glory

One trick pony who is not doing the only thing he’s good at yet. He will get hot eventually but he really needs to be a 35+ HR bat every year to have value.

Nicely done Kirk. Schneider having to manage 3 bullpen innings without Hoffman now. I’m terrified but hopefully the Jays can score more to make it less stressful.

Why is Lukes losing playing time against RHP to Clase? Did I miss something (injury)?

Stuff like pulling a struggling closer for a better matchup is why the Rays always seem to perform better than expected. No chance Schneider pulls Fairbanks there.

Brutal loss, but a better loss than the 2-1 losses where the Jays hit 16 singles.

Of course when the Jays score 7 runs off nothing but home runs, that's when the pitching gives up 11. When the Jays score 1 run on 13 singles, the pitching is lights out.

Daulton f'n Varsho!

Vlad in his prime makes us want to rip our hair out, I can’t imagine what 14 more years will feel like.

Jays need to beat Baz just for that mustache.

Crazy to think that if the Jays had just won 1 of the games against the Angels that they blew late, then they would have been in a playoff spot right now. Doesn't feel that way given how they've played most of the season. The AL has no great teams, and only a couple of truly bad teams, so it's really wide open.

Schneider probably threw a tantrum between innings knowing he couldn't use Hoffman or Garcia in this game due to the score. Seriously though, great to see the bats waking up. They needed at least one (likely more than that) young bat to turn into something, and maybe we are seeing that with Barger.

If this team is within striking distance of a WC spot at the deadline then they will definitely be buyers. They shouldn't be, but lame duck management doesn't care about tomorrow. They want to secure today so that there is a tomorrow for them. The Jays either need to go on a real run or need to start falling out of the race entirely. The middle is going to screw them because neither management nor ownership has the team's long-term interests in mind.

If Barger is even a passable 3B then they have to keep him there, even though he’s likely better in RF. He’s the team’s best chance at developing a good hitter as you can’t fake exit velocity.

Devers: "I'm not playing first base. Ever." Red Sox: "Ok, then we are trading you to Toronto". Devers: "Which first base gloves do you recommend?"

3 straight singles + 0 runs in the inning, followed by Vlad not knowing how to catch an accurate throw from the third baseman. I kinda like these west coast games, as I can go to sleep and not have to watch them.

They basically needed the pitching to collectively repeat 2023 while Vlad and Bo performed like stars at the same time. The former was never going to happen, and the latter has only happened once (2021). I guess it was possible (85+ wins), but not very probable unless a lot of things broke right. The run differential is a very accurate assessment of this team's talent level right now. It's not a good team by any metric. As far as Rogers being morons, they bid against themselves and gave a 1B $500M. That's on top of essentially giving Ross Atkins a blank check to spend into the upper tier of the entire sport. This is an ownership group that didn't want to add a dime to the 2014 payroll at the trade deadline when the Jays were actually in a playoff spot, but gave Atkins the green light to save the Guardians $110M over 5 years by absorbing Gimenez and Straw's contracts. I think questioning their baseball intelligence is fair, although as an ownership group in general they are good (high payroll).

It’s going to suck when one or more of the final playoff spots will be going to Central teams with 86 wins again who got there exclusively by beating up the White Sox. Meanwhile the 91 win Jays team in 2021 sat at home because they were the 4th best team in their own division. The AL is so wide open but this team won’t be taking advantage (again).

George Springer dead cat bounce being the only good thing about this season is sad. Happy for him but Springer bouncing back should have been a huge development for the roster, and it’s basically going to be wasted. Best case maybe this makes him tradable at the deadline if he keeps it up.

Yeah floating around .500 with a lame duck front office is not the ideal scenario. Either way, this team isn't rebuilding/tearing down any time soon with the Vlad extension (combined with other moves that hit 2026-30 payroll). It's the definition of no man's land. I have no idea what a logical trade deadline even looks like if the team is selling because ownership is going to want a team with a chance to contend in 2026, and I don't want Atkins (or Shapiro if Rogers lets him go) handling it either way. Tough spot.

The 2022 team had six hitters (min 200 PA) with a wRC+ of 129 or higher. Even Espinal was a league average hitter that year. Better times. Then John Schneider didn't know how to manage in Game 2 of the WC round, the front office lost their collective minds, and here we are 3 painful/boring years later.

It's not even a fun entertainment product. It's frustrating as hell to watch this team even when they win games. A bad team with a top 5 payroll in baseball that also happens to be incredibly boring to watch. Not the best combo.

I'm not saying they should give him away, I'm saying they likely wouldn't get a team to take his contract even if they were giving him away. If he was a ~100 wRC+ SS with great defense, then maybe, or if he reverted back to something close to his 2022 mode then sure, but not now. No team values 2B defense that much (except Shatkins) even if it did come with close to league average offense. I don't even disagree that I think Gimenez might be a league average bat, he's been very unlucky so far. That doesn't mean he's someone whose contract the Jays should have absorbed at nearly $100M, especially since he's had two consecutive seasons with sub 100 wRC+'s. This is a contract you absorb if you think it's buying low on someone who's closer to 2022 form than 2023 (we'll ignore 2024). If he suddenly becomes an above average bat, then obviously the contract looks way better. Like I said, the Jays have zero prospects I'd trust to be good MLB'ers at 2B/SS other than Nimmala who is 19 in A+, so ultimately it's likely not that big of a deal. Just play him at SS until Nimmala is ready, slide him back to 2B after that, and hope the defense/base running holds up for 4 more years. But I think many people had to wipe vomit from their mouths when the trade was first announced, and there was a reason for that. It is what it is.

If you think Gimenez is an asset at 4/86.5 (after this season) then we can agree to disagree. I don’t think you’d be able to give that contract away. The only team that would pay big money for defense alone is the one Gimenez is currently on. Again, he’s not a bad player, but ~$20M AAV for a player like him is not a good use of resources, especially for a team in the Jays situation.

Gimenez is a 2B though (for now), and since 2023 has a 83 wRC+ in his last 1385 PA. Nearly $100M for a glove first 2B is not a good investment. If he is a league average-ish hitter and a great defensive SS, then that would make the contract more appealing, so let's hope that's the plan next season and hopefully he can still handle SS defensively. Obviously the bat being around 90-100 wRC+ would help as well.

Gimenez is a good player who is grossly overpaid. If he was the same player except a SS, then I think it would be more palatable, so hopefully that's the plan next season (until our savior Nimmala is ready, at least). I was intrigued by the Gleyber Torres pillow contract rumor in the off season. Wish the Jays would have pulled the trigger on that instead. I don't think anyone is touching the Gimenez contract as it gets into the $20M AAV range, even if he ends up being closer to a league average bat. With that said, other than Arjun, the Jays literally have no one that looks like a potentially good big league starter at 2B/SS any time soon, so Gimenez will have value to the team in that regard.