Spring training GDT

[sliderguy35]

berrios showing up to spring training making no significant changes after having the worst peripheral #s of his career

[Wake n bake]

Berrios looking like berrios 

[Spanky__99]

Okamoto got into that *****, right?

[Spanky__99]

 

[Alejandro Murphy]

I don’t trust Berrios at all even when he was healthy 

I would rather have our ever reliable Lauer than him in the starting rotation.

Maybe Ross inevitably had to sell low and buy high packing Berrios with a prospect or two for another impact bat 

[John_Havok]

Just now, Spanky__99 said:

 

103.4 EV

26 Degree LA

431 feet. 

 Wind blowing out a bit today? Still, that was a nice nuke. 

[Spanky__99]

2 minutes ago, John_Havok said:

103.4 EV

26 Degree LA

431 feet. 

 Wind blowing out a bit today? Still, that was a nice nuke. 

Crushed bro.

[Spanky__99]

Okamoto and Vlad are legit bro's, lol.

Great character guy not shy of the limelight.

[Alejandro Murphy]

Fluharty in mid FLOW season form

loved

loved

loved

[philly30]

I amhaving trouble getting into pre season baseball after 2 feet of snow

[Stangstag]

3 hours ago, Jays24 said:

Gimenez as the leadoff hitter today

Its to get extra at bats… damn its like none of yall have witnessed spring training before 

[Jays24]

21 minutes ago, Stangstag said:

Its to get extra at bats… damn its like none of yall have witnessed spring training before 

Loll I know...  Schneider said theyre structuring their lineup to get extra ABs for guys who are leaving for the World Baseball Classic in particular.  

Being serious, our 2 hole/cleanup hitter is looking weak.  Need to find a way to upgrade one of those spots massively somehow.  

[Spanky__99]

2 minutes ago, Jays24 said:

Loll I know...  Schneider said theyre structuring their lineup to get extra ABs for guys who are leaving for the World Baseball Classic in particular.  

Being serious, our 2 hole/cleanup hitter is looking weak.  Need to find a way to upgrade one of those spots massively somehow.  

Okamoto?

 

[Brownie19]

1 hour ago, Jays24 said:

Loll I know...  Schneider said theyre structuring their lineup to get extra ABs for guys who are leaving for the World Baseball Classic in particular.  

Being serious, our 2 hole/cleanup hitter is looking weak.  Need to find a way to upgrade one of those spots massively somehow.  

[Eat My Shatkins]

2 hours ago, Jays24 said:

Loll I know...  Schneider said theyre structuring their lineup to get extra ABs for guys who are leaving for the World Baseball Classic in particular.  

Being serious, our 2 hole/cleanup hitter is looking weak.  Need to find a way to upgrade one of those spots massively somehow.  

Pretty much the exact same s*** you were spewing last year. 

 

Always in full panic mode over all the "massive" holes in the line up.

[Stangstag]

57 minutes ago, Eat My Shatkins said:

Pretty much the exact same s*** you were spewing last year. 

 

Always in full panic mode over all the "massive" holes in the line up.

Superteam LA Dodgers are reportedly planning to bat Mookie Betts and his 104 wRC+ in the 3 spot.

I guess they also have a massive hole

[Jays24]

1 hour ago, Eat My Shatkins said:

Pretty much the exact same s*** you were spewing last year. 

 

Always in full panic mode over all the "massive" holes in the line up.

99% of the MLB world weren't expecting the season we had last year except the Jays management/players + Terminator on this board lol.  Im obviously happy with how the season played out overall but me mentioning the Jays might be light on top end offensive talent compared to our competition shouldn't be a hot take. 

Losing Bo + Santandar is obviously going to create a massive hole in the lineup.  Hopefully we see unexpected breakouts again in 2025 and/or Shatkins pull off something near the deadline.  

[Stangstag]

26 minutes ago, Jays24 said:

99% of the MLB world weren't expecting the season we had last year except the Jays management/players + Terminator on this board lol.  Im obviously happy with how the season played out overall but me mentioning the Jays might be light on top end offensive talent compared to our competition shouldn't be a hot take. 

Losing Bo + Santandar is obviously going to create a massive hole in the lineup.  Hopefully we see unexpected breakouts again in 2025 and/or Shatkins pull off something near the deadline.  

