The Dog Days of July
Exit Philosophy Season 2 Episode 26
The Blue Jays are clearly stuck in neutral in their quest to get back to .500 and, after that, the long-shot goal of being able to work their way into the wildcard race. But, at least they are getting a good look at the top position player prospects at Triple-A and who might possibly help them sell this team in 2025 and beyond. Should alarm bells be ringing for ownership when, on Canada Day, with over 39,000 tickets sold, which was the fifth highest attendance of the year, that there were so many empty seats? This “better things to do” apathy threatens to snowball as the season drifts into August and September. Even though there have been signs of life in the Blue Jays offence, recently, the once-very-deep bullpen has been struggling to cover the last three innings, holding a lead. Trade deadline questions? Is Bo Bichette the likeliest trade candidate? What about players on expiring contracts like Yusei Kikuchi, Danny Jansen, Yimi Garcia and others. All this and more with me and Scotty Mac. Enjoy.
Another excellent listen. A couple of things stood out to me.
- The empty seats make me think I was hasty in buying tickets for an Angels game in late August.
- I disagree with Scotty saying that if Bo (or Vlad) were traded that it would signify a catastrophic failure on the part of the front office. I think this era has been a failure in terms of playoff success for sure, but...some of Scotty's argument surely comes down to player performance, of which not everything can be controlled and determined by the team's coaching and development and front office - ultimately it's on the player, for whatever reasons.
- great comment about trading Kikuchi at the deadline - who would replace him in the rotation for the rest of the year?
- the Jim Jammer story needs to go in your book and 'Hornswaggled' needs to be in the title.
Keep up the great work and content.