Blue Jays Discussion Thread (2026)

[Ryu In My House]

Getting Wood Richardson for cash is a little shocking. But then I looked at his numbers. 

I still think he can be a decent pitcher. Maybe the lab can straighten him out. I like this acquisition, because the gamble is minimal, and the reward could be a young, serviceable SP going forward. Fix him Pete!

[Brownie19]

39 minutes ago, Terminator said:

As outstanding as that movie was, that is an Angels specific meme and doesn't have much usage on a Blue Jays board.

I personally recommend professional wrestling .gifs and have used them to great success over the years.

[Laika]

The churn continues. Chad Dallas up, Juenger demoted, Tanner Andrews DFA'd. 

I am mildly interested in Dallas. He might be a reliever. 

Juenger does not seem to be an MLB arm. 

Macko MIGHT be an MLB arm as a team's #2 LHRP but I am still not certain. The stuff does not pop. 

[G-Snarls]

5 hours ago, Ryu In My House said:

Getting Wood Richardson for cash is a little shocking. But then I looked at his numbers. 

I still think he can be a decent pitcher. Maybe the lab can straighten him out. I like this acquisition, because the gamble is minimal, and the reward could be a young, serviceable SP going forward. Fix him Pete!

I like the acquisition.  He needs time to work with Walker and the others.  

There's no risk long term

There IS some short term risk if we're just throwing him out there against the Orioles or Phillies to see what happens....

[Joltin Joe]

Trade Varsho get a piece we need. Instead of letting him walk or give him huge contract.

Straw's glove equal in center. Neither has elite bat. 

[jmomcc]

I suggested trading him before the year and playing Luke’s and possibly clement there. 

This is not really the kind of trade the jays would do during the season tho. 

[jmomcc]

I obviously would rather we get a wild card at least and get in to the dance, but a fallback year might not be the worst thing ever either. 

We could replenish the farm one last time and then hopefully have enough pitching to be competitive for a few years run. 

We’d have Cease, Yesavage, Ponce and hopefully another FA (Gausman?) and then Miles and Bloss right there. Then Perry, Stanifer, and King quite close. Dallas in the mix as well. It’s the best pitching outlook in a while. 

[max silver]

On 6/5/2026 at 7:38 AM, jmomcc said:

I suggested trading him before the year and playing Luke’s and possibly clement there. 

This is not really the kind of trade the jays would do during the season tho. 

Lukes doesn't possess the necessary athleticism to play center field on more than an occasional basis. 

[jmomcc]

48 minutes ago, max silver said:

Lukes doesn't possess the necessary athleticism to play center field on more than an occasional basis. 

Yea fair I just don’t want to re-sign him next year and the comp pick is worthless to us. 

[max silver]

39 minutes ago, jmomcc said:

Yea fair I just don’t want to re-sign him next year and the comp pick is worthless to us. 

Why on earth would a compensation pick be worthless? If the team is serious about attempting to compete Varsho is the only legitimate full time center field option in the organization and removing him would seriously weaken the team.

[jmomcc]

9 minutes ago, max silver said:

Why on earth would a compensation pick be worthless? If the team is serious about attempting to compete Varsho is the only legitimate full time center field option in the organization and removing him would seriously weaken the team.

We are a tax team so we don’t get a comp pick after round 1 but after round 4. 

I think at the time I wanted to try clement there. You are probably right. 

[max silver]

7 minutes ago, jmomcc said:

We are a tax team so we don’t get a comp pick after round 1 but after round 4. 

I think at the time I wanted to try clement there. You are probably right. 

I think it would be an awfully tall order to expect Clement to take over starting duties in center field despite hardly having played the outfield in the majors.

[jmomcc]

Just now, max silver said:

I think it would be an awfully tall order to expect Clement to take over starting duties in center field despite hardly having played the outfield in the majors.

I think he could with spring training honestly but it’s way too late now to find out. 

[G-Snarls]

Just want to say thank you to Cleveland and Oakland for dropping Ernie Clement and therefore letting up grab him.  I guess at various points almost anyone could have had him...  Just glad we do. :)

--------------------

June 22, 2017: Drafted in the 4th round of the MLB June Amateur Draft by Cleveland out of the University of Virginia.

November 20, 2020: Added to the Cleveland 40-man roster.

June 13, 2021: Called up by Cleveland to the major league roster, making his MLB debut.

September 21, 2022: Designated for assignment (DFA) by Cleveland.

September 23, 2022: Claimed off waivers by the Oakland Athletics from Cleveland.

December 13, 2022: Designated for assignment (DFA) by Oakland.

December 16, 2022: Outrighted to the Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators by Oakland.

March 12, 2023: Released by the Oakland Athletics.

March 14, 2023: Signed a minor league contract with an invite to spring training with the Toronto Blue Jays.

May 23, 2023: Contract selected by the Toronto Blue Jays.

February 2025: Signed a one-year, $1.97 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays.

January 8, 2026: Avoided salary arbitration by signing a one-year, $4.6 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays.

 

[Brownie19]

Ernie is one of the easiest Blue Jays to cheer for.  If only that ball dropped last October - he'd have been a cult hero forever.

