Laika

I forgot SP - Shun Yamaguchi piggy packing Tanner Roark RP - TJ Zoinks for four innings

Hoping to see this at some point: RF - Derek Fisher LF - Randal Grichuk 1B - Rowdy Tellez SS - Santiago Espinal C - Reese McGuire 2B - Kevin Smith CF - Jonathan Davis DH - Tyler White 3B - Breyvic Valera

And IIRC Scott Mitchell has been terrible in the past. More recently he has been fine / a normal reporter.

Okay, well that trade would be fantastic for the 2021 squad. Opinions on the trade will depend on what they give up though!

Meh. Pretty inconsequential tweet. Toronto is probably one of those teams that talks about everything realistic with every other team.

where

Team really needs some bankable SP depth now. You can't sign George Springer and then just hope your thin/mediocre rotation stays healthy AND bounces back. That's some Angels loserthink. Two pitchers, please. I'll even live if one of them is Taijuan Walker.

Same as you. Something must have changed - maybe they updated the roster with Yates and Toronto hopped above Houston.

I don't think statcast publishes arm strength for all fielders. Perhaps just outfielders/catchers, where it's easier to get consistent top end readings (infielders are almost always throwing off balance, on the run, etc.) It seems absurd to think that Didi and Biggio would be even close, though. https://www.mlb.com/video/statcast-gregorius-laser-throw-c1035872983 I do think this idea that Biggio has a noodle arm is stupid and I don't know where it comes from. It's possible that Gregorius' TJS took a bit of his arm strength, I guess? But that generally bounces back.

I would think that Seager is worth nothing on that contract if Brantley just signed for 2/$32M. Maybe Seager is worth less than nothing. To the purchaser that contract is 2/$33.5M but it can increase to 2/$38.5M based on performance incentives (no idea what they are but they can apparently increase that 2022 player option to $20M). Dipoto is going to want a prospect back to look good and make the trade worthwhile so I think the only way it works is if it's a C prospect for Seager and the Mariners kick in like $10M to buy the prospect and pay part of Seager's salary.

These aren't new jerseys and the pictures are from before last season.

They don't tend to write up the 11-30 prospects in any detail. They just list them. E.g., the 2020 list: STATE OF THE SYSTEM Entering the year, the Blue Jays had a tremendous system, buttressed at the top by RHP Nate Pearson, who was the second-highest ranked pitching prospect in the game, behind only Padres LHP MacKenzie Gore, talented but injured SS Jordan Groshans, precocious RHP Simeon Woods Richardson and intriguing C Alejandro Kirk. Then the draft dominoes started falling and Vanderbilt’s Austin Martin fell into their laps with the fifth overall pick. Toronto was happy to snap up Martin, whom Baseball America ranked as the draft’s No. 2 overall prospect, and add him to their collection of talent. The quartet of Pearson, Martin, Groshans and Woods Richardson gives the Jays four Top 100 Prospects. 1. Nate Pearson, RHP Pearson is a potential frontline starter, armed with some of the best pure stuff of any pitching prospect in the game. He's major league-ready right now and will be a key factor if the Blue Jays are able to sneak their way into a playoff spot during a shortened season. 2. Austin Martin, SS The Blue Jays picked fifth overall in the 2020 draft and got the No. 2 player available, with Martin stepping in as a top 25 prospect in baseball already. The Blue Jays plan to develop Martin at shortstop, but he has the versatility to move around the infield or head to center field as well. 3. Jordan Groshans, SS Groshans, who didn't play after May 13 last year due to an injured left foot, is in Toronto's 60-man player pool to get much needed development. He might end up moving to third base, but he has the combination of hitting ability and power to be an above-average regular at the position. 4. Simeon Woods Richardson, RHP Acquired in last year's trade for Marcus Stroman, Woods Richardson is still 19 but likely would have been at Double-A at this point during a normal season. He's a polished strike-thrower with a chance for average to above-average stuff across the board. 5. Alejandro Kirk, C Kirk is polarizing and unconventional, which is immediately apparent from his Pablo Sandoval-type body. Like Sandoval, Kirk has an innate ability to barrel baseballs consistently, along with a good sense of the strike zone. He has a chance to stick behind the plate if he can keep his conditioning and mobility in check. 6. Alek Manoah, RHP The Blue Jays have a collection of extra-large pitchers, including the 6-foot-6, 260-pound Manoah, their first-round pick in the 2019 draft out of West Virginia. He has a power arm, sitting at 93-96 and touching 98 mph, with a slider that flashes plus. 7. Orelvis Martinez, SS Toronto's big-ticket international signing in 2018, Martinez raked last year to become the No. 1 prospect in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League and put himself just on the periphery of Top 100 prospect conversations. Yet while other top 2018 international signings like Marco Luciano (Giants), Diego Cartaya (Dodgers) and Noelvi Marte (Mariners) are in their clubs' 60-man prospect pools, Martinez is not in Toronto's pool. 8. Gabriel Moreno, C Moreno was one of the big risers in the farm system a year ago after hitting .280/.337/.485 in 82 games for low Class A Lansing. At 20, Moreno is an athletic catcher with the excellent hand-eye coordination to make frequent contact. 9. Miguel Hiraldo, SS/2B Hiraldo, 19, has shown why several scouts considered him one of the best hitters available in the 2017 international class, hitting .300/.348/.481 last year in the Rookie-level Appalachian League. His range probably fits better at third base, but he has the hitting skill and ability to drive the ball with impact to profile there. 10. Anthony Kay, LHP Acquired with righthander Simeon Woods Richardson in the Marcus Stroman deal a year ago, Kay sits in the low 90s and can reach 96. He doesn't have a plus pitch among his secondary weapons, but they can flash average and should allow him to slot in as a back-end starter as soon as this year. Adam Kloffenstein, RHP C.J. Van Eyk, RHP Otto Lopez, SS/2B Estiven Machado, SS Eric Pardinho, RHP Shun Yamaguchi, RHP Kendall Williams, RHP Griffin Conine, OF Leonardo Jimenez, SS Rikelvin De Castro, SS Patrick Murphy, RHP Victor Mesia, C Santiago Espinal, SS/2B Alberto Rodriguez, OF Dasan Brown, OF Reese McGuire, C Anthony Alford, OF Kevin Smith, SS Joey Murray, RHP Yennsy Diaz, RHP SYSTEM STRENGTHS The Blue Jays have an exciting young nucleus of hitters in the major leagues with more on the way on the farm. Between Austin Martin and Jordan Groshans, the Blue Jays have two shortstops ranked among the top 35 prospects in baseball. With catchers Alejandro Kirk and Gabriel Moreno, Toronto has a pair of promising backstops who have reached the Class A levels, while shortstops Orelvis Martinez and Miguel Hiraldo are two of the best hitters who would have played at low Class A during a normal season. They're part of a strong group of Latin American prospects throughout the lower levels of the organization. SYSTEM WEAKNESSES The Blue Jays don't have a glaring hole in their minor league pipeline, which is part of why they have one of the game's best farm systems. The organization as a whole needs more pitching, though, and especially after Pearson graduates, they will need to get more from their hurlers. They started bolstering their arms last year by drafting Alek Manoah in the first round and trading for Simeon Woods Richardson and Anthony Kay. Righthanders Adam Kloffenstein and Kendall Williams would have been breakout candidates during a normal year, though neither of them is in the team's player pool. PLAYER POOL TIDBITS The Blue Jays stacked their prospect pool with the majority of their top prospects who have full-season experience. RHP Nate Pearson should be in the big leagues soon, with the Blue Jays holding him down temporarily to gain an extra year of service time from him. First-round pick Austin Martin is here, joined by fellow SS Jordan Groshans, who missed most of last season due to a foot injury. RHP Simeon Woods Richardson and C Alejandro Kirk are fellow top 10 prospects in the pool. SS Orelvis Martinez and Miguel Hiraldo—two younger prospects who haven't reached full-season ball—are not in the player pool. Neither is RHP Alek Manoah, the team's 2019 first-round pick out of West Virginia. HURTING RHP Eric Pardinho is out for the season after having Tommy John surgery. That's not a total surprise and it doesn't ding Pardinho's value as much as it would for a pitcher coming off a normal season, since some of that injury risk was already baked into his projection. A sore right elbow kept Pardinho out last year until the end of June, and when he returned, his stuff wasn't as crisp as what he showed the year before. The surgery drops Pardinho's value some, but it's possible his stock could rebound higher than it was coming into the year if he comes back healthy in 2021 and shows the stuff that helped him dominate in 2018.

