Tonight's lineup features six "infielders" and Grichuk playing CF. Gurriel starts in LF, while Drury starts in RF. The "Active Roster" on the offical team site show just two outfielders (Grichuk & Davis) and I don't think I've ever seen that before.

I think the game is changing which means that certain mediocre players are more valuable than other mediocre players.

Decent hitting probably trumps decent defense.

I don't think they're showcasing Naylor.

This is a team with only one left bat, at first, which has struggled to hit against right handed pitchers.
It makes a lot of sense for them to promote their best left bat, who is a 1B/DH type to play in an AL park.

Is Paul Quantrill related to the Chevy dealership?

The "Active Roster" on the offical team site show just two outfielders (Grichuk & Davis) and I don't think I've ever seen that before.

That sort of thing always takes me back to one memorable week in July 1989. The Jays did have three outfielders on the active roster, but one of them was injured and unable to play in the field. (For some reason the team had four catchers active at the same time.) There was one game that ended with Kelly Gruber playing LF, Manuel Lee playing RF, and - four catchers be damned - Tom Lawless behind the plate.

Looking forward to Sunday's game, definitely more than the Jays hitters are. Heard a lot about Paddack, but haven't had a chance to see him pitch yet.

As far as I know Paul Quantrill owns the dealership.

This country concert in stadium in between innings is killing me. One of the worst sounding audio systems in sports right here...

Kinsler, the vet who "plays the game the right way" picked off and run down down by a bunch of rooks.

hypobole - one of the things I love about baseball. Just because something shouldn't happen doesn't stop it from happening :)

I enjoy this team more than last years. I much prefer a group of kids learning and making mistakes to watching old broken down vets trying to hold on.

So far this year: average age vs 2018's average
Hitters: 26.8 vs 29.1
Pitchers: 28.2 vs 29.2

Both will get younger as the kids get more playing time and vets are traded/dumped/IL'ed. For example: Shoemaker & Bucholtz won't add a lot more playing time (sucks but so be it) so their 32/34 ages will reduce in weight.

That's very true.

The bad throw by Hudson hurts more because he's not  a rookie.
You expect veteran pitcher to be able to field.
At least, Hudson didn't cost anything and just ended up here because Tepera has a bad elbow.

Overall, that was an enjoyable game, but not a good match for Biggio who ended up facing  3 lefties.
I like that he was aggressive against the reliever.

I checked on his wiki page and it didn't say anything.
Whatever happened to free self promotion?

Just did some digging online and found it is owned by his dad - https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/21/sports/baseball-quantrill-the-indefatigable-he-only-seems-bionic.html What is odd is their website doesn't say one word about baseball or list any Quantrill's as working there.

Charlie Montoyo gives Danny Jansen the day off again today. He's on pace for about 400 PAs this year despite being healthy. He's a young guy and he needs the work to learn. I wish he was in the starting lineup despite the day game after the night game.

D Jansen could come in as a PH.

Pinch-hitting is not a good way to get a young hitter more experience, in my opinion.

Jansen is playing regularly enough. He’s 16th in C PAs and only 10 PAs short of 10th. I suppose it would also be easier to play him more if he didn’t have a 41 WRC+. If he starts hitting more, he’ll start to get a little more playing time but he’s a catcher and catchers get rested.

Comparing him with 30+ year old catchers is not relevant.  The fact that he is not hitting is precisely the reason to give him more work.  He hit in the high minors and he hit last year in the major leagues, and he's been unlucky per Statcast.  It's not as though Luke Maile has been hitting like Johnny Bench. 

Jansen is playing regularly enough.

Agreed. Jansen has started 34 of 51 games, which is exactly 2 of 3, which means he's on pace to start 108 all told. Barring injury, I'd expect him to exceed that figure but not by much. No catcher starts much more than 120 games any more.

Besides - when you're also trying to develop some young pitchers, there's something to be said for letting the veteran play a little bit too. Especially when said veteran's defensive skills are the only reason he's had a career at all.

