A series win here gets them hedading into June at .500 and in the WC spot, with an even run diff in support. And likely sees most all the key injured players out on actual rehab stints with their returns imminent.

I'd definitely take that after what could have been an absolutely disastrous start to the year.

But not gonna count those chicks just yet.

Chad Dallas has a locker in Baltimore

Hopefully, MacAdoo forces the Jays hand where they have to DFA Sosa after he's back.

Vladdy is in the lineup, too — Jonny's bitten tongue worked!

Arden Zwelling@ArdenZwelling

After receiving a second opinion on his left knee, Joe Mantiply is going to have arthroscopic surgery to clean up some damage.

No operation date or recovery timeline yet but Blue Jays manager John Schneider says it isn’t season-ending.

no more Chad Dallas

Continuing the Otto discussion from last thread -

scottt mentioned that Otto dealt with an oblique problem in 2023; I don't recall that or know how much that affected him while he was on the field, but if so, the Jays front office should have put less importance on his 2023 offensive numbers.

One of the most important things to do is be able to evaluate your own players. That Otto Lopez, mere months after being DFA'd by the Jays, was a premium defensive second baseman in the majors with roughly league-average offense (wRC+ 92, but his xwOBA was slighly above-average) is a pretty strong indicator that the Jays missed something pretty significant. Obviously players can surprise and every front office has misses, but this definitely was one, and less defensible because there really was little time for Lopez to develop or change between the Jays giving up on him and his emergence as a valuable everyday player.

Very strong disagreement with Lopez. He was terrible in AAA at 24 YO. Not just struggling. Terrible. Out of 316 hitters with at least 250 PAs, he was 301st best. That's not someone who is likely to have any sort of major league career (for what it's worth was terrible defensively in his brief time with the Jays too) . He looked like at best a potential up and down bat and was put on waivers again by Giants. That marlins are a bad team and did what bad team should do which is give lots of guys chances. They're trying it this year with Jimenez who was a much more impressive prospect but that isn't working as well. You can't be afraid to cut guys loose because of what their 100th % outcome might be. This was not a reasonable expectation of what Lopez was likely to become. Again, he was one of the worst players in AAA. "we should have kept one of the worst players in AAA in case he became good" is just silly.

eh even that terrible half year only brought his total career AAA line down to slightly below average 95wrc+ at that point.

then to hammer that home he put up a 193wrc+ over the rest of his short AAA career (53pa) to bring his final career AAA line up to 100wrc+ and now has an MLB career 99wrc+ line.

too much sake today, kazuma.

corbinated

This Corbin kid might not be half bad.

No question Lopez was an unfortunate loss. He was dumped shortly after IKF was signed. What sucks is he was dumped before the '24 season when he would've gotten a great shot as Bo was hurt most of the year and the most common 2B was Horwitz. Sigh. Such is life. If they had kept him they might not have traded for Andrés Giménez. It would've been interesting. Of course, they also might have gave up on Clement instead then.

Gimenez rounding into form.

Good pickup of the Patrick Corbin of 2019. Atkins should use his time machine more often.

Really bad hitters don't get 250 PAs.
Fangraphs ranked him with a 55/60 Hit tool and 60/60 speed.
It's the defense that was questionable and of course the middling power.

that bunt is very very annoying.

i like the pinango ph idea

Nice ab Yohendrick!

by the hair of our chinny chin chin

great relief. great defense. just great all around.

Is it just me or does Giminez just hit well in close low scoring games.

Big win and a fun win. About as fun a 2-1 game as it gets.

Remember how Jack Morris used to pitch to the score? I get the feeling that the Jays batters hit to the score.

Just checking the ABS Results for fun. For the Jays #1 is Schneider adding 0.7 runs via good success (9 overturned, 3 not) with 83% of his challenges being deemed 'reasonable'. Vlad is 50-50 on his challenges, with 50% deemed 'reasonable'. Gimenez is at the bottom 0-5 in challenges and 0% seen as reasonable. Probably should be told not to do that anymore unless the ball bounces in or goes over his head.

Our catchers are not so good at this - Valenzuela is 12 wins, 14 lost - ugh. 54% reasonable. Heineman is 12-9 with 67% reasonable, Kirk was 2-1 with 67% reasonable.

Not one Jay pitcher has done a challenge yet.

Jays are now all alone in the 3rd WC spot.

8 back of Tampa for 1st, 6 1/2 behind the Yankees for top WC. Looking good, given the Jays are still missing key parts comng back soon in Kirk, Bieber, Barger, Garcia, and now Cease. Plus guys who weren't as counted on but still would be useful in Scherzer (coming soon probably), Ponce & Berrios (out for the season), Santander (who knows). Crazy to be down that much and still be in a playoff slot.

wasting a little time digging into the splits. It's understood that the Jays could use a RH guy off the bench who can play the OF and hit lefties. Laying aside the pending question of how you carry a roster overloaded with OF and no reserve infielder (beyond Addison Barger) if you sort the stat sheet for those filters (RH hitting OF who's productive vs. LHP) and eliminating the guys you obviously aren't getting (because they're stars, or because they play for a direct rival or because of their role on their current team) the list of guys worth chasing is....pretty darn short.

let me offer three names:

Austin Martin - 159 WRC+ in the split - Not sure how you'd come together on a price given he's probably more important to their future than he'd be as a (very good) role player in Toronto (if he didn't just outright take over left field). In fact, really this should probably fall under "not happening" unless the Jays imagine him as next year's starting CF which, AFAIK he doesn't have that kind of defensive reputation. Still, you could talk even if there was some overpayment involved. But they wouldn't move until July anyway.

Matt Verling - 120 WRC+ - Being used regularly in Detroit thanks to Carpenter's injury but is not the sort of everyday hitter Martin is. He's a guy that the Tigers could spare if you make it worth their time...at some point.

Lane Thomas - 141 - clearest fit. Hired for the bench, working off of the bench, only really useful vs. Lefties. Would stand to be a pretty cheap acquisition if you're willing to spend a roster spot on that. Could maybe get him for RJ Schreck (or Pinango or Jace Bhorofen or some similar caliber of talent) maybe throw in a marginal reliever. like Juenger or Gallager.

Don't bother to try this trick with infielders - that well is very dry.

Sometimes one challenges late in a game because the call being overturned would change the game. Sometimes one challenges very late in a game because there might not be another opportunity.

It's probably a team strategy to keep the challenges for high leverage. Veny sometimes will blow a challenge when the pitcher is in a jam in a long inning.

At any rate, the strike calls have improved a lot this year.
Anybody still looks at ump scorecards?

I'm curious to see a plot of batter challenges. One ball that was regularly called a strike was one an inch or 2 outside. I still see it regularly called a strike, but I hardly ever see it challenged by batters.

Here's a plot of the ABS challenges for yesterday and last week: https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/abs

The vast majority of batter challenges are on pitches that are either 1) At the bottom or just below the strike zone, or 2) just outside the lower half of the strike zone. I think this tracks with your hypothesis on where hitters are still getting squeezed by umpires.

Thanks, Cracka. But my hypothesis was actually that players don't seem to be any better than umpires at discerning the outside edge of the strike zone.

