Blue Jays 2024

[onomatopoeia]

This guy despises the Hernandez trade as much as I do. This guy believes we should have resigned him like I do. It feels so good to know that there is another lover of Teoscar like me and I am not alone in this world. Lol

Philip

Philip, you're assuming that Hernandez would have resigned with the Blue Jays after his contract expired at the end of the 2023 season. You're also not taking into account which additional roster moves would have been necessary to accommodate his salary increase.



Hernandez WAS a bargain at the price he cost the Blue Jays. Realistically, they could not afford to pay what he's receiving from the Dodgers for a few reasons:

1) The Dodgers' ownership doesn't care about luxury tax payments; Rogers does.

2) The Jays have the millstone of George Springer's contract eating 10% of their total payroll.

3) The Jays would have had to pay him significantly more than the Dodgers' offer, for him to chose Toronto over Los Angeles. The artificial turf field at the Rogers Centre is a huge negative when it comes to acquiring or retaining free agent talent.

Typically the Jays manage to land free agents who have health or consistency question marks surrounding them, the players to whom other GMs are reluctant to offer long term commitments. Not surprisingly, many of those gambles, (Springer, Ryu, Kirby Yates), don't pan out.

 

[Toronto Passions]

Philip, you're assuming that Hernandez would have resigned with the Blue Jays after his contract expired at the end of the 2023 season. You're also not taking into account which additional roster moves would have been necessary to accommodate his salary increase.

View attachment 343343

Hernandez WAS a bargain at the price he cost the Blue Jays. Realistically, they could not afford to pay what he's receiving from the Dodgers for a few reasons:

1) The Dodgers' ownership doesn't care about luxury tax payments; Rogers does.

2) The Jays have the millstone of George Springer's contract eating 10% of their total payroll.

3) The Jays would have had to pay him significantly more than the Dodgers' offer, for him to chose Toronto over Los Angeles. The artificial turf field at the Rogers Centre is a huge negative when it comes to acquiring or retaining free agent talent.

Typically the Jays manage to land free agents who have health or consistency question marks surrounding them, the players to whom other GMs are reluctant to offer long term commitments. Not surprisingly, many of those gambles, (Springer, Ryu, Kirby Yates), don't pan out.

….oh I’m going to find our response to this argument, when I have the chance to do my research and my googles. I say “our response” I’m doing it in the name of Teo lol. Very busy as a late but I will get to this. Hernandez deserves me to respond.

As Avril Lavigne would say- why did you have to go and make things so complicated?

Philip

 

[Toronto Passions]

Even in a down year for him, Vlady is posting more than respectable numbers. .290 BA, close to .850 OPS, on pace for 25HR (not good for him), on pace for close to 100RBI. very, very good defense. He's middle of the order on 29 other teams. Give him some protection and somebody who can get on in front of him. He's a keeper.

Bo, on the other hand, looks like he wants out. There is no spark there anymore.

I’m with you on this. All of this!

Philip

 

[shack]

I’m with you on this. All of this!

Philip

And the reason Bo is mailing it in and wants out of town is because he knows how much Shatkins has botched things and that he has zero faith that they can get things right. That is exactly what he was intimating in that interview in Frisco where he said that "everybody wants to play for a winning team".

 

[onomatopoeia]

And the reason Bo is mailing it in and wants out of town is because he knows how much Shatkins has botched things and that he has zero faith that they can get things right. That is exactly what he was intimating in that interview in Frisco where he said that "everybody wants to play for a winning team".

Unfortunately for Bo, (if his goal is to play in San Francisco), he can't earn himself a one-way ticket out of town by tweeting something offensive to the LGBTQIA+ community, like Anthony Bass.

 

[shack]

Unfortunately for Bo, (if his goal is to play in San Francisco), he can't earn himself a one-way ticket out of town by tweeting something offensive to the LGBTQIA+ community, like Anthony Bass.

The Jays were in Frisco and he was interviewed by Frisco media. I think that it's a leap, under those circumstances, to interpret his comments to mean that playing in Frisco is his goal.

