Stray Thoughts... - Gaus is the Man for Opening Day
PLUS: A W(eirdos) B(eat) C(anada) Update, Vladdy, Okamoto, Adam Macko, Max Scherzer, José Berríos, Yimi García, Daulton Varsho, Joe Siddall, a fresh podcast, and more!
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Indulge me a little peek behind the curtain off the top here, because for way too many weeks now I’ve been fighting with a handful of lengthy, bigger picture types of pieces that I’ve wanted to get out in order to put some kind of a cap on the winter and pivot toward the 2026 season. As regular readers will have noticed, this plan has not exactly been fruitful—to put it mildly.
Unfortunately, the longer it’s taken to get these things finished, the more expansive, more authoratitive, more definitive, more weighty I’ve felt they needed to be, and thus the harder they’ve been to get right. And until I’ve got them right, I’ve just not been ready to move on. Until now.
Yes, with the World Baseball Classic reaching its end stages, and Spring Training gearing toward the finish, I’ve finally made the call that I just need to let those things I’ve been working on go. I need to forget how much has happend that I’ve yet to offer my organized thoughts on, set it all aside, cannibalize whatever I can, and get back into the rhythm of posting.
I probably could have simply done that quietly without boring you all with this excuse-making, but I feel obliged to give at least some account of how my time has been occupied, considering the many people who generously pay to support what I do, without whom I honestly don’t know where I’d be.
Sometimes I need to understand that I don’t need to comment on every single thing that’s happened since my last post, and sometimes—it turns out—that’s not easy.
So… yeah. Stray thoughts! Spring! Baseball! This not only seems to be the right moment to jump back into things timing-wise, there also happens to be a whole lot that’s worth discussing right now. So let’s not gum up the works any further and get to it…
Freak Friday
From the creepy military wank-off pep talk, to the second rebuked handshake of the tournament, to the “U-S-A”-chanting crowd full of gaudy Americana, to the blood-soaked geopolitical backdrop of it all, to the final score, Friday at the World Baseball Classic was a great day for absolute freaks.
I mean, probably. I wouldn’t know, myself. I was too busy forgiving Josh Naylor for his playoff antics, furiously looking up everything I could about Matt “Tugboat” Wilkinson and his “invis-ball,” and trying to close my brain off from any thoughts about Ernie Whitt’s choices.
The USA beat Team Canada by a score of 5-3 in quarterfinal action, of course. But if not for an Abraham Toro throwing error and a tough inning from a guy who hasn’t pitched professionally since 2019, Canada’s ever first trip to the latter stages of the WBC might have turned into something special. Starter Mike Soroka handled the star-studded American lineup about as well as could be expected, and relievers Wilkinson, Micah Ashman, and Jays prospect Adam Macko were even better. Bo Naylor pulled Canada within two runs on the biggest home run by a Bo in Canadian baseball history in the sixth. And in the seventh a second-and-third situation with no outs fizzled as David Bednar neutralized the heart of the Canada’s order.
It was not to be.
Or… well, either it was not to be or the Americans were just so amped up by the pre-game speech they received from some loser SEAL Team Six guy who lied about being the sole person to kill Osama Bin Laden, got banned by Delta Air Lines for being an anti-mask weirdo, publicly whined about the Navy—the Navy!—hiring a “digital ambassador” who did drag shows, and once hilariously told a couple of young male Kamala Harris voters that “if there was no social media you would be my concubines,” that they couldn’t possibly have lost. Take your pick.
I don’t want to dwell too much on this stuff, but it’s just… it’s a lot. I mean, Team USA getting an ultra-serious jingoistic pep talks before a baseball game against Canada? LOL!
And Cal Raleigh, fresh off of proclaiming his love of Claymore mines by wearing a “front toward enemy” shirt, refusing to shake hands with opponents? Including ones on his own big league team, like Randy Arozarena last week against Mexico, and this time Naylor, who hilariously stoked the fires of controversy by going in for a fist bump specifically against his dumbass teammate’s wishes?
