Blue Jays Make SHOCKING Draft Pick & Trade Deadline Updates! (Blue Jays Today Show)

Blue Jays Make SHOCKING Draft Pick & Trade Deadline Updates! (Blue Jays Today Show)

Hello everybody and welcome in to Blue Jays today folks where we have officially made it to the All-Star break and honestly I would argue that it couldn’t have come at a better time for the Toronto Blue Jays. They did of course just lose that series to the Athletics in Sacramento. That sucks. We’re going to break that down. We are also going to talk about what was a pretty shocking draft selection by the Toronto Blue Jays. A lot of people were thinking that they were going to go pitcher, especially a college pitcher. And considering Arnold was still on the board at the time, a lot of people, including myself, were thinking that could be the guy. They didn’t do that. I was almost sure, you know, I was almost sure when I was live, man. I had a uh a whole Tik Tok script and breakdown and everything ready to go and then they decided to go elsewhere, go high school shortstop. Uh so really interesting selection there. What does that mean for Arjun Namala? What does that mean for Bobette? what does that mean for this team? We’re going to talk about that and then of course we’re going to talk about the home run derby that’s going to be happening this evening. We’re going to be going live for it and as well some trade deadline updates cuz now that the draft is I guess it’s not technically done. We’re still going like they just I think the fourth round is happening or just happened but effectively draft is kind of over. We’re in the all-star break right now. Main focus is now shifting to that trade deadline. Rumors, reports, everything are surfacing about these Toronto Blue Jays, which we are going to get into. So, welcome into the 70 people right here. I’m your host, Nicholas Play. I’m your host, Adam Pedal. Yeah, I guess I will briefly touch on just the series cuz uh you know, it’s good to move on. You know, like, yeah, we lost the series, but I think the last 15 series, we’ve won 13 of them. So, you know, you’re going to lose series, especially, you know, you not to make excuses for the Toronto Blue Jays, but you know, it’s you’re you’re getting pretty tired. You just had, you know, 16 games in a row of straight baseball. Yeah, you had an off day, but now you’re dealing with this like extremely hot weather over there in Sacramento and just like a horrible ballpark. They lose a little bit. Jose Boss only able to go three innings yesterday. Like that’s tough. And it just felt like the entire rotation’s just been running out of gas and a break is definitely needed. Thankfully, none of our pitchers are at all or have been asked to replace some of the all-stars cuz they really do need some rest. And you know, overall, you got to look back at the entire first half that they had. And I mean, it literally was one of the most successful first halfs in franchise history, you could argue. So, I’m pretty happy. You’re right. The break did come in at the right time. No, I’m I mean, I’m I’m definitely content with things. It kind of sucks walking into the break coming off of a series loss, especially against a team like the Athletics. Very beatable squad. However, all things considered, you are still looking at a team with 55 wins to their name at this point. I mean, if they pick up, what is that quick math? uh 45 more wins, you get to 90. And like at that point, you should almost be a lock to make playoffs. I look at that athletic series and I do see in my opinion a pitching staff were like, “Okay, we we do need a little bit of a time off. Uh which is great for them. I mean, you saw Basset come in relief yesterday at one point. We were just we were basically punting the game at that point, just saying no worries, whatever it is. It’s going to be what it is.” Blue Jays made it kind of interesting cuz Addison Barger ended up nailing a home run at some point, you know, scoring two right there, but still inevitably losing 623. So, like I said, break couldn’t come at a better time, especially too because not only were you could argue the Toronto Blue Jays maybe cooling off a little bit, but when you look at that standings, the Red Sox were heating up like crazy. So, we need to give them a little time to, you know, think about what just transpired and have them cool off because I thought Boston was out of it. They are now eight games above 500. Only three games back from us. They’re in the division race again. Yeah, literally. That’s insane. And they’re doing it all without Raphael de. I thought after that de trade and the way they’re performing show that well they’re pretty much cooked. Like they’re basically over, right? Like the, you know, the Tampa Bay Rays have been falling out. They’re falling out. All right, cool. All we got to worry about is the Yankees. Just kidding. Here they are. It’s the AL East. And as you can see right there in the wild card standings, you got New York, you got Boston, Seattle. Uh they’ve been there kind of all year. Uh, and then of course the Tampa Bay Rays. So, the AL East is the AL Beast again. But that’s okay. We got to worry about that later. We’ll worry about that later. We actually have a really fun series coming up though uh with the Yankees next week and that’s going to be a really fun series. Little bit of payback uh they’re going to want. So, we got to be ready to go. But, let’s talk about everybody the draft that happened last night. I was live for that just until the eighth pick. And you know, I said it right out of the gate like I don’t know these guys. I I’m really not going to feel any way unless we like did some extreme reach down the draft board and pick somebody that like we really weren’t looking at. But they did pick Jojo Parker who I didn’t think we were going to go with a short stop, especially a high school shortstop. Thought they would have went with a pitching or a pitcher that is from college due to all the injuries that we’ve had in our minor league system. Probably want to fill that out a little bit, especially with the rotation turning over, but they didn’t. They went Jojo Parker. I was a little bit shocked, but after doing a little bit more research, looking into him a little bit more, listening to what some experts got to say, apparently the kid’s pretty good. Like offensively speaking, if Ethan Holiday wasn’t in the draft, like he’d be kind of one of the guys that you’d be looking at if you want one of the best bats. Well, here’s the thing, okay? you get these high school guys and anybody that’s from high school drafted in the top 10, they are going to be phenomenal, but in high school and that’s always where to me, you know, I look at things these days and the way that baseball’s kind of going in the draft and everything and I just find it hard to wrap my head around drafting somebody that is in high school because so many things can change between now and when they inevitably get called up. I mean, there’s so many times where, you know, somebody looks incredibly promising and any number of things could happen. They could get injured. They could their development could slow down whilst others developments could speed