[Official] Toronto Blue Jays Major League Baseball thread

[RUPERTKBD]

3 minutes ago, gurn said:

Team 1040 mentioned that Biggio might become the super sub, plays almost every day, but in different spots, so other guys get a day off here and there.

Yeah, even when he first broke with the jays, there was a fair amount of talk about him being the "Ben Zobrist" of the team.

 

It's actually catching on, all over the league. Brock Holt is another good example, as are Kiki Hernandez and Marwen Gonzalez.

[RUPERTKBD]

8 minutes ago, BoKnows said:

With the addition of Semien I doubt we trade for Kris Bryant

I'm not sure where this signing leaves the team financially, but they still need a starter, IMO.

[BoKnows]

1 minute ago, RUPERTKBD said:

I'm not sure where this signing leaves the team financially, but they still need a starter, IMO.

Still hoping for Bauer.  Will gladly settle for Paxton

[King Heffy]

3 hours ago, RUPERTKBD said:

Yeah, even when he first broke with the jays, there was a fair amount of talk about him being the "Ben Zobrist" of the team.

 

It's actually catching on, all over the league. Brock Holt is another good example, as are Kiki Hernandez and Marwen Gonzalez.

Chip off the old block.  His dad was one of the most versatile players of all time.

[Sean Monahan]

1 minute ago, King Heffy said:

Chip off the old block.  His dad was one of the most versatile players of all time.

Yeah his eyes are a little too close together but he's a helluva player. He's really exceeded expectations since being drafted.

[RUPERTKBD]

4 minutes ago, King Heffy said:

Chip off the old block.  His dad was one of the most versatile players of all time.

Pops was a bona fide superstar. If CB gets anywhere close to his dad's level, I'll be happy.

[ChuckNORRIS4Cup]

Jays acquire Mets SP Matz for three pitchers

 

TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays have acquired left-handed pitcher Steven Matz in a trade with the New York Mets.

 

 

The Blue Jays announced the deal, that will see right-handed pitchers Yennsy Diaz, Sean Reid-Foley and Josh Winckowski head to the Mets, on Wednesday.

 

The 29-year-old Matz has spent his entire career with the Mets.

 

He has gone 31-41 with a 4.35 earned-run average and 552 strikeouts over 579 2/3 innings in 112 games over six seasons with New York.

 

Matz made six starts and three relief appearances in a difficult 2020, posting a 9.68 ERA before spending the final month of the campaign on the injured list with left shoulder discomfort.

 

https://www.tsn.ca/report-toronto-blue-jays-finalizing-trade-for-new-york-mets-sp-steven-matz-1.1584022

[BoKnows]

 

Grichuk looking like he'll be the odd man out

 

[Wilbur]

5 hours ago, BoKnows said:

 

Grichuk looking like he'll be the odd man out

 

Grichuk would be an expensive 4th outfielder.  So if you the Jays make a trade is it simplest to trade Grichuk?  Or do you sell high on Hernandez?  Make the best baseball trade you can with Gurriel.  Really, it's a good problem to have.

Edited January 29, 2021 by Wilbur

[RUPERTKBD]

On 1/29/2021 at 10:57 AM, Wilbur said:

Grichuk would be an expensive 4th outfielder.  So if you the Jays make a trade is it simplest to trade Grichuk?  Or do you sell high on Hernandez?  Make the best baseball trade you can with Gurriel.  Really, it's a good problem to have.

Yeah, as much as I'd hate to see Teoscar leave, he's got the most value. Trade him to the NL for an arm or two.

 

I'd prefer to move Grich, but his salary makes it pretty tough.....

[GetFocht]

On 1/27/2021 at 9:18 AM, RUPERTKBD said:

I'm not sure where this signing leaves the team financially, but they still need a starter, IMO.

Financially, the Jays have the wealthiest ownership group but they seem to spend like the Athletics. 

 

They are a solid starter away from being a contender. They always seem to be like that except when they got Tulo and Price that year. 

[BoKnows]

2 hours ago, GetFocht said:

Financially, the Jays have the wealthiest ownership group but they seem to spend like the Athletics. 

 

They are a solid starter away from being a contender. They always seem to be like that except when they got Tulo and Price that year. 

After the Springer signing Canadians can expect their Rogers bill to go about 10% 

[RUPERTKBD]

The rich get richer.....