Absurd stuff! Humiliating stuff if you’re not a complete mutant! Stuff that would seem obviously villainous to Americans if it were, say, the Soviets in the 80s doing it!
Just… weird shit. Anti-social shit. Loser shit.
So, despite the defeat, for me, if Canada wasn’t going to win this game—and given the gulf between the available talent for either side, they got about as close as could have been realistically imagined—they can at least hold their heads incredibly high for the effort, and for the fact that they were able to take the piss out of some of the Americans’ buffoonish chest-puffery in the process.
I mean, I’m not exactly thrilled that I’ve grown so fond of a guy who is likely going to be a thorn in the Blue Jays’ side for the next several years, but how do you come out of this not loving Josh Naylor? (Oh, he didn’t hit well over five games? Whatever. It happens. All-in on the Naylor boys.)
Other WBC Notes…
• There is nothing more weak-seeming than trying desperately to not look weak. If you ask me, the Americans should relax and try to have some fun. You know, act like they’ve actually been there before.
• Perhaps the US team will tone down their dumb bullshit now that Clayton Kershaw will no longer be among their ranks, though I somehow doubt it. The Dodgers legend, who wrote a bible verse used by “Taking Back the Rainbow” groups on his ballcap as an apparent message of silent protest last Pride night, was removed from the American roster following the Canada and will be replaced by Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman. LOVE THIS IDEA FOR THE AMERICANS!
• Paul Skenes gets the ball in Team USA’s semifinal against the Dominican Republic on Sunday, which is a bit of a terrifying thought for all the new D.R. fans out there—myself included. Vladdy and company have been fun as hell all tournament long, but they’re countering with Luis Severino. That’s not a great pitching matchuo for them, but it’s compelling stuff nevertheless! Should be a hell of a watch! And may the most fun team win!
• A lot of people out there taken aback at the athleticism and instincts on display in Vladdy’s impressive slide into home after taking off for his leap from what seemed like halfway up the third base line during the D.R.’s game against South Korea the other day. I mean, great play, great player great athlete, love to see it, but… uh… why is anybody surprised?
• Vlad, by the way, is 7-for-14 so far at the WBC, with two doubles, two homers, two walks, five runs scored, eight RBIs, a slash line of .500/.529/1.071, and a .634 wOBA. Crazier still, he’s underperforming his xwOBA of .700.
• Yeah, I fuckin’ bet you are, Andy…
• Kazuma Okamoto, on the other hand, is just 2-for-15 so far, with a single, a double, and three walks in 18 PA. Fortunately none of these numbers mean anything unless I want them to.
• They say Adam Macko looked like a different guy when he moved from the rotation into the bullpen last August, and not only do the stats bear that out, but I think that Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge, and Kyle Schwarber would probably agree. As a reliever, Macko put up a 3.81 ERA with 32 Ks in 26 innings and 1.00 WHIP to end the season last year, but those numbers are skewed by a rough first outing from the ‘pen. Remove that and he finished the year with a 2.45 ERA over 22 innings in seven relief appearances, racking up 22 Ks while allowing just 14 hits and five walks. And now the even better news: September was his only full month as a reliever, and in that month his fastball averaged 94.0 mph. At the WBC so far? He’s up to 94.8. (Albeit in shorter stints.)
José, Can You See Dr. Keith Meister?
Obviously the story of the moment out of Dunedin is the status of José Berríos, who one minute was rolling through his spring buildup, looking—and, apparently, feeling—like he was in midseason form, then the next was getting scratched from his Thursday start because of a funky MRI.
Berríos would never have even had the MRI, which revealed elbow inflammation in his right elbow—different, supposedly, than the inflammation he dealt with last season—had he not been hoping to get insured in order to join team Puerto Rico for the second round of the WBC.
To his great disappointment, Berríos been unable to get insurance to pitch in the first round of the tournament, likely because he’d ended last season on the injured list. If his pitch counts early in spring were any indication, he seemed especially determined to rectify the situation and get in on the fun. For example, after throwing 47 pitches in his spring debut back on February 23rd, he continued working in the bullpen.
