General Blue Jays Discussion Thread (2024)

[hanton]

Vlad will force his way for more playing time at 3B

[G-Snarls]

As much as I like to crap on Kirk:

 

Kirk - .214 / .295 / .289 / wRC+ 72 / fWAR 0.8

Moreno - .234 / .323 / .324 / wRC+ 89 / fWAR 0.9

 

Both appear to have powerless noodle bats despite some previous flashes of power.

 

Both are good receivers/throwers.

 

Kirk may be the better receiver. Moreno has the better arm and obviously better baserunning. Moreno probably holds up better with full playing time compared to Kirk.

 

I'm fine with Kirk sharing time with Jansen. I just don't want to lose Jansen and end up with Kirk as our primary catcher.......

[Eat My Shatkins]

Both appear to have powerless noodle bats despite some previous flashes of power.

 

Both are good receivers/throwers.

 

Kirk may be the better receiver. Moreno has the better arm and obviously better baserunning. Moreno probably holds up better with full playing time compared to Kirk.

 

I'm fine with Kirk sharing time with Jansen. I just don't want to lose Jansen and end up with Kirk as our primary catcher.......

 

Yeah it's really hard to understand why Jansen hasn't been extended.

[Stangstag]

Yeah it's really hard to understand why Jansen hasn't been extended.

 

Only explanation is that the FO is so risk-averse they refuse to extend guys if it isn't well below market value.

[Eat My Shatkins]

Only explanation is that the FO is so risk-averse they refuse to extend guys if it isn't well below market value.

 

Must be shell shocked from the Grichuk extension haha

[AMS528]

lol I mean look at this team!

 

Varsho = 1.9 fWAR

 

Vlad + Bo + Kirk = 1.9 fWAR combined

 

 

Tell please tell me again how signing Hoskins and Teo would have saved this team lmao

 

The only thing that would have saved this team is Atkins somehow having the foresight and balls to trade Vlad and Bo after 2021 0r 2022 which nobody in their right mind would have done, and if he had tried he would have had his balls immediately separated from his body by Shapiro and/or Rogers.

 

"You wanna do what Ross?!?!?"

 

I mean no. Atkins has done well with deals and signings. IKF looks good, Turner doesn't but that's barely needle moving anyways.

 

What would have saved this team was drafting and developing a single impact piece in the last seven drafts other than Schneider (Manoah was as well for a short period). It's actually possible to deal with a core player failing or struggling like Bo, or your big free agent signing declining as they age like Springer if you manage to draft and develop well enough to compensate. Seriously look through every draft from 2017 forward there is next to nothing there.

 

Because we have not, we have no real impact pieces coming up, you have to hope Tieddeman is not made of glass or that Orelvis will bat better than .200/280/450 one day. That is why Atkins has failed and this team is under .500. Not because of any potential free agent signings that would have saved us. And those are also the only two real pieces we have to trade for a star if that opportunity happens to come up. That's dire.

 

Bo and Kirk playing well is not the only thing that could have saved this team.

Edited June 3, 2024 by AMS528

[Eat My Shatkins]

I mean no. Atkins has done well with deals and signings. IKF looks good, Turner doesn't but that's barely needle moving anyways.

 

What would have saved this team was drafting and developing a single impact piece in the last seven drafts other than Schneider (Manoah was as well for a short period). It's actually possible to deal with a core player failing struggling like Bo, or your big free agent signing declining as they age if you manage to draft and develop well enough to compensate. Seriously look through every draft from 2017 forward there is next to nothing there.

 

Because we have not, we have no real impact pieces coming up, you have to hope Tieddeman is not made of glass or that Orelvis will bat better than .200/280/450 one day. That is why Atkins has failed and this team is under .500. Not because of any potential free agent signings that would have saved us. And those are also the only two real pieces we have to trade for a star if that opportunity happens to come up. That's dire.

 

Bo and Kirk playing well is not the only thing that could have saved this team.

 

Drafting and developing is also a huge concern, no doubt about it.

 

On one hand it's a good thing the Jays traded most of their high end prospects before they flopped, but on the other hand it's really quite concerning that they all flopped.

[Carlos Danger]

Drafting and developing is also a huge concern, no doubt about it.

 

On one hand it's a good thing the Jays traded most of their high end prospects before they flopped, but on the other hand it's really quite concerning that they all flopped.

