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	<title>Toronto &#187; Ryan Tepera</title>
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		<title>Ryan Tepera Developed an Elite Cutter and None of Us Noticed</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/07/18/ryan-tepera-developed-an-elite-cutter-and-none-of-us-noticed/</link>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 18 Jul 2017 10:30:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Kyle Matte]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ryan Tepera]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=12323</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ryan Tepera debuted with the Blue Jays on May 10, 2015 with little to no fanfare.  The bullpen was struggling through a transitional state, still reeling from the offseason departure of former closer Casey Janssen, the loss of of elite setup man Aaron Sanchez to the starting rotation, and the early season implosions of would-be [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Ryan Tepera debuted with the Blue Jays on May 10, 2015 with little to no fanfare.  The bullpen was struggling through a transitional state, still reeling from the offseason departure of former closer Casey Janssen, the loss of of elite setup man Aaron Sanchez to the starting rotation, and the early season implosions of would-be stoppers Brett Cecil and Miguel Castro. It was an entirely non-descript roster move in which Chad Jenkins seemingly made his seventy-eighth trip down the QEW. While Tepera had a 0.57 ERA with Triple-A Buffalo, that he’d pitched 15.2 innings over 8 relief appearances was likely the more sought-after quality as manager John Gibbons looked to add some length and flexibility to help out his staff.</p>
<p>Tepera would be optioned and recalled two more times that season, and by the end of the year the right hander held a fantastic 3.27 ERA across 32 relief appearances. That mark was viewed with heavy skepticism by most: he had excellent control (1.64 BB/9), but Tepera showed little ability to strike out batters (6.00 K/9) or keep the ball in the stadium (2.18 HR/9).</p>
<p>His 2016 season was even more bizarre. He significantly improved his overall strikeout (8.84 K/9) and home run (0.49 HR/9) rates, while appearing to take something of a step back with his control (3.93 BB/9). Tepera allowed just six earned runs over his 20 appearances, good for a 2.95 ERA, yet despite evolving into a legitimate major league quality reliever, he was optioned and subsequently recalled <em>seven times</em>. Remarkably, he managed to stay on the Blue Jays roster for two-plus consecutive weeks on only two of those seven assignments: August 10th to 23rd, and September 2nd through the end of the season.</p>
<p>Maybe it’s because we were never exposed to him long enough to get a feel for what he was doing, but at some point between the 2015 and 2016 seasons, Ryan Tepera made a conscious decision to significantly adjust his repertoire to better suit his new role. Tepera began his professional career in the rotation like most relievers, and featured a five pitch mix – all of which he threw more than eight percent of the time during his 2015 debut season. That number fell to four in 2016, with his changeup being discarded entirely. Now at the All Star break in 2017, having almost completely phased out his slider, his pitch count has settled into something of an unusual triumvirate: four seam fastball, sinker, and cutter.</p>
<p>In an effort to counter the limitations of having such a narrow velocity band (of roughly 88 to 98 miles per hour), Tepera has made adjustments to each of those three remaining pitches to better differentiate them at the plate. He’s getting more arm-side run on his four seam and sinker while maintaining the glove-side movement on his cutter, further expanding the horizontal movement differential. Tepera has also reduced the vertical sink on the four seam and sinker, and perhaps most importantly of all, added about two inches of extra vertical drop to his cutter, expanding the vertical dimension as well. In 2017, it has the seventh most sink among relievers with 50 or more cutters thrown, and he’s about a half inch behind the guy with the second-most sink. The emerging separation of the cutter from the other two fastballs can be observed on the GIF below.</p>
<p><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/07/Tepera-Movement-GIF1.gif"><img class="alignnone wp-image-12399" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/07/Tepera-Movement-GIF1.gif" alt="Tepera Movement GIF" width="600" height="500" /></a></p>
<p>The progression Tepera has made with his cutter, developing it into a legitimate weapon, is nothing short of stunning. With some numbers from <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/pitchfx.aspx?playerid=10291&amp;position=P">FanGraphs</a>, as the table below demonstrates, he’s throwing it more than ever but has simply decided to stop throwing it inside the strikezone. Opposing batters, meanwhile, haven’t made any adaptations whatsoever. They’re continuing to swing at practically the same rate as before, but are making less contact while chasing worse pitches. The whiff per swing metrics are among left- and right-handed relievers who threw 50 or more cutters in the given year, using the <a href="http://www.baseballprospectus.com/pitchfx/leaderboards/index.php?hand=&amp;reportType=pfx&amp;prp=RP&amp;month=&amp;year=2017&amp;pitch=FC&amp;ds=ws&amp;lim=50">Baseball Prospectus Leaderboard</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/07/Tepera-Cutter-Table.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-12325" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/07/Tepera-Cutter-Table.png" alt="Tepera Cutter Table" width="541" height="140" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: left">After it was nothing short of terrible in 2015, Tepera has thrown one of the best cutters in baseball over the past year and a half. The one reliever with a better whiff rate in 2016 was Enny Romero (45.10 percent), while in 2017, it’s Dominic Leone (45.31 percent), George Kontos (39.02 percent), Sam Dyson (39.02 percent), and Roberto Osuna (37.84 percent). You have to wonder if the Blue Jays are on to something with these fastball/slider relievers quietly becoming fastball/cutter relievers, but that’s a story deserving of its own spotlight another day.</p>
