u/Jose_Batfliptista

I love how this article casually interjects its own reporting with the speculative phrase, "perhaps leading in part to the vision-correction surgery". An article written by an intern under "Sportsnet Staff" should report on facts and facts only.

If his vision really deteriorated was it from reading too many books? (lol)

Vlad's hitting woes go back to 2022. He's had trouble getting the ball in the air since the beginning of that season with some slightly above-average performances sprinkled intermittently and inconsistently throughout ('24 and '25 post season).

His 2026 had nothing to do with deteriorating vision.

This game was from a few nights ago. Freddie Freeman (the Canadian) crashes hard into the Royals dugout while trying to field a pop up. Thankfully he was ok and even played the next game when he must have been sore all over.

This reminded me of the times Vlad (the Canadian?) took days off this season. I think back in May Vlad got HBP by Mitch Keller then literally just walked off the field and into the dugout. Never bothered to check in with the trainer or anybody. Just walked into the dugout like his elbow had been shattered. It turned out that nothing was actually wrong with him (of course not). In the moment the fact that a $500M player could just check out of the game like that truly appalled me. He never even tried to stay in the game. He was done. And with nothing actually wrong with him he took the next two games off (think it was at least two).

And then the nonsense about the sore back and the hamstring tightness. Why does a 27 year old player, in the absolute prime of career going through so many of these micro 'injuries'? Why is somebody in the absolute prime of life having the worst season of his career?

My guess is that he came to the season unprepared. Whatever work he was supposed to put in during off season, whether it be swing mechanics or keeping his body in shape, he did not do or do it to the fullest extent required from a $500M player.

This guy had the post-season he had in '25 and thought he could just wing it again.

This isn't something to be written off as 'everybody has a bad season or two'. His pathetic performance is truly unforgivable given his status. And it's because he came to the season unprepared.

>You know, they've lost a lot of games over there, so they're probably trying to pick some things up to complain about.

Lol. Complete and utter disrespect.

Wonder if the $500M guy will have something to say about that. A 3 HR game perhaps? Can't let this shit slide.

Bassitt is the guy that really took initiative with clubhouse chemistry last year. He was the one to suggest that there be no pitcher/position player divide in the locker arrangements in the clubhouse. Before, pitchers and position players would sit separately. I would imagine that he was more visible as a leader in other ways in the clubhouse that year.

Bo was 1A to Vlad's 1B. He was the one player that could step up to that useless oaf. Vlad's me me me personality endears to him the general fan base, as clueless as they are. Bo's self-effacing, get it done personality endeared him to other players. (I really want the full story on why he left to be made public. The clueless general fan base thinks that he was asking for too much money based on the contract he signed with the Mets. However this is not true. Bo made up his mind to leave (after 2025) the Jays in 2024. I believe there was intervention from somebody on the team to change his position regarding the HR jacket in order to placate (give a pacifier to) Vlad in 2024. This whole experience made him want to leave.)

And with these two pillars of leadership gone there was nothing to hold up the dead weight slab of useless concrete that is Vlad the fuck job oaf. In my view the 'HR Dragon' and Kirk giving that oaf the cold shoulder a few weeks ago, are a good reflection of how Vlad is viewed in the clubhouse. It's laughable to me that a professional baseball team, playing in the most prestigious league in the world should have two fucking HR props, let alone one. However, remember that Vlad is the only champion of the HR jacket. That's his stupid thing. If other players felt the same way about the jacket as Vlad did, there really would be no need for a second prop, as stupid as it is.

Vlad Jr is not a leader and will never be, despite his fan boys like Keegan Matheson desperately trying to portray him as one. Vlad's problem isn't the 6 fucking HRs. His problem is his make up as a person. His me first, me only, me me me personality makes him the clubhouse cancer that he is. What made everything work last year was that the team had antidotes in the form of Bassitt and Bo. And with KG and GS (although I never quite believed Springer to be a leader for the Jays) set to leave, I can't help but wonder where the front office will find leadership and at least 2 more bats that can hit 30+ HRs.

About damn time somebody other than myself talked about this cheap, dirty, rotten piece of recycled polyester.

Why the fuck does a TEAM HR jacket (I repeat, TEAM) have one player's personal insignia all over it (VG27)? Check out this video for proof (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_stKx3yC1vQ)

Why the fuck does a professional team need multiple versions of a HR prop (regular jacket, one for night games, one for playoff games and a red version)?