 

[Insidious Von]

And the reason Bo is mailing it in and wants out of town is because he knows how much Shatkins has botched things and that he has zero faith that they can get things right.

Whit Merrifield was far more blunt about why he left the Jays than Bo. Rogers are a lazy ownership, if Shatkins is allowed to see out their contract the Jays will lose 90+ games in 2025, 100+ in 2026.

 

[onomatopoeia]

Whit Merrifield was far more blunt about why he left the Jays than Bo. Rogers are a lazy ownership, if Shatkins is allowed to see out their contract the Jays will lose 90+ games in 2025, 100+ in 2026.

Rogers' reaction will be to send season ticket renewal mail earlier.

Back in the day, Toronto Maple Leafs seasons ticket holders had to also buy seasons tickets for the Raptors. I used to be able to buy a Raptors ticket from a scalper half an hour before a game for about 50% of the face value.

Most of what these guys are saying in the video is what I was saying in this thread two months ago, and Ebony Booty Lover was laughing at me. I think the Jays would have gotten more for their expiring contracts if they had moved them two months ago, when it was already obvious that this season was a write off.

 

[K Douglas]

Even in a down year for him, Vlady is posting more than respectable numbers. .290 BA, close to .850 OPS, on pace for 25HR (not good for him), on pace for close to 100RBI. very, very good defense. He's middle of the order on 29 other teams. Give him some protection and somebody who can get on in front of him. He's a keeper.

Bo, on the other hand, looks like he wants out. There is no spark there anymore.

His numbers this year are almost identical to last year save the BA and OBP which are higher. He's on pace for 79 runs, 24 HR and 92 RBI. Yes the #'s are respectable but he's our supposed superstar. He hasn't come anything close to what he did in 2021 and his HR have fallen for 3 straight seasons. Now I do realize part of this is he doesn't have much, if any, protection in the lineup. But a true superstar finds a way to lead and that's infectious to the rest of his teammates. Vladdy is just not that guy. He isn't a leader. He still can't speak fluent English despite being in the majors for 5 years. I think we should move on from both him and Bo.

 

[K Douglas]

The guy who I'm surprised still has his job is the hitting coach Guillermo Martinez. I know its a team effort with 2 associate coaches as well as Don Mattingly as offensive co-ordinator but c'mon. Everyone's hitting performance is down - Springer, Bichette, Turner, Vlad Jr. Someone has to be held accountable for that. Martinez has been the coach since 2018. His own track record as a hitter was putrid. He had a career .214 BA in the minors.

 

[Ebony Booty Lover]

Even in a down year for him, Vlady is posting more than respectable numbers.

This isn't really a "down year" for him. Those are more is career numbers, and in some categories are even higher.

 

[onomatopoeia]

The guy who I'm surprised still has his job is the hitting coach Guillermo Martinez. I know its a team effort with 2 associate coaches as well as Don Mattingly as offensive co-ordinator but c'mon. Everyone's hitting performance is down - Springer, Bichette, Turner, Vlad Jr. Someone has to be held accountable for that. Martinez has been the coach since 2018. His own track record as a hitter was putrid. He had a career .214 BA in the minors.

In 2009, Martínez hit .304 with three home runs, 31 RBI, and 28 stolen bases for the Windy City ThunderBolts of the independent Frontier League. (wikipedia).

Martinez was 24 years old. The Frontier League has a level of competition similar to High A.

One of the teams in that league, the Trois-Rivières Aigles, plays at Stade Quillorama, built in 1938. The Cincinnati Reds AA team in the Eastern League played there from 1971-77.

I was in that stadium once, on a Wednesday night in September, 1978, (my College football team had a game there), and the place was decrepit, even then. The field wasn't big enough for Canadian Football. At one end of the field, the end zone was about 8 - 11 yards, with the curved outfield fence forming the back. The Trois-Rivieres quarterback, who was short, would run onto the pitcher's mound to gain a few inches when passing. There was a pretty good crowd, mostly because they sold beer, and there's fuck all to do on a Wednesday night in Trois-Rivières.