400 PA is lots for a catcher. Pat Borders, probably the most successful catcher developed by the Jays (sadly) had only 2 seasons of 400+ PA - 1992/1993. Greg Myers never reached 400. I-Rod was sub 500 his first 2 years in the majors (first was just a partial) and didn't have 500 AB's until his 5th full ML season.

Being slow with catchers for PA is pretty normal. You don't want their bodies falling apart or needing IL time. I'm good with 400 PA for Jansen this year. Work him up. 445 last year between AAA/ML, 424 the year before, never 400+ before that. Lets not blow out our best catching prospect. If he was hitting then I'd say more DH time to increase it but he isn't hitting.

Hopefully 2 HR in 2 G since his recall signifies that Gurriel is "back." What he might be back to is still unclear, but someone hitting would be nice.

The very idea that the San Diego Padres might actually have a good team would seem to require a considerable reshuffling of my mental universe.

Naturally, I had to check and see if this suspicion of mine this was justified.

It surely was. The Padres have played 50 seasons, and have posted a winning record just 14 times. That's pretty bad, even by the standard of expansion teams. As it happens, almost half the franchises currently extant came into existence as expansion teams. The only one of those teams less likely to win more games than they lost? That would be the Miami Marlins, of course, with just 6 winning seasons in 26 tries. But the Marlins at least tossed in a couple of World Series titles, which eases the pain somewhat.

The expansion team most likely to have a winning season? That would be - quelle surprise! - your Toronto Blue Jays, with 22 winning seasons out of 42. The only other expansion team with more winning seasons than the other kind are the currently mighty Houston Astros. The Astros have long been famous for their uncanny ability to go 81-81 (which doesn't count - the Astros have done it four times.) Even so, the Astros have 29 winning seasons out of 57.

I remember when the Royals were considered a model expansion franchise, being the quickest to .500 and later to the playoffs. But, then the 90's happened, and became the 2000's...

That degenerated quickly. Quite the blow out.
Especially when the rule 5 pickup who can give you a couple of innings is out town and his replacement is a LOOGY and the opponent has only 2 lefties.
Even Gaviglio was getting shelled and when the pitcher hitting in an American Leagues park managed to hit a bloop single on the foul line for a hit in his second career AB the game seemed to acquire a surreal quality. Maybe, I'll remember this one. Some of it, anyway. I'm sure a lot of people will, for various reasons.

I'd like Biggio to hit lead off and get that extra hit every game.
What's to lose?

being the quickest to .500 and later to the playoffs.

The Royals were indeed the first expansion team to get their overall franchise record above .500, which they managed in 1977. (We're not counting those few teams who went 2-1 in their very first week.) The Royals have been underwater since 2002, of course.

But the Royals first winning season came in the franchise's third season, and both the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Los Angeles Angels beat them to the punch. The Angels went 86-76 in Year Two, and the Snakes actually won 100 games in their second season. So the Diamondbacks crawled above .500 earlier in their history than the Royals did.

Fun fact: three franchises have never, at any time in their history, had an overall winning record. Two of them are expansion teams who got off to a lousy start (the Mets and the Mariners.) The other is the Orioles, who had the misfortune of spending their first half-century as the St. Louis Browns. There's no coming back from some things.

And one franchise, and only one, has never had an all-time losing record.

The Cubs, of course. They won their first four games, en route to posting a 25-7 record in their first season. They were a good team in the 19th century, they put together one of the greatest teams ever at the begininng of the 20th century, they remained competitive for another three decades and by 1947 they were almost 1200 games above .500. They've given lots of it back since.

Don't ask me about the Yankees. You'll want to break things.

May 25 Teoscar vs. McKinney vs Grichuk vs. Smith Jr. watch:

Teoscar: .189/.262/.299 (-0.2 fWAR) Salary: $578,600

McKinney: .229/.278/.371 (-0.5 fWAR) Salary: $559,400

Grichuk: .232/.290/.412 (0.2 fWAR before today's 0/4 with 4 Ks) Salary: $8m

Smith Jr.: .270/.312/.487 (0.6 fWAR) Salary: $560,000

Incidentally, Smith Jr. hit his 9th HR yesterday; the power surge continues for him. Also, he's now up to 306 PA in the majors with a career 115 wrc+. We'll see whether it lasts, but so far he has been holding his own. He's been paying his dues as a professional since 2012, so you have to be happy for him.

