Three Up: Welcome Buck, Ain't it Grand, Today in MLBTR, and more!!
On Buck's return, Springer's slam, Berríos, Soto, Moreno, Skubal, López, Happ, relievers, Kikuchi, Gausman, John Tory, Biagini, Snider, and more!
Turns out the Blue Jays are quite fun when they’re unstoppable, aren’t they?
I mean, it doesn’t hurt when you have the Red Sox imploding before our very eyes, or the Cardinals’ top American players crying at home for this week’s series, but still! The Jays felt like they needed a vibe shift when Charlie Montoyo was dispatched from the manager’s post and replaced with John Schneider, and I’ll be damned if they haven’t got one.
Could this have happened otherwise? Who cares! The trade deadline is now less than a week away, and the team will clearly be in buying mode — hoping not just to strengthen their position for the playoffs, but perhaps even to catch the Yankees. Sure, the Jays are 11.5 games back as I write this, but New York is getting hit by injuries and have lost nine of their last 14. Could the once-impossible actually be possible? There is at least some genuine hope, and that’s something you couldn’t say a couple weeks ago — particularly if you’re so lacking object permanence as to have thought that what the Blue Jays looked like at their absolute nadir had finally, once and for all, revealed who they really are. LOL.
Plus, Buck is back!
For the first time in a while, here’s Three Up…
Up: Welcome Buck!
It was hard not to get a little emotional on Tuesday night, as it marked the return of Buck Martinez to the broadcast booth after missing nearly the first four months of the season as he underwent treatment for cancer. The voice. The hair. The “airs.” The quirks — the horse laughs! The foibles that can make us twitch when things are going poorly, but that we all missed so very badly. They were all there! It was great to see.
It’s a cliché that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but it’s one for a reason. I can’t pretend I’ve never joked about certain Buckisms, or rushed off an angry tweet about some old school tangent made by him and Tabby. I know I’m not alone. But it turns out that we do that with a whole lot more love than we sometimes realize, and maybe let minor annoyances obscure our ability to realize how lucky we are to be able to invite someone as awesome as this into our homes literally almost every night for six months a year every year. Holy shit — outside of my family, my longest-lasting relationship may be with Buck!
He’s a Blue Jays icon. He should be on the Level of Excellence. In 2018 and 2019, after José Bautista was gone and before Vlad and the rest of the new core of the team really established themselves, I think you could argue he was the face of the franchise. It was incredible to have him back in the booth — and to see the reception that he got. (Including on the sidewalk after the game!!!)
Up: Ain’t it grand?
You don't get much of a sense of how this game played out by simply looking at the 10-3 score line. The Jays put up three runs in the first, nearly got Cards starter Andre Pallante pulled when they rallied in the second (before a Vlad GIDP saved him), but then found themselves oddly stymied as St. Louis forced itself back into the game.
The second batter of that second inning got a no-out base hit, and it wasn't until the second batter of the sixth that the Jays would reach again — 13 straight outs. Meanwhile, José Berríos continued his mysteriously un-Berríos-like season, getting BABIP'd a little bit, but also allowing a 50% hard hit rate — his sinker was hit particularly hard, with Cardinals batters generating a 101.7 mph average exit velocity on five balls in play, and whiffing on the pitch just once from 11 swings (9%) — and giving up seven hits over 5 2/3 innings of work.
Tim Mayza needed to be called in to get the Jays’ through the sixth.
And it was a good thing that he was, because in the bottom half of the frame the offence came to life. Sort of.
Bo Bichette lined out to start things off. Teoscar Hernández singled. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. also singled, but in trying to stretch the hit into a double (which he only did after Teoscar, spotting that CF Dylan Carlson had bobbled the ball, tried to go first to third) was thrown out at second base. Fortunately, Matt Chapman singled a ball up the middle for a clutch two-out RBI in the next at-bat.
At this point Cardinals flamethrower Jordan Hicks lost the plot somewhat. Santiago Espinal fouled off some hard strikes, but easily watched four balls sail outside of the zone for a walk. Cavan Biggio then walked on four straight pitches to load 'em up.
