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

Van Halen's "Hot for Power"--love that song.

Baseball may be the driving force of Montoyo’s life, but music has been the underlying beat. His stadium office is cluttered with bongos, congas, timbales, maracas and records. He plays salsa music to relax before games. And sometimes, he spends weekends during the season accompanying bands in night clubs with a güiro, an instrument which produces sound by rubbing a stick against a notched hollow gourd.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/10/sports/baseball/charlie-montoyo-blue-jays-salsa.html

anyone who plays the güiro, I love them

he's played a few times at a place literally around the corner from me!

Three months of playing out the string to nab a wild card spot I guess.

I think so, yes...Obviously, Manoah's been fantastic, and yesterday wasn't exactly a disaster--one pitch did him in, and we was indeed getting a little squeezed on calls.

Having said that, he was doing one thing that always frustrates me with any pitcher: throwing chase pitches on 1-2 counts that weren't even close. I know he wanted them to be closer, which is the whole point--I understand that--but is there a rule now that you can't go right after someone on a 1-2 count? It's like you take a pitcher's count and automatically turn it into a hitter's count (I'd say 2-2 favours the hitter slightly, because he knows you don't want to go full, especially with runners on base).

("he was"--I'm not that much of a diehard, or that grammatically sloppy)

I certainly don’t regret skipping these games due to my anxiety about them

I bailed yesterday immediately after the hit (and I was nervous less from a team standpoint--as NoTime says, we're not catching New York--than having to do with my Cy Young bet, where a couple of bad starts can be fatal).

Anyway, shows how much I know: I looked up Manoah's career splits, and the difference between 1-2 and 2-2 is miniscule (both involve ~110 PA):

1-2: .129/.143/.186
2-2: .135/.150/.164

That's just when the next pitch produces an out or hit/HB/etc., mind you; in general, as you would expect, he's much better when ahead on the count than when neutral:

ahead: .150/.173/.241
neutral: .230/.257/.314

So throw a strike, see what happens.

Well today went better. I was brave enough to have updates turned

… on!

holy shit i just watched the highlights from this game – wtf did i miss?!

Sounds crazy, I know, but: a friend and I were talking about the logic of trading Kirk. Three catchers are a nice luxury, but they need a starter. You don't trade Moreno, Jansen's trade value is probably minimal, and Kirk's is at a peak.

it's the biggest position of depth they have. i guess the idea is to land another starter to take Ryu's place?

Ryu was pitching so poorly, Stripling probably doesn't give up much, but it's the ripple effect--Stripling was doing really well as a set-up guy, which is more where he belongs. I'd hate to give up Kirk, believe me, but I think he could be part of a deal that lands a solid third or fourth starter.

There are almost no decent hitting catchers in the AL, there has to be a better option than trading Kirk.

It may be moot unless they're a viable contender (theoretically, just getting into the playoffs is enough in baseball, but they're really up and down right now). I don't know who else they have who's tradeable and might actually fetch something. Maybe they can ride it out with three catchers.

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/the-blue-jays-have-a-catcher-dilemma-234201961.html

Far from a perfect analogy--young, All-Star level catchers are obviously harder to come by than the same at first base--but this seems a little like when they had McGriff and Olerud at first base/DH in 1990. I don't think you could ever engineer the kind of blockbuster trade they did back then today, but hard as it was to part with McGriff, they did.

horrible trivia question:

name the top hitting catcher in baseball right now. hint: the last name starts with "C" and ends with "S"

answer:

Willson Contreras (168 wRC+, just above William Contreras 154 wRC+). very trick-like question because Willson has only appeared in 30 games, 114 PAs, about half of William)

TSN had a guy from The Athletic talking about the Jays' catcher situation tonight. He said they absolutely won't trade either Kirk or Moreno, Jansen maybe. I'm all for it--I don't want to lose Kirk--I just wonder what they can realistically get for Jansen. He's a 27-year-old, injury-prone backup catcher, pretty good power, lifetime average of .213.

