There's been a lot about comparing 2015 to this season (myself included). For comparison's sake the '15 team was 35-32 after 67 games, the '21 Jays are 33-34.

Like the Jays, the Padres have been hit hard with injuries. They weathered them better than we did. They had a bit of a tough stretch of opponents. Astros, Cubs, Mets, Cubs, Mets, before catching a break with 3 vs the awful Rockies.

Won the 1st 2 Astros games and were 15 over 500. They then went 4-10 going into Colorado. And were swept by the Rockies.

DON"T DO THAT in Baltimore, Blue Jays.

Zimmerman is a lefty, the other 2 have been quite bad.

Mountcastle is 24 and could still be around in 3 years. I can't see why not. He was a top 100 prospect.
He's a right handed  1B/DH type though and has only be average offensively this year.
Santander isn't a free agent until 2025.
Almost everybody else is still pre-arbitration, including John Means.
I imagine a few of these guys will be there when they start competing, they'll just be hitting 6 through 9.

When are the real players arriving? Rustchman is the #2 prospect behind Wander Franco and he's in AA.
He could probably play now so, next year? They have another 2 top 50 prospects in AA, but they are both pitchers.
The guy they took instead of Martin hasn't played this year, he's going to start in Rookie ball next week.
Hard to see him up before 2024 at that rate.
They'll still be paying Chris Davis next year, so they will likely start very slowly.

Their good hitters are Celdric Mullins, a lefty centerfielder and Trey Mancini who has one last year of arbitration left.
Galvis and Santander are switch hitters and they have  2 or 3 lefties on the bench.

The aberration in their roster is Cesar Valdez, a 36 year old with only 1 year of service time.

Now, this is what a tear down rebuild looks like.
They have finished 5th every year since 2016--except last year as Boston was tanking, having picked up a GM from Tampa. This is year 5 of their rebuild. They'll likely sell anyone that will bring back fair value.

Interesting comparison Petey Baseball for 2015 and 21. I am willing to accept that both Jays teams were mediocre in late June. Since the Jays won 93 games and NYY 87 and Baltimore 81, TB 80 and Boston 78 it is easy to say that Baltimore, TB and Boston were weak in 2015. Most likely the Jays helped them to be weak.

I will just watch and see how it goes the rest of the season. The record at ASB, July 31 and Sept 1. Then final standings. I want to see us better than the 81 games Baltimore won even if we trade Semien, Ray and Matz. Being big sellers is still a possibility IMO.

It will be interesting to see what Montoyo does with his top 5 once Springer returns. There are all sorts of orders that can be justified right now, but the easiest may be to just slot Springer into the 5 hole unless he was promised the leadoff spot. Otherwise it will probably be Semien 5 to keep the other three in their current spots.

A series sweep would be swell.

Here's hoping the Jays can get back into contention over the next month but if they become sellers the Jays have some nice pieces - Semien,Ray,Matz to start and some catching to thin the herd.

When they were actually selling, they give away Galvis for nothing.
What would the A's give you back for 2 months of Semien? Chapman?

scottt, pretty sure Galvis had a side deal with the FO, similar to the one John Buck had.

Eshelman is 27 and was decent last year, with an ERA of 3.89, but he was mostly pitching out of the pen.
In AAA, this year, he started 3 games and pitched in 3 more for less than 20 innings.
Not a lot of strikeout. He was on a minor league contract.

My memory is pretty bad at times, but I actually remembered Eshelman. Not from watching him pitch, but a trade that ended up having a direct connection to the Jays.

The Ken Giles trade of 2015? Why would you remember that?

Baltimore got him from Philadephia for international bonus slot money.
That's a thing in Baltimore.

Galvis had a side deal with the FO

I don't know if there was an actual deal in place. But the deadline had passed, Bichette had arrived, and no one had shown any interest in actually giving up something in exchange for Galvis. He'd been a good soldier, his playing time had disappeared, so they did him a solid. Players and agents notice these things.

Looking up comps for the Richard Rodriguez trade suggestion that clark posted about a week ago.

So yeah, a week is usually about the extent of my memory.

Anthony Kay has been recalled. TJ Zeuch is back down.

Springer is having a day off today and will play for Buffalo tomorrow. He probably wont be back until Tuesday.

Rutschman is a #1 overall draft pick.
It's hard to compare international free agents to drafted players.
Certainly, Guerrero, Acuna, Tatis, Soto, etc seem to have the edge.
I think Bichette is actually the best young drafted position player in baseball.

Kay up, Zeuch down.

Moreno wasn't on any top 100 list pre-season.

