Dear Marcus

I'm sorry Stro.

First, let me wish you the best in your new city of (insert team location of organization trying to win).

I'm sorry because most of this never appreciated you. Most of this being the (current) front office, some media, and twitter eggs. I'm sorry that every bit of emotion you ever showed got grinded into word mush about how you're too this and that; all because you were Marcus god damn Stroman, the best pitcher the Jays have developed since Doc and someone who always left it out on the field your way. I'm sorry you must depart a town you seem to love because of all this bullshit.

Back when you were drafted, you had to deal with questions about your height. And then, when you finally made it, you played with that rightful chip on your shoulder while the narrative about you not being able to pitch because of your height shifted to how you carried yourself about studding it because #HDMH. Most of this never appreciated this; the fact you came back from a disastrous injury to contribute during the most exciting time for the Jays in decades, how you embraced the city and became an ace in the toughest offensive division in baseball, and how you gutted through starts on this absolute dogshit team in 2019 and still tried to bring that attitude that made this team so good a few years ago.

That attitude. A quality that makes dusty fourth line hockey players cult heroes in this country. Instead, an attitude that brought you scorn from most of this. Not an attitude that should have been appreciated by most of this as a winning attribute; a fucking competitor that every god damn (insert team location of organization trying to win) should love at the top of their rotation. No, that attitude just had most of this barking in your direction after starts instead of appreciating the performance you brought this team that day.

I watched you today, the date of this letter, pitch a gem on the road against those loathsome Boston Red Sox. A cleat belonging to a member of the Toronto Blue Jays even crossed home plate during your start, allowing you to get a stat win for once. But instead of talking about how good you were today; we again were forced to listen to everyone talk about that attitude from fossils like Dennis Eckersley and Jerry Remy and whatever mouth breathing moron is drafting a column for the Toronto Sun right now. That attitude that those same mouth breathers are praising the Toronto Raptors for having and the same attitude that they wish their dearly beloved peasant Maple Leafs had.

Fuck them all. I hope (insert team location of organization trying to win) can appreciate you in a way most of this never could, a way that we all should have.

Signed, Blue Jay fans that will always root for you.

On Stroman

"This is not fun. It’s not a fun atmosphere." - Marcus Stroman, last night after a 4-2 loss to Colorado.

Marcus Stroman's ERA dropped to 2.84 last night but his record also dropped to 3-7 in what is turning into a routine performance behind and supporting Stro. An abysmal Jays offensive effort turned in only four hits and his defensive support was fucking this; an embarrassing single turned into a little league home run, for only the second time this week. 

The Blue Jays fucking stink right now, sinking to 21-37 overall after a sweep against the Rays during the work week and then the most recent broom-dusting in Denver. As Jonah Keri noted this week, the Jays offence is historically anemic, on pace for the lowest on-base percentage in 50 years.

Stroman's frustration is absolutely understandable for those outside of Jeff Blair's comment section. He's pitching fantastically and gets zero support from the organization on the field, nor off it seems sometimes. The Jays are also juxtaposed with the Raptors right now. Stroman is watching that team capture the city in a way that hasn't been done since the 2015 Jays did. It must compound his frustration to see how the market can support a successful sports team and how far off the GTA sports map his employer has fallen in the past few years.

Stroman is also due to hit the free agent market at the end of the 2020 season and with the team playing the way they are, him and his on-and-off again bestie are hotly rumored on the trade market. But why? Stroman is everything the Jays will ever need in a starting pitcher. He competes. He doesn't allow home runs and pitches extremely well in the AL East and the Dome, neither which are easy tasks. He's morphed into the rotation leader and represents the city.

The question Jays fans need to be asking the front office is what's the plan? When do you plan on competing? If the answer is within the next 3-4 years, then there is no reason why the only discussion to be had at this point is an extension for the best home grown Blue Jays pitcher since #32. If the answer is outside of that, then, what the fuck are they doing? Is there any semblance of a plan moving forward here?

This is year four of the Shapiro/Atkins regime. They have made some good moves and have improved the farm system since taking over after 2015. Four years later though, 2019 has been beyond dreadful. The team slept through free agency and the lack of talent is...noted. At some point, this franchise is going to have to broach the question: is this the front office we want to continue moving this team forward? A trade instead of an extension of Stroman will make that conversation be had sooner than later. 

