Blue Jays GDT: 2023 v7 | Sat, Jul 29 | vs LAA | 3:00pm ET/12:00pm PT | Detmers vs Manoah

[canucksfan]

He built a hitting lineup with a significant amount of risk.

Springer’s health/consistency, Varsho’s hitting ability, Kirk’s continued improvement, Belt’s return to form, etc.

The only relatively sure things were Bo, Vladdy and Chapman. And all three have basically performed as expected; maybe Vladdy has been slightly disappointing, but Bo has been better than last year and Chapman started off super hot.

They’ve also gotten resurgences from Kiermaier, Merrifield and Belt, and the offense is STILL middling.

All lineups have risk. The Yankees lineup sucks without Judge.

It's somewhat weird because some of the less riskier bats, such as Kirk, Vladdy, etc. have been the ones struggling, relative to expectations, whereas the players with more risk have been solid.

Offence is inconsistent, that is a problem they need to fix. Yankees showed they are waiting around to make changes.

We have a better record than last year because we aren’t playing the East as much. Just image what our record would be right now if the rules didn’t change.

Definitely inconsistent and I would be opposed to making some changes with the coaches.

 

[MS]

The guys who deserve to be on the team. No

The gamers like Gausman Bassit etc I’ll never bash. The f***ing losers who can’t run out a ground ball or give up on plays I’ll rip every single time I can. Vlad becoming the norm for this. It’s a f***ing disgrace and don’t want those players on my fav team.

Danny Jansen is as gamer as it gets and has over 4 WAR and 30 HR in his last 162 GP which makes him one of the best catchers in MLB and you were just calling him garbage.

If Gausman had 2 bad starts in a row, you’d be calling him garbage, too.

 

[I Hart Conor Garland]

Danny Jansen is as gamer as it gets and has over 4 WAR and 30 HR in his last 162 GP which makes him one of the best catchers in MLB and you were just calling him garbage.

If Gausman had 2 bad starts in a row, you’d be calling him garbage, too.

I absolutely felt as good with Danny up in the ninth today as I would have been had it been Bo or Vladdy or George. He's got that aura right now.

 

[BM14]

So, who's this kid they drafted? Seems like there were others projected to go in that slot that were still on the board.

 

[Discoverer]

So, who's this kid they drafted? Seems like there were others projected to go in that slot that were still on the board.

MLB.com had him ranked #11. Just flipping through some draft previews, I've seen him as high as 7 and as low as 28, which I think reflects how raw he is.

 

[Eyedea]

The guys who deserve to be on the team. No

The gamers like Gausman Bassit etc I’ll never bash. The f***ing losers who can’t run out a ground ball or give up on plays I’ll rip every single time I can. Vlad becoming the norm for this. It’s a f***ing disgrace and don’t want those players on my fav team.

Is Varsho not a gamer? About as lunch pail as can be.

 

[dredeye]

MLB.com had him ranked #11. Just flipping through some draft previews, I've seen him as high as 7 and as low as 28, which I think reflects how raw he is.

Forgot the draft was going. Are there sign ability concerns with him at all?

 

[BM14]

MLB.com had him ranked #11. Just flipping through some draft previews, I've seen him as high as 7 and as low as 28, which I think reflects how raw he is.

I've read his hitting ceiling could be very high but equally likely to not hit it.

Athletic ended up having a good blurb.

 

[Suntouchable13]

The guys who deserve to be on the team. No

The gamers like Gausman Bassit etc I’ll never bash. The f***ing losers who can’t run out a ground ball or give up on plays I’ll rip every single time I can. Vlad becoming the norm for this. It’s a f***ing disgrace and don’t want those players on my fav team.

Vladdy is guilty sometimes of not running ground balls out, but he also plays hard most of the time so you can't get on him for that. Plus he is a great fielder at 1st, and his play there with Richards saved the game yesterday. Made the comeback possible with his glove.

 

[Bjindaho]

Vladdy is guilty sometimes of not running ground balls out, but he also plays hard most of the time so you can't get on him for that. Plus he is a great fielder at 1st, and his play there with Richards saved the game yesterday. Made the comeback possible with his glove.

I watched a DP against Cabrera where he clearly made no effort to get down the line with any effort (and would likely have beat out the play because of a fumble at 2nd). It was hilarious.

Also, Vladdy has been statistically the worst defensive 1B in baseball this year (after legitimately being a GG candidate last year). There was a point where he got banged up earlier in the year, and his numbers tanked on both sides of the ball. The eye test suggests that the recent hot stretch appears to correlate with him actually being healthy for the first time since the beginning of the year.

 

[Suntouchable13]

I watched a DP against Cabrera where he clearly made no effort to get down the line with any effort (and would likely have beat out the play because of a fumble at 2nd). It was hilarious.

