Lukes up. Schneider down.

Plausible best lineups using...


This year's stats only:

1. LF Pinango 71pa, .352obp, 120wrc+, 3.7war650
2. 1B Guerrero 223pa, .386obp, 119wrc+, 2.9war650
3. CF Varsho 201pa, .338obp, 114wrc+, 3.9war650
4. C Valenzuela 97pa, .333obp, 112wrc+, 7.4war650
5. 2B Clement 209pa, .321obp, 110wrc+, 1.9war650
6. DH Sanchez 165pa, .315obp, 108wrc+, 1.2war650
7. 3B Okamoto 210pa, .295obp, 99wrc+, 2.5war650
8. SS Gimenez 182pa, .271obp, 80wrc+, 2.9war650
9. RF Straw 93pa, .315obp, 92wrc+, 0.7war650

B. UT Springer 148pa, .288obp, 88wrc+, -0.4war650
B. OF Lukes 56pa, .286obp, 73wrc+, 0.0war650
B. IF Schneider 89pa, .295obp, 59wrc+, -2.9war650
B. C Alejandro 22pa, .227obp, 61wrc+, 3.0war650

X. UT Jimenez 35pa, .343obp, 84wrc+, -1.9war650
X. OF Barger 28pa, .214obp, 2wrc+, 0.0war650
X. IF Sosa 109pa, .194obp, 29wrc+, -4.2war650
X. C Heineman 73pa, .188obp, 8wrc+, -0.9war650




Past 1 Calendar Year Stats:

1. DH Springer 556pa, .377obp, 156wrc+, 4.9war650
2. 1B Guerrero 682pa, .383obp, 135wrc+, 3.8war650
3. CF Varsho 397pa, .322obp, 122wrc+, 4.7war650
4. C Alejandro 373pa, .351obp, 121wrc+, 6.6war650
5. 2B Schneider 295pa, .344obp, 112wrc+, 2.2war650
6. SS Clement 645pa, .320obp, 107wrc+, 3.5war650
7. RF Barger 432pa, .290obp, 100wrc+, 2.6war650
8. 3B Okamoto 210pa, .295obp, 99wrc+, 2.5war650
9. LF Sanchez 534pa, .300obp, 99wrc+, 1.3war650

B. UT Lukes 388pa, .305obp, 93wrc+, 2.0war650
B. OF Straw 307pa, .312obp, 90wrc+, 3.0war650
B. IF Gimenez 408pa, .283obp, 77wrc+, 2.4war650
B. C Valenzuela 97pa, .333obp, 112wrc+, 7.4war650

X. UT Jimenez 35pa, .343obp, 84wrc+, -1.9war650
X. OF Pinango 71pa, .352obp, 120wrc+, 3.7war650
X. IF Sosa 483pa, .270obp, 86wrc+, 0.5war650
X. C Heineman 196pa, .283obp, 66wrc+, 3.6war650




Fangraphs Depth Charts Projections:

1. DH Springer 414pa, .333obp, 113wrc+, 1.9war659
2. 1B Guerrero 457pa, .382obp, 141wrc+, 4.1war650
3. C Alejandro 251pa, .348obp, 115wrc+, 6.2war650
4. 3B Okamoto 405pa, .322obp, 111wrc+, 3.1war650
5. LF Sanchez 283pa, .315obp, 105wrc+, 1.8war650
6. 2B Schneider 212pa, .326obp, 101wrc+, 2.2war650
7. RF Lukes 160pa, .334obp, 105wrc+, 2.4war650
8. SS Clement 419pa, .312obp, 98wrc+, 2.6war650
9. CF Varsho 405pa, .301obp, 102wrc+, 2.9war650

B. UT Barger 217pa, .312obp, 104wrc+, 1.8war650
B. OF Straw 104pa, .299obp, 75wrc+, 0.6war650
B. IF Gimenez 410pa, .308obp, 92wrc+, 2.9war650
B. C Valenzuela 90pa, .384obp, 76wrc+, 2.2war650

X. UT Satander 14pa, .307obp, 101wrc+, 0.0war650
X. OF Pinango 89pa, .300obp, 86wrc+, 0.0war650
X. IF Sosa 137pa, .274obp, 83wrc+, 0.0war650
X. C Heineman 99pa, .289obp, 70wrc+, 2.6war650

Five Canadians playing in the same game might tie a record, which we should see if Macko appears. Apparently the record for Canadian-born players is five in a game (the Naylor brothers and Cade Smith came to town a few years ago while we had Zach Pop). But this is just five Canadian citizens (Macko was born in Slovakia and Otto in the DR), and I couldn't find what the record is if we include naturalized citizens.

