Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 307 | Toronto Blue Jays | Profile & Projection

Episode Date: March 20, 2021

You guys ranked the Toronto Blue Jays baseball's eighth-best team! Will they be able to pitch well enough to supplement that potentially-special offense? Jomboy, Jake, & Plouffe preview their 2021 Presented by DraftKings Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Too many. There, it's time for another team profile and projection. We're talking about the Toronto Blue Jays. It's talking baseball. Brought you by Draft Kings, the Blue Jays. They added a lot of people. Had a pretty fun season last year, Jake. Had all the youth kids come up, made themselves the playoffs.

Had Ryu pitch for them. They messed around with a bunch of other stars. pictures that were kind of rentals. Who stuck around? Who left? What gives? Taiwan Walker. One of those rentals you talked about.

He leaves town. He's with the New York Metropolitan's now. Ken 100 Miles Giles. He's hurt, but he also gone. Jonathan V.R. came over. Derek Fisher, your boy, Jim. Matt Shoemaker, Sean Reed Foley,

Chase Anderson, Anthony, all about that base. Sean Yamaguchi. Shun And Travis Shaw Who we decided we're rooting for for the Brewers this year They added some dudes Though how about George Springer From the Astros

You know them Connecticut Hard hit New Britain We've all been there once Marcus Simeon From the A's He'll be playing second base This year

You know a year removed From an MVP-ish type season and a couple arms, Stephen Mats, change your pitch mix, hopefully, Tyler Chatwood, Kirby Yates, in the back of the bullpen, and David Phelps, Jimmy's Moxie King. So, yeah, I mean, talk about some high-end talent, Springer and Simmy, and boogie, boogie, boogie. Trev, where are they going to fit in with this Toronto's Blue Jays lineup?

This is a seriously impressive lineup. I think it goes under the radar for a lot of people. Maybe I'm just talking for myself, but this lineup is very impressive. We got two guys. Danny Jansen, stud, and then Jake's favorite player in all the baseball. You want to say his name, Jake?

I mean, are you saying? It's Alejandro Kirk. We don't want to hear you talk. Love that guy. First base. We got Slim Daddy Vladdy. Wow. Like that.

Trev, I like that. I've only heard. I just make that up. Yeah, I've only heard skinny Vladdy or whatever. What did you just? I just say that was much... Slim Daddy Vladdy. Slim Daddy.

That's amazing. Put on a shirt. I'm doing it now. He'll be at first base this year. He's trimmed down. He's trimmed down. Looks real, real nice. At second base,

we got our guy, Marcus Simeon coming over from the A's shortstop, our guy, Beau, Flo, Bichette. I love that guy. I love Bo Bichette. Third base, Kevin Bissio, left field, Lord's Guerrille, Junior, Center Field,

New Edition, George, Spring. right field teoscar hernandez and d h r guy friend of the pod in a roundabout way because i played against him in triple a rowdy to les i really really like this lineup jim tell me about their pitchers well you know the main dude ryu came over from the dodgers to the blue jays through a bunch of pitches they got their dude nate pearson he's got a strained groin right now i don't think he's going to miss much time with that. He should be on the bump and back at it. They got Robbie Ray, Tanner. Fuck. Roark. Rourke. Every single time I say his name, I forget which one it is.

Someone needs to give me a device, like a memory device. Like if it's a brain. If it's called, if it's a row arc, then I need to say like Tanner Boats. Stephen Mats comes over, Ross Stripling. Ross Tripling. How about that? Tyler Chattwood's there. Relievers. Kirby Yates. Jordan Romano, Raphael Dolis. Dolis.

And Ryan Baruki. I'm nervous about this episode. I'll tell you that because the Blue Jays fans are all excited. Very excited for their fans. Very, very, very, very, very, very excited. Rightfully so. But if you don't say that they're going to, win the World Series.

We've had so many Blue Jays fans reach out and be like, why don't you ever talk about us? I'm like, we do. I've talked about you a lot. And they're like, all right, all right, cool, sorry. So. I don't know about World Series this year, but I did see something awesome right here, Jim, as we're recording this on this day, it's Boba Shett's birthday. Huge.

Don't know what that means. But people think they're going to win the World Series this year? Blue Jays fans are very excited. They're very excited. You can be excited. chance. Be excited, Blue Jays fans. Ceiling, winning the division? No. Yeah, of course.