<p>It’s maybe time to reconsider the idea that, in moving from a walk rate of 4.7 percent in 2015 to 9.4 and 10.3 percent in 2016 and 2017, respectively, Ryan Tepera actually lost his control or command. The cutter has been his most used pitch in both of the last two seasons, and as the table clearly revealed, he has intentionally chosen to stop throwing it for strikes. The trickledown effect, of course, would be extra walks as not <em>everyone </em>is going to chase. The GIF below shows his <a href="https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/statcast_search?hfPT=FC%7C&amp;hfAB=&amp;hfBBT=&amp;hfPR=&amp;hfZ=&amp;stadium=&amp;hfBBL=&amp;hfNewZones=&amp;hfGT=R%7C&amp;hfC=&amp;hfSea=2017%7C&amp;hfSit=&amp;player_type=pitcher&amp;hfOuts=&amp;opponent=&amp;pitcher_throws=&amp;batter_stands=&amp;hfSA=&amp;game_date_gt=&amp;game_date_lt=&amp;player_lookup%5B%5D=572193&amp;team=&amp;position=&amp;hfRO=&amp;home_road=&amp;hfFlag=&amp;metric_1=&amp;hfInn=&amp;min_pitches=0&amp;min_results=0&amp;group_by=name&amp;sort_col=pitches&amp;player_event_sort=h_launch_speed&amp;sort_order=desc&amp;min_abs=0#results">Baseball Savant-generated heat maps</a> for his cutter over the three seasons. The heat map includes both right- and left-handed batters. Against the former, the focal point has moved from middle-away, to low-and-away, to down-and-away off the plate altogether. Against lefties, Tepera is pounding his cutter down-and-inside more than ever.</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/07/Tepera-Location-GIF.gif"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-12326" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/07/Tepera-Location-GIF.gif" alt="Tepera Location GIF" width="528" height="509" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: left">It’s been a bit of a strange ride for the bullpen this season. Roberto Osuna has been his usual damn fine self, but Jason Grilli imploded and now finds himself playing for the Triple-A Texas Rangers. Joe Smith has been far better than even the most optimistic of us could have predicted, but his free agent comrade J.P. Howell was a disaster and a half over his nine innings of work before a case of left-arm shittiness forced him to the disabled list. These factors, along with Joe Biagini’s trip to the rotation in Aaron Sanchez and J.A. Happ’s absences, have given guys like Ryan Tepera, Danny Barnes, and Dominic Leone opportunities they likely wouldn’t have received otherwise. They’ve each capitalized, and if Tepera can continue getting batters to chase his cutter in a way that has since left Kenley Jansen in the dust, he might keep seeing these high leverage appearances even after Smith returns in the coming days.</p>
<p style="text-align: left"><em>Lead Photo: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports </em></p>
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		<title>Mid Season Workloads &#8211; Fatigue Units for the Toronto Blue Jays</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/07/15/mid-season-workloads-fatigue-units-for-the-toronto-blue-jays/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/07/15/mid-season-workloads-fatigue-units-for-the-toronto-blue-jays/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 15 Jul 2017 10:00:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Sonne]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fatigue Units]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ryan Tepera]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Workload]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=12354</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Half way through this season, there are many reasons to say FU. Some of them come from the Jays starters giving up another crooked number in the first inning. Some of them come from early season reliever giving up home runs to the stupid Orioles. Others come from the fact that our resident list making [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Half way through this season, there are many reasons to say FU. Some of them come from the Jays starters giving up another crooked number in the first inning. Some of them come from early season reliever giving up home runs to the stupid Orioles. Others come from the fact that our resident list making expert Nick Dika went for pizza and forgot to invite me to come along. However, I would like to talk a bit about a different FU &#8211; Fatigue Units, and how Blue Jay Pitcher workloads look at the midway point of the season.</p>
<p>Earlier this season, I wrote that I<a title="There’s No Need to Worry About Joe Biagini’s Workload" href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/06/16/are-we-asking-for-a-4th-wish-pitching-workloads-and-joe-biagini/" target="_blank"> wasn&#8217;t concerned about Joe Biagini&#8217;s workload</a>, despite him getting close to his career high in Major League Innings. Joe thanked me for this by giving up seven in the first that day, and Twitter well actually&#8217;d me to death. Turns out, Joe maybe just was having a rough month &#8211; and if you look at <a title="The STUFF report – Vol. 2, Issue 5 – All Star Break Edition" href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/07/12/the-stuff-report-vol-2-issue-5-all-star-break-edition/" target="_blank">the Stuff report</a>, there&#8217;s reason to think Joe will be back to his old ways in no time. The point of evaluating fatigue units is to examine how hard a pitcher is working with a bit more insight into the physiological processes occurring in the body as a result of high velocity pitches, back to back appearances, and high pitch count innings &#8211; not just total innings pitched or round numbers (like a 100 pitch count). If you&#8217;d like to get a bit more information into what Fatigue Units are &#8211; <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/an-introduction-to-fatigue-units-a-new-method-for-evaluating-workloads/" target="_blank">take a look here</a>.</p>
<p>Ok, now that you&#8217;ve done your homework, let&#8217;s move forward.</p>
<h2>Top 10 Pitchers by Workload</h2>
<p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/07/Top-1-Fatigue-Units.png"><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-12355" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/07/Top-1-Fatigue-Units-1024x620.png" alt="Top 1 Fatigue Units" width="650" /></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Can you imagine a world where Ryan Tepera, Dominic Leone, and Danny Barnes did not exist? You think things are bad now? Launch the Blue Jays playoff chances in a rocket, have it go to Mars, and then have them get out and explode like Arnold&#8217;s nemesis did in Total Recall.</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/07/165643.gif"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-12356" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/07/165643.gif" alt="165643" width="320" height="172" /></a></p>