But did he go too hard to fast? At this point we can’t say for sure. What we do know is that instead of joining up with his countrymen in Houston, he’ll be headed to another part of Texas, as on Friday it was subsequently announced that he’s scheduled for an appointment with the dreaded Dr. Keith Meister—the Keith-meister!—whose home base is in Arlington.
It’s a weird situation, with Meister’s addition to the story being a particularly disturbing wrinkle. His name is maybe not as synonymous with Tommy John surgery as Frank Jobe or James Andrews, but it’s certainly not one that anyone wants to see in a valuable pitcher’s medical reports.
That said, it’s not like every pitcher who goes to see Meister comes away needing surgery. There are countless examples I could citge here, but one of the top of my head is Shane Bieber, who visited Meister last season, after having a setback in his recovery from Tommy John while still a member of the Guardians. (HE’S BEEN FINE!)
Frankly, I’m not even sure if this is one of those “well, you don’t go to see a guy like that if you like your original diagnosis” situations either. I mean, Berríos says he feels fine—and John Schneider told reporters this week, including Sportsnet’s David Singh, that if the club “didn't agree with him, we would, I think, be a little bit more concerned”—and the issue is simply being termed “inflammation.” I think it’s perfectly logical that they’d simply want to know as much about this as possible and Meister is the guy to consult here.
Still, at the very least it’s a setback. Berríos has missed a start now, won’t be able to get back off of a mound again until the Jays know what’s going on. And the bad thing is still on the table. Not ideal when Bieber is still not throwing off a mound and Trey Yesavage is being brought along so deliberately!
Other pitching notes…
• Of course, the Jays’ rotation would still be in pretty good shape if Berríos were to go down. They’ve got Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Cody Ponce, and Eric Lauer building up normally. Yesavage should, at worst, be able to give them bulk innings in the early going. Their early schedule is light and full of off-days anyway. Plus there’s Max Scherzer, who threw 65 pitches over 4 2/3 innings against the Tigers on Saturday. And they were pretty good ones, too!
• Scherzer outduelled reigning two-time AL Cy Young winner, and future Blue Jay, Tarik Skubal at TD Ballpark on the day, allowing no runs on two hits and two walks, compared to Skubal’s one run allowed (albeit on just three hits and no walks, while striking out seven to Scherzer’s five). Mad Max’s velocity (93.4 on average) was about where it was last season, meaning that it was down from where we saw him in the playoffs (94.6). But... well... it’s spring and I’m not about to quibble with the results.
• Gausman was the first name that I listed above for a specific reason, which is the fact that the Jays made it official here on Saturday that he’ll be taking the ball for them on Opening Day later this month at Rogers Centre. Incredibly, it will be the first time that Gausman has done so as a member of the Blue Jays, despite 2026 already being the final year of the incredible five-year deal he signed back in November of 2021.
• Elsewhere on the pitching front, Yimi García was back throwing from a mound here on Saturday. That’s obviously great news for the club, and manager John Schneider knows it. “You don’t get excited about bullpens at this time in spring training. But when Yimi’s back up there, it’s pretty cool,” he told reporters, including Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling, prior to the club’s game against the Tigers. “He’s a huge part of our bullpen.”
• Less great about the Yimi news, however, is the fact that it was only just back on Tuesday that we were being told that Yimi and Bieber were on similar progression schedules. Now it appears as though Bieber is quite a bit farther behind.
Quickly…
• Moving on, there’s really only been one Blue Jays hitter to talk about over the last few days, and that’s Daulton Varsho. On Saturday he hit his third home run in two games, taking Skubal deep to right-centre in the bottom of the fifth. A year after belting four homers in 12 spring games, Varsho now has four in 13, posting a 1.486 OPS so far and is looking a whole lot like he’s looked… well… basically for over a year now when healthy. Save for one thing that is. Last season Varsho struck out 28.4% of the time. Last spring he struck out eight times through those 12 games (and 33 at-bats). This year through 33 spring at-bats he’s only struck out once. Yes, it’s only the Grapefruit League, but I can’t imagine Varsho has had many stretches this long in his entire life when he’s only struck out once. Meaningful? I don’t know. But even if not, the power is still certainly there, and that’s a tremendous sign.
