I'd still take that Trout contract in an instant as I've often insisted. Can only imagine a Trout/Vlad or Tatis/Vlad duo in Toronto.

Shi Davidi@ShiDavidi

George Springer is throwing for the first time since breaking his toe, joking that "pain is my sixth sense."

He'll also do "dynamic warm up and mobility stuff," said John Schneider, ahead of possible running this week. "It would be great if he was ready on Friday."

Shi Davidi@ShiDavidi

Other Blue Jays inury updates:

▪️Addison Barger begins running tomorrow at PDC. He's been hitting, throwing and fielding. "It seems like he's making progress," said Schneider.

▪️Yimi Garcia is throwing live to hitters Wednesday for the first time.

Shi Davidi@ShiDavidi

▪️Rehab games this week for Trey Yesavage (Tuesday) and Jose Berrios (Wednesday) along with another bullpen for Shane Bieber (Tuesday).

▪️Ricky Tiedemann, shut down in late February with elbow soreness, is back throwing bullpens at the PDC in Dunedin.

Trout is having a fantastic rebound season. 99th percentile batting run value. 90th percentile sprint speed. 75th percentile baserunning run value. (15th percentile fielding run value -- so maybe more of a DH at this point?) Good call, dalimon.
As always at this stage of Trout's career, the question is, can he stay healthy? His total PA from 2020-2025, by season: 241, 146, 499, 362, 126, 556

The problem with acquiring Trout, assuming he is even available, is that the Blue Jays would have to pay his salary *and* give up some top prospects to land him. Angels ownership would not relinquish him easily.

The problem with Trout at this point is staying healthy.
I wouldn't take that bet.

Worst AB of the year is locked in on April 20. Sosa swinging at three straight bounced pitches;(

Cease is the right handed Robbie Ray.

Betting on Trout's age 34-38 seasons probably isn't a great bet given his injury history. But the Blue Jays do have money coming off the books next year and the upcoming FA class isn't very good. If the team is looking for a corner OF bat this year and a DH in the next few seasons to replace Springer, Trout could be an interesting acquisition, especially if Rogers plans on maintaining a very high payroll year-over-year.

Vlad power stroke! Nice.

You can see why Sosa hasn't had success. Just swings at absolutely everything.

Angels are past their worst and are improving, I doubt the Angels will trade their hall of famer now. Time to trade for him was 2 years ago when you could have had him for a bargain, just taking on his contract and giving up a solid top 100 prospect likely would've gotten it done. If you have a chance to get a superstar you just do it considering they're so rare. If you have a superstar performing like one you won't have the chance to acquire them. If you evaluate it based on money you'll never have "value."

Trout will likely play half the games of a regular over the rest of his career and at twice the price (at least) but that's well worth the upside imho. If you want to live in Rosedale I'm a house that's never for sale but comes up after repairs are needed you do it. Don't compare it to cheaper options in the suburbs if your ultimate goal is to have the chance to flip a house for highest profit possible.

not a banner outing from Cease (high standards) but get through this 5th and it's all good.

To my point, this is Robbiest Ray outing of all time.

nasty stuff tho.

Listening on the radio, but I'm reminded of "Strikeouts are boring. Besides that, they're fascist."

# 84 is such a cool number.

Ump having an awful night. Teams down to one challenge each or they would have overturned another few calls each by now.

Great stuff. Same as Ray.

I’m conflicted on that Sosa Sac Fly. I should be happy as it’s the go ahead run but I’m kind of sad that it might mean that Sosa gets more ABs.

Potential save opportunity for Hoffman in the ninth.

44 strikeouts (and 14 walks) in 25.2 innings for Cease this year. No home runs allowed. Excellent start to the season for him (though of course the Blue Jays would like to see the walk rate come down a bit).

unstoppable cool hand lukes

Really weird time to being in Varland. You either bring him in 8th when top of lineup is up or 9th for save. 7th against bottom of order is....

not weird.

Hoffman.

must.

close.

Yup. He's not pitching well so he needs to work it out and no better time or place than bottom of the 9th.

I don’t think Trout could have been had a couple of years ago for a top 100 prospect. The Angels refused to trade Ohtani right to the bitter end, even with a rich package of prospects on the table. They don’t operate like other teams.