up. They could make some poor decisions, you know, like get a [ __ ] DUI or so. There’s so many things that could transpire. And so, for me, I’ve always been of the mindset where it’s like, okay, like if this guy is closer to the MLB and has been doing it for longer, I would prefer to go in that direction. And I did really want them to go with Arnold, who was still on the board. He was the fourth ranked overall prospect in all of MLB. Take that for what you will because that will change as time goes on. He was a college pitcher. He looked really, really good. Obviously, they didn’t do that. They went with the shortstop. But it’s an interesting pick, especially because it’s almost the exact same type of dude that they already have in their system in Arjun Namala. Right. Right. you know, two years removed from Archer Namala and you know, Jojo Parker, if you’re looking at Archer Namala, like Jojo is not going to come up till like 2030, you know, unless something dramatically changes. Like, it’s going to be a long time. So, the Blue Jays are going to have to supplement in other ways. And I get it. Like, this guy definitely has from everything I’ve been reading one of the highest ceilings of anybody because he is in high school. And the way he played offensively, all the numbers he put up, they’re all high school numbers, so they’re like video game numbers, but the way he played was very similar to an Ethan Holiday, but just a little bit less power and a little bit more on base and a little bit more contact. So, look, I I don’t mind the pick, but yeah, you bring up a good point now, and a lot of people have been talking about this. Now that you got him, what does this mean about Arjun Namala and Treya Savage? Does this replace, you know, Arjunala if they trade him or Bo Bashette? my opinion guys, look, he’s because he’s 18 and he’s shortstop, that doesn’t mean he can’t transfer over to a different position. There are most guys who get drafted higher up are shorts stops or obviously outfielders or center fielders. Like these guys will eventually find another position in the organization and they they’ve talked about this guy. He could play second, he could play third. All depends on how he develops because he’s literally 18. He hasn’t grown into his man body. We haven’t seen how he’s played defensively at a higher competitive level. So that has no correlation with Arjunamala or Boba. He’s just a high bat in the system that could be going anywhere. But what do you think about that about maybe drafting a short stop? What do you think about that in comparison to like Boba or Archamala? What does that mean? I think that it it like yeah it doesn’t necessarily have a direct correlate especially to Boba. I mean, like, they’re going to do what they will with Bobette and and, you know, having this dude probably isn’t going to change too much about how they approach Bobett’s potential, you know, uh, I don’t want to say extension because he’s not going to get sent anymore, but resigning him or anything like that. I do think that it might make them more open to the idea of trading away. I don’t think it changes a whole lot with Trey Savage because I mean they just two completely different individuals that play completely different positions and one of them could potentially come up maybe even this year if we really needed him but almost assuredly next year where somebody else might not come up until the next decade. So like it doesn’t really change a whole lot there. But I do think that you could make the argument here where if somebody really valued Arjun Namala or alternatively speaking if somebody really valued this guy you might be more willing to move on from him to get an MLB ready player right now and and go after this run. You brought up Joe Ryan in a recent podcast. That is somebody that I would 100% be willing to trade away one of our top or maybe multiple of our top prospects to go out and acquire. M I still want to hold on to Arjun if possible but at the very least this is now a little bit more insurance there to go okay you know what you trade Arjun Aala you get somebody elite like a Joe Ryan we’re going to have to wait an extra year or two but we still have somebody with high upside at that position. Yeah, like we we were talking to uh Bob Nightingale. We were kind of asking him, “So what what’s the Blue Jays strategy here?” And I even throw up like, you know, are we going to get a college pitcher? Like what’s the strat? And he’s and he was kind of just like, “Yeah, just best player available, whoever’s available.” Cuz this guy, yeah, he’s got one of the best upsides, like I was mentioning. Um this is a quote right here uh at least from uh Trumant. Oh my god, what’s his name? What’s it? Yeah, here we go. Trum Tremuda. Tremuda. That’s the Blue Jay scouting and development. One of the lead directors right there. He’s very excited about this because he thinks he’s got the best one of the best well-rounded offensive players that is shortstop. Also, if needed be could move to other positions like and he likes the versatility, likes athleticism. So, if they if they like that for this guy, other organizations might like that for this guy and they might see that as really high value. And that’s the thing what it is. I think they’re just going and getting the guy with the highest value. So, yeah, if you do want to put him in a trade or nal in a trade, at least you got something to replace it with. I I think ultimately too this is going to come down to the developmental staff. If they see some raw skills here that they truly believe in and you know what they’re buying into the potential of this guy and they’re thinking to themselves, hey, when we put him in that Florida complex league like or or you know into our into our new facility, like oh [ __ ] this dude’s gonna be a facilities. I mean, all right, fine, man. Like go out, do it. It it’s frustrating to me because it feels like we could use a pitcher right now. And I’m not saying that drafting uh Arnold would mean that he’s going to be up with the team like Paul Ske and doing what Skings did immediately. But it, you know, that’s just a shorter distance or shorter time frame that we have to wait and maybe the the loss of Chris Bass or the loss of somebody else next year or following years, the loss of Kevin Gosman wouldn’t be as felt when it inevitably happens because oh [ __ ] there is Arnold or oh [ __ ] there is Treya Savage. That’s not the case anymore, though. I do agree with you. The ceiling’s very very high with this dude. It just sucks because now we’re gonna have to forget about him for a hundred years. Exactly. And uh we gota we got to wait forever, man. It like I I don’t even know I don’t even know where I’m going to be at by by the point this guy comes up and plays baseball. Dude, we don’t know what the team’s going to look like. That’s why Yeah, I was my final note to make there was just set it, forget it. And honestly, treat him like trade bait. You know what I mean? Like I like, don’t get me wrong, I’d love for him to come up and play, you know, with the Toronto Blue Jays, but if we really need to go all in and trade, you know, in the next couple seasons, there’s some