Blue Jays Discussion: 2024 Season (better title pending)

[Nineteen67]

Shapiro leaves wiggle room on Atkins, Blue Jays' contender status in 2025

Mark Shapiro, in his first media availability since March 21, hinted that Ross Atkins will continue as general manager and that the Toronto Blue Jays will try to build a contender next season, although he left himself wiggle room on both fronts.

www.sportsnet.ca

It's sounding more and more like Atkins isn't going anywhere. What do they say about insanity again?

It’s only been 9 yrs….why the heck quit now?

 

[shaner8989]

f*** this organization. f***ing loserville

Time to boycott. Run it back again. Brilliant. Full decade of these f***ing losers.

 

[canucksfan]

Shapiro leaves wiggle room on Atkins, Blue Jays' contender status in 2025

Mark Shapiro, in his first media availability since March 21, hinted that Ross Atkins will continue as general manager and that the Toronto Blue Jays will try to build a contender next season, although he left himself wiggle room on both fronts.

www.sportsnet.ca

It's sounding more and more like Atkins isn't going anywhere. What do they say about insanity again?

I get continuity but at some point, changes need to be made. Mattingly, Martinez, and Atkins should be gone.

 

[phillipmike]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1821251868246356386

 

[Discoverer]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1821251868246356386

Roden keeps hitting, too.

And I guess Kasevich is up to Buffalo now. All of his stats look really solid except for a COMPLETE lack of power (though he homered today, so that's nice).

 

[Nineteen67]

I get continuity but at some point, changes need to be made. Mattingly, Martinez, and Atkins should be gone.

Looks like there will be lots of room to spread out at spring training games….which is a plus.

 

[MK78]

I get continuity but at some point, changes need to be made. Mattingly, Martinez, and Atkins should be gone.

If he thinks 9 years of continuity without ANY playoff game wins let alone series wins is a competitive advantage i dont know what the heck he's doing leading this team.

He should have just shut his yap and said we will re evaluate all team positions in the off season.

 

[TheMadHatTrick]

4th round pick and 4th round compensation picks Sean Keys and Nick Mitchell made their debuts for Dunedin today. Mitchell went 2-3 with a homerun, 3 rbi, and a walk.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1821311691713298886

After playing his first two college seasons at Western Illinois, Mitchell transferred to Indiana and batted .335/.458/.512 despite missing the first six games of the season with a broken hand. He'll flash plus-plus speed but isn't a prolific basestealer and has spent more time in college in right field than center. He's a smaller-framed guy with a quick left-handed swing and an understanding that his primarily role is to get on base. He has performed well with wood bats, earning all-star honors in the summer Northwoods and Cape Cod leagues. His most recent summer league was back in 2023, where he was an All-Star in the wood bat Cape Cod League. For his entire summer league career, he slashed .337/.438/.483 with four homers in 421 plate appearances, along with 51 walks and 39 strikeouts.

 

[tmlfan98]

Too little too late, but it looks like Shi Davidi is turning against the FO. One shill down.

Unsettled Blue Jays facing many issues, including where to begin

Let’s take the conversation around the myriad questions facing the Toronto Blue Jays in a different direction: What exactly should their order of operations be?

www.sportsnet.ca

If the Blue Jays truly believed “that there's enough talent in place to build a contending championship-calibre team next year,” as Shapiro said, why the equivocation on approach next year? If stability and continuity are such bedrock principles, why not kill the speculation around Atkins and make clear to both the organization and the fanbase that he’s still in charge? If the “greater focus for us is what can we learn” from the struggles this season, isn’t that cause to bring in someone with an outside perspective to help find some answers?

All of that points to a team far more unsettled than it would seem, one facing an immense amount of organization-wide work to be a legitimate contender next year, one lacking an order of operations for where to begin.

 

[CabanaBoy5]

Listening to Shapiro speak is so ennervating. He dodged every serious question about the state of this team and basically answered each question with gobbledygook. What was the reason of this presser if he wasn't going to answer questions directly. The organization has a poor farm system, has developed pitchers poorly, has aging starting pitching, a pathetic bullpen, is dysfunctional in their communication, and couldn't recognize what a pathetic offence we had going into the season. At the very least, the coaching staff should have been canned. I can't wait till this idiot and his minion Atkins are gone.

 

[trellaine201]

From what I heard it was all excuses! No accountability from him or the GM or coaches etc. all excuses.

 

[Suntouchable13]

From what I heard it was all excuses! No accountability from him or the GM or coaches etc. all excuses.

