#bc it will look passable to everybody else

[darkwood-sleddog]

been talking about it a lot on my personal blog, but the whole AI as a replacement for creative work makes me feel sick to my stomach and i just needed to share my feelings with the wider audience i have on this blog. like physically it makes me feel ill.

[bright-and-burning]

thank u for the tag @monacotrophywife this took. too long to get around to lol

15 questions !!

are you named after anyone? my govie name no but eve yes! it’s my great grandma’s. my dad’s family has a kind of idk policy where your first name is Yours but your middle name is from somebody else. so my siblings and cousins and i have Original Names (not original as in like mackayleigheey just original as in not somebody else’s already. bc believe me some of our names are BASIC) and our middle names are all from grandparents + further back.

when was the last time you cried? i’ve been on the verge of tears a LOOOOOT lately. and i shed like five tears last week. but like Really cried was like january 11th ish when i moved out. i’ve had this stuffed rabbit since i was ~2 and my parents bought a perfect duplicate like the second month id had it bc i was so attached that they were like. we can NOT lose it and not have a backup (despite this i called both the same name). so i packed up one rabbit to take with me to my first solo apartment as a Real Adult and left one in my childhood bedroom. and that fucked me up soooo bad lol like the idea of here’s kid eve and here’s adult eve diverging paths… anyways.

do you have kids? i fuckin better not

what sports do you play/have you played? soccer, taekwondo, dance (ballet and tap for ~10 years) if you count that, running, a little bit of figure skating but like bootleg (aka my dad teaching me or me teaching myself w second hand skates) uhhhh. i feel like im forgetting something. oh gymnastics when i was very small. they had a lot of like, free/reduced cost sports opportunities for poor kids in my city so i’ve done a lot of things lol. owned a lot of second/third/fourth hand sports equipment over the years. if you’re in america (i cannot guarantee this exists anywhere else) and you’re in need of expensive sports equipment for cheap (or you’re looking to donate old sports equipment!) find yourself a play it again sports they came THROUGH for me and my siblings as a bunch of athletic poor kids

do you use sarcasm? frequently irl. probs less so online bc i don’t feel like it carries very well lol

what is the first thing you notice about people? hair!!!!! but otherwise it varies a lot. my favorite way to interact w ppl for the first time is to find something to compliment them on so i’m usually scanning everything to find like, oh they’ve got cool hair, cool tattoos, funky shoes, a fun patterned scrunchie, whatever.

what is your eye color? i Technically have heterochromia. but mostly green, i just have one solid brown stripe across my left eye

scary movies or happy endings? i don’t like Most Horror in general (tho i do fuck with a psychological thriller or black comedy movie a la the menu or last night in soho) so i’m gonna say happy endings

any talents? is it rude to say lots. lol. painting is probably my most “surprising” one. i can also still passably tap dance despite it being nearly 10 years since i stepped foot in a real studio. speed reading is another one; for some novels (shoutout pratchett for writing the world’s most readable and engaging novels) i was averaging like 550 wpm

where were you born? los angeles, baby. city of angels. la la land. tinseltown. etc

what are your hobbies? i am very good at picking up new hobbies and very bad at sticking with them for very long (until i get reinvested for like three weeks before dropping again etc). right now probably baking is the big one? writing. i’m trying to get back into painting this week actually!! we’ll see if i succeed

do you have any pets? my apartment is unfortunately pet free :( but my family pets are WONDERFUL. i have a dog who is a pitbull-corgi-mutt (so literally picture a corgi butt, legs, and the floppy baby corgi ears, plus a fat pitbull body, skull, and smile), and an orange cat :)

how tall are you? 5’0 on a good day

favorite subject at school? MATH!!!!! god bless math everybody. i had optional math homework in high school and sometimes when i was really annoyed w my other work i would procrastinate by doing the optional math work lol

dream job? i mean if anyone wants to step up and be my patron so i can oil paint photorealistic fabric folds all day… no but uhh what i do rn is my “realistic” dream job. my unrealistic but still technically feasible dream job is sports analytics. and my totally infeasible and impossible dream job is Art.