high value right there that maybe we could ship off for the Toronto Blue Jays. But we’ll see. It’s a long road. You can’t really predict anything with these high school guys. It’s unpredictable, but welcome to the team, Jojo. Welcome to the team. And I will give him credit. You know, I know we didn’t actually have any say in this, but I do really [ __ ] with the name Jojo. There’s just like, you guys know that we we when we’re doing our live stream, our playbyplays and stuff, we got the intros, you know, boom bo you know, Addy Batty, now Blatty D. There’s so many different things that we got. I feel like the possibilities are truly endless when it comes to somebody named Jojo. There’s so much Jojo, right? Go Jojo. You know, you know, Mojo Jojo. There’s so much there’s so much stuff that we could do there. So, honestly, uh, let us know in the comments down below, guys. What do you think the graphic should inevitably look like? should he end up coming up to the Toronto Blue Jays? What’s the nickname? What are we rolling with? Because that’s honestly that was the one thing that I could I was getting the most excited about was just picturing a guy named Jojo, you know, going go going around the bases. Yeah, it’s going to get we’re going to it’s a work in progress. Get better. At least back toback years, we’ve got some guys some pretty sexy names like you savage like doing Savage comes up like I’m thinking about that song where it’s like I’m a savage classic bougie ranch. Like boom, there’s the easy but done like no work for the graphics. Honestly, like any 21 Savage song too, it’s like there’s something to be done there for there’s so many different things that could be done. So yeah, for that reason alone, maybe we do need to hold on to Treya Savage in when it comes to trade time. That being said though, should we want to get somebody that is elite, it might cost Treya Savage or or someone, right? Somebody of that caliber, right? This was a suggestion made here. I believe this was in the John Hmon article. Uh he was talking about Seth Luga and this is a name that’s been popping up ever more recently. Kansas City Royals, they are effectively out of the race at this point. Uh you know, you never know when you got somebody like a Bobby Wood Jr. maybe they decide to say screw it and just keep guys. But Seth Lugo, old uh old old veteran here. I believe he’s 35 I think he is. So he’s been around the block, but he is having an ace level season and this is the final year of his deal. So kind of just a perfect trade bait if you are Kansas City. Yeah, like he’s got a player option next year, but it’s 15 million the same he’s making this year. And honestly, the way that he’s playing right now, I’d be opting out and seeing if I can get one more bag before I sail off into the sunset. With a 267 RA and a whip of 1.079, this is the type of guy that we’ve been talking about here in Blue Jays today. You need somebody to be your number one ace in a wildcard game or in an ALDS series. This is the guy you’re throwing out on the bump game one. Seth Lugo with the award of three. It’s going to cost a little bit for sure because you had right here the kind of package that John Haymon throw here. He had him Seth Lugo and Carlos Estz coming over to the Toronto Blue Jays for Aurelvis Martinez, the third ranked prospect, Emanuel Bonila and RJ Shrek who we acquired last year. And honestly folks, I kind of like that because when you look at the other guy getting back in the trade, which is Carlos Esz, 32y old, you got him until 2027. So you have one more year of this guy after RA of 236 and a whip of 1.095. He’s been in safe situations before, so he’ll be in the back of that bullpen with Jeff Hoffman, with Jimmy. Uh like this is a guy that could very well bolster the bullpen for not only this year, but next year. Would you be willing, Nick, to part ways with the Ravis Martinez for just one season of Seth Lugo and another season of Carlos Estus? Well, that’s kind of the that’s what we got to come to terms with here, folks. I feel like everybody’s looking at Aalvis Martinez right now and just I guess deciding that this is the this is the trade bait. You know, we are going to get rid of him and we’re perfectly fine with it. I still like Aelvis Martinez potentially being a guy for us one day. It feels like we’ve just forgotten about him entirely. I mean, he didn’t do himself any favors by having the whole peed scandal. And from my understanding, he is not playing. Yeah, he’s not playing very well so far this year. So, honestly, like that peed scandal and maybe the fallout after the fact has not done him well. Uh, but that being said, like he still does have a ceiling of some sort. I guess the question is, do we want to trade away somebody that is that high caliber in our system for what is quite literally like just a one-year deal? There’s no you’re not planning for the future here. Don’t get excited about Seth Lugo for next year. He will hit free agency. He will walk away. It is 2 months and you know go all in on it. It’s tough, man. For for me. Yeah. Like I mean I I’ve been coming to terms with already trading away Argental and a lot of people kind of getting on me for that. Like you got to trade away something to get something. But the thing with Arjun Namala is you would hopefully be getting somebody with that additional year of control. Yeah. Of course, you’d be wanting to get a guy with a lot of control like we brought it up. Um, was it Heene or was it Mitch Keller? It was Mitch Keller, I believe. I think it was Keller for sure. Or from Jeff Pass, I believe, who brought it up. And I know that Ryan as well, you say he’s got multiple seasons. Joe Ryan. Joe Ryan would be exceptional. But this is one of those situations where, yeah, Seth Lugo is going to be leaving at the end of the year. Carlos Estz, very good bullpen guy, but you know, you do only get one more year of control and is a bullpen guy, right? So now it’s worth as much as a starter. Yeah, I would be parting ways with Rob Martinez. That’s actually a good situation. and then you’ll keep the top three guys right there. I you’d probably go out and make another, you know, another move in the bullpen, maybe go get a bat. You know, that probably wouldn’t cost you one of those big guys. You can hang on to them part ways with Real Martinez who right now, and I don’t want to count a guy out because he’s so young and he’s had better seasons, better seasons in the past, but I don’t want to count him out after half a season of being poor, but he probably will fall down the prospect rankings and not be valued as high after, you know, they update him once you add in um Jojo Parker. Maybe is a good time to trade him away now. Yeah, I I guess it like if the ultimate goal is to win a World Series here or at least win a playoff series, Seth Lugo would almost undeniably help with that. I still am kind of committing myself to the idea of getting somebody like a Chris Bubic just because there is that additional year of control and he is a little bit younger and all of that, but that would then cost quite a bit more than a Relos Martinez. Now, you are looking at giving away an Argentino or you are looking at giving