John_Havok

He’s past Tank, he’s into mountain range territory. I just watched the last few innings and when he came in I thought it was f***ing polar bear wearing a uniform.

In house options are fine for now. Hiura isnt so much better than Lopez with the bat that it would move the needle in any meaningful way, not to mention a pretty big downgrade with defensive utility Something to monitor though for sure. RH power off the bench wouldn't be a bad thing to have.

No kidding, like... just dont break yourself. Though on the other side of it, im glad these guys are running alot more to find out where their ceilings are for SB this season. Like that play the pitcher had already thrown over twice so it was a really low chance he was coming over again, he got a bigger lead but he blew the timing of the jump something awful. So he can take that into the old mind-bank and do it better next time when it might matter. Though really, I dont want to see Springer trying to steal very often

Yeah, wasn't a great time to go either way honestly. He had a big lead but his jump was awful.

only 86.4, wasn't really hit all that hard TBH. But without seeing an actual replay that showed the whole play, it's hard to say how close the 1b actually was to making that play. The camera cuts on that entire plate appearance were terrible.

Yeha, it would be nice to retain such a great defender but, i think having the money that he frees up, with the chance to have 3B manned by Orelvis or Barger at league min would also add some nice flexibility. Can't keep them all unfortunately.

Belt is actually faster than Kirk, but .2 feet per second.

1000 PAs of virtually all bench role time isnt exactly what I'd call "experienced"

Sure, there's definitely a chance he takes a step forward there. He could develop a new pitch to add just one more wrinkle into the minds of the hitters, refine the changeup and/or slider to be more swing and miss oriented, or all of the above. Either way, even if he remains as is, and does actually continue to beat FIP due to however he's doing it now, he's in a great place.

Every game is free on MLB TV today, i didnt think they did blackouts in spring training

Manoah's peripherals really don't scream "top of the rotation" guy. The kinds of numbers fwar looks at, he's about the same as Chris Bassitt. bWAR really only cares about what runs actually scored, not really how they did. He's still newish enough though that he could have just had a wicked outlier season in his strand rate and HR per flyball rate. Or, he could be one of the FIP beaters of the world due to his knack (so far) for giving up soft contact. His whiff rate is average. He does have a really good extension though, so that could be a reason why his results are currently outperforming his "stuff". That trend would have to continue another season or two though before I would be willing to draw that conclusion fully, though his debut season his contact #'s were also really good. So far he's been a beater for 300+ innings so his results are leaning squarely in the FIP beater direction.

Not on the Jays balance sheet anyways, but i think Dick knows that given his statements about them being a loss leader. It's probably the most brilliant thing Rogers has done in the last 30 years.

You're kidding!

He'll be matched against Miles Mikolas who just signed a 2 year 40 million dollar extension. Should be a good one!

I'm trying to envision the hype on this board with the Jays entering September with already nearly 90 wins. I dont even think losing to the Astros in the ALCS is all that bad an outcome after the last 2 seasons, but it would sure suck ass in the moment.

Some Hayden Yuenger write up form the Athletic - wont paste the whole thing to avoid paywall issues but just some high points; Last name is pronounced Ying-er After the Blue Jays drafted him in the sixth round in 2021, they challenged the right-hander with an aggressive assignment in High-A Vancouver. Working in one- and two-inning stints, he racked up 34 strikeouts in his first 20 innings. The plan all along, however, had been to stretch out Juenger as a starter, as is often the case with the organization’s most promising arms. With Juenger, it was also an opportunity to build up his workload. After three years in college and pro ball, he’d only pitched a little under 110 innings. ..... Over fourth months in New Hampshire, Juenger largely thrived in a role best described as a bulk pitcher, with his starts typically lasting three or four innings. Over his 20 appearances, he averaged 10.8 strikeouts per nine innings compared to 3.4 walks. By the end of July, Juenger had earned a promotion to Triple-A Buffalo, where he shifted to the bullpen. Still largely working multiple innings, Juenger was now tasked with facing batters that, on average, were about four years his senior. What Blue Jays bullpen coach Jeff Ware recalled about Juenger was his maturity. "He’s confident and he has a plan and he knows how to put together that plan and implement it in a Triple-A environment.” said Ware ...... Still, Juenger was tested. He remembered one outing, about three weeks into his time in Buffalo when he entered a game in the fifth inning and basically everything that could go wrong did. The first two hitters he faced fell behind 0-2 but Juenger didn’t execute a put-away pitch and each wound up doubling. After issuing a walk, a ground ball snuck through a hole in the infield. Naturally, another double followed. All told he allowed four hits and four runs in a third of an inning. The next day, veteran starter Casey Lawrence approached Juenger to ask him if he was OK. He reminded him that bad outings happen, but it’s how a pitcher responds that matters. “Just having that conversation really put in perspective like, ‘OK, look this stuff’s going to happen, but it’s about how fast we can bounce back and not worry about it,” Juenger said. Asked what prompted him to check in with Juenger, the 35-year-old Lawrence said he remembered how former Blue Jays pitchers like Jason Grilli and Mark Buehrle had done the same for him. ..... Juenger’s approach is to attack the zone. He throws his 92-97 mph fastball up and pairs it with a plus-changeup and a slider — that plays more like a sweeper after a grip tweak in September — that, in Juenger’s words, “has come a long way.” All three pitches can miss bats, as evidenced by the 100 strikeouts in 88 2/3 innings. But mistakes also led to 18 home runs allowed. ... Juenger will begin the season in Triple A and is again poised for a flexible role. Whether it involves one-inning or multi-inning appearances or even short starts, he’ll be ready for whatever is asked. As for what he can work on, Ware said it’s all about finding more consistency with his pitches. “Just executing his slider more consistently — consistently have the same shape of a slider or a very similar slider from pitch to pitch, and just executing his fastball at the top of the zone even better,” Ware said. “We saw a lot of good things from him, he did these things a lot already last year. It’s just getting a little bit more consistent with it.” Juenger isn’t worried about setting a timetable for reaching the majors this year, but it’s fair to say he’s a name to watch. “I’d love to debut this year coming up,” Juenger said. “But at the same time, I still got to play, I still got to perform well and time’s got to be right, as well.”

I'm sure Hazel Mae will be on the case to get Gausman's reaction at the game today. I will predict he gives 0 shits about it.

MLB The Show simulated the season as they do every year. Here's how it went. Blue jays ended the season with 108 wins, best in baseball - lose to the Astros in the ALCS Angels made the playoffs as a wildcard but lost in the ALDS Freeman and Justin Turner won the batting titles Trea Turner and Bubba Thompson led their respective leagues in stolen bases (though they didnt provide the #) Cy Youngs were Musgrove and DeGrom, MVPs were Alonso and Yordan Alvarez. Braves beat the Astros in the World Series.

Looks like he would get the home opener too April 11th

It would be interesting to see how much the Rogers TV section of the company actually pays the Jays section of the company for their broadcasting rights. It's difficult to imagine that it's fair market value given the Jays "local" TV market is probably the biggest in MLB by a huge margin. I mean it's not like any other broadcaster even gets the chance to bid on their broadcast rights either.

The question mark on Martinez previously is whether he will develop any power. It’s been nonexistent until last season. He hit 14 last year after hitting ….none in 2021 and 2 in 2019. Nobody questions the hit tool. with last years power progress, if he keeps up improvement in that area this season he’ll vault up all the lists.

Maybe they’ll try the new buzzword now going around when talking about pitchers and being shut down - elbow maintenance.

He means that if Berrios continues to suck, he might suddenly come down with case of “arm fatigue” that requires a stint on the IL

Goodbye 2023, hello 2024