The Toronto Blue Jays came into Sunday’s day game as winners of their last four straight. More intriguingly though, they also had the best outfielder in all of baseball (measured by TAv) in Michael Saunders. Technically tied with Mike Trout, Saunders currently has a .344 TAv. In the month of June, he has an isolated […]
Author: Michael Bradburn
What’s Wrong with Brett Cecil?
To put it nicely, Brett Cecil has had a rough start to 2016. Coming off of an absolutely dominant second half in 2015, Toronto Blue Jays’ fans were probably expecting something better from their elite left-handed reliever. Instead, he’s been downright pedestrian. Through the second half of 2015, Cecil’s OPS-against was .326. This season, Cecil’s OBP-against […]
Recap: Blue Jays 4, Orioles 3; Unconventional Bullpen Usage Leads to Blue Jays Victory
Just as soon as the game started, it seemed as if Camden Yards was booing Jose Bautista. Frankly, I had no idea this grudge was still held by the Baltimore Orioles’ fans. For the uninitiated, the abridged version: Jose Bautista is good at baseball, and the Orioles keep giving up home runs to him and […]
Intro to BP Stats Using Blue Jays Players: True Average (TAv)
This Toronto Blue Jays based site for Baseball Propsectus is still in its infancy. While the articles here have shown a distinct professionalism and belonging, we’re still a rookie in the BP Family. We’re a bit like Trevor Story; showing that we belong here in a small sample, but really striving for sustained excellence and […]
Recap: Blue Jays 3, Red Sox 0; Marco Estrada Is Still Good
At the conclusion of yesterday’s game, R.A. Dickey described the outcome as a “confluence of a lot of weird things.” So goes pitching with a knuckleball – a pitch Dickey affectionately refers to as a “capricious animal.” The Boston Red Sox sent their own knuckleballer to the mound today in Steven Wright to face off […]
How to Beat PECOTA With the Blue Jays
This season, Baseball Prospectus’ editor-in-chief, Sam Miller, will be curating an entertaining game called Beat PECOTA. If the idea doesn’t already appear self evident, allow me to explain. For the completely uninitiated, PECOTA is the projection system employed by Baseball Prospectus. PECOTA forecasts many things about a player’s future performance, including BP’s in-house stats: True […]
Where You Can Validly Criticize Mark Shapiro: Diversity
There’s been an awful lot of focus on the Blue Jays new President of Baseball Operations over the offseason. If you don’t believe me, you can take a glance at this petition for his dismissal, which has amassed more than 1300 signatures. This thinking follows from the topic of my last essay – an interesting, somewhat unhappy quirk of […]
Where Canada Fits in America’s Pastime
When the city of Toronto completed work on the Luminous Veil that hems the Bloor Viaduct and held the event’s official lighting, the 2015 PanAm Games were finally ready to begin. In fact, it worked as a sort of unofficial opening ceremonies. Toronto’s mayor, John Tory – the one that came after the crack-smoking one – was, of […]