On the second half of the Cleveland series, the 2022 schedule, Atkins Speaks!, links and more!

Bo Bichette powered the Blue Jays’ offence on Thursday night and the bullpen — unlike Wednesday — took it from there. So let’s talk about them both and then some!

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Wednesday (Jays 8-Cleveland 6)

Nearly snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Here’s three up, three down…

▲ George Springer

We’re seeing up arrows next to Springer’s name a lot lately, but why wouldn’t he? The most expensive Blue Jays player ever kicked ass yet again, blasting another lead-off home run, then adding three more hits on top of that, including a double, plus two more RBIs (totalling three for the day, obviously) and another run scored as well. (This, of course, means that he was a triple shy of the cycle.)

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Springer now rank one-two in wRC+ among hitters with at least 150 plate appearances, with Springer now up to 172 for the season. He's much closer that 150 plate appearance cut-off than Vlad is (Springer had 164 plate appearances heading into Thursday's game, Vlad had 447), so there's a whole lot more opportunity for variance in his line. But this is sort of just who he is. Springer has a 136 wRC+ for his career, and since the start of 2019 that number is 157 -- the third best in baseball (min. 300 PA) behind Mike Trout and Yordan Alvarez. (Incidentally, currently tied with Trout for the most WAR by a position player over that span is Marcus Semien).

Ho hum, the Jays can hit the baseball. At least in the early innings of a game! (You can read more on that subject later on in the Atkins Speaks! section).

▲ Steven Matz

If I were running the Jays I might have sent Steven Matz to the bullpen last week when the club acquire Jose Berrios, and in so doing would have totally been an idiot for missing out on this gem of a performance. Sure, Cleveland doesn't exactly have a world-beating offence at the moment, and after getting through the top of the first he was staked to a good sized lead by his teammates, which surely made his task easier. But it's hard to argue with no runs on six hits over six innings with one walk and eight strikeouts. Matz has had an uneven season, but his ERA is now down to 4.30 on the year, which is pretty dang respectable for a fifth or sixth starter. It's a weird time of the season to be saying this but he's earned himself another look.

▲ The first seven innings

Me sowing: Haha fuck yeah!!! Yes!!

▼ Tayler Saucedo

T-Sauce was thrown back into big league duty rather suddenly due to Joakim Soria unexpectedly landing on the 10-day injured list before the game (Soria had picked up some kind of inflammation on his right middle finger after just one appearance in a Blue Jays uniform). I can give Saucedo a bit of a break because of that. Just not too much of one. He was awful!

Saucedo faced five batters, threw just 13 pitches, and didn't record one lousy out. Single. Single. Single. Double. Single. It brought the mood of Jays fans down in a hurry, as an 8-0 blowout quickly became an 8-4 ballgame (the fourth run coming on a sac fly on a slider from Saucedo's replacement, Adam Cimber, who has become an incredibly important member of the Blue Jays' bullpen and very much could have used a day off). It was, for once, at least an OK time for this kind of a bullpen wobble, but that was cold comfort for a fan base still very scarred by what they’ve seen out of the ‘pen this year.

Especially because the wild ride wasn’t over.

▼ Jordan Romano

Like Cimber, Jordan Romano was a pitcher that the Jays certainly didn’t want to use on Wednesday night. Particularly not in a laugher. A big four-game, three-day series with Boston looms, and both those guys are going to be needed to get through it.

That is assuming, of course, that Romano can quickly rediscover his best form. Sadly, on Wednesday he once again wasn’t able to do that.

A José Ramírez home run to lead off the ninth brought Cleveland to within three. Two strikeouts later and Oscar Mercado homered to shave another run off of Cleveland's deficit. A single to the next batter, Owen Miller, brought Austin Hedges to the plate as the potential tying run. Romano struck him out to end the game, but it was hardly confidence inspiring. Nor have his recent performances been in general.

Over 8 2/3 innings since the start of July, Romano has allowed 10 hits and eight runs (all earned) with four walks and five home runs. His strikeout rate has remained good (he's K'd 10 over that span), and as you can see below he's had a bit of an uptick in his slider's spin rate in his last couple of appearances (bringing it back to a level closer to where it was before MLB's mid-June "sticky stuff" crackdown). He also did, ultimately, manage to keep this game from disastrously slipping away — so credit to him for that. But I repeat: five home runs in 8 2/3 innings. His ERA since July 1 is 8.31. Ugh.

