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OT: The Toronto Blue Jays

GEEMAN said:
Manoah getting back to respectability is huge this year
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Essential imo. This season is cooked without a few things happening

- Manoah and Vladdy both bouncing back to something much closer to what they did in 21-22.
- Gausman not declining much if any at all (just turned 33)
- Springer power bounce back. Was great that he stayed healthy, not great that his stick went from fringe elite to slightly above average. The Jays need 3 big bats in the middle of the order imo. Bo (125 wRC+ or better), Vlad (130-140+) and Springer (120+) is kind of essential. It will take some of the pressure off of the secondary/complimentary guys like the catcher platoon & Turner. Because there's a lot of spots that could be below average in this lineup (LF, 3B, 2B if Schneider turns into a pumpkin, CF)

A lot of other okay things happening (Varsho back to an average stick, Jansen healthy all year, Bassitt staving off father time, etc) won't be enough if the top of this team doesn't bounce back in some cases, and hold the line in others.
 
MindzEye said:
Essential imo. This season is cooked without a few things happening

- Manoah and Vladdy both bouncing back to something much closer to what they did in 21-22.
- Gausman not declining much if any at all (just turned 33)
- Springer power bounce back. Was great that he stayed healthy, not great that his stick went from fringe elite to slightly above average. The Jays need 3 big bats in the middle of the order imo. Bo (125 wRC+ or better), Vlad (130-140+) and Springer (120+) is kind of essential. It will take some of the pressure off of the secondary/complimentary guys like the catcher platoon & Turner. Because there's a lot of spots that could be below average in this lineup (LF, 3B, 2B if Schneider turns into a pumpkin, CF)

A lot of other okay things happening (Varsho back to an average stick, Jansen healthy all year, Bassitt staving off father time, etc) won't be enough if the top of this team doesn't bounce back in some cases, and hold the line in others.
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Of the big 4 sports baseball is the main one where there is much up and down years and or yo-yo from season to season

Very long season , injuries, inconsistencies , etc...

Last year pitching was elite , healthy , and ate innings

I expect a key injury or down season from somebody but hope the uptick in Vlad , Varsho , Kirk , etc....makes up for it
 
Fwiw i see two spots for three of Toronto, Seattle, Tampa.

IMO NYY, Baltimore, Central team, Rangers and Astros are locks barring disaster seasons.

Im not all that confident, and thats also assuming some goofy central team doesnt take a WC after everyone in the east and west beats on each other
 
Maybe, but there's a bucket of talent over there. Sure doesn't look like anyone in their lineup had a fluke season or anything, if anything Mullins sucked and could/should have been their best player. They were a bit fortunate with their pitching staff with Bradish having the season he had but they've kind of sorted that out by adding Burnes as their ace.

They have some excellent prospects ready to compete for reps as well. Holliday might make their opening day roster and he looks like a pending stud, they've got another 3-4 high upside kids who played in AAA last year that could/should be ready soon. They're in a really good position to win 93-95+ again, and if they're on pace for that by deadline, have tons of assets to go get whatever they need.

I'd probably bet on Tampa slipping more than Baltimore and I don't think Tampa is going to slip much, even without Wander.
 
Agree that Baltimore looks ready to be even better this year. Though of course because this is #baseball, anything can happen. They've already announced Bradish has an elbow tear strain, and Means is a month behind schedule.

Holliday is going to be great, but that doesn't mean it'll happen this year.

And it's certainly possible Tampa Bay takes a step back (though we say this every year). Losing Wander hurts a lot (he was their Vladdy), had to trade their ace in Glasnow, lot of pitching injuries last year, etc.
 
zeke said:
But last year's Orioles are like last year's NJ Devils. Not as good as they looked.
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and if their pitching craters like Jersey's goaltending does, yeah, regression. Pretty easy to look at them and call it young and improving though. There could easily be organic improvement just from the gang of 22-27 yr olds they're starting.

You can regress a lot from 101 wins and still be real gud though.
 
It is a fair point for sure, they probably did overachieve last year. And while they have a very impressive minor league system, that doesn't mean it manifests this year. Probably 50/50 that Holliday and Cowser either start to make a big league impact, or spend most of the year struggling or in the minors.
 
The biggest things that keep them from regressing imo is a Mullins bounceback, and having an actual stud at the top of the rotation and not Gibson. Corbin Burnes is probably a game changer for them. Not having Bautista for the season is going to hurt their bullpen. Kimbrel is a million years old, but looks still pretty good. Kimbrel-Cano is probably an average 8th-9th inning duo overall though.
 
I think Mullins bounces back and agree on Burnes. Grayson takes a step forward this year too. As for the rest of the staff (aside from Kimbrel-Cano), they got a ridiculous amount of mileage out of moving the fences back, but I can easily see regression for some of these guys (Kremer and Tyler Wells specifically), Cole Irvin pencilled in as the #5 guy right now and I can also see that going horribly wrong.
 
MindzEye said:
Other than Tiedemann though is any of it good? Francis maybe a late blooming RP. Dunno what Yariel is, I'll hold judgement. What am I missing?
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I think Francis is a decent option as a SP, Mitch White finished the year strong and was hitting 98 today, and im optimistic Yariel can do one or the other.

As for the pen, ive heard good things on TJ Brock, Connor Cooke, Adam Macko, Hagen Danner, Chad Dallas, and Hayden Jeunger
 
Like if these AAA kids look good early i have no reservations punting on a Trevor Richards, Nate Pearson or Genesis Cabrera ( if he reverts to shit) and giving them a look.
 
MyNameIsJonas said:
I think Francis is a decent option as a SP
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Are we talking as an emergency #6 starter type thing, or more? He's been ass as a starter at AAA but looks to me like he's got a real shot to be a decent relief option.

MyNameIsJonas said:
Mitch White finished the year strong and was hitting 98 today
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Eh, White is junk. Yariel would be nice if he was something, especially considering the price they're paying. If he's not a starter, he better be a really good reliever and right away.

The kids you mentioned are interesting, but I dunno if they're interesting this year though. Gotta see some performances at AAA first.
 
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