Clock ticking after Manoah’s miserable start in the minors

The Blue Jays sent Alek Manoah to the minor leagues after he had hit rock bottom at the major-league level. 

The season couldn’t have started much worse. Manoah had a 1-7 record with a 6.36 ERA. He had thrown 58 innings, allowing 68 hits and walking 42 batters while only striking out 48. He got only one out in his last start, giving up seven hits and six runs against the Astros. It was ugly.

The trip to the minors was supposed to allow the big right-hander to regroup and fix his mechanics. It was a chance to fine-tune his body while helping his state of mind. Big chores for a big man.

Unfortunately, the first minor-league outing for Manoah reinforced the significance of his problems. He gave up 11 runs on 10 hits in 2.2 innings pitched against the lowest-level minor-league players in the Dunedin Complex on Tuesday. They are the most inexperienced and least capable of all professional players. Not a great result. 

Sure, I have said that the actual results don’t matter during the rebuilding process, but this awful result does matter. This outing created a deeper rock bottom than Manoah experienced before being sent to the minors. It shows he has a long way to go to get back on track

There will be many who worry that Manoah’s 2023 season is completely lost. They may be ultimately proven right, but that isn’t necessarily the case just yet. Obviously, he has plenty of work to do to fix himself mechanically, physically and mentally, but there is still time to salvage the year. 

As much as everyone wants to know when Manoah will be ready to return, he needs to focus on one day at a time. Manoah and the Jays organization have to find and hold onto small successes. That’s why Jays personnel were searching for some silver lining after Tuesday’s start.

“There were four or five plays that should have been made behind him,” a source told me. “His fastball velocity was 92-95, he made progress with some of his mechanical issues, and he flooded the strike zone with pitches instead of nibbling off the corners of the plate.”

Silver linings are worth seeking because results don’t always tell the whole story. But when the results are this bad, it has another negative effect. Players making changes need immediate success because it reinforces the idea that the changes are correct and necessary. Tuesday’s outing could create doubt in Manoah’s mind about the credibility of the specific changes that he is being asked to accomplish.

It will be very interesting to see if his mechanics and velocity maintain themselves in his next start. Will he fill up the strike zone as much as he did on Tuesday, or will he return to nibbling? His battle to return to form has as much to do with what is going on in his head and heart as his mechanics on the mound.

The timing of the fix for Manoah is important. It can’t be rushed, and it won’t happen overnight. That being said, he needs to hurry things up. With the All-Star Game just 11 games away and the trade deadline soon to follow after that, the Jays need to know what they can expect from Manoah the rest of the season.

It’s unclear just yet if he will return to Cy Young candidate form, be a mid-rotation starter or just a back-end-of-the-rotation guy. Depending on that evaluation, the Jays will have to pursue different levels of impact starting pitching at the trade deadline. It is currently unclear what they will need. 

If I was running the Blue Jays I would have to hedge my bet and start scouting all of the front-end-of-the-rotation trade options after Manoah’s performance on Tuesday. He didn’t give the Jays much of a reason to hope that he will be his old self again this season. If for some reason things start to gel more quickly, the scouting department can pivot to lesser starters or exclusively relievers.  

Spitting Seeds

Shohei Ohtani Los Angeles Angels

- Just when you think he can’t keep producing, Shohei Ohtani does it again. In the game on Tuesday, he went 3-for-3 and homered twice while striking out 10 batters in six and a third innings, leading the Angels to a 4-2 win over the White Sox. It is the first time he’s had multiple homers in a game in which he was the starting pitcher. He is also just the sixth player since 1900 to hit two homers and strike out 10 in a game. That’s the good news. The bad news is Ohtani left the game as a pitcher in the seventh inning with a cracked fingernail. No other team can knock Ohtani out, but his manicurist can. Who knew? Oh, by the way, Ohtani hit his second homer after the nail issue ended his start.

- The Blue Jays have a shot at filling out the entire starting American League infield in the All-Star Game. The Jays have a representative among the two finalists at each position:  Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (1B), Whit Merrifield (2B), Bo Bichette (SS), and Matt Chapman (3B). In the outfield, Kevin Kiermaier is the Jays’ lone finalist. Jays fans got out and voted in Phase I, but now they need to do it for Phase II. I love it when fans step up and support their players.

- The Atlanta Braves are led by general manager Alex Anthopoulos – the former Jays GM – and he has built a powerhouse in Atlanta. The Braves are 19-4 in June and are 52-27 overall, closing in on the Tampa Bay Rays (54-28) for the best record in baseball. In their game on Tuesday, the Braves ambushed the Twins with five home runs in their first 10 at-bats. The Braves have 54 homers in June. The next closest team is the Angels with 40. The Braves have scored 156 runs this month, while the Diamondbacks and Reds are second with 135 runs. The key for Atlanta is the first inning. They have scored 75 runs in the first inning – by far the most of any team. The Dodgers are second with 64 while the Mets are last with only 22 first-inning runs.

- The New York Mets have the largest payroll in major league baseball history ($355 million), yet this season (36-43) has been seriously underwhelming. They are 16 games behind the Braves in the NL East and 8.5 games out of the third wild-card spot. Owner Steve Cohen has called a press conference for Wednesday and there is no telling what can come from that. It has been reported that starting pitcher Max Scherzer would be willing to waive his no-trade clause to go to a contender. Yikes. I guess $355 million just doesn’t go as far as it used to.