<p>Things would be SO much worse without these three workhorses.</p>
<p>Marcus Stroman shows up as the first starter in the top 10. This is because of his exceptional pitch efficiency; Stroman averages a mere 15.3 pitches per inning &#8211; only 15% of all Major League Pitchers can say they average fewer than him (minimum 10 IP). He sits 16th in total innings pitched, but 29th in total pitches thrown. This my friends, is how you work deep into ball games.</p>
<p>Roberto Osuna is likely one of the pitchers on this list that will finish in the top three by season&#8217;s end. Roberto has missed some time dealing with a neck issue out of spring training, and more recently his anxiety issues. With how he is pitching now, expect to see a lot more back to back to back appearances, and way more work for Osuna in the second half.</p>
<h2>Ranking the Staff</h2>
<table class="tableizer-table">
<thead>
<tr class="tableizer-firstrow">
<th>Name</th>
<th>Fatigue Units</th>
<th>Pitches</th>
<th>Innings Pitched</th>
<th>Pitches / Inning</th>
<th>&gt; 4 Days Rest</th>
<th>2-4 Days Rest</th>
<th>1 Day Rest</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Ryan Tepera</td>
<td>10.49</td>
<td>753</td>
<td>45.1</td>
<td>6.7</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>28</td>
<td>8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Dominic Leone</td>
<td>10.49</td>
<td>625</td>
<td>39.2</td>
<td>5.6</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>25</td>
<td>6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Joe Biagini</td>
<td>9.38</td>
<td>1185</td>
<td>75</td>
<td>10.5</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Danny Barnes</td>
<td>9.38</td>
<td>636</td>
<td>39</td>
<td>5.7</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>24</td>
<td>5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Marcus Stroman</td>
<td>9.37</td>
<td>1723</td>
<td>112.1</td>
<td>15.3</td>
<td>18</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Marco Estrada</td>
<td>8.62</td>
<td>1788</td>
<td>101</td>
<td>15.9</td>
<td>18</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Roberto Osuna</td>
<td>7.68</td>
<td>487</td>
<td>35</td>
<td>4.3</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>24</td>
<td>10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Aaron Loup</td>
<td>7.64</td>
<td>543</td>
<td>31.1</td>
<td>4.8</td>
<td>4</td>
<td>30</td>
<td>6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Joe Smith</td>
<td>7.00</td>
<td>474</td>
<td>31.2</td>
<td>4.2</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>23</td>
<td>9</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Francisco Liriano</td>
<td>6.17</td>
<td>1214</td>
<td>68</td>
<td>10.8</td>
<td>14</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>J.A. Happ</td>
<td>5.83</td>
<td>1034</td>
<td>61</td>
<td>9.2</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Jason Grilli</td>
<td>4.94</td>
<td>458</td>
<td>22.2</td>
<td>4.1</td>
<td>4</td>
<td>19</td>
<td>3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Jeff Beliveau</td>
<td>4.29</td>
<td>239</td>
<td>14.1</td>
<td>2.1</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>8</td>
<td>4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mike Bolsinger</td>
<td>3.49</td>
<td>560</td>
<td>31.2</td>
<td>5.0</td>
<td>6</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Aaron Sanchez</td>
<td>2.14</td>
<td>433</td>
<td>26</td>
<td>3.9</td>
<td>6</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Casey Lawrence</td>
<td>1.94</td>
<td>504</td>
<td>30.2</td>
<td>4.5</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>J.P. Howell</td>
<td>1.64</td>
<td>163</td>
<td>8.2</td>
<td>1.5</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>6</td>
<td>2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Leonel Campos</td>
<td>1.22</td>
<td>122</td>
<td>8.2</td>
<td>1.1</td>
<td>4</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mat Latos</td>
<td>1.20</td>
<td>262</td>
<td>15</td>
<td>2.3</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Lucas Harrell</td>
<td>0.49</td>
<td>94</td>
<td>4.2</td>
<td>0.8</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Glenn Sparkman</td>
<td>0.38</td>
<td>55</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>0.5</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Cesar Valdez</td>
<td>0.36</td>
<td>238</td>
<td>13.2</td>
<td>2.1</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Chris Smith</td>
<td>0.09</td>
<td>13</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>0.1</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Matt Dermody</td>
<td>0.00</td>
<td>16</td>
<td>0.1</td>
<td>0.1</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/mid-season-pitcher-workloads/#more-99252"><br />
I recently wrote some unflattering words about the Jays rotation over at RotoGraphs</a> &#8211; they rank 27th in the league in terms of Fatigue Units for their Starters. That&#8217;s because this rotation spends a lot of time bringing the bullpen to life in the fourth inning &#8211; and when you&#8217;re getting shelled that early, the bullpen is going to shoulder a lot of the workload. On the flip side, the Jays rank sixth in workload for their bullpen. They are really being put through the ringer. One thing that is a feather in Gibby&#8217;s cap however, is that while the Jays relievers are high in total workload, they have done so by having pitchers throw on back to back days 58 times, or, ninth most in the entire league. Gibby has had to go to his bullpen a lot, but he&#8217;s done a great job in reducing the strain on his pitchers.</p>
<p>So &#8211; the Starters are fresh for the second half &#8211; the key cogs in the bullpen have a lot left in the tank. Let&#8217;s go win some games and have another fun October!</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo © Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>Ryan Tepera Has Been Good for Longer Than You Realize</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/05/31/ryan-tepera-has-been-good-for-longer-than-you-realize/</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 31 May 2017 11:36:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Dave Church]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ryan Tepera]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=11210</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Coming into this season, the Blue Jays had some openings in their bullpen. This was continuing in a philosophy the team has been following for a few years in not spending money on relievers. Picking up Joe Smith and J.P. Howell on the cheap filled a couple of open spots, but there were still questions as [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Coming into this season, the Blue Jays had some openings in their bullpen. This was continuing in a philosophy the team has been following for a few years in not spending money on relievers. Picking up Joe Smith and J.P. Howell on the cheap filled a couple of open spots, but there were still questions as to who would bridge the gap from the starters to Roberto Osuna.</p>