i’m gonna be honest i am so deeply behind on this that i think everyone has done it already. but if you haven’t and you’d like to, please consider yourself tagged <3

[ftm-radio]

a plus-sized trans masc's review of various chest containment methods*

*as you can guess from the title, this post will be discussing the chest area, so if this subject & related terminology is discomforting to you, please skip this post & I hope you have a good day 👍🏻

Okay, so I have 4 methods that I bounce between for dealing with my chest and existing as a pre-op trans guy. I'm gonna write a bit about each one, and I have photos of how my chest looks with all four (clothed, ofc) that I will put under the cut for both self conscious reasons and to be considerate for those who'd rather not see them. idk.

oh & quick disclaimer, this post is absolutely not meant to bash any particular binding method or ppl who use those methods, or ppl who don't bind! no one method is superior, some just work better for one person than another bc everybody's different and all that. just tryna share my experiences to maybe help out other folks like me. ✌🏻

Sorry in advance, I'm sure this is gonna be a long post.

Method #1: No Containment

Pros—

easy

free

may be passable as moobs with enough layering ?

Cons—

underboob sweat at 100% strength

chafing

oh god they move so much, why, please don't, i hate this

Wearing just a shirt with nothing else under it is a great feeling at times, but that's generally short-lived and it's not very comfortable in the long run, especially if I'm being active and moving around. Feeling my chest wiggle and jiggle and move around is just so gross to me, so I usually avoid this method.

Method #2: Compression Top (Tomboy X)

Pros—

pretty comfy for everyday wear

prevents the worst of the wiggles

can exercise in it

could probably sleep in it if I wanted to

Cons—

basically just a sports bra tbh

mine is uh.. ~2 years old & pretty worn, probs doesn't "compress" much anymore 😅

heard that this particular company has done some yikes things?? so I'm not super keen on purchasing anything else from them (I don't have details & don't feel like looking them up rn, just mentioning it so you can look it up yourselves if you want)

This is my go-to method for when I'm just hangin out around the house (which is basically every day). just wake up, yank on the compression top, and then I don't have to think about it until the end of the day! I actually got this as a baby-step to using an actual binder bc I was a little anxious about it lol.

Method #3: Full Tank Binder (gc2b)

Pros—

flat chest

full tank contains everything better than a half tank

ngl I appreciate the fact that it kinda helps contain my stomach fat too bc I am ~☆~insecure~☆~ (but working on it)

Cons—

tbh I think my binder is too big specifically in the chest area so it doesn't compress & hold everything in place for very long, esp if im moving around, but I can't size down any smaller bc that's unsafe

the bottom edge of the binding panel makes it pretty uncomfortable to sit & just makes my stomach look weird

can't exercise or sleep in it

can only wear for 8 hours at a time, max

I loved my binders when I first got them, and wore them almost daily, even around the house, because I felt good & happy in them. after a while, though, the constant need to readjust my chest & having to keep checking to make sure it looked alright kinda wore me down and I got tired of it. going to the grocery store and feeling my chest shift around in my binder and being unable to fix it is just not a good time. :(

Method #4: Trans Tape

Pros—

comfortable! (long as you put it on right 😅)

my tiddies are SECURE they are not going ANYWHERE, I can bend over to pull the laundry out of the dryer with no problem, gravity cannot emotionally damage me anymore <3

I feel like I can move and do stuff and be confident w/o having to waste any time or energy thinking about my chest

my chest is approx a C-cup? (and I'm fat) so the tape definitely doesn't flatten me out but it masculinizes the shape of my chest in a way I'm happy & comfy with! yeah i have a chest but it def doesnt look like girl boobs!! I just look like a fat guy! which I am! so I'm cool with it!! hell yeah!