away a treas. And I don’t even know if Kansas City would be willing to do that because again, they do have Bobby Wit Jr. and they’re probably going to want to try to be competitive next season. So maybe they don’t want to give away Chris Bubic. But if you truly if you’re just committed, you know, not making the crazy blockbuster of getting somebody like Ajo Ryan, not making that crazy move where you’re supplementing, you know, you’re pitching for not only this year but years to come, Seth Lugo might be the best option when it comes to a twomonth rental just from this season alone. I mean, he’s playing better than Mel Kelly. He’s playing better than than Zack Gallon. I I believe he’s playing better than Mitch Keller. Like, he’s playing very very good. Yeah. All these guys so far this year. So for me, I guess that’s the best of both worlds. If you don’t want to trade away the top guys, but you still want to get something good. I mean, if Kansas City is willing to do that, I know they’re three games back of 500. So maybe they make a push, but they still got two weeks to decide if they want to be sellers or like kind of, you know, the talk is they could just be conservative sellers. Maybe they keep some dudes. But Lugo effectively would be one of those guys that if you’re selling, if you are selling, then that is the easiest piece. If you’re Kansas City right now, I can understand that you you wouldn’t want to convince yourself to do Chris Chris Bubic, but Seth Lugo is the easiest one to go, okay, this is a lot of value right here. Give me a couple top prospects and he can be yours for two months. Yeah, I agree. Oh, and also shout out to Tony in here who also is getting flamed for saying trade Nala. People are in love with the 19-year-old who is struggling in high a prospects are prospects, man. We literally have no idea if any of our prospects will actually become anybody. The only prospects we’ve seen the last five years are, you know, you could you could argue Alec Mano because he had that one like really good SI Young Three season and then half a season before that and then you’re seeing Barger right now and like I really don’t know if any highlevel prospect like top five has broken out like that for the Jays. Well, and there’s just so many Here’s the thing, right? It all depends on what what you are giving him to get. Uh Joe Ryan to me is just such an easy smash because this is somebody that is actually really good in MLB right now and has also been very good in MLB for a little while right now. I think back to, you know, just some of the top prospects in all of baseball and there’s just so much [ __ ] that can go down or go wrong or like not everybody is going to end up like a Paul skins. There’s so many guys that have come up and you know like this is the pinnacle of I mean the Yankee fans were talking about Anthony Anthony Vulpi like he’s going to be the next Dar Jeter for crying out loud. Oh I know. Oh what’s that other guy? Spencer Jones. This guy’s been in the minor leagues for like 5 years and they’re like he’s coming. And that’s not even just like Blue Jay. Like that’s like all of MLB. They were hype about those individuals. Spencer Torqulson is like starting to figure it out right now, but he was looking like a bust for years for I mean [ __ ] like the the the finally the guy that uh not saying that this is going to be Argentala, but I’m just saying that there’s a plethora of [ __ ] that could go wrong here. Wander Franco, the dude who finally got all the money from Tampa Bay ended up, you know, being a literal criminal. Like there’s so much [ __ ] that could go down, you know, in between now and then. So point being is he’s an exciting mystery box. I I don’t want to give him up if possible, but for you know being years removed from MLB. Yeah. I mean if you got a guy who could get Sai Young votes right now like Yeah. A lot could happen. A lot could happen guys. Yeah. I That’s the thing. If you just All you have to do is ask yourself, who do I want this guy to become? Oh, Joe Ryan would be nice if he became Joe Ryan. All right, go get Joe Ryan. Like duh. Like why wait and when you can guarantee it, right? Also, you know, a shout out to another creator, um, Aaron Benrose on Instagram and Tik Tok and everything like that. Love his stuff. Uh, but, you know, he was he pulled up, uh, you know, the list of the Toronto Blue Jays prospects over the last few years, the top prospects and like it’s all changing actually. Yeah. Can you flash it up real quickly? Like go to our Yeah, go to our top prospects real quick and you can cycle through the years of the Toronto Blue Jays and it’s like they change every single year. and our top guys that we were so committed to two years ago like the we don’t even know who they’re not here anymore. You know what I mean? It’s like they’ve changed all Nate Pearson. Nate Pearson, Austin Martin, Jordan Gian, remember him? He’s actually Simeon Woods actually came up. Kirk actually came up and was a league, you know, shout out to Kirk. But then yeah, you look through it to your point. Then you had Gabber. Okay, Gabber actually came up and was pretty good actually. Shout out shout out. Uh but yeah, look at this. Leo Jimenez didn’t do anything. Otto Lopez like he’s only alive and playing the MLB because he’s on the Miami Marlins, right? And then you got last year Ricky Tedman, Tommy John. Tommy John. Never this guy. Zu, dude, this guy was bust in a half. Tucker to Yeah. Like dude, there’s so many guys that have the point is that so many of these individuals their highest value is right now. And I know everybody would have like people would have flamed us like crazy and people would have said that the Blue Jays are stupid, but imagine if they would have traded away Ricky Tedman prior to the Tommy John last year and picked up somebody like a Joe Ryan and then oh [ __ ] then he goes, you know, under the knife the following season and it’s looking like a major W. Now, you don’t know that at the time obviously, but most of most of the scenarios that transpire, the highest value that these guys will ever have is right now. And on the off chance that he ends up being the next Trey Turner, Arjun Namala, or whatever, that will suck, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take. I want to win a World Series. I want to go deep in the playoffs. Like, I would trade, and I know look, I would trade Arjunala if it meant that we got to go to the ALCS at least this year. Wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t you? Oh yeah, like uh yeah, like okay, that’s not the ultimate goal win a World Series, but yeah, I mean I would trade you Savage uh Joe Joe Parker and Namala if it was meant to win. I would trade every single trade literally every single Exactly right. Like and then guess what? Oh, we’ll just go and replace the talent that we they could have been in free agency because everyone will go, “Damn, I want to play for the Toronto Blue Jays.” Yeah. Hello. Ultimately, I again point being we both love Arjun Namala. We both love what he could become. We both love Trey Savage. We both love what he could become. However, if somebody like Gage Ryan, and it’s got to be somebody of that