Of course, that's the ceiling. 1% chance, 2%? 5% chance. Jake, you're putting it at 0% ceilings and I believe in that. You're putting at 0% chance? It's not a 0% chance. Okay. So the ceiling is But they're not. What's your ceiling then? Like you're a real deal

ceiling. Second. Second. Second. And you have them behind the Yankees and the Reyes, not sure which one? Both. If we're playing that world, you know, there's a world where it can happen. I don't know. I am a Yankee fan. I think this lineup slaps with the Yankees and they're younger and they're probably healthier.

I think pitching when you line it all up on paper. The Yanks do their thing and I think the rays are going to raid Jimmy. Well, last episode that we just did on the Twins. Yeah. We said that we We said the twins had great 162 regular season rotation They're going to keep you in games

You're going to play, you're going to do good They just don't have Playoff pitching That's what we said about the twins And I think we all kind of agreed, right? Yeah At least at this point on paper in our heads It's what it looks like

Blue Jays don't even have regular season pitching Oh That's not true That's not true Oof Rue is a top of the line guy Yeah, great. Big Daddy, Nate Pearson.

We don't know yet. I think he's going to be just fine. I think he very well might be a stud in this league. But I don't, I mean, I'm not going to. I think you came about it from the wrong angle. I'm not going to say a rookie pitcher is guaranteed to give you 30 good starts in a season or 25 good starts. Well, I don't think we're looking for 30 good starts. I think this team fits to a T what Jake talks about when he's talking about a good regular season rotation.

There's a lot of depth there, the guys that can eat endings. I see that face, so maybe you don't agree with me, but in my mind, that's what I see when I look at this. Ross Stripling, Tanner Roark, and what's the other guy? Mats. I'm a big fan of Mats. You guys don't like Mats. You guys laugh when I called him.

I don't know when that was last year at some point. I think they have plenty of pitching to get through the regular season. Matt's got lit up last year. He's a lefty that can still throw hard, which any MLB team will mess around with. Here's what I think differ I think regular season You know

Roark Rourke Tanner Boat Whatever we're calling him Um Like you know He got knocked around last year I don't know what Tanner still got in the tank

And even when he did have it in the tank His best ability is to take the pill every fifth day Like stripling Chicken strips Hopefully he can He can find it there Robbie Ray He's the guy that they brought back

I think he was reunited with some coaches. Robbie Ray, you can have some fun with stats with where his strikeout numbers and what he can do on a season can be special. That being said, I do very much worry about this pitching to get through the regular season. We'll see what it looks like. I love Ryu. Riu's one of the most underrated pitchers in the game at this point. The concern with him was injury.

So we'll see what it looks like over 162. I think where I would switch, if we're referencing the twins, I much more believe in the twins pitching to get them through 162. If you told me to pick one of these teams for a playoff series, I'm taking the Jays. Oh, okay. Oh, well, because of Ryu. I mean, Ryu, I think Robbie Ray.

Maybe Pearson could be coming out. No, no, no, Trevor, put Robbie Ray on paper next to Jose Berrios, and you're not going to like what you find out. Well, you will. Jake's just a strikeout slot. I mean, Robbie Ray had some really good years. I think that they're equal, if not twins. Robbie Ray had one really good year.

A couple really good years. There's more names down in the NRI type section, the non-raster invitee section as they're in spring training. First of all, Nate Pearson, I just saw he has a pulled groin right now. Hopefully that's something small for them. But look, man, you know who's my guy and who's there? who just signed with him. Professional pitcher Tommy Mill won.

Ooh. He's there. My former roommate Jacob Waggis Pack. I'm not even sure that's how you say is last name. He sure is. Wagis pack. That's the only way you can't say. I just call them wags because that's easier.

He's there. They got some guys, man. They have enough. We, like we always say, we don't know the depths of the Toronto Blue Jays pitching system. But I just, when I look, there's enough depth to get them through. I agree the World Series is, unless they make a move here, I don't know.

It's not going to happen. In a seven game set, probably not going to get it done with the starting pitching, but they're going to bang. I think we should start talking about how good this. We're talking about the lineup because the lineup's amazing. It's really, really, really fun. And hopefully it's so fun that they can survive with less than pitching. I mean, George Springer and Simeon, that might be their new one, too.

