New Season New Hope! 2021 Edition. The "Stankees" vs. The "Blue Birds" (April 1,3 and 4)

[SharoneWright]

Big Z took some hard contract against but man he kept them in check wish they would have went further with him only 62 pitches i think

Big Z was put on notice today. 1 walk after 4 scoreless innings,,,, and you're done!!

[Ado05]

Nice win.

Merryweather looks great.

[Hottie McShotty]

Series win!

Merrywheather is NASTY!

Thanks for contributing everyone.

Who wants to do the next series?

[vaff87]

Series win!

Merrywheather is NASTY!

Thanks for contributing everyone.

Who wants to do the next series?

You have to do it until we lose a series. Those are the rules. There will be grave consequences if you don’t conform

[I_Like_Dirt]

So, who wants to create the "Apologize to Shapiro Here" thread for criticizing him for the Donaldson for Merryweather trade.

They still traded him at least 1 year too late (I blame ownership), they just luckily got the right late bloomer in the deal. At least so far.

Od course historically, Shatkins have been quite good at identifying undervalued prospects in trades. Teoscar wasn’t supposed to be this good either. And back in Cleveland, they won these types of trades over and over.

Yeah, it was their greatest strength in Cleveland. They've actually drafted much better in Toronto and if they consistently win some of these trades, they're going to be a powerhouse. Merryweather and Hernandez are already a heckuva start. And being able to use free agency for guys like Ryu and Gurriel. This team is actually fun to cheer for.

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[Hottie McShotty]

Series win!

Merrywheather is NASTY!

Thanks for contributing everyone.

Who wants to do the next series?

You have to do it until we lose a series. Those are the rules. There will be grave consequences if you don’t conform

I'm afraid to ask what the grave consequences will be.

I will conform.

[GoRapstheoriginal]

A BELATED JAYS WIN! JAYS WIN! WOOHOO! HOORAY! ! ! !

[Schad]

Our 'pen definitely looks like it should be at least solid, and could be quite good. Health-permitting, of course.

[SharoneWright]

Series win!

Merrywheather is NASTY!

Thanks for contributing everyone.

Who wants to do the next series?

You have to do it until we lose a series. Those are the rules. There will be grave consequences if you don’t conform

I'm afraid to ask what the grave consequences will be.

I will conform.

A name change to Shotty McHottie doesn't seem too much.

[Parataxis]

You think baseball would be better if they banned shifts ?

Don't need to, just hit it the other way.

Yup. Game two when the Jays put on a shift that left literally nobody in the infield between 2nd and 3rd... Just bunt it down the 3rd base line, and you're on base.

But if a batter isn't going to make a team pay for shifting? Of course they should be able to shift.

[Cyrus]

You think merryweather is still viewed as starter?

[JaysRule15]

I think Yates' injury is probably gonna lead to Merryweather spending this season in the pen.

But Merrweather's bullpen usage will be interesting. Is he gonna be the closer? If so, will he be ok with throwing two days in a row? I figured that if he was going to be a bullpen guy, he was gonna be one of those long relief types who'd pitch multiple innings in a single game with days off in between.

[Schad]

I think Yates' injury is probably gonna lead to Merryweather spending this season in the pen.

But Merrweather's bullpen usage will be interesting. Is he gonna be the closer? If so, will he be ok with throwing two days in a row? I figured that if he was going to be a bullpen guy, he was gonna be one of those long relief types who'd pitch multiple innings in a single game with days off in between.

I'm guessing that Merryweather is now a permanent short reliever. While there was plenty of value in trying to make him work in longer roles, if he's this filthy in 1 IP bursts I'd be shocked if they did anything else with him. Already, he seems to have dropped the curveball, which he threw about 10% of the time last year and hasn't thrown once yet.

[JaysRule15]

I think Yates' injury is probably gonna lead to Merryweather spending this season in the pen.

But Merrweather's bullpen usage will be interesting. Is he gonna be the closer? If so, will he be ok with throwing two days in a row? I figured that if he was going to be a bullpen guy, he was gonna be one of those long relief types who'd pitch multiple innings in a single game with days off in between.

