This has gone under the radar, but Alek Manoah was just activated and is set to make his Angels debut this weekend out of the bullpen. He made some comment about being a "big piece" of the World Series run, and that rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. But I hope he's given a proper and respectful ovation when he pitches this weekend - he gave us two elite seasons before three forgettable ones, and it's obvious that he has never fully recovered. I don't agree with everything he has done or said, but I certainly don't think he's a villain or a bad guy - just another promising pitcher whose career was derailed by injury.

So who are the Angels this year? 101 OPS+ for the team vs 97 ERA+ - that should be a 500 team but instead is a 15-23 team.

What happened?

• closer Jordan Romano flopped (4 saves, 10.13 ERA, 2 blown saves, 13.5 K/9 his career high, but 6.8 BB/9 also a career 'high' as is his 12.4 H/9. A WHIP over 2 ain't keeping you in the majors.
• Kikuchi is on the IL after 7 poor starts (74 ERA+)
• Trout is back to being Trout - 175 OPS+, but due to the rest of the team he is leading the league in walks
• Just 6 guys on the team have 100+ OPS+ - Trout, Soler, Peraza, Grissom, Neto, and Frazier, all with 60+ PA. But remove Trout and that offense dies fast.
• For comparison, with a 90 OPS+ the Jays have 4 guys over 100 - all 4 125+ - Pinango, Straw, Vlad, Okamoto. The nightmare is C with Valenzuela at 75 and Heineman at 8. Yikes.
• Just 2 Angel hitters on the IL - Logan O'Hoppe and perpetual Anthony Rendon (never playing again)
• 5 Angel pitchers on the IL - Ryan Johnson, Kikuchi, Grayson Rodriguez, Ben Joyce, and Robert Stephenson.
• ex-Jay Nick Sandlin was just released. 8 2/3 IP 11 R/ER allowed 5 BB vs 6 K's.
• Alek Manoah called up - just 4 1/3 IP in A ball, 7 H 2 BB 2 K. Yeah, I don't see why they called him up either.

sometimes it's the simple things.



Mike Petriello
@mike_petriello
·
May 7
18 games into his MLB career, Kazuma Okamoto moved back in the box by more than half a foot.

Ever since? He's been a top-5 hitter, with a .308/.400/.708 line.

On how a big step back might have been a big step forward ..

Davis Schneider is listed in tonights lineup ve Detmers so it doesn't seem like he is getting demoted.

Seems Barger isn't being activated until tomorrow. IMO the smart move is to release Sosa and his 69 wRC+ with bad defense vs Schneiders 71 wRC+, plus Davis is good on defense (some spectacular plays to cover his not great range) and will take a walk. Schneider sees a team leading 4.48 pitches/PA, Sosa 3.37 (Clement & Kirk lower). I'm sure there are lots of other reasons (Schneider known as a good clubhouse guy, no idea on Sosa) but right now keeping Sosa makes zero sense to me unless there is something there the Jays management sees that is invisible to stats and eyes.

Jose Berrior is going to see Dr Meister next week....never a good sign.

Max Scherzer got a cortisone shot today and will not throw for five days.

Too many starters, huh.

Sosa on the bench tonight against an LHP is a pretty good sign that he's the odd man out. I'm still don't think that Davis Schneider's job is safe, and I wouldn't be shocked to see another RH bench bat added from the waiver wire or via trade.

Davis Schneider is also one of the player reps for the players union.

also could be a "show me, davis" moment before a send down. who knows.

An extra factor I didn't know of dalimon5. The question then is who goes when Lukes returns? Pinango is mostly BABIP which can flip negative fast so if it is another week or so I could see him going back to AAA should his average drop down to 300 (weird to say 'drop to' about 300).

Wouldn't shock me if Sanchez is on the trading block right now for even an A ball prospect. Every time I hunt for someone the Jays could trade for I come up blank outside of extreme long shots (Trout if LAA finally decide 'screw it' and eat a chunk of his pay to give him a shot at the playoffs and to rebuild, Tatis Jr if SD thinks he is not going to be worth keeping with his 76 OPS+ thus far this year (155 PA about a quarter of a season). No idea of other long shots that are out there with even a smidgen of hope, or actual trade targets that could help.

