GT: Jays @ Dodgers / July 24-26

[Michael Bradley]

The Jays seem to think Espinal is a better defender at 2B than Merrifield. I haven’t looked up the numbers but I’d be shocked if that’s true. The eye test certainly doesn’t support that.

This has to be one of the most frustrating, and quite frankly boring “good” Jays teams I can remember. I mean I’ll take a boring team that gets a playoff spot but even that’s not a certainty at this point.

Merrifield was a former Gold Glove finalist at Second Base with Kansas City. Regardless, if Espinal had any situational awareness he should have thrown to home right away, and gotten Smith out. Just crazy mental lapse by him. With Boston's schedule in the coming weeks where they can beat up on the Royals, Nationals, and Tigers and also playing the Jays at Fenway (where they have not lost a game to Toronto all year) they should surpass the Jays as Boston is only 1.5 Games back. The Jays are facing all .500 or better teams for the next 4 weeks (Angels, Red Sox, Phillies, Reds, etc.), and they have struggled against .500 or better teams all year. A healthy Yankees team in about a couple of weeks with Judge, and pitchers Loaisiga and Cortes will be a different team also; and the Yankees are only 2.5 Games back. So, some of these homers and optimists like Mike Shillner, saying how everyone needs to settle down as the Jays are in a playoff spot are fooling themselves. Boston, New York and Toronto will be likely fighting for one spot, and playoffs is definitely not a certainty with what I have seen all year.

The Jays will have to start actually winning games against Boston, but ultimately I think it will come down to 1) if/when Judge comes back, and 2) what each team does at the deadline. The Yankees with Judge are drastically better, and you could argue them even being this good with the lineups they’ve thrown out there makes them scary down the stretch if Judge comes back at a reasonable time. I’m still not sure what to make of the Red Sox but they are right there as well.

I don’t think this is the Jays team to scorch the farm for, so I hope Atkins is reasonable and holds on to whatever it left of their top prospects at the deadline. With that said, they do need to improve as well. A lot of that improvement can come internally if Vlad, Varsho, and Kirk bounce back, but at this rate you can’t count on that. Hard to see where they go at the deadline.

[Madvillainy2004]

The Jays seem to think Espinal is a better defender at 2B than Merrifield. I haven’t looked up the numbers but I’d be shocked if that’s true. The eye test certainly doesn’t support that.

This has to be one of the most frustrating, and quite frankly boring “good” Jays teams I can remember. I mean I’ll take a boring team that gets a playoff spot but even that’s not a certainty at this point.

Espinal is the jays best defensive middle infielder. He had a brain fart it happens and whose to say Swanson even retires the next batter.

This year? I don't know and since Espinal has 1 homerun and a 70 OPS+ I'm not sure what his role is anymore. At best Espinal is a neutral/slightly negative defender which considering his bat and the fact he mostly plays one of the easier positions in 2nd base is awful..

[Randle McMurphy]

The Jays seem to think Espinal is a better defender at 2B than Merrifield. I haven’t looked up the numbers but I’d be shocked if that’s true. The eye test certainly doesn’t support that.

This has to be one of the most frustrating, and quite frankly boring “good” Jays teams I can remember. I mean I’ll take a boring team that gets a playoff spot but even that’s not a certainty at this point.

Espinal is the jays best defensive middle infielder. He had a brain fart it happens and whose to say Swanson even retires the next batter.

This year? I don't know and since Espinal has 1 homerun and a 70 OPS+ I'm not sure what his role is anymore. At best Espinal is a neutral/slightly negative defender which considering his bat and the fact he mostly plays one of the easier positions in 2nd base is awful..

Espinal has looked to me like he's been in some kind of fog all season. Last night was far from the first time he's made a defensive mistake that he wouldn't have made in years past. I still can't even fathom what he thought he was doing not picking up that ball and immediately throwing home.

[Michael Bradley]

I'm still not convinced they are actually "good." I think they have the potential to be good, but they certainly haven't reached that at any point of this season. If this team didn't have the benefit of a more balanced schedule for the first time in a generation, is their record much better than .500?

I'm easily taking the 2021 and 2022 versions of the Jays over this group right now.

That’s fair. The 2021 team might end up being the best Jays team in this run, which is a shame due to how that season ended (I hope having Charlie as the manager was worth it for Atkins). I think the Jays missing the playoffs is a very realistic outcome this season. The talent is there but a combination of underperforming and lack of urgency (Manoah and White still being on the 26 man roster points to that) might make us look back on losses like last night with a lot of regret. I’m still upset at the Chatwood and Brad Hand games in 2021. This stuff adds up.