Hello. And that's a hell of a new one, too. with Bo Bichette there I mean Slim Daddy Vladdy is that you said Slim Daddy Vladdy Boba Shett hasn't even played a full season for them yet I can't wait to see this guy go do it

He is my I think I've referenced this a few times Like my My baseball card I want to own Go go get you some Boba shit rookie cards I think it's undervalied right now I think this guy could potentially be like Star like one of the faces of baseball star

Yeah, I mean, right now they've got a bonus outfielder. Is our guy Gritchick on a given day? Biggio's going to be moving all over. They've got him at third. Lordus Gurriel and Teoscar Hernandez get familiar with those guys because all they do is hit violently. Rowdy Telez, A, I love saying the name, sex symbol of baseball himself.

By the way, he's 26 and pretty much all he's done is hit, and I think he's still on the up and up. this lineup might be able to go eight deep with anyone. The catcher is what it is until they call up Alejandro Kirk. Alandro! But no, I mean, this is special and it will help them carry in day in, day out. Even if there are a couple injuries or whatever they are, slumps, you're still going to have half a lineup that's hitting.

Not many teams can say that throughout baseball. So, yeah, it's going to be the war of, attrition with pitching this year. Because, you know, there is a world that, I mean, if you took Ryu out of this rotation, then it's like, holy crap. I just scrolled past every team that we've done below them, that we've already done. And it took me to get to the Cubs to find a rotation that I didn't think was better than the Blue Jace. Like, I really don't think this rotation's good at all, especially when you're playing the ALE's

teams in the Banbox stadiums. Are they playing in Dunedin to open up the season? I think two weeks they're starting there, yeah. And then you have to play all the NLEs teams because there's some bats over there and the Orioles might suck, but they were top seven team in OPS and hitting the ball last year. So it's just not built. Like the lineup's going to have to be special, special. They can.

And they can be. It's going to be a special special. I agree with you. The pitching is just it's not there. but there's enough bodies there that I think they can give them enough endings. This is a team that if they want to be successful in the postseason, you're going to have to go get somebody. Or maybe Nate Pearson just is like an absolute stud this year.

And things like that do happen. Nate Pearson can happen very often. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That can happen. Nate Pearson can step up and be a stud for them. He's got the stuff. And I think everyone likes his makeup too, so. Yeah.

I like Phelps. I don't know if he's a game changer, but I like Phelps. No, they're both then has some guys. like Kirby Yates, when he's right, he's elite. Dolese saw him last year. He's a groso out of the pen. And a couple other young guys, a couple guys that kind of didn't make it as a starter and they're fine in roles down there.

So I don't know, man. I mean, you just, you got to wonder. I mean, Robbie Ray, as excited as I am about him, I get the concerns too. I mean, you know, he was brutal with the debacks last year, play the weird year card, whatever it is. If he doesn't have it, I mean, Rourke got rocked. Stephen Mats was one of the hardest hits pitchers last year. So I just get it like every day, baseball is a grind.

And if things start to snowball and Rourke doesn't have it and Mats doesn't have it. And now you're going a three-game set where you've got to get X amount of innings from your bullpen. That just doesn't work throughout a season. So, I mean, that's the concern for the Blue Jays. I hope they look in it. I'm rooting for Big Nate Pearson. I'm rooting for Robbie Ray because that could really help. And then that leaves them in position to go get another body or two at the deadline,

which they did last year, and they've showed they're willing to spend. So I think for the Blue Jays, the pitching, they got to stay as tight as they can for the first half so that they can add a body or two because this pitching will not get you through 162. I'm reading an article by Keegan Matheson. We love Keegan. Keegan Aiken. This pod. I'm assuming he's a beatwriter for the Blue Jays and MLB.com.

He's talking about the pitching staff, just like we're talking about the pitching staff. They need bodies. And he's talking, is Jake O'Reed or is he a fit? Of course he's a fit. But since they haven't gone after him, it leads me to believe that they think that some of these guys internally can step up and be producers. And one guy he mentioned is Thomas Hatch. Internal candidate, like that name.

He actually only goes by Tom Hatch, T-O-M. Trev, we love that. Baseball reference. It's one of mine and Jake's favorite name in baseball. We love that name. Early Settler. Yes. Early Settler.

