, to more serious things, know that if you get an injury the advice is keep off of it completely for a time (days/weeks depending what it is) but it is very easy to try and fight threw it, then you make it worse.

 

So hand injuries. Play with them it gets worse, could be 3 pitches later, could be a week later. So if you look at Kirk in Vlad and in 2022 month by month Kirk fell off starting in July.

 

Kirk peaked June 27th, a few days after the Milwaukee hit by pitch game - .325 .417 .527... he looked like Edgar Martinez as of that day... problably .250 .330 .340 since that day.

 

As you mentioned the Vlad one is really small sample size, but in 2022 he picked up right where he left off in 2021. Then he got the potential injury in game 6. After which he has hitting .391 .417 .957. And he hit 2 homers of off Cole. Since then honestly hasn't been the same.

 

Gone from hitting homers off of Cole and Cole bowing to him, to not being able to hit Wacha? Or whatever scrub Kansas City had out there.

[Brownie19]

I love waking up everyday to see where Varsho has climbed in the WAR rankings. He's up to 9th in baseball offensively. He has officially left Mike Trout in his dust.

[BTS]

I love waking up everyday to see where Varsho has climbed in the WAR rankings. He's up to 9th in baseball offensively. He has officially left Mike Trout in his dust.

 

April 25th and Varsho is at 1.4 fWAR. ROS projections now have him finishing with 4+ WAR. Maybe KK starts seeing more of the bench and Varsho can get into the 5-6 range. What a player.

[Brownie19]

April 25th and Varsho is at 1.4 fWAR. ROS projections now have him finishing with 4+ WAR. Maybe KK starts seeing more of the bench and Varsho can get into the 5-6 range. What a player.

 

I think there's a real possibility this happens, with Barger/Schneider getting more time in the OF.

[Laika]

I love waking up everyday to see where Varsho has climbed in the WAR rankings. He's up to 9th in baseball offensively. He has officially left Mike Trout in his dust.

 

He just LOOKS better even before the pitch is thrown. Seems to have a more powerful stance. More confident and intimidating.

 

Right is last year.

 

[bluejaysinternNo5]

He just LOOKS better even before the pitch is thrown. Seems to have a more powerful stance. More confident and intimidating.

 

Right is last year.

 

 

I noticed this as well. He looks intimidating and confident in the box now.

[Laika]

Blow Bichette has negative BsR, negative defense, and an xwOBA somehow worse than his .284 wOBA.

 

9th percentile range

below average arm strength

 

barreling up almost nothing. hitting nothing hard. no sweet spot.

[wilko]

Blow Bichette has negative BsR, negative defense, and an xwOBA somehow worse than his .284 wOBA.

 

9th percentile range

below average arm strength

 

barreling up almost nothing. hitting nothing hard. no sweet spot.

 

He's turning into Javier Baez.

Edited April 25, 2024 by wilko

[wilko]

He just LOOKS better even before the pitch is thrown. Seems to have a more powerful stance. More confident and intimidating.

 

Right is last year.

 

 

I was noticing that as well. He always looks ready to explode on a ball.

[Laika]

I wonder if the league has sort of solved Bo.

 

He has not pulled a fastball down the line since 2022 (not kidding).

 

He is a predictable hitter. He sets the tempo of his swing in between heaters and breaking balls then tries to slash fastballs to RF (be a bit late) while pulling offspeed pitches (be a bit early).

 

Feels like if you can just pepper him inside with decent fastballs 60% of the time, he will almost never do damage on them. Worst case scenario he might poke it to RF for single. Unless you miss over the middle.

 

Fastballs in, breaking balls away. Cuts his nuts off. No nuts.

 

Last night:

 

- fastball inside, groundout to 1B

- sinker outside, then sinker up and in, groundout to 2B

- three fastballs inside from Zerpa, then a FB away and a groundout to 2B

- slider down, groundout to SS

 

Night before:

 

- 7/9 pitches in first PA were fastballs, many up and in. walked.

- single on a sinker that stayed away

- away with the offspeed, groundout to SS

- pitch inside, groundout to 1B

- slider away, groundout to 1B

 

I dunno bros. Just something to watch. If I am a P with a decent FB he just gets FBs inside all f***ing day until he proves he can do damage on them.

[BatFlip]

April 25th and Varsho is at 1.4 fWAR. ROS projections now have him finishing with 4+ WAR. Maybe KK starts seeing more of the bench and Varsho can get into the 5-6 range. What a player.

 

There's a few of us that were defending him this offseason as a valuable player with upside. One particularly egregious poster, and I quote, said "we should boot Varsho into the sun" .... Unbelievable. His defense is so damn good, he just needs to be an average offensive player to have incredible value (esp. in CF).

 

It's real early, but in just in case, I'm already warming up for my victory laps at year-end.

[BatFlip]

I wonder if the league has sort of solved Bo.

 

He has not pulled a fastball down the line since 2022 (not kidding).

 

He is a predictable hitter. He sets the tempo of his swing in between heaters and breaking balls then tries to slash fastballs to RF (be a bit late) while pulling offspeed pitches (be a bit early).

 

Feels like if you can just pepper him inside with decent fastballs 60% of the time, he will almost never do damage on them. Worst case scenario he might poke it to RF for single. Unless you miss over the middle.

 

Fastballs in, breaking balls away. Cuts his nuts off. No nuts.

 

Last night:

 

- fastball inside, groundout to 1B

- sinker outside, then sinker up and in, groundout to 2B

- three fastballs inside from Zerpa, then a FB away and a groundout to 2B

- slider down, groundout to SS

 

Night before:

 

- 7/9 pitches in first PA were fastballs, many up and in. walked.

- single on a sinker that stayed away

- away with the offspeed, groundout to SS

- pitch inside, groundout to 1B

- slider away, groundout to 1B

 

I dunno bros. Just something to watch.

 

It's definitely something to watch. I've noticed the fastballs in as well.

 

I think Bo is a good enough hitter that he'll eventually make some adjustments.

[Brownie19]

It's definitely something to watch. I've noticed the fastballs in as well.

 

I think Bo is a good enough hitter that he'll eventually make some adjustments.

 

I tend to agree. Bo has been too good at hitting for too long for me to believe the league just finally figured out how to get him out (to the point he's no longer a 120+ wRC+ hitter). That said - what Laika described seems to be 100% his approach. I wonder if he simply needs to use that approach when he's behind in the count, or at least with 2 strikes, but he simply needs to be a little more aggressive earlier in the count. And maybe that's what he's trying to do, but is struggling with his timing right now? I don't know, but I'm not concerned about his bat just yet.