John_Havok

I checked the zone map for him today and that's pretty much the case ...today anyway. Maybe only 6 or 7 fastballs in the bottom third of the zone, a ton were left up. His splitters locations were pretty much exactly where he'd want them, but as you indicated, without yhe consistent fastball, easy to lay off.

I'd have to dig in a bit, but I suspect that it's the same type of issue as when he's had trouble in the past. Today's game I never saw many effectively located fastballs at the bottom of the zone which pretty much allows any hitter to let any splitters go. The old "if it's low let it go" approach.

Varsho's more selective plate approach from early on in the season has disappeared

No it doesn't. The only reason small markets do it is because their owners are cheap *******s that never sign even above average players to FA deals. They tank because they have to. Toronto doesn't have to.

He's just lost his fastball command completely today

Rogers needs the Jays to be semi-relevant every year. A scorched earth rebuild will not happen.

I have no doubt that he's "on the market", but I struggle to find a team hypothetically willing to overpay for him. I also look at his value to Rogers off the field and even knowing he's underperformed his 2021 ceiling ever since he's unquestionably the face of the Jays and the face of the Rogers marketing machine to the casual fans. And, like it or not, that's a huge factor in his tradeability. Purely from an on field only perspective, of course he's tradeable, every player is. Nobody is untouchable when you look at only the on field part. It's the off-field part that makes it murky with Vlad. I'm not saying its right, or wrong, it's reality. Trading Vlad, regardless of him being the biggest trade chip, is far more impactful than just the on-field product. All of that said, name me the teams you suspect would be willing to overpay and I'll gladly entertain that discourse.

I'm just curious as to what kind of return you figure he would fetch. Right now he's a career 131 wRC+ hitter. Are you thinking the Jays are somehow going to get multiple guys back via trade that will end up hitting to that level? That's pretty rare. Understand I'm not opposed to a potential Vlad trade (though I don't think it will happen due to mainly business reasons) I just think he's the kind of guy that when he gets traded, he's easily the best guy in the trade and the guys you get back never get to his level. He's not a superstar on the field right now but he's worth massive money to Rogers as is.

Only Turner can do that. Vetrin presents.

Then we're pretty much on the same page. To me the solution really isn't finding a better 4th OF, it's putting KK in the actual 4th OF role, despite his salary

Nope. It's cuz Bassitt and Gausman said so.

I agree, but is there really a better 4th OF in all of MLB than KK? Getting paid way too much, granted...but as far as skills go, isn't he exactly what any team would want in a 4th OF?

Is there a tool out there that shows what locations of pitches he hits on the ground more often?

Compare him to Shohei.... realistically the only meaningful difference in Shohei vs Vlad is the LA Sweet Spot.... shohei 84th percentile, Vlad ... 23rd percentile. https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/shohei-ohtani-660271?stats=statcast-r-hitting-mlb

Brownie literally just gave you a sample size of more than 3 years.... so not sure how this makes sense. Ya can't just say "use the 3 years up to a week ago.... because reasons" Olson wRC+ with RISP from 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 - 136 , 133, 193, 77 (overall wRC+ those same years - 147, 120, 160, 110) Alvarez wRC+ with RISP from those same years - 157, 152, 222, 75 (overall wRC+ those same years - 137, 185, 170, 145) Vlad wRC+ with RISP same years - 173, 116, 97, 125 (overall wRC+ 166, 133, 118, 136) Olson wrc+ with RISP compare to overall, worse, better, far better, far worse Yordan same comparisons - better, worse, otherworldly better, terribly worse Vlad - better, worse, worse, worse Its almost like they can't really control what they do with RISP, and the sample sizes induce large variance swings. Like, I don't think you would just say "boy it looks like Olson and Alvarez have just forgot how to hit with RISP this season..." But there are general truths like when a hitter hits well overall, they also hit well with RISP. When they aren't hitting well overall, they don't hit well with RISP. This myth that players can just summon the clutch ability at will it pure romanticist garbage.

I think it's such a niche play that doesn't happen very often it's pretty much a moot point. The real key is the play at 2B needing to be actually close enough for it to matter. However.... MLB rules thought of this already: Rule 6.01(a)(5)Any batter or runner who has just been put out, or any runner who has just scored, hinders or impedes any following play being made on a runner. Such runner shall be declared out for the interference of his teammate However..... Rule 6.01(a)(5) Comment: If the batter or a runner continues to advance or returns or attempts to return to his last legally touched base after he has been put out, he shall not by that act alone be considered as confusing, hindering or impeding the fielders.

Not that I'm an expert in body language, but there's something about Bo lately that makes me think he's mentally checked out

Wtf was that? Wow lol 35.2 mph EV, IF single deflects of 1b

Not sure I can remember a rain delay broadcast switching to another game, that also goes into a rain delay.

A .500 team with a incredibly positive runs diff (+103 at the end of July 2015) looks a lot different than a .500 team with a negative diff. There was a tangible reason to believe the Jays record wasn't truly indicative of their talent, so adding to the roster was very defensible. For the Jays to get to .500 by the end of July this season, they'd probably be looking at a run diff of maybe -15 or -20 by that point unless they went on an absolute tear with the pitching pulling their s*** together along with an offensive resurgence.

107 wRC+ is not "butt cheeks". below expectations for him, sure, but if your slumps are at a 107 wRC+, you're welcome on my team any day of the week.

Seems likely

If it was 10/200, I could probably convince myself that's not awful. 8/200... dry heaving anything under 8 years in duration at 200 I would probably vomit for a week.

Pretty much what I thought as soon as that 7 run inning happened.

Yeah, his underperformance the past 2 seasons, in comparison to what everyone in baseball knows he's capable of.... makes him the weirdest tradeable/untradeable asset. To trade him, you'd want to get something back that corresponds to a guy closer to 2021/22 Vald than the 2023/2024 vlad. But why would any team want to pay that? They want to buy low and "fix" him, making it a landslide win for them. Couple that with the marketing angle and how important he is to Rogers as the marketing face of the Jays and it all adds up to him not being traded