The Yankees have released Marcus Stroman.

THEEEE YANKEES WIN THEE YANKEES WIN?

Twins adding both Austin Martin & Alan Roden to the big club to fill the roster after the firesale.

Blue Jays on Twitter:

ROSTER MOVES:

🔹 OF Daulton Varsho reinstated from the 10-day IL and will be active tonight
🔹 RHP Louis Varland and 1B Ty France have reported to the team and will be active tonight
🔹 OF George Springer (concussion) placed on 7-day IL, retroactive to July 29
🔹 RHP Paxton Schultz optioned to Triple-A

Springer to the concussion IL.

Schultz demoted.

Varland and France activated.

And Varsho activated.

Had a bad feeling France was added as insurance for a Springer injury. Sigh.

Kirk and Springer could be out a few days or a few months or longer. No way to know for sure at this point.

Kirk is playing for Buffalo tonight, a good sign.

That is a good sign.

I’m actually more worried about Springer, given the impact, how he looked afterwards, his age, and his history of head collisions (think 2022 postseason).

Ty is 12/25 (.480) in his career against Wacha. Vive la France.

Wilner reports that Springer is taking BP right now, but "he didn't check absolutely every box to return."

Nice to see Varsho pencilled in at CF.

(THUD)

Blue Jays look like the same lackluster team that was crushed by the Orioles.

Jays got worse offensively at the deadline which was a bit weird. Like maybe France performs to his underlying metrics but there were plenty of good hitters available. Why not just get a good hitter instead of a bad hitter who maybe could be a good hitter? Jays also lost Wagner and Roden who were both major league ready bats. If they need another guy in the minors, who is it? Clase?

Good to see you have to reach far to try to come up with a negative narrative post deadline.

Springer.

It often angers my inner child to see this team lose to the Royals.

I turned off the game midway and took a walk hoping for some of that magic we've witnessed over the recent run. No dice.

Yesterday, a Red Sox fan pal (to be fair all my IRL baseball buddies are Sox fans given my lot in life) was going on about the inevitable Blue Jays collapse.

I argued from what I've seen this team seems different with more resilience. I hope they show it over the rest of this series and the next two, because the performance tonight and against the O's were not exactly what we hopeful fans behind friendly enemy lines want to see.

Any predictions on what the record will be over the next 10? They have been impressively good at the dome.

I would have just started reminding Mr Inevitable Collapse that this isn't a Jays team to Bucky under the pressure.

I’ll take responsibility for this loss. With me and the boy in town for the series, we were excited to see the Juniors play and neither disappointed. Guess we should have been excited about a few more Jays.

I understand this is the ultimate SSS, but the corpse of Ty France looked every bit cooked as I expected. Everyone not named Guerrero and Bichette struggled, but I felt like we could time France’s bat speed using Mississippis.

Ty France was a very dangerous pickup because he has enough service time and previous big league success to play everyday under Schneider regardless of actual results. There's every reason to believe that Davis Schneider is a better hitter than him right now but is never going to play over him if (John) Schneider had a choice between the two. That Twins trade is a lot more palatable without France's inclusion. Should have been a 2-for-1 and move forward. Now unless France has a hot streak in him (possible but not something I'd want to bank on), he's going to hurt the team significantly down the stretch.

I just hope the Jays grabbed him due to Springer having that injury and plan to dump him if he doesn't come to life quickly. Ala Daniel Vogelbach both times (2020 here from Aug 24 to Sept 3, 2024 signed in February, dumped June 18th).

Austin Martin and Alan Roden hit 1-2 for the Twins tonight. Martin 3 singles in 5 trips, Roden 0 for 5, 2 K's.

Yankees' newest bullpen arms (Bird, Bednar, Doval) allowed 9 ER tonight, blowing two leads and losing 13-12. So it's not all bad...

Actually, those arms only allowed 7 earned runs. Two runs were unearned courtesy of an error by Jose Caballero, another trade deadline acquisition of theirs.

That boxscore is objectively very funny.

Ty France hasn't been a good hitter since 2022, so not sure how much life there is to come back to. His only defensive position is currently occupied by our $500 million player and the DH role had been useful in the bounceback season of our 35-year-old outfielder.

The one thing that gives me hope he won't get much playing time is that there is (ideally) nowhere to put him most games.

" I felt like we could time France’s bat speed using Mississippis." I smiled when Zoe read this. Nice one. Do we seriously have to now deal with Ty France getting unearned playing time???! Why Mr Schneider why???

Please I hope he plays 2x/ week only to spell tired players.

Fingers crossed that France's tenure is shorter than the famous Paul DeJong's... but the club cleared out Wagner, who was decent AAA depth so there's not much else to go to in the event of an emergency.

As bad as New York's additions played today, they still gave up less talent all combined than Toront gave up in trading Stephen and Rojas. They didn't touch their Top 10 prospects.

I, for one, like the new Yankees bullpen.

They put Caballero in right field. That alone is funny.

I mostly remember him as one of those guys who cover their entire face with eye black. As a baseball dad, I don't find that funny.

France has 6 homers on the year, so that wasn't his A swing. Fooled by the change, maybe? He has good numbers against KC and Wacha and honestly, he probably doesn't factor in the deal either way.

The new relievers have looked good.

Yes Marc, I'm sure that Cashman woke up this morning and is ecstatic that he "didn't give up any Top 10 prospects" after watching that disaster LOL. While our overpriced guy came out and was pumping 99 mph for strikes. What a strange, pointless take. Perhaps the Yankees should have paid a bit more, and acquired better players?

I assure you the Yankees' reliever implosion was an anomaly (quick trip to new team, first game jitters and all that) and they will settle in with no further issues. They'll be fine and in first place within two weeks.

Oh man Marc I feel like you're really putting yourself in a corner here. That's a hell of a bold claim. I think Boston and maybe TB will pass the NYY in 2 weeks. I don't know if this team has the offense to go all the way but if it doesn't it sure as hell isn't because the Yankees did a better job at the deadline.

