In Tyler Glasnow‘s start last Friday, May 21st, the Blue Jays roughed him up for five runs on nine hits in just 4.2 innings. The most notable stat, however, was that he only struck out two hitters. To find a start in which Glasnow struck out that few, we have to go back to September 2018. It’s an anomaly, and people are going to talk about anomalies. One of those people is Glasnow. In an interview for the Tampa Bay Times, the pitcher seemed to suggest that the Jays knew what pitches were coming. “I don’t know; I definitely think about it,” said Glasnow, who starts Wednesday. “I’m not quite su ..read more

In Tyler Glasnow‘s start last Friday, May 21st, the Blue Jays roughed him up for five runs on nine hits in just 4.2 innings. The most notable stat, however, was that he only struck out two hitters. To find a start in which Glasnow struck out that few, we have to go back to September 2018. It’s an anomaly, and people are going to talk about anomalies. One of those people is Glasnow. In an interview for the Tampa Bay Times, the pitcher seemed to suggest that the Jays knew what pitches were coming. “I don’t know; I definitely think about it,” said Glasnow, who starts Wednesday. “I’m not quite su ..read more

Scratch another name off the list. After months of speculation that the Blue Jays might trade for Cleveland superstar Francisco Lindor, it was the New York Mets who ended up with him. How realistic the Toronto rumours were is anyone’s guess, but it’s still disappointing to have that dream dashed. Especially after the flurry of moves the Padres made last week that had Jays fans thinking, “Why couldn’t we have made those?” In acquiring Lindor and starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco, the Mets sent a package of four young players to Cleveland – infielders Amed Rosario and Andres Gimenez, and prospect ..read more

Teams had until 8pm EST tonight to decide if arbitration-eligible players were going to be offered a contract or not. Those who were non-tendered became free agents. Travis Shaw was one of them. ROSTER UPDATE: INF Travis Shaw and RHP A.J. Cole have been non-tendered. All remaining unsigned players on our 40-man roster have been tendered contracts for 2021. pic.twitter.com/7l7xXmwuCq — Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) December 3, 2020   MLBTR projected that Shaw would earn in the ballpark of $4.5 million in arbitration for 2021 and the Blue Jays decided he didn’t offer enough bang for the ..read more

Tanner Roark has struggled in 2020, to put it mildly. This isn’t the pitcher the Jays expected to get when they signed him to a 2-year $24 million contract. What was supposed to be a reliable innings eater is now a liability, as he’s pitched to a 7.01 ERA and a 1.74 WHIP through 10 starts. His 2.89 home runs per nine innings is nearly triple his career rate. His two fastballs are being crushed. The four-seamer is getting tuned up to a .685 SLG and the sinker a truly dreadful .889 SLG. He’s had only one start this year (August 19th) where both four-seamer and sinker produced exit velocities low ..read more

When the Blue Jays signed Shun Yamaguchi last winter to a two-year contract, the expectation was that the 32-year old right-hander would provide back-of-the-rotation depth, or long-relief in the bullpen. Yamaguchi had thrown 170 innings in 2019 for the Yomiuri Giants and 154 the year before. He also lead the league in strikeouts in 2019. Clearly that has not been Yamaguchi’s role in the early going. Manager Charlie Montoyo used him in two late game situations and the results were disastrous. It didn’t help that the leverage index after those two appearances was the second highest on the team ..read more

In what was a shock to Blue Jays fans, and most observers, Vanderbilt’s Austin Martin was available when Toronto came calling with the 5th overall pick. Mock drafts started getting torn up by the second pick after the Orioles went under slot and chose Heston Kjerstad, but I didn’t expect Martin to be available three spots later. Yet here we are! And here are the reactions from some notable baseball people. Let’s start with what Baseball America had to say (subscription required) immediately after the pick, as it also includes Martin’s scouting report for those not familiar with him. Pick: Aust ..read more

Let’s talk about Teoscar Hernandez‘s second half last year. For all the flak the guy takes for his fielding, he deserves some praise for turning things around at the plate in July. In this age of swing adjustments and launch angle, we must be careful with small sample sizes and try to ascertain which stats, if any, are meaningful. A back-and-forth on Twitter about Teoscar between Mike Kurland and I led to the following response, which is sure to catch the eyes of Jays fans. I feel he’s one adjustment away from a Soler-ish breakout. — Mike Kurland (@Mike_Kurland) February 1, 2020   For ..read more

Like many kids in the late 80s and early 90s, I collected sports cards. Some were baseball, but most were hockey. I would walk to the local 7-Eleven with allowance money in hand, eyeing the displays of O-Pee-Chee and Upper Deck. Saving some change for penny candies and a slurpee, and blowing the rest on cards, 10-year old me was convinced this was a tremendous use of limited funds. That moment when I gently tore the wrapper open to reveal the surprise was everything. It’s easy to romanticize about times like this, preferring to bask in nostalgia rather than acknowledge the frustrating reality ..read more

Last weekend, the optics of the already-unpopular trade of Aaron Sanchez and Joe Biagini for Derek Fisher went from bad to worse. In the span of three hours on Saturday night, Fisher would take a routine fly ball off his face and the two ex-Jays pitchers would help combine for a no-hitter against the Seattle Mariners. You could sense that the entire fan base threw its collective hands up in exasperation. “Are you kidding me?” I mean, good for Sanchez and Biagini that they were able to be part of history. Even the most disgruntled Jays fan must have felt a sliver of happiness for them… right ..read more