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 (2022-2025)

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.

Offense:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

the '20 season.

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

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

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

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

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

Pitchers:

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

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

helping build an offensive powerhouse there. Preliminary indications are that

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

he may be doing that again in Toronto.

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

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

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

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

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

□ 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Craig Biggio and Vladimir Guerrero are both Hall of Famers.

2025 - After spending the entire decade being among the elites, the Jays crashed

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

and burned in '24 and sunk to the other end of the spectrum dropping 15 games

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

in the standings. They fell off a cliff on both sides scoring 75 less runs than '23

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

and giving up a whopping 102 more than in '23.

Toronto will mitigate a lot of the loss of offense with the huge acquistion of 28 year

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

old Orioles outfielder Anthony Santander who slugged 44 homers last season.

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

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

2025 Hitting:

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

Toronto went from a viable offensive team to a dud in '24. The main culprits were

Bo Bichette, 27, and George Springer, 35. Bichette was plagued by injuries the entire

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

season and never developed a rhythm. Springer is getting old. Also, at DH, Justin

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

Turner did not match his predessor, Brandon Belt's production.

Stripling and Cimber came up thru the organization.

Figure that the hitting will get a bit better this season. Both Vladimir Guerrero

and Bo Bichette are in their walk years and should be motivated to excel.

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

Santander now gives the Jays a murderers row in the middle of the lineup.

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

2B Andres Gimenez, 26, obtained from Cleveland is an upgrade, as well.

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

Rookie Orelvis Martinez, 23, is a promising young player who can play anywhere.

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

He should help.

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

2025 Pitching:

the league average.

The collapse of the pitching staff in '24 happened in the Jays bullpen.

Veteran starters Chris Bassitt, 36, Jose Berrios, 31, and Kevin Gausman, 34, did their jobs.

In '23 they were 39-29 3.47 In '24 they were 40-36 3.86. You can add Bowden Francis, 29,

to the group of solid starters in '24. You can say that the veteran three have begun to

backslide a bit as they are getting older. You can also say that part of that was due to lack

of bullpen support which exacerbated the bad times on the mound. The farm system

is down so it's hard to see where the help from the bullpen will be coming from in '25.

The Jays took a flier on Righty Max Scherzer, 40, in the offseason to complete the rotation.