Blue Jays Discussion: The trade deadline has passed. Time to see what this can do (most acquisitions expected to be present Thursday in Minnesota)

[trellaine201]

Pre season predictions April 2022. Bleacher report.

1. MLB.com ranked Toronto's rotation third-best in baseball. Add Chapman to a lineup that led baseball in OPS and home runs and this could be a really exciting year for the Blue Jays.
   Prediction: 94-68

 

[stickty111]

AA...

We had an elite GM. We decided to go mediocre

 

[dredeye]

I don’t even know what to say anymore. This team is fu$&$&&

 

[Dr.Funk]

 

[stickty111]

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Here’s the Blue Jays' new Top 30 Prospects list

TORONTO -- The Blue Jays’ farm system has taken a different shape in the years since Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette debuted, beginning a new era of baseball in Toronto. The 2021 trade for José Berríos cost some top-end talent in Austin Martin and Simeon Woods Richardson, then ranked

www.mlb.com

 

[Blitzkrug]

The Braves are f***ing mad lads.

They have to have the best cost to talent ratio on their core with committing larceny on the Acuna/Albies deals, getting Olsen at a relatively good price and then the Riley deal. Throw in some top notch drafting with Contreras, Harris, Strider and Wright and you got yourself sustained success.

Major respect to AA for that and not resting his laurels after the world series win too and going out to load up the bullpen.

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

The Braves are f***ing mad lads.

They have to have the best cost to talent ratio on their core with committing larceny on the Acuna/Albies deals, getting Olsen at a relatively good price and then the Riley deal. Throw in some top notch drafting with Contreras, Harris, Strider and Wright and you got yourself sustained success.

Major respect to AA for that and not resting his laurels after the world series win too and going out to load up the bullpen.

Coming into the season, the Braves farm system was ranked in the bottom third of the league. Strider, Harris, and Grissom were part of it.

Fast forward to August, all 3 are up and contributing in a big way. Still early for Grissom, but looks like he may stick around even when Albies returns. The two hitters skipped AAA and really, barely played in AA (Grissom 22 games, Harris 43 games)

Incredible.

 

[phillipmike]

Here’s the Blue Jays' new Top 30 Prospects list

TORONTO -- The Blue Jays’ farm system has taken a different shape in the years since Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette debuted, beginning a new era of baseball in Toronto. The 2021 trade for José Berríos cost some top-end talent in Austin Martin and Simeon Woods Richardson, then ranked

www.mlb.com

The 2021 trade for José Berríos cost some top-end talent in Austin Martin and Simeon Woods Richardson, then ranked Nos. 2 and 4 in the system, but since then, the Blue Jays have done more of their building through free agency or lower-level deals. At this past Trade Deadline, they dealt then-No. 4 prospect Jordan Groshans to the Marlins for relievers Zach Pop and Anthony Bass, but Groshans was set to drop in the midseason re-rank after a tough start to the year.

While some of Toronto’s pitching is on the younger side, this system still boasts some top-end talent with elite potential. That’s led by No. 1 prospect Gabriel Moreno, one of the top young catchers in the game, and No. 2 prospect Ricky Tiedemann, the left-hander whose value has exploded in ’22 with one of the best seasons of any Minor League pitcher.

https://www.mlb.com/prospects/top100/

7. Gabriel Moreno
34. Ricky Tiedemann
73. Orelvis Martinez

 

[canucksfan]

Here’s the Blue Jays' new Top 30 Prospects list

TORONTO -- The Blue Jays’ farm system has taken a different shape in the years since Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette debuted, beginning a new era of baseball in Toronto. The 2021 trade for José Berríos cost some top-end talent in Austin Martin and Simeon Woods Richardson, then ranked

www.mlb.com

https://www.mlb.com/prospects/top100/

7. Gabriel Moreno
34. Ricky Tiedemann
73. Orelvis Martinez

Groshans is ranked 13th in Miami ‘s system and Frasso 23rd in Dodgers if anybody is interested.

