jaysblue

Gimenez isn’t being moved unless the Jays are willing to send money back in a deal. That contract makes him tough to move straight up. Straw as a 4th outfielder is fine. He gives you defense, speed, and late-game flexibility. But if he’s playing every day in CF, that could become an issue pretty quickly, especially if the offense is already struggling. As for Varsho, if the Jays fall out of contention and he makes it clear he isn’t interested in signing an extension here, then I could definitely see them exploring a trade. At that point, it would make sense to at least see what the market looks like rather than risk losing him for nothing later.

Yeah, I had to relook at his career numbers, and throwing strikes has never exactly been a major strength of his. He’s always had elevated BB/9 rates, so the control issues aren’t coming completely out of nowhere. That said, this was already his second 7-walk performance of the season, and he’s also had outings with 6 and 5 walks. At some point, that becomes more than just a one-off bad command day. You can live with occasional wildness if the stuff is good enough, but you can’t have these blowup walk performances happening every couple of starts. That puts way too much pressure on the bullpen and makes it almost impossible to consistently win games he starts.

Think something is wrong with Yesavage health wise? His BB/9 is extremely worrisome.

The smug “we are scientists and you are pleb” routine doesn’t make your argument stronger. It just makes it sound like you’re hiding behind spreadsheets while ignoring part of the actual sport. I’m not saying BABIP, HR rate, or pitch mix, don’t matter. Of course they do. But pretending those are the only things that matter is where I disagree. Baseball isn’t played in a lab. There is a psychological component to the game, especially for relievers, and especially when you’re talking about the 9th inning. Acting like there’s no sample size here is ridiculous. We’re not talking about two bad outings; we’re comparing two full seasons in Philadelphia against his 2025 season and the early part of 2026 in Toronto. Hoffman’s issue has never been that he lacks stuff. The stuff is clearly good enough. The concern is what happens when the command starts to go and the inning begins to snowball. That’s where mound presence, composure, role, leverage, and confidence matter. You can dismiss that as “random variance” all you want, but not everything in baseball is neatly explained by BABIP and HR rate. If your entire argument is that anything outside the spreadsheet is fantasy, then you’re not analyzing the full picture - you’re just choosing the parts of the game that are easiest to quantify.

Crazy to think the White Sox could make the Postseason.

Ross Atkins at the trade deadline:

When the Jays were down 2-1, was saying they need to get to the Padres before they bring in their late-inning weapons. Huge 5th inning and taking the lead there was so important. Didn't want to have to face guys like Bradgley, Morejon and Miller in the late innings.

I'm going to buy an Okamoto jersey. How many HR's do you think he finishes with? O/U 35?

I don't understand why some on here can't just accept the facts that he's a better pitcher when he's not being used as a closer. Look at his two seasons with the Phillies before signing with Toronto.

I bought his jersey online back in April haha. Smart buy 😁

Welcome Ryan Sprock!

He's in love with the Mall of America.

Petco is one of my favourite parks. Most away teams stay at the Omni Hotel right attached to the ballpark. I remember seeing Mark Reynolds in line at the Starbucks and Mike Matheny at the hotel bar when I saw the Padres play the Cardinals in 2015 haha. Nice guys!

Yeah, those guys need to pick up the slack. If they added another impact bat, you’d hope it could help lengthen the lineup and maybe spark Vladdy and Kirk in the second half.

He’d be a very frustrating player to watch because he’s constantly in and out of the lineup for a few days at a time, either because he’s banged up or dealing with some minor injury. There always seems to be a short IL stint or two every season as well. To be fair, that’s actually an improvement for him compared to pre-2025, when any injury seemed to knock him out for significant chunks of time. As a short-term rental, I think he’d be fine. You’d probably have to keep him at DH most of the time to maximize his durability and keep his bat in the lineup. But as a long-term solution in CF after Varsho leaves as a free agent? I don’t think that’s ideal.

Ross Atkins at the trade deadline:

Completely agree. The normalization of gambling in sports has gone way too far. It’s not even subtle anymore. Every broadcast is flooded with odds boosts, same-game parlays, live lines, betting apps, sponsored segments, and commercials pushing the idea that gambling is just part of watching the game. It’s especially gross when you think about how many younger fans are being exposed to it constantly. And beyond the addiction side, it also creates real questions about the integrity of the games themselves. When leagues are signing deals with sportsbooks and prediction markets, and when so much money is tied to every pitch, possession, rebound, strikeout, or substitution, fans are naturally going to wonder whether everything is completely clean. I’m not saying every bad beat or blown lead is fixed, but pretending players are immune to corruption is naive. We’ve already seen examples with guys like Emmanuel Clase, Luis Ortiz, Malik Beasley, Jontay Porter, and others being investigated, charged, or banned in connection with gambling-related issues. And honestly, you have to wonder how many cases we never even hear about. I’m not against adults making their own choices, but the way leagues, networks, and gambling companies have shoved this into every corner of sports is brutal. It has made the whole experience feel cheaper, more cynical, and way more toxic. Sports were better when the main thing people cared about was the actual game, not whether some random player got 1.5 total bases.

It's just a general observation from seeing box scores and watching games this season. I mean I could go back and look at every game on the schedule and pick out games with a heavy amount of swings/volatility and compare them to past seasons, but yeah that would require time. But yeah the number of games that feel completely unpredictable from inning to inning seems higher than I can ever remember this season. Just my observation.

Also, I know its a different sport, though we have seen some weird scores, comebacks and swings in some World Cup matches this tournament. FIFA’s official prediction-market partner appears to be ADI Predictstreet. It's really sad that leagues are signing agreements with these kind of partners.

Polymarket for baseball works more like a stock market for game outcomes than a normal sportsbook.The price can move live during the game. So in baseball: Jays up 5-1 in the 7th: Yes shares might jump to $0.90. Bullpen gives up a 4-run inning: Yes shares might crash to $0.45. Jays retake the lead: Yes shares spike again. That’s why volatile baseball games are perfect for prediction markets. Every blown lead, bullpen meltdown, grand slam, weird managerial decision, or late comeback can create huge real-time price swings. MLB partnering with Polymarket makes weird games look more suspicious, because now every chaotic swing has a visible financial market attached to it. I hate all these sportsbooks and now prediction markets to be honest and hope there is nothing fishy going on behind the scenes, but it does raise questions.

I don’t remember baseball games being this volatile before. We’ve always had weird scores, blown leads, late comebacks, and back-and-forth games, but it feels like it’s happening way more often now. Maybe it’s just recency bias, but the number of games that feel completely unpredictable from inning to inning seems higher than I can ever remember. Leads don’t feel safe, bullpens are all over the place, and you’re seeing teams erase deficits that used to feel almost impossible to come back from. And honestly, with MLB signing its Polymarket deal back in March, it makes the optics even more suspicious. I’m not saying games are fixed, but when the league is now directly tied to prediction markets and we’re seeing this many bizarre swings, bullpen meltdowns, and chaotic late-game outcomes, fans are naturally going to start asking questions. Even if it’s all legitimate, the perception is not great. MLB announced Polymarket as its exclusive Prediction Market Exchange partner on March 19, 2026.

They were both Rule 5 picks I'm assuming is why he made the comparison. Biagini actually had success in 2016 for the Jays out of the pen, and even in 2017 showed some glimpses of promise as a starter for a brief period. I even remember on the old message board, a lot of people thought he potentially could be a solid starting pitcher. https://community.fangraphs.com/the-case-for-joe-biagini-as-a-starter/