• But it might be meaningful! Sportsnet’s David Singh had a fascinating piece this week looking at some of the things that Jays hitting coach David Popkins has been working on with Varsho this spring, and those things absolutely include cutting down on swing-and-miss. Not only that, they’ve also been focussed on getting him to catch balls deep, which should allow him to do a better job of hitting the ball with authority to all fields—not just the pull side. Encouraging results so far.
• Getting ahead of ourselves here, but if Varsho keeps this up all season he’s undoubtedly going to be a very wealthy man when he hits free agency next winter. And that’s something that, at this point, I pretty much expect him to do. Though at times he’s seemed a clear extension candidate, Varsho now seems to reside in similar territory as Bo Bichette did a year ago: tough to evaluate, in a strong position to bet on himself, yet potentially still a candidate to accept a qualifying offer if things don’t go quite as well as hoped. Add in the uncertainty regarding baseball even being played in year one of any extension the club were to sign with him, and the fact that he is now represented by notorious extension-avoider Scott Boras, and things get even trickier.
• And yes, it really does appear as though Varsho is now a Boras client. There doesn’t seem to have ever been an official announcement of this—though that’s not atypical for BorasCorp—and places like Baseball Reference still show him as being represented by ISE Baseball, but it’s notable that BorasCorp congratulated Varsho on Instagram for his Gold Glove win back in November of 2024, which is something you wouldn’t expect to see if he for a player belonging to a rival agency. Plus, the company is more than a little bit secretive, with no official client list available anywhere, and their website leading to a rudimentary page that only includes a logo and their contact email. And, most notable of all, Gregor Chisholm of the Toronto Star wrote back in January that Varsho had indeed joined the evil empire.
• Hmm. Your ideas are intriguing to me, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter…
• Heading back to Sportsnet for a second, and to the pitching side of things, where Nick Ashbourne has a recent one taking a look at what we can expect from Max Scherzer this season based on what has been accomplished by the 21 previous age-41 pitchers to have started a game since 2000. (A word to the wise: don’t get too excited!)
• Nick, of course, is my podcast cohost on Blue Jays Happy Hour, which this week finds us talking about many things we’ve touched on here in this post—Scherzer, the latest Berríos news, Vladdy—and a bunch that we haven’t, including Yesavage’s ramp-up, that weird IKF-was-out-by-feet-not-inches announcement no one asked for, and a whole lot more. So go have a listen by finding Blue Jays Happy Hour on your podcast app of choice, like Apple, Spotify, etc.
• Also! Don’t forget that Nick and I are on Patreon, where for just $6 a month you can get ad-free versions of our main show, plus exclusive bonus episodes every week. For this week for the bonus show we discussed our interest in the WBC, what needs to be done in order to make it a more compelling event, or whether it even needs changing at all seeing as it only seems to be us stodgy Canadians and Americans who aren’t supercharged with pride for the whole thing. Check it out!
• Lastly, a hearty congratulations to Joe Siddall, who the Toronto Sun’s Rob Longley reported this week has been selected as the replacement for the beloved Buck Martinez as the primary analyst alongside play-by-play man Dan Shulman in Sportsnet’s TV booth. Buck’s are some incredibly big shoes to fill, obviously. But Joe has the knowledge, the willingness to adapt as the game evolves, the good nature, ability to connect with people, and the fearlessness to say what he thinks to really make that chair his. It’s been clear since his earliest days that he got a tremendous talent for this and the promotion is richly deserved.
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Keep churning out the stray thoughts. Expansive pieces are nice, but hearing from you regularly is why I subscribe. ❤️
If anyone knows where to find a Buck Martinez jersey, please let me know. I can't find one anywhere.