Blue Jays Discussion: Back in Toronto AND things are happening (trade deadline @ 4pm ET/1pm PT today)
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Springer at the top, Vlad behind him, Bichette moved to be more of a clean-up guy...pretty much the hitting order I was envisioning when the season started.
Is that George Springer in centre field for the Jays, or did Kevin Pillar put on the wrong Jersey tonight?
Oh my what a catch!
Oh my what a catch!
Blue Jays' need at catcher exacerbated by Jansen injury - Sportsnet.ca
More pertinent to his approach ahead of July 30, perhaps, is the club’s suddenly less certain catching situation, with Danny Jansen returning to the injured list after straining his right hamstring again, and the club expecting him to be out “for a while,” according to Montoyo.
Alejandro Kirk is back and he lined a base hit in three trips to the plate, and the plan is for him to split duties with Reese McGuire, who’ll be tasked with the critical job of calling ace Hyun Jin Ryu’s starts beginning Saturday. Inexperience behind the plate was a concern even before Jansen went down but it’s even more of an issue right now as crunch time dawns.
McGuire is 4-for-31 in his last 12 games and compounding matters, his receiving hasn’t been especially consistent. Pair that with a talented but still green 22-year-old Kirk who appeared in only his 41st game above A-ball on Friday, and the idea of adding behind the plate has some organizational traction.
Whether it happens is another matter, but the Blue Jays have some interesting options.
Jonathan Lucroy, recently released by Atlanta, is a free agent, while Jacob Stallings of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Willson Contreras of the Chicago Cubs and Tucker Barnhart of the Cincinnati Reds are -- to varying degrees -- available and offer up-market options with club control beyond this year.
Stallings, who’ll be arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter, will need to be valued as an everyday catcher to be pried away from the Pirates, who also have some other notable players of interest to the Blue Jays, reliever Richard Rodriguez among them.
Contreras won’t be eligible for free agency until after next year and with the Cubs seemingly not planning to extend him, the Blue Jays could target him along with a number of other fits on the soon-to-be-stripped roster such as Craig Kimbrel, Ryan Tepera and Kris Bryant.
Barnhart, meanwhile, is a left-handed bat who comes with a reasonable $7.5 million option for next year. With the Reds stuck in no man's land and Tyler Stephenson emerging, this might be the time to get him.
While adding any of the three would to some extent block the current young trio behind the plate, top prospect Gabriel Moreno increasingly seems like the Blue Jays’ catcher of the future and one of the veterans would help bridge the gap to his arrival and ease his transition.
More pertinent to his approach ahead of July 30, perhaps, is the club’s suddenly less certain catching situation, with Danny Jansen returning to the injured list after straining his right hamstring again, and the club expecting him to be out “for a while,” according to Montoyo.
Alejandro Kirk is back and he lined a base hit in three trips to the plate, and the plan is for him to split duties with Reese McGuire, who’ll be tasked with the critical job of calling ace Hyun Jin Ryu’s starts beginning Saturday. Inexperience behind the plate was a concern even before Jansen went down but it’s even more of an issue right now as crunch time dawns.
McGuire is 4-for-31 in his last 12 games and compounding matters, his receiving hasn’t been especially consistent. Pair that with a talented but still green 22-year-old Kirk who appeared in only his 41st game above A-ball on Friday, and the idea of adding behind the plate has some organizational traction.
Whether it happens is another matter, but the Blue Jays have some interesting options.
Jonathan Lucroy, recently released by Atlanta, is a free agent, while Jacob Stallings of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Willson Contreras of the Chicago Cubs and Tucker Barnhart of the Cincinnati Reds are -- to varying degrees -- available and offer up-market options with club control beyond this year.
Stallings, who’ll be arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter, will need to be valued as an everyday catcher to be pried away from the Pirates, who also have some other notable players of interest to the Blue Jays, reliever Richard Rodriguez among them.
Contreras won’t be eligible for free agency until after next year and with the Cubs seemingly not planning to extend him, the Blue Jays could target him along with a number of other fits on the soon-to-be-stripped roster such as Craig Kimbrel, Ryan Tepera and Kris Bryant.