▼ Making it a close game

Me reaping: Well this fucking sucks. What the fuck.

The Blue Jays’ best relievers right now appear to be Cimber, Rafael Dolis, Tim Mayza, and Trevor Richards. It’s great that there are at least four reasonably reliable guys down there right now, but that’s, uh, not exactly how this was supposed to work!

Thursday (Jays 3 - Cleveland 0)

No down arrows for this delightful two-and-a-half hours of nearly mistake-free Blue Jays baseball. Here’s six up…

▲ Ross Stripling

Stripling impressed yet again (albeit against a somewhat punchless Cleveland lineup that didn't include the great José Ramírez). He allowed just three hits over six innings of work, walking just one batter and striking out six.

The best assessment of his day came, I think, from Stripling himself after the game. Or, at least, by far the most interesting one.

I felt strong, physically. The strongest since the outings a little bit before the All-Star break. Kind of a Pete Walker special, man. He's always fixing me. We threw a bullpen a couple days ago, he just kind thought I was flying down the slope a little fast. Like, as my leg was raising already starting to fall down the slope. I've kind of battled that my whole career. Just kind of saying, 'Hey man, get that leg kick all the way up, spend some time over the rubber and get going.' That's maybe why we saw a tick or two up on the velo today. And also I think it just kind of syncs everything up, timing wise. But to answer your question, really I would say changeup took a good step forward today. I was throwing it early in the count, middle of the count, putting guys away with it. I think that was kind of the game-changer for me today.

The fans certainly agreed about the changeup.

Blue Jays Nation @thejaysnation

That changeup, ACEstrada-esque. *chef's kiss*

Bless you, Pete Walker. 🙏

▲ Bo Bichette

Stripling’s counterpart, 24-year-old Triston McKenzie, did not pitch like a guy who came into the ballgame with a 6.11 ERA and 45 walks in 63 1/3 innings. He got through seven innings giving up just five hits and no walks while striking out four. Unfortunately for him — and fortunately for the Jays — he hung a middle-middle 0-2 slider to Bo Bichette with Vladdy on base in the fourth, and the Jays’ shortstop was able to stay back and absolutely punish it.

Two innings later, Bichette cashed Marcus Semien from second base with a two-out double to give the Jays an added bit of insurance. His three RBIs would be the only runs the Jays would score — and, more importantly, the only ones they’d need — on the evening. The homer was his 20th of the season, and on the day he raised his wRC+ to 125. He continues, somewhat quietly, to be putting together one of the greatest shortstop seasons in Blue Jays history.

▲ Vlad’s pad

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got hit on the back of the hand by a 95.1 mph cutter from Bryan Shaw in the bottom of the eighth inning, and thank piss for the pad he wears there.

That could have truly been devastating.

▲ Espinal’s bare hand

A well-positioned Santiago Espinal made a great, barehanded play in the top of the eighth to nab the speedy Miles Straw on an infield chopper on the third base side. A potent reminder that he really needs to play more. (Espinal also singled with two outs in the fifth, ensuring that the top of the lineup would come up to start the sixth inning, which led to Bichette’s insurance run.)

▲ Richards/Mayza/Cimber

Not exactly the late-inning trio that you want, but definitely right now the late-inning trio that the Blue Jays need. The three hits off of Stripling proved to be the only ones that Cleveland could muster on the day. Espinal’s play helped in that regard, but mostly this was due to the work of Trevor Richards, Tim Mayza, and (new closer?) Adam Cimber, who managed just one strikeout between them (a game-ender on a sinker to Oscar Mercado), but were efficient and in control. I’d be happy to see these guys get more chances like this — they’ve earned it.

▲ Moar winz!

The Jays are in a dogfight to make the playoffs. They’re a game behind the Yankees, and 2.5 games back of the A’s for the second wild card spot in the American League. It’s absolutely not going to be easy. But it sure feels like it’s going to be a lot of fun — and all we can ask of them is to keep on doing what they’ve been doing since they returned to Canada. Especially this weekend against the stupid Red Sox.

