Ray

I was really impressed by Kay. He was throwing hard and pumping the zone with strikes against the top of the Yankees order. God I hope he breaks out. Him becoming a viable 3rd or 4th starter would go a long way for this team

The ball is definitely deadened lol

Things to note: Kay already looked like he was pumping the zone with strikes Touched 97mph with his fastball. Added either a slider or cutter at 87-88mph

I think they’re definitely going to stretch him as a starter. Probably at AAA, but not out of the question that he starts with the team I guess if he looks good and/or there are injuries.

I’m very interested to see how we deploy this pitching staff. Besides Ryu, and maybe Matz if he bounces back, I think we’re going to be seeing a lot of piggybacking. There’s gonna be a lot of box scores that read something like 4 IP by Ray, followed by 2 IP by one of Stripling/Borucki/Chatwood, and then handing it off to Dolis-Romano-Yates. Obviously, ideally you want 5 workhorse starters who can give you a quality start every time, but we’re not there yet.

I've been thinking this for a while now, but my guess is most minor league teams (sans AAA) will be absorbed by the major league teams and maybe even consolidated to Arizona/Florida within the next 10 years. It just makes so much more sense to have recently drafted high schoolers and IFA's going to one player development complex/facility where the major league team can control the variables. We're likely moving towards an academy type model where the complexes are used to house, feed, teach, and train minor leaguers year round surrounded by the best amenities. The Braves even have a hotel component to their newly created complex. It's just way more efficient than these kids going to a dilapidated minor league facility in the middle of Potatohead, Iowa where they are taking long bus rides, not getting the best coaching, eating junk, and sometimes not even knowing how to get around if they are 17 year old Dominican kids. In that aspect, we're set up really well. The Bobby Mattick centre facility was laughably bad. Like, I'm pretty sure the average high school in the US that had a decent emphasis on athletics may have even been better. And most D1 college baseball programs probably blew it out of the water. Imagine Austin Martin going from Vanderbilts facilities to training at the Bobby Mattick centre lol.

Zulueta’s delivery is CLEAN. Time to get on the hype train:

I guess the good news is that we're playing the Yankees and Phillies a ton, and they usually broadcast all of their home games. Even the Pirates TV station has been good about it in recent years.

It probably makes a little sense financially. They probably make more profit broadcasting reruns of s***** sports compilation as opposed to Jays games, where they have to send a whole tv and production crew down to Dunedin for a month (even longer now due to COVID probably). It's significantly more expensive to do, and while Spring Training games will outdraw most alternative options, the cost probably doesn't justify the TV revenue you're pulling in. It's just annoying that they won't absorb a relatively small loss since people are super pumped up about this team.

Rogers pumps nearly $200M into this team in the offseason, and yet won't televise games home games because they'd rather broadcast Sportsnet Misplays of the Month? Pretty annoying.

Really excited for this, personally. This complex is probably going to have more direct impact on the sustained success of the Jays going forward than any single free agent we sign.

Speaking of Kendall Williams, looks like he’s revamped his delivery. Mimicks Dustin May with an exaggerated high leg kick, kind of. Instagram WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM

Gotta say, I feel like this is one of the more likeable Jays teams in a long time. The 2015-2016 Jays were fun in other ways, but this team top to bottom just seems really easy to cheer for. Except Tanner Roark I guess.

I actually think there might be a decent shot for this? Doesn't seem like many teams are lining up to give him the multi year offer he wants. Best bet would be to take 1 year $10M or something and try again next offseason. In which case: - He lives in Tampa, and we'll be playing most of the season in Dunedin. Gets to stay close to home - Gets to train at the renovated Dunedin complex with all the nice bells and whistles - Play for a competitive team that could have a shot at the playoffs I think the staying close to home may be the biggest appeal to him. Either that, or I could see the Red Sox signing him

I never really noticed it through the baseball jersey, but Springer is pretty built. He was kind of lanky during his college days, but he's really bulked up since then it seems.

Nice article on Teoscar and his changes from last season that led to his breakout: https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/blue-jays-hernandez-fully-transformed-approach-plate/ Mechanically, he lowered his hands and started to go with a toe tap instead of a more exaggerated leg kick which allowed him to time swings better. Plate approach wise, he started hunting strictly fastballs that were in his preferred part of the zone early on the season and started taking more breaking balls for strikes.

Healthy at last, Trent Thornton firmly in mix for Blue Jays pitching staff Source: https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/healthy-last-trent-thornton-firmly-mix-blue-jays-pitching-staff/

I choose to believe he has less autonomy in making decisions than we all think he actually does. The stress on the word “collaboration” when he was first hired makes me think this front office is approving game time decisions such which pitcher to bring in during a blow out/close game, who to bring in based on matchups, lineup construction and positioning. And that inspires more confidence in me, because they have a lot more information than we do about putting players in the best position to succeed.

They likely want to keep payroll open for midseason additions and also probably like their internal options.

4th in the AL doesn't pass the smell test for me, but I absolutely think our starting pitching can be at least league average, and that's all you really need to reasonably compete if coupled with our projected bullpen and offense.

Odorizzi is a serviceable improvement on paper, but I also won't be surprised if they internally think a combination of Pearson, Kay, Merryweather, Zeuch, Thornton, Hatch can either replicate or exceed his production. So maybe they just don't think it's worth it to add anyone who's left? We're in a great spot with our optionable pitching depth, it's just that a lot of them are unproven. Although most of them are also getting to the age now where they should be producing and aren't really all that 'young' anymore. Unless they make another move, they're probably banking on: 1. a couple bounce backs from the group of Ray, Stripling, Matz, Roark (very possible) 2. at least one breakout from their younger pitchers (also possible) 3. a combination of the over the top offense, sufficient starting pitching, and good bullpen keeping them afloat until the trade deadline where they'll look to add a true top of the rotation starter So a lot of ifs there, but I could see it happening.