He was decent enough in 2018 and in 2019 he still missed bats - it seems like there was some rough HR luck. If his surgery was successful I like his chances of being effective but I would not expect him to be an above average SP ever again. TOS surgery isn't as easy to come back from as TJS.

Of course they are, lol. 5th in baseball in projected WAR 3rd in the AL That's a WS contender.... they aren't the Dodgers but the WS odds are not trivial The pack is thick so they need to keep adding though

Baseball America doesn't rank and write up ~40 Blue Jays prospects though (really not sure why they haven't expanded their top 10 lists by now with how thirsty the internet is for information). The Athletic has s***** writers too. Jim Bowden is on their staff... Fangraphs is good!

Nobody is saying that every Canadian likes the Blue Jays, but even in places where lots of people like other teams the majority of people probably prefer the Jays. Probably. Maybe not true in some very specific locations - I know some communities in Atlantic Canada are big Red Sox fans.

It honestly reads as if there is a personal bias, like Longenhagen has been treated rudely by Blue Jays people.

Imagine if Toronto claimed Brad Hand and took on Raisel Iglesias' salary? Iglesias Yates Hand Romano Dolis Merryweather Borucki/Mayza Chatwood The perfect pen! (of course that's like $20M in additional payroll)

Yeah with Happ and Quintana both settling for 1/$8M, it seems like outside of Bauer and perhaps Tanaka there is a decent chance that every SP left settles for a one year agreement. Heck there's even a chance Tanaka takes a one year deal (for a good chunk of money).

!!!!!!

SOURCE: The Blue Jays are orbiting the Sun

WTF does "circling" mean.

I just read the bottom. Ummmmm, this seems absurd:

FANGRAPHS 2021 Blue Jays top prospects https://blogs.fangraphs.com/top-39-prospects-toronto-blue-jays/ Some interesting little nuggets in there about alternate site data, exit velocities and FB velocities and such. Also interesting - Julian Merryweather has a fourth option year due to some machination of the CBA and his injury history. This is relevant, I think, because it means he is optionable this year!

Nice thing about Tommy is that there is ostensibly some defensive flexibility since he has played 3B, 2B and 1B The bad thing about Tommy is that he's a below average defender at 3B and 2B who showed serious signs of age in 2020 (sprint speed dipped to 19th percentile + terrible BsR) The uncertain thing about Tommy is the offense. Elite contact hitter who seems to have figured out how to put enough baseballs over the fence recently, but he doesn't hit the ball hard at all. It's a weird offensive profile for someone without much defensive value There's a chance he is a viable 3B with an above average stick. There's also a chance he's a bad infielder and a slapdick hitter.