Fine with Lukes in instead of Sanchez because this feels like a bit of a celebration of last year and Lukes was a part of that and Sanchez wasn't but I still hate having four LH Ofers. Just feels like really poor roster management.

Agreed Glevin - 7 OF's is more my concern - how the heck do you get them all enough playing time? Guess Schneider will get lots at 2B and Barger at 3B (Barger listed as an IF on the Jays website). I'm guessing the Jays plan to give Vlad and Springer more days off this year and shift Okamoto to 1B those days plus Vlad to DH or bench/Springer to bench. Then you can put Sanchez and Lukes in the OF or Schneider and Straw depending on LH or RH pitcher. So yeah, there is a path but it isn't pretty. Guess they hope most balls are hit up the middle to Varsho-Gimenez-Clement.

Agreed it is poor roster management. It's not just a LF platoon between a LHB and a RHB, but now it's also a platoon between two LHH outfielders vs RHP. Three players platooning for one position, essentially. Seems like the are going to use Sanchez and Lukes in LF vs RHP depending on the matchup, which is just not a smart way to optimize a roster, especially since the RHH side of that platoon doesn't even hit LHP all that well (105 wRC+ vs LHP in Schneider's career vs 112 vs RHP). Heck, even Lukes isn't much better than average against RHP.

Either way, I would have been shocked if Lukes didn't start tonight. It's going to be a celebration and curtain call atmosphere for the 2025 Jays tonight, and Lukes was a part of that run. It's ultimately Game 1 of 162 so not a big deal. The roster construction itself seems more of an issue, but we have a long time to see how that plays out. Maybe it plays out well in the end.

It's not poor roster management. It's just having lots of good players.

Barger and Schneider could plausibly be our fulltime starting 3B and 2B, and good ones, so it's hardly an OF logjam.

And counting Varsho as just another lefty OF seems wrong. CF is clearly not like corner OF.

And the only guys who actually need (small-side) platooning are Gimenez and Sanchez.

In the end the roster in October won't look at all like it does today. Opening day last year was... Bo SS, Vlad 1B, Santander LF, Gimenez 2B, Kirk C, Springer CF, Wagner DH, Clement 3B, Roden RF - by October Wagner & Roden were long gone, Santander was IL most of the time, Gimenez batting 4th was hard to believe, Springer re-earned the leadoff slot, and Bo was at 2B when in the field.

Pitching that day was Berrios, Lovelady, Barnes, Green, Yariel, Sandlin - only Yariel pitched in October and now none are on the active roster - Berrios IL and Yariel in AAA.

Things change, that is the one thing we can be guaranteed of.

Starters: 4 LHH, 5 RHH

Bench: 2 RHH, 1 LHH, 1 SWH

Positional Coverage (asterisk = could use platooning):

CF: Varsho, Straw
RF: Barger*, Lukes
LF: Sanchez*, Schneider
3B: Okamoto, Barger*, Clement
SS: Gimenez*, Clement
2B: Clement, Gimenez*, Schneider
1B: Guerrero, Okamoto
C: Kirk, Heineman

It's not having a lot of good players, it's having a lot of OK players. Sanchez, Lukes, and Schenider are all major leaguers but second division starters or platoon sorts of guys. Other contenders in East have Anthony, Ward, and Bellinger in LF all of whom are are better than any of those three Jays. I also don't get hitting Lukes second. He's probably the team's third worst hitter against RHP. (Gimenez and Clement). Barger and Varsho aren't great fits at #2 but they are significantly better offensively overall.

here is a strange. I was looking at the fangraphs projections and here's the top of their list, ranked by WAR

Dodgers 54.9
Yankees 48.8
Mariners 47.2
Mets 47.1
Red Sox 46.9
Blue Jays 46.7
Phillies 46.6
Orioles 44.3

And I was puzzled by the 2 WAR gap between the Yankees and Jays. After a brief survey I realized that last year Varsho (2.2 in 71 games) and Straw (1.8 in 137 games) combined for 4 WAR ... AND YET ... Blue Jays CF are projected to combine for 2.2 WAR in 2026.

How? The give Varsho a projection of 138 games - almost twice as many - and only 1.9 WAR. Straw is, naturally, projected for about 30% of the game he had last year but that works out to .5-.6 WAR, and since basically none of that is the bat to begin with, how is his projection .1?

Give Varsho 4.2 WAR instead, perfectly reasonable (more reasonable than 1.9 by a wide margin), and the team total is almost tied with NY for second overall. Which is perfectly reasonable.

