The Blue Jays Have Tough Choices To Make… Who’s Not Making The ALDS Roster?

The Blue Jays Have Tough Choices To Make… Who’s Not Making The ALDS Roster?

[Music] Hello everybody and welcome back to Blue Jays today coming to you from the sports interaction studio where we always got something to say about the Toronto Blue Jays. I’m your host Adam Pedal and I’m your host Nicholas Play. In this one we are going to talk about that ALDS postseason roster. We’re going to predict who it is that is going to make it and who is going to be left off. Please let us know your thoughts about all this in the comments down below and hit that like button. Smash that subscribe button and if you have the option to as well, hit that hype button because I mean that is the vibe of postseason ball right now folks. Uh let’s immediately start with when they have to do this by. We are recording this on Thursday at 9:45 a.m. everybody. They got about 48 hours to figure out what it is that they going to be doing because at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, that’s when the Toronto Blue Jays need to finalize their ALDS roster. Yeah, they do. and they got some tough decisions to make because for most part of the season, every person on this roster has been so valuable. Even when they expanded to 28 men, those extra two men became even more valuable as well down the stretch for the Toronto Blue Jays. And that’s been the bread and butter for the Jays all season. I think they’ve got the deepest roster in all of baseball. But you got to cut two guys in the ALDS. So, we’re going to break down first the offense. Who are the guy? Who’s the one guy that’s got to get cut? cuz you got 14 men right now on that 28-man roster. You got to cut it down to 13. And looking up right here, obviously, you’re not going to cut anybody in the projected fan graph starting roster. You know, George all the way down to Andre Mimenez. Those guys are locks. Where I’m looking at right now is that bench. You got Tyler Heinman, Isaiah Connor, Flea, David Schneider, Joy Laridle, Miles Straw. But there is a little wild card in all of this that a lot of fans have been talking about online. I see it everywhere. So, I want to address this one right first. it is that one man in the starting lineup which is Anthony Santandere because people are talking about oh well Anthony Sandere came back for basically four games and didn’t really look like himself in those four games he only had one hit batted 100 so for me you’re like okay well this guy isn’t really up to speed he’s not really can’t really trust him in a playoff roster but apparently John Schneider says that they might yeah yeah again like this is Anthony Santandere who they paid a lot of money to now John Schneider did say continue to see how he feels the next couple days in reference to Anthony Santand there. But yeah, I can certainly envision him on the ALDS roster and use him like we do everyone kind of as we see fit. All that being said though, if I’m being completely honest with myself, I don’t know if Anthony Santandere deserves to be on the playoff roster right now. When we were initially talking about him returning to this Toronto Blue Jays team, the one thing that I was saying is that in those rehab starts down there in Triple A, I wanted to see him really pop off, really go crazy, right? Get that home run ball cooking because that is what it is that he could provide to the Toronto Blue Jays. He when he was down there, he was fine. He was fine, you know, but but it wasn’t anything that was like overall instilling me with a ton of confidence that once he gets up to the MLB level, he is going to be bang immediately like a like a bat out of hell. Just absolutely dominating. And since coming back, granted, very small sample size. I think it’s like what, three, four games. Yeah. Four games, one hit, batting 100. Exactly. Right. So like since coming back, he has not been that guy. And and maybe it’s just like maybe I’m triggered because I remember like the all of the rallies that were killed in April and I know I’m being hard on him right now, but there was a lot of times where Anthony thandere is batting third or fourth in that lineup and you get a person on base and you know the next guy moves him over to second and you need a clutch hit and then it’s just a you know three pitch strikeout from Santandere. So, for me, I don’t know if he is right now one of the best 13 hitters on the team. I I completely agree with you. In the 10 at bats he’s gotten with the Blue Jases coming back, he has six strikeouts. That’s just that’s just not good in in a in a team that’s built off of contact and putting the ball in play and passing baton to the next guy. He feels like a dead black hole right now. No offense to Santandere because there’s a big swing and miss in his game right now and he’s not going to be ready. I would honestly keep him off the roster, get him some reps in some simulated games at the, you know, either Roger Center or Buffalo, wherever down in the Florida Complex League and get that home run swing back and get rid of the swing and miss. I know it’s a part of his game. I’m not dumb. Like I know it’s a part of his game, but right now we we don’t really need that in a fivegame format. We need guys who can make contact. But if John Schneider and Ross Atkins are thinking, well, we we paid this guy to hit home runs and