 

[phillipmike]

I’m ready to be hurt again and so is Merryweather.

I can’t see the Jays DFA’ing Richards or Kikuchi. So I assume White gets optioned for Stripling today. And if Merryweather is ready, Thornton is gone. I believe he can’t be optioned until a few more days.

 

[Woodman19]

For me its the lack of lefty bats, we have been facing a gauntlet of righties who keep throwing off-speed stuff low and outside and we keep getting ourselves out. We really need a couple lefty bats mixed in to throw off the game plan of other teams.

 

[phillipmike]

Groshans is ranked 13th in Miami ‘s system and Frasso 23rd in Dodgers if anybody is interested.

Max Castillo is 17th on the Royal’s list and Samar Taylor is 29th.

 

[phillipmike]

For me its the lack of lefty bats, we have been facing a gauntlet of righties who keep throwing off-speed stuff low and outside and we keep getting ourselves out. We really need a couple lefty bats mixed in to throw off the game plan of other teams.

Jays are virtually 2nd in the league vs RHP in wRC+

Major League Team Stats » 2022 » Batters » Advanced Statistics | FanGraphs Baseball

Major League team stats for 2022 batters with advanced statistics

www.fangraphs.com

And middle of the pack with runners in scoring position but 2 points out of 12th

Major League Team Stats » 2022 » Batters » Advanced Statistics | FanGraphs Baseball

Major League team stats for 2022 batters with advanced statistics

www.fangraphs.com

Everything points to this team being a good one but it isn’t showing in the win column. Either they come on late or they have bigger problems internally that we don’t know about. Very frustrating.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

For me its the lack of lefty bats, we have been facing a gauntlet of righties who keep throwing off-speed stuff low and outside and we keep getting ourselves out. We really need a couple lefty bats mixed in to throw off the game plan of other teams.

I mean...unless you can get better lefty bats then our righties that doesn't make much sense. It's not like it will stop them from throwing offspeed down and away to our righties. To me it is a total non issue.

 

[Dr Pepper]

For me its the lack of lefty bats, we have been facing a gauntlet of righties who keep throwing off-speed stuff low and outside and we keep getting ourselves out. We really need a couple lefty bats mixed in to throw off the game plan of other teams.

Tapia, Bradley, Biggio.

Now, seeing as how all three tend to get used in the outfield - and man is that Jays outfield ever crowded these days - it's unlikely they'll ever all be in the lineup at the same time, but yeah another lefty bat would've been nice.

I’m ready to be hurt again and so is Merryweather.

I can’t see the Jays DFA’ing Richards or Kikuchi. So I assume White gets optioned for Stripling today. And if Merryweather is ready, Thornton is gone. I believe he can’t be optioned until a few more days.

If the Jays option White before Kikuchi, I don't know what I'll say. It's ridiculous how much leash they're giving Yusei. Like they're afraid to admit it's been a complete and utter failure of a signing.

 

[phillipmike]

Tapia, Bradley, Biggio.

Now, seeing as how all three tend to get used in the outfield - and man is that Jays outfield ever crowded these days - it's unlikely they'll ever all be in the lineup at the same time, but yeah another lefty bat would've been nice.



If the Jays option White before Kikuchi, I don't know what I'll say. It's ridiculous how much leash they're giving Yusei. Like they're afraid to admit it's been a complete and utter failure of a signing.

Unfortunately, it’s finances, when you invest $39M in a player over 3 years, it’s rare to see a team give up on player 5 months into the deal. Chris Davis was a negative WAR player for 4 years before Baltimore decided that was enough and they paid him $138M in that timeframe. Aroldis Chapman had put up 0.8 fWAR over the last 3 years and was paid $48M to do so.

It’s why the Jays continued to trot Roark out there in 2020 or Dickey in 2015-16 during his rough patches, or Romero in 2012.

They can’t option him. So it’s DFA him with purpose of releasing him now and be on the hook for $39M or give him another year and hope he solves some issues in the off-season.

