Royals (Lugo) vs Blue Jays (Bassitt): 8/3/25, 12:37pm

[Masterbather]

5 minutes ago, GogetemJays said:

Well he said how he can run down a ball on defense because of his experience as a catcher but how about hitting a baseball using his experience as a catcher. I guess he isn’t very good at doing that. 

If he can slug the way he did earlier in the year, I'm fine with him, I was never someone who was in love with the Varsho deal, I always hated the deal, I still think we didn't maximize the perceived value of Moreno. They prioritized years of control, just like they did with Varland.

If he can slug, I can deal with it but if he doesn't slug then it's rough watching him at the plate.

[GogetemJays]

4 minutes ago, Masterbather said:

Well in fairness they went after two generational talents in the last 2 years, they just didn't want to come here. 

It takes two to tango.

Ya that doesn’t mean much to anyone. If you can’t bring in top players that says a lot. Either no one wants to play in Toronto or you have a management group that is not very good at attracting players to come here. This Management group has had a tough time doing that.

[Omar]

3 minutes ago, Spanky__99 said:

So much verbal diarrhea up in this beeeeyotch, lmao.

Varsho has been back for two games don't you know. 

[G-Snarls]

Man

What a s***** loss

[Terminator]

22 minutes ago, GogetemJays said:

What a great trade Shatkins made when they got Varsho. In terms of hitting it would be nice if we didn’t always go bargain basement shopping in free agency and when trading. Santander was supposed to be good but it just hasn’t worked out.

Never hear the Jays described as a bargain basement shopper before but I guess when we drop a series some fans will lose their minds and IQ

[metafour]

LOL I absolutely knew that Varsho would come up cold and would immediately get blamed for any offensive issues, as if the team was crushing it in prior games.

Lukes since the All-Star Break: .167/.224/.407 - 71 wRC+
Clement since the All-Star Break: .227/.235/.333 - 52 wRC+

With Springer out, Barger scuffling, and the above two putting up some really bad at-bats the lineup has become very problematic. Even Davis Schneider is hitting just .217 with no power (.261 SLG) since the All-Star break. He has been taking walks and getting on base so his overall line isn't as bad as Clement/Lukes, but with Straw and Heineman playing so much there is very little impact potential at the plate.

[Terminator]

13 minutes ago, metafour said:

LOL I absolutely knew that Varsho would come up cold and would immediately get blamed for any offensive issues, as if the team was crushing it in prior games.

Lukes since the All-Star Break: .167/.224/.407 - 71 wRC+
Clement since the All-Star Break: .227/.235/.333 - 52 wRC+

With Springer out, Barger scuffling, and the above two putting up some really bad at-bats the lineup has become very problematic. Even Davis Schneider is hitting just .217 with no power (.261 SLG) since the All-Star break. He has been taking walks and getting on base so his overall line isn't as bad as Clement/Lukes, but with Straw and Heineman playing so much there is very little impact potential at the plate.

That's mostly just one idiot troll that people keep biting on.

But yeah this is pretty spot on as we have a ton of guys scuffling. Add in the injuries and it looks like we are running with spring training split squad lineups.

Hopefully Springer is back asap and he and Kirk are able to quickly rebound.

[hanton]

I missed the game, just reviewing the box score, Seranthony melt down - not surprised.

[BB17]

9 hours ago, hanton said:

I missed the game, just reviewing the box score, Seranthony melt down - not surprised.

What didn’t show up in the box score was how bad the defence was. Witt hit a ground ball to Badgers left for a double which you almost never see and ended up being the tying run.

Then in extras a ball gets by Vladdy for another double which Loperfido also botched twice in RF. Then Kirk airmailed one to 3rd on a truly horrific throw and Straw didn’t get to it in time allowing another runner to get 90 feet which was another run.

Add in Dominguez losing his command (which he’s been known for and shouldn’t surprise anyone) and you get a terrible inning.

But it’s the offence that needs to be better, just too many holes in the lineup right now like others have mentioned. Lukes/Loperfido hitting 1/2 is not a playoff contender along with a weak bottom of the lineup.

[BB17]

14 hours ago, metafour said:

LOL I absolutely knew that Varsho would come up cold and would immediately get blamed for any offensive issues, as if the team was crushing it in prior games.

Lukes since the All-Star Break: .167/.224/.407 - 71 wRC+
Clement since the All-Star Break: .227/.235/.333 - 52 wRC+

With Springer out, Barger scuffling, and the above two putting up some really bad at-bats the lineup has become very problematic. Even Davis Schneider is hitting just .217 with no power (.261 SLG) since the All-Star break. He has been taking walks and getting on base so his overall line isn't as bad as Clement/Lukes, but with Straw and Heineman playing so much there is very little impact potential at the plate.

It’s kind of funny how BABIP luck can skew people’s perceptions. I see on twitter people praising Loperfido lately and slamming Barger etc when if you look at their numbers a lot of it is just luck. Since ASB

Loperfido- 5.5%BB, 27.3%K, .160 ISO .515 BABIP

Lukes- 6.3 BB%, 11.1 K%, .220 ISO, .125 BABIP

Barger- 4.2 BB%, 25.4 K%, .224 ISO, .304 BABIP

Honestly Barger hasn’t even been that bad, maybe had about a week slump where he’s chasing a bit more but I mean that’s baseball. The biggest weakness is not having Kirk and Springer in lineup.

[mphenhef]

This game was karma for how much I enjoyed the Yankees deadline relievers imploding.