can wear for days at a time (recommended is 5)

can sleep, shower, & exercise in it

no worries about rib damage/breathing problems

when I hug my mom I actually feel it in the middle of my chest

Cons—

can't reuse tape so gotta buy more to keep using it (~20 bucks a roll with shipping iirc?)

there is a learning curve!! first couple times suck & it can be discouraging (I gave up a couple times) and I'm definitely still learning myself how to use this stuff

physically kinda difficult to put on, it's a bit of a workout for me

itchy (especially if you overstretch the tape, try not to do that)

what goes on must come off 🥲 and removal is kind of a pain in the ass because oil is messy and you really have to give it enough time to soak

need to be patient & careful so skin doesn't get damaged in removal

if you damage your skin you have to give it time to heal, no taping for a while

I am quite new to trans tape, literally this is only my third time wearing it as I write this. My first two attempts were pretty rough (application and removal) but I'm starting to get the hang of it and it's becoming less of an Ordeal as I get used to it. there are definitely some less than ideal factors to keep in mind with using this method, but I've found that for me, the positives vastly outweigh the negatives. when I get better at using this, I plan to make it my primary containment method. I know a lot of folks say that using trans tape just doesn't work at all for bigger folks & bigger-chested folks, but that's not necessarily true. I'm proof.

Alright, that's all I've got!

I dont wanna make this a horribly long post, so I'm sure I missed some things but idk this is the gist of it. If you read all of this, I hope you got something from it (or at least don't feel like it was a huge waste of time....) and I hope you have a good rest of your day!

It's totally okay to reblog/reply/interact with this post, just, y'know, have common sense and don't be a jerk!

As I said before, I have photos under the cut to give you a visual for how these different methods look on me & how they might look for you if you're anything like me. Please do not be rude or creepy or gross, alright? alright.

Method #1: No Containment

...........yeah this is what I'm working with, let's just move on and pretend we didn't see this, please & thanks

Method #2: Compression Top (Tomboy X)

comfy & fine for everyday use but I don't love the look. still looks and feels like a feminine chest shape.

Method #3: gc2b Full Tank Binder

flattest results, looks pretty good, but only lasts about five minutes before the tiddies start their constant migration and it gets uncomfy and I have to adjust everything :/

Method #4: Trans Tape

not as flat as I get with a binder, but the goal with trans tape is a more masculine shape to the chest, not flatness, and I think im starting to achieve that even as a noob! my results will probably get even better as I get more familiar with it, but this is already my fave method by far

bonus photo because wearing trans tape makes me happy and i was feelin good:

That's the end-end of the post, so I will once again request that you do not make any rude or nasty comments about me & my body. thanks!

[vanaera]

Heya my lovely friend! 20, 26, 31, 32, 33, and 39 for the ask meme ✨✨

GURL, YOU TOO??? OMYGOD Y'ALL COMING TO MY INBOX AND MAKING ME CRY FROM SO MUCH LOVE, EYE-

20: Disney, Dreamworks, or Pixar?

I'd say Dreamworks! I'm really fond of films, those that star a real person or animated ones. However, I usually tend to prefer the former because of of my appreciation for the classic filming. And among these three, Dreamworks feature one of the best movies I like. Like Shutter Island, Lincoln, and The Ring. They are so GREAT like do I even have to explain??? Not to say Dreamworks animations like How to Train Your Dragon, The Shrek, Over the Hedge, Kung Fu Panda, and Megamind are films I would still want to watch again to this day. Of course Dreamworks has failures too, such as The Shark Tale and The Boss Baby. However, compared to Pixar and Disney (should I even separate them when they belong to one humongous conglomerate now?), Dreamworks have one of the most original stories I've ever encountered. Their characters are so fleshed out. They have notable positive traits, and flaws you can easily spot, which makes them feel so real. No tea to Disney and Pixar, but they usually have SoOOOOo many passable movies. Like "okay, i made a movie, guess that's okay" type of movies. They have very generic and predictable plotlines and most of their characters are just cardboard cut-outs of the typical protagonists. Sorry this is long. I'm really passionate about film. Music-wise tho, it goes to Disney. However since we're talking about film, not an album, screenplays matter to me the most.