Anyways, he was kind of like in a swing role last year. We love swingers. He was multi-inning bullpen guy. Thomas Hatch. He be a rotation fixture. he had success in that role. He could go back to that rule. And whatever you were just saying,

like who's going to fill the endings? That's an ending either kind of guy right there that you need in the modern baseball way of approaching pitching. I see this team needing a bulk guy like two times a week. Like I'm going to pitch the four, five, six inning for us today. This could be the guy. And so they obviously believe in some of their internal options because they, I mean, yeah, they went out and got,

mats did they trade for match or they sign them they trade mats and they went out and signed Robbie Ray I just think that these are the moves you make if you have people internally that you believe in because this lineup's real deal so they know there's the windows here and now they'll trade for all those

how some of these guys step up they'll trade for all those people I said they were going to trade for uh that twins are going to trade for none of that list is impressive though there's not a lot of deadline guys you're going to have to take guy with another year if you make a move at the deadline this season. We'll see how that plays out, though.

Jumping back to the offensive stuff, one dude last year on the Blue Jays has a lot of red in his baseball savant, which means he was top one, top 5% in the league, in multiple categories. If I was to offer you guys one guess

at which player that is, who would you guess? Te Oscar Hernandez. Yeah. I think general public, Blue Jays fans probably are very well aware of that. But I think with how much love Bigio and Vladdy and Bichette get, to Oscar isn't getting that shine.

Nepotism at its finest, God damn it. That dude led to league. He was top 2% in barrel percentage, top 4%, top 2% in exit Velo. All of his expected stats, like expected batting average was top 10 or 5%. they're just good it's violent man he's he's fun to watch play the ball jumps off his bat and a guy

he hit 26 homers in 2019 you know last year it felt like things were coming together maybe it's Trevor plufe's favorite a little more help in the lineup he was on that pace for 20 home runs we were excited for teoscar he got hurt still hit 16 and 50 games he's real that and that's where you know people

are probably mad at us that we're not spending enough time on, you know, Boba Shad or Vladdy or Cabin Bigio, but people, if you're a baseball fan, you need to know these other pieces are real too. Like this lineup speaks. I mean, I'm trying to think of, you know, you said you had to go back to the Cubs to find a pitching staff you didn't like, this is our favorite lineup up until this point? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's why they're, that's why our audience ranked. If the lineup isn't here, they're not getting ranked top 10 team. Yeah, they're one of the best

lineups for sure. Yeah. Well, they're pretty deep, Trev. Who have you liked more? The twins, I'm guessing you're going to say? Like the Cubs, if they play to their potential, we like that lineup? I guess you're right. I mean, I really, really like this lineup. And they, and they have, like, guys like Jake's saying,

who are people necessarily don't talk about enough who are really, really good. And it's not the household name yet. So they have the names and those guys that should be the name. So, yeah, I mean, I could see this being the best overall lineup we've seen. Because Springer is a huge, this team was good without Springer. And you know what else?

I'll tell you. Tell us. I told you guys that I thought the A's had no sex appeal. Blue Jays nothing but sex appeal. I mean, this whole lineup in the infield, the infield's going to be beautiful. There's going to be double plays that these kids turn. And they're going to be routine double plays that people are going to be like, Wow, that was beautiful.

Art. It's art. Yeah. Oh, Boba. Yeah, is beautiful. Who else is beautiful? Well, now they have Simeon at second. Good looking, dude.

Firm. If Skinny Vlad is. If Skinny Vlad's scooping picks over there, I'm not going to give the sex appeal tag to Skinny Vlad. Yes, you are. Yeah, you are. I'm not. I'm not.

I'm not. I'm not. Yeah, you are. Boba Shed is the real deal. And it may be a huge oversight on the hot boy list to not. not have Boba Shed as at least a rising star. He's a rising star. He's got to earn a little bit.

He surprisingly hasn't played a ton of baseball himself. He hasn't played 100 games, right? I think he's in like the 80s or something. And going back to this lineup depth, right now, Gritchik, our guy, is on the bench. You know, in 2019, he had 31 homers. That fuck. He had a 114 OPS plus last year.