Another hard-thrower, Junior Fernández, took over for Hicks. He promptly issued George Springer three straight balls. Springer, with the green light, swung at what would have been ball four and fouled it off. He watched the next pitch, a fourth straight 99 mph sinker, go for strike two. And then? Laser show.
NOTE: I had a GIF all prepared to use here, but the following clip is much, much better. The use of Charlie Rich is just *chef’s kiss*.
Springer turned on it and it got out in a hurry. Suddenly 4-3 became 8-3, and we all could breathe easy. The Jays have won nine of their last 10, including seven straight, after starting the month 1-8. Not too bad!!!!!
Up: Today in MLBTR
Apologies to that clip of Alejandro Kirk stealing strikes, but let’s not pretend we’re here for play-by-play of a game we all probably watched anyway, eh? The trade deadline hits at 6 PM ET on Tuesday, just before the Jays kick off an eight-day road trip through Tampa, Minnesota, and Baltimore. Nothing good ever happens for the Jays at the Trop, right? Well this seems like a pretty good chance to change that!
Here’s what’s out there as of two-ish on Wednesday, much of it via the always invaluable MLB Trade Rumors…
• Bryan Murphy of the Sporting News puts forward five players the Jays should be looking to trade for: Luis Castillo, Frankie Montas, Noah Syndergaard, David Robertson, and Daniel Bard. No Pablo López, as Tammy Rainey of Blue Jays Nation correctly points out, but otherwise… yep, that checks out.
• Any team looking to add Juan Soto apparently won’t need to absorb Patrick Corbin’s brutal contract — something I wrote about re: the Jays and their future financials last week — as Nationals GM Mike Rizzo said in a radio hit on Wednesday that his team is “not going to dilute the return for any player by including a bad contract.” One wonders what his bosses will think about that!
• Of course, this all may be a moot point because according to some random gambling “insider” I saw on Twitter yesterday, the Jays already have a deal for Soto wrapped up. It truly is a magical time of year for broken clock accounts, isn’t it?
• Speaking of things that almost certainly aren’t going to happen, ESPN’s Jeff Passan wrote about the pitching market here on Wednesday. There was some interesting stuff on Shohei Ohtani (a better fit for the Jays than Soto, and just as much of a pipe dream), and Castillo/Montas (looking at packages in the Berríos/Stroman range to land them), but what was particularly interesting to me was a note on Cleveland and their starting pitchers. Though the Guardians are above .500 and just 2.5 games back in the races for both the AL Central and the final wild card spot, they’re also the Guardian, and apparently are willing to listen on their controllable starters, like Aaron Civale, Zach Plesac, and possibly even Shane Bieber — though for him the offer would have to be “exorbitant.” Is Gabriel Moreno exorbitant enough?
• I’m not even entirely joking. Bieber is under control for two years after this one, and though his strikeout rate this year is a bit concerning, that’s the kind of big swing I think the Jays need to make if they’re entertaining moving Moreno. My opinion on moving him is softening a bit, even, and not just because he didn’t light the world on fire after reaching the majors earlier this year. It doesn’t hurt that the Jays’ catching situation is pretty good without him, but also one home run in 238 plate appearances between Toronto and Buffalo this year is… weird.
• Are the Jays really so enamored of hit tool as they seem right now? The position players they selected in the draft last week tilted toward it. Plus, last month Bisons manager Casey Candaele, who has since been promoted to the big league as John Schneider’s bench coach, told Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News that he likes plenty of little things about another prospect experiencing a strange power outage: Jordan Groshans (who has just one home run in 283 PA this year). “He knows how to hit. He's not just swinging. As you get older, then I would look for him to do more damage,” he said. Sure. OK! But the fact that the Jays got out from Martin — who also has just 1 HR this year — gives me at least a little bit of pause re: both Moreno and Groshans.
• Extremely related: David Laurila of FanGraphs just published a great interview with Hunter Mense, the Jays’ assistant hitting coach and minor league hitting coordinator, about the effort the team goes to when it comes to getting hitters to develop good swing decisions.
• Of course, if the Jays moved Moreno, I think it might at this point be literally unprecedented…
• Just watched the clip in that tweet and… OK, yeah, maybe the power will come.
