Blue Jays Discussion Thread (2026)

[max silver]

4 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

At this point, it's probably worth finding out.  Even if it just helps his confidence a bit.  

Yeah I think it's high time for him to be moved down the pecking order a bit. It leaves the club short a leverage arm though so hopefully someone else picks up the slack in the meantime. We can only hope that post surgery Yimi has fully recovered his stuff as he can be a key piece in the pen essentially taking over from Varland as the fireman out of the pen. 

[Laika]

39 minutes ago, max silver said:

I don't necessarily buy into this theory that Hoffman has some kind of mental block. His command is very spotty at the best of times and he's shown a tendency for his command to completely escape him at times. I don't think this is going to magically go away simply because he's pitching in a lower leverage role.

Yeah I haven't looked at the numbers but he probably has a relatively low Zone%

Lots of relievers with nasty stuff have a low Zone% and when people are swinging they are good but when people lay off they suck 

Ryne Stanek, Genesis Cabrera, Jose Alvarado. You know the type. 

Hoffman is weird in this respect though because hitters ARE SWINGING. His command wobbles game to game seem to lead to players keyholing him and hunting, not just laying off and waiting for walks. So the K rate is maintained but the results are ugly. 

[Jays24]

Blue Jays removing Hoffman from closer role
https://thescore.com/mlb/news/3529525

[Laika]

The Blue Jays bullpen is bad by WPA

-1.59 is the fourth worst figure in MLB

But Jeff Hoffman alone is -1.65, hilariously. 

If Joffman didn't exist they'd probably be 12-12 

(The Jays pen was good by WPA in 2025 and decent to very good in 2026 by most meaningful measurements)

[Jays24]

12 minutes ago, Laika said:

The Blue Jays bullpen is bad by WPA

-1.59 is the fourth worst figure in MLB

But Jeff Hoffman alone is -1.65, hilariously. 

If Joffman didn't exist they'd probably be 12-12 

(The Jays pen was good by WPA in 2025 and decent to very good in 2026 by most meaningful measurements)

Hoffman and Little single handedly ruined the bullpen.  We got Rogers/Varland on the other end of the spectrum lol

[G-Snarls]

Blue Jays Acquire Willie MacIver, Designate Tyler Fitzgerald For Assignment

April 24th, 2026 at 5:20pm CST • By Darragh McDonald

The Blue Jays announced that they have acquired catcher Willie MacIver from the Rangers and optioned him to Triple-A. The Rangers, who designated him for assignment yesterday, get cash considerations in return. To open a 40-man spot for MacIver, the Jays have designated Tyler Fitzgerald for assignment.

[Laika]

Latin America Twitter is saying Pinango is up 

Assuming Lukes to the IL 

 

 

[Laika]

f*** yeah. 

Sort of surprised he's not bumping Max Scherzer. Lauer is probably better than Scherzer. Maybe some 3500 K politics here. Or maybe they need more time to line it up, perhaps Berrios and Scherzer's throw days line up?

 

 

[John_Havok]

2 hours ago, Laika said:

Latin America Twitter is saying Pinango is up 

Assuming Lukes to the IL 

 

 

Correct. Pinango is coming up. Lukes to 10-day

[G-Snarls]

YES to Yesavage 

[jaysblue]

Nice to get Yesavage back for next week!

With Lukes to the IL, I guess Eloy likely stays around longer. Hopefully he could find his power stroke.

[Laika]

One thing that doesn't make sense to me is that Rogers does not have the most innings in the pen. They've used Varland, Fisher, and even Miles more. 

Why isn't the guy with the rubber arm being used like an 80 IP reliever? I get that there have been some blowouts but he should be getting 2 inning assignments 

[hanton]

20 minutes ago, Laika said:

One thing that doesn't make sense to me is that Rogers does not have the most innings in the pen. They've used Varland, Fisher, and even Miles more. 

