The Ship is Sinking

[Terminator]

They go up there with this dumb as f***, almost defensive mindset

 

Almost none of these hitters are thinking about crushing meatballs, ever

 

Vlad is trying to hit liners and groundballs up the middle for some genetic reason

 

Bo is trying to be Derek f***ing Jeter and slash every fastball to right field

 

I want to cry and die

 

I think they said that Vlad has 1 (or was it 0 I can't remember) home run on fastballs all season.

[Masterbather]

Who said we have bad luck every year? I also never said that management is obviously doing a great job either.

 

Varsho seems to be having some amazing luck. Jansen and IKF are having good luck. A decent number of pitchers are having some good luck too.

 

The best luck of all is our pytho W-L which has us 3 wins better than what we deserve.

Oh good, I was concerned about potential animal spirits, but it's good to know that we do, in fact, just suck.

[L54]

They go up there with this dumb as f***, almost defensive mindset

 

Almost none of these hitters are thinking about crushing meatballs, ever

 

Vlad is trying to hit liners and groundballs up the middle for some genetic reason

 

Bo is trying to be Derek f***ing Jeter and slash every fastball to right field

 

I want to cry and die

 

The approach should be

 

Daddy hacks until two strikes

 

Dip

 

And

 

Lift

 

With two strikes do whatever the f*** you want. But hitting an 0-0 dribbler to second is indefensible

[Laika]

I think they said that Vlad has 1 (or was it 0 I can't remember) home run on fastballs all season.

 

They are f***ing losers man

 

I don't know how else to describe it

 

They win sometimes but they win like losers

[Laika]

The approach should be

 

Daddy hacks until two strikes

 

Dip

 

And

 

Lift

 

With two strikes do whatever the f*** you want. But hitting an 0-0 dribbler to second is indefensible

 

Yeah they kind of have a 2 strike approach from the first pitch

 

Lots of them do at least

 

I don't understand why

 

Bo, Vlad sometimes, Kirk, IKF. Springer is sort of just lost and has no idea which end of the bat to even hold. Kiermaier is just overmatched half the time.

 

Varsho, Schneider, and Jansen will take proper adult hacks. I guess Vlad sometimes does but he is really dumb with it.

[L54]

Yeah they kind of have a 2 strike approach from the first pitch

 

Lots of them do at least

 

I don't understand why

 

I don’t understand it either. They watch the entire league try to hit the ball outta the park and we are operating like the 2015 Royals

[glory]

What has happened to the Jays offense in 2023-24 has to be studied somewhere. It's mind boggling.

[Terminator]

The approach should be

 

Daddy hacks until two strikes

 

Dip

 

And

 

Lift

 

With two strikes do whatever the f*** you want. But hitting an 0-0 dribbler to second is indefensible

 

Yeah Vlad should be an amazing hitter with this approach.

 

0 or 1 strikes: Trying to pull the ball into the seats. With his EV he should be good at this.

2 strikes: If the ball is close to the zone just hit it hard somewhere, even into the ground. With his hit tool and plate coverage he should be a good two strike hitter.

 

His approach is better this year. He's laying off the soft outside stuff a little bit better and his walk rate is a career high and the Ks are the same. But he's just not doing any damage.

[Terminator]

They are f***ing losers man

 

I don't know how else to describe it

 

They win sometimes but they win like losers

 

Yeah two things can be true all at once.

 

-The team sucks ass and is horrible to watch.

-The team is also kind of decent and could very well make the Wild Card.

Edited June 11, 2024 by Terminator

[Laika]

Yeah Vlad should be an amazing hitter with this approach.

 

0 or 1 strikes: Trying to pull the ball into the seats. With his EV he should be good at this.

2 strikes: If the ball is close to the zone just hit it hard somewhere, even into the ground. With his hit tool and plate coverage he should be a good two strike hitter.

 

His approach is better this year. His walk rate is a career high and the Ks are the same. But he's just not doing any damage.

 

Forbidden word, I should ban you

 

I think you meant "he needs to swing with more intent"

[BigCecil]

Not exactly a fair assessment since 3 of those guys were injured… but yeah not great so far

 

Did we really expect KK to be healthy? 2023 was a gift from the Gods with him. Green we looked at for 5 weeks coming off I believe Lat surgery? Yariel didn’t pitch all last year. From a risk profile assessment these guys all had some red flags and the FO made the choice to invest. So I think it is fair.

[Masterbather]

What has happened to the Jays offense in 2023-24 has to be studied somewhere. It's mind boggling.

 

Vlad in general is a mystery wrapped in an enigma shat out by a riddle.

[L54]

Yeah Vlad should be an amazing hitter with this approach.

 

0 or 1 strikes: Trying to pull the ball into the seats. With his EV he should be good at this.

2 strikes: If the ball is close to the zone just hit it hard somewhere, even into the ground. With his hit tool and plate coverage he should be a good two strike hitter.