Hopefully you shut up

[max silver]

8 hours ago, Jays24 said:

Gimenez as the leadoff hitter today

It's spring training FFS.

[BTS]

1 hour ago, Jays24 said:

99% of the MLB world weren't expecting the season we had last year except the Jays management/players + Terminator on this board lol.  Im obviously happy with how the season played out overall but me mentioning the Jays might be light on top end offensive talent compared to our competition shouldn't be a hot take. 

Losing Bo + Santandar is obviously going to create a massive hole in the lineup.  Hopefully we see unexpected breakouts again in 2025 and/or Shatkins pull off something near the deadline.  

Bo is projected for a 121 wRC+ and Okamoto is projected for 116. 

Santander is projected for a 108 wRC+ and Sanchez is projected for 105. But Sanchez is also projected to be a better player overall than Santander. 

OBVIOUS MASSIVE HOLES

[max silver]

1 hour ago, Jays24 said:

99% of the MLB world weren't expecting the season we had last year except the Jays management/players + Terminator on this board lol.  Im obviously happy with how the season played out overall but me mentioning the Jays might be light on top end offensive talent compared to our competition shouldn't be a hot take. 

Losing Bo + Santandar is obviously going to create a massive hole in the lineup.  Hopefully we see unexpected breakouts again in 2025 and/or Shatkins pull off something near the deadline.  

I don't get why certain members of the fanbase are so slow to recognize that Bo didn't leave without a high end replacement being added to the roster. Okamoto is bound to face a bit of an adjustment period to MLB pitching but this is a high end talent who is firmly in his prime. The Blue Jays were MLB's highest scoring offense over the final 5 months of the regular season and this transferred through the playoffs. This was despite receiving very little from Santander, Varsho missing half the season, Gimenez producing very little with the bat and the team never at any point enjoying a full strength lineup due to injury. In essence the only real change is Bo being replaced by Okamoto, and Okamoto is projected to provide 90-100% of Bo's offensive output by wRC+. The team is still stacked with talent and I fully expect it to score plenty of runs yet again.

[Stangstag]

1 hour ago, BTS said:

Bo is projected for a 121 wRC+ and Okamoto is projected for 116. 

Santander is projected for a 108 wRC+ and Sanchez is projected for 105. But Sanchez is also projected to be a better player overall than Santander. 

OBVIOUS MASSIVE HOLES

Sanchez projecting better than Santander is wild IMO, too much weight on Taters’ poor injured season last year.

[Brownie19]

1 hour ago, BTS said:

Bo is projected for a 121 wRC+ and Okamoto is projected for 116. 

Santander is projected for a 108 wRC+ and Sanchez is projected for 105. But Sanchez is also projected to be a better player overall than Santander. 

OBVIOUS MASSIVE HOLES

It's like he blacked out for the offseason...

[Jays24]

2 hours ago, BTS said:

Bo is projected for a 121 wRC+ and Okamoto is projected for 116. 

Santander is projected for a 108 wRC+ and Sanchez is projected for 105. But Sanchez is also projected to be a better player overall than Santander. 

OBVIOUS MASSIVE HOLES

Those are ridiculous projections to say Bo/Santandar were/are only slightly better than Okamoto/Sanchez. 

Anyways, we still have a deep lineup with good depth... just lack top end talent.  Its nitpicking because we're stacked in almost every other facet.  Just feel if this season goes astray, it will be because of our offense imo.  

[max silver]

47 minutes ago, Jays24 said:

Those are ridiculous projections to say Bo/Santandar were/are only slightly better than Okamoto/Sanchez. 

Anyways, we still have a deep lineup with good depth... just lack top end talent.  Its nitpicking because we're stacked in almost every other facet.  Just feel if this season goes astray, it will be because of our offense imo.  

This lineup is essentially the same as last season minus whatever the difference between Okamoto and Bo ends up being. Every publicly available projection system believes that Okamoto is going to be nearly as effective at the plate as Bo, and there is nothing "ridiculous" about this, he's a very talented hitter who rarely strikes out and knows how to get to the barrel to park the ball in the seats with regularity. I think he's likely going to be a better third base defender and baserunner than Bo and as such I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that he is actually a more productive overall player once he has a chance to adjust to MLB pitching. The team gets to enjoy having Barger for the entire season vs a couple of struggling rookies and that could turn out to be a boost to the lineup. 