The team made a team decision to get rid of this dirty jacket in '23. At the start of '24, Vlad had an interview with Hazel talking about how he wants the jacket back. This was in effective a way to put public pressure on his teammates. What kind of a person does this bull shit? If you want the jacket back, you talk to your teammates about it. Why the fuck would you go behind their backs and bring up the issue publicly? The funny part of course is that they started the season without it, until mid May when the team could no long bear that little baby's thumbsucking cries.

Has anybody else noticed that it's usually a certain group of players (Gimenez, Berrios, Clase, Valenzuela, Vlad, etc) that bring out the jacket? That in itself is already extremely telling of how that dirty rag is viewed in the clubhouse.

>“Be patient. I know things are not going the way we wanted, but I can promise all our fans that every time we go out there, (our goal) is to win the game. We’re humans," he answered. "Sometimes things don’t happen the way you want, regardless of your preparation or what you do.

>"That’s baseball, but I can promise them we’re going to continue to work hard … We need for our fan base to be there right now because you never know, things can change”

Funny how he pretends to speak on behalf of the team when it's him and his performance (two separate things) that are the biggest reasons for this team's downfall.

In terms of performance everyone should understand that this is not a 'down year' for Vlad. His performance right now is exactly who he has been since the end of 2021. He's had trouble getting the ball in the air for the past 5 seasons. It's especially worse this season.

That is not a 'down year'. He's being who he has been, somebody who hasn't been able to fix his problem for the past 5 years. The results just happen to be magnified 10x this season.

What the fuck is wrong with this guy? The season's over in large part (100%) due to him having yet ANOTHER bad season. Yet he still finds it necessary to initiate attention seeking behaviour like this.

How many times have we seen this before? I've seen him get 'mad' at Sal Perez and Lourdes Gurriel for catching his foul pop ups and line drives. Why the fuck does he still act like a 9 year old at 27?

More importantly, why isn't there anybody around this guy who can straighten him out? There's not a single person in this organization from front office to coaches to other players who has the nerve to step up to him (Kirk and Davis Schneider have showed hints of doing this. Bo definitely could, but he's gone). No Jays beat writer ever calls out this infantile behaviour (Keegan Matheson and Jeff Blair are co-presidents of the Vlad Jr fanboy club). And of course the clueless general fan base will watch this nonsense and giggle and drop $300 on his worthless jersey.

The fact is that he's a 27 year old adult, being paid $500M, the supposed 'franchise' player, acting like a petulant 5 year old.

This team does not have a leader. This fucking oaf will never EVER be that. Nobody will EVER respect him as that. And this team will never have a leader so long as this fuck job is part of my team.

What a completely shit ass thing to do.

He acknowledges in the article that there are better (obviously) 1B than him and in the same breath says that he's 'going' if voted in, thereby taking the place of someone (obviously) more worthy.

Let that shit sink in in everyone's minds. He's going, even though there are obviously those that are playing better than him (and are just better players than him).

A truly detestable character that is all about him and nobody else.

A real fan of baseball and the Blue Jays should feel something along the lines of contempt and disgust after reading this article.

I've said this before and I'll say it again. One of the reasons why Vlad wanted to stay in Toronto is because it's the only city that will unconditionally adore him. And being loved and adulated and adored are the main driving forces of his psychology (Not greatness. Not excellence. Not immortality). He could not last one second in a real baseball organization like the Yankees, the Guardians, the Astros, the Dodgers, the Cardinals, the Red Sox, etc. where everyone from the management, the coaches, the media, and the fan base would not hesitate to call him out for his one thousand and one flaws.

I really miss the Bautista/Donaldson/EE days. They may not have been the celebrity Vlad is (and thank God they weren't), but they really embodied what it means to be a baseball player. Not an attention seeking, attention starved, attention thirsty little infant.

Why did Vlad sit yesterday's game against the Yankees? According to the article little poo poo had an owie on his back they call 'back tightness'. D'aww...

What are some of the real superstars doing around the league? Aaron Judge suffered a rib fracture in late April and chose to play through the injury without telling the team (30ish games). Generally, rib fractures are known to be extremely painful makes it hard to breathe.

He said "“Big G’s hurt, Max Fried’s hurt. We got a lot of guys banged up. We got to be out there. That’s what they’re paying me to do, is to go out there and play.”

https://x.com/ChrisKirschner/status/2062991169290752338

Gee, that's sounds a lot like the situation the Jays are in right now. A lot of their key players on the IL but the difference is that their captain (a real captain), their franchise player (a real franchise player) is doing exactly what he's gotta do to pick up his team.

