Chicago Cubs (67-49) vs Blue Jays (69-50) (August 12th-August 14th)

[Randle McMurphy]

Varsho is a career .256 hitter against LHPs btw (.217 against RHPs for comparison)

Again, not one issue with that move or really any move from Schneider today. They just got beat by a really good pitcher.

That might happen quite a few times this week looking at the schedule too

[Mehar]

Nah it was fine

You are saying it is fine since it is your hero Varsho. Varsho should have been absolutely pinch hit for given his atrocious numbers against Lefties, when you are down a run in the 7th.

Straw came in the game for defensive purposes anyways. You could have put Straw in CF, by having Davis Schneider hit for Varsho. Straw has a much better arm in CF than Varsho, who is unable to throw like he once did due to his shoulder surgery. Your hero's arm is gone. So, you were not losing much having Straw in CF to finish the game.

I’m saying it because it was the right move to keep one of the team’s best players in the game in that spot. It was incredibly likely at that point that he’d have a 2nd AB later and he’s hardly a guaranteed out against LHPs in his career.

Schneider has made a habit of pulling players too early sometimes this year; fortunately he didn’t do in that spot. Maybe he’s learning

We agree to disagree. Varsho has been terrible against Lefties this year. What are the numbers this year? Of course you never want your hero and Man Crush Varsho to be Pinch Hit for, whose arm is dead in CF.

[Randle McMurphy]

You are saying it is fine since it is your hero Varsho. Varsho should have been absolutely pinch hit for given his atrocious numbers against Lefties, when you are down a run in the 7th.

Straw came in the game for defensive purposes anyways. You could have put Straw in CF, by having Davis Schneider hit for Varsho. Straw has a much better arm in CF than Varsho, who is unable to throw like he once did due to his shoulder surgery. Your hero's arm is gone. So, you were not losing much having Straw in CF to finish the game.

I’m saying it because it was the right move to keep one of the team’s best players in the game in that spot. It was incredibly likely at that point that he’d have a 2nd AB later and he’s hardly a guaranteed out against LHPs in his career.

Schneider has made a habit of pulling players too early sometimes this year; fortunately he didn’t do in that spot. Maybe he’s learning

We agree to disagree. Varsho has been terrible against Lefties this year. Of course you never want your hero and Man Crush Varsho to be Pinch Hit for.

Don’t want a power hitter on a streak with 12 HRs in 32 games pinch hit for in the 7th inning of a close game, yeah

Crazy stuff I know

[Mehar]

I’m saying it because it was the right move to keep one of the team’s best players in the game in that spot. It was incredibly likely at that point that he’d have a 2nd AB later and he’s hardly a guaranteed out against LHPs in his career.

Schneider has made a habit of pulling players too early sometimes this year; fortunately he didn’t do in that spot. Maybe he’s learning

We agree to disagree. Varsho has been terrible against Lefties this year. Of course you never want your hero and Man Crush Varsho to be Pinch Hit for.

Don’t want a power hitter on a streak with 12 HRs in 32 games pinch hit for in the 7th inning of a close game, yeah

Crazy stuff I know

Today's game is the typical Varsho game you are more likely to see from Mike Trout 2.0. If not a homer, you will get your 0 for 3, and him Striking Out two or three times a game. Now he has a Dead Arm on top of that. Pathetic throws from CF from your MVP Varsho, and Kirk behind the plate. Not a great night for your heroes.

[Randle McMurphy]

We agree to disagree. Varsho has been terrible against Lefties this year. Of course you never want your hero and Man Crush Varsho to be Pinch Hit for.

Don’t want a power hitter on a streak with 12 HRs in 32 games pinch hit for in the 7th inning of a close game, yeah

Crazy stuff I know

Today's game is the typical Varsho game you are more likely to see from Mike Trout 2.0. If not a homer, you will get your 0 for 3, and him Striking Out two or three times a game. Now he has a Dead Arm on top of that.

Yeah, it could have been 13 HR in 32 games instead of 12, what a failure he is

How much did those 12 HRs pain you to watch

[Randle McMurphy]

Imagine hating a player on your own team so much that you relish in his shoulder injury and strikeouts over his HRs and crazy catches during a pennant race lol

Sad stuff

[Mehar]

Imagine hating a player on your own team so much that you relish in his shoulder injury and strikeouts over his HRs and crazy catches during a pennant race lol

Sad stuff

I do not relish in any injury. The reality is your hero's arm is dead and gone after his Shoulder Surgery. That is a fact. I am a Blue Jay fan and want this team to win as many games as possible. I thought the best course of action tonight was to Pinch Hit for your hero, since he has struggled against Lefties all year and this team is down a run in the 7th.