He only had a few weeks to work with the team due to the lockout after he signed. He was hitting triple digits in spring training. The talent is there and you hope a full off-season helps and if not he will get the Roark treatment and will be released in 2023. The change up is very good but it’s useless if you can’t locate your fastball.

 

[tmlfan98]

I'm pretty sure Kikuchi doesn't need to be DFA'd he can just be optioned. He has 3 option years left and has less than 5 years of major league experience.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Everyone knew as soon as they brought in the 2 cheapos from Cleveland we were in trouble. We lost AA and got weaker managers. Not a baseball guy but our pitching looks weak. Pitching drives winning. Outside of Romano and Manoah it is not good. Team has some character and talent issues too which manifest themselves in losing to almost every team in playoffs or fighting for it. Winners tend to find ways to win and losers find ways to lose. Oh well hopefully Rogers corrects problem they brought in with Cleveland guys and get things back on track next summer. Lets hope.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

Just put Kikuchi on the IL with a "neck strain" again for a while. Problem solved.

 

[Eyedea]

Here’s the Blue Jays' new Top 30 Prospects list

TORONTO -- The Blue Jays’ farm system has taken a different shape in the years since Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette debuted, beginning a new era of baseball in Toronto. The 2021 trade for José Berríos cost some top-end talent in Austin Martin and Simeon Woods Richardson, then ranked

www.mlb.com

I'm high on Juenger but don't really see him as a top 10 guy. Also dropping Jimenez after he's 1) shown more power and 2) been BABIP'd is weird to me. He's still been alright and his batted ball profile shifted from GB hitter to FB hitter so we'll see how he adapts next season or if they play around with his approach again. I'm also very excited to see how quickly Kasevich/Doughty/Roden move. I'm still intrigued by Tanner Morris (he's had a weird start to AAA with absolute zero power) but these guys have the pedigree and bat to ball skills to fly.

Also Estiven Machado has improved drastically on the back half of his season and reclaimed a lot of that prospect status from me. Since July 1st his K% dropped to 17.9%, his BB% is up to 10.7%, and he's slashing .327/.411/.449 for a 150 wRC+ (112 PAs) as a 19 y/o in his first taste of pro ball (and full season to boot).

 

[Tufted Titmouse]

Everyone knew as soon as they brought in the 2 cheapos from Cleveland we were in trouble. We lost AA and got weaker managers. Not a baseball guy but our pitching looks weak. Pitching drives winning. Outside of Romano and Manoah it is not good. Team has some character and talent issues too which manifest themselves in losing to almost every team in playoffs or fighting for it. Winners tend to find ways to win and losers find ways to lose. Oh well hopefully Rogers corrects problem they brought in with Cleveland guys and get things back on track next summer. Lets hope.

Our pitching looks worse than it is.

A 1-2 of Monoah + Gausman is a pretty sweet top of the rotation.

3 - Berrios is just having a very bizarre year. No one would have guessed this was going to happen, a lot of teams were after him last year.

4 - Ryu got injured.

5 - Kikuchi is looking like Atkins' biggest mistake.

6-7 are very good bottom of the rotation guys in Strip and White.

As for the bullpen, we added 2 very good arms. It's still mediocre, but when healthy, I think it's good enough.


What's killing me is our bats. We have a ton of guys who are having bad years by their standards...outside of Kirk, JR and Espi's first 40 games, the entire offence has underperformed. Our pitching would be fine if our offence was more reliable.

 

[weems]

Our top 15 looks so much different in this current updated ranking.

 

[Tufted Titmouse]

I was under the impression that Zulu would likely get a look this year. I know he got injured, but is that off the table?

 

[Eyedea]

I wouldn't even say Vladdy has underperformed. Outside of one bad month (May) he's had a wRC+ in the 150s. He's also the only one actually performing above the mark this month (Bo, Teo, and Espi are around their career averages). Need Kirk and Chappy to get going quick.