 

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/sports/other/nl-cy-young-winner-bauer-joins-world-series-champion-dodgers/ar-BB1dqGWO?li=AAggXBR

 

I think I officially hate the Dodgers more than I do the Yankees now....

[Gurn]

Seattle job opening, and a crap storm to deal with:

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/sports/mlb/mather-s-rant-highlights-a-tone-deafness-no-organization-wants-to-be-associated-with/ar-BB1dY4Sd?ocid=msedgdhp

 

In the rambling, ill-delivered speech to a local rotary club that led to him stepping down as the Seattle Mariners' president, Kevin Mather nearly gave us too many places to start skewering his logic.

Should we focus on how casually he copped to manipulating top prospects' service time to save a few dollars?

"He thinks after six years, he'll be such a star player that the seventh, eighth, ninth year options will be under value," Mather said of outfield prospect Jarred Kelenic, who likely will begin the 2021 season in the minors. "He might be right."

 

What about the effortless way he smeared veteran third baseman Kyle Seager, who makes $18 million US a season, as "overpaid"? This willingness to alienate both youngsters and the greybeards tells you that, as Mariners president, Mather was committed to a type of equal treatment.

Or we could zero in on how comfortable he felt spouting this stuff in front of a live online audience, and then question whether he understands today's media ecosystem.

But fundamentally, this controversy isn't about Mather's message.

Cutting costs, and suppressing young players' service time, are mainstream ideas in today's MLB. Mather slipped up in letting that sentiment seep out of his bubble, where baseball people, and the class of fans who cheer management, would accept it without questioning, and reach a general public skeptical of ownership's motives.

Among his peers, and people with a similar disposition, Mather can brag about placing a glass ceiling above promising young employees. In their world, it's a cunning business move. But to people who just want to see the best players play, or who don't view baseball through the prism of potential cost-savings for wealthy owners, it's somewhere between counterproductive and cruel.

But let's start with language.

Mather, who spent seven years as the club's president as of Monday, used the online town hall gathering to grumble about paying a translator for Hisashi Iwakuma, a former Mariners' pitcher who rejoined the organization as a scout.

"I'm tired of paying his interpreter," Mather told the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club. "When he was a player, we'd pay Iwakuma X, but we'd also have to pay $75,000 a year to have an interpreter with him. His English suddenly got better. His English got better when we told him that."

Later he complained about outfield prospect Julio Rodriguez' alleged poor command of English.

Reporters who have covered him note that Rodriguez works hard at his new language, and even conducts interviews in English. Rodriguez, for his part, responded on Twitter, posting a photo of his face superimposed on the Michael Jordan's "And I Took That Personally" meme, and proving he's already more fluent in social media than Mather could ever become.

Still, Mather's message here contains, in the most charitable interpretation, xenophobic undertones. It's also unambiguously cheap.

If a Latin American player, signed at 16, arrives in the majors speaking sub-par English, that's the club's fault. On language, MLB clubs have three options. They can invest in English instruction, so high school-age pros from overseas transition more smoothly to the U.S. They can also ante up for translators to help players uncomfortable doing business in English navigate interviews and meetings. Or they can pay whatever the inevitable communication breakdowns cost in poor play and sour relationships.

These are all expenses that come with international business. None of it is free.

And $75,000 for Iwakuma's interpreter? Pocket change for a club valued at $1.6 billion. The team might spend more every year keeping the dugouts stocked with chewing gum and sunflower seeds.

'Unfiltered look into club thinking'

Mather's rant and the fallout from it – the rapid negative reaction and his subsequent resignation – highlight a tone-deafness no organization wants associated with it. They also reflect a profound misunderstanding of the modern media environment, where all mics are hot and all online presentations are just a few clicks from going viral.

The players' association issued a statement calling Mather's comments "a highly disturbing yet critically important window into how Players are genuinely viewed by management… It represents an unfiltered look into club thinking."

From a public relations standpoint, Mather messed up the messaging. But from a baseball industry perspective, the message itself was tame. Yes, when discussing Iwakuma and Rodriguez, he could have made the racial coding tougher to decipher. But the cheapness driving a team president to gripe about a translator's five-figure salary is mainstream in MLB, where extreme cost-cutting, like advanced stats, is part of the modern industry.