Why you taking it so personal that I wanted your hero to be Pinch Hit for? I felt that was the best way for the team to win. He has sucked all year again Lefties as the numbers point out. You and John Schneider felt different. All good. People can disagree. No need to get your feelings hurt when I talk about your hero and Man Crush Varsho.

[Randle McMurphy]

Imagine hating a player on your own team so much that you relish in his shoulder injury and strikeouts over his HRs and crazy catches during a pennant race lol

Sad stuff

I do not relish in any injury. The reality is your hero's arm is dead and gone after his Shoulder Surgery. That is a fact. I am a Blue Jay fan and want this team to win as many games as possible. I thought the best course of action tonight was to Pinch Hit for your hero, since he has struggled against Lefties all year and this team is down a run in the 7th.

Why you taking it so personal that I wanted your hero to be Pinch Hit for? I felt that was the best way for the team to win. He has sucked all year again Lefties as the numbers point out. You and John Schneider felt different. All good. People can disagree. No need to get your feelings hurt when I talk about your hero and Man Crush Varsho.

Read on Twitter

Yeah this is definitely a guy you want to be pinch hitting with a third of the game left down a run

Sometimes hate blinds us though

[Mehar]

Imagine hating a player on your own team so much that you relish in his shoulder injury and strikeouts over his HRs and crazy catches during a pennant race lol

Sad stuff

I do not relish in any injury. The reality is your hero's arm is dead and gone after his Shoulder Surgery. That is a fact. I am a Blue Jay fan and want this team to win as many games as possible. I thought the best course of action tonight was to Pinch Hit for your hero, since he has struggled against Lefties all year and this team is down a run in the 7th.

Why you taking it so personal that I wanted your hero to be Pinch Hit for? I felt that was the best way for the team to win. He has sucked all year again Lefties as the numbers point out. You and John Schneider felt different. All good. People can disagree. No need to get your feelings hurt when I talk about your hero and Man Crush Varsho.

Read on Twitter

Yeah this is definitely a guy you want to be pinch hitting with a third of the game left down a run

Sometimes hate blinds us though

Someone is blind which is you. Just look in the mirror. You are too in love with your hero, that statistics and facts are disregarded about your Man Crush. What are his numbers against Lefties this year? Simple question. Your hero is terrible against Lefties this year. In the 7th Inning down a run, I would have Pinch Hit for him. The same Inning Loperfido was also Pinch Hit for. You were fine with Loperfido being Pinch Hit I guess? I wanted to Pinch Hit for both Varsho and Loperfido.

You disagree and John Schneider disagrees. That is fine. No need to be butt hurt and take it personal, that I felt your Man Crush should have been Pinch Hit for also. Nobody loves a player like you do your Man Crush Varsho, that you are the actual blind one. A disgrace to see a Grown Man so in love with a baseball player, that he can do nothing wrong in your eyes. Yet you have no problem trashing Vlad or anyone else. But you get butthurt when I said your hero should be Pinch Hit for. Look in the mirror to see what a truly "Blind Person" looks like.

[vaff87]

Imagine hating a player on your own team so much that you relish in his shoulder injury and strikeouts over his HRs and crazy catches during a pennant race lol

Sad stuff

I do not relish in any injury. The reality is your hero's arm is dead and gone after his Shoulder Surgery. That is a fact. I am a Blue Jay fan and want this team to win as many games as possible. I thought the best course of action tonight was to Pinch Hit for your hero, since he has struggled against Lefties all year and this team is down a run in the 7th.

Why you taking it so personal that I wanted your hero to be Pinch Hit for? I felt that was the best way for the team to win. He has sucked all year again Lefties as the numbers point out. You and John Schneider felt different. All good. People can disagree. No need to get your feelings hurt when I talk about your hero and Man Crush Varsho.

Read on Twitter

Yeah this is definitely a guy you want to be pinch hitting with a third of the game left down a run

Sometimes hate blinds us though

Varsho’s statcast numbers were horrendous last year. His xBA was .186, his xSLG was .316, his xwOBA was .261, his average exit velocity was 86.1. WTF happened?

