What’s Wrong with the Blue Jays? AL East Lead Threatened by Bullpen Collapse

Peter Klein

The Blue Jays are leading the AL East—just barely—but the bullpen has turned from asset to Achilles’ heel. In this breakdown, former Sportsnet 960 host Peter Klein unpacks what's going wrong:  ⚾️ Walks, blown saves, and major holes in late-innings relief ⚾️ Injury losses to Yimi García, ongoing struggles from Hoff, Varland, and Domínguez ⚾️ Why this isn't blame game chatter, but a playoff-altering issue  Smart, entertaining sports talk without the hot takes — welcome back to Couch Potato Diary.  👉 Enjoy clear, sharp, and grounded baseball analysis? Hit Subscribe for more Blue Jays breakdowns and insider takes heading into October: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLK4MO2vLadfNnClmLzypW3VNeiO-ql2yA  #BlueJays #BlueJaysBullpen #MLB #ALEast #BlueJaysProblems #BlueJaysProspects #TreyYesavage #TorontoSports #CouchPotatoDiary  🎧 Listen on: Apple https://apple.co/49NGm2L | Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3QgazeHcSKSteZbBIubcuM?si=icY7NEBvT7yZadv_JFlT6Q  💬 Follow for live breakdowns: X.com/primetimepk | Twitch.tv/primetimepk  | Kick.com/primetimepk  🔗 Support the Show:   - Tip Jar: https://streamelements.com/couchpotatodiary/tip (fuels more content!)   - Partners: C of Dead http://cofdead403.ca/ | Swift Energy https://www.swiftenergy.gg/?ref=mriusnqm PROMO CODE: PKPrimetime for 25% Off!

Transcript

00:00The Toronto Blue Jays have a problem and it's coming up at a really really bad

00:04time. So let's talk Blue Jay bullpen problems.

00:20That music is far too cheerful for our mood around the Toronto Blue Jays as what was once

00:26pretty solid lead atop the AL East is now down to just two and a half games and it feels like

00:32they might be circling the drain a little bit. I know that that is it feels very doomsdayy it

00:37feels very hyperbolic but I do think it is a relatively okay summary of what we are seeing

00:42right now because of the problems they are having with this bullpen um I understand like Bassett

00:49saying like look I get people are mad but this bullpen they're just tired okay great I'm glad

00:55that we have figured out the solution or figured out the problem what's the solution then because

01:01you need one you can't just I mean look yeah we're um getting knocked out of first place in the division

01:07but our guys were tired so can you just put us in the playoffs anyway it's not gonna work like that

01:11everyone's tired you guys have been doing this since February that's why this is such a hard thing to do

01:18is like the baseball season I know people oh baseball whatever but you have to survive this marathon of

01:24162 games to get into the playoffs for a chance at a crapshoot of a tournament to win a world series

01:32this is the hard part this is the time where like this is why people look so exhausted and so relieved

01:38when you win championships because you have to grind through the tired through the sore to be able to win

01:44a championship right now the blue jays are not doing that um Hoffman I get like a lot of the other

01:50metrics look fine I'm I'm worried about him and his confidence right now like I you can tell me the

01:58tired thing he's thrown more innings than this like he's probably going to eclipse his mark as a reliever

02:04but he threw 66 innings last year like it's not like this guy threw 20 and now he's being asked to do

02:08a lot of different things the one thing I will say and the one concern that I really do have is like

02:15he is missing his spots quite badly and then to make up for it he is just hanging him in the middle

02:21of the zone and that's why you're seeing the big hits in the home runs and or the walks because he

02:27is having such trouble just getting it to the zone that like instead of nibbling it's a foot outside

02:32and okay well I need to adjust and he I don't want to say over corrects because you still need to find

02:36the strike zone but the way he corrects is just putting it right down the middle and guys are teeing off on

02:41it you're not going to get Jimmy Garcia back this season Yariel Rodriguez's velocity is down little

02:48has really been able to get the most out of not a lot and get himself out of a lot of jams this year

02:55and he wasn't able to yesterday and so again not to harp on it but this is why I wanted excess at the

03:02trade deadline for the Blue Jays because like it's great to in your head Varland Dominguez Hoffman shut it

03:10down seven eight nine that's great that's best case scenario you cannot plan for best case scenario

03:15at the trade deadline you are trading for guys based off of what what bad things could happen

03:21that we could fix and one of them is the bullpen sucks and just add a few more arms to take some

03:26of that pressure off I get a few of the other high leverage arms haven't done very well either across

03:32baseball Helsley Duran um everyone with the Yankees have all had some issues but this was something they

03:37could have fixed and I don't think they did enough to do that and now I don't know what you're

03:42confident in because the the option that is going into the bullpen from the starting rotation seems

