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Taking the lazy dismissive stance again I see. I challenge you you to present statistical backup to prove that Ryu is pitching better than Matz is for the second half of the season. I don't care right now what each guy has done in the past. It's extremely lazy "analysis" to point to BABIP as a reason for poor performance for a pitcher who has given up 7 runs in 3 separate games. Are you are going to try to convince me that Ryu is the world's unluckiest man and not a soft tossing pitcher missing his spots contently and getting shelled as a result? Good luck.

You can take your condescending tone and shove it up your ass for all I care. Who says I don't understand FIP? I just think there are far better metrics available as there are far too many outliers for FIP as compared to actual ERA, and Ryu's recent performance is a perfect example of this. My preferred pitching metric is actually xERA but I simply quoted ERA as it is perfectly indicative for how poorly Ryu has been pitching in the second half and how well Matz has been pitching by comparison. Look at Robbie Ray for instance. He's a perfect example of the shortcomings of FIP for measuring pitcher performance. If a guy is consistently outperforming or underperforming compared to their FIP values then is it really that valuable in the instance for measuring their actual performance? Bring on the debate, I get the feeling you would rather make lazy assumptions and tske the easy way out instead of actually carrying out an intelligent conversation.

Do you have a point here? Ryu's FIP for the second half is much better than his ERA but I hope you aren't going to point to that as an indication he's actually been pitching well. He's been getting his face pounded in basically every other start going back a month and a half. If that pattern continues it would be a very foolish move to start thean in a playoff game.

Based on what I've seen this season and especially recently I would absolutely start Matz over Ryu. Have you already forgotten the stinker Ryu threw up against the Rays last playoffs? That's what Ryu has been pitching like recently a good chunk of the time. You can point at projections all you want like Ryu's past performance somehow erases how damn poorly he's been pitching lately, but I choose to actually pay attention to what's happening this season and more importantly recently when making my decision.

Jansen does look like he's likely made some adjustments during his time in AAA. I think the Jays have some great swing doctors in AAA, they've managed to really help out Gurriel, Teoscar and Tellez in the past to make adjustments and hit better at the major league level. It's not out of the realm of possibility Jansen has been able to make some tweaks as well to unlock more performance. He's crushing the baseball right now, until this stops there is no reason he shouldn't be receiving regular playing time.

Is looking at projections like they are set in stone while simultaneously ignoring what has actually happened on the field smart in your view? Matz is rolling right now and has thrown up 7 very solid consecutive starts, whereas Ryu is a total crapshoot and has had 3 awful starts out of his last 7. If this trend continues through the rest of September would you trust Ryu to get a playoff start assuming the club makes the playoffs this season?

They already broke the bank on another older second baseman in LeMahieu. Although Semien would be a great fit to play short stop for the Yankees...

Jansen's WRC+ for May was all of 98. His turnaround didn't really start until June.

Can't say I'm a big fan of neither Kirk or Springer being in the lineup. At least both will be available to pinch hit later in the game if needed.

Why should we care about what projections say when reality has been something completely different? Ryu has been torched for 7 runs in 3 of his last 7 starts totalling only 21 innings, whereas Matz has been pitching like a solid number 3 if not better.

Is Matz really the Jays worst starter? By basically every available metric he's pitched better than Ryu this season, and his numbers are comparable across the board to each of Berrios and Manoah.

I was busy watching the games and didn't comment until afterwards like I usually do. Even so the main point doesn't change, panicking after one loss despite a preceding 8 game winning streak is completely ridiculous. And instead of losing your s*** and ranting and raving before the game is even half over maybe you can smoke a joint or something to relax a little and let the game play out first, especially if you are going to start garbage posting about how one of their rivals is going to take the wild card.

Do you panic like this every time the Jays lose a single game? The Jays are 11-1 in their last 12 games, and the one loss is the single game loss vs the Orioles. This moronic post certainly aged well after the Jays took both games of the double header on the strength of two dramatic late come from behind victories. Are the A's still taking the 2nd wildcard spot? If you can't fully get behind this Jays team after the insane late season run they've been on then go ahead and starting cheering for the A's like you seem to want to do. I'm sure they have a nice message board that you can sign up as well.