caliber, but if somebody like that who’s doing it right now in MLB with a year or another year of control, I mean, give me give me the guy that’s going to get Sai Young votes today. Hello. So, I mean, that’s where I’m at. I agree. Guys, let us know your thoughts in the comments down below about that. Before I move on and talk about some other stuff regarding the Toronto Blue Jays and the home run derby, big shout out here to Budweiser, everybody. It’s the official partner of your Toronto Blue Jays. Baseball is better with your buds. You can go get a limited edition Toronto Blue Jay Budweiser cans that are now available at your local LCBO. Moments with your buds are priceless. Savor the summer weather while cheering on your Toronto Blue Jays. Hell yeah, man. Hell freaking. Yeah. Also, Aerosimi saying, “We kind of suck again.” No, we don’t. No, we don’t. We had one bad series. We had one bad series. We had one bad series, but now we get a break. And you know what? I’m going to give a shout out to Whit. I mean, I already knew this, but Whit just hammered us at home. Don’t freak out over one series loss. Look at the 15 last series that we played. We won 13 of them. We don’t suck again. We’re on top of the Aliens. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the the uh Dodgers are like three and seven in their last 10 or you know what I mean? It’s like that’s the LA they’re going to end up winning the World Series this year. So, you know, quick shout out here to Ms with the $699 dono saying, “So, if you are trading Nala with Bo leaving, what are you doing for shortstop next year? If Bose’s the E it’s got the E.” Okay. Don’t really know what you mean by the end there. Very sorry about that. However, I mean, that’s where free agency comes in. you know, you gota you would need to go out and you probably need to get somebody in there. However, you also have Ernie Clement who could maybe do something there. You got Jimenez who you’re gonna have for years. We’ve been looking for a way for Addison Barger to potentially become the third baseman of the future. He can go there, Ernie can go to short, or Jimenez can go to short and Ernie can go to second. Like, there are ways to get around this. And then on top of all of that, if Bo hits free agency and decides to, oh, he’s going to be a Dodger next year, whatever, there are other guys out there that you would be able to either sign or trade for. So, there’s ways around this, man. Like, you you can do it. It would mean a little bit more mental gymnastics for Ross Atkins and whatever, but they’re more than capable. Yeah, absolutely, man. Like, I love Bo, don’t get me wrong. I mean, hell, I just found out today he’s fifth in the league in hits. Can you believe it? I actually cannot believe that. I cannot believe it either. He’s in all of MLB. All of MLB all of MLB is actually shocking. I know. I mean, that’s just that’s just what Boba does. And like, you know, Bobett when he’s at his best is number one in hits. But, you know, he’s still doing both things. And yeah, it would suck to lose him, but you’re right. Like, we got to go get the replacement cuz the the wheels got to keep moving here with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. You got the 14-year deal activating next year. Yeah. So, you got to keep going. They made their choice. Uh I would love it if both of them stick around. Uh, and it would be a little bit convoluted if they traded, you know, they traded one of them and bow leaves, whatever. But they would figure it out. Jojo Parker ultimate. Yeah. Get ready. Before you Yeah. You’re up next year. You never know, man. Some of these freaking like guys have been launching through the through the systems lately, but granted they’re they’re in college that launched through the system. Like, you know, the guy we just fade against face against the athletics, Nick Croo, I think his name is, he was drafted last year. Now he’s got 17 home runs. See, I actually I I I really love that. Uh, and that’s another reason why I want I’m going to get off this topic soon because we got other stuff that we want to talk about. Uh, but another reason why I wanted the Toronto Blue Jays to end up going with the pitcher, the 21-year-old pitcher, was because it feels like as baseball’s progressing, and it’s not everybody, but they’re becoming like I don’t know what it is. Maybe these colleges are getting better or, you know, the difference between some of these top tier college individuals is not that far off from like AAA or what have you. But it does feel like now, you know, if you’re 20, you’re 21, you get drafted, you could come up to MLB, if you have a good offseason, you have a good winter, like you could be right up there and actually make an impact almost immediately. Yeah. No, and I like the way it’s going. And you know, maybe it is they maybe they are getting better or maybe the organizations are starting to take the take the risk of like, you know what, like why why not lose out? Like especially we’re seeing with the athletics, you’re seeing a lot of guys too on the Reds, like just these organizations that they don’t have anybody cuz they can’t get any free agents. Why not take a shot and create a star yourself? Yeah, I mean it could honestly like could be a mixture of everything. I wouldn’t be surprised if uh if it’s all of those things combined. Let’s transition and talk a little bit about Alec Manoa. One of the few prospects that the Toronto Blue Jays have had come up in the last couple years and showed a lot of success and then showed very little success and now we don’t know. We are just hopeful. He had his rehab assignment begin uh just today. Just today. Yeah. [ __ ] Wow. Okay. Shout out to Alec Manoa. Uh it wasn’t great results-wise. Uh but there are some positives to be pulled from this. You were talking about the VO of that fast ball is where it’s supposed to be. Yeah. Like that’s awesome. The average right now on his fast ball is 94.2. Uh that’s great. Especially when you’re coming off Tommy John, you don’t really know what you’re going to get cuz you’re really just worried about how is it coming out of the hand. The change ups at 89.4, the slider at 82. That’s kind of where it’s been at and the sinker at 93. So, all the velocity is there. Now, everyone can read into the results and be like, “Oh, he’s he’s washed. He’s a bus.” Because he did go one/3. He got one out, gave up one hit. He got three earned runs. Okay, so they had four total runs. So, obviously, there was some errors on the field happening behind him. He had one strike out, 22 pitches, 10 uh strikes, and obviously two walks. I don’t know if I said that, but yeah, you might look at that and go, “Oh, he’s bust.” Look, it’s his first time on the mound against actual competitive somewhat competitive players uh in a year. So, I wouldn’t look too hard into this, everybody. The stuff looks good and I’m excited for his next start and we’ll see how he progresses. But, this is a guy that could come up in the next month right after the trade deadline and give us a little bit of depth down there. And are we expecting him to be a Sai Young again? Absolutely not. In fact, I’m expecting him hopefully to give me similar