Hoffman as MR: 5gms, 1.0ip/gm, 25.0k%, 5.0b%, .357bip, 0.0hr/fb%, 43era-, 40fip-, 68xfip-, 2.6awar/65

Hoffman as CL: 12gms, 0.9ip/gm, 42.1k%, 10.5b%, .609bip, 181era-, 77fip-, 40xfip-, -1.6awar/65

and 33.3hr/fb%

Varland as MR: 12gms, 1.1ip/gm, 41.3k%, 6.5b%, .333bip, 0.0hr/fb%, 0era-, 21fip-, 34xfip-, 3.8awar/65


Varland as CL: 6gms, 1.0ip/gm, 37.0k%, 14.8b%, .462bip, 0.0hr/fb%, 38era-, 40fip-, 58xfip-, 1.1awar/65

I mean Schneider is a better fielder than Sosa and also a better hitter and he sees more pitches and is a bigger part of the clubhouse so... I would be fine sending Schenider down to have him get hot again but doesn't make sense to me while with someone as bad as Sosa in majors.

Clement has definitely made more bad defensive plays this season. Did Ernie peak just before Clement Hockey Jersey day.

Oak doesn't have great range but his glove is pretty dang good.

In the midst of the offensive gloom, the improvement in Valenzuela’s AB’s is a small bright spot.

Cease seems like a pretty good signing.

Definitely a ball Varsho would have caught in years past.

Hopefully that Pinango AB signifies that Sosa or Sanchez is on the block.

Cease: 8gms, 5.7ip/gm, 34.6k%, 9.4b%, 61era-, 43fip-, 58xfip-,

gotta be one of the better starts to a jays career in franchise history.

Oh, I'd put Roger Clemens 1997 ahead of it...

8 G, 7.45 IP/G, 24.9k%, 6.1b%, 1.96 ERA, 2.71 FIP (era-, fip-, xfip- not listed on FG in the game log page), just 1 game under 7 IP (5 2/3), got the win in 7 of the 8, left the other one with the lead (7-6 lead). This was during the steroid era of course, but it was the year before he was said to have started up on them (which never made sense to me, his '97 was an all-time year, his '98 was also wow but to have started PEDs during that year is odd, but of course, that was the year of McGwire/Sosa clearly both on PEDs being celebrated by all).

Gausman's first 8: 6.25 IP/G, 28.9 k%, 1.5 b%, 2.52 ERA 1.27 FIP team 5-3 in those starts.

No other free agent signing comes to mind for WOW starts as a Jay. Checked a few and none were that great, same for homegrown (Stieb, Halladay, Key, Hentgen, Guzman - I really thought Guzman was better at first than he was).

No question those 2 FA signings - Cease and Gausman were very good ones thus far. Gauzman 12.7 bWAR, 19.1 fWAR so far plus 40 1/3 IP with a 3.79 ERA (2.93 last year) in the playoffs, for $110 mil with a few months left - even if his arm fell off tomorrow that would've been good value.

Hmm... looking at 1998 Clemens had a 3.77 ERA (bad for him) after his start on June 24th. After that 1.77 with a 12-0 record (team 16-1). Something changed. Doing some online checking most feel that is when he started, with some thinking it was in 96 or 97 (when he played with Canseco and in '97 with Ruben Sierra as well - two well known users/promoters of steroids). One of those things we'll never know for sure.

"Every time I hunt for someone the Jays could trade for I come up blank outside of extreme long shots"

It's not a direct answer to the RH OF need (ideally you'd want to trade Sanchez for a similarly situated RH on a team that needs LH (theoretical) power) but, given the Angels are in town, I'm reminded that Vaugn Grissom would look a lot better on our roster than Sosa does. But then, power aside, Kasavich would probably look better in that spot.

Also, apropos of nothing (and again, not a source of slug) I sure wouldn't mind Austin Martin on this roster.

In 11.2 innings since being demoted to Buffalo, Brendon Little has walked 12 batters. So still the same pitcher.

I wonder if the Jays might consider putting him on the developement list and sending him to the complex for a bit to try and sort things out.

The Sosa trade was strange at the time, as is the fact he's been hitting fifth. I think he's the obvious candidate to be cut, despite most of the articles suggesting it's either Pinango or Davis.

I'm not conviced they will do it though and fear Schneider might be the odd one out.

