jaysblue

I would have said "huge loss" but when you look at Vlad's numbers this season, shouldn't be tough to replace him if its an extended absence lol.

Jazz, Tatis, Riley, and Merrill as well. Tatis is starting to hit better as of late at least.

Some CF's who could be moved perhaps: Bryon Buxton Oneil Cruz Steven Kwan Tristian Peters Jake McCarthy Lawrence Butler Luis Robert Jr. Dylan Crews Colton Cowser Jacob Young TJ Friedl Esteury Ruiz

Big moves like that could really light a spark under some of the guys in the clubhouse. Even if it doesn’t work out this season, acquiring Skubal would give you an exclusive negotiating window before free agency, while adding Miller would potentially create the best bullpen in baseball next season with Miller, Varland, Rogers and Hoffman. As crazy as it sounds, it could make sense as part of a retool for 2027 if you can sign Skubal to an extension haha.

Let's hope he increases his trade value with another good showing like last week.

I never said pitch usage was irrelevant. The point is that you’re treating it as the entire explanation while dismissing the psychological side as a “narrative.” Poor outings outside the ninth only prove the inning isn’t the sole issue - not that closing pressure plays no role. You can’t throw just any reliever into a save situation and pretend there’s no mental difference between protecting a lead in the ninth and pitching in an earlier inning. Some pitchers handle that pressure without issue; others clearly don’t. At the end of the day, I think we can both agree that Hoffman has pitched much better since moving out of the closer’s role, while Varland has continued to do an excellent job taking over the ninth inning. Whatever the reason, the Blue Jays’ bullpen is in a much better place now than it was in April and early May, which we can both applaud.

Pretending the mental side of the game doesn’t exist is incredibly simplistic.

Jays bullpen at the end of games with Hoffman/Rogers/Varland like damn! We just need some of our starters to go a bit deeper and pick up the slack like Bieber & Yesavage and maybe if we could score around 5 or so runs a majority of the time, things wouldn't be that bad geez!

I still believe!

He was already at 75 pitches in the third inning.

If Nat's had the Jays pitching, or Jays had the Nat's lineup - World Series contenders haha.

Going 3-7 since the All-Star break when this team needed to go 7-3 or 6-4 instead.

Okamoto pretty much has replaced Barger this season. They're pretty much similar offensively. Okamoto has been a great addition, but he's not and was never a replacement for a bat like Bichette, who when in top form was a 130 wRC+ and pretty much a 4 WAR player here.

Re-sign Gausman to a two-year/$40M deal. I think he would accept and I would take that. 3.68 FIP/.3.87xFIP so no different than he was last season to be honest. Obviously the stretch since June 2nd he's been on is a bit worrisome, but today was encouraging at least and even his start on July 12th vs. the Padres. You're still likely to get a 3-4 WAR season out of him which is still very good, especially at that term and AAV. Go out this offseason and try to bring in another 1A or #2 behind Cease, which slides Gausman down to your #3 and then Yesavage and Ponce occupy the last two spots. I'm also sure Miles figures himself in there somewhere with injuries at some point, so he's nice depth to have as a swing-man/bulk innings guy.

Bullpen is well rested at least haha. Thank you Dylan!

The rest of the team simply never showed up consistently, or they were injured. Nothing ever seemed to click for this team in terms of timing. Vladdy, Varsho, Springer and Kirk have all underperformed offensively. The lineup has badly missed another impact bat like Bo. Barger has been out for the entire season. Losing Kirk early also hurt until Valenzuela stepped up. Since June 2, Gausman has pitched more like a No. 4 or No. 5 starter: 0-6 with a 6.56 ERA, 4.84 FIP and 4.24 BB/9. The Jays needed him to pitch like a No. 2 or legitimate 1A behind Cease. Bieber and Scherzer have both been major disappointments. Yesavage has experienced the usual ups and downs and hasn’t consistently pitched at the elite level we saw during the postseason. Those expectations were probably unfair, but the Jays needed him to perform like a front-of-the-rotation starter, especially with Gausman and Bieber struggling. A large portion of the rotation was injured at the same time earlier in the season, including Ponce, Yesavage, Bieber, Scherzer and Berrios. That placed a massive amount of pressure on the bullpen. Hoffman had several huge blowups earlier in the season that cost them games. The team’s defence has regressed from last year. It has basically been a combination of injuries, offensive regression, disappointing performances from key guys, inconsistent starting pitching and worse defence. Almost everything that needed to go right for them has gone wrong instead.

Watch when the Jays are in contention during 2027, Cease either lands on the IL or isn't as sharp. Always just our luck.

How about Luis Robert Jr. for CF? Mets likely are shopping him at the deadline, and he's still under control in 2027 with a club option attached to him. Defensively, he would be alright (not elite Varsho level), though the offensive potential he possesses when fully healthy is intriguing.

Should have picked me. My fastball could touch 85mph and I have a very deceptive delivery.

Not to the same extent. Every player is different, and some can remain consistently productive offensively even after their defence begins to slip. Kirk’s value is more heavily tied to his defence because his bat hasn’t shown that it can reliably produce at his 2022 or 2025 level every season. When he combines elite defence with strong offensive production, he’s a 4–5 WAR catcher. If the offence regresses and the defence also starts declining, his value drops considerably. I’m not writing Kirk off at all. I still want him as the starting catcher moving forward, and injuries have affected him earlier this season. I’m simply pointing out that his margin for decline is smaller than it would be for a player whose value is primarily driven by a consistently impactful bat.

Once Kirk starts slipping defensively, his value takes a major hit. Offensively, he hasn’t shown that he can consistently replicate his 2022 or 2025 production from year to year. If he’s no longer an elite defensive catcher, he’s not automatically a 2–3 WAR player. When the defense and offense are both there, he can be a 4–5 WAR catcher. But if the bat regresses and the defense begins to decline, his overall value drops pretty quickly.

Don’t talk about the Jays teams from the early 2000s or 2010s - there’s one poster on here who apparently doesn’t like that. 😂 The front office definitely has to shake things up. They can’t bring back the exact same group and simply expect another 2025 result. This lineup needs more thump overall and another legitimate impact bat. Losing both Gausman and Bieber would also leave a major hole in the rotation. On top of that, anyone else they trade whether it’s Varland or another bullpen arm would still have to be replaced. The problem is that there’s only so much you can accomplish through free agency. We can’t expect the Jays to sign every free agent needed to fill all of those holes. It would be extremely expensive, and they’d still be competing with several other teams for those players. We’ve seen over the past two or three offseasons that the Jays can have all the money in the world to spend, but players such as Ohtani, Soto and Tucker can still choose to go elsewhere. I’m open to trading Varland if the return is an elite prospect. Any team that misses out on Mason Miller would almost certainly have interest in him. If you can turn Varland into the type of prospect package Miller brought back at last year’s deadline, you have to seriously consider it.