Schlittler with 5.1 shutout innings (1 H, 0 BB, 8 K) against SF in a 3-0
Yankees win today. I think he’s going to be very good this year, a strong #2 starting pitcher if he can stay healthy.

Gimenez doesn’t need a platoon, especially if he’s an above average SS. He hits lefties better than Clement hits righties.

Schneider is going to roll with the guys who got him here, and that means a healthy dose of Lukes (and Clement) unless his play proves otherwise. I doubt he cares that Sanchez’s career numbers vs. RHP are better. He trusts Lukes and wants Barger and Varsho’s power lower in the lineup. I’d go Barger/Varsho/Lukes, but no biggie.

That was quite an AB by Vladdy.

I got a laugh out of the opening ceremony when I saw Ortiz and Vlad doing the Yankees lose bit. Never gets old.

Severino used Barger’s aggressiveness against him nicely in that two on, none out situation, throwing fastballs up and out of the zone (but close enough to the zone to generate swings). Result: DP groundball

The one thing Okamoto demonstrated consistently during the spring was excellent strike zone control. He really earned that BB. Ernie’s MVP campaign off to an excellent start.

Who is going to be a higher WAR player in 2026: Bichette or Okamoto? It’s not obvious to me that Bichette will come out ahead.

And even if Bichette ends up posting the higher WAR, the difference between the two players might not be all that much.

Should Schneider have used Tyler Rogers in T7 with the heart of the A’s lineup coming up?

Guess not! Nice job Louis V.

Kinda feels like Horner's deal is a fair comp for what Varsho would want as a floor

Déjà vu all over again:(

Hoff not quieting his doubters

Deja vu

Brad Lidge

Can't deal with another season of him closing. I'm sure he'd be a fine reliever if he wasn't the automatic closer.

If we’ve learned anything about Schneider over the years - he believes in the Proven Closer.

I actually thought Hoffman looked good and pitched well overall. Made one bad pitch to Langeliers.

Great ABS challenge by Kirk.

Great night for the bottom of the lineup. Ernie pretty much has the AL MVP won already.

They still have that magic touch from last year.

7, 8 9 do the job.

Power of friendship.

Also, how about Okamoto? Great debut for him.

The Gimenez doubters providing all the RBIs, clearly.

Great, great pitching from Gausman. 11K 0BB strong start.

Just a really good baseball game (by both teams actually).

I can't get too mad at Hoffman as that was a good pitch that Shea hit out but he's not someone the Jays should be trusting to close games again this season. Hopefully if he's still giving up dingers at a league leading rate that they make some sort of change this time instead of just trotting him out there and crossing their fingers.

Either way, nice to start the season with a W.

Hoffman pitched one inning, allowed one hit (the HR), walked none, and struck out four.

I think he can be an adequate closer *if* the manager doesn’t start overusing him again. He’ll blow a handful of leads over the course of the season but still be decent/solid in the end.

I actually thought Hoffman looked good and pitched well overall. Made one bad pitch to Langeliers.

That's how it went all last year. The stuff would look great, he wouldn't walk himself into trouble, he'd get a lot of swing and miss and Ks. He'd throw one bad pitch and it would go out.

He'd look dominant except every ball in the air somehow went long.

it's some comfort that the same guy who got to Hoffman also got to Gausman.

That's how it went all last year. The stuff would look great, he wouldn't walk himself into trouble, he'd get a lot of swing and miss and Ks. He'd throw one bad pitch and it would go out."

It happened but in his worst games Hoffman didn't look sharp at all. His fastball was down, his control was off and he wasn't striking guys out. He didn't give up a single run last year in innings where he struck out the side. At a quick glance, the 16 appearances where he gave up a run, he struck out
3 :0 times
2Ks: 2 times
1k: 9 times
0 Ks: 5 times

Obviously not an ideal start but also not like how he struggled last year.

The manager arguably leaned on Hoffman too hard at times last year (I made that argument for much of the 2025 season). When Hoffman was relatively rested, he was generally pretty good (with some blips). When he was overworked, he was a bit of a powderkeg, with less velocity and control/command and flatter stuff.

Will the manager draw the obvious conclusion from last year’s experience about the optimal usage of Hoffman? Time will tell.

Cursing at Hoff for giving up the long ball in game 1? And Gimenez driving in all the runs again? Is this still April 2025?