I do sense you're upset about prospects given up.

Jays need to get Springer and Kirk back soon. Both look promising but the Jays lineups are just awful without them.

"They'll be fine and in first place within two weeks."

I love the boldness of this prediction. Way to put it on the line Marc.

I'm very curious to see what happens when Springer and Gimenez are both back. Obviously, Leo Jimenez will be one of the casualties off the 26 man roster, but there will need to be one more, so it will either be optioning one of Schneider/Loperfido, or cutting France. It was said a few days ago that they expected Springer to be back in the lineup on Friday (yesterday) but then he went on the concussion IL. So looking at it optimistically, France might have been acquired not as a "rest of the season" pickup, but rather cover in case Springer misses a significant amount of time. I know the Jays as a whole typically cater to veteran players but I can't imagine given where they are in the standings that they option one of two performing players (Schneider/Loperfido) over a non-performing veteran who they acquired 20 minutes ago and hasn't been good in years. Let's hope common sense prevails at the end of the day.

I'm not pissed about the lost prospects, I'm annoyed that they didn't properly vakue their own prospects and use them for actual key improvements to the roster. I think most of us can agree France is a waste of a roster spot and is a step down from Wagner due to the lost versatility and milb options which made him good AAA depth that is now lacking.

Losing a lefty that can touch 97 mph and get whiffs on 3 offerings for a one-olinning (unproven) reliever is just dumb. You'll never convinced me otherwise that it want a last-minute panic trade. And they also didn't want to take on anymore salary after Bieber.

While this is true, I can't imagine why Atkins would have accepted France in the deal if he was going to cut him almost right away, unless taking him helped facilitate the trade.

All I know is that France must be slow as molasses because he hit one groundball last night which the shortstop had to range far to his right to get, and his two bounce throw to first base still got France out by more than a step.

While this is true, I can't imagine why Atkins would have accepted France in the deal if he was going to cut him almost right away, unless taking him helped facilitate the trade.

All I know is that France must be slow as molasses because he hit one groundball last night which the shortstop had to range far to his right to get, and his two bounce throw to first base still got France out by more than a step.

Opposite hitters are batting .302 against Bednar in high leverage ABs this year.

I don't even know where to start with Bird. He has always been a below average reliever. He did figure something out this year: he's been excellent in Colorado and putrid on the road. It's a huge plus for the Jays that they won have to face him in a few days.

I think all of us should agree that France didn't cost any prospects.

Another question that comes up is 'what about 2026'? I plan to be around next year so I hope the Jays are planning ahead too.

After all the shuffling free agents post '25: Bassitt, Bo, Max, France, Bieber (player option). Not as bad as I thought - but 2 (+Bieber) members of the rotation being free agents is far from ideal. Of course, there will be a stack of FA starters - key ones being Dylan Cease, Zac Gallen, Framber Valdez, then Michael King, Brandon Woodruff, Zach Eflin, Ranger Suárez among others. Plus of course the Jays could re-sign any of their guys. For the rotation we also have Manoah, Francis, Bloss, Yesavage, Tiedemann, Macko all trying to make it as well. I could see a slot for Manoah and one for a free agent (resign or new guy) while the kids (and Francis) are all in AAA fighting for a shot when someone goes down or sucks. They also will be fighting for Gausman's slot (free agent post '26) and maybe Berrios (player opt-out post '26)

The lineup in 2026 will be pretty similar to this year. Varsho on his final year pre-free agency, same for Springer but that's it. So a SS for 2026 and beyond, then a CF and a DH after that. This team is set to be fairly stable if guys perform. A very big if of course.

Fangraphs has Rojas listed at 45 FV and Wagner at 40+.

As much as the hitting has suffered, our starters have to pick it up as well. During this 6 game slump, Gausman, Bassitt, Berrios have combined to give up a whopping 16 runs in 12.2 IP.

I'm more OK with what we gave up for Varland than most. Roden has put up some excellent batting lines in the minors, but has struggled in the bigs so far - not unexpected for a rookie hitter. He has 2 things that have been a concern to me, one is almost certainly an anomaly, but the other is not.

10% Line drive rate is the anomaly. It's been mid-20% in the minors - he's exchanged the missing 15% for ground balls.

He's also popped up the ball a lot and always has. Power hitters can get away with it, but he's no power hitter. Of 402 hitters with 100 PA's, he has the 3rd highest IFFB%. Of the 30 players in that group with the highest IFFB%, 22 also have a sub 10% HR/FB rate. Only 3 of those have better than 100 wRC+, with the median somewhere below 70.

As for Rojas, I have to accept other peoples opinions. Marc is obviously super high on him. Others less so. Longenhagen's updated thoughts at FG:

"Rojas is sitting 93-96 and touching 97, and is generating plus miss and chase with his heater, a true plus starter’s fastball and foundational pitch. His secondary stuff is below average, with his slider sitting 85-87 with inconsistent finish and depth; his changeup also sits 88. He doesn’t have especially great tactile feel for creating movement on his secondaries. Rojas has a prototypical starter’s build, and I think he fits in a big league rotation, but more as a no. 4/5 type because of the generic offspeed stuff."

I think we can all agree Varland was the actual cost for the prospects. France was anything from (or all of) the Twins wanting to save money and not finding a separate deal form him, Springer cover and/or seeing if Poplins can unlock something quickly. I would rather have had Wagner there, but.

At least Ernie will get a temporary reprieve from being the designated punching bag.

I just noticed that the Yankees lost yesterday’s game against Miami, 13-12. That is unbelievable. Earlier in the evening I noticed that the Marlins came all the way back from a huge deficit to tie the game. Then New York pulled ahead 12-10 in the top of the ninth inning. I figured, oh well, good try Miami. I assumed the game was essentially over at that point. That is wild that Miami then scored 3 in the bottom of the inning to win it. 9 total runs allowed by new additions Bird, Bednar and Doval!