 

Yup. I thought we had a much more realistic chance at Soto than Ohtani in the off season. The Yankees, a team who were not a cellar dweller, used homegrown talent and pitching at that, to acquire Soto. The Yankees still have solid rotation even without Cole.

 

The reason that Ross didn't have many FA options in the off season is because that was the only isle he could really shop in. That goes to to the totality of his body of work over 9 years.

[Brownie19]

Yeah it's really hard to understand why Jansen hasn't been extended.

 

There are all kinds of logical reasons why Jansen isn't extended yet.

 

- never played in more than 86 games over the past 4 years

- 30+ year old catchers typically don't age that well and would be amplified by his injury history

- career 107 wRC+ bat and prior to this year, you'd have a hard time forcing his way into the lineup anywhere else except for catcher (except for 250 PA's in 2022)

- he may have no interest in signing an extension and/or has told the team he'd rather bet on himself, knowing his extension would be subdued due to all his partial seasons played (ie, he knew if he could stay healthy for a full season, he'd get more on the open market).

- Kirk (and/or Moreno) were previously viewed as the catcher of the future, potentially with more upside. If we have 2022 Kirk, do you want Jansen getting paid to be the backup catcher?

 

I mean take your pick, or combine a few of these together.

[Eat My Shatkins]

There are all kinds of logical reasons why Jansen isn't extended yet.

 

- never played in more than 86 games over the past 4 years

- 30+ year old catchers typically don't age that well and would be amplified by his injury history

- career 107 wRC+ bat and prior to this year, you'd have a hard time forcing his way into the lineup anywhere else except for catcher (except for 250 PA's in 2022)

- he may have no interest in signing an extension and/or has told the team he'd rather bet on himself, knowing his extension would be subdued due to all his partial seasons played (ie, he knew if he could stay healthy for a full season, he'd get more on the open market).

- Kirk (and/or Moreno) were previously viewed as the catcher of the future, potentially with more upside. If we have 2022 Kirk, do you want Jansen getting paid to be the backup catcher?

 

I mean take your pick, or combine a few of these together.

 

You have to think given his history that he'd be willing to sign any sort of half way decent multi year contract that wouldn't be crippling to the Jays even if he continued with his injury riddled ways. But yeah, I have no way of knowing that for sure.

[Stangstag]

There are all kinds of logical reasons why Jansen isn't extended yet.

 

- never played in more than 86 games over the past 4 years

- 30+ year old catchers typically don't age that well and would be amplified by his injury history

- career 107 wRC+ bat and prior to this year, you'd have a hard time forcing his way into the lineup anywhere else except for catcher (except for 250 PA's in 2022)

- he may have no interest in signing an extension and/or has told the team he'd rather bet on himself, knowing his extension would be subdued due to all his partial seasons played (ie, he knew if he could stay healthy for a full season, he'd get more on the open market).

- Kirk (and/or Moreno) were previously viewed as the catcher of the future, potentially with more upside. If we have 2022 Kirk, do you want Jansen getting paid to be the backup catcher?

 

I mean take your pick, or combine a few of these together.

 

I'd think its probably this

[glory]

The Jays spent about $40m on IKF/KK/Turner/Vogelbach this winter, in a weak FA market where players (when they weren't settling for MiLB deals) were signing for peanuts. Even if you truly believe that there was "no way Atkins could have fixed the offense", which presents another set of questions (like why the hell didn't he retool if there was no way to fix this?), then he set fire to $40m and put the Jays in the CBT territory again (which will lead to further penalties with picks and int'l signings) for a team that was never going to be good enough. If he pocketed that money and put Horowitz at DH (with a cheap RHB to platoon with him), Barger at 3B/LF, etc, would the team be that much worse (or worse at all)?

 

Atkins is to blame regardless of how you want to look at it, whether anyone is defending him or not. If the FA market sucks and it isn't worth spending money on it, then....don't spend. Problem solved. Spending $40m in a market where 1-2 WAR players were signing for $2m AAV's and then saying "there was nothing he could have done" is more damning of Atkins than it is anything else.

 

Ultimately, I agree with MikeM about the process, not necessarily the core, being the issue. If they don't want to rebuild then change the org structure (hitting coaches/philosophy, etc) and see if there is more juice to be squeezed out of the young players rather than just assuming they are unfixable because they decided to turn into singles hitters the moment they locked eyes for Don Mattingly.