No Vlad in tonights lineup. We get Lenyn Sosa instead.

On a positive note, thanks for the picture, UO.  It's a welcome sight.  

The Blue Jays are placing right-hander Dylan Cease on the 15-day injured list, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet

Cease on the IL so a pitcher should be added.

The Jays are looking to call up someone who can be a starter and give them 70 pitches or so. Could be Fleming, Voth or Van Eyk.

So someone not on the 40.

fangraphs has some new statcast bat tracking that i just noticed.

I'll look at stats over this season plus last:


Average Bat Speed

1. Guerrero 76.5
2. Barger 75.8
3. Pinango 75.5
4. Sanchez 75.2
5. Varsho 74.5
6. Okamoto 73.7
7. Springer 73.5
8. Eloy 72.8
9. Sosa 72.6
10. Kirk 72.5
11. Valenzuela 72.3
12. Santander 72.0
13. Schneider 71.4
14. Gimenez 68.9
15. Lukes 68.0
16. Straw 67.5
17. Clement 67.5
18. Heineman 66.0



Fast Swing Rate

1. Guerrero 66.7%
2. Barger 62.0%
3. Sanchez 55.1%
4. Pinango 52.2%
5. Varsho 44.3%
6. Okamoto 39.2%
7. Springer 38.4%
8. Kirk 28.1%
9. Sosa 25.7%
10. Valenzuela 22.1%
11. Eloy 22.0%
12. Santander 21.0%
13. Schneider 16.2%
14. Gimenez 6.4%
15. Lukes 5.1%
16. Straw 3.9%
17. Clement 2.6%
18. Heineman 0.5%


Ideal Attack Angle Rate

1. Clement 60.4%
2. Varsho 59.9%
3. Springer 58.0%
4. Santander 57.3%
5. 57.2%
6. Kirk 55.5%
7. Sosa 54.4%
8. Barger 51.1%
9. Valenzuela 50.8%
10. Sanchez 48.8%
11. Gimenez 47.8%
12. Heineman 47.4%
13. Straw 47.0%
14. Lukes 43.6%
15. Jimenez 42.4%
16. Schneider 41.8%
17. Guerrero 31.6%
18. Pinango 24.3%


and a whole bunch more there too.

Not that i know how to apply any of this.

But Clement's profile is pretty cool - a guy maximizing a swing without swinging hard.

Absolutely no reason for Sosa to still be with team and that's been accurate for about a month. I understand not wanting to add prospect to 40 man just to play once a week but there has to be someone better. This is all part of the roster imbalance the Jays have with the 40-man having 4 catchers, 5 LH OFers and 5 IFers total.

Orioles walk off the rays in the 13th.

Royals heading to the 9th with at leadt a one run lead over the yanks.

Like, Santiago Espinal was DFAd by the Dodgers. Not a good player but I'd much rather have him than Sosa.

Agreed Glevin. Heck, IKF would be an improvement. For guys with 100+ PA Sosa's 29 wRC+ is 287th in the majors out of 291 players (worst is Ke'Bryan Hayes at 12, others below Sosa are Luisangel Acuña, Patrick Bailey, and Wenceel Pérez). Btw, if you are wondering why Boston and Baltimore have had bad years Tyler O'Neill has a 47 wRC+, and Trevor Story 48 (#274/275 in MLB). #245 is Bo (67), #246 is Gurriel (66). Danny Jansen with a 76 wRC+ is outhitting all of those guys, while having a poor year. Go figure. Gimenez is at 80 btw (worst for a full-time Jay). Heinemann has just 73 PA thankfully which puts him at 342 out of 343 players with 70+ PA (ahead of Rob Refsnyder who has a 4 wRC+ vs Heinemann's 8). Some guys having horrid years who we wouldn't have predicted pre-season.

