Toronto Blue Jays - The Covid-19 Years (2020-2029)

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2020

Decade

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Titles:

Top Blue Jays Players of the Twenty Twenties

2020 -WC Lost to Tampa Bay

2022 - WC Lost to Seattle

Pitchers:

2023 - WC Lost to Minnesota

Jordan Romano (8.45) - 26

Jose Berrios (5.51) - 24

Ballpark:

Kevin Gausman (7.35) - 23

SkyDome

Chris Bassitt (2.5) - 18

Alek Manoah (7.81) - 16

Team Name:

Hyun-Jin Ryu (4.61) - 15

Blue Jays

Robbie Ray (7.1) - 11

Yusei Kikuchi (0.88) - 10

Owner:

Steven Matz (2.21) - 9

Rogers Communications

Ross Stripling (3.8) - 5

General Managers:

Catchers:

Mark Shapiro (President), Ben Cherington (VP)

Alejandro Kirk (9) - 21

Ross Atkins (GM)

Danny Jansen (7.04) - 11

Managers:

First Basemen:

Charlie Montoyo (2020-2022)

Vladimir Guerrero (19.37) - 41

John Schneider (2022-2023)

Brandon Belt (2.0) - 7

Hall of Famers:

Second Basemen:

None

Marcus Semien (7.1) - 13

Spencer Horwitz (1.5) - 6

Rookie of the Year:

None

ShortStop:

Bo Bichette (15.18) - 41

MVP

Santiago Espinal (4.9) - 7

None

Third Base:

No Hitters:

Matt Chapman (7.92) - 14

None

Ernie Clement (4.5) - 6

Cy Young:

Outfield:

2021 - Robbie Ray

George Springer (9.53) - 25

Teoscar Hernandez (7.93) - 23

Notable Events:

Lourdes Gurriel (5.93) - 18

Daulton Varsho (9) - 12

2020 - The Blue Jays broke a three year schneid by finishing over .500 at 32-28.

Randal Grichuk (1.06) - 12

Toronto made the playoffs, losing in the wild card round. It was a dramatic

Kevin Kiermaier (3.9) - 5

turnaround from a 67-95 mark in '19. It should be noted that by runs totals

Whit Merrifield (0.97) - 5

alone, the Jays would have finished below .500 in '20. The pitching gave up a half

a run more a game than the league average. The big improvement from '19

Notable Events:

was on the offense. A lot of that improvement was due to the progress being

made by their young hitters. Toronto finished a bit better than their run totals

2024 - Offense declined precipitously last year from 91 over the league average

would indicate due to a solid bullpen.

in '22 to two under the league average in '23. The big culprits were the loss of OF

Teoscar Hernandez and the decline of 3B Matt Chapman. But pretty much everybody

□ Rogers Communications has owned the club sinice 2000. The Jays have

in the lineup also dropped back a bit. Hard to say if the young ones like 1B Vladimir

not had a stellar record during that time. '20 tipped the scale to eleven winning

Guerrero and SS Bo Bichette will reverse the decline and continue on an upward path.

seasons to ten losing seasons during their tenure. Not horrible, but not great.

OF George Springer and Kevin Kiermaier are both thirty four and probably in permanent

Also, '20 marked only the third post season appearance for the Jays in the

decline. 2B Whit Merrifield, 3B Matt Chapman and DH Brandon Belt are gone. They are

twenty one seasons. No bueno on that score. In general, corporate owned

replaced by 2B Cavan Biggio, 3B Isaiah Kiner-Falefa and DH Justin Turner. At best

teams fare poorly. What works best is a motivated, competent individual owner

this is a wash. At the end of the day, it looks like the offense's best days are behind it.

or lead owner of a consortium. Trying to win by committee don't work so good.

Toronto had shallow pockets early on in the Rogers regime which hadn't helped.

2024 - The four starting pitchers that led the Jays last year are back.

In Rogers defense, there are a couple of hurdles that they haven't been able

Chris Bassitt, Jose Berrios, evin Gausman and Yusei Kikuchi

to overcome. Free Agents don't like to come to Canada because their money

Closer Jordan Romano and lefty reliever Tim Mayza are also back.

is automatically devalued by 20%. An even bigger hurdle is that the Jays have

Barring injuries and unexpected declines in performance this group of pitchers

been plunked into a Division with big spending Boston and New York and with

should keep the Jays in the playoff hunt.

the miracle working Tampa Bay Rays. It would be difficult for any ownership

group to succeed with those three in the same Division.

All that being said, Rogers Communications has opened up the purse strings

trying to win over the past decade. While not normally big players in the

free agent market, starting from 2012 thru 2017, they were in the top third

in payroll and had brought in high priced talent like Mark Buehrle, RA Dickey,

Josh Donaldson, Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Reyes and Troy Tulowitzki.