I think it's most important for low balls hitters like Varsho and Sanchez to recognize high balls but with 2 strikes they likely swing at those.

The Jays plan for a right bat on the bench is probably to recall Schneider once he gets going in AAA.

Schneider had such a big chance with the injuries and he totally blew it. Sosa would be gone by now if Davis had just hit average for the last few weeks.

last time we had a chance to win one game to get to .500 we promptly lost 4 in a row.

let's try not to do that again.

Yimi Garcia's 2nd rehab start worse than his 1st. Same as last time, only lasted 2 thirds of an inning. Triple, double, sac bunt, sac fly, HR, pitching change.

I should have included last night that it's all really useless speculation because they're not going to spend any effort to build a roster who has no one better to back up the middle infield than Barger. Not that I think he's incapable but after all this time setting up a scenario in which it's the 4th inning and you toss him in at 2B because Ernie got HBP or something just doesn't seem like a risk they would invite. Even more so, the middle infielders need a day off from time to time in the best case.

At least until (IF!) Santander is healthy they're just going to have to accept that they'll get minimum offense out of LF vs LHP

Is Mike Trout great? No.

Is Mike Trout good? Yes

Is he reliable? No

Is he worth 4 years at 37 million per year past his age 34 season? Hell no.

Is he the missing piece to make this team legit right now? Probably. He has the OPS and HR and is kind of a perfect replacement for Springer next year, provided you know, you're okay to flush 15- 20 million per year down the toilet.

Me, I'd trade for him if I could get him for close to nothing (we just pay his obscene salary and take on the injury risk). I would trade assets for him.

When your 2B is a more than capable 3B/SS, you really don't need to carry another middle infielder. Having McAdoo, Barger, or Straw play 2B for a few innings in a Clement injury emergency really isn't that big a deal.

I think the biggest issue with the current setup is that Giminez should never be starting against LHP, but they no longer have two RH middle infielders... unless that plan is to give McAdoo starts at 2B (where he played throughout college). We might find out the answer in a few hours when tonight's lineup is posted.

I don't hold out a lot of hope for Yimi tbh. He was only a decent rp in the first place, but now at 35 and coming off surgery i'm skeptical he'll help.

that being said, i'm bullish on both Nance and Mantiply being solid middle relievers.

According to Baseball Reference's WAR, which for pitchers is based on runs allowed, Patrick Corbin was below replacement in four of the past five seasons, and barely above replacement in the other.

For us, he's put up 1.1 WAR in 10 starts.

this is where those hated nerd stats can come in handy, tho.

the past couple years Corbin underproduced his component numbers fip/xfip, and this year he's slightly overperforming them, but the fip/xfip numbers this year are very similar to the last 2 years.

Last 2yrs: 63gms, 5.2ip/gm, 123era-, 105fip-, 101xfip-, 1.8fwar/32
This Year: 10gms, 4.9ip/gm, 90era-, 97fip-, 102xfip-, 1.9fwar/32

On the ABS challenge questions, I'd prefer to see a change in the rules that if you challenged successfully you not only got your challenge back, but you earned an extra challenge. I.e., if you start with 2 challenges and challenge successfully you now have 3 challenges. This would change the EV outcome on challenging and allow more challenges on pitches that deserve it and reward accurate challenging more. I'd also like that if you run out of challenges you can still challenge but if you are wrong you get an automatic extra strike/ball applied (to this PA if possible, to the next PA on either side if not).

Similar on the challenges of calls in the field, if you get it right, you should earn not just your challenge back but get an extra. And if you are out of challenges you should still be able to challenge, but if you are wrong you score an extra out (if you are hitting) and give the opponents and extra out (if you are fielding). I.e., high stakes to make the mistake on challenge really hurt, but still let you challenge when the umpires blow a call.

That'd be fun. Picture the guy after Vlad needing to start 0-1 due to Vlad challenging strike 3. Good way to get players pissed at teammates who waste challenges even more. I love how fans are getting into it too. More pressure on umps to get calls right as well (no one wants 50k people to see when you screw up).

Back to Otto:

for what it's worth was terrible defensively in his brief time with the Jays too

I actually think the defensive story is worse for the Jays org than Otto's offensive emergence. Immediately after the Jays released him, he was an elite defensive second baseman (+16 OAA, +9 DRS). Either that's who he was before he was DFA'd and the Jays knew it, in which case cutting bait makes even less sense; or that's who he was and the Jays didn't know it, in which case that's a horrible failure of player evaluation of a guy on your 40-man roster; or he was able to vastly improve his defense over a single spring, in which case it's a massive indictment of our player development.

Lopez's 2023 season was undoubtedly poor, but his batting line doesn't show a sudden loss of his basic skills - he was a little more aggressive and walked less, and his BABIP was the lowest he ever had in the minors. He had been good in AAA the year before. He was a perfectly decent infield depth option for a team with Biggio and Schneider at 2B and IKF at 3B.

Lastly, the 2023/2024 offseason was one where the Jays decided to carry Wes Parsons on the 40-man all winter. He hadn't been good in AAA in 2023, he pitched four terrible innings for the major league team and he was 31. The 40-man wasn't that crowded.

From Fangraphs "Big Kid Adds" Also comments on Hoffman & Lauer
Spencer Miles (5): Now, here is a pitcher I’d feel good about adding. The Rule 5 pick has been solid out of the bullpen with a 2.37 ERA and 1.05 WHIP. While relieving, he has thrown multiple innings but just started going three or more innings in his last four appearances. Over that stretch, he has a 0.59 ERA (2.59 xFIP), 0.85 WHIP, and 9.4 K/9. His 20.7 K-BB% would rank 16th among qualified pitchers between Chase Burns and Parker Messick. Our STUPH models love him in these games with a 3.16 botERA and 106 Pitch+

Hoffman was taken out of the closer role on April 24.

Pre-4/24:

Hoffman: 12gms, 10.7ip, 1.60gmli, 187era-, 78fip-, 39xfip-, -1.6awar/65
Varland: 12gms, 13.0ip, 2.26gmli, 0era-, 20fip-, 33xfip-, 3.8awar/65
Rogers: 12gms, 12.3ip, 1.30gmli, 18era-, 78fip-, 101xfip-, 1.9awar/65

Post-4/24:

Varland: 15gms, 17.0ip, 1.64gmli, 13era-, 37fip-, 56xfip-, 3.3awar/65
Hoffman: 15gms, 14.7ip, 1.36gmli, 60era-, 39fip-, 46xfip-, 1.7awar/65
Rogers: 15gms, 13.3ip, 1.46gmli, 100era-, 61fip-, 80xfip-, 1.1awar/65



I was hopeful that Hoffman would get back to not imploding when moved out of the closer role, so I'm not shocked he's right back to being an excellent RP in still legit high lev (though not extreme) usage....but I am a bit surprised it happened pretty much right away like clockwork.

I was worried that Varland would have some growing pains when put into the top dog role, but it just hasn't happened as all - he's been as ridiculously dominant as he was before. That's a pleasant surprise.