The Blue Jays aren't going to go from MLB's best offense to a sub par offensive unit due to the difference between these two players. I think the pitching staff looks like it will be dramatically improved to start the season compared to the prior year as well, and if this comes to fruition the team will easily continue to win a ton of ballgames even if the offense takes a bit of a step back as they won't need to score as many runs to outscore the opposition.

[jaysblue]

I think the real debate isn’t whether the Toronto Blue Jays offence is “bad” - it’s whether the core guys can realistically repeat what they did in 2025.

Start with George Springer. If he gives you something close to last season again - solid OBP, 20-25+ HR power, competitive at-bats at the top - that stabilizes the lineup. He doesn't have to be 2025 Springer. He just has to come close to being that. 

Then there’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr.. Even in years where the surface numbers don’t scream MVP, the quality-of-contact metrics remain strong. If he simply repeats 2025 and maybe gets slightly better HR variance like he showed in the Postseason, that’s legitimate middle-of-the-order impact.

The bigger concern is depth replacing what’s been lost. The lineup probably doesn’t have as much margin for underperformance anymore. But that doesn’t automatically make it weak. It just makes repeatability more important.

If:

Springer ≈ 2025 Springer

Vlad ≈ 2025 Vlad

Other guys repeating like Kirk and Clement with the sticks, and Okamoto being a main piece. 

The secondary pieces hover around league average and stay healthy.

That’s still a functional, competitive AL offence over 162 games. Not elite unless someone breaks out but not bottom-tier either. 

[mphenhef]

Something Buster Olney recently mentioned that I hadn't heard or read anywhere else is that Vlad started focusing more on the opposing pitchers in the playoffs and less on his own mechanics.  If that is a meaningful change (hard to say if it would be) it could unlock a better season overall for him too.

 

I have long said Kirk is a better batter when he gets more time.  Hopefully they continue to trust him at the work rate he had last year.

[BTS]

8 hours ago, Jays24 said:

Those are ridiculous projections to say Bo/Santandar were/are only slightly better than Okamoto/Sanchez. 

Anyways, we still have a deep lineup with good depth... just lack top end talent.  Its nitpicking because we're stacked in almost every other facet.  Just feel if this season goes astray, it will be because of our offense imo.  

Have you considered that maybe it’s you, and not all of the projection systems, who is wrong?

 

[Brownie19]

43 minutes ago, BTS said:

Have you considered that maybe it’s you, and not all of the projection systems, who is wrong?

 

[Stangstag]

3 hours ago, jaysblue said:

I think the real debate isn’t whether the Toronto Blue Jays offence is “bad” - it’s whether the core guys can realistically repeat what they did in 2025.

Start with George Springer. If he gives you something close to last season again - solid OBP, 20-25+ HR power, competitive at-bats at the top - that stabilizes the lineup. He doesn't have to be 2025 Springer. He just has to come close to being that. 

Then there’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr.. Even in years where the surface numbers don’t scream MVP, the quality-of-contact metrics remain strong. If he simply repeats 2025 and maybe gets slightly better HR variance like he showed in the Postseason, that’s legitimate middle-of-the-order impact.

The bigger concern is depth replacing what’s been lost. The lineup probably doesn’t have as much margin for underperformance anymore. But that doesn’t automatically make it weak. It just makes repeatability more important.

If:

Springer ≈ 2025 Springer

Vlad ≈ 2025 Vlad

Other guys repeating like Kirk and Clement with the sticks, and Okamoto being a main piece. 

The secondary pieces hover around league average and stay healthy.

That’s still a functional, competitive AL offence over 162 games. Not elite unless someone breaks out but not bottom-tier either. 

Yeah this is fair.

I don’t expect Springer to come near his 2025 performance. Hopefully he can just be the player he was with the bat from 2018-2022.

Okamoto is a bit of a wildcard, but should be able to sustain at least a league average offensive output.

The rest of the guys aren’t a longshot to repeat or be better than they were 2025.

I think the Santander loss hurts us more than others believe, but he didn’t do anything last year anyways so whatever.