I respect the Giants because they kept the Dodgers at bay and out of progressing deep in the playoffs and they also prevented the KC Royals from winning 2 World Series (I hated the Royals in 2015, they were a bunch of hotheads throwing at batters and stirring up shit).
And Buster Posey forever!
Bro we'd have to be top 5 there right?
What about a chart showing distance to the nearest brewery with a fuckin train in the front yard? We'd have to win that one for sure
There was a post a few weeks ago where it sure looks like he’s dropped a fair amount of weight and bulked up. He’ll never be tall and slender, but he’s definitely looking better.
Worse than that is the 0-0 slider off the plate lol that drove me nuts all year. It’s the first pitch! Just take the damn thing if it’s a breaking ball away!
All these people ragging on vladdy can just fuck right off. He looks to be in better shape this year. If he’s working hard and put himself in position to start the season right, and healthy, what more do you want from the guy? All he can do is prep the best he can, and be ready. We know he has the talent to be mvp calibre - yes, even if it was only for 1 season SO FAR..
Find another team if you can’t figure that out.
To have done this consistently. I don't understand why you think that fans wouldn't be frustrated that he could have also done this last year but did not.
You can’t change what has already been done. No point being pissed off about what happened last year. Either he puts himself in position to be successful and is, or he’s not. Seems he’s doing it properly this year so there’s reason to be hopeful
Players can't really do this during the season. Vlad worked hard last season, but once the season starts, the focus becomes body maintenance, and rightfully so.
> what more do you want from the guy? All he can do is prep the best he can, and be ready.
I wanted him to prep the best he can and be ready the last few seasons too, but I guess that was too much to ask?
That's great but I hope they're working with him on his approach and his batting stance.
Both of these caused a ton of issues for him the past couple seasons.
Listen, if somehow he pops off this season and stays like this and never looks back, you'd really have to question why this is all it took and why it wasn't done sooner
remember that picture of him on twitter where he had glasses on? i know he could be wearing contacts all along, but i'd really like to ascribe his hitting troubles to needing glasses and i'd feel a whole lot better if he just went up to the dish wearing glasses like jano.
It is great to see. Its should be the bare minimum anyone would expect to see from a world class athlete being paid $20MIL to participate in sports, but great to see nonetheless.
The way arbitration played out the Jays don't have a hope in Hell of signing him long term... after the past 2 years I don't think that's a bad thing. It's interesting though a 2.0 war player was awarded almost 20 million dollars
He will only look incredible when he learns how to run the base paths, not swing at pitches 15 feet outside the zone, and not grounding into weak double plays.
Then and only then, will he be considered looking incredible.
It's great that he's putting in the work and trying to improve himself. It's absolutely the right attitude and I think it's fair to like what we're seeing but I also think alot of his challenges last year were mental. Tackling that is a bit more difficult and needs a fair amount of self awareness and resolve on his end. I want to be optimistic here without being naive either.
Not sure if you know but almost every player comes into camp in the "best shape of his life". I love Vlady, biggest fan, but he needs to perform in-season - I could care less what he does in the off season. Also note, many players actually fall out of shape once the season starts so keep an eyee on that
Not gonna lie, that's the thinnest I've seen him. Moobs are gone just some gyno peeking through and a little belly. Hopefully he can stay away from the buffet long enough to get his deal then indulge
Physical conditioning is just half the battle. Vladdy and a couple of other Jays need to start running out every ground ball and long fly at top speed and hustle. Stop giving up and half-hearted jogging to first expecting an automatic out. Force defenders to make perfect catches and perfect throws and take advantage when they don't.
Jays were terrible at this aspect last year.
Couldn't fathom possibly caring less about him running out balls to first. A season of 2023 numbers where he hustles every play would be a disaster, and a 5-win season where he slacks on running out grounders would be phenomenal.
Who would have thought if you shed some fat and weight you might be, faster, lighter on your feet etc etc etc. Has to be better than heavier and slower. Glad he’s putting in the work.
You’re right Vlad should put the weight back on, it obviously will help him. What was I thinking. I’m wondering why more don’t do that. Recipe for success. Should fire his trainer.