26: What would you do if someone gave you flowers? 

I would put those flowers in a vase and I would appreciate that someone who gave them to me. Especially if they researched the language of the flowers they've gifted me before giving them to me. If not, that's still okay. There's just gonna be plus points for the former. Though even if they are the former or the latter, I would still ask them why they gave me flowers instead of fruits. I love flowers though and I would really like to receive a bouquet because I've never experienced being given one. I just wanna know why not fruits.

31:  Are you a fashionable person?

Oh hell yeah am I. I make the world my runway. And what I think is quirky about this thing with me, is that I don't follow the trends. I make my own trend. It's my pet peeve to see everybody almost wearing the same clothes just like everyone else. And, I just want to not be like that. I want to stand out (Sorry, the Aries in me is quaking). This is why I love LOVE the no-clothing-code in our universities because I can totally rock a grunge bitch outfit to a cutie girly girl look whenever I want. Even if I'm just wearing a jeans and shirt outfit, I'm sure as hell gonna spice some things up (not skin-showing-wise tho) and make you see I'm not JUST wearing some jeans and shirt. It's MY jeans and shirt outfit (I'm really passionate about fashion like srsly come hit me up if you need some fashion advice).

32: Do you like watching holiday movies?

It depends. If I want to get in the mood of Christmas, bc let's be real, adulthood makes us no longer feel the giddty feeling we used to have when we were kids when it comes to Christmas, then yeah, I'd like to watch holiday films. However, if they have a fucking terrible screenplay, I'd rather not waste my time. I like wating holiday-themed foods, fics, and short stories though.

33: Cookies or brownies?

Cookies!!! I love the hard but chewy and soft texture ir has and also the balance in its flavor! I don't like foods that are too sweet and it's not long ago I just discovered I'm allergic to some types of chocolate so brownies are just 😕 to me.

39: What’s your favorite random piece of decor in your house and room?

I don't have a favorite piece of decor aesthetic-wise. So I'm gonna go for practicality wise (I don't buy things that I won't use just for the sake of aesthetics, I love me a clean, and wide ass space in my home). And also, I can't rhink of any random stuff I love because my stuff here are not random lmao. In my house, I love my dining table. It's where I eat, do my nails, do my art, or work on my writings, while I watch the view of the sky from the windows near it. That table just has so many memories for me. And in my room, I love my work desk. It's where I put my bullet journal, skin care stuff, and writings-wise stuff. I just love how I put them in this way bc these things give me a sense of who I am in their own way. And also they give me a false sense of productivity for the day when they look so nice on that desk LMAO

[isakeijser]

rules:

always repost the rules!

answer the questions given to you by the one who tagged you!

give 11 questions!

tag 11 people!

i was tagged by vale, @davenziv love u babe

 favourite crack ship

i’m literally the least crack-shipper person in the world i find it hard to b invested in characters that don’t get enough screentime but ughhh i guess marlon and daniel is pretty funny

least favourite character from each remake excluding williams and his brothers (or their equivalent)

skamnl: literally..... jayden is the most annoying person to ever exist what does he even dooooo other than hang around being annoying like alksjdlaksd skamit: white!sana just by the sheer fact she exists aslkdalskdj druck: not to b controversial but jonas treated hanna terribly during s2 and now thinks he can be jealous and possessive of her in s3? ain’t it chief skamfr: basile aka the worst magnus to ever exist skamesp: cristian but thats probably just bc i don’t like most pchris characters austin: marlon lmao i cannot w him not even the gay headcanons can stop me from disliking him

rank the remakes in order of best to worst boy squad

skamesp austin (if tyler/marlon/shay is the boy squad ?) skamit ig...... skamfr druck skamnl askdjalsdasd godddddddd 

rank the remakes in order of best to worst girl squad

skamnl skamesp austin skamit druck skamfr

skamfr literally only gets last place because of s4 otherwise they’d be above druck..... i said what i said....