I've read write-ups on FanGraphs and Law... and I disagree with both. I've watched more Rojas games over the last 3 years than those two combined, likely twice over. He has 3 legit weapons that all generate tons of whiffs. They can make opinions on second hand reports or a single viewing all they want but I'll continue to believe in mine.

I was on Griffin Jax before anyone knew who he was... same for Jonathan Loaisiga in Low-A, Zac Gallen in AA. I called Lazaro Estrada a future big leaguer (likely reliever) when he was repeating A ball and always hurt.

I'm not perfect but I do have a knack for identifying some useful MLB arms after getting paid to analyze prospects for 12 years. Heck, I was massively on Michael Wacha when he was drafted and thought he was the best college arm taken. He lost some shine due to injuries but I still remember how the Cardinals scouting director and I gushed over him that winter back when I used to talk to front office people (funny enough I even talked to Atkins when he was in Cleveland).

But I digress, I accept most trust other sources more despite their limited knowledge of the prospect in question but I also have a lot of faith in Rojas being a very useful big leaguer if he stays healthy.

That Yankees/Marlins game wasn't even the craziest game in MLB yesterday

I like a lot about Rojas - the BB/9 and K/9 are very sweet. But I look at the IP vs G and I see 'reliever'. Probably ace closer which has a lot of value, but reliever, never 100+ IP (his current peak is 84 in '23). Which suggests to me his most likely path is to become Varland but with higher K totals. Given where the Jays are I see why they'd say 'screw it, lets get that now instead of next year'. Of course, I've never seen him pitch and even if I did I know I'm no talent evaluator. I'd have preferred the Jays didn't lose Rojas but this deal makes a TON of sense and credit to Atkins for finding it when no one had it on their radar.

France is just a placeholder, I highly doubt they plan on starting him much at full strength (if he’s even still around). Wagner didn’t show much this year, and I was surprised that he left the team for his father’s retirement party.

Clement has a -0.1 WAR since June 25th. Only Vladdy has more PA since then.

"I was surprised that he left the team for his father’s retirement party."

Huh?

Marc, Jake Bird has not been good at all in recent outings with Colorado even before last night's blowup. In his final 8 appearances for the Rockies he registered only 2 scoreless outings and posted a 23.63 ERA. That is WITHOUT last night's game. Including last night, his last 10 appearances have produced the following:

24.30 ERA, 11.80 FIP, 8.10 K/9, 6.75 BB/9, 5.40 HR/9

Wow. An amazing acquisition. He has been complete crap for all of July.

Doval has major walk issues, and despite having plus velocity his fastball actually grades as being a completely average pitch. He is a lesser version of Seranthony Dominguez and is considerably less tested in high leverage situations. In fact, he has performed poorly in high-leverage innings this season even before landing in New York. Go take a look at his splits in low leverage, medium leverage, and high leverage outings.

David Bednar in a Yankees uniform is going to be a lot more interesting than you probably think it will be. This is a reliever who has had major issues under pressure historically, joining a team that will absolutely eat him alive if he doesn't perform. They threw him out in a high pressure scenario in his first game in pinstripes and he blew it. Lets see how he handles that moving forward.

With respect to the prospects that the Yankees gave up: Kiley McDaniel ranked all of the prospects that were traded, and he graded Roc Riggio (traded for Bird) as a 45+ FV - the exact same as Kendry Rojas, and only 2 slots behind him (#12 vs. #10 overall). So no, everyone is not in agreement with you that they gave up "no prospects". He ranked Rafael Flores as the 14th best prospect traded, Jesus Rodriguez 20th (40+ FV), Griffin Herring 25th (40 FV), Edgleen Perez 26th (40 FV), Everson Pereira 35th (40 FV).

With respect to Kendry Rojas and his alleged three pitches that all miss bats: I took a look at his recent AAA outing. He threw a total of 11 changeups and got 0 whiffs on that pitch. In that outing, it was 2 pitches that missed bats, NOT 3. He had a strong overall 32% whiff rate, but he also gave up 2 HR's and got hit fairly hard. In general he has given up a lot of hits in his limited AA and AAA data (5 starts). You are obviously bullish on him, but the opinions on him are hardly in consensus. This trade deadline was going to give a glimpse into how the Jays themselves valued the different groups of similar prospects/positions and you saw: Yesavage and King over Rojas, Loperfido over Roden, Loperfido over Wagner, Yesavage over Stephen, etc.

By the way, I notice that you also quieted down about Yesavage and how he was going to get exposed in AA with his alleged horrible command/control. Over his past 11 innings (3 starts) he has given up just 1 walk, and struck out 18. It took him all of 3-4 starts to acclimate himself to AA, and he is back to just completely overpowering hitters. In his start yesterday he had 18 whiffs on just 68 pitches thrown.

"I was surprised that he left the team for his father’s retirement party."

Huh?

This was a condescending reference to Wagner attending his father’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

That's what I thought. Just didn't think his remark was worth more than 3 letters. I wasn't surprised. In fact I would be surprised if anyone else was surprised.

I only saw Rojas live twice but his SL was anything but below average. It was a true swing and miss pitch. I agree the CH wasn’t a good looking offering, He actually looked nothing like a backend starter. He looked like a “boom or bust” prospect. There’s nothing fringy about his stuff. His control is definitely a work in progress.

I feel like Varland/Rojas is a bit of a "bird in the hand" situation. Varland has already shown that he can successfully pitch at a very high level in the majors. He's controllable through 2030.

Rojas might be able to stay healthy and be a successful MLB pitcher. But as with most pitching prospects, there is a lot of uncertainty around whether that will happen. And Rojas has already had a significant oblique injury.

Great read by Heineman!!! Good sign after getting one off the face and plunked on the arm.

Don't be shocked if Heineman goes on the 7IL as Kirk gets back.

Twins hitters miss Popkins?

