Blue Jays Discussion: Off-Season Edition III: Spring Training Madness (Spring Training is over. Season starts on Thursday, Mar 30)

[Discoverer]

Lukes gets the final roster spot

Big meh

Lopez made way more sense for a lot of reasons. Oh well. With the depth of the roster, it's not like the 26th man is going to get a ton of playing time anyway, and you know Lopez will be back up as soon as there's an injury.

The only thing I really don't get is that Lukes is a lefty and the most important thing they needed from that roster spot is to be able to play against lefties.

It's a pretty cool story for Lukes, though, to make his first major league roster at 28, now 8 years since he was drafted.

 

[hockeywiz542]

 

[BertCorbeau]

Umps have such fragile egos

 

[Bjindaho]

This is a bit of a strange roster composition.

Lukes is almost certainly the guy that would be called up if an OF went down and if you figure that Merrifield is the guy most likely to play the OF against RHP, the role available is likely as the Keirmeier or Varsho is too banged up to play but a righty is on the mound.

The redundancy that I see is actually Biggio. His entire skillset is bettered by Merrifield and Espinal and Lopez at least offers the spice of being able to play SS. Maybe this will be the year that his bat plays up, but if you offered me Biggio plus a small add-on for Nicky Lopez, I'd jump on that in two seconds flat.

Edit: The reason that this is relevant is that if we kept Lopez, he can back up both corner OF positions, 3B, SS, and 2B. We'd be at least 3 competent players deep at every single position.

By keeping Lukes, we have 5 quality outfielders (Merrifield is a decent OFer), but our 3rd best 3B defensively is Vlad (behind Chapman and Espinal). That puts a bit of strain on the Espinal situation because he's also the only backup SS.

 

[shaner8989]

Pearson make it?

 

[Bjindaho]

Pearson make it?

No, he has an option which made it harder for him to make it.

He showed some good signs and is likely 2nd in line for a call up.

 

[Discoverer]

This is a bit of a strange roster composition.

Lukes is almost certainly the guy that would be called up if an OF went down and if you figure that Merrifield is the guy most likely to play the OF against RHP, the role available is likely as the Keirmeier or Varsho is too banged up to play but a righty is on the mound.

The redundancy that I see is actually Biggio. His entire skillset is bettered by Merrifield and Espinal and Lopez at least offers the spice of being able to play SS. Maybe this will be the year that his bat plays up, but if you offered me Biggio plus a small add-on for Nicky Lopez, I'd jump on that in two seconds flat.

Edit: The reason that this is relevant is that if we kept Lopez, he can back up both corner OF positions, 3B, SS, and 2B. We'd be at least 3 competent players deep at every single position.

By keeping Lukes, we have 5 quality outfielders (Merrifield is a decent OFer), but our 3rd best 3B defensively is Vlad (behind Chapman and Espinal). That puts a bit of strain on the Espinal situation because he's also the only backup SS.

I would have preferred Lopez than Lukes, but they still have Lopez and Barger in AAA and on the 40-man. I don't see how this strains their depth anywhere.

Worst case scenario you have an injury and have to play a game with someone in a non-ideal position (like... Biggio at 3B or something) and then you call up one of those guys to play that position regularly - Lopez for SS/2B/OF (he hasn't played an inning at 3B in 5 years) or Barger for SS/3B.

I think we'll see a lot more Biggio this year than a lot of people are expecting. Even last year he was playing at around a 2.5 WAR pace. He'll get plenty of starts at 2B against RHP and plenty of starts in the OF to spell the others and fill in for injuries. I think he'll play an important role this year.

 

[Eyedea]

This is a bit of a strange roster composition.

Lukes is almost certainly the guy that would be called up if an OF went down and if you figure that Merrifield is the guy most likely to play the OF against RHP, the role available is likely as the Keirmeier or Varsho is too banged up to play but a righty is on the mound.

The redundancy that I see is actually Biggio. His entire skillset is bettered by Merrifield and Espinal and Lopez at least offers the spice of being able to play SS. Maybe this will be the year that his bat plays up, but if you offered me Biggio plus a small add-on for Nicky Lopez, I'd jump on that in two seconds flat.

Edit: The reason that this is relevant is that if we kept Lopez, he can back up both corner OF positions, 3B, SS, and 2B. We'd be at least 3 competent players deep at every single position.

By keeping Lukes, we have 5 quality outfielders (Merrifield is a decent OFer), but our 3rd best 3B defensively is Vlad (behind Chapman and Espinal). That puts a bit of strain on the Espinal situation because he's also the only backup SS.

I agree the versatility of Lopez is why I would've kept him on the team too, but Vlad wouldn't be the 3rd best 3B, it'd be Biggio. I think they're still fine to cover their bases if an injury occurs during the game and if there's a prolonged absence from Chapman/Bo then Barger/Lopez will be next man up.

 

[hockeywiz542]

Blue Jays' 26-man roster finally comes into focus with Lukes making team

In a bid for additional speed and defence in the outfield, the Blue Jays are going with 28-year-old rookie Nathan Lukes for the final spot on their bench, with reliever Zach Pop also making the roster. Ben Nicholson-Smith has more.

www.sportsnet.ca

DUNEDIN, Fla. — In a bid for additional speed and defence in the outfield, the Blue Jays are going with 28-year-old rookie Nathan Lukes for the final spot on their bench, manager John Schneider announced before Tuesday’s spring training finale against the Phillies.