Rogers has been kept in a similar high-but-not extreme lev setup role and while he was getting lucky with the runs before and not as lucky with the runs since, overall his performance has stayed about the same as a very good setup type.




Other RPs before and afters the switch, just cuz i'm ocd....(minimum 3 appearances...in order of leverage index when entering the game):


Pre

Little 5gms, 3.7ip, 1.75gmli, 603era-, 310fip-, 92xfip-, -10.4awar/65
Fisher 11gms, 12.0ip, 1.40gmli, 55era-, 72fip-, 69xfip-, 0.9awar/65
Fluharty 11gms, 7.7ip, 1.39gmli, 144era-, 67fip-, 58xfip-, 0.0awar/65
Miles 7gms, 11.7ip, 0.98gmli, 76era-, 111fip-, 87xfip-, -0.5awar/65
Mantiply 7gms, 8.0ip, 0.67gmli, 111era-, 77fip-, 47xfip-, 0.5awar/65
Nance 10gms, 10.0ip, 0.61gmli, 177era-, 88fip-, 85xfip-, -0.7awar/65

Post


Fisher 17gms, 18.7ip, 1.16gmli, 71era-, 78fip-, 91xfip-, 1.0awar/65
Fluharty 17gms, 11.0ip, 1.06gmli, 80era-, 52fip-, 96xfip-, 1.2awar/65
Macko 6gms, 4.3ip, 0.73gmli, 0era-, 46fip-, 94xfip-, 1.6awar/65
Miles 8gms, 2.7ip, 0.60gmli, 41era-, 42fip-, 66xfip-, 5.3awar/65 (obv wrong to pace him to RP workload)
Nance 10gms, 11.0ip, 0.58gmli, 20era-, 32fip-, 48xfip-, 2.3awar/65
Mantiply 10gms, 9.7ip, 0.40gmli, 0era-, 61fip-, 108xfip-, 1.6awar/65
Yariel 6gms, 5.7ip, 0.36gmli, 207era-, 223fip-, 158xfip-, -2.2awar/65


And looking at the top-10 ip RP so far - Varland Hoffman Rogers Fisher Fluharty Miles Nance Mantiply Macko Yariel - and seeing how they've done as a group:

Pre: 84gms, 1.0ip/gm, 1.33gmli, 89era-, 74fip-, 69xfip-, 0.7awar/65
Post: 119gms, 1.1ip/gm, 1.05gmli, 54era-, 57fip-, 77xfip-, 1.6awar/65


Don't know how much credit the closer switch gets here, but at the same time i'm not shocked to see the rest of the bullpen really settle into a groove now that the top of it feels sorted - for now, at least.


hopefully Nance and Mantiply aren't out too long, because they've been excellent low lev guys.

would be nice to see our SP get healthy at some point, which might open up Miles or Corbin or both for regular RP duty too.


And it'd be super cool if Perry or Tiedemann or both put themselves into the bullpen picture at some point.

The goal of ABS is to get rid of egregious calls, not to provide entertainment.
Ideally, the umps are always right and the calls always fail.

McAdoo at 2B today.

Gimenez sits vs the lefty.

starting to feel like it's business time.

Hoffman basically stopped throwing fastballs.
In his breakout year in 2023 he went from throwing 60% fastballs to throwing it only 27% of the time.
Now he might be around 10%.

No pressure, but just it wouldn't take much to displace Sosa. Just need to make good swing decisions.

Miles has been damn good. Who knew? Well, the Jays rule 5 guys for sure.

His ERA+ is 203, 3rd on the team for guys with over 5 IP (Varland 1463 is insane, Mantiply 217, then Miles, then Yesavage at 195, Rogers 179, Fisher 171). Yesavage has just 14 days service time pre 2026, Miles 0, Fisher 145 days, Varland 1 year 163 days, Rogers is signed for 26/27/28 with a club option/vesting 2029. Looking damn good for the future I'd say. 4-5 years of control for all but Rogers, who is the only one over 30 of that group (Varland is 28). Sweet!

The team ERA+ is 118, surprisingly the team's 96 ERA- is just 13th in franchise history, pretty much tied with 1998, 1996, and 1982 (2 in the steroid era, and 1 with a 4 man rotation). 1985 was the best (the team that won 99).

The lowest ERA over 10+ IP for the Jays is Varland's 0.30, next lowest is 0.38 in 2016 Joaquín Benoit in his brief time here (23 2/3 IP as a deadline deal get in '16). 2 others sub 1 - Jeremy Jeffress 2013, and David Phelps 2021. Best for someone with 5+ saves was B.J. Ryan 1.37 in 2006 (a guy who will always be a what if due to his injury issues), best starter was Taijuan Walker 2020 in 6 starts with a 1.37 as well. Full starter Roger Clemens 1997 2.05 (it was fun to watch, the next year he started PEDs according to all reports I've seen so we can enjoy that '97 memory). For balance, the worst ERA was Chad Gaudin 2005 at 13.15 in 13 IP. A few other forgetable names before we hit Roy Halladay's infmaous 2000 with a 10.64 ERA - still the worst ever for 50+ IP (out of 27,985 ML player seasons) and he threw 67 2/3 IP over 13 starts 6 relief games and somehow had 2 quality starts in there. Damn lucky his story didn't end there.

Eury Perez to miss 8 weeks with a groin injury.
Injured himself dancing in the dugout after laughing too hard at John Schneider who was mad after he beaned Okamoto. 
Two months of maturity can only help.

The Dodgers DFAed Santiago Espinal earlier this week and re-signed him days later. Let's see what Charles McAdoo can do.

Corbin is bad against right bats: .284 .349 .453.
He's good against left bats: .268 .295 .317, but he has not faced enough left bats to explain the results. 166/45 PAs.
He's been better the first time through the lineup but not as good on the first 25 pitches, which is all pretty standard stuff.

I would expect regression sooner than later.

McAdoo wanted ALL that double play!

nice.

It's gonna be a long night.

Is the pitch tracker on the MLB app out of whack? Both threw 21 consecutive pitches outside the zone on the app.

No, that's exactly what happened. He threw 8 straight balls to Alonso and Basallo and they bailed him out by hitting two weak fly balls.

The Jays are extremely fortunate to only be down 2-0.

thought they'd let macko go a bit longer. voth doesn't offer much hope.

Macko was pretty wild as well.
Deep counts, hitting the inside corner with the target on the outside continuously.

Yes

McAdoodledoo!!!

Oppo taco Charlie Mac!

I had a feeling that Clement double play in the 6th might prove costly. Trevor Rogers was having the kind of night where you didn't care his pitch count was so low because you wanted him to stay in the game. Lots of good swings from the Jays.

Nice

Fisher for the save, or Varland, Rogers, or Hoffman for the 3rd day in a row?

it's business time.

Yariel

Great baserunning from Ernie and Vladdy. Do a job now Daulton.

Winning a bullpen game on the road with three pitchers most fans hadn’t heard of in April to get back to .500 would be enormous.

big moment for Fisher.

i believe!

If McAdoo can handle 2B adequately then I think he has potential as a bench piece.

jesus, ernie.

Huge win

that's a savory delicious win for all sorts of reasons.

.500, babay!!!