And Trout could easily be back on the IL in a couple of months. He has missed a ton of time in his late 20s and early 30s. I don’t see why his overall playing time should be expected to increase or maintain in his mid-to-late 30s, when injuries tend to loom ever larger. Although getting the Springer DH treatment during that period could help.

But even if Hoffman is closing, use Varland against middle of order in 8th. It's harder and higher leverage!

Because the team has a Proven Closer and. Proven Set-up Man.

Good to finally get an update on Ricky


Little housekeeping note: If Little remains on option past Saturday that would burn his last option year. I'm not sure where that nugget falls in their priorities right now.

Varland certainly making the Kingsmen proud.

bottom of the order for the Hoff.

no excuses.

Sounds like Edwin Diaz is out for at least a few months after undergoing elbow surgery. So the Blue Jays may have dodged a bullet there (happy to have Rogers instead).

myles and myles and myles

Three-run cushion for Hoffman. That should be enough to secure the save.

Heineman with two absolutely perfect textbook bunts down either line in this game… if you’re into that sort of thing.

why oh why.

now that's a rock solid win.

Great win.

If Hoffman and Lukes are both back on then things will look a lot better going forward. Lots of fun there.

I know Hoffman's had his struggles, but it's hard to properly judge when everyone he doesn't strike out gets a hit. Last night again - struck out the side, K'd three of the four batters he faced, and the only ball put in play went for a hit.

His BABIP is now .571

Like many here, I just hate the idea of closers which is why I'm fine with Varland not being the closer. Right now, he's Jays best reliever and one of best in baseball. He should be facing highest leverage situations. That could be a one-run save or a tie game in the 7th against middle of the lineup. Last night, despite the complaining (by me as well), Schneider's bullpen usage was excellent. Varland pitched against tough part of lineup as did Rogers and Hoffman pitched in lower leverage 9th. If course, a lot of that was luck with Jays adding runs, but still. Hoffman has been awful but also unlucky so expect that to rebound somewhat. He needs to stop walking guys and stop nibbling so much. Anyway, unlike last year, Jays have Varland and Rogers so bullpen in way better shape. (Yimi on his way back too).

The pitch Hoffman gave a hit on was labeled a 95mph sinker.
That's either a new pitch or a really bad 4-seamer.

I'm thinking he's one of many middle aged men with clogged arteries.

Re Garrett Anderson

Possibly. But covid infection increases risk of heart attack MASSIVELY for a couple of years after infection. With the way a majority of people are unconcerned about regular infection, it's more likely now that it is a factor if not the actual cause.

The above is simply not true for a healthy, former professional athlete.

Gosh, I wish this place would just stick to baseball.

with an athlete, i'd always suspect past steroid or other drug use before anything else. And iirc there were steroid rumours around garrett, though that was true of anyone who had a sudden power surge like he did.

53 is very young for a heart attack...but not exactly super duper rare either.

He was a fantastic player to watch, one of those guys I always inhaled and exhaled when he came up to bat - just had that edge like he was winning the mental batter/pitcher battle before it even began.

Heart Attack confirmed. I'm not a medical pro but there's probably a lot of things that MASSIVELY increase the risk. In order of lowest to highest risk:

> Weakened heart
> Chicken and Bacon
> Stress
> Hoffman in the 9th

There was a substantial increase in heart disease during the pendemic, but some of it was due to reduced access to care.
COVID-19 infection can increase the risk of heart attack, stroke and death for up to 3 years after infection, but that was with the original virus.
The newer variants are quite milder. 
I'm still waiting to hear about the toxicology report.

Tyler Rogers has issued seven intentional walks in his career, over 435.1 innings.

Three of those intentional walks have been in his 11.1 innings pitched for the Blue Jays.

The newer variants are quite milder. 
This is NOT true. Anyway. It can be a factor. It could be THE cause. It could also not have anything to do with the death. We won't know because everywhere cornoers are disinguishing things like with and by covid. 1st infection only counting, etc. . There is a reason why people have had lots of heart attacks and strokes. and we don't know how long the effect is, because it's new. so it could be 50 yearss for some young people. That's the point. It's not the place for an argument on this, but I certainly hope people will realize there is no mild. THere's acute, there's post acute (that does not always  occur but it shows like risk increases every infection). people can die from acute (happening less often) people can die of post-acute or have quality of life decimated (known from SARS1), and have risks of other things increased that dan be deadly on their own. + immunity damage making catching other stuff more constant. This is what the undisputable evidence shows. 