The Jays’ 2022 schedule is out!

I can’t claim to understand why MLB releases a schedule that doesn’t begin for eight months on some random Wednesday in August when there’s plenty of current baseball action going on to pay attention to, but that’s exactly what the league did this week — as, I’m pretty sure, they do every year. Whatever the reason, next year’s schedule is here! If you prefer you can take a closer look at it on BlueJays.com. Here are some thoughts and highlights.

March/April/May

• Thursday, March 31 @ Baltimore: The Jays begin the season on the road, and in the out-of-doors, with a visit to Camden Yards in Baltimore. There are worse parties to have a chance to spoil than an Orioles home opener — and the Jays will have a good chance to do just that, seeing as Baltimore hardly stands to be much better by then than they are right now. Friday, April 1 is, of course, an off day in case the opener is rained (or snowed?) out.

• Monday, April 4 vs. Tampa Bay: The Jays will return home after four days in Baltimore to have their own home opener against the dastardly Rays in front of what one can only hope is an absolutely packed house. Of course, with the way the wretched leaders of this province are playing chicken with a fourth pandemic wave, and the anti-vax dumbshits are making themselves willing hosts for potentially more virulent strains of COVID-19 to break through, I wouldn't bet on that happening just yet. (Hey, and even if it the game isn’t wiped out by those clowns, there are other clowns — MLB owners, specifically — who might end up screwing with the start of the season by trying to grind the players union to dust by way of a labour stoppage. Fun times!)

• Mid-April to mid-May: The Jays have a bit of a nightmare run early on, it turns out. After getting the Orioles, Rays, and Rangers in their first three series' they then run this gamut: four in the Bronx; hosting Oakland for three; Boston (3) and Houston (3) road trip; then hosting Boston (4), Houston (3), and New York (3). A series against Cleveland (already listed in the new schedule as the Guardians, though I, uh, think there's a roller derby team who might have something to say about that) is their only respite before then going to the Bronx for two and following that with a trip to the Trop for three. Not ideal! Things do ease up pretty good after that though, at least. Frankly, they pretty much have to.

• Friday, April 15 vs. Oakland: Not exactly a traditional baseball holiday around here, but we might get a matinee out of the Jays and A’s on Good Friday. If everybody stays on their turn the first few times through the order, the Blue Jays’ number four starter will get this one, which I suppose means there’s a decent chance we get Alek Manoah or Nate Pearson (or, let’s be honest, Alek Manoah).

• Monday, May 23 @ St. Louis: You’ll notice the “@” symbol, and yes, it means what you think. The Blue Jays will be in St. Louis on Victoria Day. Silver lining: at least it won’t matter if they sit Vlad!

• May 26 - 29 @ Los Angeles (AL): Nothing special about this one, but a four game weekend series in L.A. in late May? I could think of worse things to do. Even if we’re actually talking about Anaheim.

June/July

• The schedule is much nicer for the Jays for most of June, with games against the Twinis and Orioles in the first couple weeks of the month, as well as a road trip to Kansas City (3) and Detroit (3).

• Monday, June 20 @ Chicago (AL): This one is the first of six road games in seven days which start with the Jays on the south side of Chicago for three with the White Sox. They then go to Milwaukee for a rare weekend trip to face their former AL East foes, the Brewers. A Chicago/Milwaukee trip sounds potentially hard on the liver, but I would nonetheless think that’s going to be a very tempting trip for a lot of Jays fans. And for good reason. Chicago obviously rules and I’ve heard Milwaukee is really fun too!

• Friday, July 1 vs. Tampa Bay: Canada Day against the Rays? What could possib-bly go wrong? (Hey, but at least the holiday falls on a Friday, giving us a proper long weekend.)

August/September/October

• Monday, August 1: An off day on the civic holiday ahead of a two-gamer against the Rays in St. Pete. You’re not even trying here, schedule-makers!

• Thursday, August 4 @ Minnesota: José Berríos has to wait more than a year to see the team that traded him away last week. The Jays visit the Twins for four starting with this one, so the odds are that however few people will be there watching the (presumably) rebuilding Twins will get the chance to see him pitch in person again and give him a big hand.