Curious about who opens Sunday...my current guess is Seabold

Could be Macko but do they want to show him to the same top of the order twice in three games?

I'm not sure who they'll add when the DFA Voth (which they will). Little opened for Dallas tonight and Flemming pitched yesterday. There's not an obvious option.

I'd be scared to open with Yariel. Maybe Fisher after a pretty clean inning tonight?

Man, is Corbin really our #3 starter at this point? Wow, that went south in a hurry - maybe next offseason sign one LESS starter than you think you'll need instead of 2 or 3 more?!? (obviously sarcasm)

Thankfully Corbin's done much better (so far) than similar panic-signing Spencer Turnbull did.. I wonder if the Jays are regretting jettisoning Lauer? I know the situation was strained, but he might have been a better choice for Sunday that "who do you think should go?". 

Unfortunately, I'm still not convinced Bieber is coming back for real.. It feels like he played us by taking the option just to get a free paycheck, knowing full well he'd be out most of the season - I won't be surprised if he actually gets re-injured before he gets back to the rotation and needs surgery this time. 

Scherzer was a feel-good story with his daughter's letter and all, but it almost feels too similar to Bieber (will be injured most/all of the season)  - at least he signed an incentive-based contract.

Anyone else here not surprised when Berrios needed surgery? I was expecting that too.

The things I did NOT expect / hoped wouldn't happen were Cease, given his history, but it seems we're due this year, and was hopeful Ponce could have been a Lauer type - spot starter, long relief, etc.. 

The bullpen has REALLY picked up the slack. I just hope they don't get overworked by August.

And let's hope Lukes can stay healthy - he seems to be on fire lately. And, whatever else happens, great debut for McAdoo - from Walnut Creek, about an hour up the road! Key contribution to the win today!

Since I pick on Vlad a lot: credit where credit is due - I think making Rogers throw 6 pitches after Springer/Clement got out on 3 pitches in the 1st was important, not to mention his hits. Let's hope he's heating up!

My guess is that Matt Bowman will be the corresponding move for Voth - I just don't see any other options, and Bowman is a dispensable guy that can be easily replaced on the 40-man roster.

One forgotten name who could be part of the equation is Jake Bloss. He just made a 4 inning rehab start, this one for Dunedin after one at the complex.

Per Mitch Bannon "he is exciting the club’s decision makers with an uptick in stuff during his post-Tommy John rehab assignment. Schneider said this week that Bloss could be part of the club’s rotation depth options soon."

The encouraging thing for me is that McAdoo homered on a fastball at the top of the zone, not one down the middle.

I noticed that the leading pitcher for wins in the NL is Aaron Ashby. He has nine wins and no losses for Milwaukee. In total he has thrown 36 innings.

The Jays reliever with the most wins is Jeff Hoffman with four, but he also has three losses. Mason Fluharty is 3-0.

Bloss is turning out to be a prime trade package candidate at the deadline; young and under team control for multiple years, pitching extremely well. The Jays would be wise to strike while the iron is hot.

2027 rotation is
Cease
Yeasavage
Berrios
Pounce
Francis

And they have to wait on the news CBA.
It would be wise to hang on to controllable pitching.
Bloss will be out of options.

I'd argue if the team is serious about another long playoff run (which their payroll is evidence they are all in), they likely have to give up Bloss to bring in re-enforcements or a high caliber player in July.

SWR DFAed.
Has struggled since his rookie year.

SWR had two decent years a little better than league average the past two years, but has been horrid this year - one of the worst in the league - deserving to be cut.

Wow, SWR was a decent 4th starter type the past 2 years - 50 starts, 245 IP 103 ERA+ 3.5 BB/9 vs 8.2 K/9 1.2 HR/9 but has stunk this year - 55 ERA+ in 47 2/3 IP over 10 starts, 2 relief games. 25 BB vs 26 K's. Depending on what the advance scouts say for the Jays I'd look at him as a quick signing for Sunday (last pitched on the 28th 2 2/3 IP). He might flop, but I wouldn't be shocked if Walker can figure out his issues and he becomes a decent 4th/5th guy here. Heck, if they could get the corpse of Corbin pitching well, anything is possible.

unless there's some significant change in his stuff this year i would absolutely pick up SWR right now.

Petey agreed that they will be adding at the deadline....but given that Bloss has apparently seen a signficant uptick in 'stuff' upon his return i'm not sure this would actually be striking while the iron is hot aka selling high.

Then again, I've always been skeptical of Bloss because the numbers haven't matched the glowing scouting reports so maybe you're right and it's a good chance to sell high.

Voth has been DFA'd. Hayden Juenger called up for the first time.

"2027 rotation is
Cease
Yeasavage
Berrios
Pounce
Francis"

Not Berrios. If he pitches in the majors at all in 2027 it will likely be in September.

As it stands now, Bloss would be 4th or 5th on the list (depending on how you rate Francis) and There's a non--zero chance Tiedemann will be in the mix (pending good health the rest of this year)

My hunch is that if Gausman decides not to retire they will go year to year with him as long as it's working out, but other than that I do wonder if teams will do very little in terms of free agency before the new CBA is in place.

Personally, I like to see the kids make good but I'm not sure how they will balance veteran depth with rookie opportunity coming out of a (theoretical) work stoppage.

"Schneider said this week that Bloss could be part of the club’s rotation depth options soon.""

Bring it on. Rather see the kids make good here as somewhere else.

Though to be fair, you can't look around the league and see a bunch of former Jays pitching prospects that are causing us regret (SWR being the latest example)

You have to go all the way back to Joe Musgrove and Noah Syndergaard and Henderson Alvarez for that.

Hitters OTOH, there are a few. Lopez, Horwitz, Moreno, Martin - And even so some of them fall into the "fair deal" category.

As much as I love me some prospects, the history says "the guy you just traded probably won't amount to much"

All that said, I'd love to see Bloss become a guy that could be projected into next year's rotation (Tiedemann too but...alas)

I think the ship has sailed on Tiedemann as a starter. Spencer Miles however....

SWR is one of 6 ex-Jays with 40 IP. 3 walked as FA's and 2 we dumped. SWR has the worst ERA at 7.74. Only 1 has an ERA under 4.50. Who?

Boy, Taveras is some kind of terrible.

that was slick, kazuma.

They showed how good Yeasavage's FIP was.
That didn't age well.

Zack Pop DFAed. He's actually been good this year in 7 outings.

How many times has the ball gone through Vlad's glove this year? How many other major leaguers has it happened to in total, in the entire league? How is this possible? Hasn't it happened every year for 2-3 years running? How can they not figure this out?

This is on the manager. He'll never learn. Ridiculous stuff.

Quad A lefty masher who should be gettable would be Joey Weimer in WAS.

It's better to save Varland for the 9th because then you can bring him early if Hoffman loses the plate.

I am exactly as old as the Toronto Blue Jays themselves. I thought I was past “all-time this” or “all-time that”, but Jeff Hoffman is making a strong case to be my least favourite Blue Jay of all time. He and Schneider make for a disastrous pair.