Not sure what's wrong with Ernie but it's a baffling defensive fall-off. Hopefully, he gets things turned around quickly. I think what the Jays need most is a middle infielder who can hit and a RH OF. Jays sometimes have habit of accumulating mediocre players and they have so many OK LH OFs but not sure they are tradable for much. I could see that they thought they could find another level with Sanchez and get power and how Lukes could cover CF so be more versatile but they already had Barger with their two best OF prospects in AAA being Schreck and Pinango. So now the Jays have Barger, Lukes, Sanchez, Pinango, and Schreck for what's really two spots and have very little depth elsewhere. Like, Schneider is the vs LHP guy which isn't a roll that really suits him anyway but who is next up behind him in the organization? The need for a big split vs LHP guy was there in the offseason and guys were available and not expensively, but FO for some reason, wasn't interested.

Otto Lopez leads baseball with 53 hits.

Realistic trade targets that Jays can pursue which are still at this point unlikely to be traded are:

Randy Arozarena - SEA is expected to be playoff bound but if they fall too far by end of May then maybe.

CJ Abrams - opposite of above. WAS is not expected to be playoff bound and he has 2 more years of control. He's broken out with the bat this year but is pretty bad defensively. Trading for him and letting him play 2B while Ernie and Gimenez form a platoon at SS would be huge. Then you can keep a defense first OF like Varsho/Lukes in LF/CF

I looked at the Mets roster and it's surprising how bad it reads. Bichette is the only one I'd trade for but his contract makes him basically worthless. Really silly deal the Mets offered him.

Brandon Lowe is the guy I would want. He can play 2B and put Ernie and Gimenez into the aforementioned platoon. Pirates have a winning record but they are nowhere near a playoff spot.

Those are the two targets I would circle, Brandon Lowe and CJ Abrams and you'd have to give up a haul for the latter but likely only a "Bieber-esque" return for the other.

With one of those players in tow it'll be a lot easier to see if Anthony "Tony Taters" Santander can return to form to bring more power to the team.

Pinango down which makes sense for playing time reasons I guess but so hard to justify keeping Sosa on the team especially because Barger can play 3B so you have two backup infield guys already. Lukes will be back in a week or two and then what? The glut of LH corner OFs continues.

Pinango down on a team that’s scored 6 runs in their last four games is bazzaro!

Might be a white flag? Although it’s early, it’s also difficult to see how the team improves enough to contend.

I think Pinango showed he has a future in a Santander-esque bat first LF/RF/DH role here. He just happens to be one in a glut of lefty outfielders. He'll be back.

Lenyn Sosa had one good season and that good season was still pretty mediocre for an everyday player. I will be happy to not see him in the lineup regularly.

Okamoto is not going to sit much.
That leaves Barger as the primary RF and Sanchez as the primary LF.

Krose they’re a half game out of the wild card.

RIP Bobby Cox, one of the Jays greats.

And the floodgates open.

RIP Bobby Cox - that 1985 team was magical - I may now forgive you for pitching to George Brett in the 1985 AL championship series.

I was at the Ex often in the early to mid 80’s for that first great Jays team. Cox was a huge part of that rise. Sail on.

Crazy that the Angels have only been credited with one error in this game. The Jays have found something in Valenzuela.

bit of trivia:

tomorrow is Spencer Miles' 45th day in the majors, losing status for Top Prospect lists.
If Valenzuela Makes it to the 18th, he will too.

Yesavage, since IL games don't count, June 10

Cheap win for Flu but at least he pitched a nice inning.

This is nice. They sweep tomorrow then take 2/3 from TB and they may be in good shape with Kirk and Bieber on the horizon. Brandon Valenzuela continues to climb my "You're Impressing Me "This Much!" Ladder.

Add Valuenzuela to the "they got a valuable guy for not much" pile. Nice to see offense clicking for once.

Soriano has been tough and they rested their pen today.

Even with all the injuries the Jays pitching staff ranks #1 in mlb with 87xfip-, and #4 with an 86fip-.

So far the 96era- is lagging those numbers but still good for #12 mlb. Especially with a bit more health that should continue to catch up with the other numbers.

I know he's not hitting much but the guy can play 2B.

https://x.com/NickAshbourne/status/2053231909367435680?s=20

101.2 mph arm isn't half bad either! Especially when it is pretty much right on line. Hard to step back on a line drive to fairly deep OF and still throw out the runner at home by a lot.

Barger may have thrown it too hard. Scratched with shoulder soreness. No great.

Correction... Elbow soreness.

That was indeed an excellent play by Schneider. On days where Vladdy is the DH the defense would be better if Okamoto played 1B instead of Sosa, with Clement moving to 3B and Schneider playing 2B.

