glory

JS not getting himself tossed there is some weak s***.

That’s the thing, I don’t mind pulling Kikuchi with Mountcastle up but not in the 5th inning when you only have 2 good relievers.

Are they seriously pulling Kikuchi with 88 f***ing pitches and pitching this well for Pop?

Cavan Biggio with tears in his eyes watching that KK at bat.

Vlad and Bo being dangerous again definitely changes the dynamic of the lineup, especially now that they've conceded that DS is a starter, and Jansen is getting the bulk of the catching time.

Acquiring Chisholm works in multiple ways as it would make Mattingly's head explode and maybe Donnie would resign immediately after.

July 2025 at the earliest.

There was an organizational shift in 2023. Something drastically changed within with the org with the way they viewed offense, both in the Majors and Minors, and I have no idea who the culprit(s) is or was. It's like Atkins saw what happened in Game 2 of the Seattle series and said "we aren't Guardian enough", and proceeded to model the entire org around Cleveland except without Jose Ramirez and with a $100m rotation rather than developing it internally.

AA in 2015 was more “analytical” than AA in 2013. Either that or he just got better. Going from “building a track team” or whatever Beeston described it as when they acquired Reyes and Bonifacio to getting JD, Martin, Saunders (pre injury), Travis, etc, was a pretty big shift. AA is obviously smarter now after LA, but in hindsight after seeing what Atkins has done, I think even pre-LA Alex would have done as good or better had he stayed. Which is more an indictment on how disappointing Shatkins has been (especially from an analytical and player development standpoint) than longing for AA.

Agreed. Considering Turner can’t hit righties anymore (decline started last season and gotten worse so far this year), they could easily find a way to get Horowitz into the lineup a few times a week against RHP. I get that he has options and they are just using it to their advantage but I agree there is something slimey about keeping a 26 year old in AAA when he has nothing left to prove there and rostering a fat slob with no value who plays the same position. I’m not even a Horowitz fan but he could potentially help the big league team if used properly.

Man, I know Kirk is fat and slow, but not being able to beat that grounder for a pro athlete is ridiculous.

Back spasms according to Twitter. Damn, dude just can't stay healthy for any prolonged period of time.

Atkins looks like a nerd. That's probably why we all assumed that he would be analytically driven. It's the furthest thing from the truth in reality.

Tonight's 5-9 in the order: Vogelbach, Kirk, IKF, Biggio, Clement. Unless Jansen is hurt, it's criminal that they are not using him at the DH spot. This is going to be a long season folks.

Ohtani is getting in the HOF regardless, IMO. His prime was literally unmatched by any baseball player that ever lived, especially considering the context of how baseball has changed since Ruth's time. Even if he doesn't rack up the counting stats, he's a lock.

I really hope Springer bounces back because otherwise we are going to see Joe Carter 1997 leading off every game until 2026.

Sucks that Manoah is going tomorrow so this might be short lived but man it feels good to see a game like this again (assuming the Jays hold on). Usually when the Jays are down 3-0, it’s easy to give up. Being down 7-1 and coming back is great to see.

DS better play every single game from here on out. He got enough rest days in April.

It will never happen but they really need to consider calling up Horowitz and running a Horowitz/Turner platoon. Turner’s splits against RHP are progressively getting worse and he’s nearing 40. That’s probably the best way to optimize the DH spot at this point.

It depends on what kind of year Jansen has. If it's another good offensive season with 250 PA because he couldn't stay healthy, then he'll definitely have suitors but it won't be a huge bidding war. If he finally gets 450-500 PA and hits like he has since 2021, then I'd imagine it would be a reasonably high AAV with a 3-4 year term. Hard to say. His injury history definitely complicates things. The Jays really should have extended him after Moreno was traded.

Teoscar was coming off a 4 WAR season in 2021 (132 wRC+) and 3 WAR season in 2022 (130 wRC+). During the pandemic season, he had a 1.4 WAR and 142 wRC+ in 50 games. That's a pretty good track record. If you think trading that sort of bat for a 29 year old RP with 1 good season in his career is a good decision in isolation, then we'll have to agree to disagree. This has nothing to do with the follow-up. If you want to look at the WAR component between Teo, KK, Belt, Gurriel, etc, then that's a different discussion. I'm talking about just the logic of the trade itself. Swanson had a 0.9 fWAR last season. You know who also had a 0.9 fWAR in 2023? Julian Merryweather, a reliever the Jays let go for nothing to clear up a 40 man roster spot. That's how volatile and unpredictable relievers are year to year. Again, the reason why the Jays spent $21m on Green, $16m on Jimi, traded Teo for Swanson, traded Frasso for White, etc, etc, is because of the development issues we have discussed. That's the bigger issue here than the trade itself. I don't think trading Vlad for a RP after this season is a valid comparison. If Vlad's 2024 resembles his 2023, then he'd be no where near as valuable as Teoscar was in the 2 years preceding that trade. Vlad would legit be a salary dump in that scenario.

Yeah, Hernandez was coming off a 3 WAR/130 wRC+ season (and a 4 WAR/140 wRC+ season the year before). You shouldn’t have to trade a bat like that for a non elite reliever. It speaks to the team’s inability to develop pitching internally as well as the inability to find scrap heap guys and turn them around. Trading Teo might have also been partly a salary dump, but they ended up spending that money anyway (KK, Belt), so it may have been more of a perceived fit issue. As mentioned, Teo’s numbers at Safeco were dreadful but aside from that he’s been pretty consistent since 2020. Whether he would have hit in 2023 had he stayed with the new RC dimensions and Mattingly trying to cut his K% to 18% is anyone’s guess, but not surprised he’s bounced back with the Dodgers. Either way, I hope we don’t see too many more trades like Teo/Swanson during competitive windows. I guess if Macko turns into something then that changes things but RPs (especially those with no track records like Swanson prior to 2022) are very risky in general.

Between the two, Jansen seems more signable assuming he's open to staying, but it probably won't be cheap if he stays reasonably healthy this season. He really should have been extended already. Tough to say with Kikucki. He has a very middling track record prior to 2023 and will be entering his age 34 season next year. Snell won the Cy Young and had the same agent, and had trouble in free agency. Really depends on the market, I guess.

Martinez in LF or 1B becomes a lot less valuable, but if he really is a butcher in the infield (2B/SS/3B), then they may not have a choice. The bat looks like it could be good and that's what matters more at this rate.

Teoscar had an 81 wRC+ at Safeco last season, otherwise he's been a fairly consistent player since 2020 even with the high K rates. Wish the Jays signed him (for performance and clubhouse) but I don't think we can assume he would have come here and performed the same way.