It Can Be Fun

On a week that was anything but, Cavan Biggio reminded us why it is fun to be baseball fans.

In his third big league game, Biggio got his first ever MLB hit with a single into right field in the second inning against San Diego. In his very next at bat, Biggio hit a moon raker into the right field bleachers for his first career major league home run. From the dugout, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. ran onto the field to first encourage the home run and than congratulate (with Jonathan Davis) Biggio.

It's hard not to get excited watching that group celebrate together and hope that it is emblematic of a larger group celebrating a bigger moment with each other some day. Guerrero Jr. is the stud, the generational talent; but Biggio and Gurriel Jr. are also promising players that could well factor into the next contending Jays team with more on the way. Bo Bichette is currently injured and once he heals up for a call up, the hype on Nate Pearson might surpass his. Rowdy Tellez is getting his chance. Sean Reid-Foley is waiting for his. In the lower levels, Kevin Smith and Jordan Groshans continue to draw rave scouting reports.

Biggio wasn't the only part of the new wave contributing in the 10-1 win Sunday. Gurriel Jr. homered in his third straight game since his recall with Biggio on Friday and is 6-for-10 since his disappointing demotion a month ago. Guerrero Jr. was 3-for-5 and any trace of his slow start has virtually disappeared from his overall stat line. They finally gave Marcus Stroman a bit of run support and he earned the victory despite battling some stomach sickness the day after the Raptors booked their ticket to the NBA Finals (hey, I was puking before and during the game Sunday too!) Justin Smoak also hit two home runs and has been so awesome, he deserves a post of his own.

Last week was a tough one. A miscommunication about the importance of Victoria Day. The Red Sox showing just how large the gap has gotten between the haves and the have nots in the division. The Padres put 20 runs on the board. But Sunday was fun and enjoy it when you can, because the sport can be cruel.

(What's this notification about Aaron Sanchez about? Hmm...)

Is Luke Maile An Elite Reliever? A Quick Argument

Let's answer this question with a historical comparison.

Through the first two innings of their careers:

Player A - 0.00 ERA, 1.000 WHIP, 3 K
Player B - 0.00 ERA, 1.500 WHIP, 3 K
Player C - 0.00 ERA, 1.000 WHIP, 2 K

Player B is Mariano Rivera. Player C is Lee Smith. Player A is Luke fucking Maile.

We were able to witness the right arm of Luke Maile thanks to the work by the first five Toronto pitchers. Fans at the Rogers Centre were able to see an extended visiting team batting practice as Edwin Jackson got shellacked for three big flies and allowed everyone to go to Jurassic Park early. Thomas Pannone sucked. Derek Law and Zac Rosscup got dinged up. Sam Gaviglio wishes he could have shut off the PlayStation mid inning because it is doubtful his Ernie will ever look as good as it were pre-May 25.

If I was Ross Atkins, I would maintain a Billy Beane-like appearance during home games and stay as far away from the ballpark as possible. Disappear like DB Cooper for the time being. 19 runs on 20 hits to the Padres is low. Real fucking low. Jeter is stifling his laughter. The Jays are dropping rapidly down the hierarchy of the best teams in Toronto. Here's a quick list:

1) Toronto Raptors - a damn shame that we do not get Jack Armstrong tonight. Fuck you Sportsnet.

2) Toronto FC - I think they are still good.

3) Toronto Rock - Does Jimmy Veltman or Colin Doyle still play? Those guys were fucking beasts.

4) Toronto Argonauts - a professional sports franchise by title.

5) Toronto Young Nationals - Midget AAA Hockey Team playing in the Greater Toronto Hockey League. Champions in 2018-2019.

6) Toronto Maple Leafs - Professional Hockey Team playing in the National Hockey League. Have not been champions since that guy in the Tragically Hip song disappeared. In the summer. He was on a fishing trip.

7) Toronto Rush - a professional ultimate Frisbee team currently playing on an obscure cable channel. Record is currently 3-2. Did not give up 19 runs to the Padres today.

8) North Toronto Athletics 13U AA - currently 5-0 and have only surrendered 20 runs on the season; 19 of which did not occur in a single game.

