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intentional wok

By intentional wok
in Toronto Blue Jays Talk

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Brownie19 New Hampshire Fisher Cats

Brownie19

Old-Timey Member
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Dual citizenship. His parents are both Canadian

 

The citizenship lines for the WBC are seemingly a joke. I suspect Freeman qualified because he ate some Canadian bacon for breakfast last week.

intentional wok Vancouver Canadians

intentional wok

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Same. Players joining national super teams to crush much weaker national teams is a waste of time for me. The highest level of baseball competition is MLB.

 

Then again, Korea (and Japan?) has pulled out a victory, so I guess it's not entirely as silly as basketball in the Olympics.

glory Vancouver Canadians

glory

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I'm surprised anyone even cares about he WBC. This tournament just holds very little appeal for me.

 

Agreed. A complete waste of time for the sake of manufactured patriotism.

 

Just let the players do spring training with their teams and worry about the season, not some meaningless exhibition games.

Krylian MVP

Krylian

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Same. Players joining national super teams to crush much weaker national teams is a waste of time for me. The highest level of baseball competition is MLB.

 

Then again, Korea (and Japan?) has pulled out a victory, so I guess it's not entirely as silly as basketball in the Olympics.

 

It just doesn't capture my imagination... At least not in this format. It's like this most recent World Cup of Hockey. No one gave a s***. But on a huge stage like the Olympics the stakes were sky high and there was built in importance.

Abomination Buffalo Bisons

Abomination

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I'm surprised anyone even cares about he WBC. This tournament just holds very little appeal for me.

 

The WBC isn't really for us, it's to increase global baseball interest in other countries that don't have a higher end league.

Brownie19 New Hampshire Fisher Cats

Brownie19

Old-Timey Member
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I tend to agree that the WBC is a waste of time...however, I was at the Canada / USA game at the dome in 2009 and it was phenomenal. I still can't believe Canada didn't finish that comeback though. That was the day I fell in love with Joey Votto...

 

I think the biggest issue now is a lot of the top players are declining the invite.

 

 

And BTW - who's the powerhouse again? Japan?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Baseball_Classic

burlingtonbandit New Hampshire Fisher Cats

burlingtonbandit

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I think the WBC would be better if they held it during the season and have a 1 week break around it. That way everyone would be focused on it and players+pitchers would already be ready to play without limitations.

 

Now you might get some players to pass and use it as rest but thats happening now anyway.

jerb FCL Blue Jays

jerb

Verified Member
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Jon Morosi Verified account 

‏@jonmorosi

#Braves trade Shae Simmons and Mallex Smith to #Mariners for Luiz Gohara and Thomas Burrows. @MLB @MLBNetwork

 

 

Jerry Crasnick Verified account 

‏@jcrasnick

Jerry Dipoto isn't done yet. He's working on another deal that could include Mallex Smith, the OF he just acquired from the #Braves.

Abomination Buffalo Bisons

Abomination

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Jerry Dipoto isn't done yet. He's working on another deal that could include Mallex Smith, the OF he just acquired from the #Braves.

 

I'm gonna take a wild stab and say Mallex is going to the Phillies.

Laika Cooperstown

Laika

Community Moderator
Posted
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I could see the Blue Jays targeting a controllable guy like Mallex Smith. Start him and Pompey in a time-share in LF, with Pearce/acquisition in RF (if Pearce, sign a DH/1B type).

 

You HAVE to assume that Toronto is in on any available OF. The need is massive. The team has a black hole out there.

 

Scouting Report: There aren’t many true 80 speed guys in baseball, but Smith is one of them. He can absolutely fly, and when he gets on first base, you have to pay close attention to him or he is gone. Early in his career, he ran into too many outs, but his overall success rate of 104 steals in 129 attempts the last two years will play.

 

As we’ve said numerous times, that speed doesn’t mean much if you can’t get on base, but Smith should be able to do that. He has a quick, compact stroke that is designed for making contact, and when he’s at his best he’ll spray line drives to the opposite field, while also knowing that he can beat out balls on the ground with those elite wheels. There is very little power, and because of his lack of strength, there are times pitchers can knock the bat out of his hands, a la Billy Hamilton. He isn’t allergic to walks, but you’d like to see more because of that speed, and there’s more swing-and-miss than you might anticipate as well.

 

In the outfield, Smith isn’t an elite defender, but he’s certainly athletic enough to stay in center field, as his—you guessed it—speed lets him get to anything realistic. He doesn’t always get the best jumps or take the most efficient routes, however, and the arm strength means if he was forced to move off center, he’d have to be wasted in left field.

 

Smith's minor league numbers are incredibly attractive. Fantastic age vs. level, BB and K rates, slashline.

 

Yesterday, Stephen Brunt told @Sportsnet960 that Blue Jays developments could happen by end of week - "I'm told things are cooking." [copied tweet]

Laika Cooperstown

Laika

Community Moderator
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classic rays

 

Jesus Christ!

King All-Star

King

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted

Greg Johns ‏@GregJohnsMLB 31s32 seconds ago

Mariners indeed flip OF Mallex Smith along with LH Ryan Yarbrough and infielder Carlos Vargas for LH Drw Smyly.

intentional wok Vancouver Canadians

intentional wok

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Felix, Iwakuma, Smyly, Paxton, Gallardo. Not bad. Missing the WC by two games seems to have really stung for Seattle. There were some really inopportune bounces against the Mariners in that elimination game against Oakland.
Laika Cooperstown

Laika

Community Moderator
Posted
Posted
Felix, Iwakuma, Smyly, Paxton, Gallardo. Not bad.

 

Not great either. Felix is trash now, Iwakuma is a creaky old SP3, Smyly isn't built to last, Gallardo is complete garbage. Paxton good but not reliable.

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