GT: April 2-4, Chicago White Sox at Blue Jays

[Lateral Quicks]

Did grichuk just swing at ball 4 twice? Why was he even given the ok to swing away on 3-0???

Sometimes they give the 3-0 green light to help someone get out of a slump. General thinking is the pitcher will groove a fastball.

I get that, and Gibby is definitley a players manager but the situation needs to be taken into account too. You’re losing a one run game, there’s 2 men on and there is nobody out. That’s the type of call that can end up killing a comeback and losing a game, it’s a terrible decision. You give that type of green light with the bases empty in the 2nd or when you’re up a couple of runs.

Tough to give your #5 hitter the red light. The real problem is that your #5 hitter should be more disciplined and not need a red light in that situation.

Grichuk profiles as a fringe starter, not a #5 hitter. Would rather see Martin there, or even Diaz the way he's been swinging it early. Or even Teoscar Hernandez if he were on the club.

[Schad]

Now on the road for nine.

Curious to see what our attendance figures will be like thereafter, whether successful or unsuccessful; while these early April mid-week series are generally bad for business at any time, those were our worst three crowds from 2016 on, more than 6000 people/night worse than the previous low (which, perhaps not coincidentally, were April games against the White Sox). 51348 is our worst three-game attendance since we pulled 47907, in May of 2015...against the White Sox.

Y'know, maybe Jays fans just have some sort of aversion to the White Sox.

[Tanner]

Grichuk wrc+ last two seasons were 103 ad 94. The front office probably expects him to be better than that, but I think you can expect at least that type of performance over the course of the season. Really depends on how his power translates to the AL/RC. If he is a low obp player but hits 35 bombs with good defence in right and positive base running, then you're probably looking at a useful starting outfielder. The hacking is definitely holding him back though. That at bat where he swung at 3-0 twice when both balls nearly hit the dirt was pretty bad.

[zilby]

Now on the road for nine.

Curious to see what our attendance figures will be like thereafter, whether successful or unsuccessful; while these early April mid-week series are generally bad for business at any time, those were our worst three crowds from 2016 on, more than 6000 people/night worse than the previous low (which, perhaps not coincidentally, were April games against the White Sox). 51348 is our worst three-game attendance since we pulled 47907, in May of 2015...against the White Sox.

Y'know, maybe Jays fans just have some sort of aversion to the White Sox.

I went for five innings of the game last night, then I left because I had a reservation at RealSports to watch the Raptors & Celtics game. I can say that the stadium last night was DEAD. Probably about 12-15k max, I would say. It’s a different vibe now than it has been for the last three years, and I genuinely hope people catch on and spurn ownership by not buying tickets. These ones were free, so sure I went, but there’s no shot I’ll be spending a dime on the Blue Jays until Rogers and Shatkins start making decisions oriented around team success, and not squeezing pennies out of consumers.

Watching Randy Grich hack in person was way more frustrating, btw. Bootleg Michael Fulmer seems like a frat bro. The White Sox are gonna be good very soon once they sort their pitching situation out, their offense is loaded with young, talented players who are starting to put it together. Abreu is obviously a monster, Davidson is putting it together, and Anderson looks sharp to start the season.

[Fairview4Life]

Why wasn't there an out at 3rd.

Was there an answer to this one?

[Schad]

Why wasn't there an out at 3rd.

Was there an answer to this one?

Because he was called out on the field, there was no force in effect. As a result, it's basically a 'ground rule single' after the fact.

[The_Hater]

Sometimes they give the 3-0 green light to help someone get out of a slump. General thinking is the pitcher will groove a fastball.

I get that, and Gibby is definitley a players manager but the situation needs to be taken into account too. You’re losing a one run game, there’s 2 men on and there is nobody out. That’s the type of call that can end up killing a comeback and losing a game, it’s a terrible decision. You give that type of green light with the bases empty in the 2nd or when you’re up a couple of runs.

Tough to give your #5 hitter the red light. .

And if he was batting 7th or 8th like he should have been?

[So_Fresh]

Now on the road for nine.

Curious to see what our attendance figures will be like thereafter, whether successful or unsuccessful; while these early April mid-week series are generally bad for business at any time, those were our worst three crowds from 2016 on, more than 6000 people/night worse than the previous low (which, perhaps not coincidentally, were April games against the White Sox). 51348 is our worst three-game attendance since we pulled 47907, in May of 2015...against the White Sox.

Y'know, maybe Jays fans just have some sort of aversion to the White Sox.

We all know that attendance will be down this season. Prices for tickets went up to compensate for this. We're not contending as well. We also have the Raptors and Maple Leafs in the playoffs. This won't change until this team gets better and the likes of Gurrero JR. and Bichette arrive.

[dagger]

Grichuk wrc+ last two seasons were 103 ad 94. The front office probably expects him to be better than that, but I think you can expect at least that type of performance over the course of the season. Really depends on how his power translates to the AL/RC. If he is a low obp player but hits 35 bombs with good defence in right and positive base running, then you're probably looking at a useful starting outfielder. The hacking is definitely holding him back though. That at bat where he swung at 3-0 twice when both balls nearly hit the dirt was pretty bad.

If one of our older outfield prospects catches fire, say, Hernandez, I don't see any obligation to hang on to him primarily for power.

[dagger]

Now on the road for nine.

Curious to see what our attendance figures will be like thereafter, whether successful or unsuccessful; while these early April mid-week series are generally bad for business at any time, those were our worst three crowds from 2016 on, more than 6000 people/night worse than the previous low (which, perhaps not coincidentally, were April games against the White Sox). 51348 is our worst three-game attendance since we pulled 47907, in May of 2015...against the White Sox.

Y'know, maybe Jays fans just have some sort of aversion to the White Sox.

We all know that attendance will be down this season. Prices for tickets went up to compensate for this. We're not contending as well. We also have the Raptors and Maple Leafs in the playoffs. This won't change until this team gets better and the likes of Gurrero JR. and Bichette arrive.

I agree the gate receipts aren't going to start to turn up much until the most hyped prospects arrive, but TV rating could solidify even without them if the team starts folding in other fresh faces with upside. There is no curiosity in watching players with proven value (limitations), but bringing in an Alford would make things more interesting for the committed fan.

[Schad]

Not sure that the prospects will make too much difference in the short term, really. We have a hard core of fans who care about those things, and they're the ones who generally watch/go to games even when the team sucks, and then we have a large number of more casual fans who only turn up when the team is competitive.

Ideally, we need to have a long stretch of competitiveness at some point to transform some of the casual fans into committed ones, but until such time the only way we'll draw is if we're really, really good. Or coming off seasons where we were really good, as we saw last year.

[JaysRule15]

Hoping we can go 5-4 during this road stretch.