glory

Heineman needs to be investigated after this game.

Gausman having to gut out 5 innings against a slap dick lineup. Disappointing. At least it’s tied. Keep them at 2 and hopefully get to their pen.

Not surprised at all if it’s due to the splits he always does at 1B. Just silly to keep doing it. Hurts just watching him do it, can’t imagine how it actually feels. Eventually it would get him. Hopefully nothing serious.

Man how does Heineman not catch that?

I think Tigers, Guardians, and Pirates makes more sense. Not sure what Manfred has in mind, but it wouldn't surprise me if the traditional AL/NL alignment is abolished in order to focus on location. With a balanced schedule and every team playing each other now, the traditional AL/NL set up is essentially pointless. Might see a division with the Mets and Yankees in it, and Dodgers and Angels, etc.

I think the Jays should be in a good position this winter. Money coming off the books and and starting pitching dominating the FA pool. Exactly what they need to be spending on. Not many impact position players available other than Tucker, Bo, and Schwarber. Nighengale is saying that the D-Backs could move Marte this winter, which would make a lot of sense for the Jays. Better player than Bo, more reasonable contract (even though it extends to his mid/late 30's), and would pair very nicely with Vlad in the lineup. Gimenez could shift over to SS. Would cost a lot to acquire though, I would imagine, assuming he's available to begin with.

I'm pretty sure Paul Beeston would come out of retirement to demand the Jays remain in the same division as the Yankees and Red Sox, but you would think with 32 teams and presumably four 4 team divisions in each league, that the Jays would probably be geographically realigned with the Tigers rather than the Yankees/Red Sox.

Berrios’ options for 2027-28 will either be 2/48, 2/50, or 2/52 depending on how many innings he throws in 2026. In other words, he’s not opting out. Have to hope Arte Moreno needs a starter this winter.

If Chad Green pitched the 9th, then the Jays would have won this game 14-7. Heiny did well.

Yeah position players shouldn't be allowed to pitch until the final inning.

They were playing Will Wagner at 3B and Barger in RF at certain points in the season. Didn't understand it at the time, and still don't.

Vlad was definitely out, but nice slide either way. Almost worked.

Yeah not surprised. He has options so they don't have to lose anyone, and his only path to playing time would have been if Barger played 3B and Clement went to the bench against RHP, and that ain't happening. Might not be a bad idea to keep France over Joey. Probably a better roster fit (RHB, can play 1B) and he's significantly underperformed his xwOBA while Joey has like a .500 BABIP with undwhelming statcast data. What they do if/when Taters comes back is a more interesting question. By then rosters will be expanded so it may not be an issue.

If the same FO and manager is in place this winter, then it would take a literal bullet to stop Schneider from playing Clement everyday, so my guess is Clement at SS and Gimenez at 2B, or vice versa is the plan. Kinda intrigued by Kasevich as apparently he does hit the ball hard but just hasn't shown much power, so maybe Popkins can do something with that given the excellent contact rates. I think between Barger, Clement, Gimenez, and DS, they have 3B-SS-2B covered reasonably well if they wanted to go internal there and spend on an outfield upgrade. I don't think I'd want to trust Lukes duplicating 2025 moving forward given his age/profile, and not sure Joey is a full time player. I said before, if Atkins could build a player with a mold of clay, it would be Kwan, so I wonder if that's revisited this winter.

Wow Hoffman was great there. Might be a hot take, but Apple TV's broadcast is really good. Better than most of MLB's national partners.

If Straw is coming in as a defensive replacement then he needs to come in later in the game. Could have had Loperfido or France in that spot instead. Regardless, hold this lead now.

The Captain!

Damn DS scared me there going for 3rd. Glad it worked.

Jays now jump to 3rd in home runs allowed, behind the A's and Rockies. When they target starters in free agency this winter, just look at GB% and work from there.

I thought Schneider managed the bullpen very well today.

Yeah Vlad actually works hard and seems to care about his performance. It’s easy to confuse because he’s not the smartest player, so you have to mix in base running mistakes and things like that, but he’s even gotten better in that area. Same with the body issues that plagued him early in his career, he seems to have turned that around as well. Vlad at his current contract is better than Bo at $200M, or whatever he will try to get on the open market.

If Scherzer is staying in the game, then I kinda want to see Schneider try to take the ball out of Max’s hand mid inning.

Jays starters can't just give up regular hits, they have to be home runs.

I could be wrong, but I don't think Bo's market is going to be that big. How many big market/spending teams need shortstops? The Dodgers are the only one I can think of, and Bo doesn't strike me as the type that they'd give a huge contract to. The Tigers will need a SS but they are pretty cheap, their best prospect is a SS in AA, and not sure they have an appetite to spend huge on a SS with Bo's profile given what happened with the Baez contract. The Yankees, Phillies, Red Sox, Cubs, Mets, Rangers, Padres, Angels, etc, are not going to be spending on shortstops. I think Bo on whatever contract he gets is going to age like milk left outside on a hot day, so I hope the Jays aren't the ones who give it to him, but if they wait out his market this winter and he becomes available on a shorter term deal due to lack of big money interest in him, then that wouldn't surprise me.

My biggest fear with the Vlad extension was that his best remaining years would be on teams that weren't going to be good. The 2025 season has helped changed that perception a bit. It's easier to envision a path to sustainable contention, even if it's WC contention, over the next few years than it was when he signed the contract in April. The team has gotten fortunate internal development that if sustainable is massive and their farm system outlook has improved. They will have money to spend this coming winter in an off-season where many teams may not spend due to the impending lockout and/or revenue uncertainty, and the market just happens to be very strong on the one thing the Jays absolutely need to be spending on (SP). The Jays can be buyers in the winter with a much better marketing position (Vlad extended and the team coming off a good 2025). If 2025 went the way many of us (me included) thought it would go, and they were selling at the deadline, then that would have changed everything. If the team is actually competitive for all/most of his remaining prime, then it becomes a lot easier to rationalize the cost.