results that Max Scherzer might be doing right now. Can you go four or five innings and and give up three earned runs or or less? Like, can you give me something like that and help us get help us get some length in this very old bullpen? That’s all I want. I uh I actually have like no expectations for Alec Manoa. I think that if you’re the Toronto Blue Jays, you play it like he’s not there. And what I mean by that is that you go into the trade deadline and you address your needs like you do not have Alec Noah. Like you like you’re not expecting anything from him. And then when and if and should he come up to to the show again this year and should he give you a couple innings? Great. That feels awesome. But no worries if not because we got Seth Lugo over here just eating them for us every 5 days or what have you. So great to see that at least the arm is uh is feeling good for him. obviously would like to now as the rehab assignment goes on see some of those results start to come in and you know get more more innings going because I think he only threw 22 pitches there which is to be expected. I mean it’s going to take a while for him to ramp up but uh yeah I mean exciting stuff for Monoa. Not holding my breath and waiting on any results at all. Now I’m treating him like pitching depth you know like imagine having pitching depth in our system. Like there’s nobody else. I mean, you got the East and Lucases of the world coming up and you got the Schultz, but he’s on the IIL, too. Like, they’re all freaking hurt. So, look, it’s nice to get some depth. Go get a starting pitcher at the deadline. And then we’ll see cuz, you know, Max Scherzer could just his arm or his thumb could just fall off tomorrow. You never know. It could just fall off and now we’re back to where we were a month ago. So, get healthy, Alec. Hope to see you back. And you’re right. Yeah. Who was it in here that just said that is 2024 wasn’t that bad. Like, it wasn’t bad. He honestly was in great shape. It looked like the comeback was happening and then and then then Tommy John happened. So I’m still rooting for the comeback. Let’s go King. Still rooting on it. Just not uh not waiting. No expectations. That’s thing. That’s a great place to be for Alec Manoan. No one’s expecting anything from you except for innings. Yeah. Kind of mainly forgotten about you, which is sad but also exciting for him because he’s kind of playing free at this point. I also see Baby Yoda in here saying, “Uh, boys, is there any way that we could trade for Robbie Ray because he’s been playing really good. Um, I highly doubt that because Robbie Ray is playing with the Giants this year and the Giants are, I think, like seven or eight games above 500. He is playing great and I would imagine that the Toronto Blue Jays would be interested in him because obviously we’ve had that relationship before, but I try prying away uh, you know, a two RA guy from a team that’s eight games above 500. I I just don’t see that happening. I don’t think it’s going to happen, guys. Uh, next segment here, because we do this every single Monday. Uh, we talked about this guy actually quite a lot on the stream. It’s time now. It’s a Jay of the Week, everybody. And this one is a repeat winner. Oo, we haven’t had too many of those. You know, George Springer’s got three. Everyone else has one, but now this guy has got his second. Let’s give a shout out to the Jay of the Week. Jay of the week. There you go. Jay of the week. Uh, any guesses? I throw in a poll there. So, if you saw the poll, you probably know who it is. It’s this guy, Bobett. We huge week for Boba. Fifth in MLB in hits. I knew that stat before this podcast began. Uh, but seriously, Boba has definitely been playing very, very good recently. He’s been picking it up. Uh, you can buy him off my fantasy team. Actually, no, that’s not true. I traded him away already. Oh, no. Darn. Actually, I did need a short stop. I have Willie Adam is kind of like h this year. Yeah, Dylan. Dylan bought him for me for a fifth. So, could be a steal actually for Dylan if Bohe keeps playing like this. Guy batted 478 this past week. Had an OPS of 1.2 three four five doubles, which is honestly wild, man. I mean, you’re not seeing a whole lot of the uh the long ball from Bo, but I mean, if if you’re going to be getting five extra base hits every single week, I’m not going to be complaining about it. So, shout out to Bo Bashette uh picking up the offense. If he can have that month, like that that one month that we’ve been waiting on, right? We know the month. It’s the month of time where he bats like that all month long. If he has that [ __ ] month of I know, oh, this offense is going to be hung. I know. Like, if he if he gets hot, like now he’s not fifth, he’s like first in in hits, right? And and I guess I I was I wasn’t even going to bring this up, but like you know what? I saw some people talk about it today and I was kind of defending him on Friday. You know who I’m bringing up here. He had a terrible, terrible, terrible series. Like it was it was really bad. Such a forgettable trash can series. And that is Vladimir Guerrero G. And it’s not like he was just like not there. Like he was actively like making mistakes. It was it was not good. The White Socks game was not good. Like it’s been it was a bad stretch for uh Vladimir Guerrero Jr. this uh this past week. Um thoughts on thoughts on Vlad because I know that’s getting a little bit of a hotter topic. Are you We got to still wait cuz you you reminded me we got to still wait for that big week to happen, right? Feels like it hasn’t happened yet, right? And honestly, you’re starting to feel like he’s forcing it a little bit for me. Yeah, I I think that the break is coming at a right time for Vlad, too. I think that you’re going to go to the All-Star game. You’re going to be with your guys. Maybe you’re going to have a couple on the on the plane ride over there. Uh cuz as what Marifffields told us, like the boys can get after it sometimes. and and take that time off without the stress. I know that you’re still technically playing baseball if you’re Vlatty, but it’s, you know, it’s stress free, it’s fun, you’re talking with all these guys that are also really good as well. I think it’s a it’s a great time for Vlad to just step away from Toronto Blue Jays baseball. Uh, and just kind of have fun with the swing again and and see what happens with that. I am I would say I’m like a three out of 10 in terms of overall concern with Vlatty. I still need to like the numbers are still good on the season. He’s still leading the team in war I believe. Anyways, he’s still got an OPS over 800. The home runs that is disappointing. It’s definitely disappointing. This is probably somebody that is not going to be hitting 30 home runs this year. I mean, at this point, he might even be lucky to get 25 home runs at this at this point. So, that is definitely disappointing to see. Um, we’ll see who he finishes the season. He’s still he’s he’s not in my bad books yet. No. Like again, like he’s going to have bad series. Everyone’s going to have bad series. You’re going to have bad weeks. You’re going to hitting a lot of double plays and ground balls. Yeah, he’s