<p>Among the bullpen candidates was Ryan Tepera. At 29, he wasn&#8217;t young and didn&#8217;t really have a lot of potential to unlock. He&#8217;d gotten pretty familiar with the trip from Buffalo to Toronto over the past two seasons, though. He was in limbo: never quite good enough to stick, but useful enough that they could call him whenever an injury struck to fill the open seat in the relief core. Looking at his stuff, you could see why the team kept him around. A 95 mph fastball, a high 80s cutter, mixing in a sinker and a slider- that&#8217;s stuff you can appreciate in the bullpen. This is especially true with the acquisitions of Howell and Smith, guys who don&#8217;t throw overly fast. The Jays wanted some gas in front of Osuna and had someone that could conceivably provide it.</p>
<p>Tepera has had a very good season so far. With Howell and Jason Grilli struggling, and Joe Biagini moving to the rotation because of injuries, there have been more opportunities for a middle reliever to step up and Tepera has. Before allowing a run last night, he hadn&#8217;t allowed an opposing player to cross home plate since April 27th. it was sad to see it come to and end, but it&#8217;s a nice streak for a guy who hasn&#8217;t been quite good enough to stick with the big club so far.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s the surprise when you look at Tepera&#8217;s overall numbers: he actually has been solid for a while. His stellar 2017 ERA is only a little lower than it ended up in 2016. The biggest difference between last year&#8217;s number and this year&#8217;s (with the usual small sample size caveat attached) is a drop in his BABIP, suggesting a correction might be due at some point.</p>
<p>Last year (and early this season), Tepera had some high profile blowups. Some of that is the nature of being a reliever: your bad outings tend to get a bigger spotlight, especially when they directly lead to a loss. Most fans remember Tepera from his infamous May 11th outing against the Giants last season, where he walked in the winning run with the bases loaded in extra innings. Or maybe you remember his part in the May 27th loss this year against the Cardinals, allowing a leadoff triple to Kolten Wong, who was eventually brought home on a grand slam.</p>
<p>Tepera has made some changes in his pitch mix though, so let&#8217;s review those.</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/05/Brooksbaseball-Chart1.png"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-11213" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/05/Brooksbaseball-Chart1-1024x683.png" alt="Brooksbaseball-Chart" width="1024" height="683" /></a></p>
<p>Brooks Baseball has Tepera throwing more four-seamers and fewer sinkers in 2017. His strikeout rate has been steadily increasing from 2015, though again, we haven&#8217;t seen a full season of Tepera in the majors to get a good sample. His ground ball rate has gone down, which might be something to keep an eye on &#8211; if his home run rate (0.3 HR/9) goes up, he may want to reverse that trend a little.</p>
<p>But this is less to praise Tepera (deservedly) for any perceived improvement this season and more to say he&#8217;s actually been fine for a while. Some improved batted ball luck has helped this season as much as some bad luck hurt him previously. He&#8217;s not an elite reliever by any stretch, but the Jays only needed good enough, and Ryan Tepera has been that. The team being forced to use him in high leverage spots has worked out as well as they could have hoped, but maybe he should have had that chance before. Between his high-profile losses and bouncing between the big club and AAA, it&#8217;s possible that the Jays have been missing a pretty solid bullpen piece laying right in their midst. In a season that has had a lot go wrong, Tepera&#8217;s solid middle relief getting some airtime has been a pleasant surprise.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo © Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>The Blue Jays Are Gaining Confidence in their Middle Relievers</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/05/29/the-blue-jays-are-gaining-confidence-in-their-middle-relievers/</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 29 May 2017 10:52:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Passador]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aaron Loup]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Danny Barnes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ryan Tepera]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=11202</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Most of the conversation that’s surrounded the Blue Jays to this point has been about all the things that have gone wrong. The high profile injuries, the lackluster depth among starting pitchers, the lackluster depth at catcher, the poor start that’s rendered the rest of the season an uphill climb, overall offensive woes and so [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Most of the conversation that’s surrounded the Blue Jays to this point has been about all the things that have gone wrong. The high profile injuries, the lackluster depth among starting pitchers, the lackluster depth at catcher, the poor start that’s rendered the rest of the season an uphill climb, overall offensive woes and so on and so forth. That’s not to say that those stories have been unfair – this season has been slow to get off the ground and any playoff hopes are counting on a nice little run before the calendar turns to July. But in all of that there have been a handful of positives including the turnarounds of Kevin Pillar and Justin Smoak and the ascent of Joe Biagini.</p>
<p>One of the best untold stories of the year, however, has been the reformation of the Toronto bullpen, led by three homegrown talents that have exceeded all expectations to this point. At one point or another, all three have earned their way into higher leverage work, making their ways up from the bullpen’s less glamorous roles.</p>
<h3>Danny Barnes</h3>