• Speaking of rebuilding clubs, the Jays get to face the Orioles six times in the month of August. Cleveland will come to town in between those games (presumably without José Ramírez, who will surely have been traded to a team like the Blue Jays by then). The Jays will also get three with the Cubs to close out the month. Hey and who knows, maybe the Yankees will have pulled the plug on their roster by then, too. *COUGH*

• Monday, September 5 @ Baltimore: Another holiday, another road game. That's no fun! However, the Jays do spend the bulk of Labour Day weekend in Pittsburgh before heading to face the Orioles, and you could definitely do worse than making the trip for those. The road trip continues the following weekend with a visit to Arlington to see the José Bautista-owned Texas Rangers, which makes this swing a bit weird, geographically, but just dandy baseball-wise.

• The home stretch: The Jays will need to capitalize on that soft group of games, as well as the next few, most likely, because the end of their season gets mighty tough. After returning home from Texas they get the Rays for three, then the Orioles for three. They then go for a mid-week two-game with the Phillies before four at the Trop, after which they finish with three at home to the Yankees, then three more at home to the Red Sox. Yowza. The regular season concludes October 2.

Links!

• Interesting tidbit from Jeff Passan of ESPN, who wrote a wide-ranging post-deadline piece this week that included a section on minor leaguers to watch. One of them was the Jays’ Orelvis Martinez. “Everyone was asking the Blue Jays for Martinez, and the conversations started and stopped there,” he tells us before suggesting that Martinez may end up the best of the Jays’ vaunted group of middle infield prospects.

• Speaking of middle infield prospects, in a recent chat with readers at his personal blog, the Athletic’s Keith Law had some interesting words about Kevin Smith, a potential September call-up for the Jays who is having the second breakout season of his career down in Buffalo. “Now that is a swing change guy. Different player than he was pre-COVID (or at Maryland, for that matter),” he writes. “He’s gone from a 3 (nothing) to a 5 (everyday player).” That’ll play!

• Quickly, here are a few more prospect things: Baseball America has updated their Blue Jays top 30 list following the trade deadline (catcher Gabriel Moreno, who they say is now one of the game’s premier prospects, is the club’s new number one); Shi Davidi of Sportsnet has a fresh prospect report up, with a focus on Gunnar Hoglund, the Jays’ recent top draft pick and their next big pitching hope; and speaking of pitching hopes, Dutchman Sem Robberse continues to pitch well for Low-A Dunedin.

• Also quickly, a couple on the Jays’ main core pieces. First, Vlad Religion waxes brilliantly, as always, about Vlad the Main Character. Elsewhere, David Laurila of FanGraphs gets into the nuts and bolts of hitting in a one-on-one interview with none other than Bo Bichette.

• One last link before we move on to Ross Atkins — only this one is a video. Specifically, it’s an hourlong 1993 report from the PBS show Frontline that I found absolutely engrossing. A history of baseball’s labour disputes mixed in with a bunch of remembering some guys, crossed with a whole lot of the seeds of the way big business took over the game in the years since. Baseball has come a long way since then in a lot of ways, but in a lot of ways it has not. Strong recommend.

Atkins speaks!

With his trade deadline work complete and the Jays full-on into their stretch run, Jays GM Ross Atkins had time for a couple of media hits this week. Here are the highlights of both, beginning with Wednesday’s relatively short appearance on MLB Network’s High Heat.

On making big moves like the Berríos trade

I think we've been fortunate. We have been fortunate, and worked hard to understand what motivates individuals, what's important to them, and how they're going to fit into this environment, how they're going to fit into this city and the nation. Our professional scouting department has done an incredible job to know the players that we're acquiring. We've worked hard with their representation and with them individually to make sure we were painting the best possible picture to them to know what they were coming into. Whether that be Dunedin, Buffalo, or Toronto was certainly another challenge for us. And they've been great. One of the things that really excited about us with Berríos is how well we feel he will fit in with that group. We do have a pretty strong Latin American contingency, but it's really just the personalities. Hyun Jin Ryu, Alek Manoah, the names that you've already mentioned — he's going to fit right in. He's an incredible person, an incredible teammate that loves baseball and loves to compete. That was a very exciting acquisition for us, for those reasons.