Barger has been scratched from the lineup today. Hopefully he didn't blow out his elbow on that epic throw yesterday.

FG quiz today:

Greg Maddux has the most assists, and most putouts, of any pitcher since 1950. Which pitcher has been charged with the most errors since that time?

That’s the obvious defensive alignment but they seem reluctant to move Okamoto, Gimenez and Clement around. Which is odd given the positional flexibility they operated with last year. An approach which seemed more successful than not last year.

Position players having to sit out with elbow soreness rarely ends quickly (or well).

I haven't seen a lot of players with elbow soreness mot having it end well. Barger's been out of the game for a month or so. I've seen it more often that a player gets dead arm and returns to full form in a few weeks. I don't think he's going to be out for an extended time. Judge has been playing with elbow issues for a year now.

You always fear the worst but it's also not exactly rare to throw your arm out a bit when you've been off a while.

John Lester probably wouldn't qualify for most errors because he wouldn't throw to first. But Lester?

Every ab Sosa has me more and more baffled. How is this a guy the Jays have given 50+ PAs to? How is he still getting playing time? I think Scherzer might be done but at this point, would rather take my shot with him over lauer right now.

Not Lester, Gerry. Only 20 career errors. This guy had a 3 season stretch where he had over 20 errors and pitched a lot of seasons.

Will Spencer Miles get four innings next time out? Are they stretching him out to take Lauer's spot?

Lauer's troubles are both physical and mental.
Velo is down but it's the location that is the biggest problem.
You'd think he would have recovered from that virus by now.

You'd think he would have recovered from that virus by now.

Covid can do that.

Which pitcher has been charged with the most errors since that time?

My instant guess would have been Nolan Ryan, who was notoriously bad at everything that didn't involve throwing unhittable pitches.

Great to hear from you, Magpie. And great answer - 90 career errors, including a 4 year stretch with 30.

2nd was Don Drysdale (59) and 3rd was my guess Randy Johnson (58).

Miles says he can be stretched out more as a starter so I hope that's where Jays go with him. Even if he's only a 5- inning guy this year, getting five solid innings from him over five bad innings from Lauer is a huge win. Barger going got MRI on elbow which is obviously bad.

Honestly, I hate to say it but if he can't figure it out - particularly the velo - it might be Lauer that catches the DFA by the time Bieber gets back.

Gotta love how Schneider left Lauer out there to take a hit of a beating, foot in mouth. I've never heard so many excuses, complaints or open airing of grievances from a borderline starter before.

If Barger went for an MRI then that changes "the calculus," and makes me nervous.

Great to hear from you, Magpie.

Aw, sometimes I just get tired of the sound of my own voice.

But I'm clearing my throat. After all, the Raptors are done. And I've had more than my delicious fill of hate-watching the Leafs (although Mitch Marner leading the playoffs in scoring makes me all tingly inside!). So I stumble back to Da Box...

Was this a good time for Eric Lauer and Tyler Heineman to irritate the manager?

Valenzuela may have signed Heineman's DFA waiver card with this weekend performance, coupled with the lack of Heineman showing any kind of offence.

Heineman should be DFA'd once Kirk gets back.

No way Valenzuala should be optioned back to Buffalo. So why can't I shake the feeling he might be?

Apparently they are recalling Yariel.

Honestly that's not a bad idea at all (recalling Yariel while the stench of Lauer exits the clubhouse).

Also, as Glevin called out... what is the world is happening with Sosa? It made little sense before but now it makes less sense. He's baaaad so what advantage can he have if he's a RHH vs LHH?

This FO has had a penchant for choosing to keep a player at the edges of the roster rather than risk DFA’ing them. Options can spell a player’s death knell on the roster. I think Valenzuela will have to have blown Heineman out of the water to stay up. But that is what has happened over the past few weeks. Let’s see if that keeps up.

If we assume its a bullpen for bullpen move, I would assume its Yariel for Mantiply. Do they need more right handers than two lefties?

Mantiply has been excellent. DFA’ing him would be pretty crazy. I would have thought it more likely that someone is going on the IL. Lauer seems a possibility given how much his stuff has deteriorated recently. An out of the box possibility is that Lauer gets released.

I hope it's Lauer and think it might be. His stuff is just terrible and so are the results (and his attitude).

Odd to be calling up Yariel now. Who are the Jays sick of in the pen? Lets check who's been used the most...

