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

i'm really starting to hate Stroman. constant humble bragging about his lifestyle to bitching about how unfair the game is to him/players and now this:

Stromans puppy 4 days ago. Stromans puppy 24hrs ago. Apparently HDMH stands for Height Doesnt Measure Humanity. pic.twitter.com/SiMZuYGWF2

— 🕶 (@JaysTrain2Reign) March 11, 2019

which is a shame because i love the intensity and hustle he brings to the field.

anyways. Anthony Alford is having an electric spring and i'd love to see him open as our starting LF or CF. hopefully last year was a fluke. (i hope this comment doesn't age brutally)

ugh - didn't realize the pic would display like that... sorry everyone!

When he's winning and the team's winning, I want all the theatrics from him that I don't want when they're not. (I get the feeling he's really worried about going on the market--another poor season and his value will be comparatively nothing--so he's flailing about trying to do this, that, and the other to get an extension.)

Why the fuck would you do that to a dog

Sorry, I just glided past the dog photos--Stroman did that? I don't get it. When I said theatrics, I meant his on-field theatrics.

Ya he did that for reasons beyond my understanding. I had to unfollow him on social medi a while back because I couldn’t handle his jeuvenile bs anymore.

https://www.thedodo.com/ear-cropping-cruel-1212872917.html

it's a shitty thing that people do to their dogs for aesthetic reasons. when i see it in vancouver it's exclusively rich peoples' dogs. but i think the practice has origins in dog fighting

That was my first thought when I saw the ears (not that I thought he was fighting the dog, but it’s the dog fighting “look”.

So the Jays just gave 50% raises to all their minor leaguers apparently!

Bo Bichette this spring: 42 PA, .421/.476/.816. That has to be ideal for a young guy playing in the shadow of someone like Guerrero.

it's just spring, but ya - certainly beats him going 5/30. he's also looked pretty good in the field. he keeps this up and i think we'll see him up some time after the break (whenever the super-two date passes).

with him, Vlad, Jansen and Borucki all (probably) playing this year, i'm going to enjoy watching them this season. when i saw that "faith and hope" thing on mlbtr, all i could think about is how much i'm looking forward to this season and the seasons to come – with Biggio, Smith and Pearson all due to debut over the next couple years. it's going to be fun.

i'm going to the game at the olympic stadium tonight! no vlad :( but maybe bichette/biggio?

anyone i shd keep an eye out for? man the jays depth chart is one of the most deeply uninteresting rosters i've seen in a while :/

conversely the brewers depth chart is nice

I was going to lead with "Please post if you see the ghost of ______________," but I just looked up 15 or 20 Expos from the early '70s, and every last one of them is still alive.

Only spring training, for sure. I was just thinking of how much harder it would be for Bichette if all the focus were on him. He's totally under the radar--if Guerrero had had that kind of spring, he'd probably be a bigger story than the Raptors or Leafs right now.

not much on display at that game i am afraid! barely anything even hit as far as the outfield for the first six innings. nice little rally to win it though, and the fact that there's a dude named nate orf meant we got to yell ORF SIDE LONG BEACH a few times, so that was fun! also a "bo bichette" chant started and it took me a second to realize they weren't saying "holy shit"

Bo-ba-fett! Bo-ba-fett! Bo-ba-fett!

Kendrys traded to the As! it's Rowdy time!

Keep getting rid of that dead weight--couple more to go.

48 mil going out to players not on the team!

And looks like they added Alford instead of Tellez.

If Stroman were to have a great year on a poor team, I think he could well be unbearable.

I'm looking forward to seeing whether the Jays can pull off their first proper rebuild since the 80's. Hopefully Stroman also realizes that the window opens next year?

If anyone was born to berate management and demand a trade via Twitter, Stroman's the guy. So I hope you're right.

Between us being the '71 Orioles on the mound or the Tigers being the '68 White Sox with the bat, I'm guessing it's the latter.

Too bad we don't have anyone in the minors who might help jumpstart the offense.

Bichette?

http://phildellio.tripod.com/vladimir.jpg

Not bad. The fact that I noticed Cleveland was the beneficiary before I thought "April Fools" tells you how trustworthy I find current management when it comes to possible collusion.

pillar to the giants

You're next, Stroman.

I'm liking this DePaula guy we're getting back, btw.

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

I know the "shutdown inning" is an annoying cliché, but tonight and that game against the Phillies, the pitchers have been giving back runs as fast as we score them.

Two tough losses for the Orioles, disastrous loss for the Mariners; finally feels like we're in the clear.

I think the league is more or less set, just shuffling the Order of wild card teams, which may aswel be random

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