Whitticisms (Toronto Blue Jays (60-48) vs. Baltimore Orioles (56-52))
It turns out that the Toronto Blue Jays front office isn’t stupid enough to acquire a player who wouldn’t be able to play any home games. Who knew, right?
It’s impossible to say that Whit Merrifield was the most impactful Blue Jay over the four-game split in Minneapolis when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is casually flicking 115 mph line drive home runs into the stands, but it’s safe to say the speedy utilityman made a mark, questionable judgment on public health issues aside.
Merrifield went 5-for-14 with a stolen base in his first four games as a Jay, all his hits coming in the form of singles. On Thursday, he was part of the big rally that poured it on the Minnesota Twins bullpen, and Sunday saw him come in as a pinch hitter and promptly fly out, but he would score the game-winning run in the tenth inning as the Manfred runner, after cleverly noticing that Teins catcher Gary Sánchez wasn’t giving him a lane and gambling on getting the obstruction call. Which he did get. Thank god.
Merrifield will obviously be seeing the bulk of his playing time in center field with George Springer now on the least surprising IL stint this season. However, once Springer does come back, it’ll be interesting to see how the playing time at second base shakes out. Since July 1, clearly a non-arbitrary cutoff date, Merrifield is slashing .295/..343/.484 with a 133 wRC+. Cavan Biggio has cooled off drastically, with a 72 wRC+ over the same span, and Santiago Espinal, who had secured the starting job at second base back. in April, has scuffled hard, slashing .228/.276/.293 with 59 wRC+.
Oddly enough, Espinal’s expected stats are right about where they were last year. In 2021, his xwOBA sat at an uninspiring .307, because while he did hid for a high average, the contact on his hits wasn’t especially convincing, nor was his lack of power. While his power has increased by any discernible metric since then, it’s still quite low, with an Isolated Slugging of .117 and a 3.1 percent barrel rate in the 17th percentile. That coupled with an increased (but still very good) strikeout rate and a newly below-average walk rate means that he hasn’t been as effective overall this season as maybe his reputation in the early going indicated. And he certainly doesn’t have the same vice grip on the starting spot that he did before the All-Star Break.
Does this mean that Merrifield has a starting spot locked up? Not necessarily. While his expected stats have been better than his results this season, they’ve been comparable for the season with the likes of Espinal and Biggio. But what is does mean is that there’s not the option to play the matchups, be they lefty-righty splits, or, more interestingly, playing Merrifield and Espinal against high-velocity starting pitchers.
Merrifield has done quite well against four-seam fastballs, sinkers, and cutters at or above 95 mph, with a .343 wOBA against those pitches. Espinal has been even better, with a .368 wOBA within those same parameters. However, against right-handed pitchers, that number tumbles down to .312, while Merrifield’s only goes down to .325. Over the last three seasons, that number goes up to .345. And Biggio’s struggles against velocity have been well-documented (.307 within those parameters).
All this to say is that while the Blue Jays don’t have one great player at second base, what they do have is some nice versatile complimentary pieces that all provide a different look than the rest of the lineup and that, provided they’re put in the best positions to succeed, could be Frankenstein’s Monstered into a very useful contributor.
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TRANSACTIONS
As mentioned, George Springer has unfortunately been placed on the Injured List with right elbow inflammation. The elbow has been a problem recently, and while the Jays did try to load manage their way out of an IL stint, at a certain point, there’s no real other choice.
The hope is that Springer can rest enough to make a September (or sooner) return to the team and contribute, with his injury hopefully reducing to a dull roar enough so that he can play well and not break in the process. I would imagine he will undergo some form of procedure on his elbow in the offseason, though the Jays would certainly like to avoid doing so now, at a point when he would likely be out for the season.
Raimel Tapia and Merrifield will be manning center field in the meantime, and Otto López has been called up to take Springer’s spot on the active roster. And this time, he’ll probably even get a plate appearance!
Speaking of Zack Collins, he was optioned to Triple-A, the Jays throwing in the towel on the whole “playing three catchers and only giving one of them six plate appearances in the month of July” idea. Relievers Matt Gage, Matt Peacock, and Trent Thornton were all optioned as well to make room for Anthony Bass, Zach Pop, and Mitch White, though Thornton was eventually recalled to take Tim Mayza’s spot on the IL after Mayza collided with baserunner Nick Gordon on a Sandy León suicide squeeze bunt attempt, dislocating his right shoulder, dislocating his right shoulder.
Painful, certainly, but the fact that it was his non-throwing arm means that his season is not nearly as jeopardized as it could have been.
In the meantime though, the Jays opting for the length provided by Thornton means they do not have a left-handed reliever on the active roster. Matt Gage is on the taxi squad, but now has to wait about a week before he can be recalled again barring another injury to the pitching staff, and with Andrew Vasquez gone to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, and Anthony Banda electing free agency, the only other lefty options are the perpetually rehabbing Tayler Saucedo, Anthony Kay, and Foster Griffin.
BEST BIRDS
Hitter: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (5)
Honourable Mentions: Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Bo Bichette, Teoscar Hernández
Pitcher: Kevin Gausman (8)
Honourable Mentions: Alek Manoah, Anthony Bass, Zach Pop
Best Bird Standings:
Hitters:
Matt Chapman- 6
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.- 5
George Springer- 4
Teoscar Hernández- 3
Lourdes Gurriel Jr.- 3
Alejandro Kirk- 3
Bo Bichette- 3
Santiago Espinal- 3
Danny Jansen- 2
Cavan Biggio- 1
Zack Collins - 1
Pitchers:
Alek Manoah- 14
Kevin Gausman- 8
José Berríos- 4
Yusei Kikuchi- 4
Ross Stripling- 3
David Phelps- 1
Jordan Romano- 1
SCHEDULE/PROBABLE PITCHERS
Monday, August 8 (7 p.m. EST/5 p.m. MST)
Yusei Kikuchi (4.86 ERA, 5.51 FIP, 25.5 K%, 13.0 BB%)
Jordan Lyles (4.40 ERA, 4.25 FIP, 19.0 K%, 7.5 BB%)
Tuesday, August 9 (7 p.m. EST/5 p.m. MST)
Alek Manoah (2.45 ERA, 3.43 FIP, 22.5 K%, 5.7 BB%)
Kyle Bradish (6.55 ERA, 5.16 FIP, 22.8 K%, 8.3 BB%)
Wednesday, August 10 (7 p.m. EST/5 p.m. MST)
José Berríos (5.19 ERA, 4.84 FIP, 21.1 K%, 5.7 BB%)
Dean Kremer (3.43 ERA, 3.91 FIP, 17.8 K%, 5.8 BB%)
THE OPPOSITION
Pythagorean Record: 54-54
Season Series vs. Blue Jays: 2-2
Record since the last series vs. Blue Jays: 30-17
Last 10 games: 7-3
BEST (HEALTHY) PLAYERS IN THE SERIES
Adley Rutchman, Catcher, .256/.363/.441, 130 wRC+
Cionel Pérez, Relief Pitcher, 1.15 ERA, 3.12 FIP, 23.6 K%, 9.6 BB%
Cedric Mullins II, Center Field, .260/.320/.389, 100 wRC+
Jorge Mateo, Shortstop, .220/.270/.396, 85 wRC+
Félix Bautista, Relief Pitcher, 1.77 ERA, 3.09 FIP, 35.8 K%, 8.7 BB%