I was really hoping to NOT repeat the Hoffman experience again. Please, just TRY using him as the setup guy, maybe? Can Rogers close? Pretty please?

Fine debut by Okamoto - 2H, 1BB. So far, looks like a fine major leaguer.

And Ernie doing Ernie things.

Slow game. Offense feels like it needs another bat to be potent. Gausman outstanding. Okamoto outstanding. Middle defense (Kirk, Varsho, Clement and Gimenez) is the best we've had. Hoffman looked great, dominated in the playoffs and unfortunate he gave up a HR. So did Gausman, doesn't mean they need to be written off. If Hoffman repeats his HR rate from last year then yes, likely a very necessary move to move him from role. I'll wait to see considering how strong he was in the playoffs and when pitches with rest last year.

Two things that took away from my enjoyment was the broadcast. The sounds of the game were mixed too low. I could barely hear the crowd or sounds from the field. Not sure if it's because I watched the Bell broadcast when I normally use SN+ app. Finally, the Joe and Dan dynamic is too much of a good thing for me. I prefer the Buck/Dan duo which let the game breathe a bit more. If you read and listen to a lot of baseball news then you're hearing a lot of Dan's comments a 2nd time when he brings it up.

Straw starting in RF today, Barger getting the day off against a LHP.

This roster construction is a major issue if Straw is going to be platooned with Barger. Hopefully this is just another “thanks for 2025” start and not something that happens all season.

Straw is 3/8 in his career against the LHP Springs. Schneider may also want to provide Cease with strong OF defense in his first start for the team. Also, it’s good to get most or all of the players some playing time in the first few games (if possible).

The Blue Jays (Kirk) used the ABS challenge system beautifully in game 1, deploying it in a high-leverage situation on the perfect pitch (strikeout pitch on the edge of the zone).

It will be interesting to see how they use it going forward — who gets to issue the challenge and it what situations.

Schneider gave an interview at the beginning of last year where he said that he wants to give every player on the roster a start in the first few games of the season to make everyone feel ready and part of the team. Sanchez and Heineman will be next.

No issues if this is just a “get everyone in the lineup for the first series” move. It will be a bigger issue if it’s indicative of how they feel about Barger vs LHP in general but we will cross that bridge later.

"Gimenez doesn’t need a platoon, especially if he’s an above average SS. He hits lefties better than Clement hits righties."

Eh, not in recent memory he doesn't. He doesn't even hit righties as well as clement hits righties, let alone lefties.

Since 2023

vRHP

Clement 732pa, 92wrc+
Gimenez 1160pa, 90wrc+

vLHP

Clement 364pa, 114wrc+
Gimenez 456pa, 76wrc+

We’ve had this discussion before - all of Gimenez’s career numbers are incredibly distorted by his 2022 season.

SK - Barger being an everyday option is the ideal. However, until Barger shows he can hit LHs or Straw turns back into an offensive pumpkin (both entirely possible), I’m actually expecting some form of platoon.

Barger can always sub in at RF later in the game against a RHP if need be.

98 mph high on the outside corner is not a bad pitch.
Maybe, it's a bad sequence.
That's the pitch Siddall called for and it looks like it's the pitch Langelier expected.
Hitters are usually behind on the fastball early on and Gaus said the first homer was on a change.

Gausman's splitter is often a ball called a strike.
At some point, I expect to see a team challenging it early on.

Absent proof of steroids, I don't view any stats that a 27 year old put up a few years ago as a distortion. In 2023, one season after his outlier year, Gimenez hit lefties better than he hit righties. In 2024 and 2025 he wasn't good enough against righties to be a regular, so once you're starting him there's little reason to remove him from the lineup vs. lefties. And that's the case especially when your OF is all LHB - the team's best defense will always be with Gimenez in the lineup, and you gain nothing by platooning him and forcing Schneider into the infield and starting a LH OF vs. a LHP.

Vladdy just can't be challenging in that situation.

I wasn’t suggesting that 2022 stats should be ignored completely but, for all the reasons that the various projection systems do it, the longer ago the stat is from the less weight/predictive value it has. In Gimenez’s case, his career stats are skewed considerably by one outlier season / that’s just the way it is. I would have both Gimenez and Clement in the lineup up a near full time basis given their defense and base running contributions. All of that goes out the window if Gimenez is the 70 wRC+ hitter he was last year.

Vladdy really needs to stop doing that.

Bad challenge followed by bad baserunning. Not one of Vladdy's finer moments.

That was a hell of a catch.