I am definitely happy for Smith Jr. I hope he has a nice career. I really think that he is making the most of his ability.

Alford seems to be turning things around slowly. Now hitting .209.
This is his last option year and he's had a career 32  MLB ABs so far.

Expansion baseball: Playoff Appearances and World Series Wins or best finish.
Astros: 12 playoffs, 1 WS
Angels: 10 playoffs, 1 WS
Royals: 9 playoffs, 2 WS
Mets: 9 playoffs, 2 WS
Rangers: 8 playoffs, 0 WS, twice in WS (max 3 wins)
Blue Jays: 7 playoffs, 2 WS
Diamondbacks: 6 playoffs, 1 WS
Padres: 5 playoffs, 0 WS, made it twice (1 win)
Brewers: 5 playoffs, 0 WS, made it once (3 wins)
Rockies: 5 playoffs, 0 WS, made it once (no wins)
Nationals/Expos: 5 playoffs, only once to NLCS (2 wins as Expos)
Mariners: 4 playoffs, 0 WS, ALCS max (2 wins)
Rays: 4 playoffs, 0 WS, lost a WS (1 win)
Marlins: 2 playoffs, 2 WS

So no expansion team has 3 World Series wins yet. 4 have 2 titles (Royals, Jays, Mets, Marlins). Most playoff appearances goes to the Astros and they probably will add to that total this year (7 game lead in the west already). Mets at 2 games sub 500 have the best record of any expansion team with 2 WS wins so I doubt any will get win 3 this year. Nice that everyone has made it, with the Marlins going there the least but perfect when they do get to the playoffs somehow. The Rangers are the tough luck team, 8 times getting there, going to the series 3 times but have yet to win it all.

Pearson had another good game.

Smith Jr doing good overall, but looks like a 4th OF to me. Since May 6th 221/243/441 over 70 PA. Starting to slow down it looks like, but we'll see.

You know it was a bad day for the pitchers when Luke Maile was the best on the mound - 1 IP, 1 hit, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO.

Maybe he should be used more often on the mound, he hits like a pitcher after all :)

Hopefully Biggio gets that first hit soon - 0 for 6 so far with 3 K's. 7 pitches out of the strikezone, 5 in it (41%), 0 pitches in the heart of the plate or in the upper part of the strikezone.

Vlad Jr has seen 400 pitches with 25 in the heart of the plate - 161 in the strike zone (40%).

For comparison...
Smoak: 54 heart, 365 strikes vs 475 balls = 43% strikes
Maile: 18 heart, 113 strikes vs 128 balls = 47% strikes
Tellez: 50 heart, 294 stikes vs 342 balls = 46% strikes
Galvis: 49 heart, 376 strikes vs 347 balls = 52% strikes

Strikes and balls are based on where the pitch ended up, not what the ump called or batter swung at.

Seems pitchers are expecting the kids to swing at pitches out of the strike zone and refuse to give in and toss it down the heart unlike the old days when you'd expect kids to be challenged. Smoak getting so many down the heart seems odd but helps explain how his ISO power is over 200 this season and his low strike % explains the high number of walks. Stats are via the Jays website - go to a players page and scroll down to see these stats along with exit velocity depending on where the pitch is hit (Out of the 13 zones Vlad has 2 at 100+ and 6 at 90+, Maile only cracks 90 for heart of the plate (sounds right)).

7 pitches out of the strikezone, 5 in it (41%)

 Is that according to the ump?

Strikes and balls are based on where the pitch ended up, not what the ump called or batter swung at.

Yeah, well, that's a big part of the problem. The umps had huge strike zones for those 2 games.

Big game for Stroman. He's facing the team most likely to acquire him at the deadline.