 

His approach is better this year. He's laying off the soft outside stuff a little bit better and his walk rate is a career high and the Ks are the same. But he's just not doing any damage.

 

It just makes too much sense. The modern game is built around hitting the ball out of the park even with the rule changes. Guys are too nasty to get deep into counts and try and battle two strike sliders or whatever

 

Nobody goes three times through the order anymore anyway so who cares if you’re hacking first pitch. It might be the best one you see the entire at bat

[BigCecil]

I ranted enough right after the IKF and KK signings, but the Y-Rod signing could still be sneaky good in the coming years.

 

He could. Or he could be a bust as he didn’t pitch last year. What little I have seen is interesting. The price factored in some of the risk. In our bunch of off season misfit toy purchases IKF is carrying the weight so far with 1.2 WAR.

[Masterbather]

He could. Or he could be a bust as he didn’t pitch last year. What little I have seen is interesting. The price factored in some of the risk. In our bunch of off season misfit toy purchases IKF is carrying the weight so far with 1.2 WAR.

 

IKF has certainly been a bit of a revelation, I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, hopefully it doesn't, at the very least he could have some trade value. Yariel is interesting, could be a bargain considering the price of pitching these days, but I think too many people jumped the gun based on like five innings of work. Still don't know what he is.

[Laika]

We have to remember that the guy who is probably running the entire offense, Donnie Baseball, is one of the biggest losers in baseball history.

 

Stopped hitting for power inexplicably at age 27. Never made the playoffs until 1995, his last year. Decided to take a year off from baseball, only to watch his team win without him in 1996.

 

What kind of role model is that?

 

They hire a guy who forgot how to hit homers in his prime, and the Blue Jays immediately forget how to hit for power. Duhhhhhhhhhhhhh I wonder what could be happening!!!! I don't know! It's a mystery!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Omar]

We have to remember that the guy who is probably running the entire offense, Donnie Baseball, is one of the biggest losers in baseball history.

 

Stopped hitting for power inexplicably at age 27. Never made the playoffs until 1995, his last year. Decided to take a year off from baseball, only to watch his team win without him in 1996.

 

What kind of role model is that?

 

They hire a guy who forgot how to hit homers in his prime, and the Blue Jays immediately forget how to hit for power. Duhhhhhhhhhhhhh I wonder what could be happening!!!! I don't know! It's a mystery!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

He had a bad back.

[Laika]

He had a bad back.

 

That's the excuse that popped up two years later

[Spanky99]

Did we really expect KK to be healthy? 2023 was a gift from the Gods with him. Green we looked at for 5 weeks coming off I believe Lat surgery? Yariel didn’t pitch all last year. From a risk profile assessment these guys all had some red flags and the FO made the choice to invest. So I think it is fair.

 

It's fair, lots of baseball left, but KK and Volgelbach made no sense to me from the get go, yuck. Ross should've offered Teo the extra year at 40M, I think he would've took that. Don't sign KK, move Varsho to CF and voila.

[Spanky99]

It just makes too much sense. The modern game is built around hitting the ball out of the park even with the rule changes. Guys are too nasty to get deep into counts and try and battle two strike sliders or whatever

 

Nobody goes three times through the order anymore anyway so who cares if you’re hacking first pitch. It might be the best one you see the entire at bat

 

100% agree.

[Terminator]

Everyone is running wild with what Stang said about injuries and our offseason moves lol.

 

He didn't mean that it's not fair to factor in the injuries of these guys, he just meant that when 2.5 months of the season has been played, any minor injuries suffered during this time will have a greater affect on the WAR output so far. He even agreed with the main point that the offseason moves haven't been great.

[glory]

Did we really expect KK to be healthy? 2023 was a gift from the Gods with him. Green we looked at for 5 weeks coming off I believe Lat surgery? Yariel didn’t pitch all last year. From a risk profile assessment these guys all had some red flags and the FO made the choice to invest. So I think it is fair.

 

Agreed, and Turner is closing in on 40, so a decline (which started already in 2023) shouldn't be surprising either.

 

It was just a bad off season with little to no upside and a surprisingly low floor for such a large investment. Yariel is the only signing that was a reasonable one IMO because it had some semblance of long term thinking involved. Thankfully IKF is doing well so far, but he could easily drop to his normal offensive production (defense should give him an outside shot at a 2 WAR though).

[BigCecil]

Everyone is running wild with what Stang said about injuries and our offseason moves lol.

 

He didn't mean that it's not fair to factor in the injuries of these guys, he just meant that when 2.5 months of the season has been played, any minor injuries suffered during this time will have a greater affect on the WAR output so far. He even agreed with the main point that the offseason moves haven't been great.

