Blue Jays Discussion Thread (2026)

[Brownie19]

16 minutes ago, jaysblue said:

Okamoto is a very different hitter than peak Bo. I don’t think we can just treat it like they swap out for each other and everything balances out.

When Bo is healthy and at his best, he’s one of the better pure hitters in baseball. He makes a ton of contact, puts the ball in play, sprays line drives, racks up extra-base hits, and can still run into some home runs. The Jays are missing that type of bat this season, and it shows. And who knows, maybe not having another legitimate bat like that in the lineup is impacting Vlad a bit too, even if the whole protection argument can be overstated.

Okamoto is more of a power-first bat. The power is real, and he’s definitely been a nice addition, but it comes with more swing-and-miss and a less well-rounded offensive profile. He feels a lot more like Matt Chapman offensively. He should still finish somewhere in that 3–4 WAR range, which is a good player. But offensively, I don’t think you can say he simply replaces Bo and the lineup is fine. They’re completely different types of hitters, and this team clearly misses what a healthy, top-form Bo brings.

I think that's all obvious, but it's not like we let Bo go and didn't replace him with a quality, above average bat.  I think that's what people are trying to say.  The differences in their approach certainly don't even start to explain the complete collapse of the offense that was the best in baseball for months last year.

[Orgfiller]

18 minutes ago, jaysblue said:

Okamoto is a very different hitter than peak Bo. I don’t think we can just treat it like they swap out for each other and everything balances out.

When Bo is healthy and at his best, he’s one of the better pure hitters in baseball. He makes a ton of contact, puts the ball in play, sprays line drives, racks up extra-base hits, and can still run into some home runs. The Jays are missing that type of bat this season, and it shows. And who knows, maybe not having another legitimate bat like that in the lineup is impacting Vlad a bit too, even if the whole protection argument can be overstated.

Okamoto is more of a power-first bat. The power is real, and he’s definitely been a nice addition, but it comes with more swing-and-miss and a less well-rounded offensive profile. He feels a lot more like Matt Chapman offensively. He should still finish somewhere in that 3–4 WAR range, which is a good player. But offensively, I don’t think you can say he simply replaces Bo and the lineup is fine. They’re completely different types of hitters, and this team clearly misses what a healthy, top-form Bo brings.

Man what the hell are you on about? They quite literally replaced one with the other in the lineup. Bo has been mediocre for the Mets, Okamoto has provided plenty of protection.

The lineup is garbage because Vlad, Kirk and Springer turned into pumpkins and the rest of the lineup (Gimenez, Varsho, Sanchez, etc.) hasn't done much to make up for it. Bo Bichette replacing Okamoto to date would have made the offense even worse, unless he has magical inspiration and hitting coach qualities.

[Terminator]

Okamoto accounts for about 22% of our team's home run total on the year. lol

Replacing Bo in the lineup might have been the biggest concern this past offseason and he's done that just fine.

[jaysblue]

4 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

I think that's all obvious, but it's not like we let Bo go and didn't replace him with a quality, above average bat.  I think that's what people are trying to say.  The differences in their approach certainly don't even start to explain the complete collapse of the offense that was the best in baseball for months last year.

I don't disagree. I’m not trying to frame it like the Jays replaced Bo with nothing. 

My point is that replacing Bo’s overall offensive profile with Okamoto’s power-first profile doesn’t mean the lineup functions the same way. Peak Bo gives you a different type of pressure on pitchers: contact, line drives, extra-base hits, fewer empty at-bats, and the ability to keep innings moving. Okamoto brings power, but also more swing-and-miss and less consistency getting on base. One of the main strengths of last year’s lineup was that they made a ton of contact and didn’t swing and miss much.

The bigger issue is the combination of Vlad being awful, Kirk regressing, Springer falling off, Varsho’s power disappearing, Barger being out, and the lineup having too many low-impact bats.

 

[Terminator]

I personally can't stand having a guy with legit power in the lineup. We need to get rid of Okamoto and get another slap hitter in there. That will fix things.

[jaysblue]

9 minutes ago, Orgfiller said:

Man what the hell are you on about? They quite literally replaced one with the other in the lineup. Bo has been mediocre for the Mets, Okamoto has provided plenty of protection.

