Red Sox (Tolle) vs Blue Jays (Yesavage): 4/28/26, 7:07pm

[Brock Beauchamp]

Trey is back! What does this mean for the Jays' rotation in the short-term?

	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TOT
Tyler Rogers	0	0	14	11	0	25
Tommy Nance	0	13	0	0	16	29
Spencer Miles	0	28	0	0	0	28
Mason Fluharty	0	13	8	0	0	21
Louis Varland	0	0	30	20	0	50
Joe Mantiply	0	19	0	0	12	31
Jeff Hoffman	0	0	0	24	0	24
Chase Lee	0	0	0	0	21	21
Braydon Fisher	0	14	0	19	0	33

[Terminator]

Hopefully Springer plays tonight

[Brownie19]

Good thing the pen is rested.  Expect a couple of innings from Miles.  Maybe the offense could pick it up tonight?  Earth to Popkins. 

I find it hilarious that Donny Baseball is now the Manager of the Phillies.  He was widely viewed as one of the primary reasons we couldn't hit in 2023 and 2024 and many believed it's because he was promoting a blanket "use the whole field" approach.  Popkins rode in on his white horse last year and told everyone to swing harder and take more "A swings".  He became an instant god in the minds of fans.

Fast forward 12 months and Popkins has us slap hitting our way to the 4th worst offense in baseball (10th highest average, 25th ISO).

My oh my how things can change in a hurry...

[mphenhef]

To be fair, outside of Schwarber, Harper and Marsh, every bat on the Phils has struggled this year.  I can't speak for Marsh, but I guarantee Harper and Schwarber wouldn't listen to Donny's ideas on hitting. 

[Olerud363.354]

51 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

Fast forward 12 months and Popkins has us slap hitting our way to the 4th worst offense in baseball (10th highest average, 25th ISO).

My oh my how things can change in a hurry...

League adjusting to their approach?   I always joked about Mattingly's approach not really working for most, except maybe Bo.  Hey you just need Mattingly's hitting tips and 99.99999th percentile hand eye coordination.

Popkins was a minor league journeyman  so one could guess might relate a bit more to the Davis Schneiders, Nathan Lukes and Brandon Venezuala's of the world and the struggles they could face..  Sadly this year getting nothing extra (or really nothing at all so far) out of those guys. 

[RA Whiffleball]

To be fair, we are without quite a few regulars. I mean who foresaw a Murderer's Row of Eloi Jimenez, Lenyn Sosa, Johendrik Pinango, and Brandon Valenzuela? 

[Brownie19]

16 minutes ago, mphenhef said:

To be fair, outside of Schwarber, Harper and Marsh, every bat on the Phils has struggled this year.  I can't speak for Marsh, but I guarantee Harper and Schwarber wouldn't listen to Donny's ideas on hitting. 

I don't know.  People seem to think he changed Springer...

[Eat My Shatkins]

1 hour ago, Brownie19 said:

Good thing the pen is rested.  Expect a couple of innings from Miles.  Maybe the offense could pick it up tonight?  Earth to Popkins. 

I find it hilarious that Donny Baseball is now the Manager of the Phillies.  He was widely viewed as one of the primary reasons we couldn't hit in 2023 and 2024 and many believed it's because he was promoting a blanket "use the whole field" approach.  Popkins rode in on his white horse last year and told everyone to swing harder and take more "A swings".  He became an instant god in the minds of fans.

Fast forward 12 months and Popkins has us slap hitting our way to the 4th worst offense in baseball (10th highest average, 25th ISO).

My oh my how things can change in a hurry...

Well if we're fast forwarding 12 months, let's rewind 12 months...

April 28th, 2025 Jays ranked in MLB:

ISO .104 (29th)

wRC+ 86 (23rd)

HR's 15 (29th)

SLG% .343 (27th)

They need to get Kirk, Barger and Springer back and get that summer heat going. 

 

I just hope injuries don't drag us down all season.

[Olerud363.354]

3 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

I don't know.  People seem to think he changed Springer...