 

Just a counter perspective. I get what his point was and totally understand it. It’s not unfair. But with those players the risk profile was important and there was a decent probability their production would suffer as a result. You can make the same sort of point about JT and the aging curve. You can’t assume either that because they are off the IL they are going to perform. Same for IKF. He is hitting 22% about his career bat. It’s all going to come out in the wash. So far, its been underwhelming.

[Terminator]

We have to remember that the guy who is probably running the entire offense, Donnie Baseball, is one of the biggest losers in baseball history.

 

Stopped hitting for power inexplicably at age 27. Never made the playoffs until 1995, his last year. Decided to take a year off from baseball, only to watch his team win without him in 1996.

 

What kind of role model is that?

 

They hire a guy who forgot how to hit homers in his prime, and the Blue Jays immediately forget how to hit for power. Duhhhhhhhhhhhhh I wonder what could be happening!!!! I don't know! It's a mystery!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

If you want to laugh at Mattingly and what he knows about hitting, this article where Ted Williams completely schools him might be of interest:

 

MATTINGLY: He's getting better. He's learning, it seems like more and more. He's trying that weight-shift thing, and getting back seems to help.

 

WILLIAMS: What do you mean? Tell me about the weight shift.

 

MATTINGLY: Just transferring from back to forward. It has helped me a lot. When I was in the middle of my body and my head was in the middle of my body, I was always right here. [He puts his hands tight to the middle of his body.] I was always inside-outing the ball, and I was popping up the ball away. So when I went here [leaning on his back foot], then went to there [striding forward], I got on top of the ball more, and I could pull the ball inside. It allowed some kind of freedom. I think you don't agree with me.

 

WILLIAMS: I don't think what you're telling me is right. My impression is that, even with all your great success, you don't really realize what you're doing.

 

And it goes on from there....

 

https://vault.si.com/vault/1986/04/14/a-real-rap-session

[Laika]

If you want to laugh at Mattingly and what he knows about hitting, this article where Ted Williams completely schools him might be of interest:

 

 

 

And it goes on from there....

 

https://vault.si.com/vault/1986/04/14/a-real-rap-session

 

always love to re read this one

 

Ted said

 

"WILLIAMS: As did everyone else who ever played the game. When you pull the ball, you have a tendency to hit more ground balls. You tend to hit the ball on the ground because the toughest thing is to pull the ball and get it in the air. That's the premium, par excellence hit."

 

hahahaha wow

[hanton]

Don Mattingly teaches hitters to be short to the ball and hit down on the ball, this is the EXACT opposite of what Ted Williams believes.

 

Ted Williams talks about swing plane in his book, here he is displaying the correct way to swing:

 

 

the conversation posted above is GOLD, I'm reading it now.......

[Stangstag]

We have to remember that the guy who is probably running the entire offense, Donnie Baseball, is one of the biggest losers in baseball history.

 

Stopped hitting for power inexplicably at age 27. Never made the playoffs until 1995, his last year. Decided to take a year off from baseball, only to watch his team win without him in 1996.

 

What kind of role model is that?

 

They hire a guy who forgot how to hit homers in his prime, and the Blue Jays immediately forget how to hit for power. Duhhhhhhhhhhhhh I wonder what could be happening!!!! I don't know! It's a mystery!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I’ll use a page from Brownie’s book and say:

 

Do you think these hitters are just listening to the coaches and happy with the underperformance?? Some guys like Jansen and Schneider still hard the ball hard, so it CANT be a coaching problem. These guys are veterans, why would they suddenly stop hitting??

[Stangstag]

Everyone is running wild with what Stang said about injuries and our offseason moves lol.

 

He didn't mean that it's not fair to factor in the injuries of these guys, he just meant that when 2.5 months of the season has been played, any minor injuries suffered during this time will have a greater affect on the WAR output so far. He even agreed with the main point that the offseason moves haven't been great.

 

Yes exactly thank you. I normally type on my phone during bathroom breaks so I was too lazy to try and explain it to the mumpkins

[Stangstag]

Don Mattingly teaches hitters to be short to the ball and hit down on the ball, this is the EXACT opposite of what Ted Williams believes.

 

Ted Williams talks about swing plane in his book, here he is displaying the correct way to swing:

 

 

the conversation posted above is GOLD, I'm reading it now.......

 

Most of these high level players actually don’t even understand what they’re actually doing. They will SAY “stay on top of the ball”, but really its just a mental cue for them and not actually what their body is doing when they swing the bat. I remember even seeing it in a short segment with Miggy.

 

Best piece of hitting advice I saw IMO was the Pete Rose thing, where he said your main adjustments should be:

- moving up in the box if the breaking ball is killing you

- moving back in the box if the fastball is killing you

- stand closer/further from the plate

- choking up on the bat

[Masterbather]

Yes exactly thank you. I normally type on my phone during bathroom breaks so I was too lazy to try and explain it to the mumpkins

 

Ewwww