The Blue Jays and Yankees started a familiarity tour on Sunday.
They opened spring training to end February – a 6-4 Toronto win – and still have six more games in March before starting in April and in the Bronx regular season. Six of the first 12 games that count are Tor-NYY.
In all, 13 of the Yankees’ first 40 games – spring plus the regular season – are against the Blue Jays.
Then they will see each other a lot. And when they look across the field, they can really see each other a lot. Does this sound familiar to Yankees fans? Toronto has an ace and is betting on positive spin moves behind Hyun-jin Ryu. The Blue Jays have a long and powerful line, but it is openly right.
The Yankees’ bullpen designs are considerably better, which is why the Yankees are generally seen as the team to beat in AL East. The Rays are the defending champions not only of the division, but also of the champions of LA. The Red Sox won everything in 2018 and its manager Alex Cora is back after a one-year suspension in 2020. So where do the Blue Jays – AL’s eighth seed in last year’s expanded playoffs – fit in?
Let’s go back to that schedule. During the second week of June, the Yankees will face the Blue Jays 12 times in 68 games of the regular season, and not again until seven games in September, including three to close the season. These games are expected to be important for the Yankees. Are they going to Toronto? Some thoughts:
1. After signing a $ 80 million four-year pact, Ryu finished third for AL Cy Young in 2020. But this was a 12-game season. Ryu is excellent when shooting. Only Jacob deGrom (189) has a better ERA-plus than Ryu (172) from 2018-20 (minimum of 300 entries). But deGrom launched 157 more entries. Ryu qualified for the ERA title in just three of the eight seasons since he came from South Korea. Can he be an ace for six months and 28 years starting in 2021?
2. As with the Yankees’ rotation after Gerrit Cole, the Blue Jays are betting on talent instead of the predictability behind Ryu. Nate Pearson is among the best potential players of the great pitchers. But the shooter suffered an elbow injury last year and was limited to just 18 entries. How much can he give in 2021?
This Toronto moved to beginners with a history of poor quality retention material from Robbie Ray, hiring Tyler Chatwood and switching to Steven Matz. Ray gained muscle, returned to his old speech and drew praise for his command at the beginning of the camp. The Blue Jays believe that away from his hometown team, the Mets, Matz can find a peace that will allow his ability to flourish consistently.
3. Toronto’s batting prospects were ahead of the launch. Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – sons of MLB stars – are for the Blue Jays now what Greg Bird, Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez were for the Yankees half a decade ago.
The Blue Jays and Mets started off-season with teams ready to spend. No club has invested more in a free agency than Blue Jays ($ 186.25 million). Six years at $ 150 million went to George Springer. The Mets were a favorite of the Connecticut native. Will Mets regret not having been more aggressive in recruiting a player not only with talent, but with daily energy? Toronto imagines Springer and Marcus Semien (who are moving from short to second) lengthening their programming and removing some of the burden of being spokespeople and youth leaders.
4. Blue Jays will need to take advantage of domestic (plural) fields. The Jays did not play in Canada last year due to the pandemic and at least their first two homestands in 2021 will be in Dunedin, Florida. They don’t want to play outdoors in the Florida heat of the summer, so if the Jays can’t make it back to Toronto, they’ll go to Buffalo, where they played last season. It is possible, even if it happens, that the Jays may eventually still end up in Toronto.
There are many positive aspects that Jays derive from being the only MLB team based in Canada. But it is a frequent disadvantage in recruiting a free agent, in having to receive Canadian dollars, but paying American players and being nomads for the past two years.
5. What are the wildcards when Toronto tries to be at least a wildcard again? Guerrero Jr. says he has lost 42 pounds since he appeared overweight to resume spring training last July. This is unlikely to take you back to third base. But does physical improvement also mean an increase in maturity, and will this combination allow Guerrero (22 on March 16) to graduate as an elite bat?
Kirby Yates led the majors in WAR Relief (Fangraphs) in 2018-19, but was limited to six games (12.46 ERA) last year before needing chips removed from his elbow. A return to form would give Toronto a necessary anchor pen.
Toronto can use a farm system generally seen as the top five plus positional depth (with Springer in the center, only two can play daily on the outer court of Randall Grichuk, Lourdes Gurriel and Teoscar Hernandez) to add pitch between now and July 31st ?