Barnhart, meanwhile, is a left-handed bat who comes with a reasonable $7.5 million option for next year. With the Reds stuck in no man's land and Tyler Stephenson emerging, this might be the time to get him.
While adding any of the three would to some extent block the current young trio behind the plate, top prospect Gabriel Moreno increasingly seems like the Blue Jays’ catcher of the future and one of the veterans would help bridge the gap to his arrival and ease his transition.
Eh, couldn't hurt. Kirk has lost a lot of playing time and would probably be better off playing every day in the minors. I'd hire a specialist catching coach, too. Apparently a lot of teams don't really have one. Teaching the kids sounds more useful to me than blowing a roster spot on some veteran who can't run or throw anymore.
Sheesh, the injury bug.
The pitching staff at AAA has been mostly very good, and lotsa guys are getting 2-3 innings in opener games.
Kinda interesting.
Wondering if Samad Taylor and Kevin Smith having rebound years can be big parts in trade options?
The pitching staff at AAA has been mostly very good, and lotsa guys are getting 2-3 innings in opener games.
Kinda interesting.
Wondering if Samad Taylor and Kevin Smith having rebound years can be big parts in trade options?
Great, blew him up. IMO, this teams inconsistency is still plagued by the love affair with the long ball. It feels like every game all of our runs are just solo HRs. Every team these days has it too an extent, I just think its more pronounced due to the age of our team. Super talented though, but thats what I think will hold them back when it comes to playoffs and playing games that matter.
dredeye
BJ Elitist/Hipster
- Mar 3, 2008
- 27,634
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Would you prefer they hit singles? They hit 5 hr’s yesterday. Two were solo shots.
SDig14
Registered User
I'm scared of what the ask is for a Berrios/Rogers package. Berrios is good, but I wouldn't really call him elite, and he's only controllable for 1 more year.
trellaine201
Registered User
Inconclusive. Walker messed up his shoulder somehow and after that he got hammered. But before that he was pretty good. So can't really say if it was the shoulder or not.
Likely. They're probably counting on it, although if Taylor can play good outfield I'd rather hold onto him.
Be careful with that opinion. It will get you roasted around here.
But with guys like Springer and Dante Bichette around to give advice, it's still quite possible the team can adjust going down the stretch.
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trellaine201
Registered User
Shame. I was hoping Zeuch would become one of those Buerhle types, but that usually requires quite a bit of experience.
Dr.Funk
Registered User
- Jul 2, 2004
- 20,194
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The Nemesis
Semper Tyrannus
I was going to post a longer run of supporting evidence before my browser crashed, but:
The Blue Jays collectively are tied for 1st in MLB in batting average and are, I think, 3rd in total singles hit.
They also are somewhere around the mid-point of the league in FB% but are top 5 in HR/FB ratio. So they don't hit a ton of balls into the air, but the ones they do hit tend to go out. They're also not up there free-swinging (2nd lowest K%, slightly above the mid-point in swinging strike %)
This is a good offensive team that looks like it's "in love with HRs" because they have a lot of good hitters with power enough to hit HRs. It's not some feast-or-famine batch of Three-True-Outcome guys who do nothing if they're not mashing.
The Blue Jays collectively are tied for 1st in MLB in batting average and are, I think, 3rd in total singles hit.
They also are somewhere around the mid-point of the league in FB% but are top 5 in HR/FB ratio. So they don't hit a ton of balls into the air, but the ones they do hit tend to go out. They're also not up there free-swinging (2nd lowest K%, slightly above the mid-point in swinging strike %)
This is a good offensive team that looks like it's "in love with HRs" because they have a lot of good hitters with power enough to hit HRs. It's not some feast-or-famine batch of Three-True-Outcome guys who do nothing if they're not mashing.
Sure, but when you're scoring 10 runs a game against all of the bad teams, your numbers are going to inflate real fast.
stickty111
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- Jan 23, 2017
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stickty111
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- Jan 23, 2017
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