Blue Jays (Corbin) vs Orioles (Bassitt): 5/28/26, 6:35pm

[Jays24]

1 hour ago, gruber9292 said:

I agree. I think you got to go 50/50 with the catchers, better for Kirk anyways. 

Kirk's legs and body have gotten 2 months of rest.  He will definitely be needed to play as much as possible for the remainder of the season.  

[Brownie19]

4 hours ago, gruber9292 said:

How can a MLB caliber defender not only boot a little league double play but drops an easy throw at third for an out?

Remember Elvis Andrus?  It happens - even to very good defenders.

Okamoto has been very solid defensively.  I don't have any concerns with his ability there.

[Stangstag]

3 hours ago, Laika said:

These are godawful plate appearances 

All season long it has been like this 

Fire shopkins

I really had to stop watching the games after that mess in NY vs Bednar. The Springer 3-0 count game. 

Just absolutely braindead play from guys who definitely know better.

[Stangstag]

Hoffman just racking up the wins these last couple weeks

[max silver]

44 minutes ago, Stangstag said:

Hoffman just racking up the wins these last couple weeks

Hoffman has been lights out spamming his slider continuously. It's kind of crazy the club waited this long to simply have him throw his best pitch more often. 

[max silver]

3 hours ago, Abomination said:

I don't think you want him only appearing twice a week at this stage in his career. 

Kirk maxed out at 965 innings last season. That works out to about 2 out of every 3 game and leaves about 3 games a week for Valenzuela. The team is dramatically better with a Kirk/Valenzuela tandem as they are both impact players on both sides of the ball when locked in at the plate. Heineman is basically like a bad hitting pitcher with the stick this season as he's an auto bunt every time a runner is on base ahead of him. I legitimately think there's a good chance he would pass through waivers if DFA'd.

[The_DH]

10 hours ago, Jays24 said:

Kirk's legs and body have gotten 2 months of rest.  He will definitely be needed to play as much as possible for the remainder of the season.  

His thumb will still feel a bit raw, I'd imagine.

[Brownie19]

1 hour ago, The_DH said:

His thumb will still feel a bit raw, I'd imagine.

100% - I highly doubt we'll see Kirk starting at catcher 5 days a week when he returns.  They will be cautious with him.

[Brownie19]

10 hours ago, max silver said:

Kirk maxed out at 965 innings last season. That works out to about 2 out of every 3 game and leaves about 3 games a week for Valenzuela. The team is dramatically better with a Kirk/Valenzuela tandem as they are both impact players on both sides of the ball when locked in at the plate. Heineman is basically like a bad hitting pitcher with the stick this season as he's an auto bunt every time a runner is on base ahead of him. I legitimately think there's a good chance he would pass through waivers if DFA'd.

Just to warn everyone - Valenzuela might look a lot different at the plate when he's only playing a couple of times a week.  It's something he's probably never done in his career and most player struggle initially to become bench players who can still perform with irregular playing time.

I think we should keep Valenzuela with the big club when Kirk returns - we should see how he handles that role and give him experience at it - but there's a good chance he struggles with the bat in that role.

What a great find he's been though.  Unreal.  Poor Will Wagner is a below average AAA player right now unfortunately.

[max silver]

3 hours ago, Brownie19 said:

Just to warn everyone - Valenzuela might look a lot different at the plate when he's only playing a couple of times a week.  It's something he's probably never done in his career and most player struggle initially to become bench players who can still perform with irregular playing time.

I think we should keep Valenzuela with the big club when Kirk returns - we should see how he handles that role and give him experience at it - but there's a good chance he struggles with the bat in that role.

What a great find he's been though.  Unreal.  Poor Will Wagner is a below average AAA player right now unfortunately.

Yeah we shall see how Valenzuela looks at the plate once Kirk returns. I tend to think that Kirk is going to be eased back into action a bit and as such Valenzuela will be receiving regular playing time for at least the first few weeks. Valenzuela is bound to hit a slump at some point as he's still human but the quality of his plate appearances are very impressive at this point to the point of walking more than he strikes out since he dropped the leg kick. I think the Trajekt machines are a bit of a cheat code to allow players to keep their swings largely intact in reduced playing time bench roles but not seeing real live pitching with as much regularity will certainly be a test for Valenzuela. 

[max silver]

15 hours ago, Brownie19 said:

Remember Elvis Andrus?  It happens - even to very good defenders.

Okamoto has been very solid defensively.  I don't have any concerns with his ability there.

The same kind of thing has been happening to Ernie Clement this season. I think his second base issues are largely due to a basic defensive slump which is something he's gone through in the past, albeit this time it's taken him a bit longer to get out of the slump compared to prior seasons. 

[max silver]

15 hours ago, Jays24 said:

Kirk's legs and body have gotten 2 months of rest.  He will definitely be needed to play as much as possible for the remainder of the season.  

Valenzuela has been so good that there may not be a need to push Kirk this hard. I'm waiting to see if the club will be willing to put Springer in the outfield a bit once the toe is healed up as that can open up DH time for Kirk.