Blue Jays GDT: Jays vs Minnesota
- Thread starter Anthrax442
- Start date
Another injury update: Orelvis took a fastball off the hip from Romano today and left the game. Hopefully it's just a stinger and nothing more.
It feels like only a matter of time before he's either DFA'ed or we trade him to a bottom feeder and retain most of his salary. To me it's better to rip the band-aid off early rather than let things fester.
If a previous management group had signed him, I suspect he would already be gone. But picking up $50 million to have a guy not play for you is admitting a major, major mistake.
I don't know, Tulo was a previous management add. His 2017 was way worse than Springer last year, then he missed all of 2018 before they finally released him.
Granted, they weren't flush with SS options at the time like they are in the outfield now and were entering a rebuild anyway, but I kind of wonder if it's just a hesitance to bail on veterans.
FWIW, Springer has a 95 and 104 wRC+ in the past two years.
Before they dump him, they are at least going to take some time to see if the new guy can get something out of him. While it is easy to judge guys on their spring, keep in mind that Springer's spring involves a higher BB/lower K than his past couple of years and a ridiculous 50% IFFB rate (his career rate is 10).
Springer last had a big IFFB spring in 2022. For the record, Vladdy ran a 30 last spring. It isn't uncommon especially when a guy is coming off a year with a 9.4 degree launch angle and not pulling enough pitches.
I'm not particularly concerned about how his spring has gone. I'm more concerned that a 104 and 95 wRC+ the last two years from a guy who plays a corner outfield spot with mediocre defense is just bad. He's been worth a combined 3 WAR in nearly 1300 PA. I would love to see the new hitting coach reverse some of that, but Springer being 35 doesn't exactly fill me with confidence.
I'm not expecting miracles, but trying to hit the pitch he wants up the middle could make a decent difference.
FWIW, George had a .723OPS on the first pitch, which suggests that either he swung at too many of them or his approach to them sucked. Likewise, he put up a .556OPS at 1-1.
