Orioles (Baz) vs Blue Jays (Gausman): 6/7/26, 1:37pm

[Joltin Joe]

2 hours ago, max silver said:

"Turning into"? He's already shown himself to be an impact level defender with an elite combination of framing and throwing. I think the game calling and blocking need work but he can continue to hone his craft at the major league level.

How did we acquire Valenzuela?

[Masterbather]

I think there will be a lot less hemming and hawing about the Blue Jays bullpen usage once we start to get healthy guys back this week. 

The addition of even one starter frees up Spencer Miles to be a regular option and the addition of Nance gives us yet another option. Two more additions will make a big difference to lengthening this pen. I still hold my breath with the Garcia situation though.

What the heck happened with Ryan Burr by the way? He dead?

[Masterbather]

The upcoming schedule is deadly from a pitching standpoint, we really need our arms back healthy.

[Brownie19]

1 hour ago, max silver said:

I'm under no illusion that Valenzuela will be this locked in at the plate forever but the longer he sustains this current hot streak the more this starts to feel like a legitimate breakout vs simply being a hot streak. He completely flipped the switch since dropping the leg kick and it's like he's unlocked a new offensive ceiling. Sooner or later his timing will start to slip a bit and opposing pitchers will start to key on his weaknesses but the way Valenzuela has gone about producing doesn't feel like a fluke. He's producing tremendous plate appearances for anyone let alone a rookie as he's avoiding the chase unlike the rest of his teammates, hunting mistake pitches that he can hammer, fouling off a ton of pitches to stay alive and taking his walks when presented to him. 

Believe me - I love the adjustments he's made.  It's incredibly impressive what he's done to date and I hope it continues.  But there's just still such a good chance that he's just a defensive first backup catcher - which is what we thought we were getting when we acquired him.  Nobody thought he could hit.  If they did, he'd have cost a lot more than Will Wagner.

That said, it was felt that he had some upside with the bat.  How incredible would it be if we "hit" on that upside.  It appears this team needs a few of those types of things - like when we landed on EE or Joey Bats (not that I'm suggesting Valenzuela will give us that type of incredible value - those are just 2 obvious examples).  The eye test certainly suggests this is legit.  Fingers crossed.

[max silver]

3 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

Believe me - I love the adjustments he's made.  It's incredibly impressive what he's done to date and I hope it continues.  But there's just still such a good chance that he's just a defensive first backup catcher - which is what we thought we were getting when we acquired him.  Nobody thought he could hit.  If they did, he'd have cost a lot more than Will Wagner.

That said, it was felt that he had some upside with the bat.  How incredible would it be if we "hit" on that upside.  It appears this team needs a few of those types of things - like when we landed on EE or Joey Bats (not that I'm suggesting Valenzuela will give us that type of incredible value - those are just 2 obvious examples).  The eye test certainly suggests this is legit.  Fingers crossed.

I think if Valenzuela even ends up as something close to a league average bat that's a really positive occurrence especially when you consider what the front office gave up to receive him. He never did anything close to this in his minor league career and as such the projection systems aren't buying what he has to offer yet as they are still in the 80 wRC+ range. 

[spats]

1 hour ago, Joltin Joe said:

How did we acquire Valenzuela?

For Will Wagner. That package from Houston for Kicucci keeps on giving-Sanchez for Loperfido.

[Terminator]

Ross really traded a slap hitting nepo baby who can't field for a switch-hitting C with elite defense and power

Lmao

[hanton]

on Valenzuela ...

12th overall in Fielding Run Value (that's overall irrespective of position!)

framing: tied for 1st overall with Adley

pop time: 16th overall

throwing: 9th overall

all good so far.....

blocking: he's not good, so this needs to improve.  he takes too many balls off his shin pads probably because he receives with 1 knee down

given the above If he can hit  around .240 with or without the slug that should be good enough to keep him on the major league roster.

[jmomcc]

His at bats look great. Like he has a great eye for the zone and takes hacks at the right pitches. I think the scouting reports were light on the stick even if he isn’t this good which is highly probable. 

[Masterbather]

5 hours ago, Terminator said:

Ross really traded a slap hitting nepo baby who can't field for a switch-hitting C with elite defense and power

Lmao

He's done a very good job of winning these smaller types of margin trades.