Tyler Andrew.

Tanner Andrews

Intersting choice - very wild (14 BB in 20 IP) but good at K's (22 in those 20) never reached majors until now at age 30. Cool for him. Hope he gets into a game.

I thought I paid attention to the minors and I have never heard of him.

I thought he looked good in spring training for whatever that's worth. I think the Jays sent him to the development complex at some point this year after he was doing quite well.

I don't think anyone would disagree that Sosa is a waste of space, but I can grudgingly accept the rational that if they want to try and revive Davis, hanging on to Sosa in the meantime for infield depth isn't shocking (not that I, personally, wouldn't rather be watching Kasavich or some such)

But you face the same question when Barger is ready.

What this team really needs is an infield/outfield utility guy who can hit major league pitching, at least lefties, if Schneider isn't going to. Not that I have any target to point to.

He is not a starter so is this a short term move until Cease's spot comes around on Friday?

I noted a couple days ago how confident I feel in the bullpen. Well, I took a look at the stats, and I feel even better about this group of relievers.

Currently, Jays relievers have an ERA- of 94 (15th in the majors), a FIP- of 85 (5th) and an xFIP- of 81 (1st - the only other teams under 90 are the Padres and Phillies at 85 and 89 respectively). So while the run prevention has only been average, the underlying performance has been extremely good. An 81 xFIP- would be the 8th-best bullpen for any team since 2002, when we can calculate it.

And really, the bullpen has been better than that. The reliever numbers include 10 very poor innings from starter Eric Lauer in a bulk role - which went poorly. And there have been 7.2 quite good innings from Fluharty, Fisher and Miles as openers. Take out Lauer and put in the openers, and our relief corps has been more like 88 ERA-, 79 FIP-, 79 xFIP-.

And then most of the poor performance has been guys we've called up to fill in. A healthy bullpen with Nance and Mantiply has nobody with an xFIP- or FIP- at 90 or higher. It's a bevy of riches at the moment.

Yeah gabriel - you can even do a 'custom player' list on fangraphs and then click 'team stats' and get a summary of just those players combined stats.

For example, our top 8 RP in all situations:

190.0ip, 68era-, 62fip-, 71xfip-, 4.1fwar, 2.9r9war



That's

Varland
Rogers
Fisher
Miles
Mantiply
Nance
Fluharty
Hoffman

Pitiful abs with runners on. Nice to see Lukes continuing where he left off.

You can see why Pinango is considered a DH but man, Jays D has been disappointing.

It's because he collided with Gimenez the other day.
He doesn't want to get too close to him.

Gimenez '24: 83wrc+
Gimenez '25: 70wrc+
Gimenez '26: 76wrc+

Not sure he's ever bouncing back tbh.

Sosa took his first walk of the season; Sanchez, Giminez, Valenzuela, and then Vladdy immediately jumped up and gave him a standing ovation. They were very aware of the significance of an otherwise meaningless 9th inning walk.

I’m legit annoyed he drew that walk. Before that he was funny bad! Will he set an MLB record for a walk-less season?

Now he’s just plain and simple bad.

Agree Eephus. It's like the difference between watching a bad movie and a funny bad movie. It's baffling to me to watch a team with legitimate championship aspirations give almost 100 PAs to a player who is so obviously not major league caliber.

Valenzuela has been an incredible find, he just looks like an athlete although he's kinda slow for a guy with his build. He seems good at controlling the running game, but as uglyone pointed out he'll need Kirk to teach him how to block better.

It feels like the Jays are locked in at C for several years now.

Agreed about Gimenez never "bouncing back". I think he is what he is at this point. You hope it's closer to a 90 wRC+ but it may be less than that moving forward. It wasn't a good trade at the time and still isn't. There wasn't another GM on earth who would have absorbed that entire contract other than Atkins. Just have to hope he's a 3 WAR player through defense and base running for the next few years.