one hot stretch away from back to being the Vlad that we all know and love. And then why he’s getting paid 500 million. I’m not worried. Let’s go get the Yankees and kill them again after the All-Star break. If he finishes the year, pull up his stats again, please, if you could. If he finishes the year with this line, it’s this slash line. It’s It’s on pace for whatever it is for the RBI. It’s on pace for the home run. Is this good enough for you for the 500 to warrant 500 million? Yeah. To be like, that’s what it is, right? Because I’ll be honest, this is this is definitely It’s a little bit below the line of my expectations. I would agree with you on that cuz I’m, you know, literally 818 OPS. He had an 818 OPS in 2022 after 2021. But, you know, you could forgive him there because you’re like, “Okay, he’s still young. He’s still figuring out D.” This is right now a little bit below my expectation. I think my expectation for Vlatty career-wise rest of the way like can you give me a floor of like 840 and that’s being very nitpicky cuz you know 818 840 you know you know you do feel a little bit of a difference in that regards you know can you give me 25 home runs at least per season is what I’m asking. So if you dip below that you know it’s definitely disappointing. I will say if anyone wants to talk about money the 36 per year comes in next year. So technically it’s 31 million per year if we really want to argue that. Um but next year when the contract activates, there’s no excuses. I also think as well like and you guys know if you’ve been a longtime viewer of this channel, I’m not a big war guy. Um but I do think that it comes into play, especially with somebody getting paid as much money as him. Yes. Um I don’t want to see I don’t want to see four war on on your season. Like if you’re getting paid 500 million, I want five war kind of on average at minimum. And and that’s where I I want you to be cuz you’re supposed to be a a premier player who is probably supposed to be getting MVP votes almost every year. You don’t have to be winning it, but I would like to see you be MVP9 or MVP 7 or what have you. And and that’s just not something that’s going to happen this year for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. if he continues at this pace. So, it’s definitely on the lower end of things. I wouldn’t like light my pitchforks or or light my light my torches, get my pitchforks and go crazy or anything like that because it’s not that bad, but it is like verging on the line of Okay, we need to see more from you next year for sure. I I I definitely I definitely get that. But you guys uh you guys let us know in the comments down below like where your kind of level at level of concern is at with a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. All right, we’re going to do a little bit of a a new alternate version of this next segment. Uh, we’re not actually going to bring up the wheel, but I guess it’s time to spin the wheel. Time to spin it. Spinning fortune, baseball, colorful, future determining, stat analyzing, and it’s a wheel that we spin every week every week. Every week, everybody. It is a wheel that we spin every single week. All tied up after last week. I know Barger for sure won me that category cuz he was going crazy and I had for two categories so that’s where you got it and he was ass. What was the one category they got me at? Uh I got you at actually my safety category I picked Barger for war. You picked Bereos who got a little bit [ __ ] up. Ah that’s what it was. Yeah. Yeah cuz he had the two starts. So one of them was decent. The next one was yeah three innings. You know what it was a negative.1 more. Ber had.1 I got that one but look at that. all evening up going into the All-Star break, man. Yeah. Yeah. It’s it’s a tight race. I think this is the the closest that it’s been at this point. Yeah, 100%. Cuz usually at this point, someone’s like kind of running away with it. Yeah. Like a week or or two weeks of of sweeps away from uh from Yeah. tying it all up. But this week, what we’re going to do, I believe it is my my week. Uh so I don’t know how we’re I guess you can decide how you want to draft. Uh but uh but what we’re going to do is we’re both going to take four guys in the home run derby, which by the way folks, we are going to be live for this evening. It’s it starts at 8. So we’ll be live right at 8:00. And how this is going to work is the winner of the home run derby that is going to be equivalent to two points. So if Cal Raleigh wins and he, you know, I drafted him, I would get two points. And then the runner up is going to be equivalent for one point. So the second place person will get one point right there. So, honestly, a good chance for a potential sweep here. Like, there will be three points distributed guaranteed. And we can’t always say that because, you know, there can be ties. No ties here. No, anything like that. Somebody will at least get one point of advantage here, maybe even three. I assume we’ll do a snake draft because snake draft is typically like the fairest. Can I see the odds? Yes, you can. Yes, you can. So, oh, first of all, just show everybody who’s in the home run derbies in case you are wondering. I mean, if you haven’t looked online yet. Uh, you’ve got Byron Buckton. You got Junior Camo. That was kind of a weird pick. Jazz Chisum, also a weird pick. O’Neal Cruz, big power guy right there. Matt Olsen, big home run guy. Kyle Rally, the home run leader, big dumper. Brent Rooker, always good for some homers, 30 plus a year. And James Wood, the very exciting young dude. They are in nationals. Uh, honestly, yo, have you seen J I’m kind of maybe selling the pick I want, but like have you seen James Woods like like projected on what he’s on pace for that’s coming up? It’s like stupid. He’s like like elite like top five in baseball. I I was looking at some of his numbers the other day cuz they were comparing him to to Juan Sodto start. And it’s actually like he’s slightly worse than Wanoto, but only slightly. Like it’s actually pretty close. James Wood is is undeniably a a very elite player for the Washington Nationals and and somebody that I don’t think gets nearly enough love, honestly. Agreed. Um, as it stands right now, the favorite to win is Cal Raleigh for the Seattle Mariners. Behind him, O’Neal Cruz, makes sense. Young dude, maybe a lot of endurance. Then it’s James Wood. And I think there’s a bit of a falloff in terms of the overall odds. Matt Olson 7 to one right there. Matt Olson’s been in it before. He’s obviously never won. Rooker, Buckston, and then you’ve got Camaro and then Jazz. Definitely the the worst of them all. So, you decide. Do you want to go first or do you want to go second? I think I I I think I kind of want to let you go first here. God damn, I did not want to go first. Yeah, I think I’ll let you pick first and then I’ll and I’ll snake and I’ll I’ll take uh the two next, guys. All right, so here’s what I’m thinking, everybody. Uh, also before I got to pick, we got to give a little shout out here to the sponsor of this video. Hey guys, time for a quick shout out to the sponsor of this video. Hit your picks and knock it out of the park