He was 93 on Fangraphs, John, but otherwise you are right. I think that was the only one.

I think the badness of Baltimore is being underemphasized, if anything. They actually started off decently at 15-16, but have gone an almost unbelievable 7-30 since.

an almost unbelievable 7-30 since.

I give you the fabled 1962 New York Mets, so bad that books were written about their badness. From 7 July through 21 August, Casey's band went 7-38.

So what you are actually saying is that the O's are due? Oh boy.

I don't expect them to finish this high, but Baltimore is currently third in the majors in wRC+ against LHP. This series is a land mine.

I think Baltimore really want that first draft pick.
Also, their results when Means and Zimmerman are not starting is pretty bad.

Gurriel now 0 for his last 18.

Grichuk and Gurriel are really digging deep to see who can snag a comfy seat on the bench when Springer returns. In all seriousness, Grichuk's defence has to carry the day in the current circumstances?

Shea Hillenbrand has something to say about this team.

Remember the last time they had a team that would feast on these soft tossers?
Yeah, me neither.

"I think Baltimore really want that first draft pick."

Especially the players, I'm sure.

1 for 19 now.

That call was so egregiously bad.

Shea Hillenbrand has something to say about this team.

Really?

Seems like Ray is waaay too around the plate with 2 strikes. Theres zero chase and all foul. This seems like a failure to adapt or bad game plan. Or lack of command leading to an inability to pit anyone away
I thi k this is part of the new controlled Ray,  but it's brutal how many 2 strike pitches there fouling off. Ove never seen anything like this, and I literally just turned the tv on in the bottom of the 5th

Every time we score we give up runs the very next ups. This team is starting to hurt to watch.

Doesn't help that this team is quite bad on the hitting side on scoring in late innings. It feels this year if we get shut down in the first five innings we will flail away in late innings til we lost.

Murphy has the Aaron Sanchez starter tool kit.

Unwatchable.

I said this the other day, but I think it’s on the manager to try to keep the train on the tracks. That’s in question right now. All teams look terrible during losing streaks, but there is currently a Groundhog Day feel about the team. Montoyo should try something different tomorrow. Nothing crazy, just different. I’d suggest a little shuffle at the top of the lineup. Maybe try Semien, Biggio, Bichette, Vladdy for example. Throw something at the wall.

Beasley....

You're not going to win many games scoring one run through 8 and having 3 hits. Hitters need to take some blame for this here.

This team is what it is but it could have been really good. As was said in the Athletic recently, it's a Vlad delivery device. Not a whole lot more I. 2021.

The Jays are 10-19 since May 20th, which was the day Dolis gave up the go ahead shot to J.D. Martinez in the 9th.

Ouch.

I think I've seen enough for awhile.

Mayor John Tory yesterday suggested that the Blue Jays could return home by August. Naturally, he was admittedly and obscenely speculative.

That was not fun to watch. Apart from Vladdy having fun with Severino.

Still 8.5 games back.

Once through the rotation without a win now.

Charlie's got his hands full these days.

• His bullpen is kerosene.
• His "fill-in" center fielder has long ago stopped hitting, but he can't give him rest because there is still no sign of the "real" center fielder and the only other guy who can play the position is away on leave, and even if he weren't, he pretty clearly cannot hit major league pitching.
• His would-be DH has lost all goodwill engendered from a strong 100 AB in 2020.
• His left fielder doesn't even walk once a week and is like a deer in the headlights when a ball is hit his way.
• He's down his two main catchers.

Still, run scoring is above average and run prevention is above average. And yet the team is a couple of losses away from being closer to last place than to first.

Charlie's got his hands full these days... His bullpen is kerosene.

This is true, but Charlie was blowing games through poor bullpen usage well before everything took a turn for the worse. Nor has he adjusted his strategy - such as extending his effective relievers beyond an inning - to deal with the unreliability of the bullpen as a whole.

If this was simply a case of the team underperforming its pythagorean record, we could perhaps chalk it up to just terrible luck. But Charlie's decisions in lots of close games have been bizarre and often indefensible.

his effective relievers

That made me laugh.

I see signs of progress, though. Not on the field, don't be silly. Here. After last night's sad affair, no one suggested that they'd seen the bottom. The awful truth has been made abundantly clear to everyone here - it really can always get worse. Doesn't mean it will. But it can.

Most of the runs yesterday came after he gave Murphy more than one inning.
That would have been a terrible game to use Romano for 2 innings.
These annoying Orioles were fouling tons of pitches which prevented Ray and Thornton to get even their average number of outs.
What am I missing?

