Let's Bitch About Our Stupid, Annoying Baseball Team: the 2024 Toronto Blue Jays Thread

The Athletic gives Toronto's offseason a D

The most memorable part of the Blue Jays’ offseason was a tweet declaring who was decidedly NOT in Toronto (nor headed there, at the moment or eventually). Overall, the Jays’ winter suffered from expectations heightened by their pursuits of Shohei Ohtani or Juan Soto. In a vacuum, bringing back Kevin Kiermaier and bringing in Justin Turner are fine moves; in this vacuum, they leave a kind of … void.

Whereas Alek Manoah’s probably going to be better than his nightmarish 2023, Toronto shouldn’t count on 128 starts from the other four members of their likely rotation. Yariel Rodriguez, who excelled in Japan following a shift to the bullpen, could be a candidate for more innings here.

Offensively, Toronto is hunting rebounds across its lineup, especially from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. But whatever positive regressions accrue there may be mitigated by the loss of Matt Chapman at third, with the light-hitting Isiah Kiner-Falefa (.655 OPS over the last three seasons) slated for significant time on the infield. As with Tampa Bay, Toronto’s offseason feels underwhelmingly unimaginative. In an American League without a behemoth like the Dodgers, that’s a missed opportunity to position yourself nearer to the top.

It's too early to say, obviously. I've had a resentment rattling around in my head about how they've proven they have $600M to play with (yes, Ohtani is a special case), so go land a big one! every contract is going to be terrible, let's be real. it's wait-and-see rn tho

Another utility infielder:

https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/blue-jays-agree-to-deal-with-veteran-escobar-adding-versatile-infielder/

We're going to lead the league in...scrappiness.

scrappiness

This is very exciting: I now live about a 15-minute walk from Davis Schneider's uniform, in case I'm ever seized by a sudden urge to see it.

Davis Schneider’s uniform from his MLB debut is going to be featured in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
https://t.co/d3URSe64NY

— Jays Journal (@JaysJournal) February 17, 2024

Not exactly news, I know:

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/02/hyun-jin-ryu-discussing-contract-with-kbos-hanwha-eagles.html

He’s signed now, I saw

Ah, wrong link--I meant to post about his signing. I don't know if he'll ever make it back--he pitched decently last year, but he's just shy of 37.

Might have decided to cash in and move close to home. Can’t blame him

FB teaser so I'd click: "Check out Alek Manoah's motto for 2024." I clicked, and his new motto is "They don't give out World Series trophies in Triple-A."

I was rooting for "Shut the fuck up."

did he confirm whether or not they give em out in Complex League? 😉

Alex Manoah 2024 ST debut:

IP: 1.2
H: 3
R: 4
ER: 4
BB: 1
K: 0
HRA: 0
XBHA: 2
HBP: Torkelson (by Manoah); Canha (by Manoah); Kelly, C (by Manoah)
ERA: 21.60
WHIP (inc. HBP): 4.20

Yikes. We may have a cerified case of Steve Blass Syndrome here.

Not surprised at all by this outcome

Incredible article about the Ohtani flight tracker and the Blue Jays. Half the roster was at Manoah’s wedding tracking the flight on the golf course!

ROMANO: “I remember where it was. We were sitting by the pool, actually. I was kind of on my phone. And then I was like, ‘NO WAYYYY.’ And then I was telling all the boys. … I was like, ‘Oh, he’s headed there. He’s got to be signing with us.’ So we were all really, really pumped up about it.”

But there were also 18 holes of golf to play. So Romano, Kevin Gausman, Tim Mayza and Danny Jansen hopped in their cart for one of the most distracted rounds of golf ever played.

GAUSMAN: “I remember somebody said, ‘How about this whole Ohtani thing?’ And I was, like, ‘What?’ What do you mean?’ But as we were playing golf, it just got crazier and crazier.”

THE ATHLETIC (TO JORDAN ROMANO): “What about the story where Kikuchi had an entire restaurant reserved for dinner with Ohtani that night? Did you try to confirm that? Did you even question whether Kikuchi would be in Toronto in December?”

ROMANO: “No, because I knew he was. So that made sense. Because I knew he was working out in Toronto. I even knew the place he was working out at. So that was just another piece that just felt like: This is getting real.”

