General Blue Jays Thread

[polo007]

Blue Jays' Shoemaker nearing return, with start vs. Yankees possible - Sportsnet.ca

TORONTO – Matt Shoemaker is on the verge of activation from the injured list and his pending return opens up some intriguing possibilities for the Toronto Blue Jays.

Pitching coach Pete Walker said the veteran right-hander “is pretty much ready to go,” after recovering from a lat strain, and that the club simply has “to make a decision on how we’re going to do that.” Though he’s built up to only 50-60 pitches, using him as a starter paired with a piggyback arm is on the table ahead of some internal deliberations Sunday.

“He is in a position to help,” said Walker, “and could be in a position to help right now.”

While he wouldn’t get specific about the club’s plans for the upcoming series with the New York Yankees in Buffalo, the way the Blue Jays have things lined up suggests that Shoemaker may very well start Monday’s opener.

Shoemaker threw a live batting practice Wednesday that “was exceptional, stuff was there, velocity was there, spin on the breaking ball, the split,” according to Walker, and his fifth day would be Monday. Giving him that start would line him up to start again versus the Baltimore Orioles on the penultimate day of the season, and then again in a Game 3 of a first-round playoff series.

That would keep him behind Hyun-Jin Ryu and Taijuan Walker, who are positioned to start the first and second games of the playoffs Sept. 29 and 30 if the club runs a regular five-man rotation.

Tanner Roark is on turn to start Monday, followed by Chase Anderson, Robbie Ray and Ryu versus the Yankees. The Blue Jays also have Ross Stripling in a swing role.

More help could be on the way, too, as Nate Pearson (flexor strain) is slated to throw a live batting practice Monday in Buffalo, when the Blue Jays are “anticipating a couple of innings,” said Walker.

“Everything has trended in the right direction,” he continued. “The velocity is there. He feels really good. He’s recovering well. So I’m anxious to see him (Monday) and then we can then make a decision after that, move forward. He’s someone who if everything’s good, he’s feeling good, we can certainly use and he could help us out for sure, as we know.”

Without enough time to rebuild him as a starter, the Blue Jays are looking at the electric-armed righty to come out of the bullpen in a role akin to the ones filled by Thomas Hatch and Julian Merryweather where “we can utilize that velocity and his ability to throw strikes,” said Walker.

Reliever Jordan Romano (pulley strain in right middle finger) is also moving in the right direction, getting off the mound for a “touch and feel” side session. There’s still work to be done, but Walker said the reports on the leverage righty “are really good, they’re encouraging.”

“We’re building him up with the hopes of him helping us out,” he continued. “We still feel very hopeful. It will be great to see him (Monday) and have a good conversation and get a real good feel of exactly where he’s at.”

[polo007]

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[Metallikid]

How would people rate our pitchers from top to bottom? Assuming Matt Shoemaker and Jordan Romano are back to normal it appears we have several extra starters we will be using as bullpen help in the postseason.

Hyun-Jin Ryu
Taijuan Walker
Matt Shoemaker
Robbie Ray
Chase Anderson
Tanner Roark
Ross Stripling

Jordan Romano
Anthony Bass
Rafael Dolis
Thomas Hatch
A.J. Cole
Julian Merryweather
Ryan Borucki
Shun Yamaguchi
T.J. Zeuch
Wilmer Font

[vaff87]

Since the All Star Break last year, Teoscar Hernandez has 34 HR in 104 games. That’s basically 50 per 150 games.

[polo007]

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[SharoneWright]

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See you next year.

[Schad]

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I think, if you follow that link, you don't hit the Defector paywall? But you should probably subscribe, because they appreciate our team of large rotund lads.