. 

The above is simply not true for a healthy, former professional athlete.
Gosh, I wish this place would just stick to baseball.
A pandemic is worldwide and we're still in one. Things DO happen to healthy people. A disease that affects participant health & ability to perform that people are infected 40-60% of the time without knowing (with clubhouse complaining of being very ill constantly as reason for poor performance) is a legitimate topic of discussion. I'm not going to be talking about it more than in this thread, and hopefully not more. It also becomes an in/efficiency issue to discuss, in terms of clubhouse prevention making teams healthier and better able to reach expected performance. 

For the increased heart risk (increased for 3 years post infection) there is https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/ATVBAHA.124.321001 which is summarized in articles like https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/first-wave-covid-19-increased-risk-heart-attack-stroke-three-years-later and https://world-heart-federation.org/news/covid-19-and-the-heart-new-evidence-highlights-lasting-risks/

So I think that is clear. There's often multiple risk factors for people. I doubt anyone will ever know.

My work required me to argue whether a particular person's disease was related to one or two risk factors among others.  I am retired.  I found the work interesting, but would be just as happy not to argue about those issues here- despite my general agreement that COVID was a pandemic with significant long-lasting health effects for the population.  We simply don't know enough to make thoughtful comments in the particular case, one way or the other.

I'll chime in and say I don't find speculation about causes of death to be particularly worthwhile and I don't think this is the place for arguing about the ongoing impact of Covid.

I blame the Iran ceasefire.

With the Mets looking like they might be out of it again early - and the persistent rumours that it’s a Soto/Lindor rift - it does not seem entirely inconceivable that they would move on from one of them. If the Jays were to be involved in a trade - which would you prefer and why?

My wife works in a retirement home and we both got COVID-19 very early because the government sent all the positive cases back to their homes to isolate there and it spread like wildfire.
They lost elder patients by the dozens at the home.
It was nothing like what's circulating now.
I've never had a fever that high. 
Everybody has had one of the newer variant by now.
Most didn't even noticed.

The coroner released the official report and it's not a heart attack.

It's "acute necrotizing pancreatitis."
That has a 20-30% mortality rate.

Trey Yesavage had some trouble with the strike zone tonight, he walked four in 2.1 innings. He hasn't looked sharp in his rehab which probably means he will kill it in the major leagues.

I'd prefer Soto because we already have a solid INF for next year but only Barger and Luke's in the PF for 2027. Also, he's one of the greatest. Home and Vladdy would be almost be like Judge and Soto. No chance he's traded.

The Mets lost again, this time 5-3 to the Twins and old friend (of the Mets and Blue Jays) SWR. 12 losses in a row.

Gotta say…. big fan of the Angels unis tonight. The “Angels” font on the front, the jersey number in the diamond underneath, the red lettering with black number combo…. all of it exceptional. The Angels usual uniforms are pretty forgettable (it’s a nice red but with little else distinctive) but if they switched to these full-time… might be a top 5 in the entire league in my eyes.

Corbin looking decent so far. Keeping the ball down in the zone probably agrees with him.

Obscene amount of hard contact finding gloves tonight for the Jays. Bad BABIP luck is a hard watch.

The McDonald's restaurant at nearby Disneyland serves Happy meals at the Happiest place on Earth.

So frustrating - Jays get chances but can't get the key hit, the Angels get 1 chance and score. Grrr.

That is some big league stuff from Spencer Miles, both the nasty moving sinking fastballs (Adell swung and missed a pitch that freaking hit him) and the calm-collected play on Trout’s sneaky grounder.

Jays just smashing the ball but no luck. Very frustrating.

Okamoto has had a tough night.

Some very nice plays tonight from the infield (Okomoto’s confounding decision on that roller aside) with that Gimenez tag certainly among them.

ok vladdy now's the time.

sosa is pretty hilarious.

swing away, kid, swing away.