The first thing I thought of when hearing this quote was how not every team necessarily thinks like this about players it acquires. The club’s willingness to let Bo Bichette be himself was, as the story goes, a big reason that the Jays were able to get him out of a commitment to Arizona State in the 2016 draft. We also heard an interesting quote this week from former Jays starter Matt Shoemaker, who was recently released by the Twins, and who apparently didn’t quite jibe with “The Twins Way.”

SKOR North @SKORNorth

"I'm pitching the opposite of how the Twins wanted me to pitch." – Matt Shoemaker didn't agree with the #MNTwins approach... 😳

The Blue Jays think about culture. A lot. Have you heard?

That’s not an admonishment either. Clearly there seems to be something to what they’re doing with respect to team-building. And clearly it’s not by accident.

Speaking of…

On Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

I was saying to someone last night, even when he has a bad day — and a bad day for him is four hard hit ground balls and a line drive at someone — you still feel so good about his presence in the clubhouse, his presence in the dugout, and certainly his presence in the lineup. You see how pitchers pitch him different, and what's gone — not unnoticed, but his impact at first base. He's been fantastic at first base. He brings so much energy to the field, I think he makes others around him better just by playing as relaxed as he does. Believe me, he's not too relaxed. There's the appropriate level of intensity, but that smile on his face is very helpful for our team and the rest of this organization. He's been remarkable, he really has.

Extend this man. Let’s gooooo.

The other media appearance Atkins made this week was back on Tuesday, when he had a chat with Jeff Blair and Kevin Barker on Sportsnet 590’s Baseball Central. Here are the highlights of that one…

On the biggest difference since being home

It's their surroundings, is the biggest difference. These guys, they were incredible. When they were in Buffalo, when they were in Dunedin, on the road, they have always been a very upbeat and positive group and extremely professional. I think they have probably gotten an added boost of energy, and not one that they needed. The guys, they really did a good job of just staying focused on what they could control. But the surroundings has added a big boost. It's not something I ever thought you could really quantify, or talk about something as extremely significant, of how important it is to have your home crowd cheering for you. They're professionals, you expect them to compete and do the best to their ability, regardless of who's saying we're behind you or not. But it is, over time, just exceptionally powerful. And not something, in this world, you're ever challenged to think about too much. (Yet) we just experienced it. So, I think the energy they get from the fans and from being in this facility has been palpable for sure.

. . .

If you think about it over time, right. So if every single time that you're getting a certain emotion from, whether it be a visiting crowd or a home crowd, you are going to get some level of emotion. Whether it's anxiety or excitement or just more desire to come through because of that level of energy that's coming at you. On one night, sure, that is a very, very small thing that may bump you in one direction or another. But over the course of time it really can be powerful. And that's one of the beautiful things about baseball.

This may be an observation that’s only interesting to me, but I think it’s wild how a lot of the people who hated Atkins’ and Mark Shapiro’s guts the most back in 2016 or ‘17 were the kinds of fans who would have absolutely been hooting and hollering if they had heard this kind of culture and intangibles stuff coming from “bean counter” Alex during the early years of the Anthopoulos era. Or that’s what I always thought, at least.

I wonder how they’re reconciling all this.

On Biggio’s injury and the league adjusting to him

I think he's been battling through the different aggravations and the injuries that he's had. The pain throughout his thoracic spine and into his neck, as a rotational athlete, is not something you want to be dealing with. And really, not huge differences. I think they're subtle. I think there has been times that he's gotten away from his approach — and it's subtle, like I said. It's not anything drastic where you see him be maybe a little bit more aggressive at pitches out of the zone than what we've seen in the past. His swing looks relatively similar, he's tried at different times to use the whole field more, and at different times maybe rely a little bit more heavily on a pull side approach. But his swing, you know, is not drastically different. But I do think, as you know, with a round ball and a round bat, those subtle differences really matter. So, he'll be back. He'll be back in a strong way, and the player that we saw last year. He's not that far off from it. It really is a matter of a week or two of that really consistent, steady approach, seeing a lot of pitches, and waiting for that mistake in the middle of the zone.

