Around Baseball 2026

[Terminator]

21 hours ago, jaysblue said:

Remember when the Jays made the Postseason in 2015 for the first time since 93 and also were World Series contenders in 2016? 

And? Congrats to AA on being better than Gord Ash and JP Highly Regardi I guess?

Does this mean I need to continue to lick AA's nuts a whole decade later?

[max silver]

On 3/3/2026 at 11:59 AM, Jays24 said:

To be fair, they won a title and thats what matters mainly. 

Rogers decided to open up their wallets, which should be a credit to Shapiro for making a good enough business case to do so.  AA can blame Gillick for having to start a Go Fund Me for Santana as his business plan lol

That's the wrong team president as it was more likely Beeston in charge at the time. At any rate Shapiro taking over from Beeston was the key move that allowed the current run of success to begin in earnest. I believe that Edward Rogers also deserves plenty of credit for allowing the incoming team president to actually run the team like the big market club it was supposed to be.

[Jimcanuck]

48 minutes ago, max silver said:

That's the wrong team president as it was more likely Beeston in charge at the time. At any rate Shapiro taking over from Beeston was the key move that allowed the current run of success to begin in earnest. I believe that Edward Rogers also deserves plenty of credit for allowing the incoming team president to actually run the team like the big market club it was supposed to be.

Yes, and Shapiro's constructive dismissal of AA was a 4D chessmove

[jaysblue]

3 hours ago, Terminator said:

And? Congrats to AA on being better than Gord Ash and JP Highly Regardi I guess?

Does this mean I need to continue to lick AA's nuts a whole decade later?

Nobody is licking anyone's nuts here haha. 

AA wasn't a bad GM when he was in Toronto. Was he perfect? Nope. He did make some questionable moves and he also made some really good moves as well considering some of the limitations he had. As a Jays fan who has lived through the Ash and JPR years, the 2015 season will always be a special and memorable one. On paper, the Jays were definitely World Series contenders and how sweet would have it been to see a Jays/Mets World Series that year. Or heck, a Jays/Cubs World Series in 2016. They were that close both seasons. 

[jaysblue]

13 minutes ago, Jimcanuck said:

Yes, and Shapiro's constructive dismissal of AA was a 4D chessmove

It was bound to happen after Beeston left. We all knew Shapiro was going to bring in his own guy and that AA after the 2015 season wanted to have more autonomy, rather than working under Shapiro. 

I'm also sure Shapiro still has some say and input on baseball decisions, more than Beeston had. 

[Jonn]

It's to bad Santander is hurt. Atlanta could have been an excellent place to dump him.

[jaysblue]

56 minutes ago, max silver said:

That's the wrong team president as it was more likely Beeston in charge at the time. At any rate Shapiro taking over from Beeston was the key move that allowed the current run of success to begin in earnest. I believe that Edward Rogers also deserves plenty of credit for allowing the incoming team president to actually run the team like the big market club it was supposed to be.

Shapiro definitely made positive changes here in comparison to previous Presidents, even if they weren't noticeable at first. On the business side and in terms of on-field product, Shapiro has transformed this organization into a legit big market club. 

[Stangstag]

Lengthy interview with Miguel Rojas during the Dodgers game…

He admits “We weren’t the best team in the World Series last year, but we found a way to win”

Depression washes over me once again

[Terminator]

32 minutes ago, Stangstag said:

Lengthy interview with Miguel Rojas during the Dodgers game…

He admits “We weren’t the best team in the World Series last year, but we found a way to win”

Depression washes over me once again

Yeah I went and checked Fangraphs Playoff Odds and nearly had a crash out at the Jays World Series odds for this year.

I also refuse to read that new Jayson Stark article that everyone is gushing over.

Kill me

[Stangstag]

11 minutes ago, Terminator said:

Yeah I went and checked Fangraphs Playoff Odds and nearly had a crash out at the Jays World Series odds for this year.

I also refuse to read that new Jayson Stark article that everyone is gushing over.

Kill me

It’s gonna be very difficult to top last year. 

[max silver]

27 minutes ago, Terminator said:

Yeah I went and checked Fangraphs Playoff Odds and nearly had a crash out at the Jays World Series odds for this year.

I also refuse to read that new Jayson Stark article that everyone is gushing over.

Kill me

That Stark article ripped the still healing wounds wide open all over again.  🙁

[Jays24]

3 hours ago, max silver said:

That's the wrong team president as it was more likely Beeston in charge at the time. At any rate Shapiro taking over from Beeston was the key move that allowed the current run of success to begin in earnest. I believe that Edward Rogers also deserves plenty of credit for allowing the incoming team president to actually run the team like the big market club it was supposed to be.

And AA showed Ed Rogers what a passionate fanbase we could be if you just built a team worth cheering for. 

Without 2015/2016, who knows if he invests as much as he has into this franchise.  

[Stangstag]

2 hours ago, Jays24 said:

And AA showed Ed Rogers what a passionate fanbase we could be if you just built a team worth cheering for. 

Without 2015/2016, who knows if he invests as much as he has into this franchise.  

Thats a stretch. You’d have to be a moron to not know the market size of this team. Ed Rogers is old enough to remember 92/93.

[Jays24]

1 hour ago, Stangstag said:

Thats a stretch. You’d have to be a moron to not know the market size of this team. Ed Rogers is old enough to remember 92/93.

But never as an owner.  Baseball was struggling in terms of popularity for the entirety of their ownership until 2015/2016. 

Its why majority of people look so fondly towards those years because it was the first time that a generation got to see what winning baseball looked like in the city.

