General Blue Jays Discussion Thread (2025)

[Terminator]

They spent almost 70 mil in AAV this offseason but it was all on one year deals outside of Tyler O'Neill (a guy they didn't need) so they were kind of cheap, kind of not.

 

• OF Tyler O'Neill: Three years, $49.5MM (O'Neill can opt out after 2025)
• RHP Charlie Morton: One year, $15MM
• RHP Tomoyuki Sugano: One year, $13MM
• RHP Andrew Kittredge: One year, $10MM (including $1MM buyout on 2026 club option)
• C Gary Sánchez: One year, $8.5MM
• OF Ramón Laureano: One year, $4MM (deal also has 2026 club option)
• OF Dylan Carlson: One year, $975K

 

I think they thought they could dumpster dive on the rotation and rely on producing an elite bullpen again but you're a fool if you think you can build an elite bullpen year in, year out. 

[Spanky__99]

2 minutes ago, G-Snarls said:

Need to win another against Houston 

And would it kill the A's to pull a win out of their ass against the Red Sox today???

2 rookies pitching in a bomb friendly AAA affiliate, against two very good hitting teams, what can go wrong? 😉

[Terminator]

Blue Jays now lead MLB in position player fWAR.

• 1st in Defense
• 3rd in Offense
• 26th in baserunning 

[Brownie19]

Thank god we didn't sign Tyler O'Neill like lots of fans wanted.  Always hurt and while he seems to have pop up seasons when he's great, those only seem to occur once every 3 years.

[Stangstag]

27 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

Thank god we didn't sign Tyler O'Neill like lots of fans wanted.  Always hurt and while he seems to have pop up seasons when he's great, those only seem to occur once every 3 years.

Jays FO would’ve found a way to keep him healthy 

[max silver]

38 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

Thank god we didn't sign Tyler O'Neill like lots of fans wanted.  Always hurt and while he seems to have pop up seasons when he's great, those only seem to occur once every 3 years.

It still would have been a more productive signing in year 1 vs Santander although if Santander can make it back in time to be a productive playoff bat that would shift the narrative a lot.

[G-Snarls]

2 minutes ago, max silver said:

It still would have been a more productive signing in year 1 vs Santander although if Santander can make it back in time to be a productive playoff bat that would shift the narrative a lot.

Even if he doesn't Santanter should be useful 

Especially in the DH gap after Springer is gone and before Vladdy moves to DH

[Brownie19]

49 minutes ago, max silver said:

It still would have been a more productive signing in year 1 vs Santander although if Santander can make it back in time to be a productive playoff bat that would shift the narrative a lot.

I wasn't trying to compare?

But Santander has been an iron man the past 3 years, whereas O'Neill's known to be both injury prone and highly inconsistent.  He's essentially the opposite of Tony.

[max silver]

1 minute ago, Brownie19 said:

I wasn't trying to compare?

But Santander has been an iron man the past 3 years, whereas O'Neill's known to be both injury prone and highly inconsistent.  He's essentially the opposite of Tony.

Maybe you weren't trying to compare but O'Neill and Santander largely fell into the same type of bucket as outfield power bats. Now Santander has suffered from a serious shoulder injury and we simply don't know how the power bat is going to look moving forward.

[G-Snarls]

2 hours ago, Laika said:

Yeah the home-road reality tilts things even more. The Jays have more home games, where they are great and the Yankees have a bad road trip left. That matters. 

Boston has a lot of home games left though, so that kind of sucks. 

Baltimore won't care 

The Rays always seem to play us hard even if the games are meaningless to them 

[Spanky__99]

1 hour ago, Brownie19 said:

I wasn't trying to compare?

But Santander has been an iron man the past 3 years, whereas O'Neill's known to be both injury prone and highly inconsistent.  He's essentially the opposite of Tony.

He's highly inconsistent, because of injury, I thought he'd be worth the investment.

 

[jaysblue]

3 hours ago, Brownie19 said:

Thank god we didn't sign Tyler O'Neill like lots of fans wanted.  Always hurt and while he seems to have pop up seasons when he's great, those only seem to occur once every 3 years.

I would rather have Tyler O'Neill and his contract over Santander right now.

Santander still has time to prove himself though, so not writing him off just yet. 

[glory]

Hoffman since May 1 (probably doesn't factor last night since FG takes a while to update):

-0.9 WAR
46.0 IP
5.87 ERA
5.88 FIP
10.96 K/9
3.91 BB/9
13 HR

That's not ideal. Maybe it's partly a product of being overworked (Schneider tends to baby starters and abuse relievers), but it's mind boggling at this point that he's still considered the closer/relief ace on the team.

[hanton]

1 hour ago, glory said:

Hoffman since May 1 (probably doesn't factor last night since FG takes a while to update):

-0.9 WAR
46.0 IP
5.87 ERA
5.88 FIP
10.96 K/9
3.91 BB/9
13 HR

That's not ideal. Maybe it's partly a product of being overworked (Schneider tends to baby starters and abuse relievers), but it's mind boggling at this point that he's still considered the closer/relief ace on the team.

lol at his ERA practically the same as his FIP 

[Brownie19]

2 hours ago, glory said:

Hoffman since May 1 (probably doesn't factor last night since FG takes a while to update):

-0.9 WAR
46.0 IP
5.87 ERA
5.88 FIP
10.96 K/9
3.91 BB/9
13 HR

That's not ideal. Maybe it's partly a product of being overworked (Schneider tends to baby starters and abuse relievers), but it's mind boggling at this point that he's still considered the closer/relief ace on the team.

