On a strange end to a strange first half, Blue Jays discourse discourse, Vlad thoughts, Manoah's spin rate, big words, bullpen heroes, Arjun Nimmala, several other draft picks, and more!
The first half of this article was some of your best writing yet! But I disagree with you about the lack of fear in the Blue Jays line up. I get scared every time Daulton Varsho comes to the plate.
That 2 run stat is fascinating. Does that mean in 2021 we either didn't score many runs or just bludgeoned the opposition? I guess so.
And Vlad and the home-run derby? Hard to get excited. He can hit batting practice and position player pitching far. Great. I sometimes wonder if the Jays are not particularly enamoured with extending him and have always leaned that way despite his 2021 season.
Vladdy and George Springer are grounding into too many double plays. This is the opposite of the fear factor you were talking about. Vladdy gets up to hit and we think, ah, he's going to do it again, and we aren't thinking about HRs. https://www.teamrankings.com/mlb/player-stat/grounded-into-double-plays
This team is literally a four-game win streak out of the break from popping maple boners galore. A few dingers that count from the derby champ wouldn’t hurt either.
And now to blissfully forget about the Blue Jays for the next 5 days. Appreciate all the work you’ve done so far this year and looking forward to the second half!
You beautifully encapsulate why this season feels so bad. It's not over, but it almost feels like the window that opened so hopefully in 2021 is rapidly closing, and the team has nothing to show for it. The worry is that considerable resources are being deployed, so this isn't a case of Edward Rogers going all cheap on us (and the fans are coming out to support the team). But why is it that a team like Tampa can consistently do so much more with so much less? Is this a front office problem?
The team's lack of depth has been repeatedly exposed. Springer is out and the offense looks like a pop-gun offense. There is no margin for error. There's nobody on the farm the team can call on to get things move. There's little hope on the horizon.
The Jays do have a World Series-winning GM on their payroll right now. Perhaps one thing to consider is replacing Ross Atkins with James Quick, if things don't turn around by the end of this season?
The first half of this article was some of your best writing yet! But I disagree with you about the lack of fear in the Blue Jays line up. I get scared every time Daulton Varsho comes to the plate.
That 2 run stat is fascinating. Does that mean in 2021 we either didn't score many runs or just bludgeoned the opposition? I guess so.
And Vlad and the home-run derby? Hard to get excited. He can hit batting practice and position player pitching far. Great. I sometimes wonder if the Jays are not particularly enamoured with extending him and have always leaned that way despite his 2021 season.
Vladdy and George Springer are grounding into too many double plays. This is the opposite of the fear factor you were talking about. Vladdy gets up to hit and we think, ah, he's going to do it again, and we aren't thinking about HRs. https://www.teamrankings.com/mlb/player-stat/grounded-into-double-plays
p.s. hurrah hurrah for the winner of the HRD!
This team is literally a four-game win streak out of the break from popping maple boners galore. A few dingers that count from the derby champ wouldn’t hurt either.
And now to blissfully forget about the Blue Jays for the next 5 days. Appreciate all the work you’ve done so far this year and looking forward to the second half!
You beautifully encapsulate why this season feels so bad. It's not over, but it almost feels like the window that opened so hopefully in 2021 is rapidly closing, and the team has nothing to show for it. The worry is that considerable resources are being deployed, so this isn't a case of Edward Rogers going all cheap on us (and the fans are coming out to support the team). But why is it that a team like Tampa can consistently do so much more with so much less? Is this a front office problem?
The team's lack of depth has been repeatedly exposed. Springer is out and the offense looks like a pop-gun offense. There is no margin for error. There's nobody on the farm the team can call on to get things move. There's little hope on the horizon.
The Jays do have a World Series-winning GM on their payroll right now. Perhaps one thing to consider is replacing Ross Atkins with James Quick, if things don't turn around by the end of this season?
I have no statistical evidence to say it feels like 1986 but it feels like 1986.
But unlike 1986, the Jays can make the playoffs without winning their division.