glory

Atkins' strength is definitely finding cheap relievers.

Diesel as a mop up guy starting off well. He shouldn't start unless it's an emergency.

I can't believe Jansen was such a good hitter in the minors. He's been s*** in the Majors for the most part. I said before the year, Kirk will be the starting C by the end of the season (and definitely in 2022) but hopefully Jansen can hit even a little bit as the season goes on.

Diesel better finish this game. No sense making any pitching changes here unless the Jays somehow tie or take the lead.

BABIP'd by the Royals. Doesn't bring back any painful memories, or anything. At least they'll start making legit hard contact now that the Diesel is in.

Gotta hand it to Buntoyo. I was expecting Panik to get a ton of playing time here with Biggio in RF, but he's sticking with Palacios, who is at least young and may have some upside (his nice start to the season doesn't hurt).

I think everyone will have a bias towards what they grew up with and/or are accustomed to, but with baseball it's probably a legitimate argument. I mentioned before that I think basketball today is too 3 point happy, and I much preferred the 90s/00s style, but look how popular the NBA is with young people and in general. It's not impacting the sport in a negative way, it's just a difference of opinion. With baseball, I very rarely see people (young or old) saying how much better the game is today. No one is talking about the beauty of three true outcomes, or openers, or players taking notes out of their pockets to tell them where to stand/what to throw, or 4 hour games, etc. Every time the topic of baseball is brought up on a more national level it's always about "how does MLB fix the game?", or some variation of that. There is a real problem. That doesn't mean people who enjoy today's game are wrong, at the end of the day it is all subjective, but MLB is testing out an insane amount of rule changes because the people who genuinely enjoy today's product from an aesthetic standpoint are likely the minority. If today's MLB resembled 1998-2003 (or whatever years you want to group with the "Steroid Era") when it comes to the variety of skills you were watching everyday, then the "get off my lawn" arguments would likely closer resemble what's going on in the NBA today, and not what's actually happening.

I agree with all of this. The variety is gone. The separation of skill set is gone. Too many players are identical in skill set, to varying degree of results, and the orgs are the cause of this because they are breeding the same type of players from the minors on up. That's why I really enjoyed watching Stroman despite people hating on his lack of K's. He is practically the opposite of what baseball preaches. He wants ground balls, he wants to go deep into games, etc, and yet still performs at a high level. Nowadays baseball is just a factory for pitchers with high velocity and high K's, and TTO hitters. If excessive TTO was entertaining to watch, then you could live with it, but the fact that it's boring as hell and makes games a lot longer/slower is a huge, huge problem. MLB has to be willing to change the way the sport has functioned for a long time. They will get resistance from old time fans because baseball fans hate change more than any other fanbase it seems, but they have to be willing to take the criticism on the chin and try to grow the sport. Move the mound back a foot. Regulate (don't abolish) the shift. Limit pickoff attempts per AB/pitcher must step off rule to help increase stolen bases (much needed). Add a pitch clock. Even the extra inning rule that practically everyone hates. Consider shortening the regular season and expanding the playoffs. All of these changes will have fans cursing up a storm, but they'll get over it. The game has to evolve.

Vlad and Bo in the middle of this lineup for at least the next 5 years is going to be so fun, especially now that Vladdy is looking like he's figured it out with the bat. Lot of other players are slumping/low BABIP's, so hopefully just a matter of time before the offense starts to click collectively. Also, I give Buntoyo a lot of s***, but nice use of the pen today.

I don't get why Thornton is in the pen while Zeuch is starting. Even if he's not completely stretched out yet, it's not like Zoinks is going to eat up innings either.

Bo is a superstar offensive talent.

Yeah I'm good with both of these changes. Taijuan Walker and TJ Zeuch are hitting 96 on the gun nowadays, never mind the relievers who come in. Combine the ridiculous velocity every pitcher seems to have with the deadened ball and it's just going to make strike outs even more out of control. Moving the mound back would be a way to even things out a bit and hopefully lead to more contact. I also despise the opener so if the double hook forces teams to keep starters in longer, then I'm down for that. Analytics in baseball have hurt the aesthetic value of the game more than any other sport. They can't ban analytics, so they need to work around it. I'm fine with moves like this, plus some of the changes they are going to try out in the minors to get more SB's.

Just saw on Twitter that Alford has 23 PA's so far, 0 hits, and 15 K's. That's kinda bad.

Is Merryweather ok? Seems odd to take him out after 2 pitches.

95 pitches right in line with what he's done this season (92, 90), but man that could have been much worse if Hicks and Odor took some pitches or fouled some off.

Buntoyo loves going to the pen, so why the hell is Ryu still in?

MLB umpires on a roll this season.

That loud fan is almost making me miss empty stadiums.

I'm right there with you. Ridiculous that he's sent down just because of options while we have to sit through Montoyo's man crush of Panik and hope he outplays the 75 wRC+ he's been averaging for the past few years. It's bad enough they are carrying Roark at the expense of better options, but if Buntoyo is going to overplay his backups, then at least have the decency to bring up the best ones. Options in baseball, while I get it, suck for players, especially fringey/bench players.

Espinal > Panik, both as a player and as a roster spot since Buntoyo wouldn't play him too much like he does the vetrin.

Mets waiting until Bass comes into the game in the 9th to score. That's a smart strategy.

If Semien ends up being a ~4 WAR player at 2B/SS again this season, and he likes the org, then he's easily the best medium term option for 2022-25 since he's already on the roster. What type of contract he'd be looking for is the question. I really don't see either of Groshans or Martin being SS's at the big league level (at least not any better than Bo is) so if Bichette is deemed to be more of a 2B/3B for 2022-beyond, then they'll need to invest in a real SS. Beyond Semien, I would think Atkins, given his love for everything Houston Astros the past few years, would be all in on Correa, but he's going to want a huge contract (much bigger and longer than Springer's deal). Semien might just be the easiest and most logical solution, and probably wouldn't take more than a 3-4 year deal.

There is a chance Bo is not a SS, but you can't give up on that at age 23. Semien was a bad SS when he started in the league as well and eventually turned into a really good one. Bo at SS is not Vlad at 3B. He has the tools to be solid there. Of course, the Jays likely won't want to spend too much development time with Bo since they will want to win sooner than later, but using him at short in 2021 was a logical decision. If he looks bad all season, then you reevaluate for 2022 when there is a strong SS class in free agency (or re-sign Semien if he has a good season).

The key is to fire Buntoyo before expanded playoffs becomes a thing. Once that happens, the Jays will probably begin a string of playoff appearances given how many teams Manfred wants in (7 in each league). Fire Charlie this season (after or during), hire an actual MLB level candidate for 2022-beyond, and go from there.

Yeah, Brantley was a perfect fit for this roster.