Brownie19

I appreciate that Springer is faster, but the numbers don't really lie. Even if you think the speed gives Springer a slight advantage - if we're up 4-1 in the 5th - do you want Springer's bat out of the lineup for the remainder of the game? Is that worth the "slight" upgrade over Tony defensively? I'm not sure I do - but I could see that argument either way. What I can't see is why fans would get all bent out of shape over this decision when it's a coin flip. But god knows if there's anything tonight that costs us, you'll take your lap telling everyone how smart you are and how everyone should be fired for not flipping to the side of the coin you picked.

Why don't people consider Lauer a 4th starter? He was as good as Bassitt this year (who isn't stretched out and coming off injury) and he was better than Max - especially over the last month. Just tell yourself this. Lauer is starting, but they are using an opener. Lauer deserves this start more than an injured Bassitt, Max or Berrios IMO. He's been nails in several different roles all season long.

I don't pretend to be the defensive stat wizard, but Santander and Springer both had -9.7 DEF in 2024. 2024 OAA: Springer was -1, Santander was -2 2024 FRV: Springer was -4, Santander was -3 2024 UZR: Springer was -4.3, Santander was +1.4 2024 Arm Value: Springer was -3 (3rd percentile), Santander was -1 (23rd percentile) 2025 OAA/FRV: Springer was -6/-8 in only 436 innings, Santander was -1/-2 in only 181 innings I think they both suck defensively. I'd rather keep Springers bat in the lineup all game myself.

And so does Tony. I don't know why we're all pretending that Springer is WAYYY better defensively than Tony is. That opinion seems to have developed based on 1 play. It's wild. They play Tony in RF because he's as good as Springer defensively AND - more importantly - because they can sub in Straw late in the game. They don't want to lose Springer's bat when Straw comes in - which is also why he's the DH. And guys - Springer just had a MONSTER year as the DH, where he's talked about how that move gives him added preparation time and such - which clearly seems to have helped.

Kirk goes 6-14 with 4 HRs and 9 RBIs in his past 3 games and the second he goes 0-4, people complain about his bat. It's honestly like some of you have never watched a game of baseball in your life.

There's a very strong probability that most of our bullpen arms are more effective than Shane Bieber would be coming out of the pen for an inning or 2 in Game 7.

I don't know why anyone would give a f*ck what Vernon Wells thinks about anything.

It really doesn't have to be. You choose to do this.

That's wild. It was a great pitch. Busting Judge in like that seems like a good strategy to open up the outside edge. No idea how he got to that ball and kept it fair. Sometimes you just gotta tip the cap to the best hitter in baseball. It feels like Judge hits that pitch for a home run like 1 out of 100 times - but it might actually be 1 out of 500 times.

That all sounds like good news to me.

I suspect they put IKF in at 2nd because Bieber induces more ground balls (48%) than flyballs (33%) and thus infield defense was considered more valuable than OF defense to start the game (especially when neither Straw nor IKF can hit). If Schneider starts at 2nd base last night and he boots a couple of balls or can't turn a key double play, then, IMO, that would be MUCH more worthy of criticism. The decisions seemed rational to me last night - there's just always a certain probability they backfire or don't work. I think that's what happened. Unbeknownst to some, blame doesn't have to be assigned to every decision and every outcome. Sometimes you do the right thing and it just doesn't work. The players aren't perfect and their performance isn't something you an control. It is what it is. We're still leading and get to play again today thankfully. People claiming the outcome would have been different (ie better, with a 100% chance of winning instead) if the manager had done what they thought was right are just fooling themselves. Changing variables can have a wide variety of impacts on the outcome - both good and bad.

Sorry - I honestly meant my last post to be directed at everyone who's taking victory laps like they are so much smarter than the FO/Manager. It's not just you. People can b*tch and complain - yes, that's one of the (absolute worst) aspects of a message board. What I always find funny is the volume of people who are SO DAMN SURE their opinion is right, even when it's obvious they have significantly less information available to them than the actual decision makers do. They act like it was so blatantly obvious that they often suggest people should lose their jobs over it and they appear to LOVE when they can point back to when they "told everyone" about this idea before it happened, while ignoring all the other opinions they had that never worked out. My current favourite is people complaining that IKF was in the lineup in the first place, which was obviously for defensive purposes and then complaining when he made an error. The manager puts his best defensive option in the game and then it's still his fault when that player makes an error. Then when IKF gets pulled for the guy people wanted to see start in place of him - he f*cks up and the manager is blamed again. The irony is hilarious.

You want a gold star or some forum award man? Nitpicking every single decision or play and ensuring people know who you think is to blame (like people always need to be blamed when we lose) like there's some reward for bring "right" (even when you're often sitting a top Mt. Stupid) is hilarious (and sad) to witness.

I think that's a stretch. I think they just wanted to give Tony another at bat, given he just produced in his previous one and it was still so early. It backfired horribly. I believe in the JBJ situation, they actually brought Tapia into the game instead of JBJ (I could be wrong - I've tried to block that game from my mind) - which was super odd.

WTF - I wasn't defending IKF? Nor was I defending anything. I was just providing the factual information they literally said on TV. I'll caulk this up to irrational thinking in the midst of a brutal game.

They talked about it in the broadcast. The Jays like Tony's bat path and the matchup v. Rodon. They use very advanced predictive models. Do you not want them to be an advanced metrics organization? I most certainly do.

For what?

Vlad needs to catch that ball or at least knock it down.

Dude it was 100 that was 6 inches inside. That's an insane home run. Incredible for him to get the barrel to it.

Oh boy...cmon Bieber

Love this - straight to Barger

What a glorious start! I can't wait to see a healthy fill season from Santander. I suspect his leadership is huge in that clubhouse

Ohhhhhh baby! Vlad was flyin'

How about Davis Schneider? What a rebound season. What an incredible player.

I can appreciate that. But be clear - I didn't want IKF, but I understand the decision. It obviously sucks balls he screws up the one thing he's in there to do. Sometimes the baseball gods have a way of evening it out. Maybe he does something important later in the game.