burlingtonbandit

His hair is certainly better than his ability to run a country I'll leave it at that...

I'd be willing to bet 90% of Mlb owners are trump supporters/republican. Hell more than half of America is lol.

FG probably didn't take HFA into effect. Because Vegas is a lot smarter than FG lol.

Kc won with that approach but there has always been a strong correlation to home runs and playoff success… I mean those jays teams did pretty well if you ask me.. Also pitching, more specifically bullpens have gotten way better with higher strikeout numbers since then so home runs are more important than ever. It’s not just some fad, but in today’s game home run correlate more with playoff success. Also are we sure the jays were favoured in the series? Pretty sure the Twins were favoured -130 to -140 to win the series.

You can't just keep pointing to "randomness and luck" and throw your hands up in the air and say well better luck next year. Sure luck is a big factor, but Power and more specifically home runs is a huge driver of success in the postseason and the Jays were terrible all year in that department. So part of it is roster construction. the Phillies hit a ton of homers and look how much success they've had the last 2 postseasons. Its been 6 consecutive losses, not just 2 or 3.

I know what you are saying that it takes 2 to tango but even the KK plus IKF signings weren't ideal/bad. There's an element of reading the market and if we see guys like Bellinger/Chapman sign shorter term deals it's going to sting. I'm more hopeful on Vladdy and Varsho, Springer at this age might just be more of a 2 Win guy. He looked a lot older last season and the bat speed just didn't quite seem the same. Agreed, a young player breaking out would be really help on a lot of fronts.

A big part of this as well has been the garbage offseason to date. You combine last year's failure with a lackluster offseason of overpaying marginal talents and the projected win total of 84-87 games with a 50% chance of the postseason based on projections and here we are. If the Jays had a top 10 or even top 15 farm system with a 5 or 6 prospects above 50FV knocking on the door the perception of Atkins would be different as well. Its when you combine the expectations that the Jays would be competing for division titles as well as the lack of playoff success, the large payroll and the below average farm system that you realize well maybe Atkins isn't that good of a GM. The offseason isn't done but when you hear that the Blue Jays are "done their heavy lifting" you're left with a sour taste in your mouth given the holes that still remain on the roster.

I was responding to a comment he made where he said in the NFL no one remembers if you made the playoffs as a wildcard or by winning the division, when I said in the NFL it’s ALL about playoff success. I still say winning the division matters even if it’s just marginal % points higher for winning a World Series on paper. For one you get the first round bye if you finish top 2 and plus it is nice to see division banners inside the stadium.

That's pretty cool. Always thought the Blue Jays could capitalize on something like this given they Rogers owns SN, like what the Raptors do with the Open Gym. Netflix has a huge outreach and I'm sure they'll gain fans out of this much like Netflix has done with F1 and the PGA shows.

I mean more in the sense he comes off as a loser when speaking with the media, like comes off as fake to fans through the media. If a GM says f*** off to Rosie whatever her name is or Steve Simmons I don't think anyone gives a s***. When he throws his manager under the bus to deflect blame for himself, thats not a real leader. In 2022 5/6 teams who spent 200M made the postseason. In 2023 4/7 missed the postseason with 2 of those teams having terrible FO in Padres and Angels. The others being the Yankees and cursed Mets lol.

Well in the NFL its all about playoff success, no one remembers how you got into the playoffs but they sure as hell remember how many playoff games you win. Which in the Jays case I don't think helps with the point you are trying to make lol. Also I would say it would be impressive if the Jays were running a 125M payroll and making the playoffs year after year. But they are projected for like 85 wins this year with a 230M payroll and still holes on the roster, that I don't find impressive... Wasn't the team actually projected to be decent in 2017? I can't really remember but obviously the team was terrible, but I though preseason expectations weren't that bad. I'm of the opinion with the Blue Jays collaborative FO approach and process their moves wouldn't chance much with Atkins at the helm or someone else. He's terrible with the media (you think he would improve in this regard with 7 years experience) and there's been breakdowns of communication between Front office and coaching staff and FO and players.

I find lots of times guests will let their guard down in podcast settings, and talk more freely. I don't even think its him trying to talk like that, thats literally how he is lol.

No chance they will though. They would alienate a lot of their fans and all the SJW would go nuts on Twitter. Tbh I don't think would be a good idea for them to sign him, especially since its not the biggest need on roster. You would think a team like Texas or KC would sign him though. Their fans wouldn't care plus similar to Chapman, the team could get a good return at the deadline if they decided to trade him. Its almost like the reverse Colin Kaepernick situation.

Jays should just sign him. But the leftwing woke media here would be all over him. He should just go full Sean Strickland and watch the tire fire lol.

Funny because I listened to an episode of Scott Mitchell's podcast with Atkins on and I went into it thinking oh cool I'll finally get to hear him not talk like a corporate robot. And he sounded exactly like he does in interviews. Like couldn't imagine being stuck in a room with the guy for 20 min, Id want to off myself.