I thought Hoffman couldn’t hurt me anymore after what he did in 2025 and Game 7 specifically but he’s proven me wrong.

scottt - my thoughts exactly - use Hoffman in the 8th, if he can't get out of it, Varland is there to finish it off. Varland has been great thus far, so that was the smart move - of course a 4 run lead with 1 inning to go should be safe even for Yariel. Sigh. Crap happens.

Agreed, ugly.
Bloss is probably not a front end ML starter (maybe not even a back end starter), and yet a team selling off at the deadline desperate for young starting pitching with years of control would be tempted. Think the Jays at the '18 or '19 deadline (who can forget Atkins "years of control" quote).

The days of Hoffman seeing high leverage as a Toronto Blue Jay likely just ended. Pity they've had to use Spencer Miles as a bulk guy; he'd be real nice to have as the 7th/8th inning go-to. beside Rogers and setting up Varland. They're definitely going to need some help down there, even if Yimi Garcia ever makes it back.

Chris Leroux had a terrific postgame breakdown of the latest blowup. Hoffman's mechanics just completely left him after the first RBI double.

It's an incredibly frustrating loss, excruciating. However, Vlad had four hits today, and had a good game yesterday too. You gotta think that guy hitting his strike will be more indicative of things to come than yet another catastrophic Hoffman outing (who probably won't get another chance to blow up in a meaningful way again).

and by strike, I of course mean stride.

just got in from an interesting day and before I review the thread I want to post what I meant to do earlier before the interesting:

Am I the only one who just today learned that Clement entered the day leading the AL in doubles and tied for the lead in hits?

When the 7th ended I hoped Schneider would let Rogers come out to start the 8th. When the 8th ended I hoped Schneider would bring Varland out to start the 9th. When Hoffman put two men on I hoped Schneider would put anyone else in, immediately before things got worse.

He's managing like he has nobody to use other than the DFA retreads but the FACT is he keeps using Hoffman the same way he uses Rogers and Varland. Seriously bush league managing. I count at least 5 super-avoidable losses that I would pin on the Hoffman-Schneider bromance.

As soon as I saw Hoffman come in I started getting worried. And with every batter that didn't get out, I kept getting more and more incredulous that Schneider hadn't pulled him. And then, why Seabold, not Miles (I think he was warming up)? But WHY let Hoffman go that long when he clearly had nothing? He just can't seem to deal with any sort of pressure - at all. 

Maybe we can turn him into an opener and hope for the best? Do we have suffer through this dreck another 1.5 seasons? Can't we just DFA him now before he costs us 10-15 wins? 

I'm not upset with Hoffman as a person - I'm sure he's trying very hard - it's just NOT clicking. Do him and Sosa have the same kompromat on Atkins/Schneider?

Horrific loss but this is entirely on Hoffman. Schneider brought Varland into the game in the highest leverage spot and brought Hoffman in the game in a low leverage spot. This is exactly what he should be doing.

No, removing Rogers and Varland on 10 pitches each in order to use Hoffman to close out the game - and keeping him in while obviously imploding - is absolutely not the right thing to do and it's actually an insane thing to do at this point.

100% ugly. If all you can do as manager is follow some plan written on paper before the game and you can't make the most obvious in game decisions then you're not doing your job. Managing means leveraging and "managing" your moves to try to win. Schneider didn't do that last night and you can see from the Win probabilities just how poorly you had to manage for it to happen.

If Hoffman-Schneider haven't failed so many times this season this team is challenging for the division at this point in the season rather than struggling to be a .500 team.

Scherzer starts for Buffalo today, Bieber starts for Dunedin.

The issue is Schneider is very rigid with bullpen roles. What he did yesterday was the smart move in general (Varland for the top of the order, and a lesser reliever for the bottom of the order with a 4 run lead), but it’s devoid of the human element. It’s impossible to know why Rick Ankiel couldn’t find the plate anymore, or Knoblauch couldn’t throw to first anymore, etc, but you don’t just keep throwing them out there hoping it works. Maybe sometimes it will but it doesn’t mean it’s the right call. Hoffman was the worst RP in baseball from May 2025 to the end of the season last year. He pitched practically nothing but low leverage in the playoffs except for both Game 7’s, and he had a 50% success rate there. He’s not built for the 9th inning no matter how much red is on his Statcast page.

This is where you see why the Rays always seem to squeeze as many wins as they can every year. Even Cash who is very analytical would be able to spot Hoffman’s deficiency and work around it. The Jays either can’t or won’t.

Hoffman had two saves and two wins in his last 4 appearances. He had a 2.81 ERA and a 1.63 FIP in his last 17 appearances. He has been one of the best relievers in baseball over the last month. Saying the manager shouldn't trust him with a 4-run lead is crazy. Varland and Rogers have been overused as is. You need to be able to let other guys pitch in 4-run games. You don't have your best relievers going multiple innings in 5-1 games.

Yet we know Hoffman is meltdown prone and this is the first time he's been treated like the capital C Closer with eogers and Varland wetting him up since the demotion, and he imploded again.

And this might be good news, because i had the feeling that Schneider was gonna try putting Hoffman back in the fulltime closer role soon enough so it's good that Hoffman cut that silly idea out at the root.

And hoffman has been "overused" just as much as varland or rogers or anyone else.

Miles 15gms 133 total batters faced
Fisher 30gms 123tbf
Hoffman 28gms 123tbf
Varland 28gms 120tbf
Rogers 28gms 109tbf

Glevin I don't think anyone has a problem with how Hoffman was utilized yesterday. The problem is with how he was managed. You're defending Schneider's decision to bring him in the 9th. That's not the issue.

The issue for me is Schneider's decision, with the game on the line, with Hoffman losing his mechanics, giving up 3 hits, a walk and a wild pitch, loading the bases ... allowing that all to happen as if there's no history of these meltdowns already happening. Then to bring in Seabold with the bases loaded. You're telling me the manager had no other option or back up plan in the "rare," event Hoffman collapsed? That's all on the manager.

If you're willing to pull your stud starter (Yesavage) because he didn't have it, remember Schneider started warming up Rodriguez in the 4th)...that tells you Schneider can manage in game...so why doesn't he ever do that with his least reliable late inning option??? Bizarro!

Honestly I feel like Schneider wants to save Hoffman and Ben be able to say "I promised Hoffman all would be okay and I'm a man of my word. I'm the best players manager." I guess he just hasn't considered the possibility that he's just making it worse by ruining his players career and gambling with the season.

"This is where you see why the Rays always seem to squeeze as many wins as they can every year. Even Cash who is very analytical would be able to spot Hoffman’s deficiency and work around it. The Jays either can’t or won’t."

This is money.

I'm not surprised with Hoffman's struggles - there may be others but the great Mariano Rivera is the only reliever I can recall who had an epic meltdown on the big stage and survived to be good again, that is why I was hoping the Jays would move on from Hoffman or at the very least not start the season with him as their closer.

Lukes just keeps on hitting.. Glad they figured out his vertigo!

I guess the Orioles figured out Miles.. Time for another big comeback..

Bieber cruised through his first two innings for Dunedin. He came out for the third and Clearwater had five straight hits off him. He threw 49 pitches.

