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

I would absolutely take him out now. Five good innings, 7-1 lead, something to build on.

I was ready to call for Schneider's head when Manoah went full on Baez; walk him, next guy hits a HR, now it's 7-3 and you have to pull Manoah mid-inning. Happily, worked out...Another HR for Mitt Wherrifield.

John Schneider has now been #BlueJays manager for 162 games, going 94-68. That is the 5th-best record in the Majors since his debut on July 13, 2022.#NextLevel pic.twitter.com/DAlM1pz168

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) July 7, 2023

Found that surprising. Definitely doesn't feel that way.

Eeyore!

I can't complain but sometimes I still do.

I suspected this might become a story when it (almost) happened:

https://bluejaysnation.com/news/blue-jays-brandon-belt-on-bunt-attempt-to-break-up-tigers-no-hit-bid-were-trying-to-win-a-ballgame

Honestly, it's such a non-story--Belt was right, not even close.

I just don't have the concentration to wade into anything this detailed, but an analysis of Vlad's disappointing season:

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/vlad-jr-makes-history-with-derby-win-but-hes-coming-up-short-elsewhere/

I'm down for Saturday's game--looks like we'll get Zac Gallen. Jays are countering with one of their busiest pitchers these days, TBD.

[my post disappeared, i'll try again]:

xp it's a hopeful article - increased chasing/whiffing, may need to pull more. and his fielding is becoming a liability. but if i read correctly, Vladdy's fly balls are going for outs at a rate unprecendented in the Statcast era. Safe to assume more fly balls will land/leave in the second half.

The radio people have been saying all year that he's hitting the ball hard according to advanced metrics, but with nothing to show for it. Even though I don't care about that stuff (or FIP) in the here and now--an out is an out is an out, a run is a run is a run--I do take it seriously as predictive, the idea that things eventually even out.

Possible exception: Kevin Gausman. His BABIP in 2022 was historically high, .364, so the assumption was that he was just pitching in bad luck. This year it's .337 (and for his career, .318). So there seems to be something about Gausman himself that leads to all those ground-ball singles.

Totally lucked out for tomorrow: Gausman vs. Gallen. So, based on past experience, look for a 9-7 game.

(I would have been just as happy to see Manoah's home return, but they're not pitching him this weekend.)

Damn--no Gausman, Bassit instead. Hopefully the one who doesn't give up four runs in the first inning.

Over 42,000 today, huge crowd. We were up in the 500s, so whatever was going on with Gallen in the early innings--three umpire/coach conferences around the mound--I still don't know if it was physical or ball-doctoring related. Non-stop talk with an old high school friend, but there was a game, a couple of home runs, Belt missing first base with his foot, and the Jays won. We were too late to get some hideous-looking shirt being worn by hundreds of people.

his pitchcom was velcroed to his mitt and it kept flying off!

I'm going tm, 2nd of 2 Kikuchi games for me. and they're 2 for 2 in the TD patch era

Chance to sweep, exciting. Inflation has made its final stop: Blue Jay programs, $5 since practically the change in stadiums, I think, are now $6. (Smaller page count all the time, I bet.)

Up 3-2 when I left for a walk--missed a lot, I see, but the sweep is big. Starting to think that the division is a possibility (knowing full well that the second you start think that, a tailspin is imminent).

Would this make me happy?

https://www.mlb.com/news/marcus-stroman-rumors

Of course! If it ever happened, I would, just to be consistent, urge both him and Manoah to delete their Twitter accounts, or at the very least not spend a single second worrying about Keith Hernandez and Shohei Ohtani and the New York Mets, but this rotation would be something else.

I usually expect these things to go lightly, but this one's actually a touch harsh--there are a few guys I'd rate a notch higher.

https://jaysjournal.com/posts/2023-blue-jays-mid-season-report-cards-with-letter-grades-position-players

left the game yesterday up 3-2 in the 8th bc all the clamour gets to me after a while. missed 7 runs! but they won, so all good

Would love to have Stro back! And personally I'm all for displaying their opinions on twitter if that is their wont. Baseball needs more personality

Point taken, but I just think Twitter's a distraction. When Stroman tweeted in defense of Manoah, I got that; in a way he was defending himself, since they're so much alike. What I didn't get was him weighing in on Keith Hernandez not wanting to give Ohtani his number if it came to that...it's not even your team! You're pitching great, contending for a Cy even, and you're going to pick a fight with Keith Hernandez in 2023? Supposedly Stroman thrives on stuff like this, but I'll note that his Hernandez tweet was June 29, and his starts on July 1 and July 6 were his worst in over a month. Manoah was doing that earlier in the year, getting into social-media scraps. Can't see that it did him much good, and I also question whether it helps Stroman.

Give me Marcus Semien any day.

Playing tennis, so (thankfully) missed it, but five walks and zero strikeouts for Manoah in three innings--sounds gruesome. The fact that they didn't start him against Arizona made me wonder how confident they actually are right now.