We need robot umps for ball-strike calls I think and have felt that way for years. The calls do NOT even out as some pitchers have pitches which dance (such as knuckleballers) and others have straight as an arrow ones. I'd be willing to be that those with no movement get far more accurate calls than those who do. I remember a book by a former ump (Luciano iirc) who said his first Nolan Ryan fastball appears to explode so he had no idea if it was a ball or strike. Judging where a 90+ MPH pitch is when it crosses the plate area is very hard for a human to do accurately especially at the edges. Why not use technology since it is there.

Chris Paddack woke up with a stiff neck and has been scratched, Robbie Erlin starts instead.

TIM Mayza to the IL with a sore arm. Jacob Waguespack has been recalled for long relief. Justin Shafer is in town as well, "just in case".

Run, Machado, run. Dumbass.

Apparently Gurriel Jr. needs to start every year with a demotion before coming back on a tear.

flicked over just in time to catch a biggio homer. nice.


please just keep ditching all the late-20s AAAA fodder and play the kids instead.

Run, Machado, run. Dumbass.

I can forgive a guy sometimes for not busting it down the line. A routine popup to Andrelton Simmons, say? The guy never dropped a popup in his life. Busting it down the line in that case is almost phony. It's like hot-dogging it for the fans.

But a ground ball to a rookie playing his third game? And Machado is the best player on the team, so all his teammates are watching him, what he does and how he behaves. Andy Green needs to have a word with his star. If he can.

That was terrific the way Lourdes and Vlad bounced out of the dugout for Biggio's HR.

please just keep ditching all the late-20s AAAA fodder and play the kids instead.

I think they're getting there. In the meantime, all this feels a little like an expansion team. Lots of late 20s AAAA fodder - that was all you could get in the expansion draft - slowly being displaced as the kids arrive.

Hopefully Biggio gets that first hit soon.

Clearly the baseball gods like you. He’s now batting 300

That was worth the wait. Exactly the game I was planning to watch this weekend.

Overall they lost the series, but the first game was a good pitching duel and if Hudson could have made that double play, it might have gone the other way.

Nobody claimed Feierabend who is back with the Bisons.
Mayza is on the 10IL with Left Ulnar Neuritis.
Waguespack took his spot on the roster. Possibly as a long man, if he can get outs.
Maybe they make a move with Shafer and maybe they wait until another bad start drains the pen.

Gurriel has always looked like an outfielder to me.
Maybe not the kind who dives for ball, but he has enough speed and arm strength to be average there.

Buck said something about Paul Quantrill's dad having some sort of facility for indoors pitching at the dealership.

Gurriel now has the highest OPS on the team outside of Biggo. He had a huge series.

This is what Yuli Gurriel said in the spring of 2018 when Lourdes was promoted to the majors: "Don't want to give him too much pressure, but he hits better than me, runs better than me and plays better than me defensively," he said.

It would be something else if that assessment proves to be accurate.

Watching game in 30 and gurriel just made a sweet throw to nail the runner at 2nd by a mile.

That's exactly what I was hoping to see from him out there. Plenty of range and a big arm. I love seeing guys playing positions where they have a real chance to become a legit plus defender.

Arash Madani @ArashMadani
6h
Every Blue Jays locker has a red 'We The North' t-shirt at their stall in the clubhouse. Player-driven initiative to be wearing Raptors gear in the lead-up to the NBA Finals. Pretty cool.


Bet you it was stroman's idea.

Stroman and Giles bought the Raptors shirts for everyone. Stroman had his own FVV jersey.

"please just keep ditching all the late-20s AAAA fodder and play the kids instead."

Exactly. It's why the mid-2010 Jays had so much success. Instead of wasting PAs on useless veterans like Encarnacion and Bautista, they gave them to David Cooper and Travis Snider.

Just to understand...in 2009, Encarancion was a 26 YO bad defensive 3Bman with a 91 WRC+. Bautista went into the season as a 28 YO with a career negative WAR (in over 1K PAs). Bautista got 500 PAs with the Jays before turning into Joey Bats. Encarnacion got around 1,000 PAs before becoming a star. People on here wanted Tellez to replace Smoak 3 years ago and since then he's had almost 1,500 PAs with a 126 WRC+. Now, it's very unlikely any of the current crop take that route because it's rare, but playing veterans you think have a chance at a better career is one of the most important things rebuilding teams can do.