[Mehar]

I do not relish in any injury. The reality is your hero's arm is dead and gone after his Shoulder Surgery. That is a fact. I am a Blue Jay fan and want this team to win as many games as possible. I thought the best course of action tonight was to Pinch Hit for your hero, since he has struggled against Lefties all year and this team is down a run in the 7th.

Why you taking it so personal that I wanted your hero to be Pinch Hit for? I felt that was the best way for the team to win. He has sucked all year again Lefties as the numbers point out. You and John Schneider felt different. All good. People can disagree. No need to get your feelings hurt when I talk about your hero and Man Crush Varsho.

Read on Twitter

Yeah this is definitely a guy you want to be pinch hitting with a third of the game left down a run

Sometimes hate blinds us though

Varsho’s statcast numbers were horrendous last year. His xBA was .186, his xSLG was .316, his xOBA was .261, his average exit velocity was 86.1. WTF happened?

This Clown Randle will disregard any number that shows his hero and Man Crush Varsho in a bad light. Varsho's numbers were terrible last year and even worse in 2023. But I am not even talking about the last two years. I have all the Stats in front of me. I am talking about 2025. I asked this Clown one simple question, and he changes the subject. My question was what is Varsho's numbers against Lefties this year? They are terrible. In the 7th Inning, I wanted both Loperfido and Varsho pinch hit for with the Lefty on the mound.

So, Randle has no problem with Loperfido being Pinch Hit for, but goes crazy when I said it makes sense for Varsho to be Pinch Hit for. Even though Loperfido has been a better hitter overall given his numbers the past 6 weeks (looking at BA, On Base). Any negative statistic that shows Varsho in a bad light, is automatically disregarded by Clown Randle. The definition of a man who is in fact the "Blind One". A disgrace to see a Grown Man like Randle so in love with a baseball player, that his hero Dead Arm Varsho could do nothing wrong in his eyes. To the point he gets offended when I said his hero should have been Pinch Hit for in the 7th, with Varsho's terrible numbers against Lefties this year.

[brwnman]

That top of the 8th might have been some of the lowest IQ plays you’ll ever see from a CF ever. Besides throwing the ball into the stands with less than two outs, this might be the second worst thing to do.

Throwing the ball home, taking away the double play and putting the runner in scoring position. Truly awful. It’s not even like it was a difficult throw to get the runner at home. An average throw probably gets the runner at home since it was from shallow CF. But if you’re not confident in your arm, hold the runner.


Then to compound that, not throwing the ball home on the next play from basically the infield when the runner was just rounding 3rd for … reasons?

[Mehar]

That top of the 8th might have been some of the lowest IQ plays you’ll ever see from a CF ever. Besides throwing the ball into the stands with less than two outs, this might be the second worst thing to do.

Throwing the ball home, taking away the double play and putting the runner in scoring position. Truly awful. It’s not even like it was a difficult throw to get the runner at home. An average throw probably gets the runner at home since it was from shallow CF. But if you’re not confident in your arm, hold the runner.


Then to compound that, not throwing the ball home on the next play from basically the infield when the runner was just rounding 3rd for … reasons?

Two awful throws by Varsho. It is understandable, since he had shoulder surgery in the off-season and his arm is pretty much gone. Who knows if his arm is ever coming back like how it once was? Another reason not to rush to commit a long-term extension to this guy in the off-season. Let's see how he performs over the course of a whole year in 2026.

Hopefully he can stay healthy for the whole year also next year. You do not want to commit a lot of money this off-season to another Scott Boras client, who has missed a lot of games due to injury this season, and whose arm is pretty much dead as evidenced by his throws since coming back from injury.

[brwnman]

Fun Fact:

Since returning from injury, excluding stats against the minor league club of the Colorado Rockies (who have a negative Run Differential of more than 380 runs), Daulton Varsho is hitting .238 with a .381 slugging. He has 1HR, 2 runs scored and only 1 RBI in 7 games. He's also struck out 9 times in 7 games. Blue Jays record in those games? 2-5.

[brwnman]

That top of the 8th might have been some of the lowest IQ plays you’ll ever see from a CF ever. Besides throwing the ball into the stands with less than two outs, this might be the second worst thing to do.

Throwing the ball home, taking away the double play and putting the runner in scoring position. Truly awful. It’s not even like it was a difficult throw to get the runner at home. An average throw probably gets the runner at home since it was from shallow CF. But if you’re not confident in your arm, hold the runner.


Then to compound that, not throwing the ball home on the next play from basically the infield when the runner was just rounding 3rd for … reasons?