TA: “And since you were at this wedding in Puerto Rico, there was no reason for you to think: ‘Why wouldn’t he have invited me to dinner?’”

ROMANO: “Exactly.”

But not all of Kikuchi’s teammates were content to assume it must be true. Like Bo Bichette, for instance. He went right to the source.

TA: “Did you ever ask anybody, like Ross Atkins or Mark Shapiro, if any of this was true? Or Kikuchi, who supposedly rented out that restaurant?”

BICHETTE: “I talked to Kikuchi a little bit about it, yeah. So I kind of knew that the rumors probably weren’t true when he texted me and said: ‘I don’t know what’s going on.’ I figured he would know.”

Been trying to formulate a joke related to Manoah's wedding; it would help if he were the one throwing the bouquet.

I can’t think of one either, so here’s a nice photo of the lads at the wedding reception
https://i.postimg.cc/3R71qX96/IMG-6144.jpg

Gausman, Manoah, Espinal, Romano; far left is Mike on my bowling team; far right, blanking out.

Danny Jansen?

Jansen

Vlad's birthday yesterday:

https://jaysjournal.com/posts/a-look-at-vladdys-career-accomplishments-as-he-turns-25

Their conclusion: "It's easy to forget how young Guerrero still is considering how long he's been around, but it's important to remember what he has done for this team and that his best years are still ahead of him."

My conclusion: "There's 2021, and then there's everything else."

To be fair, one day before Bryce Harper's 26th birthday, I would have summed up his career exactly the same--there was 2015, and then there was everything else. So I know there's lots of time to turn things around. Whether that happens or not--and if it does, whether or not it hpapens in Toronto--nobody knows.

Votto homers off Wheeler on the first pitch he sees as a Jay. Rolls ankle on a bat immediately afterwards, leaves game

(as previously reported in the Votto thread)

I haven't a clue what Santiago Espinal is worth, but this is what we got:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=mcelva000chr#

Hasn't pitched in the majors yet.

the main thing, i think, is he doesn't need to be on the 40 man. inning eater at best if he makes the bigs, by the looks of it.

Something else fell through for tomorrow, so think I'll watch the opener at the Canadian HOF. They're going to be showing every Friday game there for the rest of the season.

Going to leftfield with the girlfriend to watch. Screw work and making money!

Varsho Cove, I think they call it.

Watched the first six innings at the (Canadian) HOF, left because their feed was kind of choppy. I had a cardboard stand-up of Fergie Jenkins looking over my right shoulder the whole time. About 30 people were there.

They flashed a graphic of Berrios's GS the last five years (excepting the COVID season):

2018 - 32
2019 - 32
2021 - 32
2022 - 32
2023 - 32

Not as amazing as Khris ".247" Davis's streak--GS is a lot more predictable than BA, plus the COVID year intrudes--but still eye-opening. Apparently Berrios has never missed a start in his career.

Not watching--down on them already!--but Turner has a single/double/HR is his first three AB...ah, just walked. Should get one more AB, but hasn't had a triple since 2020.

Jays are getting n__-h__ by Benny Blanco from the Bronx, a 30-year-old making his eighth major league start and with a career ERA near 5.00.

(My sourness and sarcasm is 100% directed at the Jays. His name is Ronel Blanco, and obviously a great story.)

He's thrown 81 pitches through 7, has a 10-0 lead; who knows, but hope they give him one baserunner.

Whoah--10 pitches, 1-2-3. Kiner-Falefa, Biggio, and Springer left to go. (He walked one earlier in the game, so back to Springer.)

One.

Two! Jesus, this is fast.

Did it! CG no-hitter. Almost got in under 100 pitches but walked Springer on a full count. Even exciting on a laptop.

Just seeing the highlights now. Great play by Abreu in the 9th.

Third game in five where the Jays have been hapless at bat. Even with their big first game, now hitting .184 as a team.

Well todays (technically yesterdays) went much better. Glad I stuck around until the end

Looks like their haplessosity was in effect for most of the game, till Groucho took charge, but a win is a win is a win. Hope Berrios keeps it up; a Cy contender would be something to root for if the team meanders.

