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

1987 turned me into a hand-wringer for life.

Back-door clinch.

I think this team's Achilles heel going into the playoffs is grounding into double plays, something they lead the league in. So many potential rallies killed.

Shitty base running and admiring their doubles has been their weakness lately. (Also 2/5 of their rotation)

Looking at the playoff schedule, I thought at first they could get through the first two series with three starters. They can't, unless Manoa and Gausman go on three days' rest for a couple of starts. I guess they just go with Berrios and cross their fingers.

As they point out on broadcasts, he's been significantly better at home this year (mediocre vs. terrible).

yeah, i'm thinking of a similar playoff rotation/pitching conundrum for the Cardinals as well. It's nice to host the Wild Card, I guess, since 3 games are at home. But the lack of days off between the games means that whoever starts Game 1 of the Wild Card probably wouldn't be ready until Game 2 of the Division series (unless they're some kind of legendary beast like Scherzer or whatever)

Double Plays Grounded Into

1. Guerrero • TOR - 26
2. Urshela • MIN - 21
3. Martinez • BOS - 20
3. Bichette • TOR - 20
5. Abreu • CHW - 19
5. Rosario • CLE - 19
5. Miranda • MIN - 19
8. Bregman • HOU - 17
8. Correa • MIN - 17
8. Arozarena • TBR 17
8. Hernandez • TOR 17

I think the best finish--Toronto, Seattle, Tampa Bay--looks very possible right now. We'd get home-field, and wouldn't have to face the Rays in the first round.

I think the Mariners would have to win two more games than the jays in the next 4 games to flip spots with them, so ya - looking safe-ish

canadians with the win and save today for the first time in jays history

If only Russ Martin could have caught the game!

Glad I'm not working today--I want to see this!

https://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ts/sports/bluejays/2022/10/07/blue-jays-hint-edwin-encarnacion-will-throw-first-pitch-in-game-1-today.html?li_source=LI&li_medium=stcatharinesstandard_sports

I made sure I had no work lined up. Heading over to the Dock Ellis to watch this shortly!

the guy dressed as a parrot with a little edwin on his arm 👌

Not unexpected in view of his upbringing, but I really feel that Vladdy has a genuine interest in and knowledge of the game's past (thing's like getting Edwin's autograph).

How perfect a match-up is Gausman/Ray?

I just had to turn down tickets to the game.
Here’s hoping I regret it!

The thing that most bothered me about yesterday was Teoscar grounding into that DP on the first pitch he saw. You're down three runs, lead-off man on, is it too much to ask to see one pitch? As I posted, they've been doing that all season long.

Getting close to save-some-for-tomorrow territory, but it never hurts to empty out the other bullpen.

Please ignore previous comment. It's like I'd never watched a baseball game before...

Ninth run by Toronto, everything's fine, I'll nap/listen in front of the TV. First thing I'm aware of is Romano's second strikeout; I look up, bases are loaded; then the bloop.

This won't be worse than the way 1985, 1987, or 2015 ended--I thought the Jays had the best team in baseball those years; one or two of them, anyway--but it'll be bad.

Still hasn't really sunk in here. The posts on my FB wall are brief and few.

I really didn’t get pulling Gausman for mayza at the time and I am so agitated about it now. That and bo who always played SS like there was no outfielders behind him - awful that it caught up to him the way it did. Springer looked really messed up out there.

We need to start a new thread in the spring and bury this one forever.

Agreed.

we all must bury the past

Has Marcus Stroman stopped tweeting? We should maybe check with him first.

https://www.mlb.com/news/john-schneider-named-blue-jays-manager

To the extent that another managerial change so soon would probably be difficult, I guess this is good. The Gausman thing lingers, but other than that he's been pretty solid.

Gold Glove for Vladdy. One of the games I saw this year was the one where he almost made three errors the first inning, so I think I got a rather distorted view...Urias in Baltimore must be great to have beaten Chapman.

Ya - my money was on Chapman here and not Vlad. He (Vlad) hasn’t been perfect; but he has looked surprisingly good this year!

yeah he pulled off all manner of impressive plays, I watched a lot of Jays this year and he always surprised me with his deftness out there. an uncanny ability to nab foul balls facing backwards, too

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/11/padres-have-jose-abreu-as-a-top-priority.html

I wonder if Abreu would accept full-time DH? Probably not...I know I'm living in the past, but I think about the Winfield and Molitor signings in '92 and '93. Abreu is so good, and so underpublicized. I realize he's 35, and I know we use the DH as a rotation spot, and I suppose he'd cost a lot, and this and that, and so on and so forth, but I'd sure love to have him for a couple of seasons.

If you can't make a big free-agent splash...

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/11/blue-jays-nearing-agreement-to-hire-don-mattingly-as-bench-coach.html

I wasn’t expecting that.

"The Blue Jays were engaged in talks with free agents and continued communicating with fellow major-league clubs, but ultimately remained quiet, having not completed any deals — no signings nor trades — as the third and final day of the meetings wrapped up Wednesday. However, as the front office prepared to end its time in Southern California and fly north, the feeling among the group was the three-day event had nonetheless been a success thanks to what the Blue Jays came away learning."

Not quite sure what that means, but the title of the 2023 Blue Jays thread has to be in there somewhere.

https://theathletic.com/3981259/2022/12/07/toronto-blue-jays-winter-meetings/

(Paywall, probably.)

Management was listening in.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/blue-jays-agree-to-deal-with-veteran-outfielder-kevin-kiermaier/

We've got Kevin Pillar back, more or less--on the downside, but probably good enough for our needs.

Ugh

Really? I'm okay with it, assuming Springer's still fragile. (Obviously I'd much rather have a healthy Springer.)

I’m more just annoyed that we traded Teo amd this is the best they’ve been able to do to fill the hole in our outfield. I realize there still time etc… just annoyed.

Definitely annoying if you look at this way.

I was curious about Pillar. He was with the Dodgers at some point last year (had no idea). Got to the plate 13 times; Baseball Reference lists his salary at $100,000. The year before that, 2021, he played 124 games with the Mets: 15 HR, .231/.277/.415. He's 33 and a free agent.

Kiermaier's 32, earned over $12M last year, played 63 games: 7 HR, .228/.281/.369.

Sounds like we could have gotten the other Kevin for a tiny fraction of the cost.

They must be looking at it from an advanced metrics standpoint. KK is averaging 5.6 bWAR per 162 for his career. His issue is health of course.

For sure I would take KK over KP. But this is still not filling the hole left by Teo’s departure. Also kind of think KK is an ass.

I'll be happy if we get the 5.6 Kiermaier, but he hasn't had an individual season that high since 2016 (mostly health-related, yes, but I don't know if that'll reverse itself six years later). I think Teoscar was on the decline, and it was good time to move him, and KK is an okay half-measure. But I share Thermo's general frustration in that they should have gotten more for Teoscar.

As a Cubs fan who has seen the Bryant/Rizzo/Baez/schwarber/Contreras team turned into…what were they turned into again? I need to research things. Anyway I understand.

love the Bassitt signing. thought he was gonna get like 24M for 4 years; so this is pretty fair.
then Murphy is traded and Vasquez signs, so if any team wants a bonafide starting C, the Jays are the only game in town now!

whoops

This thread will never die.

Closing in on Year 10 in the MLB. Nowhere near finished. All your predictions over time couldn’t have been more wrong. I find strength and calm in continuing to prove myself right each and every year. Criticism only comes from the smallest of minds. All my dreams into action! 🗣️

— Marcus Stroman (@STR0) February 14, 2023

The very epitome of strength and calm.

Was that in response to anything, or just…