I was down for yesterday's game--should have known to not buy tickets exactly five days apart, so Bassitt again (who was great). The game felt like it took less time than getting out of the underground parking and onto the 427. They're within 4-1/2 of the Rays and Gausman's back on Saturday. My hope: land another starter and shut down Manoah for the season.

Got a reliever instead (or until):

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cabrege01.shtml

A lot of strikeouts, a lot of walks.

Whether or not you agree with Schneider taking out Kikuchi in the 6th last night--one out, single, leading 1-0; 5 hits, 1 BB, 8 K to that point--he may have a problem on his hands. Read this three days ago:

https://jaysjournal.com/posts/blue-jays-pitchers-reportedly-unhappy-with-manager-john-schneiders-quick-hook

"...it appears as though some Toronto Blue Jays pitchers have expressed their frustrations with manager John Schneider" is a little sketchy, but last night couldn't have helped. I remember something James wrote once about clubhouse dissension, something to the effect that when players start saying "We'll show them," it's a good thing if "them" refers to the owner/GM, but a bad thing if it's the manager.

Yesterday, bad; today, brutal. If Teoscar really does want to come back here, like, don't sink us before you do.

Out all day, pretty sure I wouldn't have watched anyway...They're very lucky to get out of there with a win. Just from the boxscore, don't see a lot to be encouraged about re Manoah.

Knowing I will pretty much guarantee a meltdown inning in the next couple of nights, Jay Jackson so far: 14 IP, 4 hits, 3 BB, 13 K, 1 run. He was the pitching hero last night.

He's been amazing. with Green hopefully coming around soon and Genesis looking effective so far, the bullpen's looking not bad.

Looking forward to Ryu, early reports so far are very promising!

Doesn't get much worse than last night, which I unfortunately was tuned in for. Two infield hits mixed in there, one because of a bad hop.

I watched that meltdown last night as well...

7 run lead today going into b9th, do Jays fans feel safe?

123, nevermind!

We're supposed to believe professional athletes have the ability to never carry over bad thoughts from one day to the next; I don't, so I fully expected them to get trounced today.

I'm probably unduly influenced by reading the Astros cheating book right now, and how Hinch lost control of his players during his first managerial post with Arizona, but--even though they won--this seems ominous to me.

Oh wow pic.twitter.com/2AxQkBCl3J

— abbey (@aabbeeyy04) July 28, 2023

I've posted about grumblings from starting pitchers concerning Schneider above. Winning papers over a lot, but maybe he's losing the team.

(After the Ohtani HR.)

"Why would you pitch to him? He's the only one who can hit!" lol

I believe "He’s the only fucking guy on the team that can hit” is the exact French translation.

They address this in the piece, but just to state obvious: what could you possibly get in return for Mitch White? A case of Gatorade?

https://jaysjournal.com/posts/5-blue-jays-most-likely-to-be-dealt-at-the-trade-deadline

Thermo: did you have a view of the Chapman dust-up?

Alejandro finally paying ILB back for the thread title.

Man, if they could have gotten him in from third in G6 of the 2015 ALCS--he was there with none out after stealing second and third--the Jays might have gone on to win the World Series.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/former-blue-jays-player-dalton-pompey-police-officer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1ZzTShKLlY

How's this for a slump? Springer's 1-36 and counting.

Jordan Hicks for prospects. Reading lots about how hard he throws and his strikeouts, but his stats are very middling.

it's a solid rental

i mean, he's better than joe kelly

shit, feel like the cardinals got a steal here. it's a good time to rent hicks, though - he's been more consistent this year, and the last couple months, than he has in the last several.

"steal" is not the word! it's a trade to make the jays better this year and the cardinals' rotation better around 2025.

hicks could very well be very important down the stretch for the jays (hope he is!) and be totally worth it if they can make a run in the playoffs, and i have no idea about the jays' SP depth on the farm

Brilliant catch by Austin Hayes. And demoralizing for the Jays. Bautista got a couple of terrible strike calls, bad enough that you didn't even need the replay. Like he needs extra help.

I know that WAR is supposed to tell us all the things the stupid eye-test doesn't catch, but: for the Jays fans on this thread, do you feel like Matt Chapman is the second best position player in the A.L. (and only a half-game behind Ohtani the DH)? After his phenomenal April, his slash line going into tonight's game was .217/.316//386. Great fielder, yes, but he's been an offensive albatross for three months.

This is interesting. The Jays have given Hicks #12, same number he wore in St. Louis. Encarnacion was #12 for a while, but he switched over to #10 in 2011 in advance of the Jays retiring #12 for Alomar's HOF induction. I'm sure you know the rest. So Hicks gets #12.

Hays' catch:

https://www.mlb.com/video/felix-bautista-in-play-out-s-to-whit-merrifield-936th8?t=play-your-way

Would have tied the game if he misses (Kiermaier was on first); if it had somehow gotten past the center fielder, almost certainly an inside-the-park HR to win the game.

Incredible D from the Orioles yesterday, and so close to a statement-making comeback by the Jays.