Which prospect has the best chance to break camp?
Roden?
Martinez?
Barger?
Horwitz?
We could use a LF/3B to split time with IKF or Kiermaier. It would be nice if Roden and Martinez stepped up.
1. Springer
2. Bichette
3. Vlad Jr.
4. Turner
5. Kirk
6. Schneider
7. Varhso
8. Martinez
9. Roden
If you want me to rank the order of likelihood I see for those 4 to break camp with the Jays I think it's
1) Barger (3B/RF would be useful to fill the hole on the left side of the infield and to spell Springer on days he needs to DH or take a rest. If the idea of Kiner-Falefa getting the bulk of 3B reps repulses you and you're not sold on an Espinal rebound, he might be the most likely candidate)
2) Horwitz (strictly 1B/DH limits his usefulness and he's not a thunderous bat that will force his way into playing time so it's not like he's high value and tops out as a bench bat. But if they carry a 5th bench slot for a pinch hitter then there are worse options)
3) Martinez (Seems like it'd be starter or bust for him to make the Jays. He shouldn't be sitting on the bench at this stage of his career. And he may be better off continuing to get reps at 2B in Buffalo where there's not as much pressure on him until he proves he can't be held down anymore. But if he absolutely explodes this spring then you can't look psat him)
4) Roden (The bat is supposed to be nice in a high-contact, middling power sort of way. Thing is that he's considered a mediocre-to-bad fielder who really only fits in LF and while Varsho sliding out of left to cover CF or RF in the absence of Kiermaier or Springer is a perfectly good solution, do you want to use a bench OF spot on a LF-only guy who's just a contact bat?)
As much as there are concerns about a long-term deal for Chapman, he's never been anything less than a 3.5 WAR player with an above-average bat and elite defense. Describing him as "a short term gamble with warts" who you wouldn't want to sign to the QO deal is way crazier than wanting him on the Bellinger deal.
The argument against Chapman is that the D is coming down off its "elite" perch and we don't know how much longer he'll be great at the corner. And the bat is starting to show some cracks too (he's been closer to a 110 wRC+ bat the last 4 years or so than he has been to his 125+ peak and last year's surface-good results are largely swung by 2 great months offsetting 4 extremely crappy ones)
Maybe this works out in the Jays' favor though. Bellinger's deal shows there's not a huge appetite for pricey Boras clients and their sky-high demands. Maybe you see if he'll sign a deal for <$25m a year for one year plus an option or something. Trade Espinal for a depth starter or medium leverage pen arm and roll with Chapman as the primary 3B, pushing Kiner-Falefa into his proper super-utility role. It's not a perfect solution but it is an acceptable one.
It seems like the Jays' TV plans are to do their own broadcasts for home games and simulcast the opponent's feed for road ones. They were visiting the Tigers today and it seems like Detroit didn't put together a broadcast, so we were out of luck.
It's day one. There's no reason to panic if a guy has a terrible first day of the year. The hope is that he puts it all behind him and tomorrow is a new day.
No reason to panic, but reason to be concerned. Guys like Bassitt and Kikuchi came into their first starts looking to tinker with stuff. One would think that Manoah's first order of business would be establishing himself and getting comfortable before he gets into the "it's ok if he gets lit up because he was mostly just throwing curveballs" or whatever sort of run. The fact that he had no command, plunked 3 guys and had more runs than hits is enough cause to be suspicious of him if not fully dismissive yet.
We need to cut bait with Manoah man. He's finished. His confidence is clearly shot and the offense is not even remotely near potent enough to pick him up and bail him out every 4 to 5 days.
It's 1 spring start. These are meaningless games designed to work through stuff like this. It would seem like the team is not banking on him being the #5 starter so there's no reason not to give him a few starts to see if he can sort it out. If 2 weeks from now he's still struggling maybe you look at what to do with him away from the MLB roster, but for now this is the sort of setup designed to try and help him figure this out if he's willing.
