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Jays 2023

shack

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What's with DeJong brutal throw to end the game. Thank goodness for Vladdy.
And he was slow early on, on a throw to 1st that resulted in a single.

It was expected that he had no bat, which he's admirably confirmed so far, but he was supposed to be excellent defensively, as yet to be confirmed.
 

Toronto Passions

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That Cleveland rookie that was the starting pitcher tonight looks like a future Cy Young contender.
classic power pitcher stuff…. nice long reach. I really like watching guys like that.

Philip
 

tml

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What a waste of a great pitching performance. Poor Kikuchi.
I'm not impressed with DeJong.
 

shack

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What a waste of a great pitching performance. Poor Kikuchi.
I'm not impressed with DeJong.
Weak bat and fielding is less than advertised.

Instead of Chapmean, Bichette and Merrifield on the infield today we had to field Espinal, DeJong and Biggio. Ouch.
 

Nad Smith

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Even great pitchers give up 3 earned runs per nine innings. And we will face great pitchers in playoffs. Every time I want to get on the band wagon they get shut out and leave 9 men on base.
 

onomatopoeia

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Early report was a knee contusion for Ryu, but it looked like he's gonna miss some time. He was in lots of pain and needed help to get down those few stairs.
mlb.com says:

Aug. 8: LHP Hyun Jin Ryu (right knee contusion) feeling much better
In a stunning turn after Monday's injury, the Blue Jays believe that Ryu could make his next start after X-rays came back negative and the veteran lefty woke up feeling much better. Ryu took a hard comebacker off his right knee in Monday's win in Cleveland, then collapsed while running to first base to make the throw. He was in serious pain on the field and dealing with a lot of swelling postgame, but he appears to have bounced back well and avoided something much more serious.
 
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onomatopoeia

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HGH notwithstanding, Davis Schneider is now the permanent 2b for the remainder of the season.

There is a tinge of darkness in Schneider's saga. He wears his old high school glove when fielding, inscribed with the name Vuk on it. That's in regard to his former coach John Vukovic, who died from cancer in 2007. He's one of a number of former Phillies who died of cancer most prominent among them in 1980 WS closer Tug McGraw and catcher Darren Daulton. Old Veterans Stadium was built on contaminated land, could be a massive scandal for the city of Philadelphia. Citizen's Bank Park opened in 2004.

For those that complain about crime, there is a horrific difference between Kensington St in Toronto as opposed to Philly.
John Vukovich had the equivalent of one full season, (607 plate appearances), spread over ten seasons with at least some time at the Major League level.

He was a well below average hitter, (.161 career Ave/ .203 OBP/ .222 SLG). In 1971, he was the right-handed platoon third baseman for the Phillies. Beginning in 1972, that job belonged to Mike Schmidt.

He was often used as a late game fielding replacement; he was approximately league average on defence.

He had a Major League coaching career from 1982-2004, and was interim manager of both the Phillies and the Cubs for a total of 11 games. He had decent but not outstanding numbers in several seasons of AAA ball.
 

Toronto Passions

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Philip, Biggio is eligible for Salary Arbitration for the first time in 2024. Teams can live with a guy with his production when he doesn't cost much. There's always the possibility that a player like him will have a performance spike, after a few years' of experience playing part time. Once he has enough PT to make bigger money, teams think realistically about having a new guy come in, and post the same mediocre numbers or better for the minimum wage.
Apparently he’s hitting over 300 since the All-Star break with an OPS of over 800. I think he’s a needed utility guy and I wouldn’t let him go.

Philip
 

shack

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mlb.com says:

Aug. 8: LHP Hyun Jin Ryu (right knee contusion) feeling much better
In a stunning turn
after Monday's injury, the Blue Jays believe that Ryu could make his next start after X-rays came back negative and the veteran lefty woke up feeling much better. Ryu took a hard comebacker off his right knee in Monday's win in Cleveland, then collapsed while running to first base to make the throw. He was in serious pain on the field and dealing with a lot of swelling postgame, but he appears to have bounced back well and avoided something much more serious.
Good news. Stunning indeed.

He was looking good for those 4 innings.
 

onomatopoeia

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Philip, Biggio is eligible for Salary Arbitration for the first time in 2024. Teams can live with a guy with his production when he doesn't cost much. There's always the possibility that a player like him will have a performance spike, after a few years' of experience playing part time. Once he has enough PT to make bigger money, teams think realistically about having a new guy come in, and post the same mediocre numbers or better for the minimum wage.
Apparently he’s hitting over 300 since the All-Star break with an OPS of over 800. I think he’s a needed utility guy and I wouldn’t let him go.

Philip
Nope.

cavan.png
 

Toronto Passions

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Yeah, eh?

Then what the hell are these two guys talking about? Fast forward to 9:22

 

maurice93

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Went directly to Baseball Reference to get the actual stats - Since the All Star Break Biggio has been solid but its a very small sample size over 25 games.