Josh Donaldson entered his age 27 season in Oakland coming off a .241/.289/.398 line the year prior and a career 85 OPS+.

I think there's a different level for guys like Brito, Hansen, Howie Clark, Frank Menchino, Bucholz, etc...that's likely the "Fodder" he's referring to...not Druruy, Batista etc

Buchholz doesn't fit that description. Drury does.

Here I am cheering you on, Mike Green, and then I notice you missed one: Alen Hanson.

I love how you used sarcasm to try and insult a much more sensible position.

Thanks, Jonny.  I have missed that one more than once, as I am focused on the unusual spelling of Hanson's first name.  I know dozens of Alans, Allans and Allens, but he's the only Alen. 

Justin Smoak now has the 11th highest xwOBA in baseball, and is masterfully combining power and plate discipline. If you're looking for a late blooming Edwin or Jose, we already have one. I think he deserves to continue to play and really should be extended.

Alen Hanson was in AA at the age of 21 and continued to excel in AAA. 2014, so he reached fast and looked like a great prospect, but not as good at Travis Snider. He does not turn 27 until October. Because he has a lot of tools he will get a lot of chances by many teams.
S Brito is the same age, with almost exact minor league results. Both hit for high Avg and stole a lot of bases.

They were great prospects that were failing after multiple chances. Atkin's taking his shot was a good bet IMO. They failed in their Jay's ML trial in less than 50 ABs. We now own their rights for the rest of the season but they have already had good AAA results.

Uglyone, your position on these AAAA types would be very sensible if we were contending, if we had prospects in AAA that were dominating but being held back by these types, or rookies weren't being used regularly because of these types.

Montoyo is giving everyone on the roster a chance to play regularly. The two he used more sparingly were Brito and Hansen and now they're where they should be. I'm not saying you're opinion is wrong, because there's a very real chance none of these becomes anything that will help the future core or yield value to help the future core.

But maybe one or two more do turn out as useful MLB players. Highly doubtful we'll find the new Bautista or Donaldson, but even getting a Marco Scutaro or Casey Blake would be found money in a pre-planned lost season.

Justin Turner was a Drury type with the Mets. If the FO thinks their coaching staff has the potential to unlock something in one of these guys, why not try? And if the FO doesn't think that, they should get a new coaching staff.

drury has a 60wrc+ over this season and last.

and he's apparently the "best" of these AAAA stiffs.

I don't think the position change has anything to do with Drury's numbers.

He's revamped his swing, like so many have done, mostly because of the live balls, and is trading contact for power. It looked great in spring training but has not translated to results in game situations.

I don't like his 2 strike approach. To me--and I'll be the first to admit I don't know anything--it looks like he sits on a particular pitch and does not protect the plate well. I really hate it when someone freezes on a fastball in the center of the plate for the 3rd strike.

Maybe he meant Tony Batista?

Ryan Tepera just announced that he had surgery. Last week it was suggested he had some loose bodies in his elbow. If that was the surgery he would be out for 4-6 weeks.

Atkins has been busy picking up pitchers galore due to shortage on the ML team. We have to expect that when we pick up pitchers for free we most likely get poor performances.

This has happened. The goal seems to be to get innings from these free arms. Quality is hoped for but secondary.

Quality 60 day DL pitchers would be Borucki, Shoemaker, Phelps and likely to be added Tepera. J Merryweather may also be added retroactively.

C Richard is a cheap vet. I don't know how much they are paying C Buchholz and E Jackson but it is probably not much.

I expected Borucki & SRF to be in our rotation and hoped that Zeuch would earn a promotion.

I believe now that 2020 will also be a similar depth hunting strategy starting in the off season due to the threat of injury.

If affordable, next year we can sign J Garcia (not pitching in the ML this year). F Liriano is a reliever for the Pirates. This type of fading veteran pitchers.