Something changed.  Springer changed himself?  Springer randomly found a new batting stance?

Springer found a better amphetamine ??  (not implying illegal, some legal red bull like thing, taken at the right time, right amount of sleep, could help). 

Springer was injured in 2023 and 2024 and still injured in 2025 but not as much?

It's all just random?  I mention this a couple of times a year, but my all time favorite baseball article was a Bill James article where he simulated thousands of seasons from players just to see what the best and worst they would do was.  For Wade Boggs it was any where from .250 to .400.  He actually somehow had a .250 season in his mid 30s but rebounded to .340. 

Anyway either it is random, or there is a reason.  

[Eat My Shatkins]

FYI, from April 29th to the end of the WS the Jays ranked 1st in batting average, 2nd in slugging, 9th in home runs, 1st wRC+

We're not buried yet. Popkins will rise again.

I think we were all hoping they'd hit like that all season, unlike last year, but injuries haven't helped.

[Terminator]

Lol at it being Popkins' fault that a lineup featuring Lenyn Sosa, Eloy Jimenez and Brandon Valenzuela isn't scoring enough runs

He's a good MLB coach not a miracle worker

[Jays24]

32 minutes ago, Terminator said:

Lol at it being Popkins' fault that a lineup featuring Lenyn Sosa, Eloy Jimenez and Brandon Valenzuela isn't scoring enough runs

He's a good MLB coach not a miracle worker

So youre saying its Atkins fault lol

[Jays24]

And damn... "the regulars" are dooming and glooming already eh.  

[Brownie19]

34 minutes ago, Terminator said:

Lol at it being Popkins' fault that a lineup featuring Lenyn Sosa, Eloy Jimenez and Brandon Valenzuela isn't scoring enough runs

He's a good MLB coach not a miracle worker

Why do people keep lumping Sosa in here?  He was a league average bat with pop last year and is only 26.  

[max silver]

7 minutes ago, Jays24 said:

So youre saying its Atkins fault lol

Yeah obviously Atkins took a crowbar to Springer's big toe, hit Kirk in the thumb with a 9 iron and dug a trench in the field that Barger fell into.

[max silver]

6 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

Why do people keep lumping Sosa in here?  He was a league average bat with pop last year and is only 26.  

Maybe because he's playing basically every day and has produced a 28 wRC+ in his time with the Blue Jays has something to do with it. I don't have a huge issue with the club giving him a look but he's accomplished little to nothing with the bat so far on a team that's struggling tremendously to score runs.

[jaysblue]

1 hour ago, Eat My Shatkins said:

FYI, from April 29th to the end of the WS the Jays ranked 1st in batting average, 2nd in slugging, 9th in home runs, 1st wRC+

We're not buried yet. Popkins will rise again.

I think we were all hoping they'd hit like that all season, unlike last year, but injuries haven't helped.

Nobody’s saying the Jays are buried, but pointing to a hot stretch from last season doesn’t mean this year’s issues just disappear. Injuries have played a role, sure, but other teams deal with injuries too. At some point, the hitters still need to step up and produce more consistently instead of living off what they did over one stretch last year.

Even before they went on the IL, guys like Barger, Kirk and Springer weren't really tearing the cover off the ball.  Granted, small sample size, but still. 

We can't just expect everything to exactly happen as last season. 

[jaysblue]

7 minutes ago, max silver said:

Maybe because he's playing basically every day and has produced a 28 wRC+ in his time with the Blue Jays has something to do with it. I don't have a huge issue with the club giving him a look but he's accomplished little to nothing with the bat so far on a team that's struggling tremendously to score runs.

Yeah was hoping we could catch a bit of lightning in a bottle with Sosa's bat, but so far he's been awful. Don't blame Atkins for trying on him at this stage of the season, given all the injuries we've had. 

[jaysblue]

Looking forward to this pitching matchup. Hopefully Yesavage is 100% to battle tonight! 

[JaysAllMighty]

Lets Go Blue Jays