BB17

What a terrible AB by Varsho. Watches a fastball down the pipe for strike 1 then misses on a belt high floating change up only to chase out of the zone for strike 3. This team sucks

To be fair the Braves are way more talented than the Jays and will only get stronger with Acuna back. Jays season could turn around but the next 3 year outlook still looks god awful.

This season feels like 2018 all over again. Last year was like 2017 where after coming off the postseason decided to try to patch some holes with aging vets for it to fail. This year they double down on trying to compete when the reality is the roster is just simply not good enough. You have all these pending FA with an objectively below average farm system. Given their payroll it’s actually pretty sad the situation is as bad as it is. What they really need is star level talent (5+ war players) and it doesn’t look like the Jays have had any luck in FA so you’re only other avenue is trade/draft. You may as well trade Bo/Gaus/Bassit and try to get some blue chip prospects who have high upside. Even if the team starts to play better an 86 win Wildcard team isn’t doing anything to bring a championship calibre roster for the next 3 seasons. The whole goal is to win a World Series and sure the playoffs are very random and an average team can win a round or 2. But a team like this isn’t going to win the World Series and I’m not sure I see a path to contention with all the pending FA leaving and all the holes to fill with a lacklustre farm system.

There might not even be 15k people at the dome on Tuesday with the Leafs game same night lol.

Bo hasn't looked great defensively either, the range seems like its declining already. Whatever the case I wouldn't be signing him in season unless it was for a big discount. Wait till the end of the year and see where he is at and where the team is at. Last thing the Jays need is another anchor contract.

Yeah he definitely deserves to stay on the team over Roden. I'm not sure I buy him as a 3War player but he's fine as a 4th OF who plays 4 times a week.

Yeah it does feel quite similar to last year. Last year the bullpen was a complete train wreck so having last year's team plus a good bullpen probably is in that same low 80s win tier which is exactly what this year is looking like. If Santander can heat up/Bo and Vlad have some positive regression to their batted ball metrics then I can see Jays getting 85-88 wins. I think not having a 5th SP is a huge hole that isn't getting talked about as much with how bad the offence is struggling. Scherzer doesn't seem close to coming back and even if he does not sure you can count on any meaningful production at this point. Also the above would assume the other 4 SP can stay healthy which could turn quickly.

He had quite a few errors in the minors in the infield to start the year. I thought he has looked pretty good in RF honestly. The arm alone is worth a few runs saved even if the routes/tracking isn't great. Basically that was Bautstia in the 2010s. I also wonder if putting him at 3rd takes away from his offence a bit.

I agree 100%. The team is stuck in no man's land.

He's a good player in isolation problem is the Jays have too many of these same type of low K/low power platoon type guys. He's probably better than Roden and Wagner right now but he doesn't offer much upside with his age/tools. Barger at least you can dream on/if he figures it out you have an above average regular. The Lukes/Ernies of the world are fine as injury replacements/depth players when you have stars carrying the roster. But you're kind of seeing what happens when you have a team of all the same type which is a .500 ballclub,

Sucks because him on this team would be such a massive massive upgrade. Hes exactly what this team needs lol.

Thing with the Vladdy contract is he could be a 160wRC+ bat for the next 5 years and it still end up as an albatross contract because of how long the deal is. Like you said there is 4 dead years at the end at minimum, but you hope he can at least be productive till 35.

Giminez actually had a few flyballs that were close homers IIRC. One was in Boston that would have been a homer in like half of MLB parks, another in Baltimore and I want to say there was maybe 1 more. You'd like to think those would have left the yard in the summer. His xOBA of .331 right now actually would be the highest of his career ironically lol. He's really struggled lately but I could see him hitting 15 bombs. He certainly shouldn't be hitting in the top 5 of the order though. Springer could maybe get 20-25 but that's probably just wishful thinking given the age he is. The real problem are the Rodens/Wagners/Kirk being groundball machines. When the rest of the team is hitting only singles and those 3 guys having a GB rate of 50% you're gonna get a lot of rally killing double plays. Kirk obviously has to stay in the lineup given his position but I'd be close to pulling the plug on Wagner/Roden pretty soon. Both are fine players on the surface but they just really fit poorly with this current Jays Lineup right now. Barger hasn't lit the world on fire but I'd put him in over Roden and hope to get him going a bit. He at least has the upside to hit 25 bombs and with his arm in RF he's serviceable there at least.

And on the other end of the spectrum Jays pitchers are giving up a ton of longballs. Some of that is bums like Lovelady, Lucas, Barnes etc getting killled when the score was already out of reach but Berrios and Francis are guys who have struggled in that dept in the past. The walk/K numbers are pretty good on both sides of the ball but yeah its tough to win when you are losing the HR battle by this much.

Kirk's contract is fine he's making like 12M a year, even if he's a 2-2.5 win player he's worth that. He's still really good defensively but a guy you want hitting like 8th not 5th or 6th. Even Giminez/Santander aren't franchise crippling, maybe slightly overpaid but still can be average regulars on a contending team. People thought Giminez was an all star after the first week, now calling it a terrible contract lol. Reality is likely in between which is fine. Honestly Berrios might be the worst contract out of all the non Vladdy guys. For a guy who has decent stuff it feels like he's more of a 2 Win pitcher than a 3-4 Win one. At least he can soak innings so even then not all is lost.

Bad throw but one 99% of first baseman catch. It was like a 60mph soft toss lol.

Is it just me or did Vladdy look like he was standing way further back from the plate than usual that AB?

Brown looked amazing tonight like a true ace but yeah when you lack power it’s going to be impossible to string hits together. 2015 royals was 10 years ago now, a team like that isn’t going to succeed with pitchers being this good now.

Tatis has had a tremendous season so far and looks to be the front runner for MVP this season. I think we forget he's only 26 still. Hopefully he remains healthy cuz he's one of the most fun players to watch.

His defense still seems pretty bad honestly. He seems to be a bit better fielding balls but still some bad decision making. A couple of times Giminez would have made the play but Vladdy has dove/tried to make a heroic play and threw away the ball to the P covering first. And a couple just horrendous drops at crucial points in the game. I think that's why hes such a frustrating player to watch cuz its clear he has HOF level talent but he makes some bonehead little league level mistakes each year that happen at the worst times. I'll never forget him dropping the ball against the Tigers on the Semien throw that cost them the game and then them missing the postseason by a single game.

Not even sure why he’s still with the team. Even if he’s not in the same position just having him around the team is a stupid reminder of how bad their approach was when he was in charge. I don’t care how good of a player he was but so far he doesn't inspire any confidence that he’s a good coach/manager. He was terrible before he got to Toronto too.

He's got to make an adjustment, teams are just throwing down and in breaking stuff/high and away fastballs. Until he can show he can handle it, its going to be a struggle. Not uncommon at all for rookies to struggle but everyone probably got caught up in the good spring and in reality he's still a pretty fringe player (at least for this year). Also doesn't look like he can hit lefties which doesn't help his case. The defense does seem pretty good, so that's a positive.

Good thing the Jays panicked and decided to lock him up during the season.

Padres another win to go to 12-3, Tatis has been one of the best players in baseball so far super fun to watch.

A week into the contract and even the casuals have turned on Vladdy and saying how bad he is. Ed Rogers got raped so so badly on that deal. What a disaster.