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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.

It's possible to inspect spin rates over time using Baseball Savant. On Cole's Statcast pitching info page there is a pulldown that shows pitch % by season. You can adjust this to show average spin rate and then sort it by game and select just the 2021 season for a clear picture. Cole has seen his spin rates recover a bit over the last while after really crashing hard in June, but they aren't back to the point where they were early in the season.

So is anyone here still complaining that the front office didn't sell off Ray and Semien at the trade deadline? Seriously f*** that loser mentality ********, this is an uber talented team that can make some serious noise in the playoffs if they manage to get in. I for one sure as hell prefer to give the team a shot to go on a run in the second half and get treated to meaningful baseball in September rather than pack it in and plan for next year.

You are making yourself looking like a fool with this Boston Red Sox hate. This is a team with a +58 run differential. They have scored the third most runs in baseball (2 spots above the Jays) and they have a middle of the road pitching staff (6 spots below the Jays in ERA). That is hardly the makings of a sub .500 baseball team.

There is zero chance a 3 year deal is going to get it done. Ray is not turning 30 until October. Like any other free agent signing the latter years are likely to be less productive than the earlier years, but barring something like a 6 or 7 year deal I think a Ray signing will most likely produce decent value.

Is there really any reason to doubt this is what Ray is going forward? This started in spring training, and after hurting his elbow and having a little bit of a slow start after coming back he's been dealing ever since. Maybe he won't be challenging for Cy Young awards every season but I really think he's going to be a top of the rotation pitcher for the immediate future.

The last two innings of this game were just a crazy roller coaster. I can imagine all too well how A's fans must feel after this one given how many disappointing losses the Jays poor bullpen has been responsible for. At least all of the worst offenders are gone in Chatwood, Dolis, Hand and Thornton.

He's already in the midst of one. He has a WRC+ of 207 for the last 7 games excluding tonight. I read plenty of postulations that he was regaining weight and that was why he was struggling, and it was also suggested that his numbers were mostly the creation of playing in minor league parks and that he couldn't hit at Rogers Center. That nonsense can be flushed down the toilet where it belongs.

Yeah it's great to get wins but the boys struggled to beat the O's and Tigers in successive series. The offence needs to start pulling it's weight soon if there is to be any chance whatsoever of going on a run.