Do y'all recollect how the other day we were observing the faces of the Jays bb-ref home page? Why that's Julian Merryweather! He's still there!

News. He's improved his position.

Most of the runs yesterday came after he gave Murphy more than one inning.

Funny how fans at another site get on Montoyo for pulling relievers after a successful inning, but never come out and say they agreed with Montoyo's decision if the 2nd inning doesn't go well. In their minds those phantom 2nd innings they wanted still have a 0.00 ERA.

I have no problem with Charlie putting Murphy in for the second inning last night. No strategy is going to work 100% of the time.

As for "effective relievers", I meant the ones who are effective that night. Especially when you have a bunch of unreliable guys, if someone like Mayza or Dolis or Chatwood has a 1-2-3 inning with a K, I'd like to see them step out for a few more batters. Otherwise you're rolling the dice with a different guy.

I remain unconvinced that Romano can never go more than an inning regardless of how low his pitch count is, but I have to assume that's the consensus of both Charlie and the FO at this point. There was one game earlier this season where he got the last out of the 8th and 2 outs in the 9th, so maybe it's not completely set in stone.

You know all the ex-jays with the Mets? Well we've got ourselves an ex_Met. Jacob Barnes had been DFA'd. Traded Troy Miller for him.

News. He's improved his position.!

He's just heeding Mr. Miyagi's wise counsel. Best way to not have WAR go down, not be there.

Troy Miller is 24. Was doing well in A+ but not so well in AA.

Barnes has a bad ERA, but he's got 2 saves and one hold. Mostly got 6 HR over 18 innings.
Still, 12 outings giving up no runs this year including 3 of them for 2 innings.

One bad outing in Colorado. One in Tampa where he couldn't get an out, sounds familiar.
Last bad outing gave 2 homeruns against the Padres.
One bad outing June 8 in Baltiomore in which he game up 3 hits and one run in one inning.

Won't be the worse guy in the pen, I guess.

His left fielder doesn't even walk once a week and is like a deer in the headlights when a ball is hit his way.

Today's starting left fielder was recently (last month) playing slow-pitch softball in Fort Loramie, OH (Population 1,524).... Things can ALWAYS get worse!

Looks like McGuire saw a bunt sign and Espinal saw hit and run.

If McGuire thought he saw a bunt sign, he should have asked for time and checked with the coach. There was one out.

A slow-pitch hitter would have worked fine yesterday.

Hamlet ponders the Trade Deadline

To buy or not to buy - that is the question
Whether 'tis wiser in the end to decline
Such waste and flotsam at outrageous prices
Or to find arms among this sea of refuse
And by obtaining, beat them - to buy, to spend
It all - and having spent, we may find naught
But heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to.

He's the 9th hitter. 2 outs with a runner in scoring position and the top of the lineup isn't bad.
Also, there's nobody to field a bunt at third.
Is there a point to show bunt if it's not a bunting situation and everybody knows you're not bunting?

Not a fan of Panik. -0.2 bWAR last year. 0.0 bWAR so far this year.
He gets on base a bit, but he runs slow.
I like a guy to have at least some power or some speed.

Montoya get your shit together.

I'm getting very ready to tune this season out. It's just getting painful to watch. With normal health it would be easier, but I feel like it's just gonna get worse

I think Manoah was ejected because of how his aggression after he hit Franco. You can't allow two dingers in a row, hit the next batter, and then walk towards home plate yelling at the guy you just hit, regardless of intentions or words. Manoah took at least a dozen steps towards home and was halfway to the plate when the benches cleared. I don't think he meant it, but his reaction only caused things to escalate.

At least we have vladdy.

https://twitter.com/jtfakemuto/status/1406363989852971016

This is definitely another low point in the season. After losing the first game of the series, the Jays are getting homered to death by a crap team, their batters are getting mowed down like a lawn on the weekend by some pitcher who is 0-6, 6.65 ERA, their promising rookie pitcher gets lit up then ejected for losing control of a pitch, Randall Grichuk has turned back into a complete pumpkin at the plate and ... and ... aauggh!

Sorry, had to get that off my chest. Please continue with your sane comments and ignore me.

Turn our frowns upside down!

(Please)

Semien should bring back a haul at the trade deadline. Is that what you had in mind uo? :)

:( --> 8D

Really bad teams usually don't have the arms in the pen to preserve leads on back to back days.

Had 'em all the way, ye of little faith.

Can't fault Montoyo for pulling the starter too early or too late in this one.
And bringing Romano to pitch the 8th looks like right decision.