NR) Toronto Blue Jays

LET'S GO RAPTORSSSSSSSS

Watch The Raptors Tomorrow

For a sub-.500 team, Friday night was a game that will be lost in the depths of baseball's meat grinder of a regular season. So will tomorrow and the next day.

But to watch in the moment tonight, this shit, man, this shit.

There was decent reason to watch tonight as the Jays opened a series against the San Diego Padres with Cavan Biggio making his debut. For the first time in major league history, two offspring of those enshrined in Cooperstown graced the same line-up card. My apologizes to history that the answer to that trivia question one day will be the 2019 Toronto Blue Jays.

For what seems like the eightieth time this season, the Jays were held hitless through the first time 'round the order. If you squint too hard at the box score, you start to hear Sam Mitchell's zero, zero, zero, zero speech. Only three hits were collected in the hit column all night for the home side. The first two were back to back Yatzhees in the fifth; down 3-0, Freddy Galvis brought the Jays within one and next up, a hopefully reinvigorated Lourdes Gurriel Jr. tied it with his first big league bomb of the season after his recall from Buffalo.

That amounted as run support for Trent Thornton, who was impressive once again. He left the game in the sixth with the game tied at threes and Marcus Stroman salivating at the thought of that type of run support. Thornton finished striking out ten and despite a couple of home runs and walks (robots cannot replace Phil Cuzzi quick enough), he looked again like a win for the front office in the deal that sent Aledmys Diaz to Houston.

And then, the eighth.

Enter Daniel Hudson, another name in a string of completely forgettable relievers employed by the Jays in recent years. After walking Manny Machado, Hudson and Galvis allowed a potential double play comebacker off the bat of overpaid bum Eric Hosmer find its way into centerfield. Hudson responded with two quick strikes to Hunter Renfroe before a what-the-fuck 0-2 fastball that ended up into a Blue Jays bullpen, a bullpen that may not employ Hudson for much longer.

The Blue Jays rallie....no, no they didn't.

Welcome to the bigs, Cavan. Please help.

Into The Crevasse

50 games into the season, the Blue Jays sit with a 20-30 mark, which unlike the disappointing campaigns by the Nats, Mets, and Cleveland, there was no illusion of success for the Blue Jays this year. However, it is difficult to not feel disappointed by the results so far in 2019.

2018 was the difficult transition season that Jays fans had been bracing for ever since the all-in approach in 2015. General disorderly play, onset symptoms of Solatritis, seemed to dog the team all season long. The top two innings leaders, Estrada and Gaviglio, had ERAs well above the five mark and the team finished with 73 wins.

Yet, there was a sliver of optimism heading into 2019. The results in the later half of the season were much of the same but there were some rays of shine, including a seven run, ninth inning walk off victory led by some of the youth movement against Tampa Bay. That highlighted what seemed to be hope for 2019, that a youthful core that played harder could bring some more exciting baseball our way.

That has not been the case.

Danny Jansen and Teoscar Hernandez were supposed to follow up their 2018s with breakout 2019s but both have struggled mightly so far, with the latter already earning a trip down to Buffalo and the former perhaps not much further behind. Lourdes Gurriel is down there already, not even able to stay with the team through his bobblehead day in late April thanks to some mighty defensive struggles. Billy McKinney plays hard but is showing why that top prospect glean wore off by the time he reached the major leagues. Outside of Vladdy and Rowdy, the youth movement has propelled the Jays down and not up as hoped.

On the pitching side, Clayton Richard made his Jays debut Thursday afternoon for the Jays, going four innings while becoming the 11th(!) starting pitcher so far on the year. Injuries have forced an erratic rotation outside those not named Stroman, Sanchez, and Thornton. Starters have included the old (Edwin Jackson), the young (Sean Reid-Foley), and the why (Ryan Feierabend). It feels like we are only weeks away from Luke Maile performing "opener" duties for this beat up rotation.

It isn't all gloomy. Justin Smoak has had a terrific year as has surprising (so far) offensive years from Eric Sogard and Freddy Galvis, who is starting to cool off. But there no way these players are part of the Jays future past this season.

Things may get better this season but its hard to imagine they will soon.

Another GB In The Column

Wasting a couple hours of my valuable sleep, the Jays lost in four more innings than required tonight to apparent asshole Joey Cora and the equally assholish BASTAHN Red Sox.

