John_Havok

The Blue Jays are in the mix for Pirates starter Jose Quintana, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, along with such previously-reported suitors as the Yankees and White Sox. The veteran left-hander is having a bounce-back season after struggling in 2019-21, and Quintana could help bolster an inconsistent Toronto rotation. Pirates GM Ben Cherington previously worked in the Jays’ front office, so this familiarity with the AL East side’s prospects could help the Blue Jays in the bidding, though the two sides haven’t completed a player-for-player trade in the two-plus years since Cherington went to Pittsburgh

Joe Jimenez for the comparable to Romano, and yeah Chafin would be nice but he’s not vaccinated.

Need 1 more lefty, and for my money I’d want at least 1 guy that’s equal to or better than Romano. It just feels so much better to have at least 2 guys that you have absolutely no qualms about finishing off the last 2 innings in any part of the lineup. Cimber, Mayza, the other hypothetical lefty and Garcia can get you through the 6th and 7th easily enough I think. There’s no in house option for the guy who’s equal to or better than Romano though. Pearson might have that ability but he can’t be counted on for this season. Maybe Gage can be that lefty, but with such a short track record, I don’t know if he’s that guy this season. Maybe going forward he can be. Guys like Zulueta might get a shot down the stretch too given that he’s a 40 man add this coming off-season, but again, still a question mark. Gimme Joe Jimenez to be the 8th inning guy and I’ll figure out the lefty when I have more time.

Holy s*** a Chappy sighting! That's even more rare than a good start from Kikuchi

There's very few relievers, if any, in baseball I would trade a starting catcher with Jansen's value for.

You’d give up a perfectly fine reliever, a starting catcher who is defensively sound and hits for power and a lotto ticket for 3 relievers? I don’t even know where to start at tearing that apart

Stripling is a free agent after 2022… might be a tough re-sign if he keeps this up

CHappy havin just great PAs recently. Swinging at all the right ones, spitting on the s***** ones…

I’m kinda hoping Joe Jimenez just stays in Toronto when Detroit leaves…

Feels like a good LF makes that catch. Pretty circular route there

Maybe, but im sure teams will be fine to move to plan B or C if it's getting down to the wire. There's a point where a team just cannot wait for some other situation to resolve

Correction to the above, Bednar is not a lefty. He hits left, throws with his right.

Or, option him, punt a uselss pen arm, and bring in a real bench bat with some utility.

1 top end pen arm and 1 mid level pen arm should suffice, I think we're stuck with the rotation we have and we have to hope they all stay healthy and the ones that have sucked, need to be better, but not even like lights out better, just need to be average to slightly above average. This offense is good enough we dont need the 4 and 5 spots in the rotation to be great. What we need is 1 pen arm that's clearly better than Romano, and 1 pen arm that's in the tier below Romano and a better bench bat than Collins. Should not need to sell the farm for that, especially given the return that Naquin landed.

s***

Dont see Kirk strike out on 3 pitches very often.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/torontos-hunter-mense-on-developing-good-swing-decisions/ Good read but i'll save you the click - cloes notes version is the Jays use a rating sytem to grade swing decisions. Mense is the assistant hitting coach. Nice tidbit here: Laurila: Can you give an example of a guy for whom that’s come pretty naturally? Mense: “It’s always come pretty natural for Alejandro Kirk. He’s always been a very good decision-maker. And if you want to talk about somebody who is very laid-back, and very thoughtful, he’s your prototypical guy. Even at the lower levels of the minor leagues, he was always walking more than he struck out. He was always getting himself into good counts. “We have a grading-out system of decision-makers in the organization, and Alejandro was always one of the better ones, even at the lowest levels. His success has come from hitting the ball harder and in the air a little bit more, but he’s always kind of had that innate ability. You don’t necessarily talk about it a whole lot when a guy is really good at it, but you do continue making sure they keep at it.” Laurila: How does the grading system work? Mense: “If you’re able to take a pitch that most people are swinging at, you grade out really well as a decision-maker. And then if you’re swinging at pitches that have an expected slugging percentage that’s really good, you’re going to get high grades. Spencer Horwitz is another one in our organization that’s always been a really good decision-maker. He swings at every pitch that’s in the area where the expected slugging percentage is really good, and he takes a lot of pitches that are strike-to-ball — pitches that 75-plus percent of people are swinging at, he’s able to take them. “That’s how you ultimately grade out. It’s not necessarily just low chases and high in-zone swings, although that does play into it. But how tough is the pitch that you’re taking? It could be a really easy pitch, a ball out of the hand that everybody takes. Conversely, if it’s one that starts in the strike zone and goes out — maybe it’s from a pitcher with really good stuff — you’re probably a pretty good decision-maker.” Good to hear about Horwitz. Just need to find him a position and he may be something far more useful. He also mentions that Orelvis has improved greatly in this regard so far this year.

Yeah. The guys they would sell wouldnt even really hold them back from being better next year.

What's tragic is that when they should finally trade Mancini and get something back for him, his numbers are pretty pedestrian after they moved the LF fence back 100 feet

They had the same bullpen in the first 2 months of the season and sucked. They're also still just a .500 team after yesterday. A great pen is fantastic, but if it's far and away the BEST part of your team, you're still just a team that needs better SP and better hitting.

Baltimore is definitely in that weird window along with the Red Sox ... buyers? Sellers? Standing pat and then possibly losing assest for virtually noithing later? Tough call to make.

Maybe it's not an ignor thing anymore, clearly players are changing their minds on vaccine status based on the possibility they may have to travel to Canada for playoff ball. Could mean theyre also willing to change their minds if they are on the trade block to the Jays.

Kirk is 24.4 feet per second, 475th in mlb. Pujols is 23.3 feet per second, 492nd in mlb 495 players on the list

have to be very careful with left handed hitters in that park. The RF fence is only 306 feet and 353 to Right center. It tends to inflate a lot of lefty hitting lines. Plus, he's only had 40 PAs at AA. Sample size isnt big enough to draw conclusions yet, but it's damn nice to see him keep up the rate he was hitting in Vancouver.

July 27 Vladdy - 1 Point - Dylan Springer - 1 Point - Bichette - 2 Points - Hernández - 2 Points - Kirk - 2 Points - Chapman - 2 Points - Jansen - 3 Points - Biggio - 6 Points - Tapia - 8 Points - Off the bench: 10 Points - Fixed the formatting error