Avoiding Patrick Kane seems like the best route forward for the Leafs

Avoiding Patrick Kane seems like the best route forward for the Leafs

Sometimes the trade deadline really sucks. One of those instances is when the team you follow is connected to a player you truly despise. If it was just a matter of the Leafs being interested in an overachieving, overpriced shutdown defenseman who is a crapshoot to mirror his success with a new partner in a new system, that would be one thing. Instead, we’re talking about Patrick Kane who has given people plenty of reasons to dislike him.
I feel like we’ve moved past the obvious reasons for not wanting Patrick Kane on the Leafs and now can focus a bit more on hockey-related ones. I say that the myriad of questions that come along with bringing Kane into the Leafs’ locker room would create a three-ring circus environment that typically doesn’t work out so well for the Leafs. If the Leafs think they need a chaotic element to a potential playoff run, I guess you can ignore the fact that the Toronto media will be very interested in reliving the questionable moments of Patrick Kane’s career through questions and in print from before he even gets on the plane to Toronto.

“I just don’t know if that’s going to fit.”@FriedgeHNIC joined @JeffMarek to share his view on Toronto as a potential destination f …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

The Julian Merryweather era has come to an end

We’ll always have those two saves in April of 2021.

The Toronto Blue Jays designated Julian Merryweather for assignment last week in order to make room on the 40-man roster for the newly-signed Brandon Belt. On Tuesday, the team announced that Merryweather had been claimed by the Chicago Cubs…

ROSTER MOVES:
🔹 RHP Julian Merryweather has been claimed off waivers by the Cubs
🔹 RHP Junior Fernández has been assigned outright to Triple-A pic.twitter.com/F2bdTV3n4p
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) January 17, 2023

Merryweather was acquired back in October of 2018 as the Player To Be Named Later from when Josh Donaldson has been traded to Cleveland a couple of months earlier. At that time, Merryweather was a bit of a mystery as he hadn’t pitched since the 2018 season.
After missing virtually all of the 2019 season, Merryweather finally appeared in 2020. He made eight appearances for the Blue Jays in the pandemic season, posting a 4.15 ERA over 13 innings while racking up 15 strikeouts.
By the time 2021 rolled around, the narrative around Merryweather had shifted from ‘Is he even a real guy?’ to ‘This guy is the closer of the future.’ 
On Opening Day, Merryweather came in for the 10th inning to protect the Blue Jays’ 3-2 lead over the New York Yankees and he struck out the side. A couple of days later, he was brought in for the ninth inning with the Blue Jays up by a score of 3-1, and he struck out two Yankees en route to another save.

Unfortunately, things peaked there for Merryweather. He made two more appearances in April and went on the Injured List with an oblique strain. He didn’t ret …

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Author: Cam Lewis / Blue Jays Nation

Alek Manoah dominates the Pirates as Toronto starts series with 4-0 win

For those who observe Alek Manoah Day, they were able to celebrate for good reason.

The Blue Jays took the first of a three-game series from the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates 4-0 behind a dominant performance from The Big Man, Alek Manoah. Manoah threw seven and a third innings, allowing only five hits, no runs, one walk, and six strikeouts en route to his 13th win of the season and his 20th quality start. He pitched in front of his college baseball team, the West Virginia Mountaineers, as they made the quick trip up to PNC Park to watch their former teammate do his thing.
Johan Oviedo, who was acquired from the Cardinals at the trade deadline in the Jose Quintana trade, started for the Pirates tonight. Oviedo struck out the side in the first inning, all on his slider. The Blue Jays were able to generate five base runners between the second and third innings, but they did 2022 Blue Jays things with them and ~stranded them all~.
Fortunately for the Blue Jays, Oviedo was on a pitch count. Who knows if the Blue Jays would’ve had much success off of this guy had he not gotten to 75 pitches so soon.
Tyler Beede took over for Oviedo in the 4th, and he allowed a leadoff double t …

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Author: Evan Stack / Blue Jays Nation

BJN Radio – Ep. 102: The rain saves the Blue Jays from a possible sweep in Baltimore

So much for all of those easy wins against the Trash Birds!

The Blue Jays rolled into Baltimore this week and dropped two games to the Orioles. The first was the result of a poor Yusei Kikuchi start and then the second one was the rest of a late-game bullpen meltdown. The sweep was avoided as the skies opened up and the third game was postponed due to rain.
In this episode of BJN Radio, we talked about the surprisingly good Orioles, Blue Jay Murder Ryan Mountcastle, potentially going with a six-man rotation once Ross Stripling is back from injury, and a whole bunch more!
You can listen to the episode here…
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Author: Cam Lewis / Blue Jays Nation