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The team really didn't have anyone better which is a big part of the issue. The choice has largely between giving previously effective relievers an extended look at the major league level vs getting rid of them and cycling through a bunch of waiver wire pickups given the lack of home grown relief prospects.

It's nice to see Vlad continue with the recent power surge but he seriously has to be among the dumbest players in MLB. He gifted the Yankees a run when he wasn't paying any attention to the runner and then potentially ran them out of a big inning as well later in the game. He has a recent string of embarrassments in the field including falling over backwards when attempting to catch a popup as well. He started the season looking better at first but his metrics have been trending downwards to the point where he's nearly on pace to equal his disastrous OAA numbers from a season ago. It might finally be time to consider moving him to primarily DH if he doesn't stop making so many mistakes in the field.

There is a Statcast zone category for ground ball rates. It's low key kind of amazing he has such a high ground ball rate on pitches up and in.

I think even if the team decides to take a shot to compete in the second half the smart move is still to move KK out to open up center field for Varsho. Schneider has proven himself to be a capable enough defender in his own right that he should be playing nearly every day, and the recent emergence of Horwitz as a passable second baseman has decreased the availability of starts at second base.

I have no issues with appropriate comparisons and Kendell seems perfectly apt as a high average low power output type of performer. I've seen too many online who act like he's destined to become the next Pudge Rodriguez and destined for the hall of fame and he needs to make some serious improvements to even become a solidly above average overall contributor.

Come on man, nobody has said Moreno is a total bust. He just hasn't developed offensively to anything more than a league average bat at this point and it's far from a given he'll ever be more than that. His underlying metrics all point to a decidedly average bat at best and unless he makes tangible changes to his overall batted ball profile he's not going to be more than that.

Not sure I agree that Vlad's production with runners in scoring position is any kind of issue. He's up to 128 wRC+ with RISP for the season as a whole, but it's been trending upwards much like his overall numbers over his two month hot streak. Up until nearly the end of April he was sitting at 38 wRC+ which is obviously terrible for a player in a run production spot in the lineup. Over the last two months he's produced 177 wRC+ with runners in scoring position which is actually better production that his overall numbers over that span of time.

I hate to even really hazard a guess here as I just don't know what the market value for Vlad would be. He's already earning $20 million per season, and if he continues mashing the rest of the season he's going to see a massive raise in arbitration as he received a $5 million raise last offseason despite the relative struggles of 2023. It's hard to see him signing long term for less than a $25 million AAV as a result. He should be able to roll out of bed and produce 150 wRC+ seasons based on his raw talent alone but unfortunately that hasn't been the case other than his MVP caliber 2021 season. First base/DH types haven't been handed out monster extensions or free agency deals in recent seasons so there isn't really a recent precedent for one of these types of deals for a player with his natural offensive gifts that primarily mans first base. I think the early declines of all of Pujols, Fielder and Cabrera outlined the hazards of giving out mega deals to defensively limited and/or bad body types of players and this will likely limit the overall term that Vlad receives. I think once Vlad eventually signs an extension or in free agency this will likely set a bit of a new precedent moving forward.

That's all well and good that Moreno was a top 5 prospect in online publications, but ultimately that's immaterial when it comes down to how other front offices viewed his actual trade value. He had a very serious question mark in the lack of power in the bat that he still hasn't put to rest and this is the primary factor that's limited his offensive output. It's not an issue in this neck of the woods but there are still posters in other online discussion sections that view the guy as some sort of generational catching prospect when he's proven that he's nothing of the sort up to this point.

Vlad has been mashing for the last two months now. He put up a 173 wRC+ from April 28-June 8 despite the lack of power as he hit only 4 home runs. This shows how productive he can be even without the ball leaving the yard. He cooled off for a week in early June with a -37 wRC+ over a 6 game sample before the recent power explosion which has seen a 215 wRC+ over an 11 game sample including 4 home runs. I legitimately think he's earned an extension at this point as he's most likely fixed at the plate, but it's most likely going to be difficult for Vlad and the club to align on value at this point given how close he is to reaching free agency.