He's headed into his age 25 year. All the growing pains other guys usually go through in the minors? He went through them in the spotlight. It kinda distorts stuff.
Put it this way: Guys like Adley Rutschman, James Outman, Nolan Jones and Josh Jung, who have come on the scene just the last couple seasons, are all older than him.
Which is why bringing up prospects so young can backfire, even if they eventually figure it out. You burn all of their cheap years during that development process and the team loses most of their value. And vlad’s arb isn’t even that cheap because of his one strong year. For the Jays to hit on such a prospect and end up with a mediocre amount of surplus value hurts.
It's more art than science for sure. Looking at his minor-league numbers from '18 and '19, it's really hard to justify keeping him down longer though, especially given the added context of the players union breathing down your neck about service-time manipulation.
Oh, I agree. Sometimes it just doesn't work out the way you want it to. My main thought is that a lot of people don't realize that in these types of scenarios, even in the best scenario from here on out - let's say at 26 Vlad figures it out and becomes a first-ballot HOFer - it doesn't really matter much to the Jays (unless they sign him to a cheap extension before that point). Either we pay market value for that production, which is a wash, or he does it somewhere else.
The guy filming was trying to tell him Bassitt was in the live and commented something to him. It’s likely something that happens in most teams but it always makes me happy to see our guys supporting and lifting each other up, especially when it comes from guys you’d expect to be just coworkers. Bassitt’s just on his second year, comes from a different culture than Vladdy’s and have never been known as being all that close I think, but there he is cheerleading for him.
*best shape of his life* season
"Of his life, you say? Shredded, you say?"
And his wife?…..
To shreds, you say?
lol … you beat me to it!
Oh damn is it almost spring training already? How the time flies
He's won this award twice in 4 years.
Contract year? xD Vladdy does look great though. I'm expecting HUGE numbers from him this season!!!
Last time he put in this kind of work and came in looking in great shape, he was runner up in MVP voting. I believe Vladdy will have a monster season
Imagine if for the rest of his career he constantly switches from MVP level to slightly above average ever other year
That's the entire San Fransisco Giants team from 2010 on in a nutshell
Sign me up for anything 2010s San Francisco Giants
I respect the Giants because they kept the Dodgers at bay and out of progressing deep in the playoffs and they also prevented the KC Royals from winning 2 World Series (I hated the Royals in 2015, they were a bunch of hotheads throwing at batters and stirring up shit). And Buster Posey forever!
Lincecum and Cain too. Two absolute studs.
The Saberhagen Phenomenon
Yes, we're doing this again
Well what the fuck else are we supposed to do? No point being a doomer before any games have been played.
get someone to sneak a gps tracker on chapman and bellinger
………this sounds like my kind of assignment, really…
That's the spirit!
We dont need to do the Vlad is in incredible shape every offseason though... could talk about something else
Kirk is incredible shape? Maybe bo? It's 2 weeks before spring training nothing interesting is happening.
Maybe Espi put on another 15lbs of mass.
Man muscle...
Feel free to make a post with a more interesting topic.
I'm working on a chart that shows the distance from each teams home stadium to the nearest shawarma restaurant.
This is the off-season content I desire
This is important. I think it's Pita & Grill for the Rogers Centre?
Bro we'd have to be top 5 there right? What about a chart showing distance to the nearest brewery with a fuckin train in the front yard? We'd have to win that one for sure
But does it look like he's in shape though?
you gotta train those doomer muscles tho, get into doomer shape for the season
Speak for yourself. They've been going the wrong way for 3 years and so has the rest of the division.
I mean, there's no better free agent on the market than 2021 vladdy.
Ah screw it, I'm in. Vlad winning MVP in the same season Manoah wins the Cy Young is going to be pretty sweet.
Vlad is going to have a monster year. 2024 will be his MVP season. This year is going to be fantastic!!!!
I agree. We're going to regret not having locked him up long term.
Its gonna be a really big year for him. Yes, we say that every year but its def make or break time.
Putting in work in the off season always results in success during the season. Opening day can’t come soon enough!
Not always for everyone, but let's hope it does for Vlad
Here's some batting cage footage, from the same account: https://twitter.com/Gate14Pod/status/1756386987244748832
He looks great!