with Between. Scan the QR code down below or click the link in the description to join the action. Available in Ontario only. Must be 19 years older to participate. And guys, please bet responsibly. Now, back to the content. Shout out to Bway, everybody. Uh, this is where it’s at right now. Yeah. Raleigh, you would get 3.75 times your money. O’Neal Cruz, you would get four times your money. Those are the two betting favorites. Uh, other guys, the multiplier increases accordingly. I assume you’re going to pick one of those two individuals. Or are you going to go James Wood? I’m going to go James Wood cuz I picked I picked him for uh for like my betway fee clip and I d I just love like for home run derbies especially the way they’re playing now it’s all about the endurance like you got to have the endurance to hit the bombs and like he’s so exciting the the pace he’s on is great like I love big dumper don’t get me wrong and O’Neal Cruz could be awesome like he’s an absolute smash but I just love what he’s doing at a high level right now so early in his career right give me give me James Wood it could be an exciting one for him No, I I I like your pick, man. And you know, with this home run derby, too, like all these odds, they’re kind of just thrown out. Yeah. Nobody knows. Nobody really knows. I wouldn’t be shocked at all if Wood goes on a tear. I mean, like last year it was Teao who won and he was like one of the the least favorite individuals. So, and he was older. Exactly. He was older and whatever. You never really know. Um, that being said though, I think you did kind of force my two selections here. O’Neal, you want to talk about endurance? I mean, O’Neal Cruz is pretty good. Is going to have endurance for sure and he hits the ball harder than everybody and I just I cannot let Cal Raleigh fall to you in the following round. So, it obviously needs to be big dumper there. Yeah, like my my concern with Dumper is obviously just the nerds. I don’t know what he’s dumper’s huge. I do I definitely agree with that. Uh I I honestly I knew that those three guys were going to go a [ __ ] I knew that those three guys were going to go in the first three. Uh and I was happy with whatever two you didn’t want to select. So, uh, now you get to go twice in a row and it feels like we’ve entered into another tier right here. Couple individuals that, uh, that are pretty solid. Yeah, like you got Matt Olsen, Brent Rooker, Byron Bucks. I feel like that is the the next three tier right there. Um, honestly, Byron, like people in the chat were saying, don’t sleep on Byron. Could be one of those like like you, you know, again, 31 years old, Tioskand won at 31 years old last year. When he’s healthy, he’s literally good. and someone in here in ESPN who wrote this article saying I like Bucks as a sleeper at these odds, but the age thing is hard to ignore. I’m going to take Byron as one of my two picks. I’m honestly going to do it. I’m pissed cuz he was uh I I had him queued up on my uh my draft board for sure. No, I like it. I like it. Now, the thing is between Matt Olsen and Rooker, honestly, the two guys are very similar to me. Two older gentlemen. Um Brooker Rooker’s a fun guy to root for. You got uh Matt Olsen who’s done it before. Um I don’t think you can really go. Although Although Olsen in Yeah. You know what? Olsson in Atlanta. Come on. It’s in Atlanta. I’m going to go Olsen. And uh I’ll leave you with Rooker, of course, to take next. Yeah, I’m obviously going to be taking Brent Rooker for sure. Uh so Adam getting uh Matt Olsen and Byron Buck. I did really want Byron Buck in there. I was hoping that I would pick him up. Uh, but no, solid selection. I will happily take Brent Rooker then. And then it comes down to the last two guys right there. Jazz Chisum or Camero. Uh, I’m going to need some I’m going to need someone in the chat to help me out here, folks. Who’s it going to be? Camero or Jazz Chisum for And then I’m forcing Adam to take who whomever is left here. Um, wow. Camera’s got 23. That’s actually crazy. Yeah. At just 21, Camero’s crushing home run. 21. 21. That kind of reminds me of a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Maybe a little sneaky pick. I mean, actually, not bad, dude. Like, everybody’s saying jazz, but I think we’re all just saying jazz because we’re familiar with the name Jazz. Sexy, you know, whereas like I I feel like Keanero is Wow. And the prediction here is he’ll be a one and done. Wow. Whereas this guy’s prediction says I have him advancing to the finals where he falls to Cruz, which would which would secure me three points right there. So, [ __ ] it. I’m going to take I’m going to take the young 21-year-old and hope that he pulls off of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. from the first time he participated and uh and just this is where he puts himself on the map. I like it. I like it. Yeah. I was I would originally honestly was like I’m going to go jazz because maybe like the he really likes the lights but he’s also like literally the worst guy in this he could be literally a one and done. That’s the thing. I mean could be you never know. Maybe I I want I want the uh the endurance but like Jazz is skinny, bro. Like he he can’t keep up with Big Dumper when it’s all said and done. Big Dumper’s got the power. All right, guys. That’ll be a lot of fun, man. Yeah, cuz he’s I think he’s Yeah, he’s going to go up against Dumper if I’m not mistaken. Like I don’t know how they I don’t know if they’re doing one one v8 and then they kind of go backwards. Oh [ __ ] Yeah, we see the that actually impacts that changes. Oh yeah, that actually does change a lot cuz it’s like if we’re killing our own guys, right? I didn’t even realize that. Yeah, I didn’t even think about the actual bracket. I don’t even know. Does any the brackets out there? I don’t even know. Okay. Well, you know what? I guess that’s that’s the fairest way to do it. Like we we took it without even knowing the bracket. So, it is what it is, guys. Those are our selections for the 170 legends in here. We will be live for that stream this evening. Also, yes, Arisimi Cruz is my first pick. So, that is who I would be uh putting some money down on. I also do kind of like Buckton as well as a sleeper. And I don’t hate Brent Rucker either as a sleeper, too. But uh it does feel like if I had to if I had to put my life on anyone, I might go with O’Neal Cruz. Uh but obviously, we will see what happens this time. I’m going with Wood. I’m going with you. See how it goes. You picked your guy. All right, guys. Thank you so much for tuning in. We appreciate you guys. Hit that like button. Smash that subscribe button. And we’ll catch you guys in the next one. Thank you so much for watching, everybody. And as always, go Jay’s go. I don’t know where the music is.

The Toronto Blue Jays drafted Jojo parker with their first round pick. Some were surprised thinking the Blue Jays would go college pitcher, istead, they went with a high school shortstop. Was this a good move? Plus, what do we think of the Blue Jays first half and upcoming trade deadline? Let’s discuss right here on Blue Jays Today!

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