Keegan Matheson@KeeganMatheson

The Triple-A Buffalo Bisons list CJ Van Eyk, Josh Fleming and Austin Voth as their probable starters for the next three days (beginning tomorrow).

Chad Dallas, who last pitched May 20, is not listed. He's a potential option to replace Dylan Cease in the #BlueJays' rotation.

23MM per in 2027-2029 for an average+ SS who can't hit, yikes. And it wasn't just assuming his contract; the bat they gave up is significantly better than anyone on the team for the MLB minimum $alary. Well, at least Gimenez still drives in runs.

At least Sosa is 9th and not cleanup anymore. Minimize the damage. But I'd be calling up McAdoo and releasing Sosa myself.

I agree Mike. The Lenyn Sosa experience is rapidly approaching the most perplexing episode perpetrated by this front office if it isn't already. There have been worse experiences (Paul DeJong, Socrates Brito) but I don't think any have been so utterly baffling.

It should be noted that the team painted itself into a corner by releasing Leo Jimenez and not carrying a true backup infielder out of spring training. It's not even as though the infield has been that injured and still Sosa has grabbed plenty of playing time.

The team has one of the weirdest 40-man roster constructions in recent memory: 4 catchers, 5 infielders, and 9 outfielders... with only Schneider, Clase, and Willie MacIver as the only available options for recall right now. There are at least two easy moves to free up spots - Berrios and Laz Estrada can be moved to the 60-day IL, though Bieber and Yimi are both slated to return in June. I think something has to give in the outfield... Clase is probably the first casualty.

who was the guy i went through jays history to see if he was the worst jay ever? DeJong maybe?

lemme see how sosa looks...

worst jays hitters ever, min 50pa....

1. J.Cannon 197pa, -2wrc+ (-6.3war650)
2. C.Snyder 54pa, 1wrc+ (-7.2war650)
3. J.Mason 88pa, 16wrc+ (-5.2war650)
4. A.Alford 75pa, 17wrc+ (-2.6war650)
5. T.Nordbrook 69pa, 18wrc+ (-4.7war650)
6. K.Cash 329pa, 19wrc+ (-2.8war650)
7. B.Zimmer 191pa, 22wrc+ (-2.6war650)
8. R.Shepherd 114pa, 28wrc+ (-8.6war650)
9. J.Diaz 61pa, 29wrc+ (-1.1war650)
10. G.Woods 259pa, 31wrc+ (-3.3war650)
11. L.Sosa 80pa, 32wrc+ (-3.3war650)


what makes it worse of course is that he doesn't qualify for any of the 3 major justifications for this - 1. playing in write-off season, 2. Great defensive value, 3. Young prospect with upside.

Now if they keep playing him enough to cross the 100pa barrier, then he'll truly enter a special category.

I had such hopes for Anthony Alford

Where are Alen Hansen and Socrates Brito I wondered. wRC+ of 1 and -22 respectively. Neither made it to 50 PA's. 48 and 43 PA's.

Cash and Zimmer were excellent defenders, which explains their playing time. Cash turned his into a long MLB career and developed into one of the games best managers.

About a week ago, I posted congratulations for whoever's idea it was to draft Spencer Miles.Thanks to Mitch Bannon at the Athletic, just found out the process and it's far more involved than I thought.

"A scouting model overseen by assistant baseball research director Dan Goldberg initially flagged Miles as a player to further examine. Miles was a 6-foot-3 righty with an elite, upper-90s sinker. Pro evaluation specialist Meg Evans filed a scouting report on Miles, and Toronto’s Rule 5 group, led by John Babocsi and Nick Manno, decided to dig in further. Two more pro evaluators, Matt Anderson and Kevin Briand, liked what they saw on video, while Sanjay Choudhury, part of the Rule 5 group, was vocal about considering Miles despite his limited track record."

that's pretty cool hypo.

analytics are pretty helpful.

Dan Schulman it sounds like he's reading the post from here. He said he "did some digging," but just sounds like he read the exact same article.

Dan loves us.

oh no sosa is injured

now that felt good.

Does Sosa get credit for keying that rally, or….

