Blue Jays (Gausman) vs Rockies (Freeland): 8/6/25, 3:10pm

[Brock Beauchamp]

Playing the Rockies is a good time for all involved, except the Rockies.

[Laika]

Don't sleep on Freeland! He's not bad at all. 

[Terminator]

Yeah Freeland is the one viable starter in their rotation right now.

They also have 3 MLB-worthy relievers and all 3 are available.

[sliderguy35]

i'm sneaky-in on freeland as a guy to go get this offseason (probably wouldn't cost much since he's an expiring at the end of the year unless he throws 170+ innings). added a new slider that stuff models love & the curveball is already a plus pitch. he's currently running the highest swinging strike rate of his career even if the K% isn't showing it.

his fastball has above average shape away from coors from a low-slot & he commands it really well. he throws his fastball down-in-the-zone a majority of the time even with 2 strikes so it feels like there's hidden potential for more strikeouts/whiffs here as well if he starts spotting it up.

it also seems like the rockies haven't caught onto the seam-shifted wake changeup wave that's been taking the league by storm the last few years. freeland throws his sinker at about 83% spin efficiency which is right in the SSW sweet-spot to get good late movement, but throws his changeup with 98% efficiency so it's missing out. a grip / cue change (i.e "cut your changeup a bit more") would probably be all it takes to unlock it into a usable weapon. 

would not be shocked at all if he ends up in a smarter org than the rockies (any other org) next year or once his contact expires in 2027 and ends up as a sub 4 ERA arm over 150 innings

[Masterbather]

Why the hell is everyone scared of Kyle Freeland? 

f*** this schmuck. 

Let's continue to use this series to fix our run differential.

[G-Snarls]

Want to sweep the series

Tough games coming up after this

[G-Snarls]

Although honestly I feel this team can beat anyone right now :)

[Jays24]

Lefty on the mound.  Hope Barger and Varsho are in the lineup to improve their splits.  We will need both come playoff time.  

[Masterbather]

1 minute ago, Jays24 said:

Lefty on the mound.  Hope Barger and Varsho are in the lineup to improve their splits.  We will need both come playoff time.  

I think Barger looks a little run down honestly.

I think they should be giving him a few more starts off if anything. Keep him as fresh as possible. 

[glory]

My guess is it will either be: CA Heineman, 1B Vlad, 2B Schneider, SS Bichette, 3B Clement, LF Straw, CF Varsho, RF Barger, DH Kirk or same lineup except Ty DeJong at DH (or 1B with Vlad at DH) if they want to give Kirk a full day off. 

Loperfido likely out, Lukes never plays against LHP, and Buddy forgot-his-last-name should never be in a MLB lineup, so choices are limited to the above. 

[Jays24]

9 minutes ago, Masterbather said:

I think Barger looks a little run down honestly.

I think they should be giving him a few more starts off if anything. Keep him as fresh as possible. 

We dont have a real DH so let him go there before Springer comes back. 

[Jays24]

3 minutes ago, glory said:

My guess is it will either be: CA Heineman, 1B Vlad, 2B Schneider, SS Bichette, 3B Clement, LF Straw, CF Varsho, RF Barger, DH Kirk or same lineup except Ty DeJong at DH (or 1B with Vlad at DH) if they want to give Kirk a full day off. 

Loperfido likely out, Lukes never plays against LHP, and Buddy forgot-his-last-name should never be in a MLB lineup, so choices are limited to the above. 

I will bet my life that Ty France is in the lineup.  They are going to run him out as much as possible before DFAing him next week

[Masterbather]

1 minute ago, Jays24 said:

We dont have a real DH so let him go there before Springer comes back. 

Yeah but I don't just mean physically, I mean mentally. This guy's been going 100 miles an hour since May, the constant adjustments of major league pitching the constant stress of being on a team fighting for first place. I'm much more concerned about his mental fatigue than even his physical fatigue.

I think one of the benefits of this team getting healthier is that some of the younger players who have been playing a lot can get a little more rest. We have to balance our short-term needs with the longer term objective of trying to win a World Series.

[Jays24]

6 minutes ago, Masterbather said:

Yeah but I don't just mean physically, I mean mentally. This guy's been going 100 miles an hour since May, the constant adjustments of major league pitching the constant stress of being on a team fighting for first place. I'm much more concerned about his mental fatigue than even his physical fatigue.

I think one of the benefits of this team getting healthier is that some of the younger players who have been playing a lot can get a little more rest. We have to balance our short-term needs with the longer term objective of trying to win a World Series.

Thats a lot of dissect for a person you have 0 interactions with haha. 

If anything, people like me have been complaining he was sitting too much before because whe hardly played against any lefties.  We have a day off tomorrow anyways, we'll find out soon enough. 

[Terminator]

 

[glory]

I feel like a vomit emoji wouldn’t do the above lineup justice. 

[HomeRunHomer]

Not only are France and who the hell is Buddy in the line up...they are batting 5th and 6th!

[Jays24]

Wow... 2 guys who won't be on the team in a week are batting 5th and 6th.  

If the Rockies were smart, they wouldn't bring in a righty to face those 2 so Schneider wouldn't pinch hit them.  

[Spanky__99]

Time to mop up the Rox for the sweep...

[Masterbather]

28 minutes ago, Terminator said:

 

Wow I didn't think it would be that bad.

[Laika]

Disgusting. Entire bench unit gets deployed.

Obviously Loperfido needed the day off.
Kirk probably has a scheduled day off since he's fresh off the IL.
Same for Varsho. 
That just leaves Barger. Mental break day for the guy I guess. Some bad defense lately. Looks like Anthony Volpe. 

[AMS528]

30 minutes ago, glory said:

I feel like a vomit emoji wouldn’t do the above lineup justice. 

Vlad and Bo have to do some heavy lifting today. 

[Brownie19]

17 minutes ago, AMS528 said:

Vlad and Bo have to do some heavy lifting today. 

Clement too.  He's our lefty killer and earns his paycheck on days like this.  

[Brownie19]

22 minutes ago, Laika said:

Disgusting. Entire bench unit gets deployed.

Obviously Loperfido needed the day off.
Kirk probably has a scheduled day off since he's fresh off the IL.
Same for Varsho. 
That just leaves Barger. Mental break day for the guy I guess. Some bad defense lately. Looks like Anthony Volpe. 

I have to imagine that flipping between RF and 3rd base, along with trying to make the necessary adjustments at the plate in your first full season in the majors (which is physically challenging on its own) is quite challenging.

Barger has been a godsent this year - a beast.  I hope they can manage him well down the stretch so he's ready to go for the playoffs.  We'll need that lefty power bat come October.

[Omar]

Kennedy....great. sweep guaranteed. 

[G-Snarls]

Idk

This seems like pretty responsible player management with a tough stretch of games coming up

[G-Snarls]

Wow 

Loads of early games today 

[infinitebook]

Good luck to Bo in terms of getting a pitch to hit

[Jays24]

If im a playoff team watching the Jays, I just load up on lefty pitching and hope Varsho/Barger get benched in the playoffs lol. 

[Orgfiller]

7 minutes ago, Jays24 said:

If im a playoff team watching the Jays, I just load up on lefty pitching and hope Varsho/Barger get benched in the playoffs lol. 

And then you're gonna get s*** on by Ernie, Springer and Davis Schneider. Varsho if healthy is starting every game in the playoffs, the defense is too good and he can run into one against a lefty. Add Springer and Kirk into this lineup and it looks much better already.