Cease looks good, he doesn't look like a pitcher who had a 4.5 ERA last season.

Feels like one of those games where the missed opportunities come back to bite the Blue Jays, despite the dominant SP performance from Cease.

* might come back, I mean!

Sweet DP, good decision to go to Fisher in that situation, and good execution by Braydon.

Clutch hit by Varsho (after a bad chase no less), and Vladdy makes up for his earlier flub with some good aggressive baserunning.

Ouch

Shouldn’t Nance have been ready to face Langeliers with the bases loaded?

Good chance Little walks Langeliers here.

I guess Little isn't new and improved.

Three infield hits were bad breaks, the home run wasn't.

Frustrated by all the infield flukes but it's kinda annoying to spend the whole winter listening to people banging away about Hoffman and Little and in the first two games both guys give their critics more fuel. I don't enjoy such discussions.

Fluharty looked pretty good and was unlucky (although his follow through leaves him in a poor fielding position). Little not so much.

Hoffman looked good yesterday, Little did not look good today.

Really not sure why they pulled Fisher after only four pitches. Fisher handled LHH’s.

Huge hit by Gimenez against the lefty. A great sign that the Jays fell behind 4 and are putting up a fight.

160 more to go. Nice relaxing W’s. Easy money once Ernie got up:)

Great win. This series has been a nice antidote to the frustrations of Game 7 of the World Series last year. Overcoming Hoffman’s home run allowed…Varsho and Kirk coming through with clutch hits, some key baserunning plays, Clement’s decisive drive not getting caught by an outfielder…

Any word on Fluharty’s injury?

Fantastic game. Jays had some bad luck with those infield hits and got some good luck on Clement not being called for a swing. Gimenez off to an electric start. Cease and Gausman sure does look like a top of the rotation you can go into the playoffs with.

Right knee contusion for Fluharty. X-rays were negative. Phew!

You don't set your playoffs rotation in March.
Nice outing by Nance.
Miles picks up the win.
Rogers looks like a solid addition.
Varland makes me more nervous than Hoffman.

Might still need to make a roster move.
I don't see a starter going deep in the next 3 starts.
8 pitchers used today.

But barely.

Fisher 4 pitches
Fluharty 9
Rogers 7

Shouldn't consider them unavailable tomorrow unless Flu is day-to-day. This group lacks flexibility in that they will not lightly demote any of the ones they CAN demote.

In honor of his fine work, I think Langeliers deserves to take Sunday off.

I second that TamRa. I do like that everyone pretty much has gotten into a game already for the Jays, with Heineman the only batter not to get in yet and I'm sure he starts tomorrow. All 8 relievers have been used (7 used today plus Hoffman on Friday and 2 used both games). So just 2 starters will be unused come Sunday night - Ponce and Scherzer with Lauer starting tomorrow.

Wouldn't be surprised in the least if Fluharty is put on the IL after today's game and someone else is called up to eat innings if needed. Miles was a nice surprise, but I wouldn't be expecting anyone to be able to go 2+ tomorrow who is currently on the roster.

"The Langoliers" (1990) is a horror story by Stephen King.  The Athletics Shea Langeliers has been quite the horror story too.

I know his stuff might not play up in or suit the role perfectly....but i would really like mad max to get a shot at the closer role.

Closing is mostly mental.

I know Rogers can pitch a lot but I’d be surprised if they want to run him out three days in a row right at the start of the season.

So, Vladdy still doing Vladdy stuff. And Little has seen little change from the end of last year.

I think the team is gelling a bit better (maybe Bo wasn't a great part of the team? Who knows? I've always viewed him a bit like the Jays Mitch Marner..) - but still dumb mistakes by the coaching staff. Letting Little face the hottest hitter, the new Mountcastle? Langeliers has what now, 3 HR, 6 RBI in 2 games?

Great to see the push - bottom of the order doing it again and Kirk with the clutch hit.

"Wouldn't be surprised in the least if Fluharty is put on the IL after today's game and someone else is called up to eat innings if needed. Miles was a nice surprise, but I wouldn't be expecting anyone to be able to go 2+ tomorrow who is currently on the roster."

Macko time?

Vlad had a stupid challenge, a dumb baserunning third out at third base, and ran through the stop sign at third base. The running though the stop sign at third base was quite clearly correct (the base coach was way wrong to hold him) as with 2 outs the break even on scoring has to be very favorable for running and Vlad was safe by a lot on that play.