Scherzer giving the Jays some excellent innings. Last 4 previous start, 6 today so far. Looking more and more like someone you start in the playoffs.

Just an idle observation, but Red Sox highlights today show them wearing yellow uniforms. The last few times I saw them on highlights, they were wearing green. Do they ever wear red any more? Maybe they should be called the Rainbow Sox.

They seems to have 2 City connect unis.
The yellow is about the Boston Marathon.
The other is about the green monster.

Marc you're digging a deeper hole. You don't have to have the NYY win the division or Rojas become some all star in order to justify the fact that you like that prospect a lot. You could just say you wouldn't have done the trade.

Reporting that it was a foolish trade, claiming it was a panic move (which the GM addresses was not the case) and then painting Rojas as the next high end pitcher to break out while dismissing Varland as unproven is pretty much baffling.

Referencing your history of work and players who you liked that work (without any reference to all the others that didn't) won't convince me that there's some untapped and unknown value that the Blue Jays front office wasted away because they didn't have your knowledge. Come on man, the FO has lots of smart people with baseball knowledge.

Just feels petty imho because it feels like you're checking out while hoping the team stumbles to prove your evaluation of a player. Reminds me of Keith Law to be honest.

Great to get the win today behind Scherzer, especially with Springer, Kirk and Gimenez still out. I hope Heineman is OK.

The bullpen additions have been very solid so far, all scoreless innings (I believe).

Bobby Whiff Jr.

Mad Max was great.

The video replay on Schneider's double was weird. He was safe by a mile.

Also, Loperfido runs the bases well.
It's great to hear that guys are afraid to be traded.

2-0 Marlins over the Yankees B5. Go Miami.

The Yankees can come back, if they stay away from their best relievers.

Efficient 6th inning for Eury Perez, he can probably go 7 innings today.

Big win. Great pitching and enough hitting. So many injuries makes things tough so every win matters. Out bullpen feels really solid right now.

Has the manager given an update about Heineman?

The video replay on Schneider's double was weird. He was safe by a mile.

The Royals probably noticed his foot came off the base.

His hand never left the base, so the foot is irrelevant.

The Royals probably noticed his foot came off the base

Davis did well keeping his hand on the bag.

Mitch Bannon said "Tyler Heineman doesn’t have any concussion symptoms, Schneider said, but #BlueJays will see how he is tomorrow

Alejandro Kirk isn’t DHing anymore in AAA tonight, to avoid any risk. He’s coming to Toronto"

His hand never left the base, so the foot is irrelevant.

That's the part that the Royals didn't notice!

Thanks, Joe.

The Blue Jays are now 4.5 games up on the Yankees, who lost 2-0 to Miami.

Boston is winning against Houston, so they may take over second place in the division, 4.0 GB.

Yankees look like the same lackluster team that was swept by the Jays. They managed 2 hits, hit into a double play and got a runner tagged at home.

I haven't quieted down about Yesavage... I made my statement earlier and stand by it... I said, don't get caught up in the A-ball numbers and wait for him to get tested at AA, which would be a challenge for him given the way hitters were often getting themselves out in A-ball, and he was relying on just 2 pitches.

Yesavage has been tested at AA. He's had 4 good starts and 3 bad starts. The last two have been good - but shorter. He's exactly where he needs to be now and I don't think he's yet shown that he's ready for AAA let alone MLB action.

It's played out exactly as I suggested it likely would. And good on him. He's making adjustments but still has a ways to go.

Red Sox look like they're going to win again.

They trade Devers and then can't lose.

Yankees go to Texas next and the Rangers are chasing that last wild card.

Red Sox look like they're going to win again.

This very weekend, Kepner published a piece on how the Red Sox used to be and ought to be more like the Astros - "bold, decisive, interesting."

The timing... superb.

The top four AL WC teams at the moment are Boston, NYY, Seattle, Texas.

Seems reasonable to guess that three of those teams will secure WC spots. Hard to say which three, though.

Alan Roden is 1 for 10 with 6 strikeouts since being traded.

A few notes:

1) His normally strong strikeout rate hasn't translated at all against MLB pitching. He is up to 24% on the season, and while this isn't "high", it is too high for a guy who hits for little to no power with poor batted ball data.

2) His GB/FB rate is atrocious. 1.84 against MLB pitching, and 1.63 in AAA. As usual, his constant fatal flaw is that he hits too many balls into the dirt. Hard to imagine any true MLB impact with that profile unless he somehow figures out a way to pull every flyball he does hit.

3) His barrel rate is comically bad.

4) His power output has dropped from last season. From .182 to .165 in Buffalo. And in the MLB he has a .097 ISO going into today.

Roden seems to have filled out/thickened up quite a bit since being drafted. It might benefit him to drop some weight and loosen up a little bit... maybe do the Bo thing and focus more on yoga, plyometrics, agility, etc.

Getting traded was probably the best thing that could happen to Roden, but now he needs to take advantage of the next 2 months.

The Jays can focus on the next wave of outfield prospects.

Buehler couldn't get out of the 5th and Boston needed 7 relievers to complete the game. Not exactly the blueprint for a serious run.

If you haven’t seen the Chisholm gaffe in today’s game, and his explanation afterward you need to look it up. He might have the worst baseball IQ and self-awareness of any player in MLB.

Don't be shocked if Heineman goes on the 7IL as Kirk gets back

The Jays are lucky that Kirk's return coincides perfectly with Tyler going down.

Otherwise they would've had to add a 4th catcher to the 40-man just to cover the MLB roster.

After the "popped into double play" Boone talked to Chisholm and yelled at the first base coach.

The guy who made the play confirmed he was thinking about dropping the ball.