Manoah: 5gs, 4.7ip/gs, .204babip, 96era-, 154fip-, 108xfip-

93.7 FB (42.6%)
93.1 SI (20.6%)
87.9 CH (10.4%)
81.6 SL (26.4%)

Well, geez, if I'd known complaining would turn things around I'd have done it sooner!

Santiago Espinal now at 99 wRC+. Solid to plus fielding at 3rd. Despite that bunt or hit and run or whatever the heck that was, Magpie's gonna see his grinning face tomorrow on the Jays home page.

Wow, what an Orioles way to lose, dropped ball and all.

To buy or not to buy - that is the question
Whether 'tis wiser in the end to decline
Such waste and flotsam at outrageous prices
Or to find arms among this sea of refuse
And by obtaining, beat them - to buy, to spend
It all - and having spent, we may find naught
But heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to.

Did you lift this from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Deadline Deals?

ye of little faith.

Ok

Triple Play & losing all three to Yanks sinking below 500 = bottom

The hits from your two young guns with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to turn a laugher into a winner and picking up other young gun buddy pitcher who gets thrown out of the game = turning point.

(throw in some grumbling fans and pitcher's mother in tears.)

Slow and steady rise (cue the montage and inspiring soundtrack) players outperforming expectations/picking each other up.

Cut to final Sept showdown with Yanks for a playoff position (stay tuned.)

This is how they write it up in Hollywood anyway. Seems plausible, no?

Did you lift this from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Deadline Deals?

I was looking for something in our vast Archives and stumbled across it. I have no memory of writing it, but Hamlet is still the happy hunting ground of minds that have lost their balance.

A little Jim Joyce reference there. No, not the umpire.

I think a great deal of reverse-jinx mojo was applied this afternoon. Successfully, too.

No, not the umpire.

The umpire too, at least on June 2, 2010.

Springer was removed from the game in the 4th inning.

😳

Just need average Ryu and average Harvey tomorrow and then Hernandez back on Tuesday.
I'd like to see Springer play the outfield 2 days in a row before they bring him up.

Once Springer is up, Davis looks like a DFA candidate to me, but Jared Hoying first, obviously.

Springer was removed from y
the game today in the 4th inning. Jays fans freaking out on Twitter

Someone on BBB said the announcers speculated that he was removed as precaution because of poor field conditions. Not sure what would be wrong as he didn’t have a defensive play in the last inning he played. The inning before he has two catches. Also had a strikeout and that’s it. Hard to see where he got injured there unless it was on a violent swing and he hurt his oblique again.

Maybe just a sign of my advancing age, but Springer is starting to give me Ken Dayley vibes (younger Bauxites will have to take my word for it that it was once socially acceptable to casually refer to someone with career ending vertigo as Dizzy Dayley).

Same reason why he played DH and got a day off.
He's obviously not pain free.

Then why is he playing.

Occam’s Razor suggests a simpler explanation re:Springer. Buffalo may simply have run out of tin garage cans.

Posted this in the wrong thread.

Not going to speculate on Springer, because his injury is something that can be easily re-aggravated if not healed sufficiently.

But McDaniel a couple of years ago was asked what surprised him most when he was hired by the Braves. His answer was that near seasons end, almost everyone was playing through some sort of injury. Goldstein a couple of weeks back estimated 1/3 to 1/2 of players are playing hurt. Not a lot of 100% healthy in MLB.

It did rain in Rochester 6 and 7 o'clock, and the game even had short rain delay.

Manoah was ejected because of the timing, i. e. because he hit a hitter right after 2 consecutive homers.
His next start is in Buffalo facing those same Orioles.

He walked towards home with his palms up, not a gesture of aggression, and asked "What's the problem?".
Hyde did a good job of containing his players but took offense to something Montoyo said.

Vlad carried Galvis out of the melee while smiling gently.


Fry was tagged for 4 earned runs and saw his ERA jump to 3.12. He's a trade chip for the Orioles. 

Day off Monday. Going with Stripling, Ray against the Marlins would allow Ray to skip Baltimore, not that he pitched poorly. Important to give Ryu that extra day here. Matz should be ready to go then.

The Edwards Jr and Jacob Barnes acquisitions are attempts at replicating the success of the Jason Grilli and Joacquin Benoit moves. A lot like the Ray and Matz trades, really.

it was once socially acceptable to casually refer to someone with career ending vertigo as Dizzy Dayley

Yikes. (I honestly don't remember hearing it at the time.) The last I heard (and this was almost 15 years ago), Dayley was still dealing with his vertigo. He'd learned ways of coping, of anticipating when it would affect him and how to manage it when it did. The thinking at the time was that it was somehow related to a case of meningitis that had hit him sometime before.

