Putting a wrap on the Berrios/Kikuchi mess

Reasons why the G2 move was always wrong

Please, let’s put this Blue Jays, Game 2, Jose Berrios controversy to rest, before it consumes us whole, while spoiling the entirety and focus of the 2023-24 off-season and what should be our enjoyment of the remaining playoffs. You can be a Blue Jays fan as well as a baseball fan. They are not exclusive.  

Here are some thoughts on coming to grips with the Wildcard blame, then let’s move on to critiquing the front office as the Jays build for ‘24. It can never become a re-build – it can’t afford to be -- with the aspect of the pending home plate and Level 100 renovations, given the attached inventory and responsibility of peddling memberships to a trio of new, corporate, below-deck clubs. Try and get rid of those tickets to friends and clients to watch a 75-win team in September. Not happening.   

The bottom line, and to put a wrap on this October disappointment, is that the offence may have been the primary ingredient that should have been leading to victory, in a perfect world, but Jays bats were not performing well enough to ever win the 13 games needed to go the distance in October. Unfortunately, when it came to the 2023 lineup, the sum of the parts was always far greater than the total result.

The turnaround never arrived. All the optimism of in-season cliches like “we know what these guys can do”, “they have a track record”, “we still have time” and “water always finds its level and we’ll be alright”, all of those mantras failed to materialize.

Maybe the sample size was too small. Maybe game preparation was lacking. Maybe solutions can be found in the off-season, replacing four of the current lineup spots could be up for grabs, due to free-agency. There’s DH with Brandon Belt, one of the outfield spots with Kevin Kiermaier, second-base with Whit Merrifield and third-base with Matt Chapman.      

 But returning to the elephant in the room that has consumed the attention and sucked the love of the game out of the Jays’ fanbase (at least on social media), let’s examine the mistakes contributing to the loss to the Twins, without pointing fingers at either MGR John Schneider, or GM Ross Atkins.

The undeniable bottom line is that someone inside the Jays’ front office or within the clubhouse wanted to lead the charge and prove how smart the Jays are, off the field, rather than how good they are on it. How’d that work out? Here’s a brief summary of what went wrong on the way to the season-ending 2-0 game loss and two-games-to-none ALWC series elimination.

1-Righthander Jose Berrios was the G2 starter. The 29-year-old was amped up about returning to face his original organization in a ballpark in which he had 33 career wins since his rookie year. He had friends and family in attendance. The adrenaline was pumping. His stuff was outstanding. His body language was dominant and his pitch-count for three innings was 39, an average of 13 per frame. The reality is he likely would not have kept up that efficiency, but six superior innings was realistic. He was dealing and should have been allowed to determine the outcome of his own game.

But, with lefthander Yusei Kikuchi working up a lather in the pen in the third inning and following an 8-pitch walk to DH Royce Lewis, leading off the fourth, Schneider strode to the mound, signalled to the umpires and Berrios was done. So, why are we pointing at THAT moment as the key decision, even though it comes down to a failure of a Jays’ offence that ended up scoring just one run in 18 innings?

2-It was overthinking in an age ruled by analytics and readouts. Kikuchi was going to be a weapon in the ALWC bullpen. He would be available if the game went to extra innings, able to carry the “old rule extra innings” as long as was needed. It would be an advantage vs. the Twins. Once Berrios had gone three shutout innings, even if Schneider was going to the bullpen , it should have involved use of existing lefty relievers, either Genesis Cabrera or Tim Mayza to turn around Twins hitters. They have the experience inheriting runners. Think about it. There were eight Jays relievers available to cover the final six innings. Kikuchi could have easily been left in the back pocket, left available for Game 3, where the exact same win-or-go-home scenario would have existed for Chris Bassitt. Kikuchi’s body language, warming up and upon entering, was less than confidence-instilling. He struggled early with his command and results and was lucky to escape with just two runs allowed in the fourth. If he was going top be brought in, he needed to pitch at least three innings to make sense.

But, as Atkins pointed out in his “youa-culpa” press conference on Saturday, the goal at the time was to force Twins’ manager Rocco Baldelli to make a decision on his three lefthanded hitters, perhaps having them out of the game vs. Kikuchi so that in the 8^th-9^th innings, they would be gone for the Jays’ high-leverage righthanders.

Wait! Hang on! This is not the ’69 Twins with lefty swingers Rod Carew, Tony Oliva and Rich Reese. You’re saying the Jays dugout was making a strategic move after just three innings, in a 0-0 game, to nullify the impact of Max Kepler, Alex Kirilloff and Matt Wallner?

That might be considered overthinking. Rather than letting the game play itself out and be won by talent, Berrios had to leave. Kepler, Kirilloff & Wallner? That sounds more like a law firm of Buffalo injury attorneys than a Murderer’s Row that you desperately need to get out of a game by replacing one of your most reliable starters, who was armed with more incentive than anyone on the staff.

3-Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. History shows the Jays have lost seven playoff games in a row, dating back to Game 5 of the 2016 ALCS against Cleveland. Since then, six more L’s. The Jays were 0-2 vs. the Rays in the 2020 wildcard round; 0-2 vs. the M’s at Rogers Centre in the 2022 wildcard round and 0-2 vs. the Twins at Target Field this year.

Here’s the history lesson. Facing the Rays in St. Pete for a best-of-three wildcard round in ‘20, the Jays held back Cy Young nominee Hyun Jin Ryu from Game 1 for a Game 2 matchup with Tyler Glasnow. In the wildcard G1 series opener, in what should have served as a preview of this year’s Game 2 debacle in Minneapolis, starter Matt Shoemaker tossed three shutout innings on an efficient 35 pitches locked in a 0-0 battle with Blake Snell. He was replaced by lefthanded starter, Robbie Ray in the fourth. The decision was questioned post-game by media and fans. Sound familiar?

At that point three years ago, it was then-manager Charlie Montoyo who took Shoemaker out in favour of, a pre-Cy Young, Robbie Ray. In the fourth, Ray allowed a leadoff triple to Randy Arozarena followed by a wild-pitch to give the Rays the 1-0 lead. Ray worked a solid three innings with just that one run allowed, but was then removed to start the seventh with three righthanders due up.

Righty A.J. Cole, in the seventh, following a two-out error by Bo Bichette, gave up a two-run bomb to Manuel Margot and the Rays won 3-1, moving the Jays with backs to the wall. That’s almost a repeat of this history. Should be noted that current manager John Schneider in 2020 was listed simply as “major-league coach” and had no say in that similar decision.  Does that become a clue to who made the Berrios decision?

In any case, let’s agree to move on. There is another front office availability on Thursday with CEO Mark Shapiro. The damage has been done and the short-term vitriol brought to the fanbase by the Game 2 mismanagement will likely fade – at least with most fans. However, inside the clubhouse it is a different matter. There needs to be serious internal discussion to mend fences, among Atkins, Schneider, Berrios, Alek Manoah, and others. Never has the “Next Level” mantra been more necessary for the Jays to take seriously. They cannot afford to take a step back.