Benito

Same. And brownies. And gummies.

Wow. Nice. I'm even more excited now. Amateur (and international) drafts are always favourite events of mine to look forward to in the season, even though I don't follow amateur competitions.

Is this year considered a strong draft class? What's the strength of this class? College, high school, pitchers?

It's sports at the highest level of competition. It's going to happen. Even to the Yanks and Dodgers. The game isn't played on paper.

I think if the Yanks weren't on a historic pace, there wouldn't be so much overreaction after every Jays loss. As someone pointed out earlier, the team was on a 97 win pace coming into this game. They are playing damn well, and in the most competitive division in all of baseball. It's not smoke and mirrors either. It reflects their talent level. Sucks to lose to any team. But you are going to get stretches like that in a 162 game season.

Maybe some people just aren't overeating after every loss, and realize there's still over 60% of the season left to play.

My bad. For some reason I had in my mind Jays saved about 5 mil. But Laika made a good point in regards to possibility of non-tendering Tapia.

This year is not like past year. This is the first year the Jays are legitimate championship contenders. Last year, the internal evaluations likely had the team on the cusp, but not quite where this front office has been working towards since they arrived. Circumstances matter, and last year, the Jays were hovering a few games over .500 at the half. This is a data driven front office, and they likely evaluated the percentages, and made moves which would help their odds, but also continue to build towards their ultimate goal of constructing a roster, legitimately positioned to challenge for championships. Both Shapiro and Atkins have reiterated, when the time was right, the organization would have the resources needed to go after whatever was needed to put them over the top. We will see at the trade deadline, but I expect Atkins to be in on many available targets, like he was in the offseason.

Precisely. I was surprised Atkins was able to move him at all. Also, don't underestimate the 5 mil saved. That could be used to buy another prospect by taking on an excessive contract, or go towards signing a reclamation RP next year to a one year contract.

4-4 tonight with his 11th sb. He must have gone against his agents' advice and signed that extension. Definition of team friendly contract. Wonder if the Jays were as close to a deal as some rumours I've read?

I think it's clear evidence. Like Robert Johnson, Yanks have made a deal with the devil. They have the Midas touch this season. So it seems. At least the Jays got a bit more breathing room between TB.

And Jays have the advantage with the offence. Difference between TB and Jays are, we have the resources to go after additions at the trade deadline. 7 game series are crap shoots.

Same can be said for TB and Bos. There's still over 60% of the season left to play.

Jesus Christ this fanbase gives up and dumps on their team so quickly. This team, barring injury is going to the playoffs, even without additions. And they will be a threat to anyone in a short series. Gausman, Manoah, and Berrios will eat up 6-7 innings. Everyone else will go to the pen, and in a short series, you can reduce it to your very best. Guys like Romano and Cimber will be used more frequently in the playoffs. No need to try and save their arms for a long 162 game season.

For a backend starter, Berrios is looking pretty good. :-)

Looking at Springer's game logs, it looks like he's DHing every 2nd, 3rd game or thereabouts. This goes back to the start of the season. I think it's a good indication the front office went into the season with a plan to try and optimize Springer's health and production, with the hopes of getting him 500-600 PAs. They would have obviously talked to George regarding it to get his buy in. The most games Kirk has played is 92 games in any season. He's not exactly the model of fitness. Who's to say he would be as be as productive as he has been playing more games? Especially at the catcher position. There's obviously the temptation to play both these guys more since they have been two of the most productive hitters this season, but the Jays are winning, and the goal is to first get into the playoffs, and 2nd to go deep. Both these guys are key to achieving those goals. I'd rather trust the evaluations of the Jays high performance department, who are with these guys everyday, to develop plans to keep them fresh into October.

I'm a stubborn fan that still feels there's a ~.800 ops, 2-3 war player in there, that's really had bad luck with injuries. Cavan is still in prime years, and has one elite skill. It really wouldn't take much to build value around that.

I wouldn't. But I'm a fan of Groshans, so might be a little bias. He's also good insurance for 2024, when Chapman could become a free agent. But it wouldn't surprise me to see him in included in a trade at the deadline. I'm sure rebuilding teams covet a talent like Groshans.

Players really seem to love the guy. Team feels like they are close to peak performance. Starting pitchers and offence have been very good. Bullpen could still use some work though.

I think that's a perception shared by all fanbase. I am sure if we followed other fanbase regularly, there will be that one or two player they believe receive more playing time than they should. I don't like seeing Tapia getting as much playing time either, but Jays have had a tough schedule with sporadic off days. I haven't checked, but that's an impression I have. Supplement that with injuries to Teo and minor injuries to Springer, and I think it's necessitated having Tapia play as often as he has. One thing as fans looking from the outside in, is we are not privy to the day to day grind players go through, both physically and mentally. And I really think the front office is doing everything possible to try and keep Springer healthy for the season. They know he's key to their goal of the playoffs, and advancing deep into the championship series. Zimmer usage I think has been fine. When everyone is healthy, he rarely has started and mostly used for pinch situations and defensive substitutions.

Agreed. Process vs results needs to be kept in mind. Front office likely saw two players with either neutral or positive performance in recent and historical seasons, who fit roles they envision, with the potential for untapped increase, even if percentage is unlikely. But it's a method to find cheap everyday players. Case in point, Espinal.

I think every team does. If you look at the Dodgers or Yankees roster, you will find similar poor performers. The reality is, your 25th/26th man are role players with the primary purpose of keeping your starters fresh and healthy for the duration of the season. Every front office I think focuses on that aspect. If your role players determine whether your season is make or break, then you've either constructed a poor roster, or you just have too many deficiencies with your starting lineup. I think what gets magnified is that as fans, we follow our teams everyday and it has the illusion of being a bigger issue than in actuality.

Jays WAR leaders are at 1.8. Who could have taken Zimmer's 70 plate appearances that would have given the team lots more wins? Jays have 3rd best record in the AL while having one of the toughest, if not toughest schedule to date. Zimmer and Tapia are both crap. But they are not moving the needle in overall wins by as much as people exaggerate.

Great game Berrios. Offence was good all around. Walks, good hitters counts, RISP, with some HRs sprinkled in. Everyone contributed. Gausman tomorrow. Let's take the series.

Would Moreno rank behind Jansen and ahead of Kirk in defence? Another question, in a hypothetical scenario he gets the call this season, where would he play? Is there enough reps at C and DH for all 3 catchers? I'd imagine if he gets called up, he's going to get regular playing time. Only other position I can see him playing is 2nd, maybe. But I haven't read him playing 2nd much in the minors.