Friday bantering

Yesterday was a disappointing loss, especially after being 6-1 up but i guess the Red Sox finally worked out our less than ideal bullpen.

A big plus from yesterday was of course Danny Jansen.

As recently as June 25, Jansen had a .498 OPS, worse than every hitter in baseball with as many plate appearances as him. Since then he has raised his season OPS to .652 which is cause for optimism.

It’s not just that he is now hitting home runs, he’s barely missing the ball. Jansen hit two solo blasts and added a ground-rule double in yesterday’s loss. He now has six homers in his past seven games and hasn’t struck out in his past 10 games. Perhaps even more impressive is that he has only missed a pitch once in that 10-game span.

And lets not forget his defence too. Catcher framing metrics at Baseball Prospectus says he now ranks sixth in baseball at pitch framing. His throwing has also improved. After preventing just five of 33 stolen base attempts last year (15%), he has prevented 11 of 35 in 2019 (31%).

In other Jays news:

Blue Jays Confidential asks a big burning question; what would you do with Aaron Sanchez? They also ask whether Gurriel should return to the infield (heck no!), and whether the worst baseball the 2019 Blue Jays will play is now behind them? Errr....

Up next we face the OriLOLes:

FRIDAY: RHP Dylan Bundy (3-10, 4.91 ERA) vs. RHP Aaron Sanchez (3-11, 6.31 ERA)

Entering play Tuesday, only two MLB pitchers had double-digit loss totals...and they’re facing each other in this game. Bundy’s June stats: 1-4, 5.68 ERA, 1.58 WHIP, .295 opponents’ batting average.

SATURDAY: RHP Andrew Cashner (8-3, 4.03 ERA) vs. LHP Clayton Richard (1-4, 6.51 ERA)

Cashner threw six shutout innings against the Blue Jays on April 2. His June stats: 2-1, 1.44 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, .180 opponents’ batting average, and all four of his appearances were quality starts.

SUNDAY: RHP Gabriel Ynoa (0-6, 6.22 ERA) vs. RHP Trent Thornton (2-6, 5.18 ERA)

Ynoa was moved into the rotation on May 27, but has only one quality start in those seven starts. He faced the Blue Jays on June 13, allowing three runs in five innings.

I’d love us to sweep the TrashBirds but im thinking we will win two of the three, mainly because Cashner seems to pitch like Cy Young whenever he faces us.

Minor League news

Down at AAA, Shawn Morimando was sharp in his return to the mound, with 5K and 0BB in 4.0 innings of work, but the Buffalo Bisons fell 7-5 to Mets. Bo Bichette’s solo home run was his fourth of the season and Socrates Brito had two sacrifice RBIs, now giving him 38 RBI on the season!

MLB bits

Talking of the Mets, this seems emblematic of their entire organisation: their MiLB affiliate’s July 4th Fireworks started a large forest fire outside the stadium. (With pictures and video proof). Even better was once they ignited the fire they didn’t think to stop launching said fireworks....

These 5 players might be Trade Deadline steals- (Somehow Aaron Sanchez made this list)

Potential trade packages and landing spots for ‘the angriest man in MLB’ Yasiel Puig

Actually maybe Joe Maddon is the angriest man in baseball?

Play of the Day

Keep this man in the outfield!