It’s not that no one saw Kirk coming, exactly. He is unusual enough, in enough ways, that he’s been hard to miss from the moment he signed with Toronto. Scout Aaron Acosta had tried to sign Kirk after seeing him play as a teenager in Tijuana, first failing to convince the Rays to do so and then making Kirk his first signing after moving on to the Jays. Last year, Lansing Lugnuts broadcaster Jesse Goldberg-Strassler asked Acosta how good Kirk could be “Oh, oh my god,” Acosta said. He noted that Kirk won the triple crown in the Mexican Academic League, but said that what really popped for him was that Kirk also stole 20 bases. “And this kid, he is not fast,” Acosta said. In the second game of Lansing’s season last year, Kirk stole home.

Everything that he saw from the teenaged Kirk suggested to Acosta that the catcher was “something special,” which is an observation that baseball people have kept making about Kirk before seeking to qualify it after the fact. Kirk’s numbers, both of the back-of-the-baseball-card and more esoteric varieties, have suggested that he has been one of the top hitters in Toronto’s system. His greatest offensive strengths are the comparatively unsexy kinds—he has 90 walks and 61 strikeouts as a pro and an uncanny knack for hitting the supremely ball hard that has so far carried over to the bigs—that enlightened front offices talked about valuing, at least before the juiced ball wrenched things out of joint. Kirk is also good enough catcher that there are a lot of quotes from scout types talking about how his defense is “better than you’d expect,” but again there is that persistent element of surprise even as all the things that are supposed to happen to stud prospects keep happening to this slow, savvy, Cubist 21-year-old catcher.

Kirk’s limitations matter, and will have an impact on what kind of career he has; this is how it goes for baseball players and everyone else who works for a living. But the limits of baseball’s imagination seem to have mattered much more when it comes to gauging what that career might be than anything that Kirk has yet to master. One evaluator, who is notably high on Kirk, was frustrated at how Kirk has been assessed. “His Trackman data is absolutely absurd,” he said. “If he didn’t look the way he does, he’d have been a top 2-3 prospect in the game the last few years.” Few other scouts have said as much, but that’s the point. Everything that can be measured all suggest that Kirk is a hitting savant; the less-tangible things that still have a bearing on player evaluation speak well of him, too, as everyone that has been around Kirk has praised his makeup and dedication.

[polo007]

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[ItsDanger]

Long time fans will see Kirby Puckett whenever they see Kirk at the plate.

[polo007]

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[metafisical]

Who is the ideal first round opponent for the Jay's? Ray's or A's?

[Natural11]

Who is the ideal first round opponent for the Jay's? Ray's or A's?

None of the above, but since we may have to play one of them, best to avoid our dads and play against Oakland.

[Metallikid]

Who is the ideal first round opponent for the Jay's? Ray's or A's?

None of the above, but since we may have to play one of them, best to avoid our dads and play against Oakland.

I really wanted to play the White Sox or any team we haven't played yet this year. I feel like the Rays will just tear us apart.

They beat us more thoroughly than the Yankees do...

[polo007]

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[SharoneWright]

Blue Jays part ways with staff members Hentgen, Quantrill, Huckaby
https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/blue-jays-part-ways-staff-members-hentgen-quantrill-huckaby/

Hmmm. I thought Huckaby was well-regarded...

Hope it wasn't any of you guys who purchased that evening with Pat Hengten for $1000 to chat about pitching!

Maybe they were all grumbling about Charlie's ineptitude, like the rest of us!

[T-d0t]

Cost cutting or something more?

[vaff87]

Cost cutting or something more?

I doubt it’s cost cutting, tbh. They haven’t shown themselves to be cheap like that.

[Metallikid]

Blue Jays part ways with staff members Hentgen, Quantrill, Huckaby
https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/blue-jays-part-ways-staff-members-hentgen-quantrill-huckaby/

Hmmm. I thought Huckaby was well-regarded...

Hope it wasn't any of you guys who purchased that evening with Pat Hengten for $1000 to chat about pitching!

Maybe they were all grumbling about Charlie's ineptitude, like the rest of us!

Why now? Right before the playoffs?

[SharoneWright]

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Double bonus! Add Pearson. Remove Font. Profit!
I'm sure Charlie cried a little tear..