Oops, I thought they had to take him out of the game.

I'm sure they tried but Sosa refused to take a walk off the field.

Man if Sosa does get dfa'd what is the board going to talk about?

Was cool to watch Tanner Andrews conquer the major Leagues.

Was that 4 or 5 HBP?? At what point does a team tell the other one to knock it off / get the pitcher out of there?? I felt like someone should have least "brushed back" one of their guys a couple of times.. 

Sanchez seems to be finding his stride. If only we could trade him for a right-handed version.. 

"I felt like someone should have least "brushed back" one of their guys a couple of times.. "

The radio crew actually looked up the last couple of times a pitcher had 4 HBP in a game. In neither case did the other team retaliate. They did bring up the Jays hitting Jose Ramirez after the Guardians kept hitting Vladdy throughout a series.

I suspect they felt it was all due to a lack of control on the pitchers part, no intent. It is kind of sad seeing how Sandy Alcantara is falling apart. He was such a great pitcher not long ago but now is basically a meh guy - ERA+ just shy of 100 now, 6.2 K/9 and now having control issues. Didn't walk many but hitting 4 guys tells me he didn't know where the pitches were going. I suspect the Marlins will still pick up his option ($21 mil for 2027) but won't be as enthused about it as everyone expected. Can't imagine anyone will make a big offer for him mid-season either. We'll see - he did have a shutout this year after all so flashes of the old Alcantara are there. Wouldn't be shocked if the Jays chase him in the off-season (could see Walker wanting to get his hands on him).

Eric Lauer's Dodger debut: a traditional start of six innings of one-run ball.

I mean, it was the Rockies, but undoubtedly his best appearance of the season.

Miles looks great but worried his arm might fall off. He's barely thrown any innings in his career. I see Bloss and Bieber and Cease as options in about 3 weeks but Jays need to hold on until then. Jays definitely need to be looking into trading one of their LH corner OFers too for a RH of or middle infielder.

Jesus is up to .307/.344/.504 vs RHP, easily the best on the team. He should get some run here in the heart of the order.

Schneider chose not to PH for Sanchez vs. a lefty with Straw last night. Either he wanted to give him the look with a big lead, or he didn’t want to use a sub with a short bench. There might be some value in building the player’s confidence up with better numbers on the Jumbotron.

It's nice to see Vladdy back in the lineup today. With Gausman on the bump and a rested bullpen, they really ought to win this series.

It should be noted that the team painted itself into a corner by releasing Leo Jimenez and not carrying a true backup infielder out of spring training.

I also would have kept Jimenez, but that's not directly connected to acquiring Sosa. They picked up and discarded Tyler Fitzgerald, who looked like a perfectly adequate utility guy. They've also got Kasevich at AAA, who's probably the Utility Infielder of the Future.

But they still went out and got Sosa, who's also not a true backup infielder because he can only play 1B & 2B.

When Barger gets back, I wonder if putting him at 3B against RHP and going with Sanchez and Lukes in the outfield corners might be the way to go. I don't think they'd put Okamoto in a platoon role after giving him $60M, but they can mix and match his playing time a bit rather than playing him everyday at 3B. It would also give the team a RHB on the bench aside from Straw which is something they desperately need with Sosa being one of the worst players in the league.

Maybe something like:

DH Springer
3B Barger
1B Vladdy
RF Sanchez
CF Varsho
2B Clement
LF Lukes
CA Valenzuela
SS Gimenez

Once Kirk comes back then obviously he moves up in the order and others slide down.

Voth up Andrews down.

Kirk to 60 day to make room.