Two awful throws by Varsho. It is understandable, since he had shoulder surgery in the off-season and his arm is pretty much gone. Who knows if his arm is ever coming back like how it once was? Another reason not to rush to commit a long-term extension to this guy in the off-season. Let's see how he performs over the course of a whole year in 2026.

Hopefully he can stay healthy for the whole year also next year. You do not want to commit a lot of money this off-season to another Scott Boras client, who has missed a lot of games due to injury this season, and whose arm is pretty much dead as evidenced by his throws since coming back from injury.

He already had a poor arm in CF to begin with, but this year has been especially putrid. He was in the 3rd percentile before tonight's game, but after tonight, it may be the worst arm for a starting CF in the modern era.

His arm, sprint speed and baserunning value are all down this year. He's been one of the worst base runners on the Blue Jays this year.

[Boogie!]

Disappointing. It’s no fun when they’re not going on 10 game winning streaks

[Randle McMurphy]

I do not relish in any injury. The reality is your hero's arm is dead and gone after his Shoulder Surgery. That is a fact. I am a Blue Jay fan and want this team to win as many games as possible. I thought the best course of action tonight was to Pinch Hit for your hero, since he has struggled against Lefties all year and this team is down a run in the 7th.

Why you taking it so personal that I wanted your hero to be Pinch Hit for? I felt that was the best way for the team to win. He has sucked all year again Lefties as the numbers point out. You and John Schneider felt different. All good. People can disagree. No need to get your feelings hurt when I talk about your hero and Man Crush Varsho.

Read on Twitter

Yeah this is definitely a guy you want to be pinch hitting with a third of the game left down a run

Sometimes hate blinds us though

Varsho’s statcast numbers were horrendous last year. His xBA was .186, his xSLG was .316, his xwOBA was .261, his average exit velocity was 86.1. WTF happened?

Given his massive production so far in 2025, I’m gonna take a guess that it might have something to do with playing injured almost the entire season (which led to him taking September off and then the surgery).

Funny thing is he was still the 2nd most valuable player on the team in 2024 even with that going on. He’s now clearly been the most valuable player on the team in 2025 from a rate perspective as well.

There is nobody on this team who contributes more WAR per game than this guy. You can’t pull him with a third of one left.

[vaff87]

Read on Twitter

Yeah this is definitely a guy you want to be pinch hitting with a third of the game left down a run

Sometimes hate blinds us though

Varsho’s statcast numbers were horrendous last year. His xBA was .186, his xSLG was .316, his xwOBA was .261, his average exit velocity was 86.1. WTF happened?

Given his massive production so far in 2025, I’m gonna take a guess that it might have something to do with playing injured almost the entire season (which led to him taking September off and then the surgery).

Funny thing is he was still the 2nd most valuable player on the team in 2024 even with that going on. He’s now clearly been the most valuable player on the team in 2025 from a rate perspective as well.

There is nobody on this team who contributes more WAR per game than this guy. You can’t pull him with a third of one left.

But last year was not some outlier season for him offensively. This is only the second year in his career where his xSLG is over .400. His hard hit and barrel percentages are way up. My question is what has he changed that is causing this improvement?

[vaff87]

No Varsho today vs the lefty. Which I think is more to do with the fact they’re giving him load management right now, more than anything.

[Randle McMurphy]

Varsho’s statcast numbers were horrendous last year. His xBA was .186, his xSLG was .316, his xwOBA was .261, his average exit velocity was 86.1. WTF happened?

Given his massive production so far in 2025, I’m gonna take a guess that it might have something to do with playing injured almost the entire season (which led to him taking September off and then the surgery).

Funny thing is he was still the 2nd most valuable player on the team in 2024 even with that going on. He’s now clearly been the most valuable player on the team in 2025 from a rate perspective as well.

There is nobody on this team who contributes more WAR per game than this guy. You can’t pull him with a third of one left.

But last year was not some outlier season for him offensively. This is only the second year in his career where his xSLG is over .400. His hard hit and barrel percentages are way up. My question is what has he changed that is causing this improvement?

2024 looks pretty clearly like an outlier season to me based on that chart? His xWOBA was .261, 37 points lower than any other of his full seasons (and xWOBACON was over 50 points lower than any other full season). He was pretty clearly a different hitter last year than any other season of his career and it's not particularly difficult to guess as to why. The guy was playing through a torn rotator cuff for the entirety of the 2024 season.