[Brownie19]

The Jays spent about $40m on IKF/KK/Turner/Vogelbach this winter, in a weak FA market where players (when they weren't settling for MiLB deals) were signing for peanuts. Even if you truly believe that there was "no way Atkins could have fixed the offense", which presents another set of questions (like why the hell didn't he retool if there was no way to fix this?), then he set fire to $40m and put the Jays in the CBT territory again (which will lead to further penalties with picks and int'l signings) for a team that was never going to be good enough. If he pocketed that money and put Horowitz at DH (with a cheap RHB to platoon with him), Barger at 3B/LF, etc, would the team be that much worse (or worse at all)?

 

Atkins is to blame regardless of how you want to look at it, whether anyone is defending him or not. If the FA market sucks and it isn't worth spending money on it, then....don't spend. Problem solved. Spending $40m in a market where 1-2 WAR players were signing for $2m AAV's and then saying "there was nothing he could have done" is more damning of Atkins than it is anything else.

 

Ultimately, I agree with MikeM about the process, not necessarily the core, being the issue. If they don't want to rebuild then change the org structure (hitting coaches/philosophy, etc) and see if there is more juice to be squeezed out of the young players rather than just assuming they are unfixable because they decided to turn into singles hitters the moment they locked eyes for Don Mattingly.

 

The Dodgers paid Teo $23M who projected for 1.7 WAR and Heyward $9M who projected for 0.8 WAR. Where are you getting that 2 WAR players were signing for $2M? Amed Roserio and Gio Urshela were the only 2 players projected to for 1+ WAR that got less than $4.5M.

 

Also, we've been through this a lot. The FO banked on their top players performing to their abilities and added the FA's they did to supplement those players and improve depth. It failed miserably as Bo, Springer, Kirk, Manoah, Vlad (to an extent) and essentially the entire bullpen s*** the bed. The question is probably, what was the probability this approach succeeded and what success rate was suitable to justify taking this path.

 

I'd suggest this plan may have worked 40% of the time, noting we entered the year with a 50% chance of making the playoffs. I think that probability of making the playoffs was high enough to justify the approach taken. Unfortunately, it didn't work.

[max silver]

The Jays spent about $40m on IKF/KK/Turner/Vogelbach this winter, in a weak FA market where players (when they weren't settling for MiLB deals) were signing for peanuts. Even if you truly believe that there was "no way Atkins could have fixed the offense", which presents another set of questions (like why the hell didn't he retool if there was no way to fix this?), then he set fire to $40m and put the Jays in the CBT territory again (which will lead to further penalties with picks and int'l signings) for a team that was never going to be good enough. If he pocketed that money and put Horowitz at DH (with a cheap RHB to platoon with him), Barger at 3B/LF, etc, would the team be that much worse (or worse at all)?

 

Atkins is to blame regardless of how you want to look at it, whether anyone is defending him or not. If the FA market sucks and it isn't worth spending money on it, then....don't spend. Problem solved. Spending $40m in a market where 1-2 WAR players were signing for $2m AAV's and then saying "there was nothing he could have done" is more damning of Atkins than it is anything else.

 

Ultimately, I agree with MikeM about the process, not necessarily the core, being the issue. If they don't want to rebuild then change the org structure (hitting coaches/philosophy, etc) and see if there is more juice to be squeezed out of the young players rather than just assuming they are unfixable because they decided to turn into singles hitters the moment they locked eyes for Don Mattingly.

 

Perhaps Atkins could have scored some relative deals in free agency if he played a game of musical chairs and waited until spring training was nearing. By that time he had already spent his available money on players that were willing to sign for reasonable contracts and weren't holding out for much higher money and/or term. That strategy could have also failed leaving the team without players to fill the holes on the roster.

[glory]

Also, we've been through this a lot. The FO banked on their top players performing to their abilities and added the FA's they did to supplement those players and improve depth. It failed miserably as Bo, Springer, Kirk, Manoah, Vlad (to an extent) and essentially the entire bullpen s*** the bed. The question is probably, what was the probability this approach succeeded and what success rate was suitable to justify taking this path.

 

I'd suggest this plan may have worked 40% of the time, noting we entered the year with a 50% chance of making the playoffs. I think that probability of making the playoffs was high enough to justify the approach taken. Unfortunately, it didn't work.