Before I get to my point, just had a shock and awe moment. Checked FG batting leaderboard a few minutes ago to confirm Acuna jr has been the best position player this year not named Vlad jr. Well, he is the best in the NL. But there is one name between the 2 juniors. That would be Cedric Mullins II.

Reason I was there is I was thinking of the parallels between our current and former GM's. Both teams expected to contend. Both with great young position players. Unfortunately, both ravaged by injuries. Both signed a FA OF to big contracts and gotten almost nothing in return, although despite Springer's issues, they pale in comparison. Both with incendiary bullpens. And both sub-.500 with playoff hopes rapidly diminishing.

He walked towards home with his palms up, not a gesture of aggression

How is that not a gesture of aggression? What if it were Franco who had walked towards Manoah? He had given up two homeruns and plunked the next batter, fishy timing all on its own, and then physically approached said batter as if he wanted a confrontation. And his posture was screaming out "what's your problem?" to the guy he just plunked. In an interview afterwards, he admitted that he shook off a slider to throw an inside fastball.

Manoah's tough guy routine is part of his shtick. He stares contemptuously at batters as he rubs down baseballs, letting them know he'll pitch when he's damned well ready. And now he's jawing at batters after he comes close to beaning them. I get that he wants to assert himself, and play the mind games that he feels give him an advantage, but his antics will not be without consequences. This won't be the last time we see this kind of response.

Home Field Advantage is a very real part of the game. It's baked into the structure of the game. The home team wins 54% of the time. But this hasn't done the Jays much good so far. The Blue Jays are 28th in the majors in Wins at Home, with just 13. Only Baltimore and Arizona have won fewer games at home.

Obviously this is largely a result of schedule they've played. The Jays have played 40 games on the road, and just 29 at "home." It should help to have the last at bat more often going forward.

It may also have a little to do with not playing any games in their real home. It's been a strange season already, and among the strange things was having their home crowd cheering loudly for the visiting team. The next time the Yankees visit the Jays, it will be the final week of September, and with any luck they won't be that crowd's favourites.

but his antics will not be without consequences.

Well said, Chuck. Just want to add, the consequences won't hit Manoah, They may hit Vlad or Bo or Marcus though.

34 games to play by Aug 1. The decision to be sellers may still be tough. I am curious to see what the 7 -11 ranked teams will do.

Because we have money we were able to get Semien, Matz and Ray. They are all very good rentals. They would be missed but the prospects received should be pretty good.

One more thing on the Jays/Atlanta post. If AA and Atkins were petty (highly doubt they are), AA could be thinking "You deserve it Jays, for trying to fire me" and Atkins "You deserve it AA for what you saddled the Jays with when they tried to fire you."

Springer back in the Bisons lineup today.

"You deserve it AA for what you saddled the Jays with when they tried to fire you."

Saddled with a playoffs team + the best prospect in baseball?

Wishing a happy Father’s Day to all the fathers and your fathers.

The tough guy pitcher routine is as old as the game. Whether it still has any place in the modern game, is debatable. However, I think Vladdy and Bo are at risk in today’s game, to Chuck’s point. I can’t imagine the O’s like that routine from anybody, but from a snot nosed rookie?

Sure, I take a break from the Jays for my own sanity and the most exciting game of the year happens.

Brandon Hyde was doing his best pro wrestling shtick during the shoving match; vigorously separating his team from the Jays while simultaneously shouting profanities and generally not being helpful in taking the temperature down. What the heck was that?

Didn't Stroman hit Caleb Joseph in the head early in his career and cause a dust up with Baltimore? Manoah and Stroman seem cut from the same personality cloth.

The Rays are having a bad road trip and coming back to the pack a bit. It always seems like they find a way no matter how many injuries they have but Glasnow going down really stings for them.

Happy Fathers Day!!

Also it is very nice to see Espinal starting to swing the bat. He definitely has the glove and the legs of a big leaguer plus, in my eyes, some solid intangibles. He doesn't have any power, but he can look across the field at Freddy Galvis to see how a nice career can be carved out with a similar skill set.

Is it time to start worrying about Ryu? Bullpen issues aside, this team is dead in the water if he's not right.


And just as I say that, he gets a double play ball to end the inning...

Not much of a "war" guy, but that Destroyer is a thing of beauty. Google telling me it is likely the USS New Jersry and is a museum ship today.

2 totally BS 3rd strike calls on Vladdy earlier and McGuire with the bases loaded.

He may not be much of an outfielder, and may be an impatient, streaky hitter, but Gurriel's childlike wonderment and innocence is such an amusingly endearing trait.