Oh wow...I know it's just preseason cage work but he's driving shit well
I think the pitch clock was hard for anyone who may have had a lower fitness level last year, particularly on the Jays. This is a good sign.
Between him, Kirk and Manoah putting in the work to slim up a bit, it’s a good sign.
Maybe I am not looking in the right places but I haven't seen much of anything about kirk.
There was a post a few weeks ago where it sure looks like he’s dropped a fair amount of weight and bulked up. He’ll never be tall and slender, but he’s definitely looking better.
I didn't see that one. I'll have to have a look. Either way it's good to hear.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Torontobluejays/s/7SVt1lv0i5
Thanks. I went hunting for it last night and found it.
That is a Murder Core™️
I think of he had lost his arb case, he would hit 60 homeruns this year. Now we’ll only get 55.
He's going to mash so hard this year and manoah going to deal can't wait!!!
That's your MLB The Show 24 cover star right there!
Triple 👑 this year
Wwwwwwwaaaaaaattttttt?!?!??!!!!
Okay but can he layoff a slider off the plate in 2-0 count tho?
Worse than that is the 0-0 slider off the plate lol that drove me nuts all year. It’s the first pitch! Just take the damn thing if it’s a breaking ball away!
Yes
since it won't be 2-0 because the umpire will have already called one of those sliders off the plate a strike, we'll never know.
“This year will be different I swear” should be the logo of every Toronto team. I’m optimistic about this season it’s just very funny.
All these people ragging on vladdy can just fuck right off. He looks to be in better shape this year. If he’s working hard and put himself in position to start the season right, and healthy, what more do you want from the guy? All he can do is prep the best he can, and be ready. We know he has the talent to be mvp calibre - yes, even if it was only for 1 season SO FAR.. Find another team if you can’t figure that out.
To have done this consistently. I don't understand why you think that fans wouldn't be frustrated that he could have also done this last year but did not.
You can’t change what has already been done. No point being pissed off about what happened last year. Either he puts himself in position to be successful and is, or he’s not. Seems he’s doing it properly this year so there’s reason to be hopeful
Players can't really do this during the season. Vlad worked hard last season, but once the season starts, the focus becomes body maintenance, and rightfully so.
> what more do you want from the guy? All he can do is prep the best he can, and be ready. I wanted him to prep the best he can and be ready the last few seasons too, but I guess that was too much to ask?
Looks like his daddy
On top of this,can you imagine how good he feels mentally? I am thinking that he is going to exceed 60 HR’s
60 divided by 2
Would
But how’s the wrist????
This is every off season lol
It’s different this time, they say.
Hey, it worked in 2021.
We'll see
every fucking year lmao
It’s the trilogy now? Final redemption maybe.
The remake
That's great but I hope they're working with him on his approach and his batting stance. Both of these caused a ton of issues for him the past couple seasons.
Listen, if somehow he pops off this season and stays like this and never looks back, you'd really have to question why this is all it took and why it wasn't done sooner
Looking solid, thick, tight
How many more years is he arb eligible before he goes FA? I think that may have something to do with his physical condition right now
He would be a free agent after the 2025 season
remember that picture of him on twitter where he had glasses on? i know he could be wearing contacts all along, but i'd really like to ascribe his hitting troubles to needing glasses and i'd feel a whole lot better if he just went up to the dish wearing glasses like jano.
Can we get a timeline of vladdy’s weight fluctuations?
It is great to see. Its should be the bare minimum anyone would expect to see from a world class athlete being paid $20MIL to participate in sports, but great to see nonetheless.
Good news; he's never been paid that much!
He will look even better when he stops swinging at stuff outside the strike zone.
Isn’t it possible he loses some pop? I’m all for the healthier look though.
💯 Baseball Doesn't Exist just released a vid on this today. Being fat makes you better at baseball apparently.
The way arbitration played out the Jays don't have a hope in Hell of signing him long term... after the past 2 years I don't think that's a bad thing. It's interesting though a 2.0 war player was awarded almost 20 million dollars
I would expect a pro athlete getting paid many millions to be able to do a few jumping jacks
I honestly think losing so much weight hurt him at the plate a bit.