your favourite headcanon that is not at all supported by canon

joana has a playlist w a frog emoji with songs that remind her of cris. on this list are no more than 5 john legend songs. a katy perry song and a shit ton of pc music. cris will never see this playlist

one thing that og did better than the remakes

season three....... literally everything abt it is amazing and like i know i’m a hoe for the remakes but literally none !!! none!!! have compared they’ve all failed in some way to live up to s3 whether that be in pacing, symbolism, acting, directing, writing.... lich rally..... none have even come close

one thing that each remake did better than og

skamnl: the general aesthetic that skamnl delivers is amazing and perfect and i feel overall their s1 was much better then the og s1. the girl squad is also more cohesive and its much more diverse alsdjasld basically i’m a hoe for skamnl skamesp: wlw!!!!!!!! as if i need to say anything else austin: i guess.... the william has a personality? the same cannot be said for the og skamit: ugh. racism druck: the s2 is The Best season two we’ve gotten so far and probably their most cohesive and well written season so theres that skamfr: i lich rally don’t know... i guess sexualising the hell out of scenes which didn’t need to be in s3

a popular opinion that (almost) everybody shares but you don't

ummmm theres probably a few. s3 of skamfr is the only passable season and even then its bad. druck needing to intro and outro every clip is annoying. skamesp looks like a potato. druck season 2 is the best druck season. the skamfr s3 kiss in the rain is bad. the 21:21 esp kiss is also disappointing. the entire druck cast has some of the worst chemistry in remake canon, literally only matteo/david and mia/alex have passable chemistry but the acc squads? ain’t it. all the remake casts are annoying, every single one. noah is attractive. cris is more of a chris b character then an isak character (which should go to lucas even tho he obviously doesn’t get the isak season). cris has some of the worst and best fashion sense in skam remake canon. janna is sort of a boring, tropey character. mia is acc a really well written character and doesn’t deserve to be shit on by the fandom just because she’s with alex.

your headcanon for lucas vdh’s love interest

he’s poc and also sweet enough to make me forget that i don’t like vdh alskdjalksdj

your headcanon for shay’s love interest

she’s black and loves like..... weird indie music that she can vibe w shay to and is also into production and making her own songs (but doesn’t sing) but also unironically loves taylor swift and sings it to shay who is all like ‘u find the love of ur life and then they like tswizzle... tragedy...’ and american even shrugs and sings love story :)

character that you look up to the most

idk aslkdjalsd they’re all huge messes tbh

[flauntpage]

Blue Jays Mailbag: Lousy Defense, and Justin Smoak's Future in Toronto

This article originally appeared on VICE Sports Canada.

Andrew Stoeten answers your questions in our Blue Jays Mailbag, which runs weekly at VICE Sports. You can send him questions at stoeten@gmail.com, and follow him on Twitter.

The All-Star break is upon us and the Blue Jays are... mercifully not playing again until Friday!

It's not been a very fun first half for the Jays, but that doesn't mean that there isn't still a whole lot to talk about it—mostly, at least in this edition of our weekly mailbag—centering around All-Star Justin Smoak! Words that are still so very, very strange to type in that order.

So let's have a look at what's on the minds of the masses!

If you have a Blue Jays question you'd like me to tackle for next week, be sure to send it to stoeten@gmail.com. As always, I have not read any of Griff's answers.

What do you do with Smoak? I know we've got him for 2018, but is he a candidate for the type of extension Bautista got in 2011? And if we're selling at the deadline, does he go? What sort of return could we reasonably expect? @terminal_avenue

Regardless of record do you trade Smoak if offered a quality under control outfielder? I know I know tons of variables but do you sell high? Steven

I've lumped these two questions together, because they're both essentially about the same thing: what to do with Smoak. Thing is, to understand what to do with him, we need to have a pretty good gauge of what his value really is, and... well... it's a really tough question, and I'm not sure either one of these quite hits on it.