[43211234]

3 hours ago, Brownie19 said:

Ernie is one of the easiest Blue Jays to cheer for.  If only that ball dropped last October - he'd have been a cult hero forever.

I think I'll forever be haunted by that game 7.

 

 

 

But that's the all-time single season postseason hits record holder. He couldn't have done much more last October. 

[Buster]

20 hours ago, G-Snarls said:

Just want to say thank you to Cleveland and Oakland for dropping Ernie Clement and therefore letting up grab him.  I guess at various points almost anyone could have had him...  Just glad we do. :)

--------------------

June 22, 2017: Drafted in the 4th round of the MLB June Amateur Draft by Cleveland out of the University of Virginia.

November 20, 2020: Added to the Cleveland 40-man roster.

June 13, 2021: Called up by Cleveland to the major league roster, making his MLB debut.

September 21, 2022: Designated for assignment (DFA) by Cleveland.

September 23, 2022: Claimed off waivers by the Oakland Athletics from Cleveland.

December 13, 2022: Designated for assignment (DFA) by Oakland.

December 16, 2022: Outrighted to the Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators by Oakland.

March 12, 2023: Released by the Oakland Athletics.

March 14, 2023: Signed a minor league contract with an invite to spring training with the Toronto Blue Jays.

May 23, 2023: Contract selected by the Toronto Blue Jays.

February 2025: Signed a one-year, $1.97 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays.

January 8, 2026: Avoided salary arbitration by signing a one-year, $4.6 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays.

 

It's basically the Bautista story repeated.

[max silver]

16 hours ago, Brownie19 said:

Ernie is one of the easiest Blue Jays to cheer for.  If only that ball dropped last October - he'd have been a cult hero forever.

Ernie had a post season for the ages. It's a damn shame that ball didn't carry a little bit more off of the bat. He's off to a damn good start with the bat this season as well as appearing to be coming out of the defensive slump. He made a few tremendous plays in the latest victory and hopefully he's gotten the miscues out of his system.

[Ryu In My House]

7 hours ago, Buster said:

It's basically the Bautista story repeated.

I think it's more like Edwin's story. I will have to take a look at both players' histories to assess ;)

[BTS]

Jeff Hoffman and the Worst BABIP of All Time | FanGraphs Baseball

[BTS]

So how much leash does Gimenez actually have as an everyday player? The team can't pencil him in as their starting SS next year if he keeps hitting like he has the last 2.5 years, and its hard to see that changing at this point. 

[Terminator]

28 minutes ago, BTS said:

Jeff Hoffman and the Worst BABIP of All Time | FanGraphs Baseball

Good article from our friend Davy Andrews. He basically points to bad luck and a small sample size. 

[Terminator]

24 minutes ago, BTS said:

So how much leash does Gimenez actually have as an everyday player? The team can't pencil him in as their starting SS next year if he keeps hitting like he has the last 2.5 years, and its hard to see that changing at this point. 

The sad part is that he underperformed his xwOBA by about 40 points last year.

But this year he is somehow overperforming against it, meaning he's actually been worse than what his baseline stats show.

He was really bad in May. Hopefully that was just a slump and because we are still relatively early in the season it's dragging his overall numbers down. 

But the Jays had been platooning him until last night. We may see more of that moving forward.

[Brownie19]

C'mon guys - we can't keep blaming Hoffman's results on "bad luck" lol

[Terminator]

Just now, Brownie19 said:

C'mon guys - we can't keep blaming Hoffman's results on "bad luck" lol

☝️Didn't read the article lol

[Terminator]

 

[Laika]

Could put Corbin on the Gentleman's IL. 

I have no problem with optioning Macko and cutting Seabold. 

I'd prefer to keep SWR for now 

[Laika]

1 hour ago, BTS said:

Jeff Hoffman and the Worst BABIP of All Time | FanGraphs Baseball

I think the hard lesson that the 2026 Blue Jays are learning is that you can never count on defense when guys are on the other side of the aging curve. Varsho is almost 30, Lukes is almost 32, Clement is 30, straw is almost 32. They may not have modeled enough defensive decline in for these guys when they decided to ignore defense and bring in Sanchez + take a defensive risk on Okamoto. 

1 hour ago, BTS said:

So how much leash does Gimenez actually have as an everyday player? The team can't pencil him in as their starting SS next year if he keeps hitting like he has the last 2.5 years, and its hard to see that changing at this point. 

It's tough because of the above. He's a horrendous hitter and there are no signs of improvement but the team has put themself in a position where they need his glove in there every day. 

[BTS]

47 minutes ago, Terminator said:

 

Probably best not to lose anyone from the roster permanently for Scherzer. Feels like he’s going to come back, get nuked, then never be heard from again 

[Brownie19]

1 hour ago, Terminator said:

☝️Didn't read the article lol

Of course I didn't - who TF has time to read that block of text?  

But I just did, because you called me out.  I think it's confirming he's been incredibly unlucky, combined with a decline in our team defense.

 

I was just making a joke about how we should stop blaming bad luck.  We had a lengthy chat about how unlucky Hoffman has been a week ago (we don't done need a Fangraph's article - it's pretty obvious) and someone made a sarcastic comment about blaming it on bad luck...lol, lol, lol.