Also, Vladdy has been statistically the worst defensive 1B in baseball this year (after legitimately being a GG candidate last year). There was a point where he got banged up earlier in the year, and his numbers tanked on both sides of the ball. The eye test suggests that the recent hot stretch appears to correlate with him actually being healthy for the first time since the beginning of the year.

Hmmm... interesting. I didn't really notice anything with the eye test that suggests he has been that bad at 1B this year.

What do you think about Kirk? He can't hit right now, can't run, he is basically a liability. What do you think is wrong with him? His running obviously won't get better, I am more talking about his hitting.

 

[phillipmike]

2023 fWAR:
Gausman: 4.0 (1st in all of Baseball)
Berrios, Bassitt and Kikuchi: 3.7

Gausman has been dominant since 2020.

2020-2023 Pitching fWAR:
1. Zach Wheeler: 16.8
2. Kevin Gausman: 16.1
3. Corbin Burnes: 15.8
4. Aaron Nola: 14.5
5. Sandy Alcantara: 12.8

32. Chris Bassitt: 8.1
33. Jose Berrios: 7.9

61. Alek Manoah: 5.8

 

[Bjindaho]

Hmmm... interesting. I didn't really notice anything with the eye test that suggests he has been that bad at 1B this year.

What do you think about Kirk? He can't hit right now, can't run, he is basically a liability. What do you think is wrong with him? His running obviously won't get better, I am more talking about his hitting.

His defense is actually better than last year, but there's a lower BB rate, his hard contact is way down and he's hitting more balls to center.

His exit velocity is down 3 mph to 87. Hitting the ball softer to the bigger part of the park means more catchable balls and less chances that the balls hit to the gap actually make it to the wall.

 

[Discoverer]

His defense is actually better than last year, but there's a lower BB rate, his hard contact is way down and he's hitting more balls to center.

His exit velocity is down 3 mph to 87. Hitting the ball softer to the bigger part of the park means more catchable balls and less chances that the balls hit to the gap actually make it to the wall.

The plus side is that with Jansen around they can afford to take their time with Kirk and hope he figures it out. Worst case, Kirk doesn't figure it out and he's just a backup with strong defense and a below average bat (but one that's still just fine for a backup catcher).

 

[Bjindaho]

The plus side is that with Jansen around they can afford to take their time with Kirk and hope he figures it out. Worst case, Kirk doesn't figure it out and he's just a backup with strong defense and a below average bat (but one that's still just fine for a backup catcher).

Yeah, he's tied for 1st in catcher DRS and his Def stat ranks him 11 of any catcher with 100 innings or more (Def is a counting stat, and arguably the best catcher defensive metric because it is not heavily weighted towards one component and is the only catching metric that includes Framing).

 

[Discoverer]

Yeah, he's tied for 1st in catcher DRS and his Def stat ranks him 11 of any catcher with 100 innings or more (Def is a counting stat, and arguably the best catcher defensive metric because it is not heavily weighted towards one component and is the only catching metric that includes Framing).

Yep... his arm is below average, but he more than makes up for it with elite framing and blocking.

 

[Suntouchable13]

I was just annoyed by Kirk’s base running in the 10th. I mean, come on, even Belt would have made it to 3rd in that situation. I can’t believe a pro athlete can run as poorly as Kirk does.

 

[LaP]

I was just annoyed by Kirk’s base running in the 10th. I mean, come on, even Belt would have made it to 3rd in that situation. I can’t believe a pro athlete can run as poorly as Kirk does.

Well he doesn't really have the fitness of a pro athlete. Go to a gym next door you'll find a bunch of guys in better physical shape than him Kirk is 100% skills and 0% athletic. That's what makes it so frustrating. I personally believe he has the skills to be a very good player but unless he improves his fitness a bit it's going to get in the way for sure.

 

[LaP]

Vladdy is guilty sometimes of not running ground balls out, but he also plays hard most of the time so you can't get on him for that. Plus he is a great fielder at 1st, and his play there with Richards saved the game yesterday. Made the comeback possible with his glove.

I think Vlad gets way too much flack personally. Do i expect more from him? yes. But he's still one of the very good 1st base in Baseball and on pace for over 100 RBI. One of the few guys in the team running batters in. The way he plays might be a blessing in disguise as he might be less greedy for his next contract.

 

[The Nemesis]

Back at it today.

Probables for this 3-game set vs the Diamondbacks are:

Friday @ 7pm ET/4pm PT - Ryne Nelson vs Jose Berrios
Saturday @ 3pm ET/noon PT - Zac Gallen vs Kevin Gausman
Sunday @ 1:30pm ET/10:30am PT - Tommy Henry vs Yusei Kikuchi

 

[MK78]

Finally game's on. That was a long break, I think longer than usual for all star.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

Glad to see Vlad carrying over the Home Run Derby magic.

 

[Cleetus]

nice Vladdy Homer! first at bad since he won the derby! awesome!

 

[The Nemesis]

Looks like you're wrong, Joe. Derby helps Vladdy!

 

[MK78]

Yep, maybe it helped!