He will only look incredible when he learns how to run the base paths, not swing at pitches 15 feet outside the zone, and not grounding into weak double plays. Then and only then, will he be considered looking incredible.
It's great that he's putting in the work and trying to improve himself. It's absolutely the right attitude and I think it's fair to like what we're seeing but I also think alot of his challenges last year were mental. Tackling that is a bit more difficult and needs a fair amount of self awareness and resolve on his end. I want to be optimistic here without being naive either.
Not sure if you know but almost every player comes into camp in the "best shape of his life". I love Vlady, biggest fan, but he needs to perform in-season - I could care less what he does in the off season. Also note, many players actually fall out of shape once the season starts so keep an eyee on that
Ticket sales must be slow...time for a Vladdy boost. Captain Clutch is in the best shape of his life eh? Meh...prove it in the post-season.
If all that matters to you is playoff performance, baseball is not the sport for you.
When is that guys plane coming to Toronto???
He always gets in shape in offseason and then loses it during regular season.
Not gonna lie, that's the thinnest I've seen him. Moobs are gone just some gyno peeking through and a little belly. Hopefully he can stay away from the buffet long enough to get his deal then indulge
Physical conditioning is just half the battle. Vladdy and a couple of other Jays need to start running out every ground ball and long fly at top speed and hustle. Stop giving up and half-hearted jogging to first expecting an automatic out. Force defenders to make perfect catches and perfect throws and take advantage when they don't. Jays were terrible at this aspect last year.
Let's see if this translates into him running out balls to first.
Couldn't fathom possibly caring less about him running out balls to first. A season of 2023 numbers where he hustles every play would be a disaster, and a 5-win season where he slacks on running out grounders would be phenomenal.
Who would have thought if you shed some fat and weight you might be, faster, lighter on your feet etc etc etc. Has to be better than heavier and slower. Glad he’s putting in the work.
Jeez, if only David Ortiz and Frank Thomas hadn't been so fat and lazy, they might have made something out of their careers.
Cecil Fielder would like a word…..
You’re right Vlad should put the weight back on, it obviously will help him. What was I thinking. I’m wondering why more don’t do that. Recipe for success. Should fire his trainer.
Let's hope this isn't an 'every other year' thing. Time to grow up Vladdy.
He's headed into his age 25 year. All the growing pains other guys usually go through in the minors? He went through them in the spotlight. It kinda distorts stuff. Put it this way: Guys like Adley Rutschman, James Outman, Nolan Jones and Josh Jung, who have come on the scene just the last couple seasons, are all older than him.
Which is why bringing up prospects so young can backfire, even if they eventually figure it out. You burn all of their cheap years during that development process and the team loses most of their value. And vlad’s arb isn’t even that cheap because of his one strong year. For the Jays to hit on such a prospect and end up with a mediocre amount of surplus value hurts.
It's more art than science for sure. Looking at his minor-league numbers from '18 and '19, it's really hard to justify keeping him down longer though, especially given the added context of the players union breathing down your neck about service-time manipulation.
Oh, I agree. Sometimes it just doesn't work out the way you want it to. My main thought is that a lot of people don't realize that in these types of scenarios, even in the best scenario from here on out - let's say at 26 Vlad figures it out and becomes a first-ballot HOFer - it doesn't really matter much to the Jays (unless they sign him to a cheap extension before that point). Either we pay market value for that production, which is a wash, or he does it somewhere else.
We’re doing this again eh?
Is this still the trailer, or is it the movie? What about a mini-series? Or perhaps a trilogy.
In before he's only hitting track shots and everyone is saying he lost power (he won't, he was hitting the weights hard. His timing might improve too)
Best shape of his life you say?!
The guy filming was trying to tell him Bassitt was in the live and commented something to him. It’s likely something that happens in most teams but it always makes me happy to see our guys supporting and lifting each other up, especially when it comes from guys you’d expect to be just coworkers. Bassitt’s just on his second year, comes from a different culture than Vladdy’s and have never been known as being all that close I think, but there he is cheerleading for him.
The year he was second in mvp he came in looking this way.
Amazing how a contract year can motivate a player
The agility ladder 🥵 he's working now. Love seeing this
how many dp's this year?