Blue Jays Discussion Thread (2026)

[Spanky__99]

 

[Spanky__99]

 

[Spanky__99]

 

[Spanky__99]

👀🤪

[Carlos Danger]

Colt Emerson

Cooper Prat

Luis Lara

Jackson Chourio

Colt Keith

Evan White

Scott Kingery

All paid before they did s*** in MLB. 

When you are under ~ 28 they are paying you  for what they sure as hell hope you will do.

In the case of guys like Witt, Acuna and Vlad, what they sure as hell hope you will continue to do with projections of improvement until at least your age 30 season at a minimum! 

 

 

[bluejaysinternNo5]

I think at this point we hope for both a) a salary cap and b) some sort of amnesty clause or contract buyout clause so we can use it on Vlad and send him on his merry way.

[Terminator]

3 hours ago, Spanky__99 said:

👀🤪

Makes sense to me because most of the guys in the lineup seem to treat every count like it’s a two-strike count.

Whether they’re up 3-0 or down 1-2, that low-and-away slider six inches off the plate is apparently just too irresistible not to flail at.

[Laika]

25 minutes ago, Terminator said:

Makes sense to me because most of the guys in the lineup seem to treat every count like it’s a two-strike count.

Whether they’re up 3-0 or down 1-2, that low-and-away slider six inches off the plate is apparently just too irresistible not to flail at.

So many dudes just never seemed to have a viable MLB level game plan

• Varsho, Sanchez, Clement, Sosa, Gimenez, just swung at everything or swung randomly. 
• Straw and Schneider just have swiss cheese swings and are only passive because they can't hit. Cuck takes.
• Vlad is re******
• Kirk and Springer sort of had a plan going at times but were wrecked by injuries or lost for much of the year 
• Okamoto was probably the only guy who hunted pitches professionally in 1 and 0 strike counts, and then executed his swing often enough to make it work
• I don't really have an opinion on Lukes. He does seem to have a plan most of the time and is just limited by his actual, physical skills. Same with BV. 

[Carlos Danger]

Mark and Ross should thank their lucky stars that the Jays made it to game 7 of the WS last year.

First to last........   They ain't the Dodgers.......

[Olerud363.354]

32 minutes ago, Terminator said:

Whether they’re up 3-0 or down 1-2, that low-and-away slider six inches off the plate is apparently just too irresistible not to flail at.

They need 3 rules

1.  Don't swing

2. Swing hard and assume it's down the middle

3. Stay alive do what you need to

They need to use one more liberally in 3-0 counts and sometimes 3-1 depending who it is. 

They need to use 2 for 3-1, 2-0, 2-1 probably and what I mean by two is don't f***ing adjust and send the low and away slider to the short stop.  Swing hard, hit it either 420 feet or miss it by a foot it you guess wrong.

3.  Which is what they do all the time is ONLY for 2 strike counts. 

No I'm not a coach and don't pretend to be, but on the TV I see Judge, Ohtani, Ben Rice, Schwarber do this.  Maybe other players like VGJ can't be taught this, but at least try to teach them it. 

[Laika]

 

 

https://x.com/hgomez27/status/2102869783666401626?s=20

 

 

 

 

[Olerud363.354]

3 minutes ago, Carlos Danger said:

Mark and Ross should thank their lucky stars that the Jays made it to game 7 of the WS last year.

First to last........   They ain't the Dodgers.......

Just such a missed opportunity.  They didn't have to be the Dodgers, just some stupid 85-77 team that maybe won a wild card series and we all cry when the Guardians beat them in the ALDS.

Like they should be the Phillies I think.  Not ... the 1994-97 Blue Jays. 

[Laika]

So he has back pain, depression and anxiety. 

The stuff about the contract is just excuse making and basic stupidity. There is a semblance of truth that the structure of free agency is that players get paid more after arbitration, so maybe we should not get too indignant about the quote. Ignore the quote, it's noise. Focus on the actual issues:

• Demonstrated stupidity 
• Demonstrated inconsistency 
• Demonstrated fitness issues
• Admitted chronic back pain
• Admitted depression
• Admitted anxiety 

This is a mess 

[Olerud363.354]

1 minute ago, Laika said:

 

 

https://x.com/hgomez27/status/2102869783666401626?s=20

 

 

 

 

Did Varsho not hitting a flyball, Hoffman, the Vlad just missing the walk off

Everyone is depressed and it tanks there future.

How did the other teams that went through stuff like this deal with it?  

86 red sox?  2011 Rangers?  2016 Indians ?  1987 Blue Jays ?  1993 Phillies ? 

Is there a good example of a very sad ending, potentially long term psychological damage, but the team comes back to happy times?  Or team needs just rebuilt? 

[Olerud363.354]

4 minutes ago, Laika said:

This is a mess 

Why didn't he have anxiety in 2021 ?   Or second half 2024 ? Or 2018 ?

Or 2025 playoffs ?  

Or did the outcome of 2025 make the anxiety worse for multiple players?  

I think the load management is the key with the back.  Play him 5 games a week.   Some DL stints.   Try for 120 good games. 

[BTS]

13 minutes ago, Laika said:

So he has back pain, depression and anxiety. 