• 20: (1) Fluharty (1 start, 19 relief) 5.93 ERA but 2.01 xERA suggesting bad luck
• 19: (2) Fisher, Varland both super safe imo
• 18: (3) Hoffman, Nance, Rogers. Nance the only one I'd think at risk, but the Jays seem to love him, 2.65 xFIP suggests he should be safe
• 14: (1) Mantiply - 2.45 ERA 2.83 xFIP so pretty solid
• 12: (1) Miles - 3.00 ERA for the rule 5 kid - can't imagine he is let go now.
• 8: (1) Lauer (6 starts, 2 relief) - 6.69 ERA after today's disaster, over 5 for xERA, FIP, xFIP so no good signs anywhere. 6.44 K/9 is very low, 3.96 BB/9 is high, 11 HR in 36 IP is very, very bad. I think he has to be the one dumped (also a free agent post-2026 anyways)

I figure the Jays are putting Lauer on waivers hoping someone claims him or tries to trade him tonight. Someone might be that desperate for pitching. Everyone else deserves to stick around, give the #5 starter role to Miles for now.

According to Fangraphs, Mantiply DOES have a minor league option as do Fisher, Fluhart and Varland. Also he came into the season just short of 3 years service so it technically can happen. But he has a 0.71 ERA since his one bad outing on 4/6 (12.2 IP)

None of them are having the sort of problems that lead to a demotion

Nance also had a blowup on 4/6 and since then his ERA is 2.25

If no one is hurt, the only guy on the current staff that's pitching poorly is Lauer.

I suspect the Jays may put Lauer on the IL with some sort of arm trouble.

His fastball is down 1.5 miles an hour and is a shadow of the pitch it was last year. The wOBA against his four-seamer this year is .384, compared to .261 last year. He's given up six homers on the pitch already this year and he gave up seven all of last season.

There may be a bit of bad luck there, but if you look at expected slugging percentage, it's still over 100 points higher this year on the pitch than last year.

Last year his fastball was in the 89th percentile in run value. This year, it's in the 18th percentile.

The difficulty he's having with this pitch is primarily responsible for his terrible season.

Katie - that makes the most sense by a landslide. So he'd be joining Berrios and Scherzer on the 'just doesn't have it anymore' IL. Hoping by some miracle they figure out what is going on away from the ML spotlight.

They could start Miles, maybe with an opener and use Yariel as a long relief guy.
.
Lauer could have soreness or arm fatigue.
ERA around 7 isn't playable.

The problem with Lauer as a long man is wo do you cut? All 8 in the pen are doing far better than Lauer and I'd trust any of them more than him. Plus Yariel is back today so someone has to go.

By fWAR Lauer is last on the Jays at -0.6, -0.5 for Scherzer and Little. 3 others in the negatives (Fleming, Heineman, Lee), 3 others sub 5 IP (Estrada, Voth, Ponce). Lauer is the only one of that group who is still on the team and not on the IL. Of the 12 other pitchers, the lowest fWAR goes to Joe Mantiply & Spencer Miles (0.2) - but both are doing OK and dumping either makes little sense. Then comes Tommy Nance & Patrick Corbin - Corbin has been OK as a starter (eating innings, 3.60 ERA but 6.20 xERA suggests a lot of luck involved). Fisher & Fluharty both seem popular with the club and are doing OK as well. Safe as church mice are Hoffman, Rogers, Varland and core starters Cease, Gausman, and Yesavage. So 6 super safe slots, 6 fairly safe, leaves Lauer as the odd man out to create space for Yariel - I can't see a justification for anyone else being sent down or released. Sucks as Lauer was so good last year, but that was last year. Baseball is a cruel game at times.

Definitely going to be Lauer and I think they let him take a bit of a beating on the mound as as "thank you, next," type of goodbye. His attitude was terrible ever since he lost his arbitration case against the team, openly questioning the manager and front office's strategies, wearing medical patches for neck spasms during a starts (and not telling anyone on the team he has spasms, etc). Dude looks like he wants to be cut and I wouldn't be surprised at all to see him start immediately for another team and put up 5-6 innings of sub 4 ERA ball. In any instance he would improve this team by not being on it.

Anybody have any updates on Bieber?

Mike, Lauer is not trusted to go for bulk innings. I think the plan yesterday was to have Miles and Nance go 4-5 innings and then have Lauer pitch 2 innings before going to the bullpen. He couldn't get one out without giving up the lead.