Paging crappy Matt Harvey, paging crappy Matt Harvey... of never mind, there you are.

Paging crappy Matt Harvey

It's kind of wonderful how his career goes on, despite him being terrible for the last six years. The memory of how good he was still overshadows how long ago it was.

All weekend I've been going mad trying to figure out who Cedric Mullins reminds me of (facially.) Is it another player? An actor? A musician? I think the weekend will be over before I figure it out, but I'm beginning to think it's someone in the NBA...

I see some Griifey Jr resemblance in Mullins (especially the clean shaven Cedric).

Mullins somewhat looks like that guy who plays CF for the Orioles.

I think the beard is part of the package. I'm starting to suspect a guard from one of those NBA teams I don't see as often, probably from the Western Conference.

So.... who gets the eighth and ninth innings?

Mullins somewhat looks like

I may be thinking of Harold Perrineau, the actor from Lost, and it's because I haven't seen the guy since the show ended that I'm having so much trouble with it...

Chatwood. The adventure begins.

Three-run lead. Bases empty assignment. Baltimore. I have faith that Chatwood can get it done.

Yankees turn another one. Ahead 2-1 in the ninth. Chapman comes in, walks Lowrie and Kemp. Murphy then hits into the 5-4-3 triple play to end the game.

What will the Jays do when both Jansen and Kirk are healthy? Obviously send Adams to Buffalo. But then?

They will have to DFA a catcher. Can McGuire plays so well that they choose to keep him instead of Jansen?
Seems unlikely, but McGuire is doing OK even when catching Ryu.
They've both been around replacement level, so it's kinda moot.

Walking is not aggressive, charging towards someone is.
Palms up is about as aggressive as giving the peace sign--which would probably get people upset too.
It's Manoah's makeup and attitude that brought him where he is.
Hitters don't have to look at him.
I don't figure to see Jays hitters being thrown at, except as retaliation for Jays pitchers hitting batters.
Not for a pitcher taking too long between pitches or rubbing the ball.
Starting tomorrow, the umps will be checking for "sticky stuff", so that will add another dimension.
It's possible we see an increase in hit batters as a results.

Manoah has hit 2 batters so far, Ray 2, Matz 5, Stripling 2, Thornton 2, Chatwood 3, Dolis 2, Mayza 1, Payamps 1, Kay 3, Castro 3, Bergen 2, Phelps 1, Beasley 2, Murphy 1.
Manoah and Pearson have both hit 4 batters in AAA.

Hyde was upset by something Montoyo said. No idea what that was.

Chatwood was missing by a mile again.

So was the plate umpire.
The catcher has a target outside and the ump stands in between the batter and the catcher.
How can he judge an outside pitch from there? He's not even behind the plate and the catcher blocks his view.

Really missed Teoscar.

Jansen has 2 options, Kirk 3. McGuire is the only one out of options.

Walking is not aggressive, charging towards someone is.

That applies to you and me, perhaps. But when you're as big as Manoah, everything looks aggressive. The kid really is the size of a mountain, and when one is heading your way it's frightening.

They will have to DFA a catcher.

I think they'd DFA Tellez ahead of McGuire. They may just option Kirk to Buffalo until September. He won't be back until sometime in mid- or late July even if everything goes well for him, and they'll want him to get some games in before bringing him back anyway.

That doesn't really help the Jays, but perhaps the 2 options make Jansen more attractive to a team looking for an emergency catcher.

Wouldn't make any sense to lose games while watching Kirk crank up his OPS in AAA.
They can rehab him for a while though.

Baltimore doesn't get Monday off and will host Houston for a 3 set.
Boston will be in Tampa, Tuesday to Thursday, then they'll host the Yankees over the weekend.
Just need to keep winning series against the weaker teams.

There really is no point in hoarding catchers.
I don't think Tellez can produce without regular ABs, but if they get a decent left bat, they can DFA Panik as well.
Best OPS from the left side in AAA:
Tellez 1.262 only 10 ABs.
Hoying 1.172 only 27 ABs.
Palacios .840 only 20 ABs.
Urena .838
Valera .803

Aaron Sanchez has come up with a blister while rehabbing  his bicep and been moved to the 60IL.
Looking more an more like a reliever.

Sad about Sanchez.

Rays lost 6 in a row, so here's come Wander Franco to play against the first place Red Sox.

This will be interesting.