[hanton]

2 hours ago, BB17 said:

What didn’t show up in the box score was how bad the defence was. Witt hit a ground ball to Badgers left for a double which you almost never see and ended up being the tying run.

Then in extras a ball gets by Vladdy for another double which Loperfido also botched twice in RF. Then Kirk airmailed one to 3rd on a truly horrific throw and Straw didn’t get to it in time allowing another runner to get 90 feet which was another run.

Add in Dominguez losing his command (which he’s been known for and shouldn’t surprise anyone) and you get a terrible inning.

But it’s the offence that needs to be better, just too many holes in the lineup right now like others have mentioned. Lukes/Loperfido hitting 1/2 is not a playoff contender along with a weak bottom of the lineup.

I just watched both those plays, it looked like Vlady was expecting a bunt(?)

I think it's time to settle on 1 position for Barger - stop moving him around. - don't even know if a regular 3b gets that ball the SN video doesn't show enough

[metafour]

2 hours ago, BB17 said:

It’s kind of funny how BABIP luck can skew people’s perceptions. I see on twitter people praising Loperfido lately and slamming Barger etc when if you look at their numbers a lot of it is just luck. Since ASB

Loperfido- 5.5%BB, 27.3%K, .160 ISO .515 BABIP

Lukes- 6.3 BB%, 11.1 K%, .220 ISO, .125 BABIP

Barger- 4.2 BB%, 25.4 K%, .224 ISO, .304 BABIP

Honestly Barger hasn’t even been that bad, maybe had about a week slump where he’s chasing a bit more but I mean that’s baseball. The biggest weakness is not having Kirk and Springer in lineup.

Barger hasn't been bad, but he has cooled off and looks a bit tired out there (much more impatient at the plate, general decline in at-bat quality). The point I wanted to make was that with Clement and Lukes struggling, and Kirk/Springer injured, having Barger cool off as well is obviously not going to be good for the offense. Its a lot of compounding decline in quality.

Loperfido is definitely running an inflated BABIP and obviously isn't a 173 wRC+ hitter, but he still has a quality .339 xwOBA (13 points higher than Lukes). His success compared to Lukes' recent struggle since the ASB isn't just related to BABIP luck:

Loperfido: 41.2% line drive rate, 0.0% IFFB rate, 47.2% hard-hit %, 91.1 average EV

Lukes: 10.4% line drive rate, 19.0% IFFB rate, 29.2% hard-hit %, 83.3 average EV

Lukes has a higher ISO because of those HR's he has hit, but apart from those he has been making really really poor contact lately (as evidenced by his very low LD rate, hard-hit%, and average EV). Loperfido has a sky-high BABIP because he is running an absurd 41% LD rate and hitting the ball hard. Again, this will normalize over time, but the story here isn't that Lukes is just being "unlucky" while Loperfido is "lucky", One is making very good contact, and the other is making very poor contact - and this is reflected in their BABIP.

[BB17]

44 minutes ago, hanton said:

I just watched both those plays, it looked like Vlady was expecting a bunt(?)

I think it's time to settle on 1 position for Barger - stop moving him around. - don't even know if a regular 3b gets that ball the SN video doesn't show enough

Yeah I think the Barger ball was more bad positioning than a lack of range. Ironic because they had him in "no doubles" defence hugging the line and a ground ball to his left went for a double. 

I will say he has looked really bad in RF though which the numbers agree with. I think long term you stick him at 3rd and live with average to below average defence. The bat still plays.

[BB17]

9 minutes ago, metafour said:

Barger hasn't been bad, but he has cooled off and looks a bit tired out there (much more impatient at the plate, general decline in at-bat quality). The point I wanted to make was that with Clement and Lukes struggling, and Kirk/Springer injured, having Barger cool off as well is obviously not going to be good for the offense. Its a lot of compounding decline in quality.

Loperfido is definitely running an inflated BABIP and obviously isn't a 173 wRC+ hitter, but he still has a quality .339 xwOBA (13 points higher than Lukes). His success compared to Lukes' recent struggle since the ASB isn't just related to BABIP luck:

Loperfido: 41.2% line drive rate, 0.0% IFFB rate, 47.2% hard-hit %, 91.1 average EV

Lukes: 10.4% line drive rate, 19.0% IFFB rate, 29.2% hard-hit %, 83.3 average EV

Lukes has a higher ISO because of those HR's he has hit, but apart from those he has been making really really poor contact lately (as evidenced by his very low LD rate, hard-hit%, and average EV). Loperfido has a sky-high BABIP because he is running an absurd 41% LD rate and hitting the ball hard. Again, this will normalize over time, but the story here isn't that Lukes is just being "unlucky" while Loperfido is "lucky", One is making very good contact, and the other is making very poor contact - and this is reflected in their BABIP.

Yeah I wasn't trying to pick on your post specifically, but in a more broad sense you see on Twitter/at the ballpark people think Loperfido is breaking out as a star where as they s*** on Barger. Just saying the numbers of those 3 guys are a lot closer than the surface wRC+  would indicate. Even with the batted ball metrics Loperfido clearly has gotten lucky where as Lukes has had a bit of bad luck.

Reality is Loperfido was on a heater (which he's starting to cool down) and Barger was in a bit of a slump.

I don't even think Loperfido is a regular going forward given he still strikes out a lot, is a corner OF and is a platoon bat. He's fine as a depth guy to bring up when there are injuries and hit in the bottom 3rd of the lineup but he shouldn't be batting 2nd for a team trying to win a division title. Him numbers in AAA weren't anything special either.