<p>Back in 2010, the Jays selected Danny Barnes out of Princeton University in the 35<sup>th</sup> round of the draft. Barnes, having only made three starts since being drafted, has always boasted strong strikeout numbers working in relief, never posting a K/9 below 9.0 in any stop during his time in the organization. He has also shown excellent command – among stints with more than 10 innings pitched, last season’s 3.29 BB/9 in an abbreviated stay with the big club represents his highest mark since the 6.75 he posted back in A-ball in 2010. As for this season, Barnes made the most of his call-up and appears to have asserted himself as a viable middle reliever. He owns a 2.33 ERA and 1.03 WHIP with 21 strikeouts in 19.1 innings so far this year.</p>
<h3>Ryan Tepera</h3>
<p>In the 19<sup>th</sup> round of the 2009 draft, Toronto selected Ryan Tepera out of Sam Houston State. Unlike Barnes, Tepera was a converted starter and only moved to full time relief in AAA. While he’s posted solid strikeout numbers in the majors (7.9 K/9), he’s been far more of a ground ball pitcher throughout his career, generating grounders 46.5 percent of the time. Once used as a mop up man, Tepera has been absolutely terrific this season and leads the team in bullpen innings with 29.1 while delivering a sterling 2.76 ERA and 0.89 WHIP.</p>
<h3>Aaron Loup</h3>
<p>In that same year, Tulane’s Aaron Loup was chosen in the ninth round and made his Major League debut in 2012, appearing in 33 games. He was the owner of three very strong MLB seasons before completely imploding in 2015 and 2016. He saw some troubling changes, particularly in his HR/FB numbers which jumped from zero, 10.6 and 8.5 in his first three years up to 20.7 and 18.2 in the following seasons. As for balls that stayed in the yard, Loup had some more tough times with BABIP’s of .339 and .342 in his down years – well above the .299 mark that was his previous career-high. Fortunately for the Jays, Loup has settled down quite a bit this season. While he still might get the collar tug going in the stands from time to time, that’s more on his reputation than anything he’s put forth on the mound this year. He owns a 2.37 ERA in 19 innings, having allowed an earned run in just 3 of his 22 appearances and more than one earned run only once.</p>
<p>Every clean outing reinforces the notion that someone deserves high leverage innings, so I charted the Average Leverage Index (aLI) of each reliever’s appearance to see if their workloads have changed in terms of toughness or importance – Leverage Index is simply a measure of importance based on score, inning and baserunner for a given play; a numerical way to look at vital situations in a game. Below is a five game rolling average of aLI so we can get a feel for the changes in John Gibbons’ bullpen pecking order while smoothing over some of those &#8220;just to get some work&#8221; outings.</p>
<p>I’ve excluded Dominic Leone, Joe Smith and Roberto Osuna from this exercise because their roles have been fairly stable throughout the year. On the other hand, I decided to include Jason Grilli, who was relegated to low-leverage innings to try and work through his issues.</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><img class="alignnone wp-image-11206" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/05/BP_aLI5G_2.jpg" alt="BP_aLI5G_2" width="500" height="305" /></p>
<p>With a few blips, Barnes, Tepera and Loup are all on an upward trend and receiving more important innings than at the beginning of the year. Tepera&#8217;s spike was thanks to an 11th inning save with a 4.72 aLI while his swoon was caused by a .01 aLI inning in the final inning of a 6-0 loss. Loup’s usage as a lefty specialist (despite his strong numbers against righties so far) means that he’s often called upon to face a specific batter regardless of game state but it looks as though Gibbons is saving his appearance for more critical situations when possible. Yes, it’s a small sample to this point in the year, but we can still get a sense of the changes in deployment.</p>
<p>As to be expected given the general trend, all three have been handed “High Leverage” (using the Baseball Reference definition of aLI ≥ 1.5) situations more frequently as the season has gone on. It’s clearly evident with Barnes, who has really risen through the ranks after being used as an innings eater or last resort. While rest patterns and the need for regular work sometimes force players into low leverage (aLI ≤ 0.7) spots, the trio is soaking up &#8220;easy&#8221; innings less often. Here’s the aLI of each appearance by the three pitchers in question plus Grilli broken down into High Leverage, Medium Leverage and low Leverage situations:</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/05/LeverageBreakdown.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-11203" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/05/LeverageBreakdown.jpg" alt="LeverageBreakdown" width="494" height="132" /></a></p>
<p>Here’s the breakdown in just May:</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/05/LeverageBreakdown_May.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-11204" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/05/LeverageBreakdown_May.jpg" alt="LeverageBreakdown_May" width="492" height="131" /></a></p>
<p>Again, it’s shown pretty clearly here that Barnes, Tepera and Loup are all working increasingly valuable situations in games, with a few coming at the expense of the bullpen’s resident veteran. With the Blue Jays sitting third in the majors in terms of bullpen innings pitched, these contributions have been incredibly important in keeping the season afloat.</p>
<p>So all three are rising to the top of the middle relief heap, and deservedly so. Last season the team relied on a pair of trades to revamp their bullpen that worked out wonderfully. That was always unlikely to play out again, so any holes in the dam would have to be plugged by improvement from within. Toronto has found three cheap, effective options to manage the middle innings. While much hasn’t gone right in 2017, this is one area where the Jays should be feeling fortunate.</p>
<p><em>*All numbers are accurate as of Saturday, May 27th</em></p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: © Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Chris Coglan Arrives During Blue Jays Eleventh Hour Shuffle</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/04/01/chris-coglan-arrives-during-blue-jays-eleventh-hour-shuffle/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sat, 01 Apr 2017 23:00:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Tammy Rainey]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chris Coghlan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Melvin Upton Jr.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mike Bolsinger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Roster Changes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ryan Goins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ryan Tepera]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=9989</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Your Toronto Blue Jays made two moves of significance today, with at least one more to go before Sunday&#8217;s 12 p.m. roster deadline. The first and most intriguing move came when the team announced they had signed OF/IF Chris Coghlan to a minor league contract. Blue Jays have agreed to terms with Chris Coghlan on [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Your Toronto Blue Jays made two moves of significance today, with at least one more to go before Sunday&#8217;s 12 p.m. roster deadline.</p>