I think Kirk moving to the 60-day IL is strong foreshadowing that Heineman will be DFA'ed when Kirk is ready to return. They don't need to keep 4 catchers on the 40-man roster, and Valenzuela has arguably been their best player in May, and he's easily among the best backup catchers in baseball right now. Heineman might even clear waivers and end up in Buffalo...

vRHP

RF Straw 39pa, 141wrc+
DH Sanchez 151pa, 134wrc+
LF Pinango 70pa, 131wrc+
CF Varsho 151pa, 122wrc+
2B Clement 158pa, 119wrc+
C Alejandro 17pa, 113wrc+
1B Guerrero 174pa, 102wrc+
3B Okamoto 168pa, 98wrc+
SS Gimenez 141pa, 79wrc+

C Valenzuela 73pa, 106wrc+
OF Lukes 58pa, 98wrc+
UT Springer 117pa, 75wrc+
IF Schneider 39pa, 51wrc+

UT Jimenez 22pa, 117wrc+
IF Sosa 72pa, 19wrc+
UT Barger 24pa, 1wrc+
C Heineman 51pa, -1wrc+


vLHP

1B Guerrero 49pa, 178wrc+
DH Springer 41pa, 133wrc+
C Valenzuela 32pa, 126wrc+
SS Clement 59pa, 110wrc+
CF Varsho 55pa, 101wrc+
3B Okamoto 51pa, 95wrc+
LF Schneider 50pa, 64wrc+
RF Straw 55pa, 53wrc+
2B Sosa 45pa, 53wrc+

OF Lukes 3pa, 52wrc+
IF Gimenez 49pa, 48wrc+
UT Sanchez 22pa, 3wrc+
C Alejandro 5pa, -100wrc+

OF Pinango 10pa, 34wrc+
UT Jimenez 13pa, 27wrc+
C Heineman 22pa, 25wrc+
UT Barger 4pa, 5wrc+

jays have traded LHP Juanmi Vazquez for RHP Connor Seabold.

after flopping as a starter, Seabold has been a functional RP in limited duty the past 2yrs:

18gms, 26.0ip, 92era-, 100fip-, 118xfip-

Gimenez was safe. Getting pretty tired of Heinemen. Can't hit at all and can't even get a bunt down.

and they challenge the exact same call at 2B, and succeed.

better not cost us.

I honestly don't see the difference in those two calls at second. I get that they might have different angles in New York, but it would be helpful if viewers had access to those, as otherwise sometimes these decisions seem like coin flips.

Heineman is arguably the best sac bunter on the team and has, generally, a very good record of it. One missed effort doesn't change that.

and Heineman with the epic at bat for a walk and then the epic speed for the tying run all the way from 1st!

just like we wrote it up!

Okamoto home run as soon as I suggest he come off the bench. On brand.

Davis Schneider 2/2 3bb 1db in his bisons debut.

thank you marlins for all the "baserunning".

That's why they make the "big bucks"!

Schneider's debut was yesterday - 0/4 1bb. 1k.

it's at least kinda funny that now that we're using the actual best reliever as our closer, the manager is having a much easier time using the closer in high leverage situations other than just the 9th.

lost only 2 of the last 11 series....both to the fricken rays.

So weird that catcher gets credit for CS for someone picked off. Like, you didn't do anything!

There's probably a pitchcom button to throw at first.

I don't call that using the best reliever as the closer.
Louis was getting the high leverage day one.

Rogers is probably best against guys who swing for the fences and not ideal against speedy guys who already hit it on the ground.

I think it's finally happening! Charles McAdoo is on his way to Baltimore, and I would hope that Sosa is the countermove for the roster spot.

Cracka first but I'll post this anyway

Jeff Passan@JeffPassan

The Toronto Blue Jays are calling up infield prospect Charles McAdoo, a source tells ESPN. A 13th-round pick in 2023, McAdoo has played first, second and third base this season, when he has hit .250/.356/.436 with eight home runs and 27 RBIs at Triple-A.

Fantastic. I don't expect MacAdoo to be a star and likely not even an everyday player, but I think he's going to be useful and way better than Sosa.

I wonder if Sosa is going on the IL, he was hit on the hand/wrist yesterday.

Could be but Jays need 40-man spots and not sure who else might lose one if not Sosa.

? to 60 day IL: Sosa, Estrada, Nance, Mantiply
? DFA: MacIver, Clase, Andrews, Little

Estrada to the 60 is pretty easy, I haven't even heard if he's throwing

Voth will be DFA'd in a day or two, maybe in a companion move when they promote Flemming

if they demote Yariel it would free a spot since he has to go through waivers

Andrews has all his options but could in theory be waived

Then there's Willie MacIver who might be safe until Kirk is activated (because if they move on from Heinemann (at least for the moment, I have some confidence they'd end up bringing him back but some team might want him) THAT would clear a spot and MacIver would be safe)

After that you get to Clase and Sosa.