That double play by Gimenez and Clement with one out and first and third was worth the admission itself. Playing in, catching a scorched one-hopper going away from second and being able to spin into a good throw was fantastic. Defensive run saved? Yes, yes it was.

Hoffman with a 36 K/9. Cease with a -0.46 FIP. Gimenez with a 1.778 OPS. Little with a hilarious 20.91 FIP vs 3.61 xFIP. Early season stats are fun!

And of course Langeliers is the DH and leadoff hitter today.

To me the two biggest wildcards on this team are Lauer and Ned Flanders. I just don't know what to expect from either this year. Excited to see what Lauer does today.

Just walk The Langelier unless up by a lot. As a catcher, he seems to have figured out the Jays' (Kirk's) pitch sequencing. 

Lauer looking strong after 1!

What is the record for strikeouts by a trio of starting pitchers in a three-game series to open the MLB season? The Blue Jays (Gausman, Cease, Lauer) are already up to 26 strikeouts — in 12.1 innings!

Summer of George?

You mean 39k in 22 ip, greenfrog?
I think Lauer is PISSED.

I was counting strikeouts by SP (not relievers)…

That HR to right center against 97 is definitely promising.

Gonna be a fun year.

52 K for 3 GP. I cant check for SP toyals

https://www.mlb.com/news/astros-mlb-record-52-strikeouts-in-3-game-set-c180433878

Okamoto’s home run was a bit reminiscent of some of Bichette’s blasts. His bodily rotation, the bat staying in the hitting zone for a long time, the powerful drive to right-centre.

Jays currently 32K in 17 IP by SP.
Does Lauer get another Ip?

It’s early, but the Okamoto signing is looking terrific. The Blue Jays have him for four years at about the cost of one year of Bichette.

Also that 32 K + is so low of look at the 20k and 19k starts and the surrounding starts. Maybe even down to 15K ( for 3 game totals).

What is the record for strikeouts by a trio of starting pitchers in a three-game series to open the MLB season?

No idea. But the most by the Jays' first three starters to begin a season was 21, which Gausman and Cease blew past all by themselves. (Morris 7, Stottlemyre 4, Guzman 10 in 1992; Hentgen 4, Clemens 9, Guzman 8 in 1997.)

A little surprising it was so long ago.

Love how Hoffman went all heaters after hanging a slider.

Okamoto (14 PA): .333./.429/.583, 2 BB, 4 K, 197 wRC+

Bichette (14 PA): .077/.071/.077, 0 BB, 8 K, -61 wRC+

I know how baseball is but I'm greedy. I want them to be 9-0 when the Dodgers get to town

Not gonna comment on the Bichette/Polanco/Semien numbers because it's only 3 games in March, but having Lovelady pitching in the 10th, that's just a bad front office.

Apparently we did set the opening series K record with 50.


And i would be ecstatic if Okamoto was as good a hitter as Bo this year. But he shouldn't be all that worse in any case.

The crazy thing is that they're playing Bo at 3B, when there is zero reason to think he can handle that spot.

I also wonder if Bo’s body is truly ready for a 162-game season (plus possible postseason), at a new defensive position no less. His knee injury was pretty severe last year, and he had a shortened off-season. Plus he’s had an assortment of other injuries in recent years.

Saw online that Bo already has tossed one way off the bag. Bo at 3B seemed like a very, very bad idea when the Mets said they were doing it and nothing has changed my mind on that. 3 years of $42 mil - boy are the Mets going to regret that deal I suspect. His signing bonus was $40 mil - so the Mets already have paid more to Bo than the Jays did ($37,161,350 including his signing bonus - using figures from Cot's Contracts - this is missing whatever they paid him in the minors but I credited him with full pay for his 2019 season even though he wouldn't have gotten a full seasons pay that year so it'll be close, probably a touch high). Kind of funny when one thinks of it. I know why (MLB limits pay pre-6 years pretty strongly), but still comes out funny. 20.9 bWAR Bo got the Jays, in 3 years with the Mets it is very safe to say he won't produce that much - I think they'd be happy if they got 15 from him. That deal will go down as a very bad one - but not the worst they got from an ex-Jay - Alomar's 0.4 bWAR for nearly $16 mil in '02/'03 plus the Mets gave up 5 players (Matt Lawton probably the best at 3.8 bWAR for Cleveland post-trade, paid $19.25 mil for him). Yeah, that Alomar to the Mets deal sucked for both teams - you'd never know Alomar was a 7 WAR guy the year before - he really collapsed at 34.

