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The Jays seem to be setting themselves up for a for a fascinating middle of the season... one way or the other.
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The nicest thing the Blue Jays have going for them this week is a pair of off-days. That's far from the final word on what this season is ultimately going to be, but after losing four straight series the team feels less like the one that was shakily treading water in the season while the bats tried to catch up, and more like one that might genuinely have some serious issues. The hitting was never likely to be elite, but now the pitching is struggling, the bullpen can hardly hold a lead, their depth is being tested, George Springer looks cooked, Bo Bichette has produced less fWAR since last year's All-Star break than the positionless slugger everyone seems to have decided is a bust, their playoff odds are at their lowest point since they fell a game short on the last day of the 2021 season, they’re out there bunting their way out of rallies for god knows what reason. You get the idea.
Year two of “well it surely can't keep going like this” isn't letting up, and while nothing in this sport is ever as good or as bad as it seems, the Jays could sure use things seeming better—and fast—lest they actually find themselves as buried as half the fan base is already convinced they are. And as they now stare down a mid-week two-gamer against the team with the most wins in baseball, this doesn't feel quite like the moment when things are going to start looking up.
But it definitely does feel like a moment in which folks are going to have some big picture stuff on their minds. I guess we'd better talk about it.
So leave me your best thoughts and questions about any and all things Jays in the comments on this post!
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Since fans generally overestimate the return from a sell-off, what are realistic trades for our impending free agents and how much would it really improve the farm?
On the flip side, which impending free agents would be most targeted by other teams? I think Kikuchi and Yimi are the biggest (only?) trade chips that could help any contender.
Hello Andrew,
I'm writing this after Friday's loss to the Twins, 3-2, and I usually do not find losses egregious, but this one really irked me. IKF steps up to the plate with 2 men on base and 2 outs. Why not have Daniel Vogelbach, with a career 129 wRC+ against righties, pinch hit here? What's the point of having so many players capable of playing a lot of defensive positions, if the bench isn't in play every game? The Blue Jays rank 22nd on PAs by a pinch hitter, and even though they sport a 127 wRC+, that translates in 4 hits (3 singles and a home run) and 3 walks on 22 PAs, and defensively the could shift Schneider to 2nd and slot Kiermaier into CF, sliding Varsho to LF. The roster is constructed exactly for being aggressive, however the Blue Jays haven't been exactly that this season.
These kind of decisions are making me question the effectiveness of the data they have, the analysis of such data, and the decisions they make with that. I do not claim I know better than the team, they have access to better data and they do that for a job. However, lately I feel as if the Blue Jays are behind other teams with respect to their analytics department. So, my question is, do the Blue Jays have a good analytics team?
Thanks for reading, and best regards,
Gabriel Gutierrez Saldate, from Mexico