To What Extent Does Your Life Revolve Around Alejandro Kirk? (The 2023 Blue Jays Thread)

Can't Stop Won't Stop: the Marcus Stroman Story.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/blue-jays-bo-bichette-agree-to-multi-year-contract-avoiding-arbitration/

"In the meantime, Bichette gets the biggest payday of his career — while terms haven’t been announced, one source suggested $33.5 million or so would be a fair number for the next three seasons."

glad that arb stuff is behind us for Bo. next up is putting that long-term-contract ring on Vlad's finger!

vlad seems destined to get a 14-year / $1.9 billion deal with the padres or something

(er, numbers exaggerated but not enough to seem that exaggerated. maybe he gets 10 years and a mere 400 million or something like that)

Considering how young he is (and what happened in the SS market) a 10 year deal wouldn’t feel unreasonable

Hey! (Even though he won't have a bat in his hand.)

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/encarnacion-returns-blue-jays-coach

just watched Tiedemann throw his first spring training inning. wow did the kid look good.

I'm so slow on up-and-coming players (I'm the guy who basically said "Who's Kershaw?" here about three years into his career). So I'm looking at his line for last year for the first time--pretty awesome over three different leagues.

Not a lot of innings - but he did that at 19!!!
Stuff was great. Electric fastball, great change and a fade away slider he located perfectly to end the inning.

Sort of a nothing story that is nonetheless interesting (and will be a contentious thing on social media for a few days):

https://torontosun.com/sports/baseball/toronto-blue-jays/no-jacket-required-blue-jays-pack-away-home-run-jacket-as-part-of-gritty-new-attitude

I'll half miss it, half won't.

(Sorry for the Sun link, Thermo, it's all I can find.)

Deep breath: https://www.mlb.com/bluejays/news/vladimir-guerrero-jr-exits-right-knee-discomfort.

https://jaysjournal.com/posts/blue-jays-jose-bautista-to-be-added-to-level-of-excellence

Hardly a surprise, great news, but I always assumed he and Encarnacion would go up there together. Their prime Blue Jay years exist almost in lockstep. They're like Maddux/Glavine, Trammell/Whitaker, etc. Maybe it's just economics: two big showcase days are better than one.

Obvious Bats was going to go up there. EE I’m not so sure about.

You don't think so? Except for Henke inexplicably not being up there, I can't think of anyone else who'd be the next logical choice. But if that's where they do draw the line, just above Henke, then no, I guess he isn't a sure thing.

This is as good a place as any to repost some things I wrote in 2009 -- marvel at my innate (in)ability to spot future superstars. In my defense: Cito Gaston was managing the team and I was pissed off all season long:

Whose Baseball Team Is This? (2009 Blue Jays Thread)

Looking at Encarnacion/Bautista's time with the Jays:

EE: .268/.355/.522, 136 OPS+, 4.1 WAR/162, 1 incredible, iconic postseason HR
JB: .253/.372/.506, 136 OPS+, 5.0 WAR/162, 1 super-incredible, iconic postseason HR

Pretty damn close offensively; more defensive value for Bautista.

NoTime: you don't even mention Bautista in that post--how did not see that he was going to hit 54 HR in 2010?

Clem -- check the end of the first paragraph!

Snider never panned out (for any team) but he *was* regarded as a can't miss prospect by just about everyone. Good thing Joey Bats saved the team by retooling his swing!

Stepped on my own joke--you did mention him...(What you say is really funny, not that I'm any better at prognostication).

I liked him--and he was treated shabbily--so glad to hear this:

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/pat-tabler-blue-jays-new-gig

i like him, but was not a fan of him as a broadcaster.

From Dave Fleming's annual predictions (which he treats as a goof):

"This is a very small ledge to go out on, but I think Bo Bichette will either come in second the AL MVP race, or win it outright."

https://www.billjamesonline.com/bold_predictions_for_2023/

that's interesting! wouldn't have expected James to be too huge on Bo since he doesn't walk alot and his defence is mediocre

It's a guy who writes for James, not James himself. I like him; his predictions are intriguing, and he usually revisits to see how he did. Bo would have to have some really flashy old-school stats to get himself into an MVP race--he'll probably never have a really high WAR for the reasons you mention.

This doesn't quite jibe with his Bo prediction (or at least not with Bo winning):

"Bold time: Adley Rutschman will have a 10.0 WAR season in 2023."

As far as I can tell, Piazza's 8.7 bWAR in 1997 is the highest ever by a catcher. So it's probably safe to say a 10.0 would be worth an MVP.

Not if it’s 8 WAR of pitch framing!

My category is the Blue Jays for the monthly Zoom trivia group I'm part of.

Questions: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1RE-5sucHGRKMruARoDZNvgux8EI5qy_hz4zw19s7HfI/edit?usp=sharing

Answers: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1v5Q0-b6rZnLXH0xSASkzTr0TmApXzsZq3VVYvI9KDNg/edit?usp=sharing

Realize that the first few questions are ridiculously easy...You can't assume people share your interests, so you have to have a few gimmes at the start.

Damn dude. #4 & 5 are tough!

the image for #6 D':<

sorry – 5 &6 are the really tough ones. tho i had also forgotten about #4

I added the question about the Caribbean pipeline this morning and made #10 a bonus, which shifted some of the numbering.

What an epic game to start the season

Saw the Jays score their early runs, went for dinner, tied when I got back, skipped out, caught the end online while in the middle of my trivia thing (where people mostly tanked on my Blue Jay quiz).

It was pretty tough!

Can't remember an Opening Day game as good as that.

you'd think we'd just won the world series judging by the celebrating going on at the (very awesome) bar i was at. after that wild up and down, back and forth game; Romano coming in and just shutting things down was epic.

Was surprised Manoah coughed up the lead. No cause for concern, right? I didn't see much of him, but in the little that I saw, it struck me that he felt a little rushed by the pitch clock (yet I always thought of him as a fast worker).

he did get down to one second once. later on, his rhythm was obviously disrupted as he was futzing around with the buttons on his arm. wouldn't be surprised if he lets Kirk call his next start

Bassitt gave up nine runs in 3-1/3 today.

Apparently he is not a fan of the new pitching rules

Starting staff not off to the best start.
Wonder if Kikuchi can keep that spring training energy going tomorrow

Jays starters so far: 18.1 IP, 10.94 ERA
Rays starters so far: 23.0 IP, 0.39 ERA

Didn't see any of today's game (afternoon?), but way to go, Manoah.

It literally just ended 10 mins ago!

My internal clock is still back in February.

What a wild game today. Missed the Jays' comeback--dinner--but caught the last three innings. 12-10, bottom of the 10th, two out, bases loaded, Trout and Ohtani coming up. Richards goes full on Trout, bounces the next halfway to the plate--lucky two runs didn't come in. So 12-11, Ohtani up, Mayza came in and got him to ground out.

Matt Chapman might be a good guy to lay a modest MVP-bet on--he's not even on this tracker yet:

https://www.sportsbettingdime.com/mlb/nl-al-mvp-odds/

I do realize how ridiculously early it is. I only bring it up because he did have 6th- and 7th-place finishes with the A's, and his glove means he has to do less on offense, and right now he's hitting lights out.

Kind of amazing that the Jays have had 10-9 and 12-11 wins already...and I thought it was a team built on pitching and defense!

Those last two games were just nuts. Reminds me of the 92 team where even if they fell behind early you knew there was a good chance they could catch up