One of the guys on the team, a wide receiver who didn't catch a pass all season, (a couple of passes bounced off the numbers on his chest), took the team bus until we stopped for supper at about half distance, then he went the rest of the way by car with some of the other players who were driving separately. When we were about fifteen miles past the restaurant, one of the players said to the defensive coach that Paul XXXX wasn't on the bus, and might have been left behind at the restaurant, and the coach said "He isn't needed".

 

[Toronto Passions]

Philip, you're assuming that Hernandez would have resigned with the Blue Jays after his contract expired at the end of the 2023 season. You're also not taking into account which additional roster moves would have been necessary to accommodate his salary increase.

View attachment 343343

Hernandez WAS a bargain at the price he cost the Blue Jays. Realistically, they could not afford to pay what he's receiving from the Dodgers for a few reasons:

1) The Dodgers' ownership doesn't care about luxury tax payments; Rogers does.

2) The Jays have the millstone of George Springer's contract eating 10% of their total payroll.

3) The Jays would have had to pay him significantly more than the Dodgers' offer, for him to chose Toronto over Los Angeles. The artificial turf field at the Rogers Centre is a huge negative when it comes to acquiring or retaining free agent talent.

Typically the Jays manage to land free agents who have health or consistency question marks surrounding them, the players to whom other GMs are reluctant to offer long term commitments. Not surprisingly, many of those gambles, (Springer, Ryu, Kirby Yates), don't pan out.

I want to do my Googles and research when I have time and respond shortly in detail. Time consuming research is difficult at this moment. Off the top of my head, I will say the dimensions at home are now smaller and there’s less defence to play. Hernandez would’ve had a chance at better offensive numbers and better defensive numbers. Justin Turner, IKF, and Kevin Kiermaier make a total of over 30 million this year. That money could not have been allocated towards Teoscar Hernandez? The Blue Jays were prepared to “apparently” give Shohei Ohtani an upward of a $600 million contract presumably. I don’t know much about the luxury tax… these numbers seem to be pretty much in line with saying WTF? That makes no sense…

At the end of it all at last year’s trade deadline Hernandez openly said he would welcome a trade back to Toronto. Definitely doesn’t sound like somebody that’s trying to avoid the 3-D Astroturf. Many players loved Toronto and wanted to return after they left. An ageing Bautista outfielder simply wanted more money.

In my absolute honest opinion…. I believe Ross Atkins is a stubborn prick who doesn’t want to look like he made a mistake when he traded Hernandez for a relief pitcher that’s eating chicken wings in Buffalo currently. Doesn’t want to make it look as though he made a mistake with his defensive run prevention theory instead of a strong offensive lineup. He didn’t balance things properly and he’s an idiot. Even the fact that they didn’t sign Hernandez as a free agent this past off-season shows me that he is a stubborn prick that doesn’t want to look like he was wrong. At the end of the day, all of the statistical number crunching and over analytics gets us a last place team that’s a washout for 2024. This entire thing needs to be kept simple. Chicks dig the long ball.

Philip

 

[onomatopoeia]

I want to do my Googles and research when I have time and respond shortly in detail. Time consuming research is difficult at this moment. Off the top of my head, I will say the dimensions are now smaller and there’s less defence to play. Hernandez would’ve had a chance at better offensive numbers and better defensive numbers. Justin Turner, IKF, and Kevin Kiermaier make a total of over 30 million this year. That money could not have been allocated towards Teoscar Hernandez? The Blue Jays were prepared to “apparently” give Shohei Ohtani an upward of a $600 million contract presumably. I don’t know much about the luxury tax… these numbers seem to be pretty much in line with saying WTF? That makes no sense…

At the end of it all at last year’s trade deadline Hernandez openly said he would welcome a trade back to Toronto. Definitely doesn’t sound like somebody that’s trying to avoid the 3-D Astroturf. Many employers loved Toronto and wanted to return after they left. An ageing Bautista outfielder simply wanted more money.