Like, I appreciate the newfound Smoak love in these parts, and obviously he's having a great year, but... uh... there's still a lot of failure in that track record of his. Maybe I'm still scarred by Michael Saunders' All-Star campaign last year (and his subsequent turning into a pumpkin), but it's hard for me to get past how abysmal Smoak has been at the plate leading up to this point. He's been a different player this year, yes, telling Shi Davidi of Sportsnet of mechanical changes he's made. When he coiled to swing at the ball, Smoak said, "you'd see the whole number on the back of my jersey... because I'm trying to hit the ball 500 feet," but having eased up and accepted that 400 foot home runs count just the same, "it's enabled me to keep my swing in plane longer, it's enabled me to hit more pitches—the curveball, the slider—it's enabled me to lay off pitches." As much as I want to believe that the slight change to his hitting mechanics has unlocked contact skills that were previously dormant I think I'd have to see quite a bit more before I considered giving him a whole lot of money or, if I was another team, offering up the kind of player the Jays would insist on to part with him.

And would that player be an outfielder? With Dalton Pompey, Anthony Alford, Dwight Smith Jr., and maybe Harold Ramirez (if he turns his season in Double-A around) candidates to fill an outfield vacancy for the club next season, I'm not sure that's where I'd be looking to add—even though the club's outfield has obviously been a problem here in 2017.

When it comes to these kinds of hypotheticals, I always like to ask fans what sort of player from their own system would they be comfortable giving up to acquire Justin Smoak. Inevitably the answer isn't someone nearly as talented as what they're hoping to get back.

I might give up a Richard Urena to get a guy like Smoak, but I sure as hell wouldn't give up Smoak for a Richard Urena! At least, not unless the Blue Jays are intending to be very bad in 2018, which, despite all sorts of fans who've forgotten what terrible baseball looks like pining for it and saying that would be great, I don't think they intend to be.

That's All-Star Justin Smoak to you. Photo by Kim Klement-USA Today Sports

If Rowdy Tellez wasn't having such a rough year in Buffalo—in more ways than one—maybe the answer would be different, but unless they can sell rather high on Smoak, I figure they'll be quite happy to bet on his production next year for just the $4.125 million that he's owed. He has a 2019 option on his contract as well, which means that if he keeps it up, and the Jays end up in sell mode again next July, they could certainly revisit the idea of moving him. They'd certainly get more if he did.

That contract option, of course, makes his case quite a bit different than that of Bautista in his breakout 2010 season. It's... uh... one of many things that make their cases quite different. Jose was in his age-29 season when he broke out in 2010, and was set to hit free agency for 2012, when he'd have been 31. Smoak is now 30 and if his 2019 option is picked up, his first season under a new contract will be at age 33. And while Smoak has a reputation as a good defensive first baseman—the metrics generally say otherwise, but don't include players' ability to handle throws from other infielders, which is Smoak's calling card—he offers little defensive value compared to Bautista at the same age, who at that point could passably man right field, third base, or first base, and also had spent at least a little time at both second base and in centre.

More importantly, what made Bautista an extension candidate wasn't his impressive numbers at the break—his 143 wRC+ ranked 21st and he produced 2.4 WAR, similar to Smoak's 144 and 2.2 marks—but what he did in the second half: a 192 wRC+ and 4.1 wins, both tops in all of baseball.

Smoak's still got a long way to go. And even if he does do something similar to what Bautista did in the second half, he'll probably also have a bunch of Jays fans who think they're smarter than everybody else insisting that the club would be best to trade him rather than extend him... not that I can recall anybody who might have done that with Jose *COUGH*.