Are we at last to be delivered from Lynyn Sosa?

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/05/blue-jays-to-select-charles-mcadoo.html

I can't see how it's not Sosa as the counter for McAdoo. The only question is if it's a DFA or an IL stint.

Kind of crazy how good Otto Lopez is this year considering it was just over 2 years ago in January of 2024 while he was still a Jay that TSN's Scott Mitchell had him as the Jay's 31st best prospect and was around 55 on the consensus 2024 Jays prospect list (mentioned by only 2 people both in the 30-50 range). He'd drifted from as high as box's #6 in 2021 after #18 in 2019 but that was the peak as he was #13 in 2022 before going up.

But he was a quite useful piece for Florida the past two years 2.8 WAR, 3.5 WAR, and he's even better at 2.4 WAR so far this year.

Very good waiver wire pickup by Miami.

Lopez could always hit.
He was impacted like other by the Covid shutdown.
In 2021, the Jays used him for a single AB. Semien was the regular 2B and he wasn't sitting.
In 2022, Espinal had moved to 2B and started hot enough to be an All-Star. They gave Lopez 10 PAs, he got 6 hits and one walk.
In 2023, Lopez delt with an oblique injury and hit only .258 with Buffalo.

After that he got DFAed to make your for Yariel as he was out of option.

In those days, the Jays didn't need another right bat and went wtih Whit Merrifield and Horwitz at second base.

I just had a terrible thought. The counter for McAdoo could be Vladdy to the IL.

Bite your tongue, Jonny.

Ugh. Jonny German - or Springer or who knows who else? Checked who Sosa was traded for - Jordan Rich, 17th round pick last year, as a 19 year old in rookie ball he is 'hitting' 143/318/171 for the White Sox in CF/RF in 44 PA. So at least Sosa didn't cost much.

Maybe they are sending Pinango down so he can get playing time - I mean the guy is only hitting for a 105 OPS+, 5th on the club. But his last 11 games he has hit just 200/222/343 (ugh) with horrid defense. His stats are inflated by that great first 16 games - 333/373/438. So I wouldn't be at all surprised if Pinango goes down instead. With Lukes/Varsho/Sanchez all hitting and playing well and Straw going nowhere I wouldn't be surprised in the least by that move. Sosa needs to go, but Pinango is not as helpful as he seems at this point - he had a hot streak at the start and that keeps his numbers from looking as bad as he has been the past couple of weeks. Sosa has been worse, but with Barger coming back soon Sosa and Pinango are doomed I'd think. Or at least they should be.

The Jays have had a nice series of primarily-2B prospects with good hit tools who have made the show and mostly panned out. Santiago Espinal was an excellent backup for us; Otto Lopez is blossoming into a star; Samad Taylor has been up and down, and is currently hitting well for the Padres AAA affiliate and will probably get a few more chances. I'd say the current prospect in that vein is Adrian Pinto - I like him a lot, he's seventh on my personal prospect list.

Otto Lopez did have an option remaining in 2024, which makes the club's giving up on him after his weak 2023 a little less defensible. Of course, San Francisco didn't see him as a diamond in the rough either - they gave him a couple games in AAA then DFA'd him.

It's interesting the Jays only ever played Lopez full-time at SS in 2019, and otherwise moved him around all over the place, mostly 2B & OF. The Marlins did that in 2024, but then he took over at SS in 2025 and hasn't looked back.

Obviously he was never going to take Bo Bichette's job, but he probably would have been preferable to watching Paul DeJong & IKF.

I saw Otto Lopez in Vancouver in 2018.  He was only 19 at the time, but he looked like a major league hitter to me and I said so here.  Excellent control of the strike zone, medium range pop, good feel for contact and pretty good speed.  What he did not look like was a player who would play at all in the infield, let alone be a fine-fielding shortstop.  I don't know what happened (maybe a Butterfield-quallity coach in Miami?), but I'd like to know what was the key for his defensive improvement.  It's shocking to realize that he's been a lot more valuable at ages 25-27 (2024-26) than Bichette has been at ages 26-28 (also 2024-26).  