 

[Spanky__99]

[jaysblue]

8 hours ago, Stangstag said:

Thats a stretch. You’d have to be a moron to not know the market size of this team. Ed Rogers is old enough to remember 92/93.

I think Jays24 has a point here. Rogers obviously knew the market size, but 2015/2016 were a huge wake-up call in terms of what a winning team actually meant for the city and the country. The atmosphere at the Dome, the TV ratings, the merchandise sales - it showed ownership just how massive the demand was when the team was competitive.

Before that, for most of Rogers’ ownership, the Jays were largely middling and baseball’s popularity in the city had dipped. Those playoff runs reminded everyone, including ownership, what the ceiling of this market really is.

[Brownie19]

1 hour ago, jaysblue said:

I think Jays24 has a point here. Rogers obviously knew the market size, but 2015/2016 were a huge wake-up call in terms of what a winning team actually meant for the city and the country. The atmosphere at the Dome, the TV ratings, the merchandise sales - it showed ownership just how massive the demand was when the team was competitive.

Before that, for most of Rogers’ ownership, the Jays were largely middling and baseball’s popularity in the city had dipped. Those playoff runs reminded everyone, including ownership, what the ceiling of this market really is.

I tend to agree with this.

Obviously from a fans perspective, it gave us hope again.  It re-invigorated the fan base and birthed a new generation of young fans.  

I suspect Rogers always knew this was possible, but to their credit, they took advantage of the 2015/16 success to generate momentum and elevate the franchise.

[glory]

16 hours ago, Stangstag said:

Lengthy interview with Miguel Rojas during the Dodgers game…

He admits “We weren’t the best team in the World Series last year, but we found a way to win”

Depression washes over me once again

People talk about Game 7, but the game that the Jays absolutely had no business losing was Game 3. I might be more annoyed at that game in hindsight. 

It’s very difficult to get to a World Series much less win one. Those types of magical runs don’t happen often. I joked during last season that the 2025 Jays were the 2015 Royals but hopefully they end up being the 2014 Royals instead.

[Stangstag]

17 minutes ago, glory said:

People talk about Game 7, but the game that the Jays absolutely had no business losing was Game 3. I might be more annoyed at that game in hindsight. 

It’s very difficult to get to a World Series much less win one. Those types of magical runs don’t happen often. I joked during last season that the 2025 Jays were the 2015 Royals but hopefully they end up being the 2014 Royals instead.

Its annoying that 3 of the 4 losses were super close and winnable. Whereas the 3 games we won were clear wins.

Also went 1-3 at home for the WS.

Im not sure i’ll ever get over it.

[bluejaysinternNo5]

47 minutes ago, glory said:

People talk about Game 7, but the game that the Jays absolutely had no business losing was Game 3. I might be more annoyed at that game in hindsight. 

It’s very difficult to get to a World Series much less win one. Those types of magical runs don’t happen often. I joked during last season that the 2025 Jays were the 2015 Royals but hopefully they end up being the 2014 Royals instead.

I remember thinking to myself, "Yeah, they're winning the world series" after they swept the Yankees in 4. You could just tell this team had "it", whatever "it" is.

[Spanky__99]

16 hours ago, max silver said:

That Stark article ripped the still healing wounds wide open all over again.  🙁

Ughh... this article right?

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7073024/2026/02/27/blue-jays-2026-season-game-7-world-series/

[Stangstag]

1 hour ago, bluejaysinternNo5 said:

I remember thinking to myself, "Yeah, they're winning the world series" after they swept the Yankees in 4. You could just tell this team had "it", whatever "it" is.

I completely thought we had it when we came back home up 3-2 in the series 

[Brownie19]

For the love of god, please stop.

[Eat My Shatkins]

[Spanky__99]

22 hours ago, Jonn said:

It's to bad Santander is hurt. Atlanta could have been an excellent place to dump him.

lol... the struggle is real.

[Terminator]

 

[Laika]

21 minutes ago, Terminator said:

 

Wait why is a 91.5 mph 4 seamer getting a 102 Stuff number? That makes no sense 

[Terminator]

4 minutes ago, Laika said:

Wait why is a 91.5 mph 4 seamer getting a 102 Stuff number? That makes no sense 

Does the 50% whiff rate affect the grade?

[sliderguy35]

pitch results wouldn't affect the stuff grade at all. my guess is that the model really likes the fact that it gets above average IVB & extension and has less arm-side movement out of a slightly below average arm angle. (even with the poor velo).

the problem with tj's model is that it doesn't really weight release height / approach angles as much as it should, and doesn't seem to account for the fact that IVB is partially a product of velocity (less velo = more IVB since the ball has more time in the air). 

• 7 feet of extension is good on a 4 seamer, but it plays down when the release height is still well above average
• 17 IVB is technically above average for all 4 seam fastballs, but is pretty mediocre when looking at 4 seamers at 91

it just seems like it takes the inputs at face value, rather than contextualizing them with the rest of the pitcher's characteristics. i appreciate the work that goes into running his site / pulling and cleanly visualizing the data / providing free access to these player summaries, but I would take anything that spits out a grade with a grain of salt. when there's so many twitter analysts making their own stuff models without transparency as to how they're created, it's better to just take the raw data at face value and form your own opinions

[Brownie19]

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2,879 likes, 142 comments - thecraigcartonshow on February 17, 2026: "THE PHILLIES SIGNED AN 11 YEAR...

Maybe this was already posted and I missed it, but how the heck is this allowed?