The lineup is garbage because Vlad, Kirk and Springer turned into pumpkins and the rest of the lineup (Gimenez, Varsho, Sanchez, etc.) hasn't done much to make up for it. Bo Bichette replacing Okamoto to date would have made the offense even worse, unless he has magical inspiration and hitting coach qualities.

Can't you read?

You’re still arguing against a point I didn’t make.

Nobody said 2026 Bo has been better than Okamoto this season. Okamoto has clearly been a quality bat and a good addition. The point is that “they replaced one with the other” is an overly simplistic way to look at how a lineup actually functions.

One of the main strengths of last year’s lineup: high contact, low swing-and-miss, and a lot of balls in play. You can dismiss that if you want, but lineup construction isn’t just plugging WAR or wRC+ into a spreadsheet and pretending every offensive profile is interchangeable. 

The offense has collapsed mostly because Vlad, Kirk, and Springer have fallen off a cliff. I already said that.

Geez man.  

[jaysblue]

1 minute ago, Terminator said:

I personally can't stand having a guy with legit power in the lineup. We need to get rid of Okamoto and get another slap hitter in there. That will fix things.

Where did I say that exactly? 

[jaysblue]

8 minutes ago, Terminator said:

Okamoto accounts for about 22% of our team's home run total on the year. lol

Replacing Bo in the lineup might have been the biggest concern this past offseason and he's done that just fine.

Can't you read? Nobody has said Okamoto has been an issue geez. Are you just arguing with the version of my post you invented in your head?

 

[jaysblue]

18 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

I think that's all obvious, but it's not like we let Bo go and didn't replace him with a quality, above average bat.  I think that's what people are trying to say.  The differences in their approach certainly don't even start to explain the complete collapse of the offense that was the best in baseball for months last year.

Also, let’s not pretend the front office didn’t understand the type of bat they were losing with Bo. Atkins wasn’t just trying to replace him with any decent hitter last offseason - they were clearly looking for another elite offensive piece, whether it was pursuing Kyle Tucker or being rumoured to be in the market for someone like Ketel Marte.

[Terminator]

5 minutes ago, jaysblue said:

Can't you read? Nobody has said Okamoto has been an issue geez. Are you just arguing with the version of my post you invented in your head?

 

Lmao buddy you are the absolute king of doing that

[jaysblue]

2 minutes ago, Terminator said:

Lmao buddy you are the absolute king of doing that

Lmao, nope. A lot of you guys will say one thing one day, get defensive whenever someone is even slightly critical of the Jays and then never own it when the concerns end up being valid later.

[jaysblue]

It’s hysterical. A lot of you guys love to swarm any remotely critical comment about this team, even when the point being made isn’t actually negative.

I didn’t even trash Okamoto. I didn’t say he’s been bad. I said you can’t simply say Okamoto replaced Bo’s bat as if their offensive profiles are interchangeable. They’re completely different types of hitters, and that matters when one of the biggest strengths of last year’s lineup was high contact, low swing-and-miss, and keeping innings alive.

But instead of actually reading the point, you, Org, Brownie all got weirdly defensive and acted like I said Okamoto was useless and has been awful. I didn’t. You guys just saw something that wasn’t blind Jays optimism and immediately started arguing with a version of the post that didn’t exist.

[glory]

The holdovers from last year's offense are Gimenez, Clement, Lukes, Varsho, Vlad, Kirk, Springer, Barger, Heineman, Schneider, and Straw. They have a combined WAR this season of 5.8 for $100M in 2026 payroll. If you want to count Santander who hasn't played then the payroll jumps even further. Thankfully Kyle Tucker and his invisible chin chose the Dodgers otherwise it would have been ten times worse. 

Okamoto leads the team in WAR, wRC+, and has more than double the amount of home runs as the 2nd leading HR hitter on the team. He and Valenzuela have been the lone bright spots. 

[Terminator]

18 minutes ago, jaysblue said:

Lmao, nope. A lot of you guys will say one thing one day, get defensive whenever someone is even slightly critical of the Jays and then never own it when the concerns end up being valid later.

The problem is you never actually make a pointed or accurate criticism.

You just throw out tons of broad, vague criticisms, often purposefully made to elicit pushback.

Today, for example, you bragged about saying back in May that the defense was bad and how right you turned out to be. I looked at the numbers, and that just isn't true.

Then, after your mom brought your chicken tendies and Monster Energy down to the basement for lunch, you caught a second wind and started arguing that Okamoto hasn't akshually replaced Bo as well as everyone thinks.