26 AB, 32 plate appearances
.269 AVG (7 hits, 1 HR)
.406 OBP (4 BB, 2HBP)
.829 OPS

That OPS is Solid, but again its only 32 plate appearances.
Biggio needs to have a good 45 games or so to close the season, otherwise I would be very surprised he get offered arbitration. He is currently a -0.5 WAR player this year - you don't need to pay $3.2 million for that. You can get that for the league minimum or for a cheaper low level utility free agent (somewhere between $600K and $1.5 million) It sucks that we now discuss as Biggio as low level utility guy but it is what he has been this year and last. Disappointing given how he started his career. I hope Biggio picks it up and gives the Jays a difficult decision come November - as of right now its not a hard one.

The infield depth could very different for the Jays next year. Bichette is in and Schneider is in, but the others could all be free agents by year end.

Dejong has about a $15M team option, with a small buyout ($2 million I believe) - he is getting bought out. That buyout was likely factored in the cash that the Cards sent to pick him up.

Biggio is likely not getting offered arbitration of 3.2 million, unless he closes very strongly.

Espinal is also arbitration eligible and would need to be offered $2.4 million. Not sure if the Jays offer him that.

Of course the Jays could try to bring all 3 back for cheaper once they are declared free agents and available to everybody.
 
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onomatopoeia

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Yeah, eh?

Then what the hell are these two guys talking about? Fast forward to 9:22
Philip, the recent performance chart for Biggio which I posted is from mlb.com, a reliable source:


Checking Biggio's 2023 game logs, it IS true that he hit .316, (6/19) from July 14 - August 7.

Since the All-Star Game on July 11, and including his 0-4 on August 8, (post podcast), Biggio has raised his season batting average from .197 to .208. He has one multi-hit game during that span, on July 22. Cavan hit .500 between July 14 and July 26, in 10 at bats. I consider the sample size to be too small to be significant to anyone other than a podcaster.
 

onomatopoeia

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Went directly to Baseball Reference to get the actual stats - Since the All Star Break Biggio has been solid but its a very small sample size over 25 games.

26 AB, 32 plate appearances
.269 AVG (7 hits, 1 HR)
.406 OBP (4 BB, 2HBP)
.829 OPS

That OPS is Solid, but again its only 32 plate appearances.
Biggio needs to have a good 45 games or so to close the season, otherwise I would be very surprised he get offered arbitration. He is currently a -0.5 WAR player this year - you don't need to pay $3.2 million for that. You can get that for the league minimum or for a cheaper low level utility free agent (somewhere between $600K and $1.5 million) It sucks that we now discuss as Biggio as low level utility guy but it is what he has been this year and last. Disappointing given how he started his career. I hope Biggio picks it up and gives the Jays a difficult decision come November - as of right now its not a hard one.

The infield depth could very different for the Jays next year. Bichette is in and Schneider is in, but the others could all be free agents by year end.

Dejong has about a $15M team option, with a small buyout ($2 million I believe) - he is getting bought out. That buyout was likely factored in the cash that the Cards sent to pick him up.

Biggio is likely not getting offered arbitration of 3.2 million, unless he closes very strongly.

Espinal is also arbitration eligible and would need to be offered $2.4 million. Not sure if the Jays offer him that.

Of course the Jays could try to bring all 3 back for cheaper once they are declared free agents and available to everybody.
Wins above replacement compared to Salary is a huge factor. Even if Cavan goes hitless for the rest of this year, hr would get a generous pay bump based on arbitration eligibility, if he is tendered a contract.

The League is full of players like him. Many are middle inning relievers; few teams give those guys multi year deals.
 

shack

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Watching Vladdy at bat, I don't know whether to call it frustrating or painful.

He swings at balls that are up at eye level or 8 inches outside and low. And then when they throw him a fastball down Broadway, the bat stays on his shoulder for strike 3. And why is every swing of his with maximum effort/velocity. It's like he wants to hit 3 home runs with one swing.

I think I have a harder time watching his terrible at bats even more than Varsho's even though Varsho has more of them. It may be because we've seen what he's done in the past and to see him regress so much is tough.

OK. I've decided to call it painful.
 
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shack

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Bases loaded and nobody out with a slim 1 run lead in the 8th. They get sweet fuck all. I hope they lose.
 

Toronto Passions

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I consider the sample size to be too small to be significant to anyone other than a podcaster.
Lol those two guys are clowns. They are both professional comedians. But their podcast is usually OK and they have had some good guests on there too.

My favourite podcasts right now are -

Blair and Barker

The Gibby Show

The Walk Off

Bluejays Digest is horrible. After watching that podcast, I was convinced Marcus Stroman would be coming here. Lol. Geez I feel so gullible.

Philip
 

Nad Smith

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Guerrero is so frustrating. He gets 2 hits but has 2 terrible at bats in game. Springer hits homer after fouling off a bunch. Possibly Guardian (ew that name) pitcher is going to throw a get it over fast ball first pitch and Vlad should be ready for that...instead the fast ball is way too high and he swings and misses, and then watches the down the middle fast ball for strike 3. In other key at bat...bases loaded....he swings at first pitch and hits into tailor made double play. Somebody has got to fix this guy mentally...are the coaches even trying?

And once again the Jays make another pitcher look like a cy young candidate
 
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