John_Havok

Two sides to the coin though. By and large, the pitches that are "healthier" for the arm are probably "easier" to hit. Not much in pitching has really changed over the years other than the understanding of arm mechanics and how to make the ball spin more. Past truths still exist. Perfect location is still lethal. Perfect location is impossible to have consistently. Throwing harder increases the margin of error. It's become easier to give guys exercise plans to increase strength and velo than it is to teach command, which you can never be perfect at. They've found that pitching your 100% stuff for shorter periods of time leads to more wins than throwing 85-90% stuff for longer periods for the vast majority of pitchers. The pitfalls of injury pretty much stem from those truths. As for the "teams not willing to invest in pitching" angle. Yeah, although I think teams would gladly give pitchers shorter term deals for bigger AAVs than long term deals for lower AAVs. I'd personally never want to go past 4 years on a starting pitcher and ever expect it to go well. Snell could probably sign for 1/30 tomorrow, but I doubt he'd get 6/120. SPs could very well become the hired guns of baseball where they're all on deal no longer than 4 years, but for higher AAVs, kinda like how relievers are now except in the ~50 mill AAV range for the true ace SP rather than 15-20 AAV for the Edwin Diaz type relievers.

I don't get the weird moral crusade the morons and idiots have about tty ng to prove something is wrong with society when you'd rather not be bombarded by denigrating and offensive slurs...when they're clearly being intended as denigrating and offensive slurs. Like what's the "gotcha" moment when you intentionally insult and say things designed to make someone else feel like s*** for no reason other than where they put their genitalia? "See you're offended when I say things that are designed to make you offended...gotcha! You're soft...LOLolOLoL"

Objectively a weird move for the Padres, but…thank you Preller.

Command is still really hard. It would be foolish to assume that a large amount of pitchers would suddenly gain a few tiers of command simply because they are throwing with less effort. Even thirty years ago when they weren't max effort there were still only a few guys with top command.

Yeah, it’s got nothing to do with the pitch clock and the 2 seconds less of recovery between pitches. It’s throwing max effort with max torque for spin rates on every pitch for as many pitches as they can. It’s less of an issue for relievers since they only throw 20-30 pitches per outing max and have usually at least 1 if not 2 days off between appearances. On one side…more velo and better spin generally = more success assuming you have a clue where it’s going. Getting those 15-18 outs before turning it over to the pen and multiple 1 inning maximum guys is what is winning games more often. If suddenly tomorrow all the pitchers in baseball went back to 85-90% effort….scoring would go through the roof. Hitters would love it.

Nobody can really qualify as depth to replace a guy like Gausman. They’ll always be a big step down. There’s enough bodies to make starts for 2-3 SP injuries depending on the duration. Francis, White, Parsons, Espino would be the guys more capable of throwing more innings (effectiveness TBD) shorter term injuries Tiedemann, Yariel, Richards spot starting. Wildcard of Little, not sure where he shakes out at this point. Obviously not every guy on that list would step in and be amazing, but there’s nobody else out there to sign either unless they’re a minor league deal. Montgomery and Snell are just not happening I’d be very tempted to grab Velasquez even though he’s still recovering from surgery for later on in the season. He was still throwing decent before he went down in June last year

This describes every rotation in baseball. If their best arm is hurt and another guy sucks....omg!

Barger, Orelvis and Zulu have been optioned to AAA, and Berroa sent to minor league camp

Judge himself said it wasn't an oblique. My money is on sports hernia

And yet, somehow theyll still win 85 games after trading for Cease and not giving up the stud OF in the process

Connor Cooke data from today. Just like Tiedemann, Savant has trouble classifying his fastball as a 4 seamer vs a sinker given the spin rates and movement.

That's the kind of swing and approach that Espinal needs to be successful. Drive it to the gap the other way instead of try to be a pull HR hitter.

I’ll raise you and say Clement > Schneider. Too far?

And realizing that because you won your arb case you might earn far less than if you’d just accepted the teams offer and not gone to a hearing, you’d be guaranteed the whole amount even if cut while smashing the baseball. It’s like two kicks in the nuts rather than just one.

Especially since it was played in the Rays minor league home park and you’d think such an analytically inclined org would have that gear in their main complex stadium. Fluharty also has me intrigued as a possible lefty pen option down the road.