<p>The first and most intriguing move came when the team announced they had signed OF/IF Chris Coghlan to a minor league contract.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Blue Jays have agreed to terms with Chris Coghlan on a minor league deal.</p>
<p>&mdash; Arden Zwelling (@ArdenZwelling) <a href="https://twitter.com/ArdenZwelling/status/848207244743372800">April 1, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p>Coghlan, who was dropped this week by the Phillies will start out in Buffalo. While we don&#8217;t know the specifics of the deal, you would be safe in assuming that the deal has opt-out provisions concerning how long they can keep him there. But that&#8217;s fine as there&#8217;s no reason to think they will want him there very long anyway.</p>
<p>Coghlan was Rookie of the Year for the Florida Marlins back in 2009 (edging out a certain pitcher you may have heard of by the name of JA Happ) and played most of the last three seasons with the Chicago Cubs. The &#8220;most of&#8221; comes from the fact that he was traded to the Oakland A&#8217;s at the beginning of Spring Training in 2016 and played 51 disastrous games for the A&#8217;s before being dealt back to the Cubs in June. The less said about his time in Oakland, the better, but his career in Chicago deserves a closer look.</p>
<p>In 321 games for the Cubs, the left handed hitter accumulated over a thousand plate appearances and slashed .264/.350/.441/.791, good for a 118 OPS+ and/or a 119 wRC+. And he splits even better than that vs. RHP. In 2014-15 he posted an .832 OPS against right handed pitching. In addition, he brings excellent defensive versatility. While he has primarily played LF, in his career he has over 200 defensive innings in right, in center, at second base and at third.  You can stop wishcasting on Angel Pagan now. The only intrigue here is who will eventually lose their job to Coghlan because my guess is that this is the guy who&#8217;ll play more innings in LF for the Jays this year than anyone currently in the organization.</p>
<p>In other news worth noticing, the Jays put Mike Bolsinger on waivers today after beating the Pittsburgh Pirates in Montreal. The team would love for him to clear and join the Buffalo rotation, but when given the chance at a final audition in the Montreal series, Ryan Tepera answer the bell working a shutout inning, while Bolsinger spit the bit and got knocked around today.The obvious conclusion is that Tepera has made the team.</p>
<p>That leaves only one question remaining &#8211; the 25th man competition that has been framed for several days now as a contest between Melvin Upton Jr. and Ryan Goins. On the surface, the choice would seem obvious as Upton&#8217;s offensive potential (however modest) particularly against lefties, well exceeds the value offered by Goins well regarded defense and near non-existent offense (as analyzed by <a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/03/27/what-would-it-cost-to-have-ryan-goins-glove-on-the-roster/">Greg Wisniewski on Monday</a>). There may be more wheels turning than we know about. Coghlan certainly changes the equation, everyone is still puzzled at the attachment to Carerra, and the odds are strong that Ross Atkins is furiously working the phone looking for the best trade return he can score. Perhaps among not only Upton/Goins but also Carrera. It may well be that the choice comes down to whether there is something of value to be had in trade.</p>
<p>Answers to these question won&#8217;t be long in coming. (not unlike the regular season! &#8211; ed.)</p>
<p>Lead Image &#8211; <a class="ng-binding ng-scope" title="Kim Klement" href="http://www.usatsimg.com/searchByPhotographerId/Kim%20Klement">© Kim Klement</a> USA Today| <span class="ng-binding ng-scope">2017 Mar 13</span></p>
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		<title>How Well Has Toronto Been Using the 25th Roster Spot?</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/06/24/how-well-has-toronto-been-using-the-25th-roster-spot/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jun 2016 11:53:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Passador]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aaron Loup]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chad Girodo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dustin Antolin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jimmy Paredes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pat Venditte]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ryan Tepera]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Scott Diamond]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=4078</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Toronto’s recent series against the Philadelphia Phillies saw the appearance of a familiar face: Jimmy Paredes. The Blue Jays claimed Paredes off waivers from the Orioles on May 16, only to designate him for assignment on the 30th and ship him to Philadelphia on June 1st. After notching a .886 OPS in his 17 Blue [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Toronto’s recent series against the Philadelphia Phillies saw the appearance of a familiar face: Jimmy Paredes. The Blue Jays claimed Paredes off waivers from the Orioles on May 16, only to designate him for assignment on the 30<sup>th</sup> and ship him to Philadelphia on June 1<sup>st</sup>. After notching a .886 OPS in his 17 Blue Jay at bats, Paredes was traded for cash considerations. When Paredes stepped to the plate, Pat Tabler lamented that the team had to let him go and referred to the notion that the Jays ‘just didn’t have room for him.’</p>
<p>With apologies to Mr. Tabler, that’s a statement that didn’t quite sit well at first. It seems like the Blue Jays often have a frustratingly short bench and a bullpen that has one guy who never gets enough work in. While that makes for simple math, it’s something I wanted to investigate. Who have the Jays been using in their final roster spot and were their performances more valuable than Paredes’ admittedly short stint of production?</p>