03:47like it's going to be lower and he just got beat up after missing a few days and not being in his

03:52regular routine there's no routine in the bullpen so is that going to be the big fix I just I don't

03:58know where the fix is coming from I like tired that's a good explanation and probably accurate

04:04tired's the toughest to fix if they were just bad I can fix bad we can coach that out of you

04:08tired they're not going to sit off in for two weeks now they're not going to rest these guys

04:13for uh two weeks to okay well now let's get them back this is a very important two weeks coming up

04:19for the blue jays with these last couple against the reds that lord almighty they have to win

04:23and then a huge series with the Yankees and a almost equally as important series with the Houston

04:28Astros the rest time is gone so okay you are tired I my greatest sympathies for that figure it

04:36out Don Draper style that's what the money is for it's not so that you can pitch great while you're

04:41feeling awesome in June it is so that when the weather gets a little bit colder and the games

04:45mean a little bit more and you're tired because you've been doing this for eight months now you still

04:50find a way to be your best the blue jays haven't been able to do that and that's been a problem

04:55one thing that has also been highlighted by all of this is the bats really need to wake up like the

05:02other day Hoffman blows the save but he blew the opportunity when the Jays had one run in the game

05:07and they got three in the ninth the other day after getting one the rest of the game

05:13it's just not happening for them right now um offensively like they're getting a couple guys

05:19getting a hit but like aside from Bo who's having some pretty big days you're not getting like okay

05:25and Springer's two for four and now Kirk's two for four and Bo is all this it's like one guy will

05:28get one hit and then it's just it's not they're not putting those big chunk innings together the way

05:34that they were earlier before where everyone was kind of playing at their best case scenario

05:39which again not to harp but is why I was saying we need some more bats here at the trade deadline

05:44because you are getting best case scenario out of Lucas and Clement and Classe and Jimenez

05:51both of them um and Barger and now Barger has really cooled off you need to get that guy out

05:56of the two hole immediately um the Clement is obviously banged up and that's not clicking as

06:02well Lucas a few of the home runs are now flying out to the warning track like you're some of the

06:07regression has started to kick in so now you need to really step up in a big time way and get the other

06:13big guys too toxic brings up Vladdy we'll talk about him in just a second but I do want to remind you

06:18that um we are streaming on a few different platforms today including on twitch.tv slash

06:23primetime pk the next video game stream is going to be tomorrow at 10 a.m why not let's do some blue

06:29jays stuff on there we got a couple of seasons we really need to wrap up so we're going to do blue

06:33jays on the video game stream tomorrow at 10 a.m toxic in the youtube chat Vladdy has been struggling

06:40big time that is accurate I I don't think he's healthy right now like the the stretches at first

06:47base and getting him um getting a couple those highlight reels and then he gets hurt for a few

06:52days I I don't think that hamstring is right I see him at the plate you see him fielding you see him

06:59running that hamstring is not it's not there you're not getting the same kind of explosion out of it

07:04it's a lot more of the upper body reaching on those swings that the lower half is not getting

07:10utilized as much when you are seeing him up at the plate and that is causing some major problems

07:16in this offense again like so much of what the blue jays do and I get like they they got a lot of big

07:21wins when he wasn't producing at an mvp type of level but this team goes from good to great when

07:27he does that and it just makes so much makes everything so much easier when he's just mashing

07:32in the middle of the lineup and right now he's not and like talking about trying to get guys days off

07:37I don't know if I would play him in the field again in September like just make sure that

07:42hamstring is healthy until he starts to really come around and I get like maybe just sitting there

07:47lets it seize up a little bit but get the gun thing on it the entire time and then go up take your

07:54hacks and then back to massaging that thing like it's just it's not working and it is actively

07:59setting the team back right now and that's not a spot they need to be in with their most valuable

08:04player now the cavalry is here as isaiah kinder falefa is making his return to the blue jays and

08:11I think that's really going to help like clement is obviously banged up uh like I said so is Vladdy

08:15there is going to be enough there for ikf to be able to bounce around the diamond every day

08:20that he's going to be a very valuable piece for the blue jays here down the stretch and a good

08:24enough bat that like he's not going to make up for Vladdy's bat but I think he can make up for

08:27clements and kind of help keep the line moving with this team offensively I would just like to say

08:34I get that it got a little excessive with pitching matchups and everything like that but

08:38now that we have the three pitcher rule or three batter rule for pitchers I don't like that we can

08:42only call up two guys now like maybe 40 was a bit much but yeah 30 you know like just a couple of

08:48extra guys to help out with the slog at the end of the season I just yeah give some kids an opportunity

08:55why not uh but anyway blue jays need to get it figured out hopefully they can tonight against the

09:00the Cincinnati Reds

09:10you

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