And when people understandably ask what the hell you're talking about, you suddenly start clutching your pearls. Apparently it's our fault for being so defensive.

It's not your fault for making some bizarre point where Okamoto has simultaneously done a great job and somehow hasn't actually replaced Bo very well at the same time. No, it's our fault because we can't read lol.

 

[Brownie19]

39 minutes ago, jaysblue said:

It’s hysterical. A lot of you guys love to swarm any remotely critical comment about this team, even when the point being made isn’t actually negative.

I didn’t even trash Okamoto. I didn’t say he’s been bad. I said you can’t simply say Okamoto replaced Bo’s bat as if their offensive profiles are interchangeable. They’re completely different types of hitters, and that matters when one of the biggest strengths of last year’s lineup was high contact, low swing-and-miss, and keeping innings alive.

But instead of actually reading the point, you, Org, Brownie all got weirdly defensive and acted like I said Okamoto was useless and has been awful. I didn’t. You guys just saw something that wasn’t blind Jays optimism and immediately started arguing with a version of the post that didn’t exist.

Hey - that's not what I did at all man. 

People were discussing the offensive issues and someone pointed out that the Jays managed to replace Bo with a quality bat. You tried to play the angle that they are different types of hitters and thus it may not be a true 1 for 1 replacement (which has some truth to it - which is why I supported what you said).  I simply said I don't think difference in their approach moves the needle at all in terms of why the offense collapsed.  It's the last of our worries.

To be fair - the answer to why people love to swarm you is exactly the same reason you wrongly grouped me in with the others.  It's because of past history.  You're significantly better these days (maybe thanks to your AI responses? LOL), but for years, your views came across as ignorant and thus people swarmed you with counter posts - you were tared and feathered a lot.  And of course I used to swarm you all the time, so you instinctively lump me in as a bad guy, no matter what my post actually says. The reality is it takes time to change habits and views/perception.  Unfortunately, getting your back up like this and getting all pissy with people doesn't help.

If it helps, I certainly try not to "attack" you these days and rarely have any urge to, because your posts are much more balanced and well thought out now - which makes me happy. 

[Brownie19]

20 minutes ago, Terminator said:

The problem is you never actually make a pointed or accurate criticism.

You just throw out tons of broad, vague criticisms, often purposefully made to elicit pushback.

Today, for example, you bragged about saying back in May that the defense was bad and how right you turned out to be. I looked at the numbers, and that just isn't true.

Then, after your mom brought your chicken tendies and Monster Energy down to the basement for lunch, you caught a second wind and started arguing that Okamoto hasn't akshually replaced Bo as well as everyone thinks.

And when people understandably ask what the hell you're talking about, you suddenly start clutching your pearls. Apparently it's our fault for being so defensive.

It's not your fault for making some bizarre point where Okamoto has simultaneously done a great job and somehow hasn't actually replaced Bo very well at the same time. No, it's our fault because we can't read lol.

 

 

[bluejaysinternNo5]

How is Brandon Valenzuela second n the team in batter WAR. What a disaster of a season.

[Omar]

16 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

 

It was the chicken tendies and monster energy drink part that put it over the top.  Sometimes you just gotta tip the hat.  

[glory]

7 minutes ago, bluejaysinternNo5 said:

How is Brandon Valenzuela second n the team in batter WAR. What a disaster of a season.

Top 5 in position player WAR being Okamoto, Valenzuela, Gimenez, Clement, and Lukes is objectively hilarious (in a sad way). A rookie from Japan seeing big league pitching for the first time, a backup catcher they got in return for Will Wagner, one of the worst hitting regulars in the league, and two journeymen on 2 WAR projections. 

This team doesn’t need to scorch earth but they need to be very open to trading pieces at the deadline. Not just the impending FAs. 

 

[G-Snarls]

[G-Snarls]

THE worst offense in all of baseball

Wow

[Eat My Shatkins]

I wonder if Keys is going to be able to adjust to MLB pitching or is he just going to be another AAAA guy that destroys MiLB pitching and can't hit a lick in the show?

Assuming Barger is healthy next season, there could be an influx of power to the line up.

Okamoto

Barger

Santander

Vladdy (if he ever figures out how to fix his LA)

Sanchez

Keys

Nimmala (assuming he makes his debut at some point)