So Biggio’s struggles of late are sort of about the injury, but also sort of about his approach, and also sort of about his swing? Do I have that right. Also it’s subtle and it will be fine? Hmm.

On Nate Pearson

He's 100% healthy, the ball is exploding out of his hand, we are exceptionally encouraged about where he is, physically. And now it's just a matter of, fundamentally, execution, getting him to a place where he could be a major league option. We'll need to see a couple — at least — a couple, probably more likely several, Triple-A outings to start to factor him in and think about how he could potentially impact us.

Stuff? Check. Health? Check. Execution? Uh… not where it needs to be?

Maybe it’s understandable based on the weird year Pearson has had, or maybe I’m reading too much into a benign comment, but this is definitely making me wonder about the state of his command. That, of course, has been big Nate’s biggest area of concern so far next to health. That’s major. The Jays’ bullpen held it together this week, but they could really use him down the stretch.

How quick did the Berríos deal come together?

It depends on how you say "that deal," right? First you have to do all the work on your farm system to understand what level each piece is in the equation and how it impacts your organization. Then you do the work on all the starting pitchers, and dig into them individually. So that takes weeks, to do all of that. And then understanding what your alternatives are, and then thinking though, or just understanding from the other team, what they're looking for in return. That piece of the equation was probably less than three days, of understanding what the return was going to be. The back and forth with the Minnesota Twins was not something that transpired over a month, it was more something that transpired over several days. They were just fine having José Berríos come back to their organization, so we knew there was going to be a premium that had to be paid.

Ahh, so teams will sometimes say they’re just fine with keeping a player but then trade him anyway? Some of that Biggio talk is starting to make more sense!

On Brad Hand

Great track record. We know the durability and where it comes from and why he's been durable. We know the competitor — he's not going to back down. He hasn't had his best year, and we're hopeful that the next month-and-a-half or two months, or hopefully three, will be closer to the Brad Hand that we saw two years ago. The velo has been there, the velo has been encouraging for us thus far. Finding the consistency around that slider will be key for whether or not he's helping us in the eighth or the ninth, or contributing on another level.

Didn’t pay a high price for Hand, and I think it’s reasonable to hope that Pete Walker, Matt Buschmann and company can find a way to fix him. Right now, however, he’s “contributing on another level,” and it needs to stay that way until he starts producing some better results.

On George Springer's impact

It's so interesting with major league hitters, there's this debate that will forever exist in hitting — it's never going to be determined that it's better to be disciplined versus aggressive, passive versus aggressive. There is ongoing discussion about that, there will be forever, because it's a mindset and it's different for every individual. I think George strikes that balance about as well as you can look to strike it, in that, with his given talent and his ability, he has seemingly a very aggressive mindset to hit the ball hard and hit it a long way, and he's able to make decisions soon enough that he sees pitches as well. That's an incredible combination. I think with Vladdy, Vladdy does it a little bit more naturally and inherently than most, just because of the bat speed, because of the vision, and George is exceptional that way in that he's looking to do damage, he's obviously very aggressive — you see early in the game, early in counts, first pitch home runs — but he sees the ball so early, so he's seeing a lot of pitches. And that is extremely tiring for opposing pitchers. That's kind of the gist of it. But just having, in my view, having another threat like that that has the potential to not only hit a ball out of the park but have a really good at-bat with a man on second, or thinking through the situation of the game and understanding the importance of plate discipline is a great complement to our team.

Uh, yeah. George Springer’s really friggin’ good!

On the batters' struggles late and close

It is something we need to be better with, there's no doubt about that. But what I will say is good hitters hit good pitching, and I have seen, from time to time, last year, this year, our hitters handle some of the best pitchers in the game. So, velocity is not as much of a concern. Having elite right-handed relievers come in and face our lineup is less than ideal, we'd rather they be left-handed, but our hitters hit good pitching. So I think it's really going to come down to the strike zone and making sure that we're disciplined to it. I don't want to speak for our hitters, (but) I don't think that any of them are intimidated by any pitcher in the game. It's not the velo component as much that exposes us, it's more the plate discipline and making sure that we stay within the zone.

Seems pretty reasonable to me!

Top image and schedule via the Toronto Blue Jays/@BlueJays; Screengrabs/GIFs via Sportsnet/MLB.tv