• Passan also notes López and the Tigers’ Tarik Skubal as pitchers on the market (Skubal’s availability was first reported by the Athletic on Tuesday) with exorbitant price tags. “Multiple general managers Wednesday said they expect Skubal to move,” he writes. This seems weird, given that the Tigers shouldn’t be all that far from the end of their rebuild and made a couple of win-soon moves in the winter. The AL Central is, as always, a factor — they don’t have the same kind of mountain to climb as the Orioles (who have now passed the Red Sox in the AL East standings) do — but the permanent expansion of the playoff field is going to have a major impact on how teams do business going forward. I’m not sure fans have fully reckoned with that yet, but I’m sure it’s front of mind for a lot of GMs when they think about the future.
• “This is grim,” Passan writes as he begins his section on relievers. Ugh. That group is headlined by David Robertson — just in case you were wondering why the Jays seem to be rushing Yosver Zulueta through the minors on a course that would see him reach the big league bullpen by September.
• Speaking of turning starters into relievers, a name mentioned by Passan in the starters section of his piece was Noah Syndergaard. He’s been unimpressive in the rotation this season, and will be owed $7 million for the final third of the season, which means the Angels won’t be able to get much back for him. But could something be worked that would see him move to the bullpen? Would he throw harder in short stints? The velocity and the swing-and-miss just hasn’t been there this year, so I doubt anyone will pay the price to find out. But interesting to wonder, isn’t it?
• Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald are reporting that the Marlins are “no longer dismissing calls” on López, who hasn’t been the healthiest guy before this year, but certainly is a very impressive starter — and under team control for two years after this one. “Berríos without the durability” isn’t quite right here, because their arsenals are different — for one thing, López throws a ton of changeups, whereas Berríos relies more on the curveball — but results-wise they have a pretty similar shape. That’s a pretty hugely valuable pitcher, though I think Jays fans could be forgiven for not exactly salivating over that comparison at this very moment.
• There were couple of Jays-related notes from Robert Murray of FanSided on Tuesday, as he suggests that the club has interest in the Cubs’ switch-hitting outfielder Ian Happ. That’s a move that makes sense despite the improvements from lefty hitters Raimel Tapia and Cavan Biggio of late, seeing as the Jays have Zack Collins and Bradley Zimmer occupying roster spots. Happ has produced a 127 wRC+ this season (.282/.366/.446) and is under team control through next season as well. And surely one of their position players can function as the emergency catcher, no?? Go for it!
• Murray also lists the Jays among a number of teams looking at everyone’s favourite backup plan, the Pirates’ José Quintana. Oddly, though, he suggests that Quintana makes sense for the Jays because they “could use him as insurance for the struggling Yusei Kikuchi. But if Kikuchi bounces back, Quintana could shift to the bullpen, a role he thrived in with San Francisco in 2021.” I'm not sure if there's another Quintana that he's thinking of, but… uh… José pitched just 9 2/3 innings out of the Giants' bullpen in 2021, racking up 11 strikeouts, but also walking six, giving up three home runs, and producing a 4.66 ERA. Nevertheless, that creep can roll.
Other notes
• Speaking of Kikuchi (weren’t we?), he’s due back from his “neck strain” this week, with a start against the Tigers on Thursday extremely likely after Max Castillo was used in relief on Tuesday night. Sportsnet's Arash Madani told us about the work Kikuchi has been putting in during his time off during Tuesday's broadcast. "He's actually changed his throwing program to create a more 'natural' arm program," he explained. Kikuchi has worked with weighted balls, changed his slider grip, and said that he mechanics are more stable, that he feels more in control, and explained that when he looked at his starts in the first half, his release point was always a bit different. We have moved beyond tinkering, in other words.
• Speaking of Thursday’s game against Detroit, be sure to get Callin and follow Blue Jays Happy Hour there so that you can listen in when Nick and I record our next live podcast, following the final out of that game. With Kikuchi on the hill I’m sure there will be plenty to talk about! Get some questions ready and give us a call if you like!!