As RP

RH Varland: 52gms, 1.0ip/gm, 49era-, 68fip-, 72xfip-, 1.6awar/65
RH Bednar: 43gms, 0.9ip/gm, 65era-, 56fip-, 68xfip-, 1.6awar/65

RH Dominguez: 46gms, 1.0ip/gm, 75era-, 81fip-, 86xfip, 0.9awar/65
RH Doval: 48gms, 1.0ip/gm, 81era-, 83fip-, 92xfip-, 0.3awar/65

RH Bird: 47gms, 1.1ip/gm, 114era-, 85fip-, 85xfip-, 0.4awar/65
RH Bieber: 0gms



2yrs

RH Varland: 61gms, 1.1ip/gm, 99era-, 76fip-, 76xfip-, 0.7awar/65
RH Bednar: 105gms, 0.9ip/gm, 108era-, 93fip-, 98xfip-, 0.3awar/65

RH Dominguez: 109gms, 1.0ip/gm, 93era-, 99fip-, 93xfip-, 0.3awar/65
RH Doval: 110gms, 1.0ip/gm, 104era-, 90fip-, 91xfip-, 0.0awar/65

RH Bird: 82gms, 1.2ip/gm, 107era-, 103fip-, 105xfip-, 0.2awar/65
RH Bieber: 0gms

wRC+ vRHP / vLHP

1. DH Springer 159 / Springer 117
2. 1B Guerrero 134 / Guerrero 169
3. SS Bichette 121 / Bichette 113
4. C Alejandro 120 / Alejandro 111
5. CF Varsho 132 / Varsho -59
6. 3B Barger 137 / Clement 156
7. RF Loperfido 190 / Loperfido 135
8. 2B Gimenez 100 / Schneider 139
9. LF Lukes 112 / Straw 97

B. UT Clement 60 / Barger 64
B. OF Straw 59 / Lukes 72
B. IF Schneider 89 / Gimenez 22
B. C Heineman 124 / Heineman 201

X. UT France 90 / France 89
X. OF Santander 68 / Santander 46
X. OF Clase 77 / Clase 44
X. IF Jimenez -100 / Jimenez 70
X. C Sanchez 7 / Sanche 253

The Blue Jays and the teams chasing them are facing some decent starting pitchers today.

Toronto: Seth Lugo
Boston: Framber Valdez
NYY: Edward Cabrera

The bench cleared in Boston because the Red Sox were relaying signs. The Boston commentators thought it was ironic but failed to consider Cora has changed teams.

Neris purposely balked a runner on 2nd to 3rd. Thought the runner was picking up his grip and/or the catchers setup

We're about 80 minutes before the first pitch and we haven't seen the lineup yet; this is odd, as it's usually released about 3 hours beforehand. I expect this has something to do with Kirk and Heineman... but perhaps neither is ready to go today and a 4th guy is required.

Lineup up.

Jays not sure about Heinemann so they sent Jimenez down. They are worried that Ali Sanchez might not clear waivers.

Nick Fortes would have looked really good for this very situation. Experienced MLB catcher with good defense and milb options for both 2025 and 2026.

Myles Straw in LF VS RHP? Why not play Schneider?

And if you are going to play Straw, why not just leave Loperfido in LF and play Straw in RF? Even if Joey has a slightly better arm, I feel like that gain is lost by shuffling him around the OF. There's value in having guys play the same position repeatedly.

With the jays 2nd overall, it's funny that the manager has still somehow managed to screw up every single gameday lineup all year.

That was clearly a ball.

Nothing much lost about Jimenez. He was clearly the guy going down when Springer comes back.

Myles Straw, folks.

The Straw that stirs the drink.

Weird AB. Just a bad pitch given the count.

It’s even funnier that people think you can only wonder about managerial decisions if the team isn’t in first place. Just a symptom of being a fan of a team that’s so rarely actually in first place, I suppose.

Meanwhile, in Miami, Gil's return is not what the Yankees were hoping for. 3 runs, 3 hits, 3 walks, over 50 pitches in 2 innings.

What a great 3-2 pitch by Bassitt against Frazier to get out of the inning and limit the damage to one run.

That's funny, 92-93, but i'm not sure it's funnIER!

Anyways, i'm feeling lefty Lauer to the pen just because lefty Fluharty is struggling just a bit too much.

I also wouldn't be surprised if Yesavage beats out Yimi for the last pitching slot.

It’s now 6-1 Miami over NYY.

Boone pulled Gil with two on and one out in the fourth. He went to LHP Brent Headrick, who promptly gave up a three-run HR to Kyle Stowers.

Im a Loperfido skeptic but that's a fantastic at bat right there.

Another great AB by Loperfido. Bye Lugo.

*Great* PA by Loperfido, battling and then delivering the go-ahead run on a two-out, 3-2 pitch and knocking Lugo out of the game.

I'm probably the high guy on Loperfido, and yes a great clutch at bat.

If Loperfido can learn to hit or lay off the high-tight fastball and the low curve, we may have gold!

It’s probably been mentioned by others on here but Loperfido curbing his strikeouts to relatively league average (as compared to the Swiss-cheese like near 40 percent rate he showed last season) is a pretty big deal if he’s that guy going forward. .

Unless he’s hurt, no clue why Rodriguez wasn’t the obvious choice for the 10th

How dare you question the manager, they’re in first place.

Yariel was the obvious choice even earlier than the 10th so yeah this is not good at all for their bullpen.

Looks like the trade deadline was a bust.

Yariel hasn't pitched since Wednesday, so something must be up.

Fisher and Varland have had very similar seasons. Varland has pitched a bit more but Fisher has probably pitched a bit better in more limited innings. Fisher has generally worked pretty low leverage innings except when there has been no other options. Interesting that Varland was dropped into the 8th inning role today.

I just find the France thing more and more frustrating. How are you in a pennant race in August and starting Straw and Clement against RHP? (yes, I know they weren't the issue today). The Jays didn't need to get Suarez but there were so many hitters available and not expensive who could have helped in one way or another (VS LHP specialists, fast runners, guys who can hit, etc...) and the Jays said "Let's get a guy who can't hit or play defense instead and also let's trade away our offensive depth!" I don't think Will Wagner is very useful but he can hit some and would be in a lineup VS RHP.

