The 2022 MLB season is nearing its end and the one thing that can be said about the Blue Jays this year is how inconsistent they have been. Pretty much every winning streak has been followed by a stretch of terrible baseball and there really is no explanation to why this is happening. Despite these peaks and valleys there have been a few stalwarts in this years version of the club and first and foremost Matt Chapman has been a wizard at third base.
Going into the season I knew he was a really good defender but he has exceeded all of my expectations. He has pretty much been a God at the hot corner and his play has definitely earned the team a few wins at least. Not only is he flashy as shown by his ridiculous behind the back double play starter against the Red Sox last week, but he is also extremely consistent at third which was lacking last year to say the least. His offence has also picked up considerably since the second half of the season and he should be close to his average numbers of 90 rbis and 30 home runs by the end of the season. That being said, his acquisition has been a positive one and I look forward to seeing him play for the next couple of seasons.
Vladdy has also resorted back to his usual self and had a very good second half of the season. His defence continues to be steady and offensively his numbers are very respectable and he should be close to 35 home runs and 100 rbis this season. Not exactly his jaw dropping 2021 season, but realistically I do not think anyone expected that to happen. He has also been his typical self and the life of the party which I believe to important during the ups and downs of a 162 game season.
Manoah and Gausman have also been very good. Manoah has become an all star and proven ace and Gausman has shown that last year was no fluke. Gausman has been a victim of a lot of bad luck and only has a 10-9 record. His 3.14 E.R.A is among the MLB leaders and that is what is most important to most people that follow baseball.
Manoah has been a revelation for the team and something to build the team around for years to come. He should garner some Cy Young consideration and only injuries will stop him from becoming one of the best pitchers in baseball. What I like most about Manoah is that like Vladdy he is having fun and plays baseball like it is meant to be, as a game.
He is always at the top step of the dug out cheering his team mates on and like Vladdy always has a smile on his face. His personality is infectious and he seems to be the type of guy that would go through a wall for anyone he cares about. The sky is the limit for Alek and he absolutely makes the rotation a threat despite the major holes that it has.
Romano and Stripling have also been very good and Romano especially has shown me the gusto and moxy it takes to be a dominant closer in the major leagues. I am probably selling Stripling short, but his role as a back end starter does not intrigue me all that much. This does not take away from the fact that without him filling that role, the team would most definitely be in a much worse spot in the standings.
Now for the not so good with this team. Bichette has not had a typical Bichette season. Like Vlad, last year was a career type season which he led the league in hits and was an all star player. This year has been worse, but I do not think he has been terrible. He has improved defensively with more shown confidence and dedication to position and I believe offensively the rest of baseball has figured out how to pitch to him and in the off season he will need to make the appropriate adjustments. I really think it is that simple with him. Anyone that follows baseball closely sees that he over swings a lot and goes for the fences when he should not, but that is what makes him successful, uncontrolled aggression. So, the focal point this off season for him should be to temper that aggressiveness and be a little bit more patient at the plate. Teo has also had an off year statistically, but that is more a result of him spending time on the shelf more than his in game performance.
Finally, time for the absolutely terrible. One word Kikuchi. There are no positives that can be said for how he has performed this year. Whatever wrong that could have gone with regards to Kikuchi, has gone wrong. As a matter of fact, things have been so bad for him this year that he has been moved to the bullpen and he is only used in blow out games which are few and far between in this years version of the team.
Going into the season I thought that the signing was a good one. Not overly costly and long, the contract seemed manageable, but now it is a blip moving forward. Even when Kikuchi has been good, he has not been great. He has only gone six innings three times out of twenty starts and his biggest problem has been his inability to give the team any sort of length. In fourteen of his twenty starts he pitched five innings or less which is almost laughable. Comparably, Berrios who has also had a bad year by his standards has gone five plus innings in seventeen of his twenty six starts, so at least he gives the team length, even when he is not on his A game.
I believe Berrios will figure things out, but Kikuchi is a major concern for me. First of all, is. he a starter or a bullpen piece? He has the swing and miss stuff to be an asset in the bullpen, but he has never had that sort of role in the big leagues. Plus are you going to be a bullpen arm 10 plus million moving forward?
Another player worth mentioning out of this years installment of the Blue Jays is Santiago Espinal. He has tailed off in the second half of the season, but was an all star and has been a solid contributor all year for the team. Moving forward he should be a valuable utility player that can play all over the infield and provide gold glove caliber defence and come up with a timely hit or two.
One final thought about the team and sort of confuses me is why management has gone out of their way to acquire extra out fielders. Zimmer's track record proves that he is a fringe player at the major league level and he that is exactly what he was as a Blue Jay. That being said, he was released by the team but for some reason acquired again to fill an already crowded outfield with the likes of Tapia, Bradley Jr. and Merrifield. So that makes a total of four extra outfielders when most major league teams carry two and at most three. Granted Merrifield can also play the infield, but the crowded outfield situation is a head scratcher for sure.
This team will be judged on how well they perform in the playoffs and missing the post season is 100% out of the question. More heads will roll if there is no October baseball that is for sure. This team has all the pieces to do well when it matters most. It is just a matter of getting hot and staying hot and putting all of the pieces together.
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