So like, and that's a bonus piece for them right now. Like if Randalli Gritchuk was on the Rangers, we'd be like, oh, Gallo's got protection this year. So the Jay's line up real, like we've harped on, it's going to come to how much they pitch. And like you're saying, Trev, hey, they got young bodies, throw them at a wall and see who sticks. But, yeah, I wouldn't be surprised. You know, we look at the prospects. Austin Martin was the guy who slipped in the draft last year. He's supposed to be as one of the show ready hitters, as you'll see in kind of.

college. He's still a little bit away. Simeon Woods Richardson, another prospect for them. He's a little bit away. I think this is a big pitching trade team. I think they're going to be around the wild card. And it's going to be glaring that they need innings. How about another dark horse for you? Mike Leak, who throws bullets. He said he's sitting out the first part of the season while COVID still gets better.

I love what Mike Leaks about. Well, he's a bad guy. That's what Kevin Ather said. Right, right, not coming back to get paid. So circle the Blue Jays. Let's see how good the hitting is and let's see how much their pitching can survive. Survive. This is going to be a first in the team profile and projections.

Oh my gosh. I'm sorry. He's got a little bit more to go, in my opinion. Sexy. Sexy. Two things that I have to go right now. Sure. Leave early from a TPP.

One, they got TASCher Hernandez for Francisco. Francisco Liriano in 2017. Bad trade by the Astros. I love you, Frankie. Roasted. Number two, I'm taking the under. Yes, I finally got one.

86 and a half, you're going under? Taking the under. I just think you guys made a lot of good points about the pitching. There needs to people really step up and, you know, I think, I think 2022 is more of a realistic timeline for the Blue Jays to really like, be somebody. Trev. Although I think they're going to be good this year. I'm taking the under.

So you're still taking, you're in the AL East, you're taking the Rays above the Jays? Most likely, yeah. I mean, I could see a scenario where that switches. But you think it's very tight. You think it's very tight. It could happen a lot of different ways.

The Rays are an enigma to me right now. Last year, I was very sure on the Rays, and I said they're going to win the World Series. This year, I'm not so sure what's going on with them, but the potential is obviously still there. So it's a weird thing for me. I think the Yankees still end up winning the AL East and then we'll see what happens with the race.

Okay. Love you guys. You got to go. See you, Trev. See you, Trev. Yeah. Go Canada. I love Canada.

We're Canada fans. Rank it. In Canada, Canada's number one. Yeah, it's huge. A lot of people have always been saying that. We're the best right here? Yeah. That's actually their motto.

In Canada? Yeah. Number one, baby. We're the best right here. Bye Treve. Yeah, Treve. Well, all we have is the over under, right? We've got the over under.

It's 86 and a half, draft kings. What are you feeling? The under, but again, like, I don't want to knock the hitting. I just, it's hard to, it's hard to survive. When I say I'm down on this pitching staff. Yeah. I don't see anyone besides for you pitching a full season. Yeah.

So maybe. Like, I'm ready to be wrong on that, maybe one or two. you guys can prove me wrong. Sure. But I'm pretty, I think it's like worse than the Angels pitching staff. Yeah, you're doing, I think I'm with, you're doing, you know, something out of Robbie Ray. How about that? If the Angels had this pitching staff, we wouldn't even be shy about how bad we think it is.

Yeah. Get re-out to the Angels. Yeah, man, I'm... I'm telling the under. Feel bad, Jay's fans. I think we're all on the under. For me, it's just I still very much believe in the race. And I think the Yankees are stacked.

They're the favorites in the AL that on a day-to-day basis to get through 162 with that pitching is going to be really tough. I mean, the lineup's good. I think the kids are going to have some ups and downs too, just because that's baseball. So I don't know. I don't know. They have a really soft opening to the season, which is nice. I'm very open to the J's proving me wrong. Like I will very much be rooting for Nate Pearson

I hope Robbie Ray still has it That it's like okay If these dudes can do that Then I want to believe in it but Gotta see it Yeah I'm with you I mean I like the lineups gonna bang They have Yankees as their opening series

Then Rangers Angels Angels Yankees again Royals Red Sox Okay That's a pretty soft opening Okay. Get it going, guys. Have some fun and enjoy yourselves.

I'm excited that Blue Jays fans are going to be upset with us or have turned this off. Because that means that baseball's booming. In Toronto slash Buffalo slash Dunedin. Go pitch. Get out. Someone said earlier that this song reminded them in the movie Major League. Really?

Sware of my life. Weird. Super weird.