glory

Hopefully there is some 9th inning magic because this would be a terrible loss.

Banda in a high leverage spot seems a little risky.

Jays had their 2nd best starter on the mound, their best lineup on the field, and are facing a AAA roster (almost entirely) and still could lose. If there is a way to blame Charlie and/or Tapia for this, please let me know.

Yeah this is an excellent lineup. The right players are playing, and moving Bichette down in the order was badly needed. Schneider already looking better than Buntoyo.

Yeah with the current roster, if they don't want to play both catchers at once and want to use DH as a revolving door of rest days for their regulars, then Biggio needs to be the everyday utility player. When Gurriel is DH, then Biggio is in LF. When Vlad is DH, then Biggio at 1B. Etc. The issue is when Springer needs a blow, but either live with Zimmer there in that spot or might as well use Biggio there. Not like Tapia is a great defensive CF. Basically, Tapia shouldn't be on this team, so the fact that he's in the lineup at all is a problem. My guess/fear is that this is a 2016 Justin Smoak situation where they see Tapia having some type of breakout potential with the bat and wanting to see it through. Otherwise his playing time makes no sense at all.

I know it’s not happening this season but really hope the Angels trade him. You just don’t know how long he will be able to do both at this level, and it would be a shame if he wastes any more of this for that franchise.

Yeah as much as I want them to replace Tapia, I see them standing pat on the position player side. My guess is all the pickups are going to be pitching (1 starter and then as many RP's as they can afford/get).

The player to benefits most from the way the Jays use the DH spot is Tapia, who is awful. If Benintendi were getting those plate appearances instead, it would be a pretty dramatic upgrade. The Jays simply don’t like using both catchers at the same time often enough. Replacing Tapia with a LH OF would be a nice fit.

So Benintendi is not a trade option for the Jays. Would have fit perfectly. Need a LH bat to avoid Tapia getting 550 plate appearances.

First game, Tapia starts. Thread is necessary.

The Jays would have to miss the playoffs entirely for Schneider not to be named the full time manager after this season, IMO. Seems like more of a formality, but I guess we will see. The last time the Jays were looking for a manager it was in a season where they were expecting to tank hard after being bad for 2 straight years. The job should be a lot more attractive now than it was then, so hopefully they do an actual search at the end of the season. Maybe Schneider ends up being the right call regardless. We will see.

Montoyo will be back working in the Rays org in no time. He's never going to be a manager again, but he'll still be in baseball, I'm sure.

Oh my god, best news of the season.

Always have to enjoy this lineup when we get it. Probably won't see it again for a few days at least (unless the team losing actually smartens them up).

With the way the Jays use DH, I don't think Horowitz has a future here even if the bat is legit.

If they fire Charlie then it’s going to be Schneider replacing him. I don’t know if that’s better or the same (can’t be worse, I hope).

The Jays were a World Series pick by many outlets if I recall correctly. They have to be the biggest so far. The White Sox were supposed to win their (s*****) division but the Jays were supposed to be the best team in the AL (or at least damn close to it).

Probably a frightening thought for every team in the league other than this one.

If the Angels sell, then Syndergaard seems like he would be a possibility. He’s lost about 3-5 mph so he’s not the same guy but probably still good enough to slot in the bottom end of the rotation (behind Manoah, Gausman, and hopefully an improved Berrios) and shouldn’t cost much. As far as the relievers, look for any relievers with walk issues and hard contact issues but still strike guys out. Atkins loves those buy low types.

Yeah I think we underrate the level of risk involved in the Springer/Gausman/Berrios contracts. There’s real decline potential there in the latter parts of those deals, and if the team is not developing the next Vlad/Kirk/Bo/etc by 2025 then it’s going to be tough to create the sustainable winner they always talk about once Vlad/Bo are either extended or leave. That’s not even factoring the lack of pitching development (aside from Manoah) that hasn’t gotten better over time. With that said, I agree with not going to all in this deadline. They are not catching the Yankees, and really only have 1, maybe 2, threats to their WC spot (Mariners and maybe CLE since they play in a s*** division). Do enough to get a WC spot and then hope Manoah/Gausman/Berrios can get you to the DS. After that it’s a crapshoot.

That's the scary part here. When the Jays were a few games above .500 around the deadline last year they had like a +100 run differential and weren't even allowed to play home games for the first 4 months of the season. You could at least argue that they were grossly underachieving and a 2nd half run like they had was possible. The current team is playing about to their expected levels, and now have injuries/ineffectiveness which is exposing their biggest weaknesses (SP depth and relievers). They'll need a bunch of reinforcements at the deadline, and need to start getting serious here. If they want to be cute and give 500 PA's to Tapia because they want to develop his bat, or calling up scrub after scrub to pitch out of the pen, then be prepared for these results.

Eh, they've been bad for years, but they are still future hall of famers, and they won't be taking a spot from anyone. I don't see an issue with celebrating their careers, although I don't think Cabrera is retiring after this season, so they should have waited until next year's AS game for him.

I really don’t care about Trout (he signed that long ass extension knowing they were a dumpster fire so that’s on him), but I hope Ohtani is smart enough to get out of there when he’s a FA. I’d prefer if the Angels traded him this month to jump start the much needed tear down but I have a feeling they are going to milk this for as long as they can. We as baseball fans just have to hope Ohtani doesn’t take an extension before he has a chance to test the market.

The White Sox and Guardians are in the s***** AL Central, so I guess we can't rule them out as being able to go on a run. The Mariners are in a division with one great team and mediocrity/bad everywhere else. The M's have been on a roll, have good SP/RP, and Julio Rodriguez is a beast. A week or two ago I would have said the Jays were a playoff lock, and maybe they still are to some degree, but it doesn't look like a certainty right now. This isn't an underachieving team with a +100 run differential like last season. They are pretty much where they should be from the looks of it, if not a bit lucky (though schedule has been tough). The Jays only have 3 years with Vlad after this one. They already wasted an opportunity last season. They can't waste anymore.

Yeah, Charlie's only/main skill seems to be dealing with players (it's certainly not in-game stuff), so for him to make that quote about Kikuchi is pretty alarming. Although to be fair, it's infuriating as a fan to watch Kikuchi when he's not on, so I can imagine it being a lot worse in the field and dugout when you're playing behind him. As far as Biggio, it seems the organization (Charlie plus everyone else) thinks that Tapia has more potential. The most logical thing to do, especially when he's on a hot streak, is to play Biggio everyday all over the field. That's really the only way this "we need to DH regulars everyday" concept makes any sense, when you plug a good player into different spots so the regular can DH. For them to be using that on a -0.6 WAR player instead is baffling. It's something bad organizations do, not what the Jays should be doing. The Jays are in a playoff spot, and probably will get a WC spot when all is said and done (unless the Mariners go crazy in the 2nd half.....can't see anyone else as a threat), but man is this team flawed and not fun to watch right now. Although this could work out in the end if they hold on to the 3rd WC spot at the end of the season and face the Twins in the WC round instead of Red Sox/Rays.