In my absolute honest opinion…. I believe Ross Atkins is a stubborn prick who doesn’t want to look like he made a mistake when he traded Hernandez for a relief pitcher that’s eating chicken wings in Buffalo currently. Doesn’t want to make it look as though he made a mistake with his defensive run prevention theory instead of a strong offensive lineup. He didn’t balance things properly and he’s an idiot. Even the fact that they didn’t sign Hernandez as a free agent this past off-season shows me that he is a stubborn prick that doesn’t look like he was wrong.

Philip

$2 Million of this year's salary cap is going to Paul DeJong, who had a .136 OPS in 44 At Bats for the 2023 Jays.

There was never any chance that Otani was going to sign with the Blue Jays. That was just a pipe dream that the Jays didn't deny.

You keep neglecting to include Adam Macko in the package received for Teoscar. He's one of the Jays' top prospects, which isn't that impressive, in and of itself, but if he has success as a left-handed starting pitcher in Toronto, the return on that trade could eventually favour Toronto, especially in the hypothetical scenario where Hernandez was re-signed after one year in Seattle.

In hindsight, the long term deal given to George Springer has seriously hurt Toronto's budget flexibility. If Daulton Varsho had progressed as a hitter instead of toeing the Mendoza line in batting average, An outfield of Hernandez, Varsho and a $10 million dollar player other than Kiermaier wouldn't be that bad.

 

[Toronto Passions]

There was never any chance that Otani was going to sign with the Blue Jays. That was just a pipe dream that the Jays didn't deny.

You keep neglecting to include Adam Macko in the package received for Teoscar. He's one of the Jays' top prospects, which isn't that impressive,

That’s too bad it was just a pipe dream for Shohei Ohtani coming to Toronto. I saw one footage of Ross Atkins doing the Macarena because we were in the running to land him.

Adam Macko yippee with his 4+ ERA. One of our top prospects in a farm system that is ranked the 26th in baseball.

Anyways…..

Philip

 

[Insidious Von]

Lets not be hard on Vlady, he's producing without protection. Hank Aaron had Eddie Matthews, Mickey Mantle had Hank Bauer and Roger Maris, Willie Mays had Alvin Dark and Bobby Bonds.

Willie Mays was also the Godfather of Mr. Adorable.

 

[K Douglas]

That’s too bad it was just a pipe dream for Shohei Ohtani coming to Toronto. I saw one footage of Ross Atkins doing the Macarena because we were in the running to land him.

Adam Macko yippee with his 4+ ERA. One of our top prospects in a farm system that is ranked the 26th in baseball.

Anyways…..

Philip

I recall a time not too long ago when the Jays had a top 5 ranked farm system. The cupboards were depleted. And our top prospect can't seem to stay healthy for the past two seasons.

 

[onomatopoeia]

...Adam Macko yippee with his 4+ ERA. One of our top prospects in a farm system that is ranked the 26th in baseball.

Anyways…..

Philip

Macko's 23, and a left-hander. They tend to have a later career peak than a right-hander.

It's somewhat superficial to assess a prospect, based on minor league ERA alone. The quality of fielding and groundskeeping is lower at AA.

Consider the following, from the stats above:

1) Macko is in his first season of AA.

2) Macko is 1.6 years younger than the average age of players in AA.

3) He's averaging more than five innings per start.

4) He has 10 K's per nine innings, and a 3.07 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

5) 1.177 walks + hits per inning is All-Star caliber at the Major League level.

6) 9 hit batsmen in 77 1/3 innings pitched says he's not timid about pitching inside.

If he does turn out to be a star at the Major League level, and that's a big IF, be warned that I will rub your nose in a quote of #1,015.



It's nothing personal; strictly business.

 

[tml]

Votto will be in the Bisons lineup tonight.
https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/joey-votto-moving-up-to-buffalo-bisons-to-play-friday/

 

[onomatopoeia]

Votto will be in the Bisons lineup tonight.
https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/joey-votto-moving-up-to-buffalo-bisons-to-play-friday/

Joey Votto career stats

Joey didn't exactly tear up the Florida State League... he struck out 14 times in 38 at bats, against kids.

Joey Votto minor league stats