to do it in the postseason, they might just force the issue. Well, here’s the thing. I don’t think that there’s any shame in saying that Anthony Santandere is not up to speed right now playing his best. I don’t think that this is Anthony Sandere or at least the guy that they went out and he signed. And there’s no shame in that because this guy barely played baseball this year. There were months of time where he didn’t where he literally did not swing a baseball bat. I think that the shame would come from Ross Atkins andor the front office andor John Schneider forcing the issue here because they paid him so much money and because his name is Anthony Santon there and not really using their eyeballs here and realizing it’s like okay is he actually going to provide a ton of value for us in the postseason or is he actually going to be a hindrance when he is on? Yeah, exactly. Well, he’s on he’s incredible. I just don’t think he’s on right now. Yeah, like you’re basically hoping he hits one big home run in one moment and that’s it, right? And you’ll be okay with him striking out six of 10 times if that one homer he hits as a game decider in game four or game five, right? That’s what they’re hoping for. But I just don’t I haven’t seen it, right? I I’ve seen maybe one big homer from him like way earlier in the year, but that was one of like 40 games he played this year, right? We have five games. We got to bring the best man on the roster, but I digress. I think they’re probably gonna keep in mind if I were to bank on it and and I will uh very happily be proven wrong when the Anthony Sandere backflip happens. Uh that moment for the ALDS, I will happily eat my words and genuinely will be rooting the guy on the entirety of the time. Now, if they do keep him and if they do go in that direction likely, at least Adam and I are thinking this way, it will be a Joey Loperito thing that gets left off. we’ve seen them kind of, you know, send him up, send him down, bring him up when they need, and then when it is time to to let somebody go, it would be him. On top of all of that though, there’s this wrinkle of Bob Bashette in all of this because if Bobette does come back for the ALDS, which by the way, everybody feels unlikely. That was the latest report on it. Feels unlikely that he would, but let’s say that, you know, oh, that 20% chance hits and he does make it back for the ALDS. Most likely they would probably also have to leave off another infielder. And then we’re looking at Isaiah Ker Falefa. So if Bo is back, probably Joey Loido and IKF. If Bo is not back, probably just Joey Li. Yeah, like Isaiah kind of flea. Love the guy. Love that speech he gave uh in Toronto saying, “Man, I love being back in Canada.” But he did come over as a replacement for Bo Bashette uh when he was on the IIL or currently still on the IIL. So IKF would probably be Gambia. Joey Lefito. I think they have too many outfield left-handed bats and that feels like the guy to get rid of and the reason why we’re not going with like a David Schneider is because he’s well I think he should be in the starting lineup quite frankly. And Miles Straw has been way too valuable for this team. And again that just goes show how deep this lineup has been, how deep this roster’s been. And I like Joy Lido. He’s been great too but you got to leave somebody off. So that is our decisions right there for the position player side of things. Uh we’ll see what happens with Anthony Stoair. Maybe that makes it a lot more clearer. But let’s move on to the pitching. There’s a lot of questions about the pitching because first things first, you have to decide what your rotation is going to look like first before you make a decision on who else you’re going to cut. And right now, the rotation I think it all depends on Chris Basset coming back. 100% man. Uh Chris Basset is I believe at this current juncture of time a bit more likely than Bo Bashette to make it back for that ALDS roster. Correct me if I’m wrong, but he is pitching a simulated game today, actually, which would then potentially put him on track to pitch maybe the third or the fourth game of that ALDS should the Toronto Blue Jays need him and and should he be ready enough to do so. if he is ready and going to be back on the roster and I think it’s likely uh at this point greater than 50% chance that they would do that you are probably looking at a starter being left off for the Jays alongside a bullpen arm and the starter that we are looking at right now and this is kind of sad to say but it’s Max Scherzer there has been a big discourse online about the idea of leaving Max Scherzer off the postseason roster for the Toronto Blue Jays when When they initially brought him in, a lot of people were thinking, well, this is going to be a great signing for the playoffs. But the fact of the matter is, Mad Max, as much as he provides a veteran presence, and as much as he’s been there before and has been that guy, right now, he isn’t playing like that guy. He’s not. I I quickly flashed it up right here. I’ll go back down to it. He had a nine RA over his last six starts, and they haven’t been going deep. I mean, I think his deepest one in the in the last six was his 6-1 ago, which was the six innings and four runs he gave up against the Minnesota Twins, which was not a playoff team. So, with that being said, I don’t feel comfortable having Mad Max roll