Opening Day is about renewal, but there were things about Thursday that remain extremely disappointing for the Blue Jays, from the lukewarm reception accorded to players upon pre-game introductions at Rogers Centre, to the light booing of the US anthem, to a patriotic fan being thrown out of the ballpark for his choice of message on his baseball hat, to the on-field mistakes, both mental and physical, committed by the home team in a 12-2 loss to the O’s. Griff and Mal discuss the manager’s choice of Jose Berrios ahead of Kevin Gausman, the structure of the opening day batting order, Alejandro Kirk’s new contract, where Vlad stands at the moment regarding his own negotiations and more. Then there are Griff’s favourite opening day memories, the Top 5 Jays second basemen all-time, pre-season MLB Power Rankings and more. 

INDEX  

0:00 Intro + Fan Ejection for red hat 

4:23 Opening Day Summary 

6:35 Griff’s Top 10 Openers 

11:39 Mental and Physical opening day mistakes  

17:27 State of the Bullpen 

21:03 Lineup Construction 

24:12 Kirk Contract 

28:00 Vlad Contract Revisited  

34:26 Top 5 Jays second basemen 

42:47 Max Scherzer and options 

50:32 MLB Power Rankings 

58:24 Ironbacks update and signoff

----

Get the video version of "Exit Philosophy" and "Conversations with Griff" on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@ExitPhilosophy

----

For the full catalogue of Richard Griffin's work, including weekly Blue Jays/MLB columns, a weekly MLB Power Rankings column, exclusive conversations with some of the game's greats, past and present, and the Exit Philosophy podcast, visit https://www.griffsthepitch.com/