Now I understand why everything starts with the ownership. If they are ok with this shit, then nothing will change. It seems like Rogers don’t care. As long as the money keeps rolling in they are cool. If ownership cared a little, they would have turfed both Shapiro and Atkins already.

 

[Dr.Funk]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1821621100855660803

 

[Dr.Funk]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1821506284207681729

 

[GermanJay]

Vladdy has now reached His 2021 mark of 166 wRC+. What an individual performance

 

[Dr.Funk]

Vladdy has now reached His 2021 mark of 166 wRC+. What an individual performance

https://x.com/i/web/status/1821728221999530490

 

[tmlfan98]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1821728221999530490

Looks like the Jays are confirming the popular fan theory that April 27th was the day things started turning around for Vlad, stemming from a change to his swing mechanics that he made. I originally made a post about it back in mid May when I first noticed it.

Loading…

forums.hfboards.com

Update: Vlad is now at a 190 wRC+ since April 27th (88 games).

Sad thing is though, his baserunning and defense are so putrid now, that he is only on pace for 4.9 fWAR if he reached the number of PAs he got in 2021. In 2021 he finished the season with 6.3 fWAR in 698 PAs.

His defense is so garbage that he would see an automatic boost in fWAR by becoming a full time DH, even though positional adjustment penalizes DH more than 1B. Anyone who downplays how bad Vlad's defense is at 1B and also thinks the team can compete in 2025, doesn't actually want what's best for the team in 2025 if they don't want a free fWAR boost on Vlad by just making him a DH.

 

[LaP]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1821728221999530490

I've seen a couple of people insinuate that he started to play well when the team was eliminated and it angers me. He's been playing well since way before the team was eliminated,

 

[Suntouchable13]

After a fairly hot start, Horwitz has cooled off. Is he still a regular 2nd baseman going into next year? What kind of production can you expect during a full season next year? 15-20 homers, .770 ops, with a high OBP?

 

[LaP]

After a fairly hot start, Horwitz has cooled off. Is he still a regular 2nd baseman going into next year? What kind of production can you expect during a full season next year? 15-20 homers, .770 ops, with a high OBP?

I feel like the Jays wont have any choice if they want to compete right away and retool. Vlad and Beau can't do it all by themselves. When Springer was still good the team could compete but i think that ship has sailed. The Jays will have to find a dominant DH (easier to find than a position player) and a good catcher able to help Kirk. And by dominant DH i mean OPS of 850-900 for at least around 130-140 games. They probably will have to field kids for the rest of the lineup. In fact this is what the Jays should have done last season. Nothing against IKF he played well but that was kind of a waste of time should have fielded kids day 1 (instead of IKF/Turner/KK).

 

[Suntouchable13]

I feel like the Jays wont have any choice if they want to compete right away and retool. Vlad and Beau can't do it all by themselves. When Springer was still good the team could compete but i think that ship has sailed. The Jays will have to find a dominant DH (easier to find than a position player) and a good catcher able to help Kirk. And by dominant DH i mean OPS of 850-900 for at least around 130-140 games. They probably will have to field kids for the rest of the lineup. In fact this is what the Jays should have done last season. Nothing against IKF he played well but that was kind of a waste of time should have fielded kids day 1 (instead of IKF/Turner/KK).

Would be nice also if a guy like Horwitz smashed expectations and went way over.

 

[Discoverer]

I've seen a couple of people insinuate that he started to play well when the team was eliminated and it angers me. He's been playing well since way before the team was eliminated,

The complaint yesterday was that his .315 average and .396 OBP from the start of May until mid-June was "shitty" because he didn't have enough HR and RBI. Just silly arguments.

 

[Dr.Funk]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1821951840956625186

 

[Discoverer]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1821951840956625186

Makes sense. He was never very good and now they have other speed-first OF ahead of him who are actually hitting.

 

[LaP]

The complaint yesterday was that his .315 average and .396 OBP from the start of May until mid-June was "shitty" because he didn't have enough HR and RBI. Just silly arguments.

Specially since he was batting 2nd at the beginning of the season and the number 1 and 9 batters (Springer and KK) were not getting on base at all. Outside of the first 3 weeks Vlad was getting on base which is what you ask from a 2nd batter if there's nobody on base. Once he was moved to 3rd he started getting more RBIs specially when Horwitz was batting in front of him. He had a rough start for the first 3 weeks or so but after that he's been very good.