Rowdy's time with the team surely appears to be coming to an end. He didn't start any of three games this weekend against right-handed starters. Yesterday, with the bases loaded in the 9th inning and down by three runs, Montoyo chose to pinch-hit Riley Adams, a lifetime 2-for-21 hitter, instead of Tellez. Adams looked at two strikes and whiffed at a third, but didn't ground into a double-play. And that was seemingly (and actually) a better outcome than having Tellez hit.

He's always been a streaky hitter and he can still be optioned to AAA, but I don't see any role for him right now on this team. Vlady has been outstanding at 1B - he saved at least three errors today - he should be playing there every day and not DH'ing unless absolutely necessary.

Maybe Tellez sticks around this week for the games in an NL ballpark, but it's hard to see him here for much longer.

The Jays just signed John Axford, who hasn't pitched in the majors since last time he was with the Jays in 2018. He's 38.

Hope it works

Hope it's a minor league deal as he will need some time with Trenton.

Signing Axford makes sense. He did well for Team Canada in the Olympic trials. Didn't pitch much, just 2/3 IP but got a key save vs Cuba to eliminate Cuba from the tournament. Giving him a shot is a good idea I'd say - no risk really, as it'll be a AAA deal and if he sucks, it isn't like that team has a ton of options for their pen anyways. If he does well he'll get a shot up here.

Others at the Olympics to look at from Team USA None are on 40 man rosters.

Marc Rzepczynski 1 IP 1 K 0 BB 0 H 0 R - not with anyone right now
David Robertson 2 IP 1 H 1 R/ER 1 BB 4 SO (run allowed was vs Dominican) appears to want another shot.
Anthony Gose: 2 IP 1 BB 2 SO - super wild for Cleveland in AAA though (17 BB in 12 IP)

David Robertson is the guy who really interests me. He was definitely the best of those Olympians - TJ surgery cut short his 2019 and his recovery encountered some problems. But he's always been a very effective reliever and remarkably dependable from year to year. I'll settle for Axford because I do think the bullpen badly needs someone who's been in the major leagues longer than a few weeks. (Phelps and Yates were supposed to be that guy but the best-laid plans gang aft a-gley and all that.)

Baltimore #3 prospect, Heston Kjerstad, which they drafted #2 overall last year has been shut down because of myocarditis and there doesn't seem to be a time table for his professional debut.

Their #4 prospect, DL Hall, 21st overall in 2017, has  been shut down with elbow inflammation.

Their #7, Mike Baumann has pitched only 19 innings this year, as he was dealing with a similar issue for all of last year.

Chance Sisco was recently DFA, he was their top prospect when they started this rebuild.

Adley Rutschman could become the #1 prospect in baseball once Wander Franco graduates.
Grayson Rodriguez (ERA of 2.29 in AA) could leap over Pearson, if the latter does not graduate.

"Wouldn't make any sense to lose games while watching Kirk crank up his OPS in AAA."

I very much disagree with this. Shortstop is the most important defensive position. Fans keep wanting to move Bo because he's not good defensively. And shortstop defence is easy to scout, even for fans with some knowledge. But SS is not the most important defensive position. It's catcher.

The problem, as far as fans are concerned, is that all the components that make up catcher defence are impossible to scout. We can see some things like Gary Sanchez passed balls, or Jansen's great blocking. Catcher arms are another. McGuire controls the running game far better than Danny or Kirk. Many other things are impossible to quantify with the naked eye though.

To make a long story less long, it's impossible for us to accurately judge whether Kirk is or isn't an upgrade on Jansen or McGuire. FG this year ranks them McGuire, Kirk, Jansen.

Kirk has been the best stick, but loses value for his poor defence and basepath clogging. Both Jansen and McGuire are much better catchers by FG's metrics.

Now any non-pitcher has to hit somewhat, which is why Jays did the McGuire-Kirk switch last year. And why Jansen might end up in AAA. Or Kirk if McGuire doesn't revert to last years batting abyss. Or maybe even if McGuire hits to his expected 75-80 wRC+ levels, still somewhat adequate for a backup, the Jays internal metrics value his defence much worse that outward appearances. And he's the one gone.

I remain unconvinced that Romano can never go more than an inning regardless of how low his pitch count is, but I have to assume that's the consensus of both Charlie and the FO at this point.

Well, it turns out Romano can go 2 innings. If only someone had told Charlie a week before, when we tied the Red Sox in the top of the ninth, only to blow it with Dolis in the bottom.

Romano was dealing with some arm issues a week back.
He didn't pitched between June 1st and June 9.
Dolis lost 2 games in the 9th in Boston, June 11 and June 14.
Romano didn't pitch in those games.

June 9:
Romano threw 21 pitches in the 8th inning of a 6-2 win against the White Sox.
It was 3-2 went he started warming up to get into the game.