---

When should the Jays start considering converting Osuna to a starter? Charlie

That's a great question. As I discussed in last week's mailbag, I think this is the right path for the Jays to take with Osuna—especially given the fact that they're due to have a pair of holes in their starting rotation next season (Marco Estrada and Francisco Liriano are free agents, though it wouldn't surprise me at all to see Marco return on a reasonable contract, given his struggles here in his walk year). Maybe that ship has already sailed, but I think that they could certainly still give it a go, especially if they begin the process this season, and start the conversations about it immediately.

Osuna's high water mark for innings pitched in a season is just 74, which he accomplished last year. While those innings are higher stress than innings he'd pitch as a starter, I think the Jays would want to be careful with pushing him too far past that number, but—and I'm just spitballing here—maybe they could get him up over 100, with the thought of moving him to the rotation for the start of 2018, then reining him by moving him to the bullpen later on, and end up getting him to 130 or something, which would get them close to being able to set him loose the next year, and certainly the year after that—which would be his last year under contract, barring any kind of extension. I'd imagine that the club wouldn't jump into this too lightly, especially given the way Aaron Sanchez's innings needed to be managed last season, and what a quagmire that proved to be.

On the other hand, Osuna almost certainly could be a very good starter. He's got the repertoire (aka "repe-twah") and has ended up in the bullpen not because he failed in the rotation, as most relievers do, but out of necessity—and he's stayed there because he's been so ridiculously good. And a valuable starter is simply a better commodity than a valuable reliever. Plus, it maybe also doesn't hurt that switching him to the rotation would cut down on what the Jays will have to pay him in arbitration, which still pays out big for saves, meaning that Osuna has a legitimate chance to be a record-breaker for a reliever if the Jays ultimately choose to go year-to-year with him through that process.

If that's the path they chose—if only to try it out, with a spot in the bullpen always waiting for him if he doesn't succeed—they could get him six starts in September if they're running a five-man rotation. Because he missed some time early on, and hasn't been needed to close out as many games as he did the previous two years, he's behind last year's innings pace. Moving him to the rotation in September would almost certainly leave him shy of 100 for the season, but he'd get close. And maybe Liriano or Estrada are movable in mid-August trades—which seems a little more likely at this point than depending on how well the club plays between now and the July 31 deadline—that would let you, theoretically, get this experiment started a bit early.

By then the club should have a better read on their playoff chances, too. If they remain in the hunt, I think all of this goes entirely out the window. (Not that it's even in the window to begin with! I don't know what the Jays are actually thinking about Osuna's future, but if I had to guess, it's probably not this. Unfortunately.)

---

If you had to bet for the rest of the season; are the Jays good, medium or bad? David, mayor's office, Vancouver, BC

Well, I cashed out the pre-season bet I made on the Jays winning the World Series a long time ago, if that's the kind of thing you mean. But just because I'm not stupid doesn't mean that I don't recognize that there's a much greater chance of the Blue Jays playing well and making things really interesting down the stretch than a whole lot of pissy burn-it-all-down types want to admit. And I'm certainly not going to validate anybody who wants desperately to hear that they're bad, it's bad, and it's going to be bad. You won't have much trouble finding someone to do that for you—especially since I know all too well that you're on Twitter.

Hey, but just because I won't give you one thing that you want doesn't mean I'm a complete curmudgeon. Here's an article that I think will be right up your alley—really says a lot of the same kinds of things I feel coming from your tweets. Enjoy!

---

Is this Jays season a Radiohead album or a Coldplay album? @GrubersMullet

Did Hans Gruber have a mullet? I seem to recall there maybe being a little bit of party in the back, but not a whole lot. Still, gotta say I love what I can only assume is a reference to the last thing seen by Harry Ellis—"HANS, BUBBY!"—played by Toronto's own Hart Bochner!