 

The argument was "there was nothing Atkins could do" to fix the offense, which if true, leads to a bunch of other questions that directly fall on Atkins' feet. If the core wasn't good enough then he could have pivoted. Maybe trade Bo, or Vlad, or Romano, or whoever. Switch the core up. He didn't do that. If the FA market sucked, then he could have filled holes internally, at least the ones with obvious candidates available (ex. Horowitz, possibly Barger). My point wasn't that Atkins was the only GM that overpaid players (though I don't think Teoscar falls under that category, that's a separate discussion), but rather that if the options available to him all sucked, then he spent $40m in a market that had no chance of putting the team over the top, so either way that puts him in a bad light.

 

Realistically, if the Jays had signed Teoscar and Hoskins (just using examples brought up before), then even if they still fell short of a contender, at least those moves would have made sense given the team's needs (mainly power). Doubling down on defense when a big part of 2023's success came from completely unsustainable pitcher health (and in some cases performance) was not the right path, and many people said as much at the time, especially since it was reasonable to expect that all of KK, IKF, and Turner would be downgrades offensively from 2023 KK, Chapman, and Belt (though IKF has done well so far). Then the one area where defense was irrelevant and they needed a middle of the order bat, they went with 100 year old Justin Turner and the one player in the league who makes 2020 Vlad look like Hercules by comparison.

 

Again, if the argument is the Jays realistically could not have signed anyone that could have turned this team into a true contender, then no disagreement from me. The moment they promoted Mattingly you got the sense that the team didn't view 2023 as an issue but rather a blip, which has been proven wrong this season. However, I'm not sure that argument really makes Atkins look better. Ultimately the biggest issue with the team as we have mentioned a million times is player development, so what Atkins did in the off season was basically irrelevant to the larger issues with this team.

[Jays333]

Atkins plan- Keep the core together, hover around .500 for the foreseeable future. Tell the fans were "competing" and we "hope" to be able to sign Vlad and Bo long term. Then just let them explore FA ultimately losing them both. Never get any returns, never win anything and leave an absolute tire fire for the next GM.

[Masterbather]

I don't care what anybody says, we haven't had a ride or die ace since the late great Roy Halladay.

 

I would trust that guy to go to battle against any lineup in any ballpark in the history of baseball.

[Carlos Danger]

Jays don’t have an aircraft carrier. Other successful teams have at least one some two.

 

We have a guided missile Frigate and one of those helicopter carriers if it can put to sea. Zero aircraft carriers.

[G-Snarls]

Jays don’t have an aircraft carrier. Other successful teams have at least one some two.

 

 

[Stangstag]

 

 

That’s crazy! I was told there was no way Atkins could have improved the offense this season. Idk how the Yankees managed to find a hidden gem like Soto

[Eat My Shatkins]

That’s crazy! I was told there was no way Atkins could have improved the offense this season. Idk how the Yankees managed to find a hidden gem like Soto

 

I've specifically said, numerous times now, that Ohtani and Soto were the only two ways to legitimately and significantly improve the offense this past off season, and that it's all the other crap that wouldn't move the needle.

 

The Jays were reportedly in on both and missed. Just the way it goes sometimes.

[Jays24]

I've specifically said, numerous times now, that Ohtani and Soto were the only two ways to legitimately and significantly improve the offense this past off season, and that it's all the other crap that wouldn't move the needle.

 

The Jays were reportedly in on both and missed. Just the way it goes sometimes.

 

Yup... when you got a piss poor farm system that this front office built themselves, no blame should be placed on them for not being able to get Soto lol.

[Eat My Shatkins]

Yup... when you got a piss poor farm system that this front office built themselves, no blame should be placed on them for not being able to get Soto lol.

 

Reading comprehension = 0

[mphenhef]

The Dodgers paid Teo $23M who projected for 1.7 WAR and Heyward $9M who projected for 0.8 WAR. Where are you getting that 2 WAR players were signing for $2M? Amed Roserio and Gio Urshela were the only 2 players projected to for 1+ WAR that got less than $4.5M.

 

Also, we've been through this a lot. The FO banked on their top players performing to their abilities and added the FA's they did to supplement those players and improve depth. It failed miserably as Bo, Springer, Kirk, Manoah, Vlad (to an extent) and essentially the entire bullpen s*** the bed. The question is probably, what was the probability this approach succeeded and what success rate was suitable to justify taking this path.