Disappointing loss for sure, but two big positives are that Kirk was back in the lineup and Bieber had another good rehab outing. Bieber looked confident and said his elbow, body, mind all felt great today.

If Bieber joins the rotation and pitches well, and Springer comes back strong, the team should be in good shape for the rest of the season.

This came up during the broadcast, but could Yesavage join the team in September? He could be an intriguing extra arm to have in the bullpen.

You probably should never count your pre-hatched chickens, but hopefully after the upcoming Blue Jays series against the 30-81 (.270) Rockies, Toronto will be at least 4 games up on the second-place team in the AL East.

Projected wRC+ as of yesterday:

(Santander 111)
Barger 109
Lukes 107
Wagner 107
Schneider 104
Roden 104
France 102
Schreck 100
Loperfido 94
Jimenez 94

In the last game in Baltimore, Rodriguez turned a 9-5 lead into a 9-8 lead in the 7th inning and left the game with one out and the bases loaded. Fisher came in and got the final two outs without giving up a run and it probably was the turning point of the game. It's probably why Rodriguez wasn't called upon in the 10th inning today, and maybe Fisher should have been used again, although easy to say in hindsight.

Given he hasn’t pitched in 5 days there might be something up with Rodriguez but there wasn’t much to be concerned about from that last Baltimore outing. If I remember it there was only one hard hit (a nice liner to left) the other hits were an infield single and a bloop. Then an error from Clement and that led to the runs. I really don’t have an explanation for why Schneider refuses to use Fisher in higher leverage situations but that isn’t new.

there wasn’t much to be concerned about from that last Baltimore outing.

His last two batters, after the soft hits and the error. Four pitch walk, four pitch walk.

I was watching the broadcast, Caleb Joseph said Yariel had lost his release point. Maybe he hasn't found it?

Statcast says his last 2 pitches on Wednesday were 97 and 98. That doesn’t scream physical problem but who knows.

The Blue Jays are currently tied with Detroit for the best W-L record in the AL.

The Blue Jays also has the worst positive run differential in the AL:

NYY +92
Det +80
Bos +78
Tex +66
TBR +46
Hou +39
Sea +22
Tor +16

I still think Toronto can win the AL East. But they're going to have to get back to playing like the team that ran the table in May-July. Slotting a healthy Bieber at or near the top of the rotation could help them do this.

*The Blue Jays also have (not has)

Projected wRC+ as of today:

Varsho 99
Gimenez 97
Clement 94

Ernie Clement is better than Mookie Betts. Anyone believe that? Neither do I. But Ernie has been better than Mookie this year, or maybe more accurately, Mookie has been worse than Ernie.

Mookie BRef : 87 OPS+, 1.8 WAR
Mookie FG : 85 wRC+, 1.2 WAR

Ernie BRef : 93 OPS+, 2.3 WAR
Ernie FG : 93 wRC+, 2.1 WAR

I don’t get the consensus that Bieber needs another rehab start. He looked good and only walked one guy, went five without reaching pitch limit and felt good after.

Why not roll a six man rotation starting now? Just seems odd to waste a Bieber start for…I don’t know what the concern is. Thursday is an off day so you’ll have a rested pen and the Dodgers are (last I checked) a good team that you might want the presumed ace to face.

Projected wRC+

1B Guerrero 145 --- RF Judge 178
SS Bichette 118 --- LF Bellinger 118
DH Springer 116 --- DH Rice 117
C Alejandro 116 --- 2B Chisholm 115
3B Barger 108 ----- CF Grisham 112
RF Lukes 107 ------ 1B Goldschmidt 111
LF Schneider 104 -- C Wells 101
CF Varsho 99 ------ SS Volpe 98
2B Gimenez 97 ----- 3B McMahon 93

UT France 102 ----- UT Stanton 113
OF Santander 111 -- OF Dominguez 106
IF Clement 94 ----- IF Rosario 93
C Heineman 91 ----- C Escarra 90

UT Loperfido 94 --- UT Vivas 85
OF Straw 74 ------- OF Slater 95
IF Jimenez 94 ----- IF Caballero 82
C Sanchez 71 ------



ERA

RH Bieber 3.73 ----- LH Fried 3.31
RH Gausman 3.91 ---- LH Rodon 4.04
RH Scherzer 3.92 --- RH Warren 4.14
RH Bassitt 4.03 ---- RH Gil 4.25
LH Lauer 4.14 ------ RH Brubaker 4.55
RH Berrios 4.32 ---- RH Schittler 4.55
RH Manoah 4.44 ----- RH Yarbrough 4.81

RH Hoffman 3.21 ---- RH Bednar 2.98
LH Little 3.36 ----- RH Williams 3.01
RH Varland 3.38 ---- RH Doval 3.17
RH Yesavage 3.43 --- RH Cruz 3.17
RH Dominguez 3.54 -- RH Bird 3.50
RH Garcia 3.69 ----- RH Leiter 3.66
RH Fisher 3.99 ----- RH Hamilton 3.82
RH Rodriguez 4.00 -- RH Loaisaiga 3.89
RH Pina 4.01 ------- RH DeLosSantos 4.04
RH Nance 4.02 ------ RH Effros 4.10
RH Sandlin 4.12 ---- RH Weaver 4.12
LH Fluharty 4.13 --- LH Headrick 4.15
LH Bruihl 4.27 ----- LH Hill 4.32

The starters are doing OK right now and they are just planning the best spot to deploy Bieber. Colorado brings it's own problems. Maybe best to be fastball heavy and focus on limiting the walks.

Maybe having an energized Royals heading to Fenway isn't the worst thing. We'll see.

The 3rd place Yankees continue their road trip in Texas.

His start was good based on the numbers but I watched it. He looked dominant in the first but really struggled with his command afterwards... it wasn't consistent and when his fastball got too much of the plate, it got hit hard. His two most used pitches - fastball and cutter - generated a total of 1 whiff.

