Laika

Mostly the fact that he lost like 3 mph last year during the regular season, and he seems primed to do the same thing in 2026

I am seeing the Murakami = Schwarber tweets today It appears to be true. He's a 26 year old Kyle Schwarber. What a huge whiff by the MLB Front Office collective. Good job White Sox!

Jeff Hoffman first 4 appearances in 2026: 116 Stuff+ Jeff Hoffman since then: 95 Stuff+ It may have been somewhat obvious if you were watching his velocity and other stuff characteristics, but something is going on with him physically. We was sitting 97.7 and now he is down to 96.2. His slider is down 2 mph in a month. His splitter is actually up a bit, changing his FA-Split separation from 8 mph to 6 mph. This is the same trend we saw all through 2025. I think he's broken. The O's physical was right. He seems like a Jekyll and Hyde pitcher because he probably is one, depending on how much he hurts on any given day. His 2025, taken as a whole with no context, looks like a decent RP (3.73 xFIP is rank 68 out of 191 RP with 40+ IP) who got very unlucky on homers (20% HR/FB is extreme). But he is starting off 2026 with the same stuff going on; I mean he has a 1.65 xFIP right now in 2026 thanks to all the early season strikeouts. It's all still small sample size stuff we would presume to be bad luck, most of the time. 77.1 innings as a Toronto Blue Jay. The folly of a relief pitcher. Pitcher HR/FB rates don't stabilize in that period of time. You can throw out so many of the numbers people look at. I don't care about the ERA, or the blown saves. The BABIP is ridiculous. The LOB% last year was lucky. The HR/FB for his last 77 innings is not his true talent. None of this matters. So much of it is noise. BUT you can't ignore the velo trend and the declining Stuff+. His Stuff is gone from plus with Philadelphia to something that is way closer to average. Nobody should expect anything more than an average relief pitcher, going forward. That means middle relief... PitchingBot has his stuff as 193rd out of 250 so far Stuff+ says 120th out of 250 in 2026 There is a decent chance he is worse than Tommy Nance. He might not be a top 5 RP in the Jays current bullpen.

Sigh. Sanchez I guess.

Jeff Hoffman is destined to fail. He did something bad and God is no longer with him. The everlasting enigma is that he is both good and terrible. He is bad and talented and unlucky and unfit. If you don't pity the man, you are inhuman. Look at this photograph.

Hoffman had like, 14 meltdowns last year. Negative WPA. Then he blew the world series. And he will perhaps have the worst WPA for all RP after tonight. He might jump Romano. It has to be over

Why is Jeff Hoffman still on this team? Seriously

Of course Hoffman gives up two 88mph groundballs hits and now everyone will say he sucks Poor guy

You can't make this stuff up! Also, malpractice to continue to hit him leadoff and second in the lineup while knowing he was f***ed up. I understand keeping him on the active roster but cmon.

I dunno lol Bench

Trade this clubhouse cancer!!! My dude you were a swingman last year and in Korea the year before...

Varsho

Lauer is pitching for his job. Corbin very close to leapfrogging him (if he hasn't already).

Sneakiest 5 tool player in baseball. Sprint: 74th percentile, and BsR / SB to match Arm: well, he's playing shortstop Defense: plus at SS or double plus at 2B Hit: 90th percentile for avoiding Ks and squaring up the ball, in 2025 Power: NEW FOR 2026 - 54th percentile bat speed, somehow red in every EV stat. You can't fake MaxEV.

Bugs me how good Otto Lopez is. Exactly the kind of player Toronto likes, too!

More generally: Dunedin is #1 in the FSL in OPS. 13 team homers is five more than the second best team. Dunedin arms are #1 in the FSL in K/BB rate. This is skewed perhaps by three major leaguers (Yesavage, Berrios, Corbin) rehabbing there but Perry and Karson Ligon are names to watch. Troy Guthrie is there too, I think I saw him on a sleeper list. The Vancouver rotation with Daniel Guerra, Johnny King, Austin Cates, and Landen Maroudis is interesting for sure. The Fisher Cats lead the Eastern League in OPS. Keys, Bohrofen, are mashing. Mechiletti, Goodwin, and Hornung are doing very well. The Fisher Cats have the youngest pitching staff in the EL. Stanifer is the main prospect. Javen Coleman is older but apparently a legit LH relief prospect. Fernando Perez young. Buffalo sucks

The MLB offense can't flip a grilled cheese right now but I kind of like what the Jays are cooking in the minors so far in 2026. Daniel Guerra was nasty yesterday and seems to have a fastball with good characteristics https://www.milb.com/vancouver/video/daniel-guerra-s-11-strikeouts Last year his fastball sat 93,8 with an 18.8 IVB. Any kind of velo spike and the 6'6" righty will be very interesting. Nolan Perry (video above) has gained a tick from last year and is now 94+ with similar IVB to Guerra. See image. Stanifer had a good outing and has a decent K-BB and good K rate. Ignore the earned runs so far. Noise.

Perry is a dude if he can stay healthy. You can tell this fastball has plus traits. Looks like lots of jump and rise

Summary of the last two games: Brewers bunt or hit a series of 50 mph grounders, score runs Jays hit a series of 100+ mph groundballs, all for outs and no runs score Jays lose Rob Manfred revoked the 2025 AL Championship from Toronto. No reason given but none needed Vladimir Guerrero Jr. reveals that he has an undescended testicle

DFA Thomas Nance

Because Lukes and Straw can't hit, so if they want some offense then DS and LS need to both be in there

this is a horrendous sport and nobody should be a patron of this sport, whatsoever

This team is PAINFULLY IMPATIENT when Barger and Springer are out of the lineup. I hate adding a 2 pitch per PA guy like Sosa. Already have some aggressive hackers like Ernie and Varsho. Even Vlad is a swinger.

Did Tommy Nance f*** your boyfriend or something?