glory

Yeah, maybe the Jays had a point when they questioned Barger's future position.

If there were 7 games in a week, Kirk was playing at least 6 of them when Jansen was on the IL. It was ridiculous. Serven isn't even a minor league quality catcher, much less a big league one, but maybe get a better 3rd string catcher if the alternative is using your one healthy one (who is also grossly out of shape) every single game. Hopefully Jansen gets the bulk of the playing time now, maybe 4 of every 7 games or something like that, and Kirk's performance over the season trends up.

Yeah I think there's a chance Vlad turns his career around after leaving the Jays. Not sure what the reason for his struggles here are, whether it's his own stubbornness, coaching, injury, or all of it, but it's year 6. It's time to stop dreaming on him regardless of what the underlying numbers say. There is a disconnect somewhere. That's the frustrating part for me. I can definitely see a scenario where he's non tendered or traded for scraps after this season and then has an amazing 2025, and we can't even say "Jays should have kept him" because he wouldn't have done that in a Jays uniform. Just have to accept that as a real possibility.

Vlad/Bo coming into this game with a combined -0.1 WAR and sub 100 wRC+, and both of those figures likely not moving much after this game, makes it a damn miracle that this team is 14-15. We keep hoping that once that turns around and both get hot, then things will start to get better, and hopefully that happens, but man seeing how bad both have been this season is eye opening.

I'd much rather have Jimi face Muncy than the 2024 version of Mayza.

Bassitt not getting the high strike calls.

Yeah if Barger was going to be an option in LF in case of injury, then I'm not sure why they didn't have him play there a bit in the minors.

Letting Vogelbach hit against a LHP when they had Turner and DS on the bench is ridiculous.

Vogelbach has a career 35 wRC+ against LHP.

Turner against a righty seems like a better matchup than Vogelbach against a lefty.

Big to hold it to 3-1. I know it's asking a lot but scoring some runs now would be nice.

Yeah probably shouldn't have put him in a spot he's never played before.

Barger in LF tonight.

A lot of this is just noise, though. Like, Biggio has a .412 BABIP and .290 xwOBA. He's going to regress hard, though if they use him based on matchups which they appear to be doing, then maybe they can mask that a little bit. Bichette is going to get better. Vlad (hopefully) is going to get better. Kirk and Springer can't possibly get any worse, and Jansen is back now. IKF's underlying numbers are actually pretty good, so while I don't expect him to continue to hit this well, he may not be the 80 wRC+ player that he's been in the past. But still, very SSS. I think the best part of the season so far in terms of offense has been the way they have maximized the DS/IKF/Clement/Biggio performance. Much like last season, this team's offensive upside is going to come down to which Vlad shows up. If he's a 115 wRC+ player who drills GB's like he's doing it on purpose and is a 1 WARish 1B with s*** defense/base running again, then it's going to put a lot of pressure on the ancillary pieces to carry the load again. If he's even the 2022 version of Vlad (130 wRC+, 30 HR) then it would drastically change the outlook of the offense. Unfortunately, I think even that bar is too high to expect from Vlad at this point. Something is not right with him.

Varsho, Orelvis, Barger, and Schneider is actually a pretty decent start to a new core (on paper), assuming Varsho is back to being a 100+ wRC+ player and can finally play CF regularly. Bring Jansen back on a long term deal (with his injury history baked in it should in theory lower the cost), and put Roden in AAA to see if he's a potential late 2024 or 2025 contributor. That combined with a lot of money to play with in free agency/trades. I'm ready.

Excited about Barger, if true. Not sure where he would play since I don't think he has played LF, and I don't see them putting him at 3B over IKF who is actually doing well so far, but we will see.

Vlad is either going to break out on another team or this is what he is now.

Vlad missing a catch that most of us would have gotten cost the Jays the game tonight. The team does have bigger issues (the offense) but losing a game because of that is infuriating.

Seriously, it wasn't a normal Bo Bichette throw that was off line and Vlad had to stretch for it. IKF's throw was perfect. Like how the f*** do you miss that?

Damn Vlad, that was a perfect throw by IKF.

Man I wish Jansen was starting tonight.

I would assume Garcia and Romano are not going to be used tonight (would be 4th time in 5 days for both). Gonna need the bats to wake up and/or get some length out of Gausman here.

DS starting at 2B tonight. If I'm counting correctly, then this is his 8th start in the team's last 10 games. He's slowly getting a more regular role, which as you said is the right call.

I mean, the fat one is looking like a powerless slap hitting backup catcher as well at this point (granted with good defense), but either way, if Varsho is a 4 WAR player with a 100 or better wRC+ like he was pre-2023, then it really doesn't matter what Moreno does. The Jays badly needed a controllable OF who could play CF and had 3 catchers. If Varsho holds up his end, then the Jays got what they traded for. They might regret not having Moreno in 2025 when the only catcher on the 40 man roster will be Kirk and his now noodle bat, but they could bring back Jansen or sign/trade for another catcher as well. Cross that bridge when you get there. Either way, good to see Varsho performing well. With Vlad's 2023 bleeding into 2024 now, the Jays are going to need as much offense/WAR from others as possible.

I don't have an issue with the way they have used the bullpen so far. Yimi should be facing the best hitters on the opposing team given how he's looked so far. He's locked in. We will see if JS pivots his plan and uses Jimi in the 9th inning if the opposing team's best players are up at that point.