Stray Thoughts... Jesús!

It’s rare that you can actually pin the loss of a baseball game on a single individual. Maybe even impossible to do so. Fans will certainly try at times, of course. Jeff Hoffman could tell you all about that, I’m sure. Yet the nature of the sport as a compilation of countless moments in which the difference of a mere fraction of an inch could swing the game’s outcome completely around—the nature of all team sports, really—makes it so that real Ball Knowers understand that it could never really be one single thing that definitively makes all the difference.

Or two things. *COUGH*

But, hoo boy, did Jesús Sánchez ever put that concept to the fuckin’ test on Wednesday night in Tampa.

I’m sure you know this. I’m sure many of you turned off your TVs in disgust, frankly. So I won’t belabour the particulars too much here. But, for the sake of completeness: First he lost track of a catchable ball in the left field corner off the bat of Junior Caminero, letting it drop beside him and bounce directly over the stupid low part of the Trop’s shitty fence for a ground rule double that ended up coming around to score two batters later when Yandy Díaz took Max Scherzer deep to give the Rays an early 2-0 lead. Then, with the score 2-1 and the wobbling Scherzer dealing with a bases loaded situation in the fourth, he bizarrely couldn’t come up with an easy second out on a shallow fly that instead bounced past him into left, allowing two runs to score, and opening the door for three more to come around before the inning was through.

Woof. Wooo-ooo-uhhhh-ooo-oooo-oof.

Making it all even harder to stomach in the aftermath was that the Jays managed to find their bats after all this, scoring five additional times—powered, of course, by Alejandro Kirk and Charles McAdoo—to wind up losing by just a single run.

Now, we’re not really litigating who specifically is to blame for this one. If we were, it would have to be pointed out that Scherzer—though hard done by in terms of ERA, as none of those Sánchez-involved runs counted as unearned—was certainly not at his best.1 We’re here—at least in this section of the post, before we get to a bunch of stray thoughts below—to talk about Sánchez, who… I actually feel a bit sorry for.

Don’t get me wrong, I feel more sorry for Scherzer, his other teammates, the Jays fans who showed up at the stinking Trop to watch that garbage, all Jays fans everywhere, and the game of baseball itself (in that order). But it’s not like he’s out there not trying. At least, that’s absolutely not how I’d read the situation. To me it looks like he just can’t seem to calculate where the ball is going very well, or make his body go to that place, and the process of constant recalibration required to at least get him close enough keeps getting him in trouble. He’s just not a natural fielder.

Maybe that’s being too kind, given that he’s been prone to miscues that don’t involve taking awful routes to the baseball and/or not being able to find the goddamn thing with his eyes very quickly, but… yeah… I don’t know. I just don’t know.

Seems like John Schneider doesn’t, either.

Mitch Bannon@MitchBannon

John Schneider, on the two fly balls to Jesús Sánchez today: #BlueJays

1:54 AM · Aug 20, 2026 · 42.7K Views

49 Replies · 12 Reposts · 217 Likes

Sanchez, speaking to reporters ahead of today’s game, said that he lost the first ball when it went over the catwalk, and the second one in the lights. Though he also suggested he thought Andrés Giménez was going to catch it, too.

Regardless, he acknowledged the he needs to be better.

Mitch Bannon@MitchBannon

“I know I need to improve my defense, because I don't usually play left field. I'm going to make the adjustment because I'm athletic enough to play left field. I know I'm going to be there, and the next time I'm going to be better.”

3:08 PM · Aug 20, 2026 · 14.6K Views

6 Replies · 2 Reposts · 49 Likes

But the crazy thing is, he was better not that long ago!

Nae 🧬@NaeNaeTakes

If it seems like Jesus Sanchez is really bad in the outfield, he is. But it didn’t always used to be like this. He has slowed down quite a bit and is also just making dumb mistakes

5:41 PM · Aug 16, 2026 · 13K Views

6 Replies · 126 Likes

I mean, even if we take that 80th percentile OAA season in 2024 as an outlier—which we absolutely should!—there’s still a lot of data that paints him as at least an average fielder out there. It’s kinda nuts! And that dip in sprint speed, while concerning2, doesn’t really explain either of these boners.

Bad stuff! Would prefer to never see him in the outfield again! Feel like there’s little chance that’s going to happen though!

Ugh. Anyway, time for some quick stray thoughts…

• I specifically say quick here because as I’m writing this we’re about an hour away from game time, and I seriously want to get this post out before then. More regular posting coming in the days and weeks ahead, I assure you! Sorry! Sorry for always having to apologize around here! Sorry! Sorry!

• We got a hefty bit of pre-game news ahead of today’s afternoon tilt, including the fact that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has been cleared from concussion protocol and will suit up for Dunedin tonight in a rehab gain, with a return to the active roster likely coming at Yankee Stadium tomorrow.

• Before you ask, the D-Jays will be on the road tonight, in Clearwater, meaning that if Vlad goes deep against one of the Phillies’ children it will not count as his first home run at home this season.