Agreed that Yariel isn't great in AAA either. 13 2/3 IP, 7 H 4 R/ER 9 BB 25 K - the K's are WOW, the H/9 solid but those walks.... He has twice now been in Buffalo and in 34 total IP he has 15.4 K/9 down there vs 5.8 BB/9 over 34 IP - '24 and '26 are when he has been there - 8 starts, 11 relief - 10 relief 1 start this year. APril 21st was the last time he gave up a run, since 4 1/3 IP 2 H 2 BB 6 K's (2 BB were in one game). Last game was 2 IP 28 pitches, 21 strikes, 9 swing and misses.

Real tough if all of ponce lauer scherzer berrios end up giving us nothing (or worse) this year.

Really really need gausman cease yesavage to stay healthy and really have to hope that bieber isn't toast.

Good news is that if all 4 of those guys are going then we have one of the better rotations around.

just wanted to see how the guys are handling L/R matchups so far only this season...


vRHP

3B Okamoto 125pa, 125wrc+
2B Clement 120pa, 113wrc+
C Alejandro 17pa, 111wrc+
1B Guerrero 127pa, 106wrc+
SS Gimenez 99pa, 106wrc+
CF Varsho 107pa, 103wrc+
LF Sanchez 115pa, 96wrc+
DH Springer 64pa, 62wrc+
RF Barger 24pa, 1wrc+

OF Straw 34pa, 163wrc+
C Valenzuela 44pa, 98wrc+
OF Lukes 55pa, 75wrc+
UT Schneider 33pa, 57wrc+

OF Pinango 22pa, 156wrc+
UT Jimenez* 22pa, 116wrc+
IF Sosa 56pa, 37wrc+
C Heineman 41pa, -11wrc+



vLHP

1B Guerrero 40pa, 187wrc+
3B Okamoto 38pa, 136wrc+
DH Springer 29pa, 126wrc+
CF Varsho 39pa, 106wrc+
RF Straw 40pa, 99wrc+
LF Schneider 38pa, 94wrc+
2B Clement 44pa, 81wrc+
SS Gimenez 40pa, 1wrc+
C Alejandro 5pa, -100wrc+

C Valenzuela 18pa, 162wrc+
OF Sanchez 18pa, 29wrc+
UT Barger 4pa, 5wrc+
OF Lukes 1pa, -100wrc+

OF Pinango 5pa, 180wrc+
IF Sosa 32pa, 59wrc+
UT Jimenez* 13pa, 26wrc+
C Heineman 22pa, 24wrc+


Some things surprising or just funny - like after all the argumetns last year, Clement actually being very good against RHP so far this year and not so good against LHP. Also Straw crushing it vRHP while still being solid vLHP.

Some things less surprising - like Gimenez and Sanchez not being guys you want to ever face LHP.

Brings up the 'what is the ideal setup' - probably would be good if Schneider started hitting so he could be at 2B vs LHP more often and Clement could go to SS so Gimenez gets those days off. Adding a RH OF would be sweet too thus allowing Schneider more IF time, or if one of the LH OFers could start hitting LHP better (Varsho OK (701 OPS last year), but Sanchez (473 OPS last year, 517 lifetime vs LH) Barger (607 OPS last year) and Lukes (697 OPS last year) all have their issues). Lukes is probably the best option vs LH for that group outside of Varsho but that isn't saying much. Straw should always start vs LHP for sure. Schneider in LF or at 2B.

Sosa - is there anything he does well? Medium leverage he has a 750 OPS lifetime, but high he crashes to a 424. Innings 1-3 he has a 746 OPS, but 637 middle and 609 at the end. 751 OPS vs finesse pitchers is OK (over 100 sOPS+ the past 3 years vs them) Was hoping there would be something there, but can't see it. Keep hoping to see something that tells me why the Jays traded for him and now play him but there really isn't anything other than his 22 HR last year that I can find. Well, 7 HR in 27 games last winter in winterball was impressive but his overall line of 270/314/532 was nice but nothing to go 'wow, need him' over. Any guesses other than 'has photos of the GM in a compromising position'?

Jesus Sanchez is pretty underwhelming vs RHP for a guy who can't hit LHP at all and doesn't bring much with the glove. Wonder how long he can keep his job with Lukes due to return and Pinango & Schreck banging on the door.

