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I can agree that SWR needs to sufficiently command the baseball to maximize his chances of success. Having said that the worse the stuff is the more likely it becomes that even well located pitches lead to solid contact against him. I recall seeing somewhere that his arm angle had changed this season and wonder if this is something the Blue Jays are working towards addressing. I believe a key factor in whether he can turn his season around will be commanding the splitter more effectively. I believe that can potentially be an out pitch for him if he can avoid the number of apparent mistakes shown in the heat maps.

It's a little early to make any declarations about SWR. He had something like a 10+ day break in between outings and he'll need to prove that he can continue to show improved stuff with more frequent usage.

I wasn't expecting a win coming in but I thought Okamoto's deep drive was going to leave the park to tie the game up.

The Jays are all of half a game out of a wildcard slot and have ton of injured players returning soon.

You were only off by 440 feet.

If he displays the kind of stuff he possessed after the forearm started barking at him he'll be lucky to get out of the first inning a good chunk of the time.

Cook has one of the wider ranges of potential incomes I can recall in recent memory. Of course he could flame out completely but there are several pathways to reaching MLB. He's already reportedly a plus plus center field defender with 80 grade speed and he's made strides with his baserunning. It's a pretty low offensive bar that he'll be required to reach to at least earn a cup of coffee as a 5th outfielder/pinch runner type of player. If he reverts to the slap hitting style he employed in college this could open the door to more of a 4th outfielder role potentially in a platoon if this clicks and perhaps even a low end starter's role, and if the new approach clicks to any degree the guy has various degrees of star potential.

It's wild how this has continued to be the case this season despite the relative offensive struggles.

The team's goal is to convert Cook into something more than a slap hitting CF defense demon. If the more athletic swing doesn't eventually take the team can place him of the developmental list to allow him to revert back to the slap hitting approach at the PDC.

Ernie had a post season for the ages. It's a damn shame that ball didn't carry a little bit more off of the bat. He's off to a damn good start with the bat this season as well as appearing to be coming out of the defensive slump. He made a few tremendous plays in the latest victory and hopefully he's gotten the miscues out of his system.

I still maintain the mistake was allowing Hoffman to continue to implode despite it being painfully obvious that he didn't have it that day. This is largely an effect of having an injury riddled rotation and bullpen as the "best" remaining arm was a scrap heap pickup. Hopefully once the team has a full rotation the bullpen won't be so dramatically overused and if/when Yimi returns this will add another important leverage arm into the pen. Even having Nance back would be a bit of a boon compared to some of the castoff types that are being thrown out of the pen at the moment, and if Hoffman or another reliever doesn't have their stuff on a given day the last man up won't end up being a waiver wire type.

I think if Valenzuela even ends up as something close to a league average bat that's a really positive occurrence especially when you consider what the front office gave up to receive him. He never did anything close to this in his minor league career and as such the projection systems aren't buying what he has to offer yet as they are still in the 80 wRC+ range.

I'm under no illusion that Valenzuela will be this locked in at the plate forever but the longer he sustains this current hot streak the more this starts to feel like a legitimate breakout vs simply being a hot streak. He completely flipped the switch since dropping the leg kick and it's like he's unlocked a new offensive ceiling. Sooner or later his timing will start to slip a bit and opposing pitchers will start to key on his weaknesses but the way Valenzuela has gone about producing doesn't feel like a fluke. He's producing tremendous plate appearances for anyone let alone a rookie as he's avoiding the chase unlike the rest of his teammates, hunting mistake pitches that he can hammer, fouling off a ton of pitches to stay alive and taking his walks when presented to him.

I don't tend to agree. I fully support Varland entering games before the 9th in higher leverage situations when warranted. This 9th inning only "closer" mindset is exactly what led to Zack Britton being left to rot in the bullpen in a win or go home wild card game.

Protection for Vlad isn't going to matter one iota until he stops chasing pitches that he has no chance to do damage with.

Ultimately I think there's a ton of value in possessing two starter quality catchers even if it doesn't necessarily maximize the strength of the roster. I think the injury insurance aspect shouldn't be ignored as if either catcher hits the injured list the other player would simply take over starting duties. Kirk has made plenty of injured list appearances in his career and if this were to occur with Valenzuela being traded away you are left with a backup starting and a depth player as backup. I think that with Kirk possessing the type of heavyset physique he features he's likely better served starting something like 4 times per week in order to keep him fresh and healthy, and the team tends to pinch run for him later in games. With a starter quality backup you can substitute for Kirk and hardly miss a beat and if either player is a little beat up and needs a day or two off you can be confident in the backup to keep the ball rolling. It could also prove to be difficult to receive appropriate trade value in return. I recall it was mentioned that the Blue Jays tended to value their 3 starter quality backstops more than opposing general managers back when Jansen and Moreno were part of the 3 headed monster, and with Valenzuela being more of a breakout player with less history of performance it's impossible to know what the trade offers would look like. Opposing teams already undervalued what Kirk brings in the past and this could certainly be the case yet again.

This version of Varland is dramatically more effective than the guy that pitched in the post season last year.

We shall see how the front office ends up proceeding. They ended up keeping Jansen around until his last season of control and didn't trade him until the trade deadline approached so it's entirely possible that they decide to run with a Mexican super duo moving forward behind the plate. I think that once Springer is gone this will open up plenty of DH at bats for Kirk and this is a perfect way to maximize his value to the club.

I think a Kirk/Valenzuela tandem would be incredibly potent similar to the days where the team enjoyed the Kirk/Jansen duo. Except in this instance both catchers are elite defenders.

"Turning into"? He's already shown himself to be an impact level defender with an elite combination of framing and throwing. I think the game calling and blocking need work but he can continue to hone his craft at the major league level.

And you are still an idiot to even make posts like this.

The team very well may not have had the lead by that point.

His 6.92 BB/9 walk rate would fit in perfectly with the Buffalo pen.

Heineman has been hopeless with the bat but there's bound to be a team that would claim him if placed on waivers. For instance Sandy Leon has been catching for the Braves with a bat worse bat than Heineman has displayed.

If he continues to mash as he has for the last 5-6 weeks this could be an actual possibility along with occasional DH starts for Kirk as well. Springer has been hitting better in recent weeks with a 120'ish wRC+ but he's shown no signs of peak summer of George this season at any point.