This team is just so much fun to watch lately. After Bo hit the big 2 run home run in the 7th I found myself hoping that those 2 runs would be enough to seal the victory, little did I know that another 9 runs were on the way. The whole team is really coming up huge in clutch situations lately, Springer and Semien are two guys who look to get things done in crunch time and are both proving to be huge signings. This run of late season success for the team has me hopeful that it's improving the club's chances to retain both Ray and Semien as they get to be a huge part of this up and coming ballclub that is built with team culture and cohesiveness in mind. This would have to be an amazing team to be a part of, and they are just starting their competitive phase.

Omg this team is amazing lately. Pitchers don't have it? No prob, bats just put up 11 runs. All the dumbasses complaining about Springer being in the lineup can shut the hell up now.

It seems like this may be hard for you to understand, but playoff seeding is based on a team's record against ALL teams that they play against, not just the games they play vs the Orioles.

The bats need to do their jobs today after the disappointing lack of results with runners in scoring position last night.

One encouraging development recently is that Gurriel is starting to resemble a competent left fielder. I don't think I've seen another player who has the same kind of ability to quickly corral the ball and throw super accurate missles back to the infield the way he does. He's starting to make some nice running catches lately as well which is great to see. If you were to flash back a few months into the season there would be no chance in hell that he would've made the catch against Gardner the way he did tonight as he was completely hopeless on balls he had to turn and run back to catch. He'll likely always be a streaky hitter, but if he can show a little more consistency he has all the tools to be very nice slugging left fielder. Some of the posters in this thread need to think before they speak. The worst offender was easily the poster who said that Marcus Semien was actually a bad fielder. Yes he's going through a bit of a rough stretch in the field at the moment, and he had a similar rough stretch earlier in the season, but he actually has a good chance to earn himself a gold glove in his first year at the position of second base. He's been elite by the advanced stats, and by more traditional stats he's been very steady as well, as he's only committed 8 errors so far this season. He's been an absolute revelation for the team, and if it weren't for the existence of Ohtani he would front and center with Vladdy in the conversation for AL MVP.

If you go back to when Jansen initially came back from his first IL stint he's been raking. It's still not a very big sample size but going back to June over his last 14 games he's produced a 230 WRC+ with 4 home runs and 0.7 FWAR. He's earned himself a longer look at the plate, especially with Springer ailing right now.

I like Kirk at DH. If the Jays carry a lead late into the game there is no need to replace him in the lineup for a defensive replacement. If the opposition manages to tie the game up or take the lead late you have lost one of your more potent bats in this scenario. Jansen is still a superior defender at this point as well, and with each game carrying so much importance I can understand the Jays opting for better defence and a more experienced game caller behind the plate. Small sample size caveat definitely applies here, but since coming off of the injured list Jansen has been absolutely on fire at the plate, putting up a .353/.450/1.059 slashline in 7 games, with 3 home runs and a whopping 284 WRC+. I see no issue with getting him into the lineup with some regularity in order to take advantage of his hot bat at the moment.

Ray has several hundred less innings on his arm compared to both Price and Sale. A 5 year deal for Ray would be perfect.

I thought that Biggio was improving over time at second base. Admittedly his arm strength isn't great but it wasn't really much of a liability at second base given the shorter length of the throws involved. DRS and UZR saw him as basically average, although OAA was a little less generous showing him as a little below average at second.

If the Jays were to lose out on Semien I would prefer they just return Biggio to second base for next year. He's a cost controlled option that plays a decent second base. My fallback Semien option would be to upgrade at third base through free agency with somebody like Kris Bryant.

Holy s*** that's crazy. It's time to really go for the jugular and sweep the Yankees in their home ballpark. This is the game of the 4 which I thought would be the hardest to win, but with this out of the way it's time to go for broke.

If the Jays were able to get Semien to sign I would honestly prefer him over Correa. Correa is likely to receive one of these 10 year mega contracts, and he's had a lot of trouble staying on the field during his career. Semien is basically like the current day version of Cal Ripken who plays every day, and a 5 year deal for him would make it easier to work in extensions for the young core when the time comes compared to adding a contract the likes of which it will take to land a player like Correa.