Looking at Biebers pitch chart for that third inning. The first four hits came off pitches that were essentially middle, middle. The fifth hit was a better pitch but the result was an infield single. His velocity held into the third so command seems to have been the issue.

I agree with many of the comments about Hoffman's struggles in the ninth becoming too hard to ignore at this point.

However, let's not ignore how well the Jays' bullpen has done as a whole.

By looking at FIP (I'm using Baseball-Reference numbers), the Blue Jays have 7 relievers with at least 15 innings pitched and a FIP under 3.00 (Varland, Rogers, Fluharty, Miles, Nance, Mantiply and Hoffman). And, this excludes Braydon Fisher, who sports a 3.13 FIP.

In comparison, the four teams with the best records in the American League have 8 combined:

Rays - 1 - Bryan Baker;
Yankees - 1 - Brett Headrick;
Guardians - 3 - Cade Smith, Erik Sabrowski and Colin Holderman; and
White Sox - 3 - Sean Newcomb, Bryan Hudson and Grant Taylor.

Hoffman's struggles not discounted, the Jays' bullpen has been a real strength of this team. Unfortunately, it looks significantly thinner with Nance and Mantiply on the IL; Miles in the rotation and Hoffman's high-profile struggles.

The problem isn't the bullpen it's the manager's use of one of the players, particularly re-using him in 9th inning leads that he keeps losing.

One more thing. Schneider on Hoffman last night:

"Just command with the the the um Slider, Split um you know...uh they made some good swings on sliders down and then kinda just lost the zone for the walks. Outings like that happen you know? It sucks, it's unfortunate when you go into the 9th with a lead."

Yes John, it sucks and everybody knows.

Bieber was sitting 92 which isn't great. He needs to be at 94. He was 94+ in his peak years.

This team is cursed.

Has some witch literally cursed the team this year?

I've been watching since 1992 and I have never seen that.

https://bsky.app/profile/afkostka.bsky.social/post/3mn65cgoioc2p

Sounds like "a kid," was ushered out by police.

knowing that today was a throwaway day, combined with the day off tomorrow, and pulling Rogers and Varland on 10 pitches last night is even more frustrating.

Did anyone actually see what happened with Sanchez?

How did the team look to start? Does Hoffman's meltdowns have a morale crushing effect? Today's game is brutal.

Miles just didn't have it today. Was bound to happen.

Rogers crappy internet gives out then my streamed radio game disappears too.

It was a kid who threw the ball to/at Sanchez. He said he thought Sanchez wanted to play catch.

I considered this game a throwaway game and I consider games 1 and 2 to be great lucky wins. Game 3 was a huge fluke win until the 9th. All of this made me super frustrated yesterday with Schneider's management. Again, using a strong reliever in a losing scenario (Fluharty today).

With the amount of injuries and call ups you can never have any of your top 5 arms pitching when behind.

Make no mistake that Atkins is responsible for the shortage of pitchers, forcing the coaching staff to cycle through guys BUT still, Schneider and Hoffman have just made it worse too many times. As John Hurt says in A History of Violence, "How do you F that up?"

Scherzer just threw 3 innings, 41 pitches. I'm not sure if that was the plan.

Gerry thanks for the updates. Do you have any information on Dustin McGowan, I mean, Ricky Tiedeman?

Gosh Gimenez is just so good and natural on defense...

With Bieber, is it possible they just wanted him to spam fastballs to build up his arm? I’m not concerned about the results on their own but the velocity dip isn’t the best news, and in that context…you sort of expect him to dominate A ball players regardless.

I'm hoping he's on a month long rehab process since he had no spring training and by the end of June he's up to 94-95.

I'm going to argue that they might as well bring Scherzer back Friday night. It's better than any currently available alternative. Give Miles the extra day and next time through Cease should be available.

Tiedemann must have squatters rights in Dunedin now. Reportedly throwing bullpens in Dunedin, we have no idea when we will see him in a game.

Thanks Gerry

Heard on the radio that Scherzer was up to 92-94 which is the range he should be at to be effective. In rehab he will just be trying to see where he is at, not worrying about innings/outs/etc. Maybe after 41 pitches he felt he did all he had to today, at his age and skill level you trust he knows his own body. Lets hope he is solid so he can go 3-5 soon for us.

FYI: at 516 the BABIP for Hoffman is the worst in Jays history for anyone 10+ IP. Next is 2005 Chad Gaudin 510 in just 13 IP. Next worst with 20+ IP is 2014 Sergio Santos at 426. Note: for 50+ IP 2000 Roy Halladay is the worst at 377 and that was a super-nightmare year for him. For every team from 1977 to now (all of Jays history but for the entire majors) Hoffman's is the worst for 20+ IP, 2nd is 2006 Mike Burns at 475. Cut to 10+ IP and he is 2nd to 2003 Kevin Olsen (Marlins 523) in just 12 IP. That is out of 24,369 player seasons. Think about that - that ain't easy to do.

Since I'm there anyways, the best BABIP over 10+ IP is 071 by 2003 Jorge De Paula for the NYY (of course) in 11 1/3 IP. 20+ IP is 2020 Mitch Keller Pit in 21 2/3 IP.

Expand to all-time (where records are available) and only 1872 Martin Malone of the Brooklyn Eckfords has a worse BABIP at 560 for 20+ IP (he was at 27 IP in 3 starts, all complete games of course, as that was the National Association, pre what is now considered MLB). For official ML's the next highest to Hoffman is 1889 Henry Porter for the KC Cowboys in the American Association (yes, it was a ML in the pre-1900 era). Amazing isn't it? Hoffman is really breaking barriers that never should've been touched and haven't since before MLB existed.

Tamra earlier mentioned there are a few Jays batters doing well in other orgs, but no pitchers.

So I posed a question that went unanswered. Of all pitchers with 40+ IP this season, which ex-Jay has the lowest ERA?. There are only 6. SWR 7.74 and Lauer 5.95 have been terrible. The 3 who left as free agents - Robbie Ray, Steve Matz and Chris Bassitt - are between 4.60 and 5.06.

The best of the bunch with 57.1 IP of 3.77 ERA is of course, Anthony Kay.

Plausible Best Lineups using...


This Year's Stats Only:

1. DH Pinango 90pa, .333obp, 119wrc+, 2.9war650
2. 1B Guerrero 245pa, .392obp, 121wrc+, 2.7war650
3. LF Sanchez 182pa, .324obp, 116wrc+, 1.1war650
4. 2B Clement 236pa, .322obp, 115wrc+, 2.5war650
5. CF Varsho 226pa, .332obp, 110wrc+, 3.5war650
6. 3B Okamoto 238pa, .303obp, 103wrc+, 2.7war650
7. RF Lukes 81pa, .350obp, 109wrc+, 3.2war650
8. C Valenzuela 117pa, .328obp, 103wrc+, 6.1war650
9. SS Gimenez 205pa, .260obp, 71wrc+, 2.2war650

B. UT Springer 175pa, .289obp, 84wrc+, -0.7war650
B. OF Straw 99pa, .316obp, 89wrc+, 0.7war650
B. IF Schneider 89pa, .295obp, 58wrc+, -2.9war650
B. C Alejandro 22pa, .227obp, 60wrc+, 3.0war650

X. UT Jimenez 35pa, .343obp, 83wrc+, -1.9war650
X. OF Barger 28pa, .214obp, 2wrc+, 0.0war650
X. IF McAdoo 8pa, .250obp, 138wrc+, 8.1war650
X. C Heineman 80pa, .197obp, 9wrc+, 0.0war650

X. IF Sosa 117pa, .207obp, 32wrc+, -4.4war650




Past 1 Calendar Year Stats....