*COUGH*

Anyway, my take on this—which almost nobody will agree with, I'm sure—is that the Blue Jays, in general, are more Radiohead than Coldplay... in that they've had the same number of decent albums since the mid 90s (1.5) as the Jays have decent seasons. (The albums are Kid A and Amnesiac—don't @ me). Whereas Coldplay have presumably never had any good albums, though to be sure on that I'd have to actually have ever listened to one, which... pass.

But if I had to bet for the rest of the season if the Jays are Radiohead or Coldplay, I guess I'd have to say Coldplay.

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Just wondering how much of the Blue Jays' starting pitching struggles you think have been related to terrible defense? Obviously the injuries have played a role as well, but even Shapiro has acknowledged how bad the defense is. David

I also thought Shapiro mentioning the club's awful defence last week—both to Shi David for a piece at Sportsnet and on Scott MacArthur's radio show—probably deserved a little more attention than it got.

Like the offence, the Blue Jays' defence has left a lot to be desired. Photo by Peter G. Aiken-USA Today Sports

"What is absolutely maybe surprising, somewhat shocking, is that our defence has been as bad as it has," Shapiro told MacArthur. "We went from two years ago having among the best defence in all of Major League Baseball, to definitively having the worst defence this year."

I'm not sure what in the hell metric Shapiro is using to say that the Jays are "definitively" the worst, because none of the publicly available ones quite say that. But it's ugly.

They are 27th in UZR at -16.3 and 28th by DRS at -28. Worst in right field by DRS (-13), 21st by UZR (-4.7); 27th at shortstop by both DRS (-8) and UZR (-5.6); dead last in left field by DRS (-15), 29th by UZR (-10.8).

Even usual bright spots are not quite as bright. Kevin Pillar is in the top 10 in centre, but not a clear cut No.1 one or two. Mostly because of injuries to Josh Donaldson, the club ranks in the middle of the pack at third base. And their pitchers have been below average—a certain change from the days of good defenders like Mark Buehrle and R.A. Dickey.

How much has this contributed to the poor numbers being put up by the Jays' pitchers? Well, obviously it has. The Jays' BABIP against was the lowest in baseball in 2015 at .278, and second lowest to the Cubs last year at .282—this year it's at .306, the sixth-worst mark in the league, and nine points above league average in the AL.

We'd be kidding ourselves, I think, if we were to say that Estrada or Liriano have been undone solely by shoddy defence behind them. It clearly hasn't helped, but there are pitchers for this team who've been outstanding, and ones who have out-pitched their FIP, too. It hasn't ruined everybody, and isn't an excuse for anybody's poor performance, necessarily.

But it's a problem. And a serious one for the club. Especially the numbers at shortstop, where Troy Tulowitzki is signed for big money and multiple years (AVERT YOUR EYES: three more after this one for $58 million total, including the $4 million buyout of his 2021 option). The situations in right and left field stand to be quite different next year (or maybe even next month!), with Bautista a free agent and Steve Pearce being untenable out there (I said all along that, more than anything, he was brought in so he could compete for first base at-bats with Smoak, and hoo boy, has he looked like a first baseman out there in left!). But Tulo? He's not going anywhere. At least... not yet.

The good news is that he's been better than his backup. Tulo's posted a -3 DRS and -1.7 UZR in 457 innings, compared to Goins' disappointing and uncharacteristic -5 and -4.0 in 313. We could try to claim here that Tulo also has the excuse that he's dealt with a hamstring injury that landed him on the DL, and so maybe he stands to get back closer to his standard of play—which even last year was well above average (+10 DRS and +4.9 UZR)—but surely there's been some kind of cumulative effect of all the lower-body injuries he's suffered, and it's probably only a matter of time before the next one hits (unfortunately), so...

I don't know if that really answers your question, but yeah... the defence has been bad, the effect has certainly been felt, but how much or by who is harder to say, and maybe not the point—it could get anybody at any time!

There seems to be a path back to respectability, at least. Uh... in some spots.

Blue Jays Mailbag: Lousy Defense, and Justin Smoak's Future in Toronto published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv