glory

The bunting (especially with 2 strikes) and batting your best hitters 8th can't possibly be the front office, but I can buy the rest of it being Buntoyo following orders. Starters being pulled after 70-80 pitches or 2 times through the order is definitely orders from above Charlie. Maybe resting certain guys on certain days (like Gurriel tonight) is the same. The Yankees have been accused of hiring Boone as simply a mindless puppet who will follow orders (as opposed to Girardi), and he has the same tendencies of pulling pitchers early, giving rest days for no reason, etc. It's why I'm not expecting the Jays to move on from Montoyo even if they collapse the rest of the way. He'll jump when they tell him to jump. That's what most front offices want now.

Hopefully they just let Stripling finish this game (unless the Jays take the lead).

Yeah, kinda have to view 2020 as a wash for Stripling. He needs to turn it around next season.

I don't mind the move. Roark is trash so getting 4 out of him and still being tied is the best case scenario, and Stripling can log 3-4 innings here. Although, Stripling hasn't been good this season so it might not work out ultimately, but still a good time to pull Roark.

Without Hernandez and Tellez, he might get that chance temporarily. Obviously would rather have those two back, but let's see what Fisher can do in the mean time.

I hate the days Roark pitches. Hopefully this is a tandem start with Stripling.

McKinney can play 1B so if the Jays had any faith in his bat then he might be a decent option for a callup. I don't think he's going to be much of anything as a hitter, but let Dante (or whoever is helping the Jays hitters at the big league level) get a few days with him and see what happens. Other than that, not much else on the 40 man currently that can realistically fill in. I'm not high on Vogelbach, but could have been a decent fill in. Just bad timing.

Let's get this thread back to its normal premise. Tonight's lineup has a bottom 3 of Joseph, Fisher, and Davis (yes, Caleb hitting in front of Fisher). Panik is at 3B and Shaw at 1B due to Rowdy's injury. But man, with a day off tomorrow, you couldn't keep Gurriel and Jansen in the lineup?

Siakam+ for Giannis is a no brainer. Even if Giannis leaves after a year like Kawhi did, it would at least give the Raptors another legit shot at a championship, something they don't have as currently constructed and likely will not have if they keep this existing group together (Pascal/Fred/OG). The latter is a very good regular season team but likely a 2nd round exit most years. The 2018-19 season should clearly illustrate that when a top 3-5 player becomes available and you have the assets to get him, then you do it even if it's a rental. Pascal is a better all around player than DeRozan, but impact-wise, I don't think he's much different as a #1 option. As a 2nd/3rd option on a championship contender, he'd be great (as he proved in 2018-19). So the Raptors need to either acquire a player better than him while holding on to him at the same time, or move him for a piece that would put the team in a better position to contend for a title. However, I don't think the Bucks trade him to the East, if they trade him at all. More likely they trade him West, although PG and AD were traded within the conference, so who knows. Bucks wouldn't have a ton of leverage if they moved him since teams know he only has a year left. If I were the Bucks, I'd just keep him for a year and try everything to win a title next season. If it fails, it fails, but at least in that scenario they would have exhausted all their chances with him.

Cito benched 1993 John Olerud in a World Series game to get Ed Sprague into the lineup. I could totally see Charlie doing something like that, so maybe this is a good thing. We can't win with a pure analytics guy. We need more "I had a feeling he'd hit a home run" and "I'm batting the best hitter 8th to turn the lineup over". Time to embrace it.

Dolis has been very solid this season.

That could have been a lot worse.

Coming into tonight's game, Vladdy and Panik have the same WAR from 2019-20. That's pretty sad.

The Jays need innings from their SP so they are going to have to ride Walker here, good or bad.

A quick inning would be nice here by Walker.

Never mind. Boone shook this ump. He's not going to be helping the Jays.

All Walker needs to do is be 4-5 inches away from the strike zone and this ump will give him a few calls. Unfortunately his called balls are no where near the strike zone.

The HP ump is the same ump that Boone verbally destroyed last year ("savages in the box"). He deserved every bit of it based on tonight's strike zone.

I've been saying, Davis as a 4th/5th OF who plays exclusively against LHP has value.

Stripling last pitched on Friday. He could probably come on in relief to pitch multiple innings. Walker looks bad. He's not going to last long.

Yankees not swinging at Walker's junk. Must be stealing signs.

Don't mind this. Davis has done pretty well against lefties in the minors. Not enough sample in MLB, but 87 wRC+ and .375 OBP in 41 PA in limited time. Eh, I'm fine with it. Although to be fair Villar has looked so trash since the trade, I'd probably be OK with anyone over him at this point.

Villar is awful. Dumb as rocks and infuriating to watch. I know he had a good year in 2019 but seeing him everyday just paints a different picture.

Anything hit to Villar is frightening.

Ryu’s getting rocked.