It's amazing that we've gone from Playoff Vlad, who dominated and gave us some of the most amazing baseball memories some of us will ever have, to a mass panic because he might be the worst contract in sports history - all in the span of 9 months. This truly goes to show how unpredictable baseball can be (Skenes is throwing 94 MPH now too - nobody had that on their bingo card).
Personally, I've always been frustrated by Vlad. Outside of 2021, it's felt like he's underperforming and unable to consistency achieve the results his abilities suggest are possible. But, even I fell victim to Playoff Vlad and believed there was a real possibility he'd figured something out and could find that consistency as he matured and entered his prime. It felt like there was simply too much talent, pedigree and underlying metrics for him to completely fail - unless his weight ballooned (real concern), or he became injury prone (which has never been an issue). I was on board with signing him long term and felt we couldn't just let him go for nothing. I liked the possibility he'd retire a Blue Jay and head into the HOF with a Jays cap on.
This season must be a <5% percentile result. It's an utter disaster that has almost single handedly sunk this season. Nobody in their right mind saw this happening - not to this extent. I think it's encouraging we don't (yet) have a mass of people claiming this is Atkins fault and calling for him to be canned. You can suggest the contract was too player friendly, or that we overpaid if you want, but locking him up was the right call, coming off a WS appearance. Even if we extended him for 10 years, $350M - this situation would still suck.
That said, I don't think it's as dire as people may be making it (it never is). This season is a lost cause, but I'd be shocked if Vlad is unable to at least return to the levels we saw in 2022 and 2025 (135ish wRC+, 3.5 WAR) through his age 28-32 seasons. He's rebounded before from subpar seasons (2023).
My youngest loves Vlad (as A LOT of kids in Ontario do) and it pains me to watch him become more and more disappointed in how sh*tty he's been.
Baseball is an incredibly frustrating game - I've lived it my whole life. Who's fault is it that Vlad sucks now? Manager? GM? hitting coach? nutrition? physical? mental? WHO KNOWS - nobody does. I think that's why I'm often defensive when people lay blame on certain individuals - because we should know that there are often SEVERAL factors in play and sometimes it's just unexplainable.
This timing sucks goats thought. The Jays had built a great team, with great chemistry that players actually wanted to a part of! Will that continue this offseason after a miserable season? Seems doubtful. This game is so fickle - things change on a dime. It's brutal.