Marcus Stroman won't stop tweeting; 2019 Vlad Guerrero Jr/Blue Jays thread

Down at the game tonight. Until Vlad gets here, that place is officially a morgue. Attendance: 12,110.

What do we think of Grichuk's extension? I guess the price is right, so why not.

Through six games, the Jays are 1 for 55 in the first three innings.

re: Gritch – it's ok i guess. he a good defender, young and can hit some dingers. so there's some value there and they pay looks appropriate. maybe what's more important is the team is signalling (in this small way) that they are interested in keeping *some* guys around.

Vladisaur Jr. will be activated off the IL for tonight's Dunedin Blue Jays vs. Clearwater Thrashers game.

first homer of the minor league season belongs to cavan biggio (off gio gonzalez)

This season is going to both suck - and be fun as shit.

VladJr goes 1-4 with a run scored for High A Dunedin route of the Clearwater Thrashers.

Outshined by Cavan Biggio!

https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/2829741-blue-jays-reply-to-fan-asking-about-source-of-justin-smoak-info-literally-us.amp.html

Looking at the Jays boxscore today (so today's game is included), eight of the nine guys in the starting lineup are hitting between .077-.217; five are sub-Mendoza.

I thought Toronto's .183/.261/.318 slash line might be historically significant, but there are three or four teams right there with us or worse this year.

ya, it hasn't been that long. just feels long. gonna be another long two weeks.

matty shoes for cy young

bo bichette, broken hand

matty shoes for cy young

the Curse of Mook

Happy Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Day! @BlueJays

— Marcus Stroman (@MStrooo6) April 26, 2019

We were trying to guess where he'd be in the order today: 2nd or 5th for me, a co-worker thought 7th.

He has arrived. Ya llegó. @vladdyjr27 @VladGuerrero27 #VladDay #VladdyJr pic.twitter.com/pkKroNvshO

— Marly Rivera (@MarlyRiveraESPN) April 26, 2019

clem wins: he's batting fifth

I’m not sure I’ve ever heard the crowd clap at the end of batting practice before.

— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) April 26, 2019

If he wasn't cool enough already, Vlad Jr.'s walkup song is Old Town Road 😎🤠https://t.co/0bwNdxtAut

— SI MLB (@si_mlb) April 26, 2019

why isn't mlb.tv's boxscore working, and what did he do first PA?

I haven't heard "Old Town Road"

Grounded out to 1B

ok I saw that one

I don't get all the fuss about Vlad Jr when there's a guy named Rowdy Tellez on the team.

rowdy rulez

I cannot stop calling him Rowdy Roddy Tellez.

Anyways. That game was awesome.
I had a capsule before going in and the experience was kinda surreal.

<3

Got to see his first AB in a bar; I had already bought tickets weeks ago to a documentary on a band whose contribution to history was such thought-provoking songs as "My Erection Is Over."

That sounds worthwhile tbh

with a 'capsule'

just woke up to look at the box. you gotta be kiddin me

The mega hype for Vlad's debut is one thing in "favour", maybe, of service time manipulation. There's no way it gets this much attention if they had brought him up for a few weeks last season. One then might even argue that delaying his debut raises his profile and therefore his marketability and future income, but I don't think I'd go that far.

Hey, look at us, scoring runs.

/s ?!

Thought this revive would be about Vladisaur Jr getting benched tbqh

He's sat for at least two games, maybe three. Which probably would've been the case even if he were hitting. Which he's not. Cliché, but he's almost certainly pressing.

stroman doesn't seem like the kind of guy who can go 1-6 with a 3.12 ERA without publicly ripping his offense/bullpen for long

he has arrived. two home runs tonight.

Great (though I wish they'd given him the traditional silent treatment on #1--I always love that). Maybe he needed a little space: late game on the coast, virtually the entire city focused on the Raptors.

jays fans seem v. perturbed that vladdy did not start this holiday home game

I don't blame them.

(I say "them" because I'm a Raptors guy now.)

Cavan Biggio up

just in time for the raptors game tomorrow night

btw mississauga's own josh naylor will also be making his debut tonight in toronto (for the padres)

Friend and teammate of Darren Shred, I think--has evidently made out much better.

I've been paying zero attention to the Jays this year during the Raptors run (to baseball in general, really), so I wasn't aware of just how bad the team's offense was in terms of BA. They were talking about it on McCown's show today. They were hitting .218 going into tonight's game...Lowest team average in AL history were the White Sox in 1910, .212. The Yankees hit .214 in 1968.