Mather isn't, after all, the first high-level executive to approve of baseball-side decision-makers engaging in "service-time manipulation," intentionally keeping MLB-ready players in the minors longer than necessary. By delaying a future star's salary arbitration by a year, teams hope to scavenge a season of prime production at a rock-bottom, rookie contract price.

The Blue Jays took heat after starting the 2019 season with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in Buffalo, where the blue-chip prospect put on nightly hitting clinics, batting .343 with a 1.013 OPS in 39 career games for the Bisons.

Last year Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant filed a grievance, hoping to regain the season of service time he contended the team cost him by delaying his promotion to the majors. That he lost the case didn't matter. Service time suppression is an open secret in Major League Baseball, and one more issue over which ownership and the players' union will grapple as they try to hammer out a new collective agreement.

"It's pretty annoying and frustrating," said Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo to reporters asking him about Mather and service time manipulation. "I'm glad it's out there in the public now and people can see how it is."

In a subsequent video news conference, Mariners chairman John Stanton told reporters that Mather, as president, didn't make personnel decisions, like which players got promoted, and when. The statement is correct, but not as reassuring as Stanton thinks it is to spectators who just want to know the Mariners intend to put the best possible team on the field this year.

Left unsaid is that the decision to save a few dollars by letting top prospects languish in the minors came not from the president, but from baseball operations people, who all remain with the club after Mather's departure. So, whoever replaces Mather might find $75,000 to pay a translator, or congratulate Rodriguez for learning English.

But the new president doesn't have to oppose service time manipulation, which, by now, is a standard tactic. They just have to be sharp enough not to admit to it in public."

 

[Gurn]

On SN650, Friday, a brief conversation with one of the ladies that follows the Jays:

 

Vlad jr. apologized to his teammates and organization for being so badly out of shape last year.

Showed up for camp 41 lbs lighter.

Says he can 'get around" quick enough to hit inside fastballs now,

Stoked for this season.

 

from MSN

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/vladimir-guerrero-jr-says-he-dropped-42-pounds-in-offseason/ar-BB1dZaEm?fb_comment_id=1171497172969462_1171569652962214%3fc&mkt=en-sg%3fc%2cen-gb%2cen-sg%2cen-sg%2cen-sg&c=6115186899820742706%2c2794650497677038708%2c9077526348001750761

 

Toronto Blue Jays infielder Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is determined to move back to third base. After spending all of 2020 at first base, Guerrero dropped 42 pounds over the offseason so he could move back to third again.

That's quite the transformation for Guerrero, who was previously listed at 250 pounds, according to Baseball-Reference. Guerrero's weight loss has been chronicled over the winter, but it's easier to see the gains he made now that he's in camp.

You can see the difference when comparing that video to photos of Guerrero last season.

Make no mistake, Guerrero is still a large man, but he does look trimmer in the spring training video. Size is always going to be a question with Guerrero, who some project as a future designated hitter due to his body type.

 

Dropping 42 pounds, however, shows Guerrero is determined to stay at third — the position he played throughout the minors. Guerrero was moved to first base last season.

Will weight loss help Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at the plate?

Guerrero's weight never impacted him at the plate in the past. Guerrero crushed minor-league pitching on his journey to the majors, hitting .331/.414/.531 in four minor-league seasons. He's performed admirably with the Blue Jays thus far, hitting .269/.336/.442 over 757 plate appearances, but it's believed he can be even better. Perhaps the weight loss helps him unlock a new level at the plate, but it's also possible Guerrero naturally takes a step forward. He was always regarded as an elite hitter in the minors, and should only get better with more experience.

Where the weight loss can really help Guerrero is in the field. If Guerrero can stick at third base — and give the team passable defense at the position — it would make him a more valuable player. A move to first — or DH — may still come in the future, but Guerrero may have delayed that after cutting 42 pounds in the offseason.

[RUPERTKBD]

Jays open the Spring Training sked with a 6-4 win over the Yankees.

 

George Springer didn't play. (he starts on Tuesday) RBI doubles from Rowdy Tellez and Cavan Biggio and a late opposite field dinger from prospect Logan Warmoth.

[BoKnows]

 

 

[BoKnows]

 

[Gurn]

Been looking for Blue Jay pre season games, so far I think I missed one, but haven't seen others listed.   

[BoKnows]