His slider looked really good and was his most effective pitch. He usually uses the knuckle curve 10-15% but only threw 4. He's still getting the feel for his repertoire and looking to find the consistent command he needs to survive. I'd guess he still needs about 3 more milb starts.

Honestly, he looked kind of like Bassitt - the stuff of a No. 4 guy who, when he's really on, can look like a No. 2.

Boston reportedly tried acquire Joe Ryan at the trade deadline, per Jeff Passan:

“The Cubs and Red Sox entered deadline season in search of the same archetype: a high-end starting pitcher with multiple years of club control. Both exited with that need unfulfilled.

“Boston came close. The Red Sox were willing to part with a number of high-end prospects to land right-hander Joe Ryan from the Minnesota Twins. But that wasn't expressed until the deadline was nearing, and the Twins were so deep in other talks to disassemble their roster, the prospect of moving Ryan had lost appeal.“

Plausible Best Lineup...


...using this year's stats only:

1. DH Springer 408pa, .383obp, 148wrc+, 4.0war650
2. 1B Guerrero 491pa, .395obp, 141wrc+, 4.0war650
3. SS Bichette 497pa, .331obp, 120wrc+, 3.5war650
4. 3B Barger 337pa, .313obp, 121wrc+, 3.9war650
5. C Alejandro 351pa, .359obp, 115wrc+, 6.1war650
6. CF Varsho 107pa, .234obp, 93wrc+, 3.0war650
7. LF Schneider 124pa, .363obp, 120wrc+, 1.7war650
8. RF Lukes 279pa, .337obp, 106wrc+, 2.3war650
9. 2B Clement 415pa, .317obp, 93wrc+, 3.3war650

B. UT Loperfido 70pa, .420obp, 173wrc+, 6.5war650
B. OF Straw 224pa, .298obp, 78wrc+, 2.9war650
B. IF Gimenez 238pa, .300obp, 78wrc+, 2.7war650
B. C Heineman 123pa, .400obp, 154wrc+, 11.6war650

X. UT France 395pa, .316obp, 90wrc+, 1.0war650
X. OF Clase 112pa, .288obp, 68wrc+, -1.7war650
X. IF Jimenez 32pa, .129obp, -20wrc+, -6.1war650
X. C Sanchez 21pa, .238obp, 54wrc+, 3.1war650

X. OF Santander 209pa, .273obp, 63wrc+, -2.8war650
X. IF Stefanic 25pa, .280obp, 39wrc+, 0.0war650



....using Past 1 Calendar Year Stats:

1. DH Springer 594pa, .352obp, 126wrc+, 2.7war650
2. 1B Guerrero 708pa, .401obp, 151wrc+, 4.5war650
3. SS Bichette 502pa, .339obp, 120wrc+, 3.5war650
4. C Alejandro 524pa, .351obp, 114wrc+, 6.1war650
5. CF Varsho 239pa, .289obp, 109wrc+, 4.6war650
6. 3B Barger 479pa, .297obp, 107wrc+, 2.6war650
7. LF Lukes 370pa, .345obp, 112wrc+, 3.0war650
8. RF Loperfido 204pa, .296obp, 96wrc+, 1.3war650
9. 2B Clement 614pa, .304obp, 91wrc+, 3.1war650

B. UT France 586pa, .311obp, 89wrc+, 0.1war650
B. OF Straw 228pa, .297obp, 78wrc+, 2.9war650
B. IF Gimenez 449pa, .300obp, 82wrc+, 3.0war650
B. C Heineman 136pa, .391obp, 143wrc+, 11.0war650

X. UT Santander 424pa, .288obp, 86wrc+, -0.5war650
X. OF Clase 135pa, .313obp, 88wrc+, 0.0war650
X. IF Jimenez 169pa, .310obp, 96wrc+, 1.5war650
X. C Bethancourt 47pa, .277obp, 102wrc+, 5.5war650

X. UT Schneider 235pa, .285obp, 75wrc+, 0.0war650
X. OF Schreck
X. IF Stefanic 107pa, .290obp, 55wrc+, -1.8war650
X. C Sanchez 66pa, .204obp, 22wrc+, 0.0war650



....using Fangraphs Combined Rest of Season Projections:

1. DH Springer 176pa, .338obp, 116wrc+, 2.6war650
2. 1B Guerrero 207pa, .381obp, 145wrc+, 4.1war650
3. SS Bichette 199pa, .333obp, 118wrc+, 3.9war650
4. C Alejandro 148pa, .355obp, 116wrc+, 6.1war650
5. RF Santander 66pa, .311obp, 111wrc+, 1.0war650
6. CF Varsho 180pa, .291obp, 99wrc+, 2.9war650
7. 3B Barger 159pa, .314obp, 108wrc+, 2.9war650
8. LF Lukes 110pa, .338obp, 107wrc+, 2.4war650
9. 2B Gimenez 178pa, .319obp, 97wrc+, 3.7war650

B. UT Schneider 57pa, .325obp, 104wrc+, 2.3war650
B. OF Straw 38pa, 300obp, 74wrc+, 1.7war650
B. IF Clement 100pa, .307obp, 94wrc+, 2.6war650
B. C Heineman 48pa, .324obp, 91wrc+, 4.1war650

X. UT France 76pa, .327obp, 102wrc+, 0.9war650
X. OF Loperfido 119pa, .303obp, 94wrc+, 1.6war650
X. IF Jimenez 4pa, .325obp, 94wrc+, 0.0war650
X. C Bethancourt 0pa, .277obp, 91wrc+, 0.0war650

X. UT Martinez 2pa, .274obp, 79wrc+, 0.0war650
X. OF Clase 15pa, .292obp, 81wrc+, 0.0war650
X. IF Stefanic 0pa, .356obp, 109wrc+, 0.0war650
X. C Sanchez 6pa, .279obp, 71wrc+, 0.0war650

I'm always so confused by these...why are Loperfido and Straw on the bench using this year's stats?

not sure why Straw would be in the starting lineup based on those stats tbh.

as for Loperfido, obviously topline numbers are great, but sample size matters to this year's stats too. Id I'm managing the team i don't necessarily believe that 70pa of .477babip is enough to make him my starter. though to be fair he's getting to the point where it's hard to keep him on the bench.