Why isn't the guy with the rubber arm being used like an 80 IP reliever? I get that there have been some blowouts but he should be getting 2 inning assignments 

I was checking innings pitched / games so far for Rogers and he's on the same pace as previous seasons - approx. 80 games and about 70 innings.   It';s a good point though

[43211234]

2 hours ago, Laika said:

One thing that doesn't make sense to me is that Rogers does not have the most innings in the pen. They've used Varland, Fisher, and even Miles more. 

Why isn't the guy with the rubber arm being used like an 80 IP reliever? I get that there have been some blowouts but he should be getting 2 inning assignments 

He must feel he's best used for 3 outs only so he's more fresh to go the next day.

 

I looked at his outings from last year and he only got more than 3 outs 1 time all season

 

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/tyler-rogers/15541/game-log?position=P&gds=2025-02-01&gde=2025-10-31&season=&type=0

 

Almost always 1.0 IP

[Laika]

That's wild 

I assumed he was a two inning hero 

[The_DH]

So who comes off the roster when Yesavage returns?  Originally I thought it would be Mad Max to the IL.

[jmomcc]

4 hours ago, The_DH said:

So who comes off the roster when Yesavage returns?  Originally I thought it would be Mad Max to the IL.

Mantiply i'd assume. Lauer replaces him as the leftie in the pen. 

[RA Whiffleball]

Ross Atkins looked to the Bible for inspiration: "Go forth and Mantiply..."

[Abomination]

5 hours ago, The_DH said:

So who comes off the roster when Yesavage returns?  Originally I thought it would be Mad Max to the IL.

Schneider, Fluharty, Mantiply and Fisher all have options. I'm guessing Mantiply will be the one and possibly Schneider after him.

[Laika]

Where to go with Kaz Okamoto? From a coaching perspective 

It seemed like Toronto considered him to have a better hit tool and better athleticism 

The criticisms of his defense may have been accurate. And he's slow. 

The whiff rate is concerning.

But the power is very real and probably better than anticipated.

This doesn't look like a .265 hitter who might hit 15-20 home runs. 

Gives me Matt Chapman flashbacks offensively 

[jaysblue]

16 minutes ago, Laika said:

Where to go with Kaz Okamoto? From a coaching perspective 

It seemed like Toronto considered him to have a better hit tool and better athleticism 

The criticisms of his defense may have been accurate. And he's slow. 

The whiff rate is concerning.

But the power is very real and probably better than anticipated.

This doesn't look like a .265 hitter who might hit 15-20 home runs. 

Gives me Matt Chapman flashbacks offensively 

Matt Chapman offensively is a good comparison. I see him around 25 HR's and between a 110-120 wRC+. Maybe there is one or two Mark Reynolds/Eugenio Suarez type power seasons in him at some point where he hits out 35-40 HR. 

Defensively, I don't like him at 3B long term. His movement and agility are issues and it goes against the front office MO of having a strong defensive team. He might have to become a DH next season if Springer isn't resigned. 

[Spanky__99]

Flippity floppity Poo!

[Stangstag]

2 hours ago, jaysblue said:

Matt Chapman offensively is a good comparison. I see him around 25 HR's and between a 110-120 wRC+. Maybe there is one or two Mark Reynolds/Eugenio Suarez type power seasons in him at some point where he hits out 35-40 HR. 

Defensively, I don't like him at 3B long term. His movement and agility are issues and it goes against the front office MO of having a strong defensive team. He might have to become a DH next season if Springer isn't resigned. 

Probably splits time at DH with Santander next year if the defense doesn’t improve 

Santander DH, Kaz at 3rd, Barger OF

Santander OF, Kaz DH and Barger 3B

Also right now, looks like he just whiffs on a lot of breaking stuff. If he can figure that out the numbers could improve dramatically. The reports always said the fastball might be an issue, but it hasn’t really been the case

[jmomcc]

I think Okamoto is still in the adjust stage so if anything i think its encouraging as hell. 

[Stangstag]

1 hour ago, jmomcc said:

I think Okamoto is still in the adjust stage so if anything i think its encouraging as hell. 

Yeah still way too early to be saying he won’t stick at 3rd or wont be a useful bat.