It worked somewhat as they won the Division in '15 and made it as a

Wild Card in '16. More recently, in an effort to get back on top,

they signed Hyun Jin-Ryu for a four year 80 million deal after the '19 season

and splurged for centerfielder George Springer for 6 years 150 million after

the '20 season.

□ Mark Shapiro came over from a successful stint as GM in Cleveland to

become team president in Toronto in '15. He hired on Ross Atkins as his GM

at that time. The Jays won 93 games that season, but its been steadily

downhill from there, until '20. Shapiro was extremely successful in Cleveland

helping build an offensive powerhouse there. Preliminary indications are that

he may be doing that again in Toronto.

Offense:

□ Charlie Montoyo was hired on as manager in '19. Montoyo got replaced

□ C Alejandro Kirk, 25, '17 IFA, 8 43 .250

by John Schneider in '22. Something of a lateral move.

□ C Danny Jansen, 29, '13 draft 16th round pick, 17 53 .228

□ 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr, 25, '15 IFA, 26 94 .264

2021-2022 - The improvement shown in '20 was for real as the Jays won over

ninety games in both '21 and '22 and made it to the Wild Card in '22.

□ 2B Cavan Biggio, 29, '16 draft 5th round pick, 9 40 .235

Since '21, the Jays have been giving up a solid 4 runs per game while the offense

□ SS Bo Bichette, 26, '16 draft 2nd round pick, 20 73 .306

has been scoring in the 4.5 to 5 runs per game range.

□ SS Orelvis Martinez, 21, '19 IFA, minors 28 94 .243

□ 3B Isaiah Kiner-Falefa, 29, '24 FA from Yankees,

2020 - The Jays have a nice young core on offense. They have three young

□ OF George Springer, 34, '21 FA from Houston, 21 72 .255

sons of former major leaguers - the bloodlines are there - in 2B Cavan Biggio (son

□ CF Kevin Kiermaier, 34, '23 FA from Tampa, 8 36 .265

of Craig); SS Bo Bichette (son of Dante); and Vladimir Guerrero (son of Vladimir).

□ OF Daulton Varsho, 26, '23 trade from Arizona, 20 61 .220

Craig Biggio and Vladimir Guerrero are both Hall of Famers.

□ DH Justin Turner, 39, '24 FA from Red Sox, 23 96 .276

There are some other quality offensive players on the squad, as well, in

1B Rowdy Tellez; OF Teoscar Hernandez; OF Randal Grichuk and OF

Pitchers:

Lourdes Gurriel. It has the makings of a circular lineup.

□ RHP Alek Manoah, 25, 1st round pick in '19, 3-9 5.87 injured

□ RHP Kevin Gausman 32, '22 FA from Giants, 12-9 3.16

2021 - The pitching improves dramatically from five runs per game in '20 to four

□ RHP Chris Bassitt, 34, '23 FA from Mets, 16-8 3.60

moving forward. Hyan Jin-Ryu was a holdover from '20. Added to him in '21

□ RHP Jose Berrios, 29, '21 trade deadline from Twins, 11-12 3.65

were lefthanders Steven Matz and Robbie Ray. Also a couple of home grown

□ LHP Yusei Kikuchi, 32, '22 FA from Japan, 11-6 3.86

pitchers emerged, RHP Alek Manoah, 23, and closer Jordan Romano, 28.

□ Closer Jordan Romano, 30, '14 draft 10th round pick, 5-2 2.90 36 saves

□ RHP Nate Pearson, 26, 1st round pick in '17, 5-2 4.85

2022 - Ray and Matz are gone, but they are replaced by RHP Kevin Gausman, 31,

□ RHP Adam Cimber, 32, '21 trade deadline from Miami, 0-2 7.40 injured

RHP Jose Berrios, 28, RHP Ross Stripling, 32, and RHP Adam Cimber, 30.

□ RHP Hyun Jin Ryu, 36, '20 FA from Dodgers, 3-3 3.46

Stripling and Cimber came up thru the organization.

□ RHP Erik Swanson, 29, '23 trade from Seattle, 4-2 2.97

□ LHP Tim Mayza, 31, '13 12th round pick, 3-1 1.52

2023 - Toronto reaches the post season for the third time this decade. Ironically, the

□ LHP Ricky Tiedemann, 20, '21 draft 3rd round pick, minors 0-5 3.68

only season they didn't make it (2021), was their best as their runs totals predicted a

□ LHP Brandon Barreira, 19, '22 1st round pick, minors 0-2 3.98

a 99-63 mark that year. Unfortunately for the Jays, they haven't been able to get out

□ RHP Yosver Zulueta, 25, '19 IFA, minors 4-4 4.08

of the wild card round in any of those seasons, losing to the Twiins in '23.

In the previous three years, the hitters carried the club. In '23, it was the pitching that

got the Blue Jays into the postseason as the hitters actually scored two runs less than

the league average.