Shohei Ohtani suffered a knee injury just the other day and was diagnosed with knee inflammation. What did he do in yesterday's game? Hit a HR and got on base only three times.

I'm not even going to mention (but I'm going to) the fact that Vlad talks the biggest shit when it comes to the Yankees.

>I love to kill the Yankees. I would never play for the Yankees not even dead.
DAAAA YANKEEE LOOOOSE.

And then he takes a day off (against the Yankees lmao) because of 'back tightness' while making $500M. Pathetic.

I'm reminded of that two game series between the teams 4 years ago, when Vlad Jr. got Charlie Montoyo fired.

There was tension between the two in the weeks leading up to that game. The team was playing like shit and Vlad felt like Charlie blamed him when the ball went through his glove twice in a short span of time (especially in the Seattle game they lost in large part due to that oaf). However the team was still holding down a wild card spot.

In the first game of the Phillies series in July of '22, a runner got on base in a very close play at 1B. Vlad looked to the dugout and motioned off the instant replay because he thought the runner was safe. Upon conferring, Charlie decided to challenge the call, which stood. In that moment, Vlad that fucking oaf looked into the dugout again and made this "OMFG I told you he was safe" gesture, which was a bad look on him.

Now with a new batter up, Jose Berrios checked the runner on 1B to Vlad and this time, it looked like the tag was made on time. However with the team now out of challenges, they couldn't do anything about it. Vlad again, looked into the clubhouse (Charlie) and made this "This is on you" gesture. A really really fucking terrible look.

The Jays would win that game but guess what happened the next day? Charlie was fired. And it had EVERYTHING to do with what happened in that series of plays I mentioned above. Vlad threw Charlie under the bus twice in that inning. What the fuck was Ross supposed to do? With the tension between the two now in full public view (up to that point their tension was hush hush), something had to be done and it was Charlie that lost his job.

Vlad got Charlie Montoyo fired. Let that sink in. A player got a manager fired by embarrassing him in the middle of a game. If there was tension between the two, that's something they needed to settle behind closed doors, between themselves and by themselves. By choosing to act out publicly and passive-aggressively, Vlad that oaf, got a manager fired.

I know some of you clueless Vlad worshippers will defend the oaf and say, "But Charlie was a terrible manager, he deserved to be fired". While it may be true that Charlie was not a good manager, he did not deserve to be fired like that, by getting embarrassed by his own player, especially with the team holding down a wild card spot.

And to me, this whole episode explains why John Schneider can't hold Vlad accountable (when he admires a long single to the warning tracks, not hustling, base running mistakes etc). JS saw fucking first hand what happens to a manager when he plays rough with that oaf.

One thing I will always respect about Charlie Montoyo is that he wasn't afraid to play hard ball with that oaf. He did not worship Vlad. He called out Vlad when he showed up to camp overweight (according to Vlad's words, 'he said as a punishment for being overweight he's moving me to 1B).

This organization has a culture problem. From ownership/management to coaches to the media and right down to even yes, the fan base. Everything revolves around that oaf and everyone fawns over him and will turn a blind eye to his one thousand and one faults. Even Ohtani and Judge do not get treated like this and they are real superstars unlike that fake wanna be.

Why would the kid ask to play catch in the middle of a game?

Why did Sanchez raise his glove as if he were obliging?

The team was down 6 fucking nothing by the way in a visiting ball park.

What the fuck is going on with this team? Nothing about 'this is what happened' makes sense.

But then again, this is the same team that extended that fuck job Vlad Jr for $500M, 14 years. So maybe I shouldn't be surprised at all.

Watch out Vlad. 'Nando's coming for you.

AHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Vlad the fucking oaf Jr.

The WORST signing in franchise history.

John Schneider and this oaf are the reason why Chapman and Bo left (and probably Jano too). They are the reason why Bassitt said in '24 "this team has unfixable issues".

To the clueless fans of Toronto he's the franchise player. But to those that know the real know, he's the ultimate team cancer. He's the worst franchise signing in MLB history. Ties up the most important place on the lineup. The biggest man-child; attention seeking, attention only, me first, me me me kind of player. Turned into a pull hitter after the '21 when he has power all over the field (tries to everything like the clown he is which is why he can't get the ball in the air - can't get it up).

$500M.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAH.