Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 91 | Toronto Blue Jays | Profile & Projection

Episode Date: February 22, 2020

The Baby Jays! The first team that I think comes with an excited fan base on our list. A lot of young talent. An offseason were they acquired guys to take that next step. It may be a fun season in Toronto. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 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.

Time for another team profile and projection. And we are talking about the baby Jays, your Toronto Blue Jays. Entered the league in 1977, joined the American League. They wear Royal Blue, Navy, Blue, Red, and White. Their nickname is the Jays, and they play at the Rogers Center. Two World Series titles to their name, and their manager is Charlie Montoya.

This is talking baseball. My name's John Boy, and I have my co-host Jake with me. We're doing episode a day, every day, until opening day. Time to talk about the Blue Jays. Jake. Joe Carter. Chalkata. Go watch Big Daddy.

Treat yourself. Man, Jimmy, sometimes there's some mysterious powers in this world that we go from my Coronado rock piles to your Tarangus Blangus-Langus. Yes. Yes. How fun are these guys, Jim? The Blue Jays are fun. We actually, we were a little more bullish on them at the end of last season than we should have been. We kept saying on this podcast like, you were a little more bullish on them.

You kept putting them in the schedule as like, oh, that might be a tough series with the Js. And I was like, no, they're still losing a lot. I don't remember you. I remember you very much being on the same page as me. No. I think the record will show that you were with me. No, no, no. I called you out a couple times on the show saying that they're not a tough team yet.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Well, their offense was good for a while. They were putting up like eight runs a game for maybe a week. I don't know how long it was. They're fun. I feel like we took a turn, you know?

Like, this is a team that the fan base, this is the first team that we're doing that I think the fan base is very excited. for 2020 season for the season upcoming. You and I, when we were planning this and as we do with everything, we just kind of talk until we find something we like, we were like, okay, yeah, let's kind of do them in an order. We'll let the fans vote. This sounds kind of, sounds kind of fun.

Also, that made us start with the worst teams, which wasn't too exciting. We're starting to get into some fun ones. Like we didn't get a lot of Nolan Aeronados and Trevor Stories, and now we're jumping into the Jays, who, I mean, are just loaded with so much young talent. And I mean, it's their projection is just how big of a leap do you think a lot of these young guys are going to make? And, I mean, how much can they pitch?

Their pitching staff is different. But I do, I just want to say, I'm happy for Blue Jays fans. And I think they should be very excited going into the season. I don't think they're going to win. They might, they might. They're going to be competitive. I don't think they're going to be better than the Reyes or the Yankees. Right.

But I think they're going to be a blast to watch. Because they have so much young talent. I mean, Vladdy Jr., Bichette, Bigio, Gricich's a fuck. I love Gertich now because he follows me on whatever social media, but crushes the Yankees, so he's a fuck. Rowdy Telles, fun. Gurriel Jr., fun. and they're pitching last year. Dude, it was so bad.

I haven't gone through and looked at the starts. Trent Thornton, Aaron Sanchez, Stroman, they traded him. Wilmer Font, Waggis Pack, Clay Buckholz made 12 starts. Clayton Richard made 10 starts. Edwin Jackson made five charts.

Shoemaker made five starts. Reed Foley made six starts. And like, it was all. Who had the best ERA? Strowman, but they traded him. Joe Beijini, the reliever. It was bad, man. And they totally retooled that.

They totally retooled that. They bring in Ryu. They go out and spend, and they bring in Ryu. They bring in Tanner Rowark. They bring in Shoemaker, Anderson, and then they go get Yamaguchi, who knows what that guy is going to do. But it's exciting. Real exciting.

So I like what the front office did for their fans and for the team. And yeah, man, with the pitching, I think it's going to be fun because, and you and I are a little more tuned into this watching the Yankee games. Because, I mean, I'm looking at their AAA pitchers or projected AAA pitchers on fan graphs. And I've seen a lot of these guys. I mean, right now on fan graphs, they have Trent Thornton down there. I mean, he's going to pitch a ton of innings. He's basically on the big league team. Waggis Pack.

Sean Reed Foley, Zook. Anthony Kay is one of the guys they got in the Mets trade. So it's, um, it's going to be a fun. year in Toronto because the lineup is kind of set. They've got a lot of fun bodies and it's going to be it's going to be fun to see who takes a jump and like how how good is boba shit? How good is Vlad Guerrero at this point? By the way, Vlad Jr. isn't 21 yet. But with the pitchers, A, I mean, Ryu is is going to do wonders for them however long he can be on the mound. And then B, with all those young guys,

I mean, it's fun. It's what baseball is supposed to be. If you can pitch and you're getting dudes out, you're on the team. If not, bring up Waggis Pack from AAA and let's see what you got. Waggis Pack. It's a fun name.

Waggis Pack. Do you think, all right, who else did they add, Jake? I was just a little, they added Joe Panic to a minor league deal. How about that? Do you excited?

Travis Shaw. Sure. Travis Shaw. like imagine if he turns back into good Travis Shaw dude and that's that's where this gets so so fun for the Blue Jays because like let's let's put stuff in Penn Boba Shat Stop in Penn Kevin Bezio second base in Penn

Vladdy Jr. in Penn Lord is Gueriel Jr. in Penn and then Gritchuk he is a fuck he's in Penn but dude like Travis Shaw and Rowdy Tiles are going to be fighting for at bats and hey a good Travis Shaw wins that out. If not, they have the young Rowdy Thales who hit 21 homers in his rookie year last year. I mean, Derek Fisher, he's a guy that they've had their eyes on for a while, was kind of a big prospect. Couldn't kind of get that next step to break into the Astros team. Teosker, Hernandez, someone like Joe Panic, does he find his form a little bit? Brandon Drury's buried on the bench a little bit

nowadays. I mean, the lineup, they have so many options. They should be able to hit and field. Like, doesn't feel like a lot of those guys are really flawed defensively or anything like that. And then, dude, Ryu, on the top of that, Seth, we haven't mentioned Tanner Roark. Is that how we decided we're saying it yet? Roark. I watched the YouTube video on the announcer said it like that, so that's how I'm saying it. Roark is the one that's going to be a true test of where the Js are at. Because if they, if all those young guys do take a jump, like Tanner Roark's going to win a lot of games.

If they don't, Tanner Roark might lose a lot of games. because, I mean, it's, it's not like he's going to have this breakout season where we're talking about Tanner Roark at the All-Star break with a two-flat ERA and he's punching guys out. No, he's going to throw bullets. He's going to give you, you know, five innings pitch, two earn runs, six inning pitch three earn runs. He's going to keep you in ball games. And the Jay's pitchers last year could not do that. No. Rorke's got some good stuff.

It's curveball when it's on. It's pretty nasty. but you know who they're talking about, it's Ryu, Jake. Can we talk about who they're talking about? Yeah, the guy that they're talking about is Ryu. You know who he is? Do you know? Not fully, man.

What's he, South Korean? Yeah, I don't know that. Yeah, South Korean. He's from Incheon, South Korea. He's 32 years old, 6.3.255. He has the eighth. His fastball velocity is super poor. percentile. His fastball spin is 11th percentile.

His exit velocity, though, is 96th. People do not hit him hard. 88th hard hit rate. Can't square him up. They can't square him up because he's too round. That's a pudgy joke. Jim, do you mind if I give you a couple stats on real? Can you give me a couple? Can you tell me if he was the top 10% in barrel percentage for pitchers? I'm going to assume yes. Yeah, he was.

The past two seasons. So he's got some injuries. concerns. Let's get that out there now. He can rarely put it together for full season since like 2014. He finished second in the Cy Young last year, not really a stat. He did lead the NL and ERA last year. That's a good stat, Jim. In his last 44 games started, so the past two seasons, he had a 2-21 ERA. I mean, the dude is dirty. It's just a matter of how much they'll keep them out there. And I know you and I have some bias in this and it's going to be a fun baseball conversation if he gets off to a slow start. But people are, there would be some people out there that would say it's tougher to pitch in the AL East than the NL West. Yeah, man. There,

there would. It's me. I agree. Because there's a fucking DH. Whoa. You don't get an easy out every inning. The stadiums are a lot less friendly. I mean, you have course, which is unfriendly. but everywhere else, you know, Giants, Dodgers, there are a lot of big ballparks. Padres are three of the better pitchers parks. Yeah, Padres. And the ALE East, you have Fenway, you have Yankee Stadium, you have Baltimore.

Camden. Camden. Toronto. People don't even give Camden enough shit because it's not, you wouldn't look at it and be like, like, you know, Yankee Stadium has the short porch, and Fenway has the monster. Camden Yards, it's short zone is right where right handers hit the ball.

It's left center. That's their short porch and left center. Yeah. No one really talks about that. Like that's the worst part to have it. It is kind of funny that it gets overlooked because of the short porch and Monsta, like you said. But yeah, you fly balls to left center that are caught. A lot of ballparks are home runs in Baltimore.

So yeah, Ryu, that will be interesting to see. I'm very curious to see. I'm almost treating this as like a test case for me. Because I don't know. I've never been like active as involved as I am watching all teams as I am this year. So there might be other examples of an NL, dominant NL West pitcher going to the ALE East. Is there? Randy Johnson?

I mean, he was old. I'm sure there are cases, yeah. Yeah. So I'm interested. Shilling. Yeah, shilling's a good one. Cool. How good are they going to be, Jake?

Because I still don't think that pitching staff is frightful. Yeah. I don't think, you know, besides Ryu, I don't think you're saying, oh, shit. Rawarks on, raw arcs in the mountain. I've got a fun one for you. I've got a fun one for you. And the craziness that can be baseball. Do you see any world this season?

where the Blue Jays could be better than the Rays? No. Right? No. I mean, I'm not trying to be a jerk. I'm trying to be nice to Blue Jays fans because I'm happy with what they're doing and where they're going. But no, I don't. Not this year.

They're like three starting pitchers away. The Rays had what, the best pitching staff in baseball last year, something like that. And I think that's going to end up being the fatal flaw that the Blue Jays are going to be fun, but I still don't think they're going to win a ton, especially with the Yankees. We'll see what the Red Sox look like as we're recording. Mookie is still a Red Sox. When this comes out, he might not be. Yeah, if he is, he should be really, he should be really pissed.

But yeah, man, I mean, it feels like a fun team that's, just not going to be able to win enough with their pitching. You know, I pulled up Vladi Guerrera Jr's baseball savant peripherals and stuff. Sure. He doesn't have a single that's red, which means great. Isn't that odd? Right. A little bit, you know, I can chop up stats with the best of them.

He got off to a terrible start. But these kind of mask, bad starts and stuff. sometimes. I mean a little bit, but I mean, he, I mean, he got off to an atrocious start and is, and it's part of what makes baseball beautiful. I mean, you know, the guy who's, you know, a Hall of Fame prodigy son, he's, he's, you know, just looks just as talented. He's destroying stuff in the minor leagues. And I mean, you know, it took them till, it took him till mid-May to get his OPS in the sevens. And then he had one little hot streak there towards the end.

And he actually ended on kind of a slide that made his season look worse, Jim. He had in early September, he had an OPS, you know, he had an 817 OPS on September 5th. He kind of slides the rest of the way and he finishes with a 772 OPS that feels pedestrian. I'm a Vlad Jr. guy. I think he's all that in a bag of. of chips. Kill me. Damn.

So, yeah. Here's a take. Okay. And I'm saying this like so loosely. I have a bad Mojjay's take too, so be feel free. I don't know if this is bad. I think Bo Bichette and Kevin Bissio need to trade big swings with each other. Like Boba Chet takes way too many big swings.

He just swings out of his shoes at all times. And Kevin Bigio, like, doesn't swing. Right. So, like, they need a hand, like, he, I'm only going to do three big ass swings today. I'll give you one. So, Kevin Bigio is my bad Blue Jays take. And I hope he proves me wrong. But I get nervous when I see a young guy like that who he hit 234, but he had a 364 on base.

And, like, yeah, he's supposed to be an on base guy and have a good eye. but I feel like pitchers are going to test him more this year and they're not just going to give him a walk. Because he hit 234 last year. So I'm going to be interesting to see. And hey, maybe Kevin Vigio will teach them a lesson because he, you know, he showed some pop and he showed he can hit a little bit. But if I'm a pitcher coming into a game with the Blue Jays and I'm looking at his stats,

I'm going to say I'm, I'm going to challenge this dude. Because let's see if he's a is, is he a 230 batting? average guy or does he have a good eye? So I'm, I'm interested to see that. And I, you know, I, I, I hope Kevin proves that he, he can swing the stick a little more. Okay. It is cool to come up and have that eye right away. Yeah. I mean, and hey, again, I, everything I just said about Flat Jr., like I could say about Cavend Vigio. So, uh, Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame dad. Cool name. Is Cabin a cool name? I don't know. No. Oh, no. No, it's not a cool name.

Okay. But I think he follows me too. Well, we love his Twitter handle, doing it Bigio. Oh, doing it Bizio, man. Doesn't get better than that. Yeah. Just does not get better than that. I have a question for you.

Okay. Please, feel free. Do they have any more prospects that, like, we can be excited to come up or that they can start trading? So I think it's mostly tied into the pitching, which is a good thing. Because, I mean, dude, that line. up. I mean, it's a group of prospects. BCHO, Gurel, Guerrero, Um, Teyothcar Hernandez, um, Fisher, um, Alfred, uh, Telez. I mean, those are all prospects that have now made it to the major league level. It's going to be fun to see. If you're a pitcher

in this organization, you have to be stoked because they are going to be looking for dudes to get out. Anthony Kay was one of the guy that they got in the Stroman trade from the Strowman deal. Yeah, yeah. Didn't he make his day? you? Yeah, he came up to the MLB, and it's kind of funny. Fangraphs hasn't projected to come up to the major leagues in 2021. But like, if you're any young pitcher in AAA for the Blue Jays, I mean, you're saying now's the time to deal because you will get the call. Let me see. I don't know.

Do they have any really good names in the minor leagues? Caleb Joseph is down there for them. Wow. Oh, Bravick Valera made his way back over there. Our guy. Brainless. Brainless Bravick. brainless bravick valera uh Nate Pearson he's he's their number one uh pitching prospect

I believe I guess that'll be an interesting game I I'm not I won't pretend I'm familiar with him but he's 35th overall number one in their org and he's estimated to come up this year so I'm sure if you're blue yeah yeah I have no idea if he's going to be like a called up in late April or if he's September call up but if you're a blue jays fan I bet you're excited about that, dude. You're right, man. A lot of these pitchers are estimated to come up this year. That's cool.

I was looking for fun names. It's going to be a fun year in Toronto, man. That's what I'm saying. I found one fun name. You want to hear it? Okay. It is, I have to find it again now. But it started with, I believe the first name was Otto.

Yeah, here it is. He's a short stop. Okay. He's 21 years old and he's so far away from coming up. And he's the 171st-ranked prospect in their organization and his name is Otto Lopez, which I think you can call them Otto Lowe, and that's fun. Olo.

Olo, that's even fun too. Olo. Shout out. This is the only podcast you're going to hear about Otto Lopez. Take that, all the other Blue Jays podcasts that know way more than us about your own team, but you're not talking about Olo. It's pretty true. Yeah, dude, I'm, they are your Jays, and I'm going to keep it that way. I don't claim that.

Dude. So they, they have seven of their top 30 prospects are AAA pitchers. So, dude, I hope I hope the Blue Jays just go straight trial by fire. Pitch good, you stay, pitch bad, you go down. Yeah. It would be cool. But it be scary. You, you know, hopefully like some of them.

Yeah, you don't want guys living that way. But yeah, it's kind of like draining for, for everyone. Yeah. But, all right. All right, Jake. They're over under. They, uh, they went 67 and 95 last year. Okay.

67.95. They're over under this year is 73 and a half. Oh, damn. That's tough. Vegas is good. But, but if, if the, if the, if the, if the Red Sox trade mooky and the Orioles are garbage, that's, you know, what, 20, 32, whatever games? This projection really depends where you stand on the Red Sox.

I think the Red Sox are going to be a little better than everything that's going on right now. And, dude, yeah, I just think the rays are really good and the Yankees added the Cole, dude. I'm going to go under. I'm going over. just because I looked at the start of their schedule and it's Boston, then eventually they get, in April, they have the Royals, six games.

So they have, holy shit. So they have, it all depends on Boston. They have nine games against Boston in the first month of the season, and three against the Orioles and three against the Royals. So if Boston's like just coming off the mokey trade, not into it, new manager, do they have a manager yet?

Not that we know of So I'm going to go I'm going to go fun over I never thought I would be Fans of the Blue Jays I hated them Through their last regime Batista and that crew

Wasn't a fan But like I don't know Something cool about Doing it this way With prospects and homegrown And building it Like something real fun about that

And I feel happy for the fans That they get to be happy about it Yeah I guess When you kind of think about it I mean the Blue Jays are kind of a well-run organization. Like they had some really good ball teams, and then those guys kind of got old

or had to get paid. And then they rebuilt. Charrington's good at building farm systems. You rebuild and now you're looking at them right now. And this is the fun part. I just think I'm pretty happy with my underpick. I feel like they're going to be a sexy overpick. But dude, I mean, if Ryu gets hurt,

which he has a history of, I mean, that pitching staff is back to being pretty brutal. Yeah, it is. It is. You're right. Well, they can do a lot of fun opener type shit. Who knows? Trial by fire, baby.

The fun fact. The fun fact on our sheet here is that Lordes, I don't know how you say it. And Yule brothers, Guriel brothers, both made their Major League Baseball, both made Major League Baseball history on September 21st, 2018 when each hit two home runs, becoming the first brothers to have multi-homer performances on the same. same day. That's cool. I bet their parents were incredibly proud. That's awesome. Good day to be there, folks. Yeah. Or anyone in their camp. That is awesome. Cool. Good job. Go everyone.

Thank you guys for listening. Hey, if you've been listening and enjoying and haven't left a review yet, it'd be nice and we'd appreciate it. No pressure, do you?