Jimenez has had some good ABs the last few games.

Was all set to complain about choosing Sosa as the pinch hitter over Davis Schneider (especially seeing as Davis came in to pinch run anyhow) but hard to complain with that result. I can sort of see why they like Sosa: it looks awfully nice when he squares up the ball… it’s just such a weird player profile.

why oh why

The Hoffman Experience continues to be excruciating.

Please pull him

there is literally no reason to be doing this.

and we do it night after night after night.

After first batter, I was hopeful but man, this is rough to watch. Varland up in pen.

This has to be the end. Surely

is he really just going to keep him in there until we're losing.

Just awful.

congrats, coach, due to pure irrational stubborness, you may have just ended this guy's career by forcing him to be one of the highest leverage relievers in baseball.

Lol. One pitch.

now there's a guy who looks like a closer.

I don't even get this. He was JUST what you want to see against Neto and then poof, it's gone.

he threw all strikes against Neto. but then one guy gets on and he panics.

I'm not even mad at Hoffman at this point. He clearly sucks and he knows it. Stupid Schneider. Thank God we have Varland.

Varland keeping himself fresh for tomorrow. I like it.

Got his BABIP up to .609. That is noteworthy..

Can we trade Hoffman for Romano and Sandlin? At least Jordan's a homeboy and their WARs were about equal before tonight.. (-0.5 vs -0.6)

Rogers now 22nd all time for holds on his own - 158 lifetime, 246 is the all-time mark. He could reach it with 2 great years, more likely 3 years - so he'd do it as a Jay if he stays healthy and effective. Fingers crossed. That'd be fun to see, an all-time record holder getting there while a Jay. No question Varland looks like a closer right now and Hoffman doesn't. Love how fast Varland got ready though, kid is determined to take that job over I think. Hoffman seems off, might need low pressure for a bit, maybe even work on his length and see if he can go back to starting with the issues the rotation has had with injuries (thankfully some coming back soon) but his K/9 is still insane at 20.25 K/9 IP. That is crazy. But 6 walks in 10 2/3 is bad, and that 609 BABIP is crazy with this defense.

Hopefully this signifies a passing of the closing duties and allows Hoffman to re-discover himself in low leverage moments for a little while. He is still striking out an absurd number of hitters, so there’s obviously a very useful pitcher still in there somewhere.

i don't even want anyone else assigned to be the permanent closer tbh.

Yeah, let's move to closer by committee based on match up, game state, fatigue, and other considerations and get good usage out of everyone. Varland can't only pitch as "the closer" because we need him in more than just save situations.

There have been a few times when the front office has taken too long to change course on a personnel decision (such as continuing to use Charlie Montoyo as the manager when he was no longer effective), although in recent years they seem to have gotten better at this. The Hoffman situation presents an interesting challenge for the FO in this regard. How will they address it?

Closer-by-committee makes some sense, but the manager seems to prefer that everyone has a (mostly) defined role — although Varland is someone who has lately been called upon a lot in more than one role, including the role of “save the closer from himself.”

Keep Corbin in the rotation or replace him with Yesavage? If one of them has to go to the bullpen, you could argue that it makes more sense to use Yesavage (who has strikeout stuff) as a relief pitcher and Corbin as a SP. Corbin is very experienced and could be a useful back-end starter for the Blue Jays for as long as he continues to be healthy.

Hoffman throws the slider to righties and the splitter to lefties. I didn't realize that he mixes a 2-seamer in on righties. Yesterday, he didn't have any command over it and threw it alot. I presume that it's to limit the long ball. He throws it high and inside. He looked like he didn't have the feel on the slider which is his best pitch to righties.

The 2 hits were weak contact. He threw 2 2-seamers to Trout. Swinging strike over the middle of the plate and a hit on one on the inside corner. Same with Adell, swinging strike but the inside one was too far inside and hit him.

He got ahead with sliders against Soler but the pitch that nailed him was barely inside as Soler was crowding the plate and checked his swing into the pitch. Those were 4-seamers.

Moncada got hold of a splitter on the outside.

Lots of swinging strikes. No walk. No hard contact.