1. DH Springer 557pa, .376obp, 155wrc+, 4.9war650
2. 1B Guerrero 673pa, .382obp, 133wrc+, 3.6war650
3. CF Varsho 399pa, .326obp, 122wrc+, 4.7war650
4. C Alejandro 349pa, .341obp, 118wrc+, 6.3war650
5. 2B Schneider 295pa, .344obp, 112wrc+, 2.2war650
6. SS Clement 643pa, .316obp, 105wrc+, 3.2war650
7. LF Sanchez 526pa, .298obp, 98wrc+, 1.0war650
8. 3B Okamoto 238pa, .303obp, 103wrc+, 2.7war650
9. RF Lukes 398pa, .315obp, 98wrc+, 2.4war650

B. UT Barger 406pa, .284obp, 97wrc+, 2.4war650
B. OF Straw 296pa, .309obp, 88wrc+, 2.6war650
B. IF Gimenez 431pa, .277obp, 73wrc+, 2.1war650
B. C Valenzuela 117pa, .328obp, 103wrc+, 6.1war650

X. UT McAdoo 8pa, .250obp, 138wrc+, 8.1war650
X. OF Pinango 90pa, .333obp, 119wrc+, 2.9war650
X. IF Sosa 466pa, .267obp, 84wrc+, 0.3war650
X. C Heineman 203pa, .284obp, 64wrc+, 3.5war650

X. UT Jimenez 35pa, .343obp, 83wrc+, -1.9war650
X. OF Clase 69pa, .246obp, 47wrc+, -3.8war650
X. OF Santander 12pa, .250obp, 17wrc+, -5.4war650




Fangraphs Depth Chart Combined Projections

1. DH Springer 392pa, .333obp, 114wrc+, 2.2war650
2. RF Lukes 207pa, .338obp, 108wrc+, 2.8war650
3. 1B Guerrero 428pa, .383obp, 143wrc+, 4.3war650
4. C Alejandro 235pa, .348obp, 116wrc+, 6.4war650
5. LF Sanchez 264pa, .316obp, 107wrc+, 2.0war650
6. 3B Okamoto 375pa, .322obp, 113wrc+, 3.3war650
7. CF Varsho 370pa, .300obp, 103wrc+, 3.0war650
8. 2B Clement 383pa, .312obp, 101wrc+, 2.9war650
9. SS Gimenez 383pa, .305obp, 91wrc+, 2.9war659

B. UT Barger 194pa, .312obp, 105wrc+, 2.0war650
B. OF Straw 97pa, .300obp, 76wrc+, 0.7war650
B. IF Schneider 93pa, .328obp, 102wrc+, 2.1war650
B. C Valenzuela 85pa, .285obp, 77wrc+, 2.3war650

X. UT McAdoo 101pa, .291obp, 87wrc+, 1.3war650
X. OF Pinango 84pa, .291obp, 87wrc+, 0.0war650
X. IF Sosa 101pa, .276obp, 85wrc+, 0.6war650
X. C Heineman 93pa, .289obp, 70wrc+, 2.8war650

X. UT Santander 13pa, .307obp, 103wrc+, 0.0war650
X. OF Schreck 4pa, .318obp, 93wrc+, 0.0war650
X. IF Kasevich 13pa, .297obp, 74wrc+, 0.0war650
X. C MacIver 4pa, .287obp, 78wrc+, 0.0war650

X. OF Clase 9pa, .289obp, 77wrc+, 0.0war650

>Hoffman's BABIP is up to .516. On line drives, it's .895 and on ground balls, it's .420. Both figures are impossible to sustain over a season.

Challenge accepted..

The worst BABIP over 50+ IP all-time is 440 by 1872 James McDermott (NA - pre-MLB over 63 IP), during MLB it is 410 in 1936 Willis Hudlin for Cleveland (64 IP). Since integration (1947) it is 404 in 2022 Brayan Bello for Boston over 57 1/3 IP. For >65 IP it is 409 in 1872 Bill Stearns over 99 IP. 388 for 2021 Mitch Keller Pittsburgh (100+ IP record, highest for 65+ IP post 1900).

Note: Michael Lorenzen in Colorado is up to 57 1/3 IP with a 389 BABIP so this year could see a couple of guys set records for that. Yikes.

So yeah, I seriously doubt Hoffman can keep having that nightmarish luck on balls in play. If he does it'll be a first in MLB history. Sadly I can't filter to just April/May at FanGraphs, no idea if the BR stathead tool would let me do that, not willing to pay to find out.

Bo Bichette is having a bit of a nightmare in Queens these days, with an OPS still under .600.

But his expected offensive line is still well above-average, and he's hitting the ball just as hard as ever. It looks like the main things dragging him down are poorer pitch selection - swinging at fewer pitches in the zone and more outside - and, perhaps relatedly, hitting fewer line drives. But under the surface it doesn't look like a repeat of 2024, when Bo's quality of contact really dipped.

Hypothetical trade: Bo Bichette for Andres Gimenez, straight up, with their current contracts intact. Would you do it?

Pro: Bo may be the right-handed hitter we need, could keep a defense-first player around for late innings - need a backup infielder anyway? Has a chance to get better based on past performance, and won't be expected to be a star, necessarily. Of course, if he gets TOO good, will opt-out - but that means he delivered a heck-of-a-turnaround.

Con: hitting just as badly as Jimenez or worse, would be on the hook for more money, over less years. Vlad may get upset if he's not the highest paid player on the team, Bo may have burnt some bridges, etc.

Maybe underlying numbers are better, but Bo has a 69 wRC+ - he had a 70 in his nightmare 2024. His ISO is .089 vs .096 in '24. His k% is his 2nd best ever at 16.3% (14.5 last year), and his 7.4 BB% is his best ever. On the good side his xwOBA is 333 vs 353 last year and 303 in '24. The 333 is dead on his rookie year of '19, and nearly identical to '22. Statcast has his ideal bat angle down to 24.7% vs 33,9% last year and 32.0% in '24 - I suspect that is the big issue as everything else from statcast seems in line with 25. FYI: up to 228 innings at short, vs 291 at 3B with Lindor out until late June it appears.

So what did we use instead? Okamoto is pretty much the answer. 103 wRC+, 1.0 fWAR vs Bo's 0.0 for $15 mil a year vs $42 mil for Bo. I'd say the Jays did the right thing.

yes i make that trade vw.

Yeah, Bo's contract is terrible with the high money player opt outs - although technically you could cheat a little since Bo's only getting paid $2M this year since there was a $40M signing bonus already paid so if you didn't need to inherit that it would certainly tip the contract in his favor.