Probably the worst signing in Jays history!  We all just know the bullpen is going to f*ck over this team in the playoffs.  Can't have losers like Dominguez or Varland taking over the closers role.  We're probably screwed.  

[sliderguy35]

being in the bullpen has gotta suck man

hoffman's essentially the same guy from a stuff & location perspective as he was when he was nails for the phillies in 2023/4 but he's having an all-time unlucky HR/FB season so people think he sucks now.

that's not to say there isn't anything they can do moving forward though. I don't understand why the jays have junked so much of his slider usage for more fastballs. he was well over 40% sliders with the phillies & that's down below 30% now with the jays. his slider's been his best pitch this year and the fastballs been the thing that allowed the most damage!

you'd think they would have ID'd that earlier this year and pushed the usage back to where it was with the phillies, but this org has consistently showed that they're not in the upper echelon of teams in modern pitching dev. s***'s frustrating

e: maybe its a biomechanics / shoulder thing? the orioles and braves passed on him b/c of health concerns, i wonder if limiting throwing so many high velo sliders was part of the jays plan to manage that. a lot to consider

[Brownie19]

1 minute ago, sliderguy35 said:

being in the bullpen has gotta suck man

hoffman's essentially the same guy from a stuff & location perspective as he was when he was nails for the phillies in 2023/4 but he's having an all-time unlucky HR/FB season so people think he sucks now.

that's not to say there isn't anything they can do moving forward though. I don't understand why the jays have junked so much of his slider usage for more fastballs. he was well over 40% with the phillies & that's down below 30% now with the jays. his slider's been his best pitch this year and the fastballs been the thing that allowed the most damage!

you'd think they would have ID'd that earlier this year and pushed the usage back to where it was with the phillies, but this org has consistently showed that they're not in the upper echelon of teams in modern pitching dev. s***'s frustrating

Wouldn't you think Hoffman would think/know this himself and just do it?  He's in charge of what he throws on the mound.  It's very odd.

Helsley and Tanner Scott have gone through similar spikes in HR/9 this year too.  I don't think anyone thinks the Dodgers are behind in modern pitching development?

[glory]

FG updated their numbers, so here's Hoffman's updated "Since May 1" numbers from above:

-1.1 WAR
47.0 IP
5.94 ERA
6.06 FIP
10.91 K/9
3.83 BB/9
14 HR

By far the worst WAR of all RPs since May 1, with the 2nd worst being Genesis Cabrera at -0.8. Good company to be in for your closer. 

1 hour ago, Brownie19 said:

Probably the worst signing in Jays history!  We all just know the bullpen is going to f*ck over this team in the playoffs.  Can't have losers like Dominguez or Varland taking over the closers role.  We're probably screwed.  

With a manager who is better at pen usage (in other words, not the Blue Jays), a committee could work. Ex, Dominguez in games where it's a bunch of RHB, Fisher when it's RHB + LHB, Little when it's LHB, etc. Not the sexiest way to do it, but probably the best way to optimize performance rather than throwing Hoffman out there every other day and hoping the 110 mph missiles he gives up don't clear the fence.

Otherwise I agree. Unless the bullpen collectively has the mother of all hot streaks in October, that's going to be the team's downfall. Not only is the pen widely inconsistent, but Schneider goes to them early and often, and that will only intensify in the post season. Have to hope the pen collectively goes bonkers (in a good way) come October. Not impossible by any means. 

[G-Snarls]

On Fan 590 they said something like of all MLB pitchers with a certain innings threshold, Hoffman has given more home runs per batter faced than anyone. 

[keggy]

3 hours ago, glory said:

FG updated their numbers, so here's Hoffman's updated "Since May 1" numbers from above:

-1.1 WAR
47.0 IP
5.94 ERA
6.06 FIP
10.91 K/9
3.83 BB/9
14 HR

By far the worst WAR of all RPs since May 1, with the 2nd worst being Genesis Cabrera at -0.8. Good company to be in for your closer. 

That amount of WAR in limited innings is insane. All in leverage situations too.

[thatoneguy]

f*** Hoffman. He has cost the Jays multiple games.

Enough of him, can't have a closer with those numbers continue to get the ball in high leverage situations. That stat line is horrible.

[Jays24]

Orvelis Martinez has been DFA'd with Manoah reinstated to the 40 man.  Thats crazy to go from a top 100 prospect to being DFA'd in like one calendar year. 

[G-Snarls]

2 hours ago, thatoneguy said:

f*** Hoffman. He has cost the Jays multiple games.

Enough of him, can't have a closer with those numbers continue to get the ball in high leverage situations. That stat line is horrible.

Who do you use then, Dominguez?

[Perfect Game]

Orelvis Martinez DFA'd

 

[thatoneguy]

33 minutes ago, G-Snarls said:

Who do you use then, Dominguez?

Give Dominguez and potentially Fisher a shot.

[Jays24]

Santandar just homered for Buffalo. 

Imagine getting a good version of him down the stretch.  Let me know if I should start planning the parade lol

[Stangstag]

1 hour ago, Jays24 said:

Santandar just homered for Buffalo. 

Imagine getting a good version of him down the stretch.  Let me know if I should start planning the parade lol

A scorching hot Santander hitting bombs in October…. Contract would be worth it for that alone

[Omar]

 

 

[G-Snarls]

Santander post season stats

 

[L54]

It’s crazy but there are people on Twitter who actually believe the Jays are better off without Santander lol