I think it's easy to get lost in analysis of individual outings. UO has laid out how Hoffman's overall performance as a Blue Jay in 2025 and 2026, especially after his strong start early in 2025, and the numbers are not good. On the other hand, Hoffman was very good in 2023 and 2024, so the Blue Jays are probably hoping he can still recapture the form he showed in those seasons.

I don't know what to say about Hoffman. He's missing a ton of bats, but the fact that everyone he doesn't strike out gets a hit (BABIP of .609 along with 2 hrs) seems to be spooking him huge. Now he's had control issues the last few outings with some walks and the two hbps last night.

He probably should be moved out of 'The Closer' role for now, just to something lower leverage. The stuff is there. I'm convinced there's an effective reliever in there, but coming off Game 7 and then what's happened this year he could probably use a mental reset.

Jays are a better team if Hoffman is right but he can't be trusted right now at all. It feels largely mental so either a IL tired arm thing or low leverage situations make sense. In the end, Jays win a series! They need to just hang in there until guys come back and they can hopefully take off like last year.

Hoffman was also dominant in the playoffs. At this point my criticism has shifted from Hoffman to Schneider for putting him in bad spots that he clearly is struggling with. Trade Hoffman to another team with a manager that has better feel for a player's confidence and they will find a way to pitch Hoffman to a 2.50 ERA or less and be an asset for the bullpen and chances are that he would be used in a role similar to Varland all over the place from opener to bridge to set up to closer depending on Hoffman and the situation. It's really unfortunate but I think ugly is correct.

"congrats, coach, due to pure irrational stubborness, you may have just ended this guy's career by forcing him to be one of the highest leverage relievers in baseball."

Honestly having him open a game like Varland had done in the past is the best way forward. Just give him clean innings and let that confidence build. Try to build him back up so he can be used as a 4 headed monster at the back of the bullpen by year's end (Hoffman, Garcia, Rogers, Varland).

So that was varland's first career save last night. Which seems silly.

This is what bugs me - the addiction to absolutely strict roles where literally only one guy is ever allowed to pitch in save situations. It's absolutely unnecessary and only hamstrings you.

There's a lot of range between "one guy gets every single save situation no matter what" and "closer by committee", and you don't have to limit yourself to either one.

Having a highest leverage reliever that pitches most save situations and the highest lev save situations but also other nonsave high lev situations while sometimes using other pitchers in lower lev save situations is perfectly doable.

There's really not that many guys in baseball that are forced to pitch in as strict a closing role as hoffman is. Or as high leverage overall.

And i just noticed that since he's been a jay hoffman leads all mlb relievers in blown saves and in HR allowed. He's #2 in losses, while playing for one of the best teams in baseball. Of 167 qualified relievers he has the 20th worst ERA and 22nd worst FIP.

You can use numbers to show the exact opposite as well though, and if you take a broader approach to include everything into context it all makes more sense. I don't know how many "closers" were used to carry a team and asked to pitch 2 innings multiple times in a week like he was and on back to back days. Most closers pitch one inning then get a break unless absolutely necessary.

When you look at everything I think any player would suffer in a role where they are put in highest of leverage situations and overworked without any chance to reset or catch a breath.

Just remember that the bullpen last year was:

Chad Green, Yariel Rodríguez, Nick Sandlin, Jeff Hoffman, Brendon Little and Jacob Barnes and the Jays were 16-12 in May with 7 Saves. 16-10 in June with 5 Saves.

Hoffman finished the year 4th in Saves with 33 total without much help for the first 90% of the year. He struggled with home runs against and he also ran out of gas.

This year he is limiting the HR but struggling with control and the ability to actually close out games. Dude just needs a reset to become a top arm when managed correctly or you can run him into the ground until he magically starts getting BABIP to get his way and control to go his way while 2-3 other pitchers out-performing him sit on the bench watching the leads slip away for the manager to maintain his stubbornness.

Death, taxes, and a team's fan base thinking their manager is an idiot. I suppose I should be thankful for having things to count on.

My lukewarm take: Schneider is one of the best managers in MLB, and that roster, led by Scherzer, would run through a brick wall for the man precisely for the way he manages that team. Well, maybe not Lauer, a man who might not be able to spell TEAM.

"You can use numbers to show the exact opposite as well though"

eh, no you can't.