Other huge factors to consider are platoon splits.

more importantly, though, the "best" configurations are always a matter of opinion. Anyone can slot the lineups any way they want, and noone's take will be perfect. Except for yours obviously - your preferred lineups are definitely the right ones.

Nope, John's are - he's the manager of the first place ball club.

Austin Barnes was just released from his AAA deal with the Giants after being let go by the Dodgers earlier this year. Proven vet with solid defensive rep would make some solid AAA insurance for the Jays along with Valenzuela (who impressed me while catching Bieber's start). Plus he'd have valuable intel on the Dodgers pitchers.

Noah Syndergaard was just released too. It doesn't look like he'd help anyone, but worth remembering that time comes quickly for players and not every pitcher survives through Tommy John surgery.

Hmm... wonder if a Loperfido/Schneider platoon is the best idea in LF - Schneider vs LHP: 140 sOPS+ (82 vs RHP); Loperfido vs RHP: 178 sOPS+ (135 vs LHP). Switch to career (tOPS+, so just vs themselves not vs league) and you get Schneider: 94-110 vs Loperfido 105-76 (vs RHP-LHP)

Both have a platoon split and using them appropriately should produce the best results. Now that Varsho is back it should be easier to do so. For now I expect an OF of Loperfido/Schneider - Varsho - Barger with Straw & Lukes mixed in as much as possible (shift Barger to 3B and those 2 could share RF) Straw: 61-101 sOPS+ (lifetime 103-94 tOPS+), Lukes 107-71 (107-44) so based on this year a platoon of those 2 makes sense, career wise Straw doesn't, but Lukes does.

Infield has 2 positions in question - 3B: Barger 134-72, Clement 63-165 (93-112 career) are an obvious platoon, 2B: Gimenez 94-25 is also obvious (104-90 lifetime so this years small sample size should be taken with a grain of salt). Schneider could be mixed in at 2B when extra offense is needed and a flyball guy is going for the Jays.

Kind of interesting to dig in a tiny bit. For some reason I didn't notice how big Barger, Lukes, Straw, and Schneider's platoon spreads were. Clements has been very well documented here. Basically vs LHP Straw is a decent choice with around a 100 sOPS+ and 'wow' defense, but letting him hit RHP should only happen in blowouts or when you NEED his defense. Similar with Clement.

Interesting to see Syndergaard mentioned - he wouldn't be a crazy guy to sign to a AAA deal - did well in rookie ball, but was given just 2 starts in AAA by the White Sox 8 IP 10 H 9 R/ER 5 HR 1 BB 2 SO. I'd want to know why the dingers were so high, but a minor league deal can't hurt. Jays are becoming known for rehab it seems.

I think the best part about Loperfido looking good this season (BABIP-fueled or otherwise) is that once Gimenez gets back, then we might see Clement used more in a platoon role at 2B with Loperfido/Varsho/Lukes starting in the OF. I was certain that the Jays would start Clement at 3B regardless, and maybe they still will, but Loperfido has been batting 2nd in the lineup which seems to suggest that he's built a level of trust with Schneidr, so maybe there's a shot. Only downside is that would mean 5 LHB in the lineup, which they may not want to do (Barger at 3B, the above referenced OF, and Gimenez at 2B).

I'm still not convinced Schneider is a platoon guy.

Career: 100wrc+ vRHP / 114wrc+ vLHP
2025: 89wrc+ vRHP / 139wrc+ vLHP
2024: 93wrc+ vRHP / 49wrc+ vLHP
2023: 132wrc+ vRHP / 243wrc+ vLHP

But i guess if Loperfido keeps hitting vRHP, then a platoon might make sense anyways.

Adding to the confusion is that Barger might be a guy you want to platoon too. And Gimenez is a guy you definitely want to platoon.



Past 3yrs:

vRHP

Lukes 353pa, 115wrc+
Barger 461pa, 112wrc+
Schneider 451pa, 100wrc+
Loperfido 265pa, 99wrc+
Gimenez 1052pa, 94wrc+
Straw 491pa, 68wrc+

vLHP

Schneider 268pa, 114wrc+
Straw 255pa, 77wrc+
Gimenez 435pa, 74wrc+
Loperfido 67pa, 74wrc+
Lukes 48pa, 59wrc+
Barger 101pa, 47wrc+



Past 2yrs:

vRHP

Lukes 327pa, 118wrc+
Barger 461pa, 112wrc+
Loperfido 265pa, 99wrc+
Gimenez 633pa, 93wrc+
Schneider 464pa, 92wrc+
Straw 119pa, 62wrc+

vLHP

Straw 109pa, 93wrc+
Schneider 214pa, 81wrc+
Loperfido 67pa, 74wrc+
Lukes 43pa, 68wrc+
Gimenez 238pa, 53wrc+
Barger 101pa, 47wrc+



This year

vRHP

Loperfido 53pa, 185wrc+
Barger 273pa, 135wrc+
Lukes 250pa, 110wrc+
Gimenez 172pa, 100wrc+
Schneider 48pa, 89wrc+
Straw 116pa, 61wrc+

vLHP

Schneider 76pa, 139wrc+
Loperfido 17pa, 136wrc+
Straw 108pa, 95wrc+
Lukes 29pa, 72wrc+
Barger 64pa, 64wrc+
Gimenez 66pa, 22wrc+



if anyone can sort out that mess I'm all ears.

a Santander return could defintely simplify this tho.

What is Santander’s current status? The clock is ticking if he’s going to be a meaningful contributor this season and postseason.