i doubt they can get a *lot* for jansen, but probably more right now than ever. he's cheap and still has years and minor league options left

houston in particular is in dire need, and the asking price to rent willson is no doubt astronomical

The Yankees have thrown everything out of whack. In a normal year, the Jays (39-30 after today) would probably be within four or five games out of first. I don't know if they desperately need pitching, or if a little more pitching would just help, which is the case with everybody, all the time.

same with boston. either team would be in first in the AL or NL central.

well they’re almost certainly going to make the playoffs and almost certainly not going to catch the yankees. what do teams need to win short series? these days the answer seems to be More Relievers

and maybe terrance gore

Weird--until I'm reminded, I completely forget that the Blue Jays were once in the same division as the Brewers.

most HRs of all-time hit against Brewers pitching? Reggie Jackson.

Had to check--they moved to the AL Central in '94, then to the NL in '98. They were actually runner-up to the Jays in '92, four back, and the '87 team was a big part of the Jays' collapse at the end.

I remember the brewers were always a pain in the ass for the jays

There was a moment in tonight's game where Guerrero and Tellez were clowning around at first base, Kirk was coming to the plate (just before his HR), and Manoah was in the dugout, still in the game. It felt like all that was missing was Lumpy Rutherford.

1) Pretty clearly, they won't be trading Kirk--he just gets better and better, and is now hitting .320 with power.

2) Pretty clearly, they desperately need pitching.

No idea what they should do.

It’s more than a little concerning how bad Berrios and Kikuchi have been.

Perfect position for tonight: blowout win in the first game, blown lead and then come-from-behind win in the second, and their (non-Fangraphs, anyway) ace going tonight. Foot on the throat, primed for a sweep. But--based on just gut feeling, and knowing it's hard to sweep any series, especially against a good team--the Jays seem to squander these opportunities time and time again.

I didn’t realize Boston’s closer is a leading mind in the medical field and thus, didn’t come north of the border with his teammates. Lol.
Whatever happens today they’re going to have to do it without their best reliever (also I will be at the game!)

Manoah again, lucky you. I was thinking last night about how angry management--and maybe the whole team--must have been at Houck. At a certain point, your "principled decision"--above and beyond how dumb it is from a personal standpoint--really affects the entire team.

"This is our house!"

https://www.mlb.com/news/vladimir-guerrero-jr-gives-blue-jays-walk-off-win

New bullpen acquisition Sergio Romo got in a scoreless inning today in a blowout. Hope he can help, but the recent past isn't promising.

He certainly looks at home in the dugout! I’m liking Max Castillo guy so far. Didn’t think he had quite the stuff for a MLB starter - but I love him for the pen!

So - really tough two games today, but looks like the first base coach, Budziski, got some really bad news during the game, with him and Montoyo leaving part way in.
Hope Mark is ok, whatever happened.

Statement from the Toronto Blue Jays: pic.twitter.com/hD2opEv1l3

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) July 3, 2022

Still not sure of specifics - but sounds like parents worst nightmare kind of thing. Just terrible.

Three months of playing out the string to nab a wild card spot I guess.
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Sunday, June 19, 2022

The good old days--now it's a three-month dogfight.

It’s amazing how our rotation went from being one of the best in the AL to start the season, to being a dumpster fire.

The doubleheader along with zero off days has really fucked us too. And when I think on it, it pisses me off that the lockout and owners greed is what got us here. They played stupid fucking games all the way into spring training - and then didn’t like having to lose some revenue because their lockout ate into the regular season - so they punish the players for it with a fucking brutal schedule.

Just barely hanging on for my Cy Young bet. I was looking for the Jays to score some runs on McClanahan, and for Manoah to get back on track against Oakland. Instead, the opposite.

The panic button beckons.

If the fucking Orioles overtake us…

welp

i believe cito gaston is available

Ha! Guessed what your post meant right away. Wondering if they'll go after Maddon.

Obviously upper-management monitors the Blue Jays Nation site very closely.

https://bluejaysnation.com/2022/07/10/its-time-to-fire-charlie-montoyo-next-week/