The stuff about the contract is just excuse making and basic stupidity. There is a semblance of truth that the structure of free agency is that players get paid more after arbitration, so maybe we should not get too indignant about the quote. Ignore the quote, it's noise. Focus on the actual issues:

• Demonstrated stupidity 
• Demonstrated inconsistency 
• Demonstrated fitness issues
• Admitted chronic back pain
• Admitted depression
• Admitted anxiety 

This is a mess 

A lot of fat guys have back pain 

[glory]

Last season he played until Game 7 of the World Series, then the WBC (which most non-US players treat like the World Series), followed by the 2026 season. I think best case he gets a long off season to rest his body and mind and he comes back strong in 2027 (which might get delayed anyway so even more rest). Other than that, I don’t know what we can be optimistic about here as it relates to Vlad. I have no clue if he’s a 6 WAR, 3 WAR, or 1 WAR player next season, that’s not an ideal scenario for your best and highest paid player.

[Omar]

30 minutes ago, Laika said:

So many dudes just never seemed to have a viable MLB level game plan

• Varsho, Sanchez, Clement, Sosa, Gimenez, just swung at everything or swung randomly. 
• Straw and Schneider just have swiss cheese swings and are only passive because they can't hit. Cuck takes.

Approach is secondary. All the above are just not good mlb hitters.

[Laika]

27 minutes ago, Omar said:

Approach is secondary. All the above are just not good mlb hitters.

True... although Sanchez should have been and Gimenez was many years ago. 

[Spanky__99]

51 minutes ago, Laika said:

So he has back pain, depression and anxiety. 

The stuff about the contract is just excuse making and basic stupidity. There is a semblance of truth that the structure of free agency is that players get paid more after arbitration, so maybe we should not get too indignant about the quote. Ignore the quote, it's noise. Focus on the actual issues:

• Demonstrated stupidity 
• Demonstrated inconsistency 
• Demonstrated fitness issues
• Admitted chronic back pain
• Admitted depression
• Admitted anxiety 

This is a mess 

I saw that last week during a broadcast, that he was seeing a shrink to help with his depression and anxiety and that he was in a better place. 

[Terminator]

I've seen Vlad's quote about teams paying for past performance from others plenty of times before, but it's really outdated now. Front offices aren't looking at a 32 year old's last three seasons and paying him accordingly. They have aging curves, projection systems, Statcast data, injury models, etc. 

But in any event, this is the classic situation of a stupid person noticing something that he thinks is clever then repeating it because he thinks its an astute observation.

Many such cases these days. A woman gets harmlessly hit on by a guy she isn't attracted to and suddenly he's a creep. Someone learns the term "gaslighting" and suddenly every disagreement is psychological manipulation. Someone learns about "boundaries" and suddenly every basic obligation to another person is toxic. Someone watches three videos about narcissism and starts diagnosing everyone who has ever annoyed them with a personality disorder, including their parents who they are now no contact with.

It's the same phenomenon every time. Stupid people discover a concept that contains a kernel of truth but lack the judgment or nuance to understand when it actually applies, so they use it to explain everything.

Vlad should talk to Jeff Hoffman about media training. Hoff was as hated as anyone in recent memory, and he dealt with some extraordinary bad luck to start the year. But he never blamed bad luck or anything else other than himself, and as such he didn't make his situation worse. And sure enough, by the end of the year his numbers started to normalize and he ended up having a good year.

[R.O.]

Vlad for Soto, who says no?

[Terminator]

Vlad also needs to quit saying "the fans are who they are, they love you when you're good and they boo you when they are bad. My true fans cheer me all the time." Also not helping. He should just take it on the chin and say I don't blame they I would be booing as well. 

One of the reasons they gave him the deal was to use him as our own marketable star player. Not only is he playing like a toilet, but he is turning a giant fanbase against him on top of it.

I can't believe we are at this point in year 1 of 14 of his deal. I was hoping we'd be at this point in year 10. Wasn't going to be surprised if it was Year 7. But year 1??

This might become one of the most PAINFUL contracts in sports history. The sheer length of it makes it potentially worse than Anthony Rendon. Kill me.

[Terminator]

4 minutes ago, R.O. said:

Vlad for Soto, who says no?

If we eat 99% of Vlad's contract they might do it. 

[leaffie]

My first thought when I heard the quote, was ship him off to anyone that will pay half his salary.  Then I watched his response, and thought god he is stupid, even if that is what he thought.  Today, I still think the Jays would be better off without him, no matter the cost.  But that wont happen.  He seems incredibly selfish to me, and I doubt he will listen or change.  This next season may be their only chance to get rid of him.

But I wanted them to sign Bo before him, so what do I know.  
 

 

 

 

[BTS]

18 minutes ago, R.O. said:

Vlad for Soto, who says no?

The Mets without question say no 

[JaysFan99]

9 minutes ago, leaffie said:

But I wanted them to sign Bo before him, so what do I know.  

I felt like that was board consensus before the 2024 season and his injuries.  I still would have rather kept Bo.

[neverbeenhere]

Vlad was not great to begin with and now what he said will haunt him for rest of his career and he will never be a great player in the game of baseball. Period.

Will see how his ass kissers defend him.

[Carlos Danger]

I seriously think Vlad will need to play for Team Canada next WBC to redeem himself to the fan base. 

He could do no wrong if he did that.... If he announced it in the spring, all will be forgiven in Canuckville among the casuals. 

[neverbeenhere]

Send Vladdy down to AA, don't release, don't trade, do nothing and let him be rotten there for the next 14 years.