I'm pretty confident that the Jays did the smart thing this winter signing Okamoto instead of Bo. Would've been sweet to have gotten Tucker too, but such is life (73 OPS+ through 3 games, just 2 for 11 so thus far not bad to have missed out, but the Dodgers are also 3-0 as are the Yankees).

I feel sorry for Bo (as sorry as I can got someone making $40M+ a year). Booed after 3 games is absurd and he's a quiet sort of guy. Anyway, love this Jays team!

Btw, 5 teams with a perfect 3-0 record - Jays, NYY, LAD, Brewers, and Marlins. Thus, of course, there are 5 winless teams - A's, Arizona, SF, Colorado, and the White Sox. Colorado is coming here tomorrow after being swept by Miami - talk about embarrassing. Of course the Rockies lost 119 last year so the Jays have an excellent shot at going 6-0 to start 2026. None of the Rockies 3 starters (their best) have lasted more than 4 1/3 innings. Yikes. So if you want to see good offense from the Jays these next 3 games might be your best chance. ::knocks on wood::

Just two random thought on those teams. The k’s are a problem, but you can see the makings of a pretty good team in the A’s. I’d bet the over on the Marlins for the season. There’s a pretty interesting pitching staff forming in Florida.

Leo Jimenez is heading to Florida Marlins in a trade. Full details to come.

The coverage says Bo's made 2 horrible throws to first, but one the first baseman was able to tag the slow runner to the way off the bag throw still got the out, the other didn't get the out.

I will say that I want Bo to succeed, so I'm not rooting against him (except if/when he's against the Jays in the game).

Jimenez for a little international money and... Dub Gleed? Certainly is a great name.

Looks like the return for Jimenez is $250k in international money and prospect Dub Gleed. If nothing else, an 80 grade name.

Jays have a soft first 9 games so bank as many wins as possible here. Great to see them not wasting any time.

The Jays get Dub Gleed (real name) plus international bonus money.

Gleed was a ninth round pick in 2024 out of UC Irvine. He got to AA last season in his first full year. He is a 3B/1B/DH guy.

Gleed is not on BA's top 30 prospects list.

Good luck to Jimenez. He has a chance to be a decent or at least useful major-leaguer.

Good deal for both - Jays get a minor prospect in Dub Gleed who might be a useful backup - hit 252/391/347 over Rk-A-AA-AAA last year while flip flopping 1B/3B - I suspect the Jays will put him at 3B as he didn't show much power and that would be his best route to the majors. In college he played more at SS than 3B plus a touch of 2B and even caught 4 2/3 innings. His best hope is as a utility guy so I expect the Jays to rotate him around in AA this year. What I really like is grabbing some extra IFA cap space - very important as next year the Jays will be short a lot due to signing Cease this past winter. You need prospects and IFA's are long term projects. Jimenez was one who didn't pan out as hoped but at least he might help the Jays get another guy like him. Jimenez signed for $825k in 2017 which is more than the cap space added, but many here know that Kirk ($7,500) and Moreno ($25k) were signed for under $50k total. Having space to play with opens up possibilities. The more lottery tickets you get the better the odds of winning.

Yeah, more would've been nice, but when a guy is DFA'd you take what you can get.

And like others I am hoping for Bo to do well. I just think the Mets grossly overpaid and put him at the wrong position. I like how Bo said “If anything, I thought it took too long.” “But I get it,” he added. “I thought my at-bats were terrible, too.”. Heh. Love that attitude about it. Hopefully he can survive the NY media and fanbase and have a solid year or 3 there, I expect around 3-4 WAR per year, nothing 'WOW', but decent. Hopefully at some point they move him somewhere other than 3B.

Not sure I'll ever warm up to a guy named "Dub" but if there was ever a year to acquire bonus money it's this one.

Makes a lot of sense to get international money from teams that don't want to spend it.

There was no chance Jimenez was going to clear waivers so it makes sense to get something now. Hopefully he gets the same kind of shot that Otto Lopez has.

Well, he is there with Lopez now. Miami gets 2 decent looking infielders from the Jays for next to nothing over a couple of seasons. Just no place to play either of them here, at best they'd be backups even though Lopez was a 3.5 bWAR guy last year (89 OPS+ in 143 games mostly at SS).

Glad to see Jimenez get a shot somewhere to show what he's capable of. When he's healthy, he has plenty of potential, but staying healthy is always the problem. Still think he should've made the team, since there isn't really a true backup middle infielder.