Side note, I’d love to see how a case where a player challenges this and asks how they can form the opinion that he fails to display “sufficient skill or competitive ability” when he’s tearing the cover off the ball on ST. It would be interesting to say the least.

It can because the full wording the contract says they can be terminated if the Player at any time ……. “Fails, in the opinion of the Club’s management, to exhibit sufficient skill or competitive ability to qualify or continue as a member of the Club’s team…”

Yeah, just google “ mlb uniform player contract” and you can find example from 2011 that has that language. The changes in the new CBA were all about the timing of when the player gets terminated using that clause and whether the player when to arb hearing or not

The “sufficient skill or competitive ability” language been in the uniform player contracts and CBA for a long time, you can find the same wording present in contracts going back decades.

It’s not quite that simple. The team can release him for whatever reason they choose to under the mlb uniform player contract, the issue of 30 days of termination pay or 45 days is based on the timing, and the fact that he went to arbitration for his contract vs agreeing to a contract amount without a hearing. How many guys get DFA towards the end of a season as clear cost cutting measures when their performance is still perfectly okay, and the team releasing them hopes they get claimed? It’s the same thing happening here, just in ST rather than the end of the season and termination pay is set up differently in this case under the new CBA

Not defensively. I don't think there's much doubt the IKF is the clearcut winner defensively at 3b. With the bat... could be right. Might we worth pointing out tho that IKF's career Z-contact rate is 93.9%, Clement's admitted small sample size career MLB Z-contact rate is 90.3. Clement could also just be IKF noodle bat that rides the babip roller coaster without the elite D.

A fair point made, however, the internal metric the Jays use (or any other team for that matter) will be using far more in depth peripherals, not just looking at velocity, swigning strikes, etc. If the Jays internal evaluation show that White deserves a shot at the 26 man roster before losing him for nothing (well cash or a nothing burger from some org who's stuck at AAA with okay-ish results but he's like 28 or something, never thrown substantial innings and probably just underwent surgery for the 3rd or 4th time... hypothetically), then past results aren't the driver. As fans we have 0 clue what the Jays internal metrics suggest. And you're right, results matter. All we can do is look at the pretty big turnaround in AAA in September of last year, see the much better results as well as the much better publicly available peripherals, combine that with the knowledge of having 0 options left and at least 1 rotation spot up for grabs, possibly 2 to start the season if Gausman isn't ready to go, and conclude that giving White one last shot (either rotation or long man) before jettisoning him is at least defensible. Upside? He actually doesn't suck, provided #5 value and maintains roster flexibility which is always needed. Downside? He sucks, they cut bait, and bring up the next guy to soak up the innings. Does the risk of 2 outweigh the possible benefits of scenario 1? Unfortunately, we as fans don't possess the actual numbers to form any informed opinion on which of those two scenarios is more likely, though the default position of scenario 2 is the one most would gravitate to given his previous results. It's the safest expectation given the lack of data the Jays have internally and totally understandable. But, the possibility of scenario 1 still exists. In a season where the Jays are clearly going to have to take some chances if they want to top the division, that's a dice roll they could make with no real downside.

I respect the POV, but how can he get positive results with the Jays if you aren't willing to give him that chance because of his previous poor results with the Jays? How long would he need to blow away AAA before you're willing to give him another chance on the major league roster even as the multi-inning guy out of the pen rather than a starter? As it stands now, he'd be claimed by someone if they tried to get him through waivers and all the Jays would end up with is cash probably.