<p>On the offensive side of the equation Paredes seemed to fill a need for the Jays, who could probably use a bench bat considering the current options, regardless of how adequately some of those players have performed so far. With a usual bench of Josh Thole, Ryan Goins, Darwin Barney, and Ezequiel Carrera (now Darrell Ceciliani), pinch hitting late in games seems futile beyond the instances where Edwin Encarnacion starts at first base and pushes Justin Smoak to the bench.</p>
<p>A jack of all trades and a master of none, Paredes can play around the infield as well as in the outfield but is generally a subpar defender no matter where you put him. His defensive deficiencies definitely didn’t help his case, but the team can probably afford to carry a bad defender who will be limited to mostly pinch hitting duties. If you were to pinch hit for, say Darwin Barney, you could get Paredes an at bat and then insert Ryan Goins (or more likely Devon Travis, assuming full health) into the game defensively.</p>
<p>Since the team is insistent on carrying four middle infielders when at full health, we can assume that the final bench spot was sacrificed so the team could add another reliever to the mix. Looking at this season’s end-of-bench hitters (chronologically by call-up date) shows just three players who haven’t performed well in limited at bats, Paredes excepted:</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/25thHitters.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-4079 aligncenter" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/25thHitters.jpg" alt="25thHitters" width="718" height="154" /></a></p>
<p>It’s unfair to ask anyone to try and hit major league pitching right away, especially when they’re given less than one plate appearance for each day spent with the big club. Additionally, the recent AAA assignment of Andy Burns marked the first time this season that a position player was not sent down to bring up a pitcher, as the activated Troy Tulowitzki took Burns’ spot on the roster. It’s clear that the Jays view Dominguez and Burns as insurance policies more than anything and getting them at bats is not one of the team’s primary goals. While it’s nice to have guys who can step in in case of injury, the Blue Jays could attempt to maximize their bench output in the meantime by having a legitimate pinch hitting threat.</p>
<p>With that in mind it’s pretty obvious that the team likes to call on relievers more often than not. The Jays typically run a seven man bullpen but will occasionally carry eight relievers, much to the chagrin of some fans, myself obviously included. When the team brings up an eighth reliever, there is usually simple logic to follow that rationalizes the move. They could be trying to bring up additional arms to get their usual guys some extra rest. They could be calling up certain pitchers for matchup purposes; like if a lefty heavy lineup is on the horizon. And finally, if the bullpen’s current members aren’t up to snuff, they could simply be trying a new solution.</p>
<p>The strong performance of Toronto’s rotation points to conflicting notions about the rest idea. The starters are more often than not only leaving 6-9 outs for the bullpen to record, which is good for the collective bullpen but probably puts undue stress on the top relievers. While the Jays would like to ease the burden on their trusted arms, no single reliever should be too overworked. Given the general mediocrity (though thankfully upward trend) of most of the Blue Jay relievers, the final spot has also served as a revolving door for different pitchers to show that they can stick with the big club.</p>
<p>The list of names hasn’t been all that inspiring, but having an effective mop up guy could pay off later. Everyone would take one step up the ladder, so pitchers like Jesse Chavez and Gavin Floyd will handle fewer low leverage innings and are better rested for situations that call for quality pitchers. In essence, a quality 7<sup>th</sup> reliever takes away an inning that would otherwise be wasted on superior pitchers. Given Roberto Osuna’s nagging ailments this year, the team has to be aching for some extra depth to both save arms and elevate top performers. So how have those alternatives looked?</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/25thPitchers.jpg"><img class="  aligncenter wp-image-4080" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/25thPitchers.jpg" alt="25thPitchers" width="449" height="168" /></a></p>
<p>As you can see, the results have been underwhelming so far. Rather than look at the season as a whole, I broke down each reliever’s numbers by their specific stretch with the Blue Jays.</p>
<p><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/PitcherStints.jpg"><img class="  wp-image-4081 aligncenter" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/PitcherStints.jpg" alt="PitcherStints" width="817" height="295" /></a></p>
<p>On the whole, the last reliever on the roster is used in low leverage situations (by aLI), with the only exception being Ryan Tepera’s shrimp game in San Francisco. Even then, John Gibbons only called on Tepera because every other pitcher had been used aside from Roberto Osuna, who had pitched the previous two games. That low leverage use is ideal and accomplishes the goals outlined above concerning resting superior pitchers in less important situations, but it does raise the question of whether this rotating cast of characters is worth keeping over an extra bench bat considering they pitch so infrequently.</p>
<p>Aside from extended and ongoing stints by Chad Girodo and Aaron Loup’s 19 days on the roster, the bullpen call-ups might appear once per series. Tepera and Pat Venditte both had more than six days off at one point or another, and if the team really wants to give their high leverage guys an inning off every once in a while they certainly would be using these bottom bullpen players more often. So for the longer stints (we’ll deal with the one game guys in a moment), just how long do these pitchers get to show their stuff?</p>
<p>The average stint is just shy of 10 days, and shrinks to just over eight when we remove Girodo’s abnormally long outlier stint. If we also remove Aaron Loup’s run on the roster, operating under the assumption that he was expected to be a permanent member of the bullpen, it drops to just over seven days. These relievers spend about a week with the Jays and appear once or twice.</p>