With Vlad and Springer seemingly rediscovering their power strokes and Horwitz and Turner constantly on base lately the offense is suddenly becoming interesting. Of course in typical 2024 Blue Jays fashion this will likely be evened out by deep slumps from Bo, Jansen, Varsho, Schneider etc. but at least it's a start.

I recently commented that George Springer should have to earn his playing time. I think he's put that particular issue to bed for the next little while.

That doesn't feel like much of a stretch as he still received a $5.5 million raise in arbitration last offseason.

So this is just another example of you inserting another irrelevant example like other recent threads. Duly noted.

Is it too complicated for you to understand that the processes behind the results suggest this player should be producing nowhere close to the same types of results as the players you keep bringing up? Santiago Espinal was always ripe for a massive correction to his batted ball results given the poor quality of contact metrics that illustrated how unlikely he would be to continue to enjoy success. Ryan Goins never had a single successful season at the plate and was a legitimately awful major league hitter.

I don't Atkins has implied it's some sort of mystery as to why the Blue Jays bullpen has been so bad this season. Romano and Swanson suffered injuries in the spring, were bad upon return and both are unavailable at present. Garcia is out due to injury. Mayza has seen a dramatic reduction in his stuff and subsequently his results are bad as well. Depth guys like Rodriguez and Francis both missed a lot of time due to injury as well.

It's far from a given that Soto is going to just go to the highest bidder no matter the competitive situation the club has to offer. Chances are all of the respective teams are going to be in the same ballpark financially when it comes to the overall offer and money won't be the deciding factor.

When courting Ohtani the Jays could point to a string of successful seasons and where he could be a finishing touch to put them over the top. With Soto the team would have to convince him that this year's total s*** show was going to be a single year anomaly and that they would be imminently reversing their fortunes.

So now you are comparing Bo to Ryan Goins after a Santiago Espinal example previously. Come on man this is getting ridiculous and reaching near troll levels. There's not much point in surmising Bo's bat speed as what's wrong with him as we don't have any previous year's data to compare it to. Bo has certainly seen a drop off in a lot of key metrics and hasn't gotten on track aside from a few bursts since the knee injury last season. He is one of many examples on the team of not producing the expected results the quality of contact would suggest to be the case. The team failed miserably in the offseason to address the performance issues of so many members of the offense and it's high time for some new progressive voices to be brought aboard.

I'd try to do both. The team needs to add more elite offensive talent, and I think having someone like Soto on the team would be a tremendous asset in helping Vlad to finally reach his ceiling year in and year out. There's a snowball's chance in hell Juan Soto would choose to sign with the Blue Jays anyway though vs Vlad who actually appears to be willing to stay long term.

Bo isn't about to become Santiago Epsinal at the plate long term, he's just far too talented for that to be the case. He'll get himself sorted at the plate eventually as the underlying numbers are still decent enough. I wouldn't place any money on him hitting 4 WAR this season but I'm fully confident he'll turn himself around at the plate at some point this season. He produced a .352 xwOBA/.231 wOBA for the month of June and .357 xwOBA/.318 wOBA for the month of May so it's not like he's been as bad at the plate as the results would suggest.

I just hate when hitters directly state that they are trying to aim the ball up the middle given how hard it is to actually produce any results this way. There are a lot of guys on the team who hit a ton of their hard hit balls nearly directly at the right fielder as well. It seems like Bo and Kirk and even Vlad to a degree are much easier to defend as a result.

Yeah I think his stuff should play in out of the rotation but he needs to iron out the command issues.

That team had a really sizeable positive run differential at that point whereas this team is currently sitting at -46.

Tiedemann was on the bump tonight. Put up 5 K's in 2.1 innings along with 2 walks.