Jeff Hoffman (33), Career as RP:

289gms, 308.0ip, 1.27gmli, 29.0k%, 9.9b%, .301babip, 42.0fb%, 12.7hr/fb%

4.18era (94-), 3.90fip (90-), 3.84xfip (92-), 3.4fwar, 2.2ra9war, 0.6awar/65



I also don't get making him an opener. That's also a pressure role. i don't rightly know why we think he needs some kind of special treatment, rather than just using him in normal middle relief to see if he can get back to being good in that kind of role at least.

Sosa at 1B today - that's, uhm .... interesting.

Using Hoffman's career numbers as RP is pretty funny. He was a swingman in Cinci and Colorado throwing 94. It wasn't until he went to Philly where he became this pitcher and since then he's had a 3.28 ERA and a 3.40 FIP and 12.13 K per 9 and 3.3 WAR. Similar to guys like Jason Adam, Kenley Jansen, Erceg, etc.. That is, not elite but still a solid reliever.

Ok but i've already gone through his last 2yrs stats too.

But yes, he had 2 excellent RP years in his career, in a non-closer role.

In those 2 great years, he had 11 saves and 5 blown saves.

As a long time Jay fan (first game I went to was in '78, most recent at the World Series last year) I can safely say that no manager escapes without being called an idiot by fans and media alike. Cito Gaston was HATED by the media and fans in the early 90's - too many wanted Lou Pinella here (1 WS reached, 1 title, sub 500 in the playoffs overall in 7 times reaching over 23 seasons vs Cito 5 playoffs, 2 titles, over 500 in playoffs, but just 12 seasons - never understood why no other team hired him but white managers were given shot after shot after shot - OK, I do get it, but hate that reason).

Schneider is a lot like Cito - fantastic at behind the scene stuff like getting players prepared, making sure they know their roles and having all but a LH swingman willing to go through a wall for them (Lauer now, David Wells back when). Each had issues (both love platooning, also stick with their closer far too long), no idea yet if Schneider will have a favorite like Cito did in Carter who he kept in the heart of the lineup far, far, far too long. Hoffman is starting to look like that but odds are he'll get the Henke treatment - early 90's I remember Henke being demoted to setup for a brief time and Ward closing when Henke had a stretch like this where nothing went right early in a season.

Yeah maybe you're being most sensible and using him as a very good middle reliever is the best thing to do.

"My lukewarm take: Schneider is one of the best managers in MLB, and that roster" There's no reason you can't be best manager in baseball and still be an idiot. Happens all the time.

i would walk trout here.

Just keep this within 3 so we can face Romano. It can get interesting.

Not sure where this team would be this year without Gimenez and Clement.

Just a series of misfortunes here in the 7th….

still feels like a babip devil game to me tbh.

Clement has a 110 wRC+ and a 1.0% walk rate this year. That is impressive. I wonder if there have been any other players with 100+ PA who have managed to do this.

Even Vladimir Guerrero Sr. never got below a 2.9% walk rate.

The lowest walk rate in a season since 1992 was Shawon Dunston's 1.6%.  If you go back further, you can find walk rates lower than 1% over a season.  For instance, Whitey Alpermann had 2 walks over 443 PAs and slashed .248/.262/.357 (which wasn't bad for that year, but not a 110 wRC+).  There very well might be somebody in the dead ball era.

@JuneNorthey re:Henke & Ward. As I remember it, Ward replaced Henke when Henke went on the DL in April of 91. Pretty sure that’s when Ward flourished; he’d been a bit unpredictable before that. Pretty sure Henke got his role back afterward, in fact set a franchise record for consecutive saves.

Ward took over again in September when Henke had some shoulder issues. Can’t remember if he went on the DL or not, but struggled with the shoulder. Ward might have kept closing into the playoffs, but I’m not certain.

Former farm hand Kendry Rojas is debuting for the Twins in a tied game.

Jose Berrios threw four shutout innings tonight for Dunedin.