Great opening weekend - it almost felt like playoff baseball for the first couple of days.

I hold no ill will towards Bo, but it's not entirely unexpected that when you take a job above your abilities, the criticism will be harsher. 

Gleed had a very good first year out of the draft.

Unlike the jays who always slow walk their ncaa picks, miami didn't hesitate to quickly move 22yr old Gleed up from A (126pa, 111wrc+) to AA (102pa, 126wrc+) and even give him a taste of AAA (3pa) at the end of the year.

Jays usually keep those college kids down in A+ or below in their first years, even with similar performance as Dub's.

I noticed that too UO.

It doesn't really work like that.
If nobody offers anything, you put the guy through waivers.
If somebody will give you something, even if it's just a bit of cash, then they'll grab the guy for free if you refuse.

The point with Leo was that they have Kasevich with 3 options and some highly ranked prospects down the road.
Keeping Jimenez would have been wasting Kasevich who looks ready now.

Apparently we did set the opening series K record with 50

If anyone was curious about the previous record, per TSN "The 2020 Cincinnati Reds struck out 46 in their first three games, with Sonny Gray, Luis Castillo and Trevor Bauer starting against Detroit. The Reds actually lost two of three in that series"

Leo Jimenez I see as getting something for nothing at this point. He had little to no value for the Jays as he had to stay on the roster and they didn't feel Gimenez needed platooning. With Kasevich there really isn't a spot anymore for Jimenez. Kasevich off to a decent start (333/400/333 in 10 PA) so odds are good he is recovered from his nightmarish 2025 (228/331/243 over 42 injury filled games). Still has all 3 options thanks to not being on the 40 man yet too. It'll be interesting to see how it goes. Letting Jimenez go is probably the nicest thing the Jays could have done for him.

It will be interesting to see the ABS strategy evolve, because clearly teams need to get a lot better at it as of now. Heineman did a great job of getting his pitcher a key strikeout yesterday, but Vladdy had no business challenging an inconsequential call in the first inning on Saturday and Okamoto struck out in the 9th down a run on a ball and didn't tap his helmet. If the team gets to the 8th inning with both challenges in hand, the coaches should probably be reminding the players that anything close is worth a challenge.

Okamoto's HR yesterday was very impressive. A 420-foot bomb to the opposite field that would have been gone in every MLB park.

Good for Jimenez to get to the Marlins. They have done well with Jays releases like Otto Lopez and Jon Berti. Berti hit well for Italy in the WBC.

Agreed on how it will be interesting to see the development of ABS strategy. I thought the Jays C's did a great job with it over the weekend and the hitters not so much. My guess is that the best strategy is to hold on to them and have the C's use them late in the game and have hitters use them only in the most egregious circumstances or extremely high leverage ABs earlier in the game.

some youtuber observed that Kirk retains hidden value so far in the ABS world because teams are reluctant to risk losing a challenge, particularly early, so his ability to steal strikes remains in play while they hesitate.

Gleed has been (at least initially) assigned to Vancouver which makes some sense because it seems fairly likely that Keyes and Coffey will open in AA

Good point, TamRa. Kirk might also have some additional value in that he seems to have a good idea (as a catcher) of when to issue an ABS challenge. He appears to have a refined sense of whether a given pitch is a strike or a ball.

I like that catcher framing still matters. The stats over the weekend across the league show that generally catchers are best at challenges. I'm sure teams will evolve how they allow players to challenge. A few games already, teams lost challenges early and were not able to challenge horrible calls later. There simply is very little benefit to challenge the way Vladdy did the other day.

The Athletic posted their Hope-O-Meter results, where fans voted how optimistic they are about their team. For some teams, like the Dodgers (#1 again) and Jays (#2) it's about winning. With others, like the Athletics (#12), it's their teams direction.

From last year to this year, Jays went from 18.3% optimistic (25th) to 96.2%.

Most amusing is the team between the #21 Marlins and #23 White Sox. Vegas may have them with the 2nd best win total odds and the 2nd best odds to win the WS, but a lot of Yankees fans (67.6% optimism) are not impressed. No wonder their fan boards are a cesspool.

On Otto Lopez, he had a very cold end to the season, and he significantly underperformed his expected stats. His xwOBA would indicate something more like a ~110 wRC+ for the season as a whole. Leo Jimenez is likely to provide less defense and less contact ability, but maybe a little more power and plate discipline.

