Laika
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Everything posted by Laika
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Disgruntlement could have caused him to just suck in 2025, or ruin the vibes. Lots of reasons to want a star player to be happy for one year even if you probably aren't retaining them. -
I think the Jays OBVIOUSLY would have preferred to switch Bo and Gimenez from day 1 and the only reason they did not was that they didn't want to disgruntle their star. Which is fine logic, honestly. Positional adjustment theory would tell you that moving a player from one spot to another is assumed neutral for overall value. So swapping Bo and Gimenez would not change their individual production or the team's WAR. But it's so complicated and the assumptions fail at some point, otherwise it would not matter where anybody plays, at all.
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But it was the right move. The Jays got solid production from the SS position throughout Bo Bichette's tenure. SS is the hardest position to fill so sliding Bo to 2B at 24 just to force yourself to backfill SS is just playing the game on hard mode because you like to suffer. The Jays probably played it correctly. He was never a good shortstop but he wasn't so bad that he was costing them games or completely tanking the team. He was good enough there to be an offense-first SS and worth a bunch of WAR. 2023 is a good example. 3.9 WAR from Bo at SS, and Matt Chapman at 3B, and then 2.6 WAR pieces together at 2B mostly from what Whit and Schneider did. You can't just plug a SS hole with guys like Whit Merrifield and Davis Schneider and expect 2.6 WAR out of it. But you can do it for second base! And they did! And Bo had a +4 DRS and -3 OAA that year. Dude was fine.
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Yes the MiLB SP depth is no good. Bloss returning from surgery, Francis done, Tiedemann basically doesn't exist, Macko and most others don't actually look like SP candidates or guys who could eat any innings. So you have... Lazaro Estrada? And then some guys who have barely sniffed AA like Grant Rogers, Fernando Perez, and Stanifer.
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They would just run a 6 man rotation for a bit and have the awkward but necessary conversations with two of Max, Berrios, Lauer about pitching in the pen. Realistically there is almost no chance this entire group is healthy and above replacement level at the same time: Cease - probably the only one with an A health grade and is about as low risk as a starter can be, unless you think five straight clean seasons is a downside because of accumulated wear and tear Gausman - 35 years old, huge workload recently + recent velocity decline scares Yesavage - weird mechanics, rookie, will have his workload monitored Bieber - massive injury risk, turning 31 Ponce - turning 32, big error bars on his projections/performance, also had a MASSIVE workload bump in 2025 Berrios - turning 32 this year, big performance and injury risk Scherzer - 41 years old, chronic injuries in recent years Lauer - turning 31 and has a 92 Stuff+. If we are being honest he's a swingman anyway.
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Normally the elbows start to give out These things solve themselves
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This makes no sense. Bo was a 4 win player almost every year - he did well and Toronto did well.
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Waste of what? lol
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Can't imagine this front office putting him in the outfield unless it's an emergency. Like, multiple injuries to starters and Springer needs a day off out there. Buffalo Bound. If he somehow makes the team I would guess George is in the OF more than him.
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"Ernie Clement triples (1) on a line drive to second baseman Hao-Yu Lee." Interesting event!
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Not exactly the stuff ratings we were hoping for from Ponce, but as we know these models can be all over the place. And they always have a tough time with changeups. Still, nice to see the fastball grade out as above average.
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They gotta make them a bit faster Evidently it gets boring when the players continue to have successful challenges because they don't burn a chance and it happens over and over
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Sort of interesting A ball stats One of the only Toronto guys at that level to combine power with plate skills https://prospectsavant.com/leaders
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Goes on to say that the team/coached said "hey let's do that playoff approach in the season" and it is what he is working on this spring. Vladdy 50 HR season incoming
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This model is much more muted. I am not familiar with it.
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Alek Manoah thinks he was a "very big piece of that process" of the Jays getting to the World Series What drug is he on?
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Guys. It's happening. It's going to happen. He learnded.
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Angelo Bastardo Jr. has two legit plus pitches. You'd probably prefer the secondary plus pitch to be the slider to wipeout all righties though. Hmmm.
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Chay Yeager probably getting TJS Not a top 30 guy or viable 2026 depth but he was an actual middle relief prospect with a 2027 timeline. Too bad.
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Keegan Matheson @KeeganMatheson Health news: Ricky Tiedemann felt some left elbow soreness after his last side session. He underwent an MRI and it was clean, but he’ll back off for a week. #BlueJays Just take this guy out behind the Dunedin wood shed and shoot him already.
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But where are the goal posts? What are you asking them to repeat? No reasonable person is going to expect them to be the best team offensively in the postseason again, and set records and have the best single hitter in the playoffs. But over 162 last year the team was 2nd in fWAR and 4th or 5th in total offense (wRC+) but the total offense group was pretty tight and teams #2 to #9 were all between 107 and 113 so more or less equal. And they project for the 4th highest position player fWAR, right now, basically in a dead heat with BAL and NYY for #1 in the AL. This completely ignores any player specific stuff. All of that gets washed out in the projection systems which only give Springer like 2.4 fWAR and only two stars who are higher than 2.8 fWAR in Kirk and Vlad. I guess I am just confused about what the concern is, lol. Yes, baseball is random and players get hurt or suck out of nowhere all the time. That could happen. The sky could fall on the Blue Jays. Chicken little! It's possible. Be scared of the sky if you want. But he team is deep and projects well. What more do you f***ing want lmao.
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The funny thing about ABS is how ABS skill will not line up perfectly with the stats fans can easily understand. Most fans will just want to know challenge success rate. But this is NOT the whole story! Count and game leverage is so important in how and when you challenge. A player could be right 70% of the time but not making the right decisions on when to challenge, and be worse than someone who is right only 45% of the time but makes all the perfectly timed challenges. Hopefully we get some kind of leverage index weighted leaderboard for ABS challenging and not just the raw percentages.
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Kendry Rojas popped yesterday with 5 Ks and good stuff ratings on all his pitches. Sigh.
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Yariel might be cooked Saw some very low 90s fbs on gameday
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Blue Jays Discussion Thread (2026)
Laika replied to Ryu In My House's topic in Toronto Blue Jays Talk
One year $5M and a gentleman's agreement to spend most of the year on the IL. Pick up a few strings of starts as required. Convert to relief in September if all the SP are healthy/good. Basically a mascot and depth option. tbh I think he's cooked in terms of talent. replacement level arm now