<p>As for the pitchers who only made one appearance, they have all been used fairly ideally with the exception of Tepera’s necessary involvement in San Francisco:</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/1GamePitchers.jpg"><img class="  wp-image-4082 aligncenter" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/1GamePitchers.jpg" alt="1GamePitchers" width="636" height="395" /></a></p>
<p>Most of them took the mound in mop up duty during long stretches without an off day. If you want to give someone a chance to get work in, that’s the time to do it. For context, I looked at the amount of unique pitchers that Gibbons had called on over the previous two games. Two games was chosen as the cutoff simply because Gibbons often won’t use a pitcher on three consecutive nights. Aside from Tepera’s 13<sup>th</sup> inning outing, each other appearance came after five or six pitchers had seen action in the last two days. Beyond that, most of these damage control outings helped save a handful of more valuable pitchers from wasting innings in games that were all but over.</p>
<p>To sum it up, given the infrequent usage of the seventh man of the bullpen, there is almost never a reason to summon an eighth pitcher from Buffalo. That final spot would almost always be better spent on an extra bench bat. While having a player like Paredes around doesn’t guarantee John Gibbons would find him playing time, it seems like the last bullpen option has fewer opportunities to make an impact on the game. If anything, having both Barney and Goins on the roster makes having a pinch hitting specialist all the more palatable, especially late in games.</p>
<p>The team has actually done well to take a look at a few different pitchers this season in a Seventh Man role and while none have stuck so far, the Jays at least have an idea of what they’re working with. It might behoove the team to just give the spot to Loup, Girodo or Venditte and let them run with it in regular work, but there’s no harm in trying to get different pitchers acclimated to major league hitters in low leverage innings, especially earlier in the year. The negatives only truly arise when two spots are spent on players who appear infrequently at the expense of potential offensive upgrades. While the Blue Jays have tended to favor the safety net of a big bullpen, it might be time to think about the opportunity cost of doing so.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photos: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Artificial Turf Wars Ep. 11: A Minor (League) Detour</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/05/12/artificial-turf-wars-ep-11-a-minor-league-detour/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/05/12/artificial-turf-wars-ep-11-a-minor-league-detour/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 12 May 2016 10:15:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Artifical Turf Wars]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Podcast]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Artificial Turf Wars]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Buffalo Bisons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cliché of the Week]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lansing Lugnuts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Minor Leagues]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ryan Tepera]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Starting Pitching]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Troy Tulowitzki]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=2609</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The voices of the minor leagues make their appearance on Artificial Turf Wars, as Jesse Goldberg-Strassler of the Lansing Lugnuts and Ben Wagner of the Buffalo Bisons stop by to discuss Andy Burns, top prospects and life at various levels of the minors. Greg, Josh, and Chris also run through the recent stories surrounding the [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The voices of the minor leagues make their appearance on Artificial Turf Wars, as <a href="https://twitter.com/jgoldstrass" target="_blank">Jesse Goldberg-Strassler</a> of the Lansing Lugnuts and <a href="https://twitter.com/benwag247" target="_blank">Ben Wagner</a> of the Buffalo Bisons stop by to discuss Andy Burns, top prospects and life at various levels of the minors. Greg, Josh, and Chris also run through the recent stories surrounding the team including the excellent starting pitching, some issues with Troy Tulowitzki&#8217;s glove, hitting woes, Ryan Tepera&#8217;s brief return to the club, and the bizarre way managers handle bullpens in the ninth inning. Finally the guys answer a few listener questions, look at a bizarre &#8220;shift&#8221; from Buck Martinez, and tackle the cliché of major leaguers being former shortstops.</p>
<p>Information on Blue Jays Weekend in Buffalo (mentioned by Ben Wagner) <a href="http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20160428&amp;content_id=175085542&amp;fext=.jsp&amp;vkey=news_t422&amp;sid=t422" target="_blank">can be found here</a></p>
<p><strong>Podcast</strong>: <a class="powerpress_link_pinw" title="Play in New Window" href="http://s3.amazonaws.com/btr.shows/8/839/show_8839087_2016_05_12_04_03_55.mp3" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Play in new window</a> | <a class="powerpress_link_d" title="Download" href="http://s3.amazonaws.com/btr.shows/8/839/show_8839087_2016_05_12_04_03_55.mp3" rel="nofollow">Download</a></p>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/blue-jays-plus-podcast/id705699884?mt=2"><img class="alignnone wp-image-63" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/itunes1.png" alt="itunes" width="125" height="46" /></a></p>
<p>Follow the guys on twitter: <a title="@coolhead2010" href="https://twitter.com/coolhead2010" target="_blank">@coolhead2010</a>, <a title="@JoshuaHowsam" href="https://twitter.com/JoshuaHowsam" target="_blank">@JoshuaHowsam</a> and <a title="@CWSherwin" href="https://twitter.com/CWSherwin" target="_blank">@CWSherwin</a></p>
<p>Intro music is Slow Burn (<a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kevin_MacLeod/" rel="cc:attributionURL">Kevin MacLeod</a>) under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/" rel="license">CC BY 3.0</a>.</p>
<div><strong>Podcast Email</strong>-<a href="mailto:artificialturfwars@baseballprospectus.com" target="_blank">artificialturfwars@baseballprospectus.com</a> Please drop us a line if there is a guest you&#8217;d particularly like us to interview, to submit a question to <strong>Stump the Josh</strong>, or to simply give us feedback on the podcast. We&#8217;d love to hear from you!</div>
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