As soon as I heard that the ABS system was coming to fruition, my immediate thought was, Vladdy will use up all of our challenges. I’ve never seen another player that signals for more challenges in the field or running the bases, so it did not surprise me one bit that he signaled for one the moment he disagreed with a strike call.

My guess is they will have to get in his ear pretty consistently to curb that tendency if they want to use their challenges as optimally as possible. To me, that’s mostly Kirk making the decision to try for high leverage strike calls.

Since 2023, including this year:

vRHP

DH Springer 1454pa, 125wrc+
(3B Okamoto 11pa, 169wrc+)
1B Guerrero 1647pa, 137wrc+
LF Sanchez 1202pa, 114wrc+
2B Schneider 502pa, 112wrc+
RF Lukes 491pa, 109wrc+
C Alejandro 950pa, 101wrc+
CF Varsho 1099pa, 92wrc+
SS Clement 738pa, 91wrc+

UT Barger 610pa, 102wrc+
IF Gimenez 1171pa, 90wrc+
C Heineman 175pa, 87wrc+
OF Straw 528pa, 75wrc+


vLHP

DH Springer 443pa, 101wrc+
(3B Okamoto 3pa, 246wrc+)
1B Guerrero 426pa, 151wrc+
CF Varsho 279pa, 113wrc+
SS Clement 367pa, 112wrc+
C Alejandro 374pa, 105wrc+
2B Schneider 323pa, 103wrc+
RF Lukes 73pa, 81wrc+
LF Straw 295pa, 79wrc+

C Heineman 65pa, 186wrc+
IF Gimenez 459pa, 77wrc+
UT Barger 128pa, 55wrc+
OF Sanchez 241pa, 40wrc+


Since 2024

vRHP

DH Springer 915pa, 137wrc+
(3B Okamoto 11pa, 169wrc+)
1B Guerrero 1089pa, 148wrc+
LF Sanchez 850pa, 113wrc+
RF Lukes 465pa, 110wrc+
2B Schneider 415pa, 108wrc+
CF Varsho 635pa, 102wrc+
C Alejandro 656pa, 106wrc+
SS Clement 718pa, 89wrc+

UT Barger 610pa, 102wrc+
C Heineman 135pa, 93wrc+
OF Straw 156pa, 89wrc+
OF Gimenez 752pa, 88wrc+


vLHP

DH Springer 299pa, 103wrc+
(3B Okamoto 3pa, 246wrc+)
1B Guerrero 302pa, 165wrc+
CF Varsho 162pa, 122wrc+
SS Clement 335pa, 112wrc+
C Alejandro 246pa, 105wrc+
LF Straw 149pa, 93wrc+
RF Lukes 68pa, 88wrc+
2B Schneider 269pa, 75wrc+

C Heineman 58pa, 169wrc+
IF Gimenez 262pa, 60wrc+
UT Barger 128pa, 55wrc+
OF Sanchez 191pa, 37wrc+



Since 2025

vRHP

DH Springer 446pa, 175wrc+
(3B Okamoto 11pa, 169wrc+)
1B Guerrero 531pa, 131wrc+
CF Varsho 226pa, 123wrc+
2B Schneider 99pa, 155wrc+
RF Barger 422pa, 111wrc+
C Alejandro 370pa, 117wrc+
LF Sanchez 428pa, 107wrc+
SS Gimenez 291pa, 85wrc+

OF Lukes 388pa, 104wrc+
C Heineman 127pa, 99wrc+
OF Straw 153pa, 89wrc+
IF Clement 411pa, 77wrc+


vLHP

DH Springer 154pa, 129wrc+
(3B Okamoto 3pa, 246wrc+)
1B Guerrero 163pa, 162wrc+
SS Clement 190pa, 143wrc+
C Alejandro 146pa, 111wrc+
CF Varsho 58pa, 101wrc+
2B Schneider 131pa, 101wrc+
RF Lukes 54pa, 95wrc+
LF Straw 148pa, 94wrc+

C Heineman 50pa, 183wrc+
UT Barger 91pa, 70wrc+
IF Gimenez 90pa, 51wrc+
OF Sanchez 76pa, 39wrc+

ABS could be good for vladdy if he keeps wasting the challenges tbh.

"Leo Jimenez is likely to provide less defense and less contact ability, but maybe a little more power and plate discipline."

Maybe my memory is faulty but I have it in my archives that Lopez was considered a marginal defender at short, better suited for 2B, and that Jimenez had been well regarded with the glove all the way through the system.