Toronto Blue Jays

If anybody has been following the Blue Jays along, it was a rough start to the year. Vladdy wasn’t bringing numbers and his contract was completely up in smoke. Bo was underperforming with some kind of injury. Our offense was completely flat and the playoffs seemed like something for next year.

At least we weren’t the Orioles.

A few months later and here we are. Blue Jays are top of the AL East. The Blue Jays are nearly on par with the 338 million dollar Dodgers. We are getting our moneys worth and the baseball is good. This year's competition is so close that there is no telling where the rest of the year will go.

This is the first year I haven't subscribed to any service that streams games. Feels weird not watching every day.

The Jays' season opens Thursday March 27, hosting the Orioles in the first of a four-game homestand.

It should be an interesting year. Many think the front office will react based on early season performance; i.e., acquire more talent or sell off pieces if the team is good or bad, respectively. Vladdy's in a walk year, as is Bo. Varsho has 1 more year of arbitration. People around the organization seem to think President, Mark Shapiro, has been extended based on his language in recent press conferences, although that has not been announced. Will Max Sherzer's thumb significantly limit the innings he pitches? How will Manoah look? Who's the fourth best hitter on the team? There's a lot to keep an eye on.

Many think Boston's got the best team in the AL East, following by NYY and Baltimore, followed by Tampa and Toronto (ie, 3 layers). Consensus also seems to be that the Jays have an outside chance at a wild card spot.

I want to see them back in the playoffs. I hope it's an entertaining year. Let's go Blue Birds!!!

It's been a while since we had a thread. Any thoughts TDL, season so far or other Jays topics are welcome!

The headline says it all, Daniel Vogelbach has been DFAed and Addison Barger has been called up in his place.

Vogelbach seemed like a great guy, but wasn't hitting, and a DH that doesn't hit isn't of much use.

Barger is up for the second time. I hope they give him a good amount of playing time this go round.

Off-topic: I'm happy for Cavan Biggio, ending up on the Dodgers. Got a hit in his first game, I think. I hope he gets enough playing time on that stacked team

The trade deadline (July 30) is about 6 weeks away.

The Blue Jays are currently 2 games below .500 and 4 teams out of the 3rd wildcard spot with the Rays only a game behind them. They've got a tough schedule ahead without an easy opponent until the Athletics on August 9th.

If the Jays can get above .500 the next month and get within a few teams of the 3rd wildcard spot, they could potentially be buyers at the trade deadline. Saying this, I realize I'm not exactly sure how much trade capital they can afford to part with. Alternately, they'll probably sell off expiring contracts to try to come back stronger for 2025.

There's a good chance we'll know more about the future of this team a month from now. How's everyone feeling about the team in general, how do you think the Jays will do against this spree of tough teams, and any predictions for the future?

Sucky day so far and they haven't even played a game yet..

Biggio DFA, Manoah UCL elbow surgery, may even be Tommy John. Either way he's out for the year and some of next.

In some good news, Spencer Horwitz is up..

The Blue Jays launched an updated version of the Home Run Jacket in game 47 of the season today, the 3rd of a 3-game series with the Chi Sox.

(The Home Run Jacket is a celebration prop for hitting a home run that's worn by the player who hits the home run upon returning to the dugout.)

Bo Bichette had the honours of wearing it first, hitting a 2-run homer in a bottom of the 2nd, when the Jays scored a season-high 7 runs in an inning.

John Schneider, interviewed on the TV broadcast soon after, said that the idea had to come from the players. He also said that he'd had a chat with some of the players a week ago, telling them that anything that the players could come together around would be good to implement [to hopefully stir up a very under-performing offense].

The Blue Jays have also introduced a red carpet in the dugout as well, which debuted a few days before the Home Run Jacket did this year

Gausman didn't have a very good day on the mound. But it didn't matter. The Jays were down 7-1 in the 3rd inning, and they managed a comeback by putting up runs in 5/8 innings and getting good outings from the bullpen.

The first three hitters in the lineup today (Schneider, Varsho, and Guerrero) had 6 RBI, with return-to-form? Vladdy contributing 4. Bichette, who's been slumping hard, homered today.

Swanson pitched a solid inning without giving up a hit, as did Yimi Garcia who made his return today.

What happens when George Springer comes back, will he go back to hitting lead off? I can't see that happening with these results. Turner might get a bump down and Jansen up to cleanup

Greetings Blue Bird aficionados. We seem to be without our good friend and moderator, @imasnyper, this season. I'm thinking I might ask the lemmy.ca admins if they'll add me as moderator to this community, as I'd like to update it and have it look more active. It might take me a while to figure out how Snyper set up the standings in the sidebar.