For 90+ PA the Jays record is John McDonald in 2009 (156 PA) when he walked in 0.6% of PA (1 walk). Wow. Also sub 1% are Joe Cannon 1979 (0.7% in 146 PA), and Alfredo Griffin 1984 (his all-star season) with a 0.9% in 442 PA. Next is this years Ernie Clement, then Mookie Wilson 1989, Cesar Izturis 2001, Ryan Goins 2013, Danny Ainge 1980, Pat Border 1988, and Garth Iorg 1984 (that is all the sub 2%'ers). Man that 1984 team didn't like to walk did it? 7.3% overall for that team, but the lowest for the team was 1982 at 6.8%. Highest team wise was 2016 at 10.1% (next is 9.3% for 1993). 6 Jay teams walked 9%+ of the time and 5 of them made the playoffs (exception being 1999) and all had a wRC+ of 104 or better. 12 teams are sub 8% (including this years) with just 3 having a 100+ wRC+ (1986, 2010, and 1984) and none made the playoffs. The only Jay to crack 20% walk rate was José Bautista 2011 (20.2% the year after he hit 50 HR). None in the 19% and just 2 in the 18's - Rance Mulliniks 1990 and Otto Velez 1981 among guys with 90+ PA. 3 more in the 17's (Delgado, McGriff and Rickey Henderson). Just 30 with 15% or higher. Vlad leads this year at 13.1% which would be 64th all time for the Jays if he stays there.

FYI: after his 0-4 today Vlad is #3 in the AL for batting average with a 337 (#1 is Yordan Alvarez at 347). Clement's 320 puts him 6th. Vlad is 10th in OPS in the AL.

Yeah, with Vlad it is pretty clear to me that he isn't really a traditional power hitter. He's a high BA line drive hitter who happens to hit the ball harder than anyone. Which is fine and probably even more valuable. 330 BA and 30 HR is probably more valuable than 200 BA and 45 HR.

Feels like Lauer is wearing out his welcome. Just a lot of public whining you rarely see from major leaguers especially borderline ones. Do Jays keep Corbin over him as swing man and look to trade him?

I thought that Lauer's previous comments about wanting to be paid like a starter and (last week) not wanting to follow an opener weren't ideal, but also weren't overly detrimental. He's a competitive guy, and the things he said were obvious truths. No harm really...

But yesterday, he decided to start a game with visible neck tape (unprecedented) AND decided not to tell his manager about it first AND then his fastball was so slow that it was registering as a changeup in the 1st inning. Now we have trust issues...

With Yesavage and Berrios nearing return and Lauer not wanting to pitch in relief... I don't think he's going to be here for much longer. This is an organization that has placed a high emphasis on character and I don't think they'll let a fringe player act as an outlier.

Had the same thought last night, made ne think of a scene from "Little Big League"

Mac: You're a frickin' primadonna, McGreavy. You don't deserve to wear that uniform.
Mike McGrevey: You know, you're right, Mac. I'm a disgrace to the Twins. I think you should trade me.
Mac: As soon as we find someone dumb enough to take you, that's EXACTLY what we're gonna do.
Billy Heywood: No we're not. We're not trading you.
Mike McGrevey: So what are you going to do, bench me?
Billy Heywood: Nope, play you. When it's your turn to pitch, you pitch. Nothing changes.
Mike McGrevey: You know, I don't think that's such a good idea. I have a feeling my concentration's not going to be that good out there. I might tend to forget some of those scouting reports.
Billy Heywood: Well, that's up to you, you're the free agent. Hey Mac, what's the going rate for an absent-minded pitcher who can't get anybody out?

stared Ashley Crow as the mom, her real son plays baseball in Chicago

It's a "hate the game not the player" mentality that Lauer should adopt. You look at the rotation last year of Berrios, Yesavage, Scherzer, Gausman, Bassitt and I don't think you can expect the FO to put you in a better position to start than any of those guys considering their track record - even if you helped to save the season while some of those guys were not available. Bieber was added which makes the point MOOT.

He was taken to arbitration and lost. He was also given a minor league contract in 2024 by Toronto with incentives on top of 2.2 million if he pitched in the Majors, which he did. He's been treated fairly imho. He's making 4.4 million this year or double what he made last year after maxing out his deal.

I wouldn't be going out of the way to overpay him based on one season when I have Yesavage, Bieber, Berrios, Gausman, Cease and Scherzer on the major league roster. If he's making this much noise then it's time to cut him once other arms return if it was me unless there is a trade out there for him.