That was exactly my own view of Lopez in Vancouver. I thought that he could possibly hold down 2B or LF defensively to something closeish to league average but that even that might be a stretch. He could always hit but I had the suspicion that the organization at the time had an issue with his lack of size and was skeptical of his power translating. I forget who the C's manager was at the time, but he used to do a semi regular pre game hit on the radio. I remember several times him joking about Lopez with a comment something like "pint sized" or similar.

I hope it wasn't the size thing.  I saw the ball jump off his bat, and I imagine that he's got the twitch reflex in the wrists that makes this happen for players big or small.  He never was going to hit 30 homers, but you don't have to do that to be a good major leaguer.

was always a vocal member of the Otto Fan Club just cuz his stats always looked like legit mlb potential across the board.

I remember the questions being just as much about his glove as his bat tho, which was weird to me given how much CF and SS playing time he always got.

He's definitely on a babip heater right now so that will slow down, but him turning into a league average hitter with plus defense doesn't surprise me in the least bit.

Lee optioned to make room for Seabold.

Lopez had a 69 WRC+ as a 24 YO in AAA. That's not someone you need to hold on to and probably 99/100 times doesn't even become a major leaguer. He figured something out, good for him, but you can't keep everyone with theoretical upside in case they figure something out.

yeah not the end of the world that they lost Otto, cuz his stats only liked him they didn't love him, but that AAA 24yr old half season was a bit of an outlier.

19 (A-): 206pa, 135wrc+
20 (A): 492pa, 126wrc+
21 (--): covid
22 (AA): 314pa, 136wrc+

22 (AAA): 194pa, 99wrc+
23 (AAA): 391pa, 117wrc+
24 (AAA): 346pa, 69wrc+

Hit .297 with a .378 OBP the previous year.
They just couldn't find the playing time for him so the only regret is not getting anything back which might have a lot to do with being on the 60 IL.

Shi Davidi@ShiDavidi

Blue Jays announce Charles McAdoo promotion and that Connor Seabold has joined the team and will be active tonight.

Chase Lee is optioned while Lenyn Sosa hits the injured list with a right wrist contusion.

Lazaro Estrada moved to the 60-day IL to open 40 spot for McAdoo.

Good News: Jays are no longer underscoring their hitting metrics

Bad News: Jays are still below average in both the runs and the metrics

#23 93wrc+
#22 3.88 runs/gm



Good News: Jays run prevention is starting to catch up to the pitching metrics

Gooder News: The metrics are still elite

#9 93era-
#5 85fip-
#2 88xfip-



Good News: the Jays aren't overperforming their run differential

Not so Good News: the run differential is very mediocre


#6-8 AL: .482 win%
#6-7 AL: -4 run diff

Lopez had a 69 WRC+ as a 24 YO in AAA. That's not someone you need to hold on to and probably 99/100 times doesn't even become a major leaguer. He figured something out, good for him, but you can't keep everyone with theoretical upside in case they figure something out.

The other thing is the opportunity cost that goes along with a permanent 40-man spot for fringe guys like Otto Lopez, particularly in the offseason.

40-man spots become really tight every winter when all the 60-day IL injured guys have to be added after the World Series, when Rule 5 protection guys need spots, spots for new FAs signed, guys added by trades, fringe minor league FAs lured by signing them to major league deals, etc.

You simply can't keep every fringe prospect on the 40-man, particularly if they are ageing out & had a down year (or suffered long-term injuries).

That's why I'm always harping on about not gumming up the 40-man with non-elite Rule 5 protectees. Particularly ones who aren't immediately major league-ready.

The 40-man is a zero sum game where adding guys to the 40-man earlier than necessary comes with second-order effects immediately & later on, pushing guys like Lopez off the back end of the roster everytime there's a crunch or a new transaction.

The Chad Dallas nameplate has been removed - Zwelling