Was that in response to anything, or just…

Who knows with Stroman? Is this just auto-vengeance, forever doing battle with phantom critics and doubters?

Starbucks misspells his name and dude just goes off for like 24 hours.

stroman would not be the first pro athlete to fire himself up by concentrating on his doubters; no doubt just as well he won't get a chance to do a michael jordan-style hall of fame speech

i myself think he's corny as hell, but i have to say that your fixation on this one particular black guy who hasn't pitched for your team in years is not a great look. he's just a grandiose self-promoter; it's not like he has (to my knowledge, anyway) abused any of his partners or children

Fixation? He used to pitch for our team and we find him funny. Except when he's abusing dogs. Continue to monitor this situation, though.

rule 1: any mlb content remains acceptable on blue jays thread
rule 2: no running jokes
rule 3: height in NO WAY measures heart, and if you are caught measuring (metrically or otherwise), you are subject to a ban from Canadian baseball and probably hockey

Not clear why his race needed brining up.

I actually respect the guy greatly (though completely intolerant of animal abuse). Genuinely curious about the race comment as well.

To me, Stroman and Donaldson (and various others) are interchangeable, and it's got zero to do with race. They're players who you love when they're on your team--although the opening dog-related post made me rethink Stroman--and then they leave, and all the antics that used to fire you up in a good way look a lot more contrived.

I love the guy he is on the field. It’s hard to describe his enthusiasm without plunging into a mess of cliches - but I started following him on social media early on because of it.
But then I had to stop. His wealth flaunting and going apeshit over little things like arb hearings quickly became intolerable. This was before even the dog mutilation.
Tho i was def on his side when he went after eckersly.

The only on-field issue I had with Stroman was his habit of arguing balls and strikes in the second or third inning (of meaningless games, often)--I don't think that helped him or the team much as the game progressed. Otherwise, yeah, he was a lot of fun to watch as a Jay. I was even open to him returning in 2021 (or was it 2022 when he was lobbying to come back?).

habit of arguing balls and strikes

one of my big pet peeves, with batters at least. matt carpenter used to drive me _crazy_ with his bickering about called strikes that were clearly out of the zone. i can see how with pitchers it's different because their ongoing argument with the umpire is potentially a part of every PA for the rest of the game, depending on how much of a grudge the umpire is capable of holding

I've read different accounts of whether arguing helps or hurts. With a certain kind of old-school ump, to question them is suicidal. Lots of famous anecdotes to that effect..."Tell Mr. _________ that it's in his best interest to be swinging from here on out." And, to me, if a pitcher or batter shows you up, human nature is to push back. On the other hand, you'll hear that arguing something in the third inning gets you a close call in the seventh inning. I guess, ultimately, it depends on how you argue and depends on the ump.

for sure. yeah, i think one of the intangible values that a catcher provides, sometimes, is playing that game with the umpire, depending on who it is. i'm sure some catchers don't talk to the umpire at all. some catchers, though, have ongoing dialogue with some umpires throughout the game. i'm sure that some catchers, the ones that are skilled with reading that kind of game within a game with the umpires, have helped out their pitchers over the course of games and even seasons/careers by manipulating the umpires in certain ways.

(note: i am basing this only on my reading of ron luciano's books about 20 years ago)

I love variations of these stories (no idea how true they are):

Catcher: "Well, was it a strike or not?"
Umpire: "I don't know--let's ask Mr. Williams."

To me, Stroman and Donaldson (and various others) are interchangeable

ctrl-f STROMAN 40 hits (admittedly some of those are mine! and also, for some reason, the thread is named after him!)
ctrl-f DONALDSON, who won an mvp in toronto, 3 hits

none of which involve donaldson calling tim anderson 'jackie' last year. the most relevant post, from another thread, is

I realize Donaldson can be an asshole - but if Anderson was comparing himself to Robinson, it kind of opens himself up to some ribbing.

― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Sunday, May 22, 2022 12:44 PM

yous can do what you want, of course. but also i can find it a bit ugly

No Blue Jay hat (or any hat) for Fred at the induction. Which is not a surprise--more surprised that he's not going in as a Brave.

Dude. We have a new jays thread. You even started it!

I honestly feel like this thread took a gross turn (maybe not as gross as the animal mutilation that kicked it off, tho some don’t seem bothered by it), so let’s move on.

Oops--that detour threw me and it slipped my mind. Back to brilliantly titled To What Extent Does Your Life Revolve Around Alejandro Kirk? (The 2023 Blue Jays Thread)