glory

Looking competitive in this series was fun while it lasted. Can't wait until the Jays are back in Buffalo. I liked it better when the Yankees were accusing the Jays of cheating (while the 50 runs the Yankees score in this series is all talent).

Bauer wanting to pitch on 3 days rest is actually a benefit for the Jays. Instead of throwing tire fire out there like Roark, just cave into Bauer's demands, and since it's a one year deal he's looking for, run his ass to the ground if it helps you win. Win/win.

If Gurriel keeps hitting like this, he'll be batting 8th or 9th soon.

Still miss him.

I am leaning towards lineups coming from above Buntoyo's head. Last year he was routinely batting Gurriel and Vlad in the same spots (at least it seemed that way). Now players are moving around all over the place for no reason at all. Either Charlie has lost whatever mind he had, or he's following orders.

He looks very good with traditional stats as well. He won the batting title last year, and is leading the AL in average again (though it's close). Since the start of 2019, he's had nearly 700 PA, and is hitting .345/.371/.530. As mentioned, he's probably closer to a .300 BA hitter than what he's done since 2019, but I don't think he's a big fluke, either. He's likely still a very good player even when his BABIP normalizes. Not a MVP player, but this is a 60 game season, so crazy things are going to happen when you're basing performance on small sample size.

But the Jays are paying him $12m regardless. Let him throw low leverage innings out of the pen on days when the good relievers need a rest. Can he be replaced by someone making the minimum in that role? Of course, but unless you can make his contract disappear, at least that way you'll get some value out of him. If they release him, I'm fine with that too. Or flip him for Familia on the Mets. Nearly identical money left for both players. Mets could probably use rotation depth, and Jays have good track record with relievers in recent years.

If the Jays insist on keeping him, they should use him in the Sam Gaviglio 2019 role. Mop up innings in blowouts, and starter only in case of catastrophic emergency. Otherwise, find someone with an equally bad contract and make the swap. If he’s in next year’s rotation, then that’s not a good look.

Looking at the WAR leaders.... Tim Anderson, AL MVP? Leads AL in WAR, plays SS, and is on team with the best record in the AL (misleading due to schedule but still). Tatis in the NL should be a no brainer.

Steve Cohen is buying the Mets. They'll probably spend money this winter, not trade deGrom. The Jays were apparently after Odorizzi this past winter. His velocity and everything is good this season, just some missed time. I could see them revisiting that, especially without the QO involved. I wouldn't mind a Stroman reunion, especially since he's probably looking at a one year deal/pillow contract, but he likely wants no part of Shatkins and Shatkins wants no part of him.

Roark will probably look better in a 162 game season when depth starters are more in need, and he won't have to face East teams all season, but I'm not sure what Shatkins was expecting when they signed him, especially when starting games at Yankee Stadium, Fenway, etc. A below average innings eater was probably his best case scenario, and in a truncated season where every game matters and he has to face more good offenses, he's not eating innings or pitching below average (it's a lot worse). Disaster signing.

Gurriel and Vlad should be batting 3 and 4, and I realize Vlad isn't a great hitter yet. Not sure why Charlie wants to be cute with the lineups and have Shaw and Grichuk up so high.

Wags and Perez in the next 4 innings means this game will last another 2.5 hours, at least. Charlie not letting Roark get 110+ pitches to save the pen is stupid.

The best hope would be if the White Sox finish with the 1st seed, and the Jays get 8th. I'm not sure the Jays are even better than the White Sox (who admittedly are beating up on s***** competition), but that might be the only team I could see the Jays beating 2/3.

Hell no. Let him eat up as many innings as possible. If it means 125 pitches to get through 6, so be it. This man wants to be an innings guy, this is the time to let him be one.

Is there any bad contract on another team that could be traded for Roark in the off season? I want some glimmer of hope that I never have to see him pitch for the Jays again after 2020 is over.

Let Roark throw 8 innings tonight. Jays won’t score off Cole, the pen is shot, and Roark wants to go deeper into games.

He's a free agent after this season so he's likely trying to show he's healthy to get a contract. Unfortunately, he's likely damaged goods at this rate.

Urshela probably doesn't develop into what he is in any other org. Complaining about losing him is pointless.

He's reduced his K and whiff rates, but aside from that, he seems like the same player more or less from a results standpoint. Streaky, low OBP, good power. I was buying into the reduced K rate being more significant, and maybe with a bigger sample size it will prove to be, but still too early to tell.

Yeah, I think if they had the stars of each team make the selection, explain their selection, and then the team chosen has their star respond in a back and forth, it would make for great TV, especially if the players chosen have personality. The #1 seed right now in the AL is the White Sox. I have no doubt that Tim Anderson choosing an opponent would be entertaining. Unfortunately, the Rays are the 2nd seed, so not only would their star player be boring as hell, but their reasoning for choosing a specific opponent would probably be 5 minutes of in depth statistical analysis. Regardless, imagine a scenario where the Yankees choose the Astros to play in the 1st round. Judge, who got screwed out of the MVP in 2017, has to explain why. Bregman being the dbag that he is would have to respond. And so on. As long as there are no "unwritten" filters where the players are afraid to trash talk, it would help give teams some identity and give ammo to the teams selected in the first round. Plus, no other sport does it, so if done properly, it would be unique to MLB, which would help. I realize I probably made baseball purists vomit, but it's a new day. Time to embrace change.

Agreed. If seeds 1-4 have all the home games in the 1st round, get to choose their opponent, and only have to win 1 of the 3 games, then I'm fine with 16 teams. It makes being a 5-8 seed pretty unattractive, but at least it gives more teams a chance to have post season play. My guess is they won't do the "higher seed only has to win 1" model. The other two seem likely. I have said before, "choose your opponent" is a money idea. Have a 30 minute show where the star of each team represents their team and chooses their opponent. It would be great, and make the first round a lot more meaningful. Too much money to be made with more playoffs. I read that ABC will be airing some of the Wild Card games this year, and all the others on ESPN and ESPN 2. They instantly become a more valuable commodity to TV networks with more content. There's no going back to the old playoff format.

I did too, but surprised they kept it at 16. I thought they might go 14 and give the top teams a bye like was rumored many months ago. If they keep it at 16, then they need to give the top seeds an advantage, otherwise the regular season loses any meaning. Maybe in the 3 game WC series, the lower seed has to win 2 while the higher seed only has to win 1. At least that makes finishing higher more of an incentive.

I think everyone knew Kawhi left a better team 'weaker' conference to go home, so clearly championships was not his main objective. Still, the Raptors went as far as the Clippers did, except they didn't wet the bed in Game 7 like the Clips did.

If everyone is healthy, we will probably see Ryu, Shoemaker, and pick one at random between Walker, Stripling, Ray, Anderson, and Roark (hopefully not Roark) in the Wild Card Series. Teams with rotation depth are going to benefit from this playoff format (ex. Cleveland).