glory

Anything hit to Bo terrifies me.

The one time Rivera was right, and Vlad doesn't listen.

He was safe. Overturn that s***.

Schneider 4D chess.

2 on, 1 out for JBJ and Tapia. This should be fun.

With JBJ and Tapia hitting back to back in this inning, I kinda wish Collins was still on the roster so Schneider could have started him at catcher today. Missed opportunity.

Biggio should definitely be playing over Tapia, especially if it’s in LF. A smart front office doesn’t give Tapia 400-500 plate appearances in a season they want to compete. I’m not sure what the hell the Jays are doing or what they see in him.

Tapia leading off and JBJ batting 9th. Charlie at home with a tear of joy trickling down his face looking at that lineup.

Romano is probably out for tomorrow's game since it's a day game after a night game and he had to pitch in a blowout in game #1 of this series. Either way, nice win tonight. I didn't find the Apple broadcast as annoying as others did. The unwatchable Apple games are the ones with Melanie Newman (?) as the lead announcer. This one was inoffensive to me.

Looks like Yimi was warming up. I would keep Gausman in as well, but this is Blue Jays baseball now (and I guess most teams). Go to the pen as often as possible.

If anyone complains about YouTube games (where all you need is an internet connection), then you’re simply not going to make everyone happy regardless. Apple TV/Peacock I can understand since you have to pay for those services (though Apple games have been free this season IIRC). My guess is MLB will (or should) eventually create a bundle where if you get MLB.tv, you will get Apple and Peacock for the baseball season as well.

Yeah seriously. Baseball has ebbs and flows. Maybe you don’t need your closer for 6 days but then need him for 6 of the following 9 days. You don’t need to use high leverage guys in blow outs, especially this late in the season when every win is going to be important.

The Jays lack SP depth in the minors so even though Castillo might seem like marginal SP depth, he'd still have value. They could have traded for White and kept Castillo, and probably saw no difference with Biggio playing instead Merrifield.

That...wasn't that bad.

Schneider is just as bad as Buntoyo with handling the pen. Really hope he's not extended after this season. No reason at all to use Bass here.

Bonds hit .276/.480/.565 in his final MLB season at age 42 (477 PA). He could have probably played another 2-3 years, especially on an AL team. Shame he was basically forced out of the game. Roids or not, he was still an elite hitter.

Stripling should be ahead of Berrios (at this moment) but I doubt they’d actually do it. If the Jays make the Wild Card game and it goes to game 3, I think the team gives the ball to Berrios.

Finally.

This team is going to get smoked in a Wild Card series (if they even make it at this point).

Yeah if every team were doing this then I’d say it’s an issue with the agents or the players themselves but the Braves are basically the only team doing this on a consistent basis. Players hand over their primes to AA for less than market value without blinking. AA may have inherited a gold mine but he put his personal stamp on it real quick. Meanwhile waiting for the first young player the Jays can extend to that type of deal.

Yeah seriously. If Vlad was on the Braves, he’d probably already be extended for below market value by now.

Jimmy gets to face the 2-3-4 hitters while Bass got the bottom of the order last inning. Not sure that was the wisest strategy if you believe Bass’ 2022 is legit, but we shall see.

Hernandez, Chapman, and Gurriel are all FA's after 2023, and I can't think of one prospect today who looks like he might be ready to take one of those spots by 2024. Maybe Orelvis if his 2023 looks better than 2022 but expecting him to hit the ground running if he does make it is probably going to end in disappointment, and the Jays can't afford to spend the last two years of Vlad/Bo's control (2024-25) with a 3B who may need a few years to develop. I don't see any OF's on the horizon unless I'm forgetting someone. The Jays really need a CF but that's the toughest OF position to fill. That's not even factoring the more obvious holes, which are bullpen (clearly), and the rotation which will not have Stripling and Ryu next season, and we have no idea what is happening to Berrios. Kikuchi also sucks right now, so that's an issue. It's going to be very interesting to see what they do this winter. If they are seeing the same thing I'm seeing as far as the overall state of the roster/farm system, then I think they do some riskier things this winter to maximize 2023-25 wins. By riskier, I mean "sign Edwin Diaz to an insane contract" type of risky. Of course, if the Jays go on a magical run this October, then obviously that changes things.

I am pretty confident saying Seattle and Toronto (even though they haven't looked like it recently). The last spot is harder. The Rays are so injury ravaged. The Orioles are probably overachieving but actually have (potentially) difference making young talent starting to filter up, so I wouldn't rule them out. Cleveland is probably winning the Central, and I'm not buying the Twins or White Sox. So I'll say Seattle, Toronto, and Baltimore, but I'm not as comfortable picking Baltimore as I am the other two.

Ha-Seong Kim has actually been a pretty decent replacement for Tatis this season. Coming into tonight he had a 100 wRC+ and 2.5 WAR. He's a really good defensive SS. Obviously it would have been better (and more fun) with Tatis there, but Padres can probably make do for now.