out there in a game four or, you know, a game three where we need a critical win. So, if Chris Bassid does come back, I think you make an obvious choice and just swap those guys in the in the rotation. But that still leaves the question, well, who’s the 14th man you’re gonna cut? But I think that one is going to be a very simple answer. And no offense to Justin Brewill, but he just feels like the odd man out in this bullpen. Everybody else in this bullpen could play a role. Eric Lowour might be a critical part of this rotation or excuse me, this playoff roster because you could piggyback off a rotation or maybe do an opener for let’s say a Treyo Savage, which we’ll talk about in a bit, and everybody else. I mean, Flu’s been having a resurgence. Varin, obviously, you’re not going to get rid of that guy. Fischer, Little Nance Rodriguez, Dominguez, Hoffman, they all have roles. Brewill is just kind of a a length guy. Yeah, I’m pretty confident that regardless of of how things pan out, Brew Hill won’t be on the roster. All all the credit to him. I mean, he’s come out and played his role very well, but I think that at this point we are reaching the end of the rope where it comes to his role. Uh, circling back to the Max Scherzer stuff, uh, let’s assume for a second that Chris Basset isn’t available for the ALDS. Uh, Max Scherzer, is he still on the roster in your opinion? And if he is, is he getting a playoff start at that point? I mean, that’s it’s a really tough decision. Obviously, Burios being hurt kind of throws a wrinkle in that because, you know, you’d have Bereo start, but he’s not going to make the ALDS roster. It almost feels like he is just kind of forced into the roster because there really isn’t anybody else. Like, I mean, if if if Bass is not available, he’s on the roster. Now, it’s to what capacity are you going to play him? Because do you feel comfortable, you know, having Max Sherzer go five innings? Probably not. I mean, I I don’t even feel him I don’t even feel comfortable him going one or two innings, but you’re kind of forced into a decision. Maybe you play him as an opener, or maybe you have, you know, let’s say an Eric Low start as an opener, Max Sher come out of the pen, whatever role he’s most comfortable with, but I’m not feeling comfortable having this guy go more than two times through the lineup. Yeah, the fact of the matter is, and again, I love Max Sherer. I will forever love Max Sher. Shout out to him for coming on your show. But the fact of the matter is he’s just not playing his best brand of baseball right now. And I do think that if you were to keep him on the postseason roster, you got to find some type of creative way of utilizing him because right now, or at least what’s been happening over the last month and a half, the book is out. The league is figured him out right now. They are hitting him like nobody’s business. So, if you are going to roll him out there, it’s got to be in some some capacity, some way that the league has not seen yet. And you got to have a quick hook, right? like maybe he does start just because he is Max Scherzer and then you have a quick, you know, hook. You got Eric Law ready to go. I mean, we we’ve already been seeing it in the wild card games. Brian Beo gone immediately as soon as he showed signs of not having it. Same thing with Max Sher. I think you got to play here. And again, like again, love the guy, but that’s it is what it is. It is what it is. Now, final tidbit here, everybody, is just the uh I guess kind of update here. Maybe it’s not even an update, but it it does feel like good news about Mr. Trey Savage. Ross Atkins says that he expects Trey Savage to be part of us preventing runs in the postseason. I think all of us knew that this was coming. Anyways, uh a wild spot to be in uh for this guy who started the season in single A to now be in, you know, Ross Atkins words, you know, part of the preventing of runs in the playoffs that we’re trying. I thought he was going to be hitting. But, uh, the truth of the matter is Trey Savage will be starting a playoff game and it will likely be game three of the ALTS. Uh, that’s nuts. But, uh, that is the situation that we’re in right now because Max Sher is not playing very well right now because Jos Burios is injured and Chris Basset, I mean, we still don’t even really know what’s going on there. So, Trey Savage, he going to be starting for us. Well, decisions will be made very soon, guys. and we’re going to be going live for the pregame. Probably we’ll find out in our pregame the updated roster while we’re live before the actual start of the game. So guys, uh make sure you hit that like button, smash that subscribe button, turn on post notifications so you get notified when we’re going live for the pregame for the game and the postgame. Uh guys, uh it should be a great time and uh yeah, let’s get it done guys. This is the time of year. Exactly. Yeah. Thanks so much for watching everybody and as always, go Jays go.

The Blue Jays have to decide who to leave off the roster for the ALDS, and it might not be as easy as you think. Some big names like Anthony Santander and Max Scherzer might be in question based on recent performance. And other people might go based off injuries. Let’s breakdown and discuss who could be staying and leaving right here on Blue Jays Today!

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