General Blue Jays Discussion Thread (2024)

[HomeRunHomer]

I would love to see some Secret Base or Foolish Baseball level deep dive on front offices. There is something fundamentally wrong with the organization. I bet there is a story here. How can a team that is willing to spend, clearly trying to compete, purports to be progressive, and generally winning on trades and free agent signings be so absolutely terrible at constructing an offensive skill set?

 

Yea I would love to see what is really going on behind the scenes. Often it feels like they are just out smarting themselves. They are trying really hard to push some small edges and it's just falls apart because the game is actually played on the field by real people playing 162 game seasons.

[glory]

Because we're not analytical! I've been saying this for 3 years. Atkins is an ex player. Everyone here attached themselves to him because they thought they were getting a holier than though I know better than you GM but they didn't get that.

 

Atkins looks like a nerd. That's probably why we all assumed that he would be analytically driven. It's the furthest thing from the truth in reality.

[glory]

Knowing Jansen he's probably nursing some undisclosed injury.

 

Back spasms according to Twitter. Damn, dude just can't stay healthy for any prolonged period of time.

[HomeRunHomer]

I don't know. There are for sure some organization decisions that have to be driven by analytics but team is strangely both very slow to react to short terms trends and also not very good at thinking long term either. For example the team seems to have a strategy to pull starters fairly early and use bullpen arms. They do this because the stats show pitchers are much worse facing batters the third time around. Seems like a great plan and worked well last year but now on year 2 of said plan all the bullpen arms are dead. And the arms are extra taxed because the team has no offense and every appearances is high leverage.

[Spanky99]

Because we're not analytical! I've been saying this for 3 years. Atkins is an ex player. Everyone here attached themselves to him because they thought they were getting a holier than though I know better than you GM but they didn't get that.

 

 

Did you like Alex Mike?

[BigCecil]

Atkins looks like a nerd. That's probably why we all assumed that he would be analytically driven. It's the furthest thing from the truth in reality.

 

LOL. Thats actually pretty funny and more accurate than I had thought of before.

[gruber92]

Ross Atkins is a charlatan. He is the 100 IQ meme personified.

 

As an Economics major raised in Miami who played professional minor league baseball for five years, he was practically tailor made to schmooze and climb the baseball front office hierarchies.

 

However, like most Economics majors and baseball players, he is full of s*** and gets by on fooling people more than anything. Not scientific, not actually rigorous or interested in the truth. Storyteller.

 

Just like a true Liberal.

[Stangstag]

Just like a true Liberal.

 

Ban

[Omar]

Ross Atkins is a charlatan. He is the 100 IQ meme personified.

 

As an Economics major raised in Miami who played professional minor league baseball for five years, he was practically tailor made to schmooze and climb the baseball front office hierarchies.

 

However, like most Economics majors and baseball players, he is full of s*** and gets by on fooling people more than anything. Not scientific, not actually rigorous or interested in the truth. Storyteller.

 

[Omar]

Ross Atkins is suave, sophisticated and debonaire. He also speaks spanish while most gm's no habla espanol. We can't do much better than him.

[Masterbather]

Ross Atkins is a charlatan. He is the 100 IQ meme personified.

 

As an Economics major raised in Miami who played professional minor league baseball for five years, he was practically tailor made to schmooze and climb the baseball front office hierarchies.

 

However, like most Economics majors and baseball players, he is full of s*** and gets by on fooling people more than anything. Not scientific, not actually rigorous or interested in the truth. Storyteller.

What the hell? You got a problem with economics majors?

[BigCecil]

Ross Atkins is sauve, sophisticated and debonaire. He also speaks spanish while most gm's no habla espanol. We can't do much better than him.

 

I think you meant suave, but regardless he is not. He is Ned f***ing Flanders.

[Olerud363]

I would love to see some Secret Base or Foolish Baseball level deep dive on front offices. There is something fundamentally wrong with the organization. I bet there is a story here. How can a team that is willing to spend, clearly trying to compete, purports to be progressive, and generally winning on trades and free agent signings be so absolutely terrible at constructing an offensive skill set?

 

I think they somehow ran some math and figured with the shift being gone that you could make a team that could score 750 runs by hitting .270 with 150 homeruns and getting on base. Mattingly signing hints at this.

 

You can also score 750 runs by hitting .235 with 250 homeruns. Looking back in baseball history the great run scoring teams of the 1980s like some of the Red Sox teams with Boggs and Greenwell can easilly be outscored by a bunch no names hitting 250 homeruns.

 

So say you have a 700 run scoring team and want to get home hitting experts in to get up 750. You could get there by getting them on some program to hit for more power, or you could get there by getting them to hit for better average.

 

Jays chose the latter which is way harder. Like there are probably crazy swing mechanics programs that get guys to hit more homers but hitting for better average doesn't work as well.

 

So maybe Varsho on the right program would hit .230 with 35 homers, but on the Jays program they tried to make him hit for a better average but that just got him to .230 with 20 homers.

[Omar]

I think you meant suave, but regardless he is not. He is Ned f***ing Flanders.

 

I fixed it. Do you not know an Alpha when you see one? Ned Flanders? Pfffttt.

[harvey16]

Just like a true Liberal.

 

This is a Jays forum, take your political ******** elsewhere

[Nexii]

I don't know. There are for sure some organization decisions that have to be driven by analytics but team is strangely both very slow to react to short terms trends and also not very good at thinking long term either. For example the team seems to have a strategy to pull starters fairly early and use bullpen arms. They do this because the stats show pitchers are much worse facing batters the third time around. Seems like a great plan and worked well last year but now on year 2 of said plan all the bullpen arms are dead. And the arms are extra taxed because the team has no offense and every appearances is high leverage.

 

I do wonder if the meta will shift to using relievers for more innings at a time with more rest. Pulling starters early and using every reliever for 1 IP doesn't seem sustainable

[MikeM3]

Did you like Alex Mike?

 

I winced at alot of the moves he made but in the end we had a team that was like 100 runs better than 2nd in run differential and we'll probably never approach that so yes I did like him.

 

I at least understood the moves he made because he was being super aggressive within our tight window and we didn't have the payroll we had now. He had to trade prospects to get good players with good contracts. I said all along I wish he'd have gone even more all in the year we lost to KC.

 

I thought he was super creative to add value to the org out of nowhere but yes he would deal it away quickly. So at the end of his tenure I realized he emptied the clip but I was confident he'd restock it like Preller does.

 

Obviously he's alot better now.

[saskjayfan]

Romano looking like an axe murderer...yup, he's coming back out.

[AMS528]

Vladdy has had a very confusing career with very confusing outcomes.

 

Now he's a high OBP no power bat whose HR totals have declined every single year.

 

But at the same time he's absolutely better than he was last year.

[max silver]

I think you meant suave, but regardless he is not. He is Ned f***ing Flanders.

 

If he had a moustache he'd be a dead ringer for Ned Flanders. Great comparison.

[Jays24]

Apologize to Vladdy!!

[Masterbather]

Ban

 

Damn I actually like him. I don't know how these freaking bans work, will he be back soon?

[Olerud363]

Vladdy has had a very confusing career with very confusing outcomes.

 

Now he's a high OBP no power bat whose HR totals have declined every single year.

 

But at the same time he's absolutely better than he was last year.

 

Fat 1b men and no power bro. Not a major league player. 1b need power. Need to get the ball to the chicks in left field 35 times.

 

(actually he is on track for 3 WAR because walk rate and defense are better).

[Olerud363]

Fat 1b men and no power bro. Not a major league player. 1b need power. Need to get the ball to the chicks in left field 35 times.

 

(actually he is on track for 3 WAR because walk rate and defense are better).

 

Quick glance at his fangraphs batted ball indicated line drive rate highest of his career as is his walk rate and plate discipline. Flyball rate low, pull dat ball rate low.

 

Overall this year he is the version of John Olerud that needed to be benched for Jacob Brumfield. Last 3 weeks he's been the Version of John Olerud that set the Jays and Mets batting average records.

 

You can see how he hit .400 in double aa. Could you imagine launching 114 mph ground balls and line drives at guys like Orelvis and Barger?

[harvey16]

If we can take 1 of the next 2 games and win this series in Baltimore this will be huge! Our next 16 games are against TB, CWS, DET and PITT. All bad to mediocre teams. This is a stretch where we have the opportunity to go on a run. 12-4 or 11-5 is very doable to get us right back in the playoff picture.

[Spanky99]

He'll be fine but they'll still lose

 

Oops...

[Spanky99]

I winced at alot of the moves he made but in the end we had a team that was like 100 runs better than 2nd in run differential and we'll probably never approach that so yes I did like him.

 

I at least understood the moves he made because he was being super aggressive within our tight window and we didn't have the payroll we had now. He had to trade prospects to get good players with good contracts. I said all along I wish he'd have gone even more all in the year we lost to KC.

 

I thought he was super creative to add value to the org out of nowhere but yes he would deal it away quickly. So at the end of his tenure I realized he emptied the clip but I was confident he'd restock it like Preller does.

 

Obviously he's alot better now.

 

I was leading more to the man taking analytical reports and simply grading them through his paper shredder is all, as for the rest, yes, I kind of really enjoyed his tenure.

 

He's elite now.

[MikeM3]

I was leading more to the man taking analytical reports and simply grading them through his paper shredder is all, as for the rest, yes, I kind of really enjoyed his tenure.

 

He's elite now.

 

It's crazy to think but that was 10 years ago. I'm sure alot of those reports were getting shredded around baseball.

[Laika]

So Toronto has the lowest average bat speed (bad) BUT ALSO the shortest average swing length (good?)

 

Both metrics are important I would assume. Fast swings that are too long are not necessarily good.

 

Trying to pull up some more charts but the stupid statcast website is struggling.

[MikeM3]

So Toronto has the lowest average bat speed (bad) BUT ALSO the shortest average swing length (good?)

 

Both metrics are important I would assume. Fast swings that are too long are not necessarily good.

 

Trying to pull up some more charts but the stupid statcast website is struggling.

 

Bat speed matters less as the stuff+ you face increases.