Vlad went Yatzhee, which was sweet. And he made some plays defensively, which was cool too. And, let's get Rowdy again!

But other than that, another Jays loss (and Kawhi stays), so fuck it, here's two takes:

1) Siddall arguing with himself post-game about whether Montoyo should have put Urena in to run for Smoak in the 10th about sums it up. He should have! But he has no one else on the bench! Roster construction! Yeah, this team is royally fucked. And fuck the Royals.

2) Fuck Alex Cora.

Marcus Stroman has a personality and also, is a fucking fantastic pitcher. He deals with a TON of criticism, some somewhat justified (ehhhh) and some absolutely not. And, chalking one up in the "absolutely not" column today was fucking Joey Cora. Joey is mad at this. "It's the same thing with him everyday...people don't like it."

Hey fuck you Cora. Again, he is mad at this. This. Are you fucking kidding me. If you dropped an alien from Pluto-6 into an NBA season in the '90s, he'd be able to say, without ever seeing the sport, that Michael Jordan is the best player (Kawhi stays). If you dropped him into this clip, it'd have no idea what is wrong and probe Brock Holt.

The only people that should get insulted by any of this is a) Goose Gossage, b) the actor that plays Sid Seixeiro, and c) people who nod approvingly to Steve Simmons columns. (Although I'd hate to ask Randal Grichuk how he feels about this). Nice job cementing yourself in that group of immortals, early 2000s Darwin Barney.

Toronto is 6-19 against Boston in the last 25. They play in a couple of hours to wrap up the series. I will not be watching because I work. Thank fuck.

P.S. CLAYTON RICHARD STARTS!!! "Who's leaving?" in his return, asks Charlie, in the world's most who-gives-a-fuck cliffhanger. (Kawhi? Cause he stays) Oh I don't know, DFA half of them.

God Damn It Guys

Boy, spending your Victoria Day at the ballpark watching the Blue Jays' generational talent while he finally hits his stride sounds like a good time, eh?

Of course, scanning the lineup card on Monday meant looking up and down until you realized Holy fuck, Vladdy's not playing?? Why? And the why from the powers that be was garbage.

Beleaguered Believer in the Bunt, Charlie Montoyo, stuck by his explanation that they are sticking by Vladdy's schedule of days off. And sitting Vladdy, coming off a player of the week worthy slash of .333/.417/.905 with four dingers, is not helping Charlie's early report card grade of 'needs improvement' in things managing. Maybe a DH day for one of the hottest hitters in baseball instead of, let me check, Danny Jansen? Or anything that involves Vladimir Guerrero Jr. playing the fucking game?

Ross Atkins, who does an admirable job of making his primary TV broadcasters sound concise, tried to lay some of the blame on himself. Atkins said he had not talked to his new manager about the importance of Victoria Day; which as a Canadian my entire life, is as important of a holiday as any fucking long weekend holiday. Even when Atkins tries to sound sincere, he comes across like a bookworm trying to squeeze his lunch tray in with the jocks at the high school cafeteria.

Maybe the importance behind Victoria Day that Atkins is trying to convey is, as an organization, Victoria Day means an uptick of attendance at the Dome. For a team that has struggled with attendance this season (for good reason), the Jays had over 26,000 come to the stadium for the game on holiday Monday, most of them likely to see the hottest name in baseball, a player the Blue Jays happen to employ and just so happens to be coming off that AL Player of the Week Award.

And that player sat on the bench.

What a huge fuck you to the people who came to the ballpark. What a huge fuck you to the entire fan base.

At times, I have defended the group from Cleveland. In a vacuum, I don't believe their work is as bad as some portions of the fan base make it out to be. But the optics behind their moves is always shit. Not offering Price a contract? Shit. Signing Morales five seconds into free agency while letting fan favorite Edwin leave? Shit. Donaldson? Gibbons? Vlad from this spring? Turn the bathroom fan on and slam the lever twice.

And it's not that this one takes the cake. While this decision would draw its criticism at any time, it's the decisions that preceded this that amplify the criticism. Shapiro, Atkins, et al, have a reputation of being out of tune with their fan base ever since taking over from the Greek God of Trade Deadlines. A move from Monday only gives credence to those outcries.