Three Up: Jays vs. Pirates (3/19/21)
Another (fake) game of 2022 Blue Jays baseball is in the books!
The 2022 Grapefruit League scheduled rolled on here on Sunday, with its first trip to the Dunedin taxpayers’ somewhat nicely renovated TD Ballpark, where the Jays took on the Pittsburgh Pirates in a game that saw 3B Matt Chapman don a Blue Jays uniform for the first time.
So let’s talk about it!
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The Blue Jays and the Pirates played a game on Sunday afternoon. The score didn’t matter. The winner didn’t matter. Here’s two up and one down!
Up: Matt Chapman plays for the Toronto Blue Jays!
Obviously the big story of the day was the Blue Jays debut of Matt Chapman, acquired last week from Oakland for a package of four prospects. He made sure to make it a memorable one.
First up, in the bottom of the third, with Randal Grichuk inexplicably on base for the second time in two tries, he crushed no-doubt blast to left field.
We’ve all heard about Chapman’s hip issues by this point, but something I think has been less discussed is what Buck Martinez mentioned shortly after this blast: the fact that Chapman may have started to bounce back at the end of last season. He came into August with just 14 home runs last year, then proceeded to his nine that month, and four more in September. In a chat with Ben Wagner on the radio broadcast on Sunday, GM Ross Atkins said that the third-inning blast was “a good snapshot into the offensive potential that we are very optimistic about.”
If you look at his wRC+ by month or, especially, his exit velocity by month, you might not be so convinced.
Still, he says he’s healthy, and certainly looked good in this one.
Update: This is encouraging!
Anyway, naturally, he didn’t just look good at the plate, he looked good with the glove, too.
Here we see him showing off his absurd range while attempting to start a double play — and bail out new reliever Andrew Vasquez — in the fifth.
I think the Jays have got a good one here!
Up: Impressing that Cleveland scout
According to a piece from Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi on Saturday evening, the Blue Jays are still in the market for a left-handed hitter. Michael Conforto, who may end up available on a Marcus Semien-like pillow contract, is certainly an intriguing name that’s out there — though he’d be a somewhat awkward fit without moving someone *COUGH* Grichuk *COUGH* out of the outfield. But probably the most intriguing nugget in the piece, especially considering all of the Twitter chatter about it this winter, was the fact that “Cleveland had a scout at the Blue Jays’ complex this week taking video of (Alejandro) Kirk’s entire routine.”
Well, I hope he stuck around, because in the bottom of the first inning Kirk put on a display of exactly what he ought to be able to do quite regularly, if given the opportunity to get regular playing time this season, turning on a low and inside fastball from Dillon Peters and sending it over the fence for a two-run home run.
Then in the bottom of the third he added an impressive double.
The kid can hit! Get impressed, Cleveland! (Or, alternatively, go Kirky! Choo choo!!!)
Thing is, Shi’s piece notes that a José Ramírez trade is not necessarily as simple as we’d all like to believe — and not just because the Guardians still hasn’t shown any signs of punting on this first season of their rebrand.
“The Blue Jays’ acquisition of third baseman Matt Champan complicates things because the Cleveland Guardians star would have to move to second base,” he writes. “He hasn’t played there since 2018, when Cleveland acquired (Josh) Donaldson from the Blue Jays at the August waiver deadline, and was said at the time to have been uncomfortable with the switch.”
Fingers crossed that Ramírez would be more amenable to the switch if he was able to get a bunch of work in at second during the spring! Because, as much as I think we all like Locomotive Kirk, with Gabriel Moreno coming, if he can be the key piece of a deal, I think the Jays absolutely ought to do that.
Down: No travel for the radio crew this year?
Just when I go and praise Rogers for finally doing right by the fans by televising nearly all spring training games and restoring a real radio booth after simulcasting the TV call last season — which I did in yesterday’s Three Up — we learn that they haven’t quite done entirely right. To wit, this passage from a piece by the Athletic’s Dan Connolly from Sunday evening on MASN’s decision not to send TV broadcast crews on the road with the Orioles and Nationals this season:
According to a graphic circulating throughout the industry and verified by several sources, the only other TV broadcast team that may not travel is the Los Angeles Angels; that has not yet been determined and is dependent upon the scheduling of specific broadcasters’ needs, though they may travel part-time, sources said.
On the radio side, the Orioles are one of only four broadcast teams not traveling to start the year, joining the Angels, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays. The Dodgers and Angels are not traveling due to broadcaster preference, sources said. Only the Orioles and Blue Jays have made the unilateral decision not to travel.
Now, as I noted when I first tweeted about this, it is unclear whether Sportsnet’s Ben Wagner will be sent on the road eventually this season — as written it’s only saying that he won’t be there to start. But given what we learned last year about the way Rogers values radio, I must say I’m fearful that Ben will be calling road games off a monitor all year.
While I think Ben is more than capable to do that just fine, I must also say: booooo!!!!
Other notes
• Some pitching performances worth noting in this one. Anthony Kay didn’t exactly look great in his lone inning of work, allowing a run and giving up a couple of hard-hit balls. Julian Merryweather, on the other hand, was healthy — first and foremost — and was up as high as 97.6 and managed a strikeout. Tayler Saucedo looked pretty alright, too. And it was nice to see Joe Biagini make his return.
• A worthwhile note on Merryweather:
• Also worth a mention, per the broadcast, was the fact that George Springer and Bo Bichette played in a Triple-A game today, rather than making the trip to TD Ballpark. Springer picked up three hits and Bichette knocked one out of the park.
• Back to Ross Atkins’ appearance on the radio broadcast, during the inning he was there Danny Jansen made an excellent throw to nab the relatively speedy Greg Allen (71st percentile sprint speed in 2021) trying to steal second. “You can really tell who had great offseasons,” Atkins quipped referring to Jansen. It’s not going to be easy for the young catchers to take this guy’s job, I think. They love him!
• Was great to hear Joe Siddall in the booth with Buck Martinez today. More of this please!
• Would like to think it’s bad for Boston somehow that they’ve signed now-former Rockies shortstop Trevor Story to play second base for them (and potentially slide back to short next year when Xander Bogaerts opts out of his contract), but sadly I’m no so naïve as to really believe it. Much of the reason is this:
• I do find the offseason the Yankees have been having rather hilarious though. In promoting her latest, Lindsey Adler of the Athletic simply tweeted, “The Yankees are getting outspent and outmaneuvered.” *Chef’s Kiss*
• Can’t disagree here. Funny moment on the broadcast though. (Albeit not quite “shit, you have to!”)
• Go Panthers #PHP
Up tomorrow: Jays@ Tigers in Lakeland (Alek Manoah vs. Matt Manning), 1:05 PM ET, Sportsnet One/MLB.com Radio
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