The Yankees with Aaron Judge are in all likelihood better than this version of the Jays, so I think missing the playoffs is a serious possibility. I'd place the odds at somewhere around 50/50. The lack of urgency has been a persistent characteristic of this management team for as long as they've been here. There have been times this season where they've gone with virtually no bench or very little bullpen (like last night) in a game needlessly. You also can't be wasting a roster spot on Mitch White (or throwing starts away on Alek Manoah) if you want to win every game possible.

As far as 2021, there's tons of blame to go around for that debacle with a team as good as that was (Montoyo, management, Chatwood, Hand, etc). Also don't forget the Canadian government also didn't allow that team to play home games for 4 months for reasons that still remain unclear to anyone.

Yeah if Judge was healthy for most of the year, the Jays are probably on the outside looking in right now rather than clinging to the last WC spot. They were fortunate that the Yankees and Astros got injuries to key players, although the Astros are winning regardless now. I think 50-50 is reasonable as far as the Jays chances, could be more or less depending on health and what happens by next Tuesday.

With that said, Vlad, Manoah, Kirk, and Varsho have a combined WAR of 1.7 on the last week of July. Other teams have had injuries, while the Jays have had great health + massive under performing. So either those guys bounce back in the 2nd half or it probably wasn’t meant to be anyway.

[ItsDanger]

Jays are a team built for a 7 game series, not to win a 1 game wild card scenario. This is a better strategy for the Central division but kind of risky in the ultra competitive East division.

[Mehar]

Great point about Judge. He was smashing home runs, and the Yankees were on a roll before he got hurt. He has been out since June 4th, and the Yankees are still only 2.5 Games back. If Judge had been healthy these past 7 weeks, no doubt the Yankees would be in the WC position right now, and Toronto would be on the outside looking in. The Jays are only clinging to a WC spot, due to how decimated the Yankees have been all years with injuries (especially their pitchers). Imagine the Jays without Guerrero for 7 weeks, and they would probably be dead last in the AL east right now, and out of the WC picture.

[ItsDanger]

Espinal is still pissed he wasn't in opening day lineup, plus a lot of his buddies are gone via trade. He's a better SS than 2B where he's overrated by the team. Should put Merrifield as everyday 2B. Schneider not willing to do it, who knows why.

[HangTime]

My only thought of Espinal getting extra playing time is to build his trade value.

[Randle McMurphy]

They start this game by running into another stupid out at 3rd needlessly.

[HangTime]

OT:
Extended Ohtani for De La Cruz? who says no?

or Do the Reds have anything good to offer so they can pair them up?

[HangTime]

Were you excited when it look liked Schinder was ejected?

[linery88]

Great **** job Kickuchi

[Raider917]

Angels arent starting Ohtani vs the jays? they are chasing the last playoff spot and are choosing to not start him against the team holding the final playoff spot.

[TOStateofMind]

One bad inning away from sweeping the dodgers. This team is such a rollercoaster from game to game lol.

[GoRapstheoriginal]

TORONTO BLUE JAYS WIN! TORONTO BLUE JAYS WIN! WOOHOO! HOORAY! ! ! !

[SharoneWright]

They start this game by running into another stupid out at 3rd needlessly.

And then Springer, later.

I've never seen so many baserunners nun into outs between bases in my life in 1 season on 1 team.....

I thought we got rid of Teoscar for this very reason!!

[linery88]

Jano is a legit deep threat now,anytime,anyplace.No need to play with his lineup slot.

[Mehar]

Jano is a legit deep threat now,anytime,anyplace.No need to play with his lineup slot.

I watched the final 4 innings of the game and they mentioned on the broadcast that Jansen will be a free agent after next year, and it would make sense for the Jays to work out a contract extension with him. For some reason, I thought he had two years left until free agency. I definitely hope both sides can work something out this off-season. One of the reasons I wanted to keep Moreno was because of his 6 years left of being under control after this season. The Jays cannot afford to lose Jansen after next year, and having to put all your eggs in the basket of an out of shape Alejandro Kirk; who is one of the slowest runners in all of MLB.

[linery88]

Jano is a legit deep threat now,anytime,anyplace.No need to play with his lineup slot.

I watched the final 4 innings of the game and they mentioned on the broadcast that Jansen will be a free agent after next year, and it would make sense for the Jays to work out a contract extension with him. For some reason, I thought he had two years left until free agency. I definitely hope both sides can work something out this off-season. One of the reasons I wanted to keep Moreno was because of his 6 years left of being under control after this season. The Jays cannot afford to lose Jansen after next year, and having to put all your eggs in the basket of an out of shape Alejandro Kirk; who is one of the slowest runners in all of MLB.

He hits opposing pitchers mistakes better than some of our so called elite hitters do.

[linery88]

The big question right now is,did Schneider learn anything from the starter/s today,or was it because of a gassed BP why he left Kikuchi in.
He cost both Kik,and Berrios wins by pulling them too early,and led to gassing the BP.I predict he will not learn anything,in the hope that he does.