Laika

Yeah but there are reasons for those expectations. #1 prospect, legendary MiLB hitter, already had a near MVP, 6 win season, the projections, the hard hit data, the HR derby performances. Konerko probably a good comp tbh. Peak Giambi was a stud.

The silver lining though is that if he's JUST more patient and nothing else changes, he will still be way better. The power of walks!

The Y Rod fastball is definitely more of a cutter That is good. If it is weird, it will help with the velo not being great.

He's definitely a bit lost at the plate. It looks like he is trying to: 1. swing less 2. put better swings on hittable pitches He is doing #1 so far which is I guess a good sign but definitely lost trying to get #2 working.

who cares

Altuve hit by the ball Altuve picked off at 3rd Meyers falling down The worst slider of Hader's career, a 423 foot bomb to take the lead in the 9th Yay

Man, the pitching was great. A bit of help from Altuve but really solid all around especially from Berrios though Berrios off to a great start

I jizzed my pants

Yariel Rodriguez could be our Ronel Blanco!

not throwing very hard if you believe the MiLB Gameday velocity. Like 91 to 94.5 but mostly 92.5

no hitter

Things that are scarce get paid Good MLB hitters are pretty scarce Good MLB defenders are also scarce, particularly those that can do anything with the stick Defense alone tends not to get paid in FA because it's not as scarce. You can find decent defensive catchers or glove only players in AAA, you can't really find guys who would be a great MLB DH just sitting in AAA. But that doesn't mean the defensive component of WAR is ********, because defenders who can hit at all are still relatively scarce and it remains possible to compare and measure defense. The free agent market is also not perfect or even efficient. Defense is also a) harder to measure and probably subject to more rapid decline than offensive skills. This makes teams more hesitant to pay for it long term, or even short term. But that doesn't mean it's less valuable, it just means it's a bit harder to bottle or it is more fleeting. Hitters are old by the time they reach FA, most past the top of their aging curve. Offense contains old man skills like patience and decision making which basically only get better with age. Defense has zero old man skills within it.

One good game Then one bad game against Clarke Schmidt or something Then no hit by Erick Fedde?

I'm not exactly shocked that "talking less" was a key to YOUR modest success in life.

great analysis we should tag Tom Tango

well yeah, Royce Lewis is on a different level of injury prone if we were giving them injury risk grades Lewis would be an F

It just all comes back to your core players. You can say what you want about the bottom of the lineup, or the IKF/KK signings, or Varsho not being a threat, but at the end of the day the offense is not scary when Bo and Vlad can be pitched to so easily most of the time when it matters.

At their peak, Bautista, EE, and Donaldson were elite, 150+ wRC+ hitters. Jays under Atkins and Shapiro have had exactly one such season from a hitter, 2021 Vlad of course. The feelings around the teams are almost entirely about that core. The rest of the playoff lineups were not as interesting. Tulo, Pillar, Goins, Smoak, Russell, Travis, Zeke, Barney, Saunders, Reyes, Revere... these guys were just along for the ride on offense.

Some guys definitely do just have weaker bones, it has to be the case. Or they stand closer to the plate or have SOMETHING physical going on that makes them break more bones. Jung has crossed the line. That many injuries is nuts.

Jays offense is off to a worst case scenario start. - Springer, hitting .167 - Vlad, looks confused all the time - Varsho, sucks - Biggio, 33% k rate and one lucky homer - Kirk, zero pop - KK, sucks - IKF, nothing bat and offers the least intimidating at bats imagineable. oh noooo he might hit a 85 mph soft liner oh noooo - Bichette, hurt, sucked in his limited chances - Clement and Schendier, not even starting - Votto, has now missed like 3 weeks with a rolled ankle? 78 wRC+ as a team And they have faced ZACH LITTELL, RONEL BLANCO, TYLER ALEXANDER, AARON CIVALE, and ZACH EFLIN NOT EXACTLY A LINE OF ACES

He might just be hopeless. Nothing more than a mistake hitter. I guess when the games matter and getting him out is important, he's still easy as hell to pick apart. Vlad also might be floundering. He is trying to make better swing decisions so he is swinging less, which is great, but he's somehow making LESS contact when he does swing which makes no sense. It's like he's deciding before the pitches are thrown to just take, take, take and then he will guess and swing.

The shape of Gurriel's time with Toronto was just really unfortunate. The wrist injury, then the complete loss of power heading into his last season of control... If you ignore his defense and baserunning, and also 2022 where the power disappeared, he really does look like such an excellent hitter. Consistent contact with pop. Jays fans probably underrate him a bit because of emotional baggage. Contract was still probably bad but interestingly the D-Backs got a much better year from him defensively than the Jays ever did.

New unofficial but official board rules: 1. polluting any thread with personal attacks = a ban, especially if they are barbed insults that relate to someone on a personal level (their income, race, etc.) 2. every time someone complains about Spanky, Spanky gets another get out of jail free card. and they stack. 3. rule #1 does not apply if you are making fun of connorp. he is fair game. Reminder that the mods are under no obligation to be perfect or even impartial.

Maximum character