I wanted to announce this intention to the community for the sake of transparency. If anyone else is interested in being an active mod (e.g., posting regularly, setting up bot-run features), let us know what you have in mind.

Any other community-related discussion is also welcome 💙

What do you think they should do? What do you think they will do?

We have our best pitcher,April AL Pitcher of the month, go against the Phillies. I was surprised to see them get tagged by a grand slam by the 4th inning... Looking later we only eek out one run against the opposing team.. This game is done. I would be surprised if there's anything left to savage here as the offense is not cutting it, relief pitching is meh, and now you mess with the starting pitching.. All we need is sloppy defense and you have it all.

From MLB press release:

• Across seven starts, the right-hander pitched to a 4-2 record with a 1.44 ERA (7 ER/43.2 IP), while allowing 31 hits with 13 walks, 31 strikeouts, a 1.01 WHIP, a .204 opponents’ batting average and 6.39 strikeouts per 9.0 innings.
• The 29-year-old led the Majors in innings pitched; tied for the Major League-lead in games started; ranked third in MLB in ERA; ranked seventh among AL pitchers in WHIP; and ranked eighth in opponents’ average.
• The two-time All-Star tossed at least 6.0 innings in six of his seven starts, with the only exception coming on April 25th in Kansas City, when he was credited with a 5.0 inning complete game. He pitched a season-high 7.0 innings on April 14th against Colorado and April 30th against Kansas City.

The Blue Birds took 2 of 3 games each against the Marlins, Rockies, and Yankees.

Hitting: Right now the Jays are an MLB-average club by OPS+. Daulton Varsho had homeruns 1, 2, 3, and 4 while at home to become the club-leader in HRs (Vladdy has 3).

It now seems pretty widely acknowledged that this year’s team is not the homerun-hitting club of a couple years ago. They’re ranked 2nd in the AL on doubles and 11th on homeruns. Can the Jays lean into a small ball approach? Kevin Barker of Blair and Barker reported that Bo said that both he and Vladdy are focused on hitting homeruns because it’ll earn them bigger contracts as two players whose contracts with the Jays expire next year.

Pitching: The Jays rank near bottom of the MLB by ERA+, but that aggregate number obscures a lot to be excited about. This homestand had wicked starting pitching (ERA ~ 1.20). With Gausman returning to form and Yariel Rodríguez’s strong debut, a rotation of Gausman, Berríos, Bassitt, Kikuchi, and Rodríguez/Manoah sounds pretty awesome. Will Berríos and Kikuchi stay as red hot as they’ve been?

Yimi García is clearly our best closer right now, but the rogers centre has this wrestling-like light show that they like to do for Jordan Romano. What will happen to the light shows if Romano ceases being our fixed 9th inning pitcher? I don’t like to see baseball decisions take a back seat to special effects, and I think we need to put the right pitcher in the right spot every game.

Defence: The Jays are top ten in fielding in the MLB.

Next up: The Blue Jays (10-9) now have a challenging 7-game road trip coming up: 3 games in San Diego (11-10), 4 games in Kansas (12-7). I can't decide whether I think they'll win 3 or 4.

While writing these lines, the Jays are 7W-8L and last in the AL East.

I know, I know, it's still early. This is the Jays' motto.

For those who have watched some or all of the games so far, what are your thoughts about the team, your projections?

Of the rotation, Berríos and Kikuchi have looked good so far, while Gausman, Bassitt, and Bowden Francis who's currently in the 5th spot have not. As of 9 of the 10 games on the road trip, Blue Jays are 27th/30 in pitching by ERA+.

At the plate, Justin Turner's been great and so have the roommates Ernie Clement and Davis Schneider. Cavan Biggio is doing well. Bo is really cold. The Jays are getting very little hitting from the catcher position, so hopefully Danny Jansen comes back soon and can hit. As of 9 games, the Blue Jays are 20th/30 in hitting by OPS+.

Fielding-wise, Blue Jays are 21st by errors or fielding % after 9 games.

Time to flush that roadtrip and look forward to playing a 9-game homestand that includes 3 easy games against the Rockies: Mariners (3), Rockies (3), Yankees (3).

