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OT: The Toronto Blue Jays

UWHabs said:
Yeah, that's why you need to give him a lot of time. The only exception is if you think about moving him to LF or RF instead of 1B, then I might consider doing that sooner.

But his DRS numbers are not bad (-3), although UZR is really tough on him. But with the bat, he doesn't ever even have to be "good" at 3B, basically just "better than terrible". I mean, the WAR positional adjustment between 3B and 1B is something like 15 runs, so even as a -15 3B that's the same as if he were an average 1B. Team still needs a solid LH bat, but Vlad+Bo have the potential to be the best 1-2 punch in the league.
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Vlads biggest issue is that he doesnt have a heart attack first.

I think vlad biggest problem is fast foods and the gravy bowl......

Someone should teach him to use the spoon, dont drink from the bowl.
 
I think Vlad has the raw skills to be a good defensive 3B. If he can't do in the next 2-3 years, or if they develop or trade for an excellent defensive 3B, then by all means, move him to 1B. But I wouldn't be in any hurry to move him down the defensive spectrum. After that, the only place to go is DH and while he has the bat to be strictly a DH, having one guy there every day is not the best use of that spot. I'd prefer to see them use DH as more of a load management spot for most of the position players.

Plus its possible that keeping him on the field in a position with more defensive demands will help encourage him to get into better shape. This is also something they can evaluate going forward. No need to rush into a decision. The team is going to be bad for a little while at least. Even if Vladdy is a terrible defensive 3B for the next two years, it's probably the difference between a 70 and a 72 win team.

Also if he plays a passable 3B, it leaves them the option of acquiring a big bat at 1B at some point.
 
Also the Jays should re-sign Smoak to play 1B for the next few years. Tellez could push him out if he learns to hit MLB pitching, but Rowdy is not good enough that you have to clear a path for him.

Smoak is actually having his best year in many ways, but has an insanely low .230 BABIP despite having a higher percentage of line drives and hard hit balls than he did in 2017 or 2018. His xwOBA is .380, 27th highest in baseball. Even though he's not going to be a big BABIP guy because he is molasses slow, this year has been extremely unlucky. He will also almost certainly come cheap. Basically, he's EE-light, both in terms of performance and cost. I bet they could sign him to another 2/8.5 deal. Easily worth it.
 
manny said:
Also the Jays should re-sign Smoak to play 1B for the next few years. Tellez could push him out if he learns to hit MLB pitching, but Rowdy is not good enough that you have to clear a path for him.

Smoak is actually having his best year in many ways, but has an insanely low .230 BABIP despite having a higher percentage of line drives and hard hit balls than he did in 2017 or 2018. His xwOBA is .380, 27th highest in baseball. Even though he's not going to be a big BABIP guy because he is molasses slow, this year has been extremely unlucky. He will also almost certainly come cheap. Basically, he's EE-light, both in terms of performance and cost. I bet they could sign him to another 2/8.5 deal. Easily worth it.
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While I'm not totally opposed to signing Smoak, doesn't doing that have the exact opposite affect of what you said in the post above, using the DH as a load management spot?

Now, if you cut bait with Rowdy, then you do need someone playing 1b, so I definitely don't mind a guy like Smoak for that spot. But I do think keeping the DH spot open so that you can routinely rotate in Guerrero, Bichette, Gurriel, Biggio, Hernandez, etc... like one day a week each, while bringing in a vet like a Sogard or Galvis to fill in around the infield only makes sense. Or if you want to use the DH spot mostly to rotate the OF, with Alford out of options next year I think you might see the team carry 5 OF, in which case you basically need to run one of them at DH more often than not.

Now, I mean, Tellez has been kind of brutal this year, but he's crushed minor league pitching at every level, so give where we are, I'd like to give him another chance next year. So your roster next year is basically:
Jansen
Tellez
Biggio
Bichette
Guerrero Jr
Gurriel
Fisher
Grichuk
with McGuire/Drury/Alford/Hernandez/McKinney as DH/Bench options. There's not really anyone else knocking down the door, so you could swap someone out and bring back Smoak if you want him as a vet option, but I don't think I'd give him more than 1 year, and it would be more of a "hope he has a strong first half so you can get something at the deadline for him" type of deal rather than anything else. He's also a slow 1B-only, so even if he has a strong start, I doubt you get much of anything for him anyways at the deadline.
 
Put the death of Tyler Skaggs on the list of opiod related deaths. Found with a mixture of oxy, fentanyl and alcohol in his system at time of death.
 
Justin Verlander tossed another no-hitter at Rogers Centre -- the first pitcher in MLB history to throw multiple no-hitters in the same opposing ballpark.
 
Age 18

SWR (A+): 28.1ip, 27.1k%, 6.5b%, .243bip, 2.54era, 2.46fip, 2.93xfip
SWR (A): 78.1ip, 29.9k%, 5.2b%, .356bip, 4.25era, 2.53fip, 2.24xfip

Vlad (A+): 209pa, 17.2b%, 13.4k%, .365bip, .333avg, .161iso, 179wrc+
Vlad (A): 318pa, 12.6b%, 10.7k%, .336bip, .316avg, .164iso, 151wrc+


Who was the more impressive 18yr old?
 
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