Otto Lopez and Vinny Capra, the other contenders for the job, are now slated to start their seasons at triple-A Buffalo after being optioned and reassigned, respectively. Schneider also confirmed that Zach Pop made the Blue Jays as the final reliever in the bullpen.

In Lukes, the Blue Jays add a left-handed hitter with speed and the versatility to play all three outfield positions. A seventh-round pick of the Guardians in 2015, Lukes has yet to make his MLB debut.

“We trust him in the outfield,” Schneider said. “We trust him on the bases. Obviously, his at-bats have been great. But the way we're built and constructed right now, it'll be in a probably here-and-there role to start. But just excited that he's got the chance at the major leagues.”

Over the course of 111 games for the Buffalo Bisons last year, Lukes hit .285/.364/.425 with 11 home runs, 25 doubles and 20 steals in 23 attempts. He made most of his starts in centre field while also playing regularly in the corners.

As a member of the Blue Jays’ bench, he could be called on to play defence late in games or pinch run for the likes of Alejandro Kirk and Brandon Belt, Schneider said. Yet chances are, he won’t start many games over Daulton Varsho, Kevin Kiermaier and George Springer — at least not immediately.

“We feel comfortable with him,” Schneider said. “It's not so much base stealing, but also scoring from first on the double or scoring from second on a hit. Things like that and giving K.K. and George a blow.”

As for Lopez, the Blue Jays were impressed by his showing this spring, even if he didn’t make the team.

“There was nothing more he could have done to break with us,” Schneider said. “When we start this whole thing at the beginning of camp, I tell the guys it's going to take contributions from everyone in the room. He's going to be part of that at some point as well.”

 

[hockeywiz542]

 

[theaub]

Drafting all-star level players who have financial security due to their fathers playing in the majors is the new market ineffciency.

At least this is a better for him than the Atlanta deals.

 

[Bjindaho]

1 year younger than Bo, 1 year less of track record (plus 29 games of 2020 for Bo) and 1 year further from FA.

 

[The Nemesis]

Pache is an interesting option, It'd be nice filling that niche that Chavez Young filled in the organization but the inability to send him down will probably sour any interest.

Pache fully gaining bust status is such a rough look for the A's. Forst is in an unwinnable situation and I really sympathize but his trades keep falling apart. The Olson one gets salvaged if Langeliers pans out but yeesh. Everyone clowned on the Murphy return and for good reason. The Chapman trade all hinges on Hoglund's arm holding up.

I guess they got a couple nice pieces for a broken Frankie Montas? idk

It's probably no different than any other club given that baseball prospects bust at a significant rate, and is only really noticeable because Oakland is the most consistent club in terms of how frequently they trade out their talented players, but it sure feels like they get hosed a lot in those trades.

 

[The Nemesis]

Lukes over Lopez is weird but I kind of see where they're coming from if you figure that for the first part of the season there will be far fewer reps and it makes more sense to continue letting Lopez develop instead of just riding the pine 90% of the time. And if something's going to happen to require an extra body in the lineup it's probably in the outfield given that Merrifield/Espinal/Biggio can move around and cover most IF spots between them.

Still sucks for Otto though. Would've been nice for him to get that opening day hype.

As for the pen, yeah that's fine. I wish Pearson had made it and he does deserve it but he has options and there's no room unless/until someone else has the bottom fall out. I don't think Richards saved his job with that last outing but it certainly probably helped quell some of the concern. So instead Nate can get regular innings with the Bisons to try and built momentum for when he does end up being needed.

 

[theaub]

Cy Kikuchi is here

 

[weems]

Kikuchi 2.2 innings pitched, 0 hits, 0 earned runs, 0 walks, 6K's and finishes spring training with 0.87 ERA

Kooch gonna win the CY Young at this pace

 

[McFly2544]

As much as Lopez should’ve “made” the team, the 13th position player spot is not gonna get many reps…better to have him playing full time and getting at bats in Buffalo

 

[Hoverhand]

I'd like to see Richards on a pretty short leash, either he can make adjustments to his fastball or he can't.

With Pearson, Jackson, and Thompson all vying for major league innings and the Green clock winding down, the bullpen doesn't really have time for a one-pitch hurler.

 

[phillipmike]

One of Riccardi’s best trades. Got a 5 WAR SS in back to back years for nothing.

 

[hockeywiz542]

 

[Morgs]

Lopez is obviously the better option, but he's going to get much better playing time at AAA and will be the first up for an injury. Lukes fits the last spot on the roster better as a guy who can hit and field well enough to pass maybe a game a week.

 

[The Nemesis]

Jim Bowden on The Athletic named Vladdy as his 2nd place AL MVP (behind Ohtani), had Manoah as a dark horse AL Cy Young contender, and gave his predicted manager and executive of the year awards to Schneider and Shapiro.

Well... It was a good run but we're clearly doomed if Bowden is in our corner. Better pack it in now and avoid all the pain.

Farewell everyone. There will be no further Blue Jays threads

 

[GreytWun]

 

[dredeye]

What a deal for the Indians.

 

[WeThreeKings]

What level did they put Tiedemann and Robberse?