Pathetic. Now hitting .176 as a team.

It turns out that the big off-season strategy to overhaul the offense by signing every utility infielder on the market wasn't such a bright idea.

Now I get it: we've built our offense around wild pitches and passed balls.

Green made it interesting in the 9th, but the pitching at least came through today.

manoah in dunedin today: 1.2 IP, 5 H, 7 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 1 HR, 1 HBP, 58 pitches, 26 strikes

"Manoah walked the first four batters he faced, throwing just two strikes in his first 18 pitches."

José Berríos: 18.2 IP, 2-0, 1.45 ERA

rest of team: 75.0 IP, 3-6, 5.98 ERA

From the Canadian HOF FB feed: Davis Schneider's parents at the Hall today.

https://i.postimg.cc/zf6Vy7Mj/davis.jpg

Is he Canadian?!

Just looked him up--no, New Jersey. You don't even need to be Canadian to be inducted, much less displayed.

Ya. He hasn’t reallly done much. Pretty low bar imho !

This image, for Joe Carter's upcoming annual golf tournament in Oakville, made me laugh.

https://i.postimg.cc/Pxx9n60j/josh.jpg

If anyone's going have a temper tantrum on the course and beat someone senseless with a golf club, it's John Donaldson.

Is that Josh’s evil twin?

Or is Josh the evil one

(Twin Peaks man-from-another-place voice) One and the same.

I think OPS+ isn't actually measuring a guy's OPS to the average, it's measuring his OBP to the average, his SLG to the average, and combining them. So if his OBP is 10% above average and his SLG is 15%, his OPS would be 125. And if his OBP is more than 50% below average and his SLG is more than 50% below average, you get below zero.

opened mlb the show today and i guess those are the real toronto city connects lol

I will be getting the backpack version Wednesday. That one doesn’t lol too bad tbh; but the connect Vlad bobblehead we were set to get Monday was a “no thank you” from me and the gf

I like the City Connect "Night Mode" uniform!

Me: Can we get hyperized birdhead?

Mom: no, we have hyperize--, oh wait

What is a hyperized bird head? pic.twitter.com/npr7w0RPT1

— Sophie is a hyperized borealis (@snowphieee) May 30, 2024

let's see if this can go 20 innings despite the man on second

I kind of gave up on my Cy Young bet after Berrios had that one miserable game, but geez--how much do Cy Young voters get into the weeds and start looking at game logs? Take away that one start--8 earned runs in 3.2 IP--and Berrios has 11 starts ranging from 5 to 7 innings; one of 3 earned runs, five of 2 earned runs, two of 1 earned run, two of no earned runs. I think Shulman said that, including tonight, his ERA would be 1.94 otherwise.

Three with no earned runs, that should read.

what an ending

Took a look at Scooby-Doo's game logs out of Detroit--never less than 5 innings, 4 runs a couple of times, his other nine starts 0, 1, or 2. Translates to an ERA almost a full run less than Berrios. I don't know who else is in the mix, but I need for some team to step up and shellac him.

Berrios isn't even in bRef's Top 10 for WAR. Lugo's the guy to beat right now.

Lugo?!

Lugo on bRef, Skubal on Fangraphs (where Kikuchi is way ahead of Berrios...I guess that one start really sunk him for his seasonal stats).

Took a look at Scooby-Doo's game logs out of Detroit--never less than 5 innings, 4 runs a couple of times, his other nine starts 0, 1, or 2. Translates to an ERA almost a full run less than Berrios. I don't know who else is in the mix, but I need for some team to step up and shellac him.

He's second on the bRef list. There's a whole bunch guys in the mix--because of that one game, Berrios isn't one of them.

1. Lugo • KCR 3.3
2. Houck • BOS 3.0
3. Anderson • LAA 2.7
4. Skubal • DET 2.6
5. Fedde • CHW 2.5
6. Gil • NYY 2.3
7. Blanco • HOU 2.2
8. Crochet • CHW 2.0
9. Crawford • BOS 1.9
10. Clase • CLE 1.8

could never in a million years have guessed that list

Clase making the top 10 with only 29 IP is something... Crawford at #9 is at 68+.