General Blue Jays Thread, 2019

Black Watch · Post #1 » by **Black Watch** » Fri May 17, 2019 4:22 pm

Should we make a thread for some of the minor news pieces surrounding the Jays?

I think so.

Black Watch · Post #2 » by **Black Watch** » Fri May 17, 2019 4:42 pm

First post will be reacting to the Hernandez demotion/Urena promotion...

Teoscar lost 50 points in BA and 170 points in SLG compared to 2018. Most of that is a drop in his hit rate, but he still owns a 67% contact rate, along with substandard HctX and LD%, so he's probably not as bad as h's been in 2019, but also unlikely to return to 2018 levels.

All the same, the demotion makes sense. They need to find ABs for Brandon Drury, since 3B now belongs to Vlad, so Drury will see more time in the OF. He's had two good weeks in 2019 (actually, right before Guerrero was called up), but overall he's still in the same low-ct% neighbourhood as Hernandez, although with harder contact and more line drives. That’s probably what makes him slightly more interesting than Hernandez at this point.

Post #3 » by **Schad** » Fri May 17, 2019 5:38 pm

Black Watch wrote:Should we make a thread for some of the minor news pieces surrounding the Jays?

I think so.

Yeah, that works. We've usually either had a thread for this purpose, or had a thread that morphed into a thread for that purpose.

So_Fresh · Post #4 » by **So_Fresh** » Fri May 17, 2019 7:15 pm

Guys if you think this Blue Jays team is bad wait until next year and the year thereafter. Stroman and Sanchez will be traded. Our pitching is going to suffer while we wait for the young players to develop. I hate rebuilds! :banghead:

Post #5 » by **Schad** » Sun May 19, 2019 4:24 pm

Article is from a couple weeks back, but a neat read about Marcus Walden, who was in the Jays organization forever as an unheralded barely-prospect starter who couldn't strike anyone out (he was effectively a fastball-fastball pitcher), but has had a mid-career renaissance as a high-K reliever after discovering a slider:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2019/05/01/marcus-walden-appears-this-year-bullpen-discovery-for-red-sox/Qt6O5i2XboqjIg9cIZJ9ZN/story.html

BigLeagueChew · Post #6 » by **BigLeagueChew** » Mon May 20, 2019 6:00 pm

jays vs red sox, feel the excitement.

For all the vlad jr impatiences, i'd expect a few more people watching.

BigLeagueChew · Post #7 » by **BigLeagueChew** » Wed May 22, 2019 8:32 pm

Revere released.

Wouldn't mind a look at Carlos Gonzalez, released by the Indians today.

polo007 · Post #8 » by **polo007** » Thu May 23, 2019 2:51 am

BigLeagueChew wrote:Revere released.

Wouldn't mind a look at Carlos Gonzalez, released by the Indians today.

Read on Twitter

polo007 · Post #9 » by **polo007** » Thu May 23, 2019 6:14 pm

Read on Twitter

Black Watch · Post #10 » by **Black Watch** » Fri May 24, 2019 3:45 am

Read on Twitter

polo007 · Post #11 » by **polo007** » Fri May 24, 2019 8:15 pm

Read on Twitter

polo007 · Post #12 » by **polo007** » Sat May 25, 2019 4:49 pm

Read on Twitter

TORONTO – The newcomers on the Blue Jays’ roster generated plenty of discussion Friday, and rightfully so.

Cavan Biggio and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. both have a chance to be future pieces in Toronto, so their arrival here offers hope that better days await a team that’s now 20-31.

On the other side of that transaction, the Blue Jays optioned Billy McKinney to triple-A after a disappointing start to the season that saw him hit just .229/.278/.371 through 41 games. That’s a significant drop-off from the numbers he posted after being acquired in last summer’s J.A. Happ trade, but the Blue Jays believe he can return to form, especially if he starts using the whole field more.

When McKinney hits the ball on the ground, he nearly always pulls it to the right side of the infield, making him an easy candidate to shift on.

Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that his batting average on balls in play remains below league average at .279. Either way, general manager Ross Atkins believes McKinney can turn his season around once he’s in a more relaxed triple-A environment.

“Billy’s such a hard worker,” Atkins said. “He plays exceptionally hard. I think he put a little pressure on himself. Starting the season on the opening day roster, becoming almost an everyday player. It was a new role for him and he wanted it bad."

“I think he also in fairness to him was getting pitched really tough–pitched in a lot–and we thought our offensive struggles put increased pressure on him,” the GM continued. “I think he’ll benefit from getting to triple-A and having regular work there.”

polo007 · Post #13 » by **polo007** » Sun May 26, 2019 5:43 pm

Read on Twitter

The_Hater · Post #14 » by **The_Hater** » Mon May 27, 2019 1:05 am

BigLeagueChew wrote:Revere released.

Wouldn't mind a look at Carlos Gonzalez, released by the Indians today.

I had to check to see if that was the same CarGo, man did he fall off the cliff these last 24 months. He’s only 33.

BigLeagueChew · Post #15 » by **BigLeagueChew** » Mon May 27, 2019 3:33 am

The_Hater wrote:
I had to check to see if that was the same CarGo, man did he fall off the cliff these last 24 months. He’s only 33.

Was just released by the Indians after being dfa'd making him a free agent.

The_Hater · Post #16 » by **The_Hater** » Mon May 27, 2019 11:26 am

BigLeagueChew wrote:
The_Hater wrote:
I had to check to see if that was the same CarGo, man did he fall off the cliff these last 24 months. He’s only 33.

Was just released by the Indians after being dfa'd making him a free agent.

Career home OPS .963

Career road OPS .725

Yikes.

polo007 · Post #17 » by **polo007** » Wed May 29, 2019 5:26 pm

Read on Twitter

polo007 · Post #18 » by **polo007** » Thu May 30, 2019 8:17 pm

Read on Twitter

Anything to put the current messy stretch in the rearview. Losers of seven of their past eight and coming off a fourth series in which they were swept, it’s been grim. In a division they were never going to be competitive in, the Jays have plummeted to 15.5 games behind the AL East-leading Yankees.

Piling on to the poor record and struggles, a nasty flu bug has swept through the clubhouse over the past week leaving more than a bad taste in their mouths.

So May and it’s 7-20 record can’t end soon enough as for the second consecutive season, the Jays will go through the month without recording back-to-back wins.

Montoyo has maintained that once a player or two starts hammering it at the plate, others will follow. That hasn’t happened yet, of course, and entering Thursday’s play, the Jays had a team batting average of .219, dead last in all of Major League Baseball. The 212 runs the Jays have managed to get across the plate are second worst in the AL.

polo007 · Post #19 » by **polo007** » Sat Jun 1, 2019 12:58 am

Stark: 10 things we learned in May – The Athletic

BLUE JAYS: Almost everyone is gone now from the 2015-2016 playoff teams. But the Blue Jays have already signaled they could be aggressive in trying to trade Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez, who will both be a year and a half from free agency. And “they’re in the perfect place to move guys like that,” one of the execs quoted earlier said. “Their entire fan base is sold on the concept that guys like Vlad [Guerrero] and [Cavan] Biggio are their future. So they won’t even be paying attention [to those trades] because they understand they’re building around the young guys.”

Myth11111 · Post #20 » by **Myth11111** » Mon Jun 3, 2019 10:28 pm

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/page/powerrankings060319/power-rankings-dodgers-yankees-battle-no-1

The cumulative wins above average for Toronto's non-pitchers is the worst in the league (minus-8.0) and is subzero at every position except pitcher. -- Richards