I appreciate the idea of not wanting anyone to sit for too long, but between prioritizing offence and defence, I'm all for putting the best hitters out there right now. At the start of the season, I was concerned about Justin Turner at 3B - no longer do I feel that way. We need all the above-average bats we can put out there right now; leaning on our pitching like we did last year is not an option at the moment.

I'll guess that the Bluebirds go 4-5 at home, taking 2 from the Rockies and 1 each from the Mariners and Yankees. Here's hoping they find another gear at home though and win 5 or 6 games! Mariners' pitching is going to be a tough start

Team records entering series: Blue Jays 2-2, Astros 0-3

Expected pitching matchups:

• April 1 - Bowden Francis vs Ronel Blanco
• April 2 - José Berríos vs Framber Valdez
• April 3 - Chris Bassitt vs Cristian Javier

3 games in, fielding can use some help here.. as well as hitting...

Berríos will start for the Blue Jays on Opening Day, and Eflin will take the mound for the Rays as they host Toronto at 4:10 p.m. ET on March 28 at Tropicana Field. It will be the fourth Opening Day start for Berríos and the first for Eflin.

March 28th, I'm pumped, are you pumped?

The shanking of Ben Wagner is complete. The way Rogers treated an excellent and dedicated 17 year broadcaster with the team was inexplicable. Until now.

Ok not bad.. 2 signings.. not what we hoped for...

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/12/blue-jays-kevin-kiermaier-reportedly-closing-in-on-reunion.html

At least it's something.

I've been trying to avoid making a post about this, partially because I can't believe we're actually serious, but also because I don't want to jinx it. The Twitterverse and baseball writers are getting more and more serious about how serious the Jays are in pushing for Ohtani. Everyone was saying the Dodgers are the clear fit, and that's where most baseball minds would have placed bets on him landing prior to this offseason. But it is truly looking like Shatkins have Rogers blessing to open up the pocket book and pay him, so the question becomes what are the non-monetary drivers behind where he wants to sign.

We have arguably the best player development complex down in Dunedin. We have 2 young superstars under team control for at least 2 more years and a pretty decent lineup around them as well (obviously there are holes to be filled this winter). We have arguably the best rotation in baseball already (including a guy Ohtani went to the same high school as and looked up to). Work will be completed this winter on $300M renovations to the dome. Ohtani wants to play for a contender. While we haven't actually won a game in the playoffs since 2016 (shhh this still hurts), we have made the playoffs 3 out of the last 4 years. With this rotation we are a piece or two away from taking it all the way. Ohtani is THE piece.

I am seriously not trying to set myself or any of you up for utter disappointment here when we've been used as a negotiating chip to drive his value up an extra 3% to sign with the Dodgers. We've seen that happen all too many times in the past. But it truly seems like the Jays are there, and ready willing and able to sign him at whatever $$ figure he wants. At this point it's going to be up to Ohtani.

But can we just dream for a minute about what this team would be like with Ohtani at DH, and potentially pitching for us as well in 2025+? Obviously any team gets better with him, but Bichette-Ohtani-Guerrero-Springer in the top 4 of the lineup?? Especially if Guerrero can recapture any of his magic from 2021? I think every opposing pitcher that has the Jays on their schedule next year is having nightmares about it already.

TLDR

Sportsnet has parted ways with Ben Wagner, the radio voice of the Toronto Blue Jays for the past six seasons.

Sportsnet said it “decided not to renew (Wagner’s) contract for next season” in a statement released Wednesday. The Blue Jays rights holder also thanked the radio broadcaster and wished him well.

Plans for the future of the radio broadcast will be announced prior to the 2024 season, the network said.

Wagner joined the Blue Jays radio broadcast in 2018 after previously spending 11 seasons calling games for the team’s Triple-A affiliate in Buffalo.

Wagner’s time with Sportsnet was not without obstacles. During the pandemic-shortened 60-game season in 2020, Wagner did not travel to road games and instead called games from a Toronto studio.

The following season, games were simulcast on TV and radio when the Blue Jays played their games in Dunedin, Fla., and Buffalo for the first four months of the 2021 season, leaving Wagner without a consistent role on the broadcast. A separate radio broadcast only returned for the season’s final two months when the team returned to playing at the Rogers Centre.

Meanwhile, full travel never resumed following the pandemic, as Wagner largely called road games off a screen. Wagner also did not have a consistent broadcast partner since 2021, instead handling the radio call either solo or with a rotating cast of guests and analysts beside him.

Sportsnet is owned by Rogers Communications, the Toronto-based telecom company that also owns the Blue Jays and Rogers Centre.