The obligatory Joey Votto/Blue Jays story via The Athletic: The newest Toronto Blue Jay, Joey Votto, reports to spring camp Saturday and he believes his surgically repaired shoulder is healthy enough for him to contribute to his hometown team. “I feel excellent. I am pain-free. It is a joy,” Votto said to The Athletic in a text message Friday afternoon. “I think I can still bang.” Votto, 40, agreed to a minor-league contract with the Blue Jays on Friday. He said he will report to camp Saturday. Votto said he expects to start the season in the minor leagues and earn his way onto the big-league roster. “I am grateful that I am in tryout mode right now,” Votto wrote. “This reminds me of when I was 18, flying down to Sarasota, Florida, to showcase and develop my skills as a new Cincinnati Red.” The Reds drafted Votto out of Toronto’s Richview Collegiate Institute in the second round of the 2002 MLB draft. Votto debuted in 2007, won the National League Most Valuable Player in 2010 and amassed a Hall of Fame resume over parts of 17 seasons with the Reds. In November, the team declined a $20 million option on Votto’s 10-year, $225 million contract signed in 2012. He has never played for another team. Votto said “it appears” that there were major-league deals available to him, but he agreed to the deal with the Blue Jays on Friday. He said it was only “a few days ago” that he felt the deal could happen with the Blue Jays. Votto grew up in the suburbs of Toronto, going to games at Rogers Centre, then called the SkyDome. His dream as a kid was to play in the same uniform as Joe Carter, Roberto Alomar, and his father’s favorite player, Tony Fernández. While making the Blue Jays could be a fulfillment of that dream, it wasn’t his first choice. He said he wanted to return to the Reds. “Early in the offseason, I wanted to sign a similar non-roster deal with the Reds to finish my career in one uniform,” Votto wrote. “I recognize that is an odd objective, but I meant what I said about retiring if I am no longer a competitive player.” Votto was limited to 156 games over the past two seasons, dealing with a shoulder injury that required season-ending surgery in August of 2022. He began last season in the minor leagues but paused his rehab stint before making a return. Votto returned in June, hitting a home run in his first game. He had a two-homer game later that same week. He returned to action in August, again hitting a homer in his first game back, but it would be his last of the season. Over the past two seasons, he hit just .204/.317/.395 with 25 home runs and 79 RBIs over 618 plate appearances. Ejected after the first at-bat of what would be his final game for the Reds, Votto had said he wanted to continue to play if he felt he could be a productive player. But he also saw that playing time could be difficult with a young Reds team that surpassed all expectations in 2023, finishing with an 82-80 record. Rookie first baseman Christian Encarnacion-Strand hit 13 homers in 63 games with the big-league team last year. The emergence of Elly De La Cruz and Matt McLain in the middle of the team’s infield meant Jonathan India would likely be pushed off second base, with first base being the most likely option for the 2021 National League Rookie of the Year. Cincinnati also had Spencer Steer, who filled in at first before Votto’s return. In December, the team signed Jeimer Candelario, who plays both corner infield spots, for three years and $45 million, all but signaling the end of a place for Votto to fit in. That door opened slightly just hours after Votto’s agreement became public when rookie third baseman Noelvi Marte was suspended 80 games for violating the league’s performance-enhancing substance policy in violation of Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. Still, the writing was on the wall that the Reds had no place for a franchise icon. “The Reds team is STACKED and there didn’t appear to be playing time for me so we had to pivot,” Votto wrote. With the Blue Jays, Votto will compete alongside fellow non-roster invitee Daniel Vogelbach and prospect Spencer Horwitz for a left-handed bench role, though it’s difficult to imagine the Blue Jays bringing in Votto — a Canadian baseball icon — if they didn’t think they had a spot for him. If Votto was to make the team, however, it would likely be in a limited role — at least to start. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is Toronto’s everyday first baseman and the Blue Jays signed Justin Turner to a one-year, $13 million deal to be their primary designated hitter. It’s difficult to gauge how many at-bats Votto would receive, though one way is using him as a pinch hitter against right-handers. He could also play occasional first base if Guerrero needs a day off, and Votto can DH, too. Of course, Blue Jays manager John Schneider often points out when speaking about playing time that performance matters, so it’s possible Votto could earn a bigger role if his bat warrants it. Beyond what he can bring to the field, Votto brings intangible benefits to the clubhouse. Lauded for the way he helped steer young players during his final years in Cincinnati, Votto could be a valuable veteran voice for a Blue Jays team aiming to take the next step competitively this season after back-to-back playoff disappointments in 2022 and 2023. “I have no expectations,” Votto wrote. “I want to be a useful member of the roster that can bring a championship back to Toronto.” While news of Votto’s signing was still unofficial, Schneider spoke to reporters in Dunedin about Votto’s “tremendous career.” “He has accolades that go on and on between his plate discipline, power and overall reputation as a competitor. That’s what he’s brought to teams he has played on,” Schneider told reporters including MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson. Not only did Votto say he expects to start the season in the minor leagues — the Blue Jays’ Triple-A team in Buffalo, N.Y., opens the season at home on March 29 — he said he wasn’t disappointed that he only signed a minor-league contract. “The opposite — I need the time to prepare and resharpen my game,” Votto wrote. “A goal of mine is to be fully prepared the second I return to major league competition. The major league level is about execution.”

Not just no Ks, no swinging strikes at all.