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Blue Jays finish with the worst record in nearly 40 years

Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2019 9:13 am
by ratul
The negative press on the Blue Jays is starting to increase, after the Blue Jays finished with the worst regular season record in 40 years (excluding strike affected years)

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/TOR/index.shtml

On top of this, local press is starting to turn on the team. I was stunned to see meaningfully negative feedback by Sportsnet after the season finished. Given Sportsnet writes the checks to our front office - I thought this was interesting especially with our exec entering the final year of their contract.

There remain some profound concerns in the immediate future. The 2019 Blue Jays will end the season with the second-most home runs in franchise history, while having the fewest hits of any non-strike season team. Their .304 team OBP ranks second-worst in team history, and many of the prospective hitters on a 2020 team – Teoscar Hernandez, Rowdy Tellez, Randal Grichuk, Danny Jansen, Derek Fisher, Billy McKinney – don’t even rise to meet that low bar on such an important metric.


Meanwhile, the pitching staff will end up as one of the worst in runs allowed, having given up the most home runs in history. That might be in part attributable to the slick baseball that’s contributed to long-ball records falling across the league, but praying for a better pitching staff feels like a better use of one’s pleas for divine intervention than does begging for a better baseball.


https://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/blue-jays-2019-season-rank-franchise-history/

Indeed, local press is reporting that the Blue Jays suffered, for the second year in a row, the largest drop in attendance in the majors.

For the second consecutive year, the Toronto Blue Jays have the dubious honour of owning the single-biggest drop-off in attendance year-over-year.


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/toronto-blue-jays-attendance-drop-2019

Unfortunately, this hasn't really translated into huge leaps in our 'farm.' We had a preseason farm rank of 5 (inluding Vladdy) which has now dropped to 10 which now excludes Vladdy but had included Bo. Taking out Bo, we only have two prospects in the top 100

10. Toronto Blue Jays
Preseason Top 10 Rank: No. 5
Top 100 Prospects (3): SS Bo Bichette (No. 8), RHP Nate Pearson (No. 14), SS/3B Jordan Groshans (No. 73)
Prospects Points (MLB rank): 208 (11th)


https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-farm-system-rankings-2019


There is light at the end of the tunnel. Very interesting candidates to potentially upgrade our front office and managerial staff have become available. While Dombrowski and Joe Maddon may not be first choices - these are individuals who have won multiple World Series and could be part of the plan to ignite our team back to new heights. I am hopeful Rogers will consider the prospects of a change in direction - it seems they are already starting to take stock.

Re: Blue Jays finish with the worst record in nearly 40 years

Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2019 12:28 pm
by Metallikid
ratul wrote:The negative press on the Blue Jays is starting to increase, after the Blue Jays finished with the worst regular season record in 40 years (excluding strike affected years)

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/TOR/index.shtml

On top of this, local press is starting to turn on the team. I was stunned to see meaningfully negative feedback by Sportsnet after the season finished. Given Sportsnet writes the checks to our front office - I thought this was interesting especially with our exec entering the final year of their contract.

There remain some profound concerns in the immediate future. The 2019 Blue Jays will end the season with the second-most home runs in franchise history, while having the fewest hits of any non-strike season team. Their .304 team OBP ranks second-worst in team history, and many of the prospective hitters on a 2020 team – Teoscar Hernandez, Rowdy Tellez, Randal Grichuk, Danny Jansen, Derek Fisher, Billy McKinney – don’t even rise to meet that low bar on such an important metric.


Meanwhile, the pitching staff will end up as one of the worst in runs allowed, having given up the most home runs in history. That might be in part attributable to the slick baseball that’s contributed to long-ball records falling across the league, but praying for a better pitching staff feels like a better use of one’s pleas for divine intervention than does begging for a better baseball.


https://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/blue-jays-2019-season-rank-franchise-history/

Indeed, local press is reporting that the Blue Jays suffered, for the second year in a row, the largest drop in attendance in the majors.

For the second consecutive year, the Toronto Blue Jays have the dubious honour of owning the single-biggest drop-off in attendance year-over-year.


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/toronto-blue-jays-attendance-drop-2019

Unfortunately, this hasn't really translated into huge leaps in our 'farm.' We had a preseason farm rank of 5 (inluding Vladdy) which has now dropped to 10 which now excludes Vladdy but had included Bo. Taking out Bo, we only have two prospects in the top 100

10. Toronto Blue Jays
Preseason Top 10 Rank: No. 5
Top 100 Prospects (3): SS Bo Bichette (No. 8), RHP Nate Pearson (No. 14), SS/3B Jordan Groshans (No. 73)
Prospects Points (MLB rank): 208 (11th)


https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-farm-system-rankings-2019


There is light at the end of the tunnel. Very interesting candidates to potentially upgrade our front office and managerial staff have become available. While Dombrowski and Joe Maddon may not be first choices - these are individuals who have won multiple World Series and could be part of the plan to ignite our team back to new heights. I am hopeful Rogers will consider the prospects of a change in direction - it seems they are already starting to take stock.


It doesn't help that tickets for a 67 win team were still $25 in the 500s, $35 for the worst seats in the 200s and more than $50 for anything you would consider a 'good' seat. I'm pretty sure for $35 American I could get a 100 level ticket and food in most ballparks.

Even for Bo and Vladdy people aren't going to pay that much when you aren't winning. They need to slash their prices or attendance will drop for a third year.

Re: Blue Jays finish with the worst record in nearly 40 years

Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:44 pm
by Schad
24 years, not nearly 40. And do you know what you call a farm system that graduates three top prospects and remains around the fringes of the top ten leaguewide? A really good farm system!

Locked before I get 10 PMs asking me to lock it.