Laika

What is the point of that Topps app? Pokemon has a similar app but you can do battles and climb the ranked leaderboard so it's sort of fun to collect and make decks and fight. And semi-viable as a free to play. Why would someone do Topps Bunt though?

Varsho probably still has a schedule of days off to play it safe for his shoulder

AJSS felt a pop in his elbow uh oh

Ripping packs and boxes is fun but a total financial rip off. Generally, it is smarter to just buy single cards of the players you want to collect.

it's also very predatory, like if a retail box of Topps cards has a price tag of $50 and an expected return of $3.99 in value, and minors can buy that... it's just gambling without any age restrictions.

Pokemon has been bubbling up like crazy over the last year I think sports cards are kind of doing it too because online videos and apps for engaging in ripping packs are taking off, but the products are generally really confusing and cost prohibitive unfortunately

I bought my first few retail boxes of cards this year. Bowman sets are fun if you are really into baseball, like the dynasty side of baseball, because of the prospects. I got a numbered Tink Hence /250, Didier Fuentes /75, and Charlie Condon /499 along with a bunch of parallels including two Condon parallels, a Bryce Rainer reptilian, Franyerber Montilla reptilian, and a red chrome refractor Rhett Lowder rookie card. Basically if the LOD floats your boat you would have fun with Bowman even if it's a big money burn just like all other baseball cards.

Sort of obvious just with how he moves and looks, and in the injuries last couple of years. It would be true of basically everyone because that's what aging is but he does seem to be aging sharply.

Sandy Alcantara has been brutal this year. No semblance of command. I guess he's not going to get traded after all.

I guess Braydon Fisher is good too? Suddenly Toronto is a reliever factory lol

I wonder if the same launch angle isn't always the same ball flight Like, an 18 degree swing then results in an 18 degree trajectory is a squared up ball. Sweet spot 100%. An 18 degree trajectory from a 1 degree attack angle is not exactly right on the sweet spot. Probably a bit above. Different spin? Not as squared up?

Ah yes More 390 feet outs with men on base Splendid

That's very interesting and depressing. Finally we have the data to more specifically define why the Jays underperform on offense. We can put a finger on the systemic problem - the things that the Blue Jays have been intentionally or incidentally prioritizing that doesn't correlate optimally to runs scored. I mean we have known this problem for a few years, we just talked about it differently. It was obvious for a while that too many Jays would execute their A swing and have it result in a line drive or lower flyball to the opposite field - that is just not an efficient way to hit and produce given what we know in 2025. But maybe we all got too bogged down in groundball rates. I was hoping that Popkins would be the impetus for them to get the ball out in front more, but I guess it hasn't had that effect on the players. When you look at the entirety of Toronto's hard hit balls, a pattern emerges. The Jays rank 29th in average attack angle on hard hit balls, and 29th in avg swing tilt. Meaning, even when they hit the ball hard, Jays are often doing it with flat bat paths, and catching it late. Points of reference... MLB avg on hard hit balls: 32° tilt, 9° attack Dodgers: 35° tilt, 11° attack Jays: 29° tilt, 7° attack Intuitively, this all makes sense: If you're gonna hit the ball hard, you want to do it on the upswing a bit. League-wide numbers going back last couple years back this up.... It's far more productive to hit a ball hard with an attack angle >10° compared to <10° And that table is where you get to the answer to our original question: How can a team that hits the ball hard as often as the Jays score so few runs? Worth pointing out: While last night's examples are Guerrero & he's prob primary factor, it's not exclusive to him. Santander & Bichette each have 5° avg attack angle on their hard hit balls. Wagner, Roden, Heineman, Straw, Clase, Gimenez, Barger, Kirk all below MLB avg In fact, the only 2 Jays comfortably above the avg attack angle threshold on hard hit balls are the 2 Jays exceeding expectations offensively the most this year: Varsho & Springer.

If he's actually banged up, just IL him and bring Roden back for another stint. Santander playing hurt is actively hurting the team. He contributes nothing right now.

weird wording "his issues are helping him limit big swings which should help him make more contact" dude he has a .203 xBA and the highest K rate of his career what kind of senseless euphemism is this? it smells like some Ross A bull "we are excited that Anthony has the opportunity to progress into a different kind of hitter that has the chance to make more contact"

As explained, the projection systems are already downgrading him. It's not just recency bias - it's placing his player profile and age into a complex analysis system which can be either Steamer or ZiPS or my huge brain. If you just want to look at the last 2000 PA and trust the man, you are basically as smart as the "let's sign Kris Bryant" era Colorado Rockies

The Rangers don't have much lefty pop in their lineup so he has as good of a chance as he ever does to not get hammered. I guess!

careful man, you are evaluating a player based on "mid season performance metrics" you might want to check with max first this may not be kosher

In other Blue Jays Free Agent News It looks like Spooner Turnbull is getting starts in Dunedin and getting destroyed

Values go up and down. In this case, they have gone way down! Oops, Ross!

Stuff+ on his curveball also went from a 107 to a 93. Must be a shape change since the velo is the same. Splitter went from 102 to 91. Sadness. Dear god. 12 of 15 homers are to LHB. .415 wOBA by LHB. is that legal?

Bowden Francis needs to figure it out or buzz off!!!!

You have to be more nimble than this, Max. Adjust your perceptions when new information arrives. How much would Scherzer, Gimenez, and Santander attract on the open market today? A lot less than they are making!

okay but Santander Scherzer Gimenez have -0.5 WAR combined for like $49M AAV and Spencer Horwitz imagine if he didn't whiff on all three of those. could have just paid Gleyber Torres but nooooo defense fetish got in the way admittedly a lot of the other FA hitters are flopping and Alonso/Soto/Bregman never wanted to come here so hard to criticize the Santander whiff Toronto should sue Max Scherzer

Ryan Yarbrough is beasting. Four good starts in a row for the Yankees. Probably should have kept him lol.