• Vlad is a career .305/.371/.609 hitter at Yankee Stadium in the regular season, so here’s hoping that a bit of rest and a trip there will help him finally find some juice here, huh? PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS BEAUTIFUL MAN.

• Saw someone derisively tweet about Vlad’s contract the other day and, like,… are we not above this? What’s going on with him this year obviously sucks, but $500 million was the cost of doing business, it was basically necessary, and Playoff Vladdy already earned massive chunk of it anyway. And he obviously hates how he’s been playing more than anyone. I just can’t even be mad. He’ll get sorted eventually—though it might not be this year.

• LMAO. I did a quick search on YouTube for “Votto Vlad” looking for (oddly enough) that recent Joey Votto clip from MLB Network where he was talking about Vlad, and this was the first thing that came up. (I’ve said many times that I worked with Sid for a long time and always liked the guy. This kind of lowest-common-denominator bullshit shtick on the other hand…)

• Since there was no result for the actual video on YouTube, and because tweets with videos don’t embed right around here (I’m surprised they’re even embedding again at all, to be honest), I’ll simply point you here for those who are interested in Votto’s thoughts.

• Moving on! In a news dump item that, sadly, feels more important than Vlad’s imminent return, we also learned here on Thursday afternoon that Brett Bateman’s MRI came back clear, and he could even be available off the bench today. Could have used him yesterday!

• There was good news on the pitching front, too, as Spencer Arri-Dave-Righetti felt fine coming out of a side session yesterday and will likely be part of the Jays’ pitching plans for tomorrow’s bullpen game. (Dylan Cease and José Soriano will take the ball Saturday and Sunday respectively in the Bronx).

• Not sure why the Astros couldn’t have figured this out for him!

Hazel Mae@thehazelmae

Arrighetti told me the staff made him custom insoles to cover area where the nerve has been irritated to support it and give it a little bit more stability. “I haven't felt the pain since and everything feels great.”

Shi Davidi @ShiDavidi

Spencer Arrighetti said he had no pain in his right foot Sunday during rehab outing for triple-A Buffalo. He used a different cleat with a new insole that helped. He's throwing a side tomorrow and next steps decided after, said John Schneider. Possible Arrighetti's next outing

9:01 PM · Aug 18, 2026 · 62.2K Views

9 Replies · 39 Reposts · 1.09K Likes

• Speaking of Soriano (weren’t we?), really getting some heavy José Soriano vibes off that guy so far. Could be worse! (I didn’t have just nine strikeouts in his first 16 1/3 innings on my bingo card though.)

• Hey, 10 runs the other day. That was fun!

• Baseball Images That Precede Unfortunate Events:"

Chris Black@DownToBlack

Through first 17 days of August, the Jays already have a +15 Fielding Run Value for the month, the 4th highest for *any* month by *any* team this season. In other words, the Jays are on pace to have the best defensive month by any team since this stat was first tracked (2018)

1:38 AM · Aug 19, 2026 · 10K Views

6 Replies · 13 Reposts · 356 Likes

• Look, it’s not that I’m not interested in a fancy new defensive metric that was just released over at Baseball Savant—despite a lot of pretty good questions being asked about it—I’m just more interested in dumb jokes.

• Bate continues to be the Man (*when healthy)…

Chris Black@DownToBlack

Pete Crow-Armstrong is MLB's best defender & he gets the best jumps in the league (+4.6ft vs MLB average... no one else is higher than 3.2). Well, in small sample, Brett Bateman is averaging 5.7ft better than MLB average so far (including +9.9 on this play last night). Unreal.

3:39 PM · Aug 19, 2026 · 198K Views

12 Replies · 32 Reposts · 814 Likes

• See what I mean about the video embeds?

• I’d just be stealing my own tweet if I only used an eyes emoji for this one, but… *eyes emoji*…

D.M. Fox@DMFox705

Both Stanifer & Guerra were also moved to the pen to see if they could be late season options for the big club. Jays still view them as starters long term. Yesavage’s success last fall showed the value of guys who bring different looks. /3

4:15 PM · Aug 19, 2026 · 20.9K Views

1 Reply · 8 Reposts · 68 Likes

• If you’re not following Tipping Pitches for the definitively correct takes on baseball economics, you’re doing it wrong. Baseball’s Not Dead, too!

• O Captain! My Captain!

EJ@ejmb0000000

framing is all the rage, and for good reason. Kirk ranks at an excellent 5 framing runs per statcast this year what is remarkable to me about Kirk is his blocking. THIRTEEN BLOCKS ABOVE AVERAGE IN 51 GAMES???

EJ @ejmb0000000

@StlllWest i’ll never forget the Seattle series seeing Kirk NOTICEABLY outclassing Raleigh. we take for granted how unreal defensively he is. with Bailey declining defensively this year i think Kirk is currently the best defensive catcher in MLB, & only behind PCA for all players

9:12 PM · Aug 19, 2026 · 5.61K Views

1 Reply · 4 Reposts · 93 Likes

• Aaaaaand that’s about all the time I have for this one! All in all, a nice little tune-up. Still a chance to win a series at the stupid Trop here, boys! LET’S DO THIS!

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