Love Schneider's response to Lauer's quote and decision to complain through the media as well, direct and efficient:

“To be real blunt, I hate it. I can’t stand it…” Lauer said that it messes with his pre-game routine, as starters are “creatures of habit.” “Hopefully it’s not something that we will continue doing, but that’s above my pay grade.” - Eric Lauer

"I respect everyone's opinion. I know the end of his quote was, 'It's above my pay grade,' and it definitely is above his pay grade as to how we use him." - John Schneider

i never really looked at Corbin when we added him and was surprised to see he had an actual across-the-board solid full year as a starter last year. Most of the projection systems don't like him very much based on his career history, but notably Steamer sees him as a decent pitcher this year, albeit as a swingman.

lauer's behaviour is weird for sure but man i'd really like to see some good mlb starts from yesavage berrios bieber before thinking of dumping him.

Lauer is also last in baseball with prostuff+ so I am pretty sure last year was a fluke. He pitched very well last year but teams don't owe you anything and his salary, despite losing arbitration, is high for a swingman.

looking ahead with some assmptions:

Assuming that Trey gets at least one more in AAA to polish, probably Sunday
Assuming Berrios' next turn is in Buffalo next Tuesday and it's the only one he needs
Assuming Corbin has the clear edge on Lauer right now
Assuming they are okay with everyone getting 5 days rest but reluctant for 6 to happen very often )the former has happened 14 times this season, the latter only twice)
Assuming current patterns hold in terms of performance/injury/etc

Then you could see the upcoming rotation developing like this:

Scherzer
Gausman
Cease
Corbin
Lauer
Scherzer
Gausman
Cease
Yesavage
Corbin
Berrios
Scherzer
Gausman
off

in that Yesavage pushes Lauer into the bullpen (at least) and they let Berrios make it 6 for a second until the off day. When the get to the off day (5/7) then they have to make a move with Corbin, whether that means trading Lauer or overstocking the 'pen with starters (unlikely) or someone else coming up injured or whatever.

If this wasn't foolish than projecting this stuff more than 2 weeks out surely would be.

Oh yeah, always a nightmare figuring out the rotation this year.

Locks: Gausman - Cease, both healthy and productive (knock on wood)
If healthy locks: Yesavage & Scherzer - Big IF there. 6 IP 2 R last game for Scherzer was nice, if he can keep that up he is fine, if not then some IL time could be coming fast.
#5: Berrios - holds this until Bieber is back and the above 4 are all healthy. He seems determined to be his old self this year if healthy so we'll see.

Backups: Corbin - Lauer - Chad Dallas must be next with a 1.35 ERA in AAA 13 1/3 IP in 4 starts, 4 BB 15 SO. 3-4 IP per start right now. 56-58 pitches each start, but this is his recovery year from missing a year. CJ Van Eyk is at 18 1/3 IP in 4 starts 5 walks 13 SO (a bit low on the K's) but is up to 84 pitches last start and cracked 6 IP in his start before that. Adam Macko is on the 40 man, but has been used exclusively as a reliever. Bloss and Tiedemann are both on the IL and are the other starters on the 40 man. I expect the Jays to leave the kids down until June or so. Corbin is just a $1 mil risk (barely over the league minimum), and Lauer is a $4.4 mil so neither is being paid enough to be undumpable or hard to trade. I could see a team offering the Jays a low A semi-prosect (old or short or not a 95+ mph arm, or a hitter who has a big hole in his game) and/or IFA cap space and the Jays being fine with that if they have 6 healthy rotation arms and some kids are doing well in Buffalo.

It'll be an interesting couple of months coming up that is for sure. If Corbin keeps this up he'll be making it a lot more interesting than anyone expected. I sure didn't expect a 124 ERA+ from him over 3 starts - I was expecting an ERA in the 5+ area.

Vladdy courtside at the Raptors' big win in Game 3.

you really don't need to even make this kind of announcement, guys. just go ahead and treat him like a normal reliever. don't stress about it.



Keegan Matheson
@KeeganMatheson
·
28m
News: Jeff Hoffman is out as the #BlueJays’ closer.

They’ll go with a closer by committee for now while Hoffman works on things in lower-leverage spots.