June - the only reason I can see for keeping Sosa around is to have a competent backup at 1B for the one day a week that Vlady is the DH. Okamoto could serve this role, but I think they want him to be the everyday guy at 3B. Overall, I think they have a specific profile in mind for this bench spot: A RH hitter, with some power, who can play a solid 1B and multiple other IF positions. I think there are better options available than Sosa... Ty France is probably the "gold standard" for this role. Charles McAdoo is the closest internal option.

I think they really really like Kasevich, even though his numbers still don't suggest more than a bench IF bat.

The quick promotion for Nimmala also surprised me and started making me think they were eyeing him as potential mlb help sooner than we think. AA is not far away from MLB. Often just one phone call away.

That could be it, or perhaps they don't view Nimmala as a long-term piece but do think he can hold his own at AA and increase his trade value for this summer.

yeah the thought crossed my mind tho i'm a bit skeptical they'd be punting on a 20yr old SS when they drafted him knowing was kinda raw with big tools.

Lauer DFAed. Barger to the IL. Pinango & Yariel recalled.
I thought Lauer was on very thin ice after wearing those strips on his back during a start without even telling anyone. I don't think anyone is going to claim his salary, but someone will pick him up for the minimum...

Lauer deserved it, but man we're short SP now.

Do they think Miles can actually start? or is Bieber ready to start rehab? or are they liking what they're seeing from Chad Dallas enough?

or a bit of all of the above?

Makes perfect sense. Lauer wasn't helping this year at all, sucks that Barger is back on the IL after just 1 game. Pinango certainly deserved to be brought back up. We will see what Yariel has, if his minor league K numbers can translate to being effective in the majors.

I'm guessing they hope Miles can cover the 5 hole until someone else is ready. Fisher and Nance can go 2 innings each when needed, so that should give them up to 7 from the 3 guys. Lauer had 5 games of 5+ IP - 3 sub 5 IP (all 3 starts). In his 5+ IP games he allowed 2 runs once, 3 runs twice, plus a 6 and a 7 run game. Yick. So he didn't provide length or quality. In his 8 games just once did he allow only 1 run (4 1/3 IP on APril 29th vs Boston), every other game was 2+ runs. Just one start had a game score over 50 (March 29th vs the A's, a solid 62). Really, he didn't give the Jays a choice.

I'm a bit surprised that they went straight to DFA with Lauer rather than a "phantom IL" trip but Lauer may have worn out his welcome. If this was just poor pitching I would have liked to see him for a stint in the pen first but the issue is that his stuff is significantly down in quality across the board. I don't think the pen was an option right now. I'm not sure that Yariel can help the team other than soak up some low leverage innings but they need an arm.

If it was a character issue, and it likely was, the phantom IL move doesn't work.

Yariel's numbers were never actually bad. The ERA was always good while the underlyings were more middling than bad. and he's been excellent in AAA and we'd be happy to call up anyone else that had those AAA numbers.

Statcast says he's tweaked his pitch mix this year.

last year he was about 40% 4-seam middling effectiveness), 40% slider (very good), 12% splitter (middling), and 6% Sinker (bad).

This year the slider (very godo) and sinker (very bad) usage have stayed about the same, but he's really dialled back on the 4-seamer (middling) to about 25%, while suddenly using the splitter a ton at around 30%.....and statcast thinks his splitter has been a legit dominant pitch for him this year, and easily his best pitch.

so maybe there's some hope that he can be better than the mediocre but not terrible guy he's been in mlb for us.

I think I remember Yarial struggling to put away hitters. Maybe the split can be an effective out pitching.

This is a very good move. Now they need to bring Chad Dallas or Adam Macko to help. I suspect Scherzer of Bieber will be back sooner than we think. Otherwise, yeah kind of super thin rotation.

Gausman
Cease
Yesavage
Corbin

Shane Bieber threw a side last week and is supposed to start pitching to live hitters this week then rehab games. That puts him on pace to return when eligible 60 days from start of the season. The next 3 weeks is big and the Jays need to stay afloat (currently 1 game back from playoff spot).

Yariel has good stuff but poor control. 
Slider usage last year was 50% against RHH and 26% against LHH.
Splitter was 3% against RHH and 25% against LHH.

It's very situational.
It's tough to be slider/splitter heavy if it's not in the zone.

Miles has huge splits.
Against RHH he throws 40% sinker, 19% 4-seamer and mostly sliders.
Against LHH he throws 28% sinker, 32% 4-seamer and mostly curves.

Most of the damage comes on the breaking stuff.