Laika

Turns out having a bare cupboard is fine if you know where the grocery store is

It's really sad when you think about it. Year 5 of the Vlad/Bo era (or year 6 of the Danny Jansen era...) and there has been no second wave. More like a dripping tap. Kirk - came one year after Vlad/Bo but is now closer to a bench player than a star Pearson - useless Manoah - closer to a AAA SP than a major leaguer Schneider - they still have time to screw him up Clement - they still have time to screw him up There is almost nothing here. Most of the young players they have tried to break in since 2020 have just flopped completely. Some arms like White, Francis, Pop. Some bats like Josh Palacios. Some have flopped here and then done well elsewhere. Merryweather, Otto Lopez. Trent Thornton. Some of the other youngsters that may have broken in have been traded away. Moreno, mainly. Waves of suck. The org can't scout or develop prospects. The only saving grace is that the payroll commitments all expire in short order. The only things they are good at are having money to spend and not spending it horribly at the MLB level. And I guess some level of MLB development when it comes to pitchers like Ray, Kikuchi, Matz, Stripling.

oh my god

okay buds now go look at his k rate, era, fip, xfip, xera, siera. dude is clearly struggling so far and looks nothing like the dominant closer we have seen. his stuff+ fell a bit after 2021 and we might be seeing another step of decline fastball stuff+ 2024 - 126 2023 - 137 2022 - 134 2021 - 144 Hopefully it is just injury cobwebs and he shakes it off. So that we can trade him. Because this season is f***ing over.

Would be easy to do just compare talent to the known aging curves for WAR

Go back 12 years and you basically have that because you'd have it all covered. First 6 years of team control + 6 years of minor league development so that even the slowest of prospects is caught in the sample. Only thing missing would be the development of players acquired through trade or free agent signing. The Jays f***ing suck. Reese Autkins needs to take a hike.

Pop got out of it Now we see if they can somehow shut down the best offense in baseball with this s***** pen, for four more innings lol

Barger hit a 432 foot homer in AAA last night Not sure if you guys toggled the cutoff low enough to see but the one promising thing from his MLB sample was his swing speed. His bat speed and fast swing rate were right there with Vlad and better than Varsho's. Same swing length as Vlad too so he's not winding up like crazy or anything.

jesus christ john schneider why kikuchi is good and the bullpen sucks

wtf is the argument there? he has to run to third and get thrown out for the interference to count?

Yeah was sitting 94 and the hitters were getting a good read on most pitches Bradish right now is a bit like Gausman this year. The injury has messed with his velo in tiny ways.

It's incredibly simple too Just let the pitcher or catcher or batter ask for the review within three seconds of the call. Make it automatic and on the scoreboard. No need for headphones, or New York, or the umps to even move. And they can limit it to like 3 challenges per team per game, if they want to keep the scope limited.

Might stop watching baseball until they have strike zone challenges in MLB joke of a sport at the moment

Vogelbach has been incredibly unlucky this year is every single way

Burnes or Cease or Gallen (a bit old already) Logan Webb on track sort of Logan Gilbert or George Kirby Some candidates but the injury risk is just so high with pitchers these days. The first three need to basically never get hurt again and stay elite for another 7 years. Funny thing is NOBODY thought Sale would hold up and supply these innings. Some 25 year old from right now will end up with his numbers. I think George Kirby could be the best SP in baseball so he's my bet

Trade?

Cole But yeah

He did this to himself bro Basically replacement level through 1/4 of the season I don't care about the up and down or the what have you done for me lately as much as I care about the holistic production which has gone too far south. 2024 blue jays = infinite sadness

the girth matters yeah

okay buddy

no lol

so you're calling me an idiot eh

Hey, maybe he will have a positive influence on some guys like Schneider and Clement! who knows

The JT signing probably had more to do with who was willing to sign here than much else. Who knows. Maybe guys like Pederson and JDM were being f***y and non-committal. He's just a guy who can square up the ball and pull flyballs often enough to be decent.

The 2015 and 2016 Jays, almost the entire team liked to pull the ball and hit flyballs 2015 Jays, pull% rank = #2 flyball% rank = #7 2016, pull% = rank #4 flyball% rank = #5 2023 Jays pull% = rank 25 2024 = 28 2023 Jays flyball% = rank 16 2024 = rank 19 2021 Jays were top 7 in both categories. This team just has no f***ing identity. I guess they have tried to pursue short swing / contact hitters to the extent that that is basically the team identity right now? So it's a contact and defense oriented team, with negative baserunning because there are multiple fat f***s in the middle of the lineup? lmao and then a couple of divergent tank yankers sprinkled in there like Varsho and Jansen (thank god for them).