But Gimenez has a long term contract for a fair amount of money too, so perhaps Bo with big bad? contract is worth more than Gimenez with long semi-big bad? contract. If both are at their worst, you'd rather have Gimenez (neither really, but G > B); if both are at their best, you'd rather have Bo (both really, but B > G); Bo has 4 full good, 2 SS good and is approaching 2 bad; Gimenez has 3 full good (only 1 of which was by basis of his bat, the other 2 fully leaning on his glove), 1 full OK, and is now on his 3rd SS of OK. And they are both same age so no real advantage there.

Yeah, I think you can make the case for Bo (especially if you only have to take on the $2M salary this year with the signing bonus already gone).

Gimenez: $15,571,429-$23.571-$23.571-$23.571-$2.500 (buyout) Bo: $2 mil ($40 mil bonus)-$42.000-$42.000 - $5 mil buyout if he opts out.

So basically Bo is an ugly deal - $84 mil after this year if he does poorly, $5 mil after this year/no arbitration option so lost for nothing if he plays well but just what is left of $2 mil to pay plus the $5 mil. Gimenez is $88,784,429 for 4 years plus buyout. Not pretty, but only a touch more than the worst case for Bo, and you get 4 years not 3 where if he plays well you still get all of it. Bo if he does well bolts at seasons end.

I'd only add that if you did something like that - Clement becomes your SS and Bo plays second.

David Schneider in AAA 3 hits, 2 Ks, 11 walks.

Keep Gimenez and give the Mets Berrios for Bichette.

It just seems like the Yankees will get CJ Abrams or Tarik Skubal or both. Mike Trout doesn't want to get traded and Atkins/Shapiro will wait until the deadline to find a bullpen arm like they did last year (and end up with this year's Domniguez).

This team would have won a world series if they had another arm at the end of the bullpen last year and they would be fighting for first place if they had another arm like Loui Varland this year. It's very simple to identify the MAJOR problem with this team. Sure the offense is not perfect but that bullpen needs another major anchor besides Louie. How hard can it be to acquire one of these guys?

honestly don't think bullpen is much of a need.

Varland-Rogers is a dominant backend. Fisher Hoffman Fluharty are all good middle RP. I like Miles, Nance, Mantiply too. And then macko/yariel and maybe bloss/Tiedemann are decent depth beyond it.

Injuries have beat us up a bit back there, but really the only major issues in the bullpen this year has been the manager's choice to use Hoffman (and Little) as extreme high lev guys.

Not enough innings from the starters.
It's always been an issue with Cease.
2 bullpen days in Baltimore was going to be a problem.

2yrs (this year + last year)


vRHP

1. DH Springer 567pa, 153wrc+
2. 1B Guerrero 714pa, 123wrc+
3. CF Varsho 380pa, 120wrc+
4. C Alejandro 379pa, 116wrc+
5. LF Sanchez 582pa, 112wrc+
6. 3B Barger 437pa, 109wrc+
7. RF Lukes 462pa, 106wrc+
8. 2B Clement 572pa, 90wrc+
9. SS Gimenez 436pa, 81wrc+

B. OF Straw 193pa, 98wrc+
B. C Valenzuela 82pa, 92wrc+
B. UT Okamoto 182pa, 91wrc+
B. IF Sosa 476pa, 86wrc+

X. OF Pinango 77pa, 139wrc+
X. UT Schneider 138pa, 125wrc+
X. IF McAdoo 4pa, 38wrc+
X. C Heineman 181pa, 66wrc+

X. UT Jimenez 22pa, 116wrc+
X. OF Clase 81pa, 78wrc+
X. OF Santander 166pa, 70wrc+


vLHP

1. 1B Guerrero 211pa, 165wrc+
2. 3B Okamoto 56pa, 141wrc+
3. SS Clement 252pa, 131wrc+
4. DH Springer 194pa, 129wrc+
5. C Alejandro 149pa, 106wrc+
6. CF Varsho 117pa, 104wrc+
7. RF Lukes 57pa, 93wrc+
8. 2B Sosa 181pa, 91wrc+
9. LF Straw 205pa, 83wrc+

B. C Valenzuela 35pa, 128wrc+
B. OF Barger 93pa, 66wrc+
B. IF Gimenez 138pa, 39wrc+
B. UT Sanchez 97pa, 26wrc+

X. IF McAdoo 4pa, 238wrc+
X. C Heineman 73pa, 131wrc+
X. UT Schneider 178pa, 94wrc+
X. OF Pinango 13pa, -1wrc+

X. OF Clase 31pa, 45wrc+
X. OF Santander 55pa, 32wrc+
X. UT Jimenez 13pa, 26wrc+





3 years


vRHP

1. 1B Guerrero 1272pa, 141wrc+
2. DH Springer 1036pa, 130wrc+
3. LF Sanchez 1004pa, 115wrc+
4. RF Lukes 539pa, 111wrc+
5. C Alejandro 665pa, 106wrc+
6. CF Varsho 789pa, 105wrc+
7. 3B Barger 625pa, 100wrc+
8. 2B Clement 879pa, 95wrc+
9. SS Gimenez 897pa, 86wrc+

B. OF Straw 193pa, 98wrc+
B. C Valenzuela 82pa, 92wrc+
B. UT Okamoto 182pa, 91wrc+
B. IF Sosa 724pa, 79wrc+

X. OF Pinango 77pa, 139wrc+
X. UT Schneider 454pa, 103wrc+
X. C Heineman 189pa, 64wrc+
X. IF McAdoo 4pa, 38wrc+

X. UT Jimenez 22pa, 116wrc+
X. OF Santander 651pa, 115wrc+
X. OF Clase 97pa, 85wrc+



vLHP

1. 1B Guerrero 350pa, 166wrc+
2. 3B Okamoto 56pa, 141wrc+
3. CF Varsho 221pa, 118wrc+
4. SS Clement 397pa, 110wrc+
5. DH Springer 339pa, 105wrc+
6. C Alejandro 249pa, 102wrc+
7. 2B Sosa 306pa, 100wrc+
8. RF Lukes 71pa, 86wrc+
9. LF Straw 205pa, 83wrc+

B. C Valenzuela 35pa, 128wrc+
B. IF Gimenez 310pa, 53wrc+
B. OF Barger 130pa, 52wrc+
B. UT Sanchez 212pa, 31wrc+

X. IF McAdoo 4pa, 238wrc+
X. C Heineman 81pa, 126wrc+
X. UT Schneider 316pa, 74wrc+
X. OF Pinango 13pa, -1wrc+

X. OF Santander 236pa, 101wrc+
X. OF Clase 59pa, 53wrc+
X. UT Jimenez 13pa, 26wrc+

Any word on Sanchez? Anyone know  how serious it was?

I'm sure Schneider will run down all that stuff pre-game. My main curiosity is whether they want to activate Scherzer or give him another rehab.

I don't know how to feel about the next two weeks. On the one hand, yikes - but on the other hand I felt real good about the first two weeks of the season and....well....
Baseball has a way of defying expectations.

"Another arm like Louis Varland"

Therein lies the problem. I mean, Mason Miller isn't on the market.

These guys are never on the market. You just trade for them and give up what you need to.