Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Newsletter Excerpt, February 18, 2020 -- "Hyun-Jin Ryu and the Blue Jays"

This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider. Joe Sheehan is a founding member of Baseball Prospectus and a contributor to Sports Illustrated and Baseball America. He has been writing about baseball for nearly 25 years.

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"I’m struck by how a relatively young team looks like it could be pretty bad defensively. Bo Bichette is a big downgrade from Freddy Galvis, who was here for three months in 2019. The outfield corners will be bad unless Anthony Alford somehow steals a job. Cavan Biggio had surprisingly good numbers in about half a season at second base; that the Jays also used him on three corners, though, is an indication that he’s not going to be an asset defensively at second. There aren’t many better options in the system, though, and besides, these Jays will be built around scoring runs, not preventing them. The three-sons top of the lineup is one of the better stories we have at a time we need all the good baseball stories we can get."