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.

I think you make that announcement so every post-game scrum isn't dominated by questions about whether Hoffman is still the closer.

Lenyn Sosa is the DH tonight & hitting 5th. I don't understand.

weird for sure. man they hate Davis.

A possibility with Sosa is that they picked him up to see if he could make adjustments and improve, and they need to give him some run before deciding he's improved and worth rostering or to cut bait. But even that hypothesis seems pretty mysterious to me.

It's bizarre because Sosa isn't some guy with untapped potential, he swings at everything so if everything does go well, he'll hit some hrs and have like a 100 WRC+. He also isn't very good defensively. There just isn't a lot there to be intrigued by that I can see. Schneider has some problems with velocity but he's a better player in pretty much every facet of the game.

Plausible best lineup using past 1 calendar year stats:


1. DH Springer 570pa, .385obp, 158wrc+, 5.0war650
2. LF Schneider 248pa, .359obp, 128wrc+, 3.9war650
3. 1B Guerrero 677pa, .388obp, 142wrc+, 4.2war650
4. CF Varsho 355pa, .296obp, 121wrc+, 4.9war650
5. C Alejandro 456pa, .355obp, 122wrc+, 6.6war650
6. 3B Barger 509pa, .301obp, 106wrc+, 2.8war650
7. SS Clement 628pa, .320obp, 104wrc+, 3.5war650
8. RF Lukes 456pa, .318obp, 100wrc+, 2.6war650
9. 2B Sosa 516pa, .286obp, 98wrc+, 1.5war650

B. UT Sanchez 549pa, .302obp, 94wrc+, 1.3war650
B. OF Straw 292pa, .316obp, 93wrc+, 1.6war650
B. IF Gimenez 359pa, .291obp, 79wrc+, 2.5war650
B. C Heineman 184pa, .318obp, 84wrc+, 4.2war650

X. UT Jimenez 26pa, .462obp, 152wrc+, 2.5war650
X. OF Santander 119pa, .277obp, 61wrc+, -2.7war650
X. IF Okamoto 97pa, .289obp, 78wrc+, 0.0war650
X. C Valenzuela 32pa, .188obp, 21wrc+, 0.0war650




using fangraphs combined Depth Chart projections:

1. DH Springer 447pa, .338obp, 116wrc+, 2.2war650pa
2. RF Lukes 316pa, .334obp, 105wrc+, 2.5war650
3. 1B Guerrero 578pa, .385obp, 146wrc+, 4.5war650
4. LF Sanchez 364pa, .317obp, 105wrc+, 2.0war650
5. C Alejandro 307pa, .348obp, 115wrc+, 6.1war650
6. CF Varsho 507pa, .295obp, 101wrc+, 2.8war650
7. 3B Okamoto 483pa, .324obp, 111wrc+, 2.8war650
8. SS Gimenez 519pa, .315obp, 96wrc+, 3.1war650
9. 2B Clement 531pa, .311obp, 97wrc+, 2.7war650

B. UT Barger 340pa, .312obp, 104wrc+, 1.9war650
B. OF Straw 155pa, .300obp, 76wrc+, 0.8war650
B. IF Schneider 250pa, .339obp, 106wrc+, 2.9war650
B. C Heineman 180pa, .305obp, 78wrc+, 2.5war650

X. UT Jimenez 36pa, .308obp, 93wrc+, 0.0war650
X. OF Santander 24pa, .308obp, 102wrc+, 0.0war650
X. IF Sosa 149pa, .281obp, 88wrc+, 0.4war650
X. C Valenzueal 76pa, .271obp, 67wrc+, 1.7war650

Even if the point was to play him and "see what they have and whether improvements can be made", the idea of DH'ing him and batting him 5th is absurd. As I said the other night, I was sort of sad when he hit the key sacrifice fly as it guaranteed him an extended run of playing time.