June 11:
Chatwood faced 3 batters, got none out and let 3 runs go against Stripling.
Mayza finished the inning, Edwards Jr blew the save in the 8th and Dolis took the loss in the 9th.
Who knows if Romano was available? It didn't look like he was as he didn't got up.

June 12:
Romano threw 8 pitches against the top of the Red Sox lineup in the 7-2 win.
Presumably, he was there to test his arm.

June 13:
Historic blowout.

June 14: Manoah gave up one run, Eovaldi none. Payamps threw 2 shutout innings to keep it close.
Vladdy homers against Barnes in the 9th to tie it and Dolis lost it in the 9th.

Many people complained that Romano should have pitched the 9th, but the Jays had the bottom of their lineup coming up in the 10th, so they would have needed him there or lost anyway. Boston took advantage of the blowout to rest their pen.

Now, in an elimination game, like the 2016 wildcard game, you use your best and push them.
It's different during the season.

Montoyo said that Romano was available on the 14th. The notion that he was available, but only for a maximum of one inning - regardless of pitch count - is the kind of special pleading for Montoyo that gets run out every time he makes a seemingly poor decision.

I was willing to give Montoyo the benefit of the doubt at the time during the final Boston game. Romano hadn't been used for more than three outs all year, and had only come out for a second inning once. It looked like his usage was strictly limited. In that situation, you might as well save him for the 10th inning. But less than a week later, he pitches two full innings, throwing 28 pitches with a 3-run lead - and I see no reason to believe something changed in the five days in between.

Now, there is no way of knowing how effective Romano would have been, or how many hitters he would have been able to get through before hitting whatever his max pitch count would have been. Maybe he only gets you 4 outs - maybe he loses the game in the 9th just as Dolis did. But it's absolutely clear that Romano gave the team best opportunity to win that game so long as he wasn't strictly limited to a single inning.

On the 14th, the 9th inning was not the highest leverage inning. It would have been the 10th and maybe the 11th, if the Jays couldn't score in the 10th with the 5th, 6th and 7th hitters.

Being a good manager is not so easy as wanting to use the best reliever for 2 innings whenever the game is close.
What's needed is to get production out of all the relievers. Cora did that by getting a guy from AAA and letting him carry 13 earned runs over less than 6 innings.

Chapman hardly pitches except in save situations.
Matt Barnes has closed 23 games. He's allowed 10 earned runs. Sawamura, 9. Ottavino, 9. Taylor, 9. Darwinzon Hernandez, 8. They're all very close in innings pitched. The best is a low pressure guy who has thrown about 50% more innings and only allowed 6 earned runs: the rule 5 pick, Whitlock.
It's the same with the Rays, they have a dozen guys--if you count the ones on the IL--whom they can throw in there in any order.
It's not on Montoyo, it's on the pitching coaches and the relievers to shape up.
One guy who can't hold runners can't do it all.

Romano gave the team best opportunity to win.

Yes, but that best opportunity was a losing cause.
They only scored 1 runs in 9 innings. What were the chances they could outscore Boston in 1 or 2 innings when Hernandez had made the last out? Maybe 20%? Worse case scenario is that Romano throws 30 pitches and they lose anyway and the odds of that were about 50%. All those relievers have better ERAs than Eovaldi.

It's hard to watch them blow big leads in late innings.
It's not hard to watch them save their best relievers to protect leads.
You have to know when to cut your losses and move on.

Surprised Shane Greene wasn't signed in the offseason. When our bullpen started faltering I mentioned his name, but AA signed him. Has not gone well. 4 games, 15.00 ERA before today. Could only get better, right? Wrong. 3 runs in 2/3 of an inning. 19.64 ERA.

In his 12 starts of 0.50 ERA pitching this year, deGrom has posted 4.2 fWAR. That's pretty impressive.

deGrom also holds the distinction of being the 1st pitcher checked by an umpire in the foreign substance crackdown.

Anybody know who the Jays starter will be tomorrow?

Montoyo might know.
Could be Ray on regular rest. Could be Matz. Could be another bullpen day.

A short piece on sticky stuff, Alek Manoah and rush to judgement with a wee dram of hubris.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/sticky-in-the-mud-assessing-impact-of-mlbs-ban-will-be-difficult/

Didn't know sunscreen was permitted on day games outside, but it does make sense.

Beasley's fastball seems to leave his hand at weird angles sometimes, but that might just be me.

The penalty for getting caught is pretty drastic. 10 days and you can't replace the player on the roster.
Kinda like a soccer card.