 

I'd suggest this plan may have worked 40% of the time, noting we entered the year with a 50% chance of making the playoffs. I think that probability of making the playoffs was high enough to justify the approach taken. Unfortunately, it didn't work.

 

They banked on all of their underperforming players regressing to the norm (while making little to no changes in their approach) and also banking on all the overperforming players (bullpen, rotation) not to regress to their means (in performance and health). It was a terribly flawed approach.

[Brownie19]

They banked on all of their underperforming players regressing to the norm (while making little to no changes in their approach) and also banking on all the overperforming players (bullpen, rotation) not to regress to their means (in performance and health). It was a terribly flawed approach.

 

Still - that plan would have worked some percentage of the time. I believe Fangraphs suggested we had a 50% chance of making the playoffs at the start of the year. Zips had us as an 88 win team, with a 63% chance of making the playoffs. So if you objectively look at this (which is difficult to do these days), even if people complain the FO didn't do enough, the stats suggest they weren't in an awful position to start the year and would have opportunities to make adjustments in season (much like Texas did last year and won the WS).

 

What % of the time do we think this plan would have worked? Nobody can sit here and say it was 0%. It clearly wasn't super low if we were projected chance to make the playoffs was 50%-63%.

 

You know which other teams seemingly failed miserably this year:

 

- Houston

- TB

- St. Louis

- Arizona

- SF

- Texas

 

Lots of teams, even good organizations fail every year. AA said the other day on the FAN, when asked why his team wasn't hitting HRs at anywhere near the same pace as last year...his response was "if I knew the answer to that, we'd have fixed it by now", which I think goes to illustrate there's a ton of s*** that is outside of their control. I believe Atkins will be gone at the end of the year. I hope we find a better alternative, but I'm not sold we will. However, I didn't have a huge issue with their approach to roll this team back out there this year to see what happens. We were 7th in MLB in wRC+ last year and it's reasonable to expect your young core, who are in their mid 20's will take steps forward. I'm certainly glad we aren't employing Jorge Soler right now in response to our "need for power" (let's put him in there instead of cherry picking Teo). Alas, it isn't working at all for whatever reason. I'm not going to pretend I know what factors (and there will be several) have caused the failure, but unfortunately the Vlad/Bo era didn't work out as well as most had hoped. That's life.

[BTS]

That’s crazy! I was told there was no way Atkins could have improved the offense this season. Idk how the Yankees managed to find a hidden gem like Soto

 

Still can't believe they landed him for a back of the rotation starter and a bunch of mediocre-bad pitching prospects

[Carlos Danger]

Still - that plan would have worked some percentage of the time. I believe Fangraphs suggested we had a 50% chance of making the playoffs at the start of the year. Zips had us as an 88 win team, with a 63% chance of making the playoffs. So if you objectively look at this (which is difficult to do these days), even if people complain the FO didn't do enough, the stats suggest they weren't in an awful position to start the year and would have opportunities to make adjustments in season (much like Texas did last year and won the WS).

 

What % of the time do we think this plan would have worked? Nobody can sit here and say it was 0%. It clearly wasn't super low if we were projected chance to make the playoffs was 50%-63%.

 

You know which other teams seemingly failed miserably this year:

 

- Houston

- TB

- St. Louis

- Arizona

- SF

- Texas

 

Lots of teams, even good organizations fail every year. AA said the other day on the FAN, when asked why his team wasn't hitting HRs at anywhere near the same pace as last year...his response was "if I knew the answer to that, we'd have fixed it by now", which I think goes to illustrate there's a ton of s*** that is outside of their control. I believe Atkins will be gone at the end of the year. I hope we find a better alternative, but I'm not sold we will. However, I didn't have a huge issue with their approach to roll this team back out there this year to see what happens. We were 7th in MLB in wRC+ last year and it's reasonable to expect your young core, who are in their mid 20's will take steps forward. I'm certainly glad we aren't employing Jorge Soler right now in response to our "need for power" (let's put him in there instead of cherry picking Teo). Alas, it isn't working at all for whatever reason. I'm not going to pretend I know what factors (and there will be several) have caused the failure, but unfortunately the Vlad/Bo era didn't work out as well as most had hoped. That's life.

 

That list is not apples to apples.

 

Tampa has/had a whole rotation on the IL and 1/3rd of their position players. Look who they have coming back later in the year. Houston same with their rotation. Texas, same. Giants, not anticipated to be good, neither St. Louis. AZ was ahead of schedule last year. They still have very solid specs waiting in the wings to contribute.