• Before we get to Thursday, of course, the Jays have their finale against the Cardinals to get through. It’ll be a fascinating pitching matchup, with St. Louis sending Adam Wainwright — who learned so much earlier in his career from the Blue Jays’ 1993 number one draft pick, Chris Carpenter — to the hill in the year 2022. Wild!
Facing him will be Kevin Gausman, who went through a little bit of a hiccup in the middle of the season, but now seems to be back on track. At the start of the year Gausman was generating Cy Young buzz, and part of it was the fact that he had simply stopped walking batters. That stopped being the case for a while, but as you can see in this chart from Props.cash — player prop research made easy! — he finally returned to his non-walking ways in his start last weekend against the Red Sox.
I mean, you really shouldn’t be walking anyone on a night when your team puts 28 on the board, but still!
• Toronto mayor John Tory claims that he “followed the rules” and has been “very transparent” about his recent vote against ActiveTO. He’s been made the subject of a complaint to the city’s integrity commissioner because of how a fellow Rogers employee, Mark Shapiro, publicly urged him to vote against closures on Lake Shore W. because a lot of people who pay a lot of money to go to baseball games expect to be able to dictate the lives of the people who happen to live in places it’s most convenient for them to drive through and don’t see the problem with that. LOL. Get his ass!
• Speaking of the stadium and Shapiro, CTV’s Paul Ross reports that between 12:30 and 1:30 on Thursday afternoon, Shapiro will be unveiling details of the upcoming SkyDome renovations. Intriguing!
• And speaking of Rogers, after the Soto extension, could you all maybe set aside some money to fix your dang infrastructure?
• They may not be at Soto’s level yet, but the Blue Jays did officially pay a bunch of baseball players this week, announcing on Tuesday that they had signed all of their first 15 draft picks, and 18 in total — plus three more non-drafted free agents for good measure. The pick of the crop is, of course, top pick Brandon Barriera, who will receive $3,570,500 as a bonus, which is $500,000 above his slot value at pick 23. Barriera wasn't the player the Jays paid the most over slot to, however. Supplemental second rounder Tucker Toman got a $2 million bonus, per Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline, despite having a slot value at pick 77 of just $846,900. The amount Toman received is equivalent to pick 39/40. Not a bad haul for the farm system!
• Some injury updates from the reporters on the ground at Rogers Centre on Tuesday: Nate Pearson is throwing from 60 feet, Julian Merryweather threw a bullpen, and Andrew Vasquez will be getting into a rehab game here on Wednesday. Forgive me if I don’t hold my breath.
• The Jays assigned recent signing Vinny Nittoli to the Buffalo Bisons this week, and in doing so cleared space by releasing Joe Biagini. The 32-year-old had a 3.46 ERA over 39 innings, but not outstanding peripherals. One hopes he catches on elsewhere. If not, we'll always have 2016.
• Speaking of young players from years past, former top Jays prospect Travis Snider had a great thread on returning to the city for the Jays Care Golf Classic over the weekend, and about mental health in sports. This was my favourite part though…
• Former top 10 pick Jacob Turner also had a recent thread on the trials of being a young athlete in a $10 billion business — apt considering all the news about fresh draft picks being signed.
• Teoscar, Matt Chapman, and Albert Pujols dunking on the Red Sox’ Jarren Duran? You love to see it.
• Lastly, I tweeted this before the Springer grand slam on Tuesday night — after the Vlad home run (yes, there was a Vlad home run), and after the emotional welcome back for Buck. I stand by it!!
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How long does it take you to write these? There's a lot in here!
Not sure I can make the next Callin, but if I did, I would have the following questions:
1. We all agree we need to add a starter at the trade deadline right? But it's kind of complicated I think. Ostensibly the starter would replace Kikuchi...but what if Kikuchi turns it around in his next start? Plus there's his remaining millions. Stripling replaced Ryu and he's doing great. But he's also a free agent at the end of the year. He also doesn't seem to do as well out of the bullpen. Should we go after a rental or someone with long-term control? Do we trade Stripling? It's also complicated by the fact that it's easy to get complacent when your starters are performing well, but we are just one injury away from the spectre of our frightening lack of starting depth. So what do you think is the best course of action?
2. Has there been any word from Charlie and is this typical - not to hear boo from a fired manager?