I'm guessing that Merryweather is now a permanent short reliever. While there was plenty of value in trying to make him work in longer roles, if he's this filthy in 1 IP bursts I'd be shocked if they did anything else with him. Already, he seems to have dropped the curveball, which he threw about 10% of the time last year and hasn't thrown once yet.

I do think he'd be most effective in a short relief role. Only question is health though. A guy with an injury history like that would probably be served better with multiple rest days between outings. That's one of the reasons I liked the idea of stretching him out to be a starter, as it would've been easier to manage his workload.

At least we have other high leverage arms in the pen as well, and shouldn't be overly reliant on Merryweather even he is in a short relief role. I think we'll never see him pitch 4 times in 5 days for example.

[johanliebert]

Why did they pull the starter after 4 innings? They had the bullpen up after he walked a batter in the 4th lol.

The kid didn’t even get a QS

[ItsDanger]

I think Yates' injury is probably gonna lead to Merryweather spending this season in the pen.

But Merrweather's bullpen usage will be interesting. Is he gonna be the closer? If so, will he be ok with throwing two days in a row? I figured that if he was going to be a bullpen guy, he was gonna be one of those long relief types who'd pitch multiple innings in a single game with days off in between.

I'm guessing that Merryweather is now a permanent short reliever. While there was plenty of value in trying to make him work in longer roles, if he's this filthy in 1 IP bursts I'd be shocked if they did anything else with him. Already, he seems to have dropped the curveball, which he threw about 10% of the time last year and hasn't thrown once yet.

They'll be careful with his arm. He did have soreness late last season. Maybe he just can't handle the duress. I think Romano is #1 but Charlie will use him in high leverage situations in 8th or 9th. I believe it was Romano who faced LeMahieu & Judge late in both games.

[Randle McMurphy]

You think merryweather is still viewed as starter?

Let’s just worry about him getting through a month as a RP healthy. That may prove to be a challenge based on his history.

I do wonder if they will use him on back to backs at all to start this season.

[Randle McMurphy]

Why did they pull the starter after 4 innings? They had the bullpen up after he walked a batter in the 4th lol.

The kid didn’t even get a QS

Same reason they pulled Shoemaker after 3 in the playoffs last year. They had a plan going in and weren’t going to divert from it regardless of the outcome. I imagine we’ll see this happen a lot this year with guys piggybacking starters after 3-4 innings.

[Schad]

We'll see as the season progresses, but in this series it's really difficult to argue with the results. Thus far the 'pen has given us 14.1 IP at a 1.26 ERA, with just 8 hits surrendered (though a fair few walks) and the run today was a fluke pop-up double, sac fly and groundout. Management clearly believes that we're best-served leaning on the bullpen where possible, and the early returns have been good. Perhaps that'll change over time, but I'd bet on the 'pen outperforming the rotation overall.

One random note: the NYY scorekeeper credited Borucki with the win, rather than Thornton, presumably because Thornton gave up a run. But if you're going to do that, give it to Zeuch! There's nothing that says that a starter needs to go 5 IP to earn a win, and it's only stubborn idiocy that generally results in it being awarded to whichever pitcher is on the mound at the end of 5 (assuming the team retains the lead). Once you've broken with that stupidity, go all the way!

[vaff87]

We'll see as the season progresses, but in this series it's really difficult to argue with the results. Thus far the 'pen has given us 14.1 IP at a 1.26 ERA, with just 8 hits surrendered (though a fair few walks) and the run today was a fluke pop-up double, sac fly and groundout. Management clearly believes that we're best-served leaning on the bullpen where possible, and the early returns have been good. Perhaps that'll change over time, but I'd bet on the 'pen outperforming the rotation overall.

One random note: the NYY scorekeeper credited Borucki with the win, rather than Thornton, presumably because Thornton gave up a run. But if you're going to do that, give it to Zeuch! There's nothing that says that a starter needs to go 5 IP to earn a win, and it's only stubborn idiocy that generally results in it being awarded to whichever pitcher is on the mound at the end of 5 (assuming the team retains the lead). Once you've broken with that stupidity, go all the way!

I don’t know in what ways exactly, but I would imagine strategy involving pitching will probably be different this year than in a normal season, because of the fact we’re coming off a shortened season.