Its probably pretty loose already if you're talking about the lips between his legs. He got f***ed hard on the Versho trade lmaooo

I wouldn't call their rotation hot garbage lol. Burnes is a legit 1 Grayson has the stuff of a legit 1 projects to be around 3 WAR which seems about right. Bradish certainly isn't a 2.83 ERA guy but 2.5 WAR seems about right. Kremer as a number 4 is fine. I could see a bit of regression here. Means health certainly is a wildcard but not many teams have a good number 5. Also I think Adley behind the dish is a difference maker that doesn't get talked about enough. It seemed as soon as they called him up in 2022 their pitching become a lot better.

Welcome to the AL East... Its good think the schedule is more balanced than it was too because if it was the old format it would be even tougher. The Orioles are only going to continue to get better as well, same with the Red Sox in future years. I think that's also why last year was so frustrating as a down year by both the Yankees and Red Sox was a prime opportunity for the Jays.

I mean Shapiro has been a big proponent in building a quality farm system and said as much publicly which most would interpret as him saying they would build a great one. If the Jays keep running a 230-250M payroll they should be a playoff contender year after year. Even with a bad farm system that should be quite attainable. I'm saying I wouldn't call making the playoffs with 88 Wins in a 3 team wildcard format much of an achievement if you are running a payroll that large. And while all those players hitting FA the next couple years does free up money they also are providing value that exceeds their cost. And when you combine that with the below average farm you get that "Meh" outlook. That being said if they can do what the Rangers did and sign a star FA in Seager, well it becomes a lot easier to see a path to contention. I do think last year's disappointing season and the offseason so far adds some bias to the future outlook. Come May if Kirk or Varsho have a 135wRC+ or Vladdy looks like 2021 the excitement would jump right back up.

I mean is contending for a wildcard birth that impressive in the 3 team wildcard era? Especially when you have a payroll over 200M? I agree had the Jays won some playoff games the fans feelings towards the FO would be better, at the same time if you judge the entire Ross Atkins tenure to date the team has only made the playoffs 3 times. (If you want to say 2021 team was good enough, I agree but at the same time counting 2020 the team wasn't that good and it was a shortened season). And while the playoffs is a lot of luck, the reality is the team hasn't won one single game. 2022 the team was pretty good and going into the postseason and I think fans were hoping to beat the Mariners but knew they weren't one of the best teams on "paper". Last year everyone knew that Jays team was flawed and it had to been one of the least liked Jays teams I can remember. And then when you combine that with the team's below average farm system and Vladdy and Bo's impending FA status, you're just left with this "Meh" feeling surrounding the franchise.

Singer has been decent but yeah wow that top 10 is really weak.

I understand the thought process behind this but the flaw is it looks like the Blue Jays are going to be headed to a soft rebuild/retool soon anyways. Having a bunch of good depth is great if you have impact type players to surround them but a collection of 1-2 Win players isn't going to compete in the AL East and even the 3rd wildcard may not be enough. Also who knows if ownership is going to continue supporting this level of payroll for a "wildcard" team. Also you would think Attendance at least TV ratings (attendance could have covid impact) would also be stronger in 2022/2023 given it was 6 years since they last made the postseason. The home playoff games in 2022 had really weak demand with secondary ticket prices being like $10 the day of the game (and that was on weekend as well)

I agree he's a "solid" GM on paper when you look at free agents/trades. He also doesn't seem cut out for the "GM" role when you think of speaking to media, players etc... You want a leader as a GM and someone who inspires confidence throughout the organization. Shapiro fits the bill in this regard but Atkins seems more like a smart baseball mind who got put in the role as a GM. Right after the season this year he throws his Manager under the bus, to deflect blame on himself. You had guys like Whit publicly questioning the organization and then you had clusterf*** situations with Anthony Bass and Manoah. Now that being said players can be idiots as well like Stroman throwing a fit in the clubhouse after being traded and the Manoah situation but its a GM's job to handle those situations and communicate with the players so they understand. The Bass situation was handled extremely poorly and rumours the other players in the clubhouse were pissed off about it. Of course roster moves matter more than these little nuance situations, but when a team has continued to fall short of expectations, you start wondering why that is and who knows maybe these type of things matter more than one would think?

lol I was having this same convo with my buddy the other day. It’s like one year the offence is amazing and the pitching is terrible, and then the next year it’s the complete opposite. And then the defense is bad so they address that, meanwhile the offence falters and then the team forgets how to run the bases.. one thing after another lol. Just once I wish everything would click.

That would be really dumb if true given Roger’s owns SN and tv ratings would be a lot higher if they were in a division race, not to mention attendance. While the attendance numbers the last 2 years were pretty good there just was never that same excitement/energy that was in the ballpark during those 15/16 years. I don’t think the casual fan cares as much about making it in as a wildcard team.