 

The Jays were basically full strength in mid April and still sucking with a $230 million payroll to boot.

 

Also, anyone who has been watching or plays Fantasy could tell you the AL Central would be stronger, Boston and NYY would be better and Seattle would be in the mix with their pitching. Which says to me no way the Jays can have a team equal to or less than 2023 and coast to the WC3.

[IrishCanuck]

Best line-up the Jay's can wield atm imo:

 

Schneider LF

Kiner-Falefa SS

Guerrero 3B

Jansen C

Varsho CF

Bichette 2B

Vogelbach DH

Springer RF

Turner 1B

 

 

Schneider LF

Kiner-Falefa SS

Guerrero 3B

Jansen DH

Varsho CF

Bichette 2B

Kirk C

Springer RF

Turner 1B

 

Trade almost everybody else.

 

Bring back the Cito Gaston management style! ... Scheinder had NEVER had a stablised line-up...

players can't get on a roll if they have no stability, keep changing their line-up spot, get benched

when they are hot, get bench because of stats people, lefty - righty match ups etc.... all

non-sense imo .... create yer best team..and put it out there ..and people don't perfom

after a spell ..bench them. Screw this nerd approach crap... Scheinder never puts out his

best possible team. Shatkins, as ye call them, must go. The Blue Jays need to be less "woke"

in all they do. Houston said no.. they won it all .... also ..could Vlad, Bichette, Springer

etc have been v a x damaged? Seemed to fall apart after that ... in Tennis Federer and Nadal fell apart

after their shots...Novak still kicking ass at 37. Who knows right? ... anyway back to the Cito style

management with the above line-ups, and do some trading.

[Terminator]

Still - that plan would have worked some percentage of the time. I believe Fangraphs suggested we had a 50% chance of making the playoffs at the start of the year. Zips had us as an 88 win team, with a 63% chance of making the playoffs. So if you objectively look at this (which is difficult to do these days), even if people complain the FO didn't do enough, the stats suggest they weren't in an awful position to start the year and would have opportunities to make adjustments in season (much like Texas did last year and won the WS).

 

What % of the time do we think this plan would have worked? Nobody can sit here and say it was 0%. It clearly wasn't super low if we were projected chance to make the playoffs was 50%-63%.

 

You know which other teams seemingly failed miserably this year:

 

- Houston

- TB

- St. Louis

- Arizona

- SF

- Texas

 

Lots of teams, even good organizations fail every year. AA said the other day on the FAN, when asked why his team wasn't hitting HRs at anywhere near the same pace as last year...his response was "if I knew the answer to that, we'd have fixed it by now", which I think goes to illustrate there's a ton of s*** that is outside of their control. I believe Atkins will be gone at the end of the year. I hope we find a better alternative, but I'm not sold we will. However, I didn't have a huge issue with their approach to roll this team back out there this year to see what happens. We were 7th in MLB in wRC+ last year and it's reasonable to expect your young core, who are in their mid 20's will take steps forward. I'm certainly glad we aren't employing Jorge Soler right now in response to our "need for power" (let's put him in there instead of cherry picking Teo). Alas, it isn't working at all for whatever reason. I'm not going to pretend I know what factors (and there will be several) have caused the failure, but unfortunately the Vlad/Bo era didn't work out as well as most had hoped. That's life.

 

Yeah this is a big year for Atkins. Missing the playoffs in 2021 and then early dramatic WC exits in 2022 (blowing the biggest lead in playoff history) and 2023 (pulling Berrios) didn't give him any leeway to have a down year. He's probably shaking his head at how unlucky that is but the way to work around the bad luck is to just build a better team.

 

If the team had previously gone on an extended playoff run or won the division then he'd have more rope. But he put himself into a make or break year and it's not looking good (but it's not over yet!).

[Brownie19]

Yeah this is a big year for Atkins. Missing the playoffs in 2021 and then early dramatic WC exits in 2022 (blowing the biggest lead in playoff history) and 2023 (pulling Berrios) didn't give him any leeway to have a down year. He's probably shaking his head at how unlucky that is but the way to work around the bad luck is to just build a better team.

 

If the team had previously gone on an